Roe likes to use gender-neutral phrases where he can, but he and I haven’t found a word that fully replaces boyfriend yet. We’ve Googled it. Lover is icky and technically incorrect. Partner is too dull, too grown-up. After that you start falling into terms like my sweetheart, and the idea of saying that in front of people is nauseating to both of us. Sometimes I say joyfriend, as a joke, but mostly I just say Roe.
