Page 38 of They Were Roommates

“Oh, my darling,” Frankie crooned pulling Diego against his chest. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“No,” Diego said brokenly. He supposed it was true on both counts.

“Okay, yeah, clearly a dumb question. You’re obviously not okay, but you’re not hurt?”

Diego shook his head.

“Is someone else hurt?” Frankie asked, his intuition when it came to Diego coming through for them right now.

Diego nodded miserably.

Frankie stiffened but continued petting Diego’s hair and back. “Obie, can you shut down the store? Don’t panic anyone but turn the sign to closed, and offer the remaining patrons some free pastries.”

“No, it… you don’t… have to…” Diego tried to wheeze but Frankie squeezed him even tighter until he couldn’t get the words out.

“We’re on it, Frankie. Take care of your… Diego,” Obie murmured, and Diego could hear the sound of retreating footsteps.

“D? Who’s hurt, love? Is it one of our friends, or your cousin or…” Frankie’s voice trailed off as Diego began to cry harder. Diego wasn’t sure where the new endearment was coming from, but if in the heat of a crisis, Frankie thought of him as his “love” Diego wasn’t able to even begin processing that fact.

“Is it… your parents?”

Diego pressed his face tightly to Frankie’s throat and nodded. “M-Mom… died…”

“Oh, D… okay… okay. What needs to get done… um, we… we need to get some coverage for the store so we can fly back to your home for the funeral. You have siblings who can take care of that part I hope. So, I guess immediate next steps are—”

“Can you call Sofia… she has all the info?” Diego asked brokenly, handing Frankie his phone with shaking fingers.

Frankie accepted the phone and kissed Diego hard. He kissed Diego until his head spun and the tears stopped. Frankie slowly led Diego up to their apartment.

The next twenty-four hours were a blur of phone calls, people coming in and out of the apartment, and several frantic meetings. They asked Penelope to cover the early evening shifts, and Obie to cover some of the day shifts. They met with the rest of the staff to let them know they’d be home before Christmas and would cover the rest of the holiday shifts. Finally, they had a video call with Sofia who helped them make the final arrangements.

The night before they were set to leave, Diego felt like he was going to crawl out of his skin, so he crawled into bed and lay down on top of his semi-conscious boyfriend. Frankie had pulled two all-nighters to get them ready to go back to Diego’s home, and he deserved his rest, but Diego just… needed. He needed Frankie, he needed his confident touches and affirming words, and he needed to be reminded that he was a man, Frankie’s man, before they went home to his family who would undermine everything he’d built for himself the past several years.

Weirdly, as Frankie stirred underneath him, Diego was hit with a sense of clarity he hadn’t had since they’d started dating. “Maybe it will go without saying, my bringing you to the funeral and all, but I’m going to tell them I’m gay, and that we’re together.”

Frankie blinked and wrapped his arms and legs around Diego like a cephalopod.

“Okay, D, whatever you want.”

“And I want to have sex. Right now.”

“Okay.”

“And I want you to love me like a man loves a man,” Diego tried to explain, but it came out cryptic and unclear, given the confused expression on Frankie’s face.

“O… okaymon chéri—”

“Please, Franklin.”

“Anything, D. Anything you want.”

They kissed and squirmed against each other until Frankie rolled them over and reached for the harness and dildo they kept in the bedside table.

Diego grabbed his hand and hesitantly brought it down to the front of his sweatpants. This was the moment they’d been leading up to for months, and he wasn’t sure why it needed to happen right now, but he knew in his heart he needed it tonight.

“I… I need your fingers, Franklin.”

Frankie immediately obliged, sliding his hand into Diego’s pants and boxers, and gripping his dick with three fingers. He stroked him slowly, rubbing his thumb over the head and soon Diego was writhing against him, but Frankie didn’t go any farther.

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