Page 50 of They Were Roommates

“Ugh, D!” Frankie whined as he cocked a hip against the dresser drawer he had just closed. “There was a whole plan!”

“I’m sure there was, love,” Diego said as he pulled a fresh t-shirt over his head.

“It was going to be amazing! There were going to be flowers, and Seth and Obie were going to be there, and Sofia was going to fly out—”

“Sofia?” Diego asked in surprise as he unhooked his watch and laid it flat on the nightstand.

“And I was going to invite Sham Pain, and maybe Pietro.”

“That’s… very inclusive of you,” Diego murmured as he plugged in his phone for the night.

“I was thinking I might do it at the cafe. Maybe on the stage, in the middle of a drag show.”

Diego froze. “Why… why would you do that? You know I hate making a scene.”

“Yeah, but it’s an engagement, D! It has to be special!”

Diego scowled down at his nightstand. Was Frankie being serious? Had he actually been planning to propose to Diego in front of all those people? Flying his cousin into town and making an entire spectacle of their relationship felt sort of backwards to Diego. They’d worked so hard to keep their professional and personal lives separate as they built a solid foundation for both. Why would he choose to make this into such a… athing?

“I mean… that definitely sounds likesomething.I bet that required a lot of planning, and coordinating and… I guess I sort of ruined it, didn’t I?”

Diego’s stomach sank and he squeezed his eyes. Had he done that? Ruined Frankie’s special moment?Theirspecial moment?

“Hey D?” Frankie called and Diego crossed his arms over his chest and kept his eyes squeezed shut and his back to Frankie as his mind raced. He could make it up to Frankie somehow. Maybe they could just invite a few close friends over for dinner and surprise them with an engagement. Sort of how Penelope’s friend Maria had surprised her—

“Diegooooo,” Frankie called and there was laughter in his voice.

Diego sighed and released his arms. Okay, so Frankie wasn’t mad. That was good.

“Diego, for the love of god, will you please turn around?”

Diego opened his eyes, turned around, and both of his hands flew to his face.

Frankie was kneeling on the ground, a black velvet box in his hand, opened to reveal two beautiful rose gold bands.

“F…Franklin?” Diego whispered and Frankie gave him one of the most vulnerable smiles he’d ever seen.

“Hi, love,” Frankie murmured. His voice shook.

“You… you had a whole plan—”

“This was the plan,mon chéri.”

“But… but you’ve been running around with Obie and Seth and… Sham Pain and…”

Frankie gave him a puzzled look and then recognition flashed across his face, and he laughed. “I’ve been working with them to find a replacement MC for the drag brunch. Lopi is great, but she deserves to have her weekends back.”

That’s right. Penelope had taken over as their temporary MC after their last one had moved back home to get a master’s degree. Diego had it on his never-ending to-do list to find a replacement, but apparently Frankie had just taken charge and done it himself.

Even though it was really not the time nor place, Diego took a moment to appreciate how far they’d come. Frankie had said it earlier; he’d met Diego as a bratty undergrad, and they’d grown into true friends, novice business partners, and finally boyfriends who ran an incredibly successful cafe together. Throughout that time, Frankie had grown into his own, developing competencies in marketing, sales, and networking that Diego never could.

However, he still wasn’t the best at planning. “So… there was no engagement plan?”

Frankie gave him a lopsided grin from where he was still kneeling on the ground with his hand extended. “I wasn’t joking about Obie, Seth, and Sofia. I really do want her to come visit, and we can all go out for dinner or something small to celebrate… well… us. So that’s mostly planned out. But… this? I thought it would be best to do it when the time was right. And… well, if you’re accidentally guessing that I was going to propose while we were having sex, I figured it’s about time, huh?”

Diego shook his head in exasperation, but then quickly nodded to answer Frankie’s question. He’d been starting to think about engagement and marriage too. He thought maybe they should start by officially telling their staff, friends, and family that they were a couple, but… he supposed if they were going to tell them anyways, they might as well have matching rings to go along with it.

“Did you at least plan out something to say?” Diego joked.

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