Page 27 of They Were Roommates
“Yes. Just fucking say the words, Frankie…tu eres mio.”
“Tu…eres mio?” Frankie asked.
Diego growled, actually growled like some sort of teen heartthrob werewolf. Frankie realized with an embarrassing jolt he could definitely be into that.
“Are you asking?” Diego asked.
“I was asking what it meant but… roughly translating here, I’m assuming it means ‘you is me’… so, you—”
“Are mine. All you have to do is say yes,” Diego rumbled. His voice hit a register so low Frankie could barely hear him. Instead, he felt it in the muscles in his chest. It traveled through his ribs and into his heart, pumping out to every corner of his body with the rapid beating of his pulse.
“Oui, je suis à toi,” Frankie said. A final tear rolled down his cheeks as Diego surged forward and captured Frankie’s mouth in an achingly sweet kiss.
“Franklin, do you mean it? You’ll be my boyfriend?”
“Yes,” Frankie whispered and in the brief pause after his words he heard a shuffling noise on the other side of Seth and Obie’s door.
Frankie let out a wet laugh and brought his hands up to cover Diego’s ears. “Yes schnookums, I’ll happily be your cock sleeve!” Frankie yelled. He heard a crash from behind the closed bedroom door and let out another laugh.
Diego winced at the volume, and then a frown creased his brow. “Frankie, we’re going to need a few conversations about sex.”
“Oh, I know! Sorry, I was just—”
“Bothering our amazing friends who have been housing your ass this past month?” Diego teased, a genuine smile spreadingacross his lips. It pulled a grin out of Frankie, but then he schooled his expression.
“I’m ready and very willing to have whatever conversations you need to have with me, Diego. I haven’t been with anyone else in almost four months, and I’ve been tested twice and am on PrEP.”
Diego sat back so his butt was on the ground, and he brought his legs out to the side, bracketing Frankie’s body. “I’m also on PrEP and haven’t been with anyone since grad school. I was tested sometime last year, but I should probably get tested again. Some things can spread in locker rooms and on towels. Better safe than sorry.”
Frankie nodded and reached for his phone. He scrolled to his test results and held them out to Diego, who looked skeptically down at his phone. “I… I trust you,querido. You don’t have to share them with me.”
Frankie scowled at him and put his phone away. “D, you always have to see them. You can never be too careful. Someone could lie about how recent their results are, or if they’re doing poppers or K they might say they’re tested in the heat of the moment even if they’re not.”
Diego was looking at him with such a horrified expression Frankie couldn’t help but pull him into his arms, which resulted in Diego sort of curling up into his lap. “Right. I forget sometimes that you haven’t really experienced gay hook-up culture,” Frankie murmured.
“No, I… I haven’t,” Diego mumbled. He curled a fist into Frankie’s t-shirt. “But, I don’t have to worry about that anymore, right?”
“No,mon chéri, you don’t. You just saw my test results. Maybe now you’ll actually take it seriously and read them, and you’ll go get tested and we’ll be good to go.”
“Okay, and, uh, I have permanent birth control, so… we’re good on that too.”
For a moment Frankie almost laughed, and then with a jolt, he realized Diego was being completely serious. Fuck, he wasn’t just a gay man, he was a trans gay man and Frankie had best not forget lest he absolutely fucking step in it like by laughing at the idea of his boyfriend needing birth control.
“Oh, uh, yeah I guess if I was being responsible, like I was trying to do, I should have asked about that… uhm… is it, like, an IUD or…”
Diego tilted his head up and ran his lips over Frankie’s jaw. “I had a tubal ligation when they did my Metoidioplasty.”
Metoidioplasty. Metoidioplasty. Metoidioplasty. Maybe if Frankie said it enough times in his head, he could remember the word to google it later.
“You know… you’re allowed to ask questions. You never really have, which is fine, but now you’re my boyfriend, and my parts are… well I mean, I hope they’re kind of important to you. Since you’ll hopefully be interacting with them as soon as I get my test results back?”
“O-oh, uhm… yeah, I mean… fuck I… I have a lot of questions, D, but I don’t know if now is exactly the right time?”
They both fell silent, and Frankie listened for sounds on the other side of the closed bedroom door. Hearing none, Diego cleared his throat. “Well, maybe I can just say my piece. I’ve only said it to two other people before but I do have a little spiel if you want it.”
Frankie wanted Diego’s spiel, his love, and whatever it was that was in his pants because whatever he had was his and that meant Frankie wanted to get his hands, his mouth and possibly several other parts of himself on it – as soon as fucking possible. Were the clinics still open? He subtly glanced at the clock on the TV stand but then jerked his eyes back. He was being insensitive.Diego would get tested whenever he was ready, Frankie wouldn’t rush him.
Diego seemed to be waiting for something, studying Frankie critically, so he nodded his head frantically.
