Page 50 of They Were Roommates
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. Frankiehad 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.
Frankie’s smile drooped a little. “Uh… well… most of it was actually kind of what I said on the couch. Tracing our history, and marveling at just how much we’ve been through together. Um, I thought maybe I could mention how there were so many times where either one of us could have made a different decision, taken a different path, and not ended up here together, but… in the end… we did. We’re here, and we’resoin love. I wake up every morning and can’t believe how lucky I am to have someone who loves me the way you do. I know I can be difficult,and that sometimes my version of romance after a long day at work is to suck you off while you eat dinner so we can get to bed sooner—”
Diego let out a startled laugh, cutting off Frankie’s rambling by reaching forward to take Frankie’s hand. Frankie smiled up at him, unshed tears sparkling in his gorgeous eyes.
“That’s my version of romance too, you know,” Diego murmured. “You and me, spending the day at our shared business, with the community we’ve created, and coming home to relax in this place we’ve made our home.”
Frankie gave a loud sniff and a singletear slid down his cheek. “I love you, Diego.
Te amo mas grandeytu eres todo de mi mundo.”
Diego had never imagined laughing this much while being proposed to, but he let out a startled laugh that managed to scare off some of his own tears. “Um… I think, and really that was so bad and so clearly looked up on google translate, I can’t even be totally sure, but Ithinkyou were trying to say,‘te amo mucho. Eres mi mundo entero.’I love you so much. You are my entire world.”
Frankie smiled at him, and his heart skipped a beat. It was the same smile he’d given him the day their loan had been approved – like he could see their entire future playing in a reel in his mind, and he loved what he saw.
