Page 51 of They Were Roommates
“Thanks, cabbage. That's so sweet of you to say.”
Diego dropped to his knees and pulled Frankie into his arms.
“D, I have to ask the question!”
“Then ask the damn question, Frankie. Because I want to fuck my fiancé and order pizza to celebrate.”
“Oooh, really pulling out all the stops tonight.”
“That’s it. I’ll just give you an answer since you refuse to ask. Yes. I will marry you, Franklin.”
Frankie laughed and turned his head, so their cheeks were pressed together. He brought the rings up in front of their faces.
“You’ll marry me?” he asked, laughter brightening the words until they seemed to shimmer like the beautiful rings he’d chosen for them.
“Yes, my love. Of course I will.”
“You want to be my cabbage forever?”
“I will be your eternal cabbage, yes,” Diego said, and he wondered if Frankie could feel how hard he was rolling his eyes from where their heads were connected.
“My ride or die, cruciferous companion?”
“Been thinking about that one for a while?” Diego teased, feeling so happy he was almost giddy, in a way he’d never felt before.
“Came up with it on the spot, actually,” Frankie joked right back as if he was feeling it too.
Diego held his hand up, probably a little too close to Frankie’s face. “You gonna put a ring on it?”
“Damn fucking right I am.”
They turned to face each other, and a moment of peace settled over them. They stared into each other's eyes as Frankie slid the ring onto Diego’s finger. It was a perfect fit. Frankie handed him the second ring and then held out his own hand.
“Te amo, Franklin,” Diego murmured, sliding the ring into place.
“Je t’aime, Diego,” Frankie whispered as he pulled Diego down with him onto the floor. They lay there, curled around each other, for far too long, all thoughts of sex and sustenance set aside to give space to this moment that was just one of a series of moments they’d shared together over the past six years.
“That day I stole your seat in class… could you have ever imagined we’d be here?” Diego murmured and Frankie nuzzled his cheek against Diego’s head.
“No, I absolutely could not have imagined it. I think we needed to go through every stage of our relationship to get here. While the snuggles and sex are phenomenal and I wish we’d been doing that the whole time, and I also do sort of wish I’d gotten to go to a few drunken frat parties with you… I think we needed every single step we took to get here.”
Diego couldn’t help but agree. He laced his fingers with Frankie’s and marveled at the way their rings caught the dull light.
“I’m grateful for every single minute I’ve shared with you, my love. I wouldn’t trade a single second of it.”
They kissed. Eventually they had sex and ordered their favorite severely overpriced pizza. They ate it naked in bed, because that’s what fiancés got to do, or so Frankie claimed. Diego would reinstate the no food in bed rule when they weren’t celebrating their engagement.
He knew they had a long road ahead of them, and some of the immediate future was going to be filled with telling Frankie’s family, the rest of their friends, and probably their staff and customers, but for tonight Diego just wanted to enjoy this.
“I love you in every language, across two continents, and flavored with every coffee we sell, even the ones you love to hate,” Frankie whispered right as they were falling asleep.
“I love you on my good and my bad days, during every event we’ve hosted, and plan to host, and even when you’ve forgotten to put up the industrial sized dishwasher for the seventh time.”
Frankie laughed. “Hey, mister, you didn’t hear me say that I still love you even when you leave the dildos in our apartment dishwasher and Seth finds them when he goes looking for a mug.”
Diego rolled over on top of him and captured his mouth in a sleepy, messy kiss. “Thank you. For loving me the way you do,querido.”
Frankie smiled softly and wound his arms around Diego’s back. “Forever, Diego.”
“Para siempre,Frankie.”
“Pour toujours.”
The End
