3. Frankie #5
Frankie often poked fun at Diego by asserting that he loved Frankie.
Diego never said it out loud, but Frankie truly believed it.
On the other hand, Seth liked to proclaim how much he loved Frankie.
Obie had admitted, only once, that he was rather fond of “you annoying bastards.” Frankie counted the concession as a pretty big win.
When he thought about it, he could tell Diego loved him because even though Frankie was playing only a peripheral role in the development of the plan for the cafe, Diego always included him in big decision making, and always said “we” aka “Frankie and Diego” when speaking about the future.
This was why Frankie continued to do everything he could to show Diego that he loved him too.
This mostly consisted of continuing to develop baked goods recipes and compiling a list of over fifty coffee beans he thought they should stock on a rotating basis.
As the holidays approached, Frankie thought of another way he could demonstrate his love.
Obie and Seth had made it clear, Seth in vague terms and Obie in absolutely no uncertain terms, that they would not be going “home” for Thanksgiving.
Assuming nothing had changed while he was away, Frankie guessed the same was true for Diego.
Frankie obviously hadn’t been able to go home the previous year, and he thought maybe this was a good way to begin establishing his status as an independent adult with his parents.
Without consulting Diego, which was admittedly a pretty big risk, Frankie called his parents two weeks before Thanksgiving and told them he wasn’t coming home.
He told them he was going to spend the day with his friends instead.
Unprompted, his mother asked when she was going to meet the lucky guy or gal and his father told him to use protection either way.
Frankie hung up in an indignant huff, but was actually quite grateful his parents took his sexuality seriously.
They’d always been rather dismissive of Penelope’s sexuality, which he knew wasn’t fair, but he wasn’t quite sure how to be supportive other than to continue being loudly queer, forcing his parents to acknowledge it was possible to be bi/pan.
It turned out by not going home for Thanksgiving, he got Penelope out of having to go home as well.
Penelope and Frankie lived relatively separate lives, but they’d established a routine during the fall.
At the beginning of every month, Frankie would take her to one of the restaurants on his rotating list of favorites and at the end of the month she’d come over for dinner and allow Frankie to try out some of his new recipes.
The added bonus from their routine was that Penelope got to spend a fair amount of time with Seth and Obie, and on occasion she’d also get to hang out with Diego.
Without having to say anything, Frankie knew Penelope was hoping they would date.
Anytime she invited Frankie on an outing with her and her friends, typically her best friend Maria and a rotating cast of others, she would casually mention he could bring Diego.
At first, he declined out of principle, but slowly he realized he liked nothing more than spending his time with Diego and his favorite, albeit only, sister.
When Thanksgiving week arrived, Penelope invited herself to their apartment for Thanksgiving dinner and demanded Diego join them.
Of course, Frankie had been planning on inviting Diego anyways, but with Penelope’s proclamation, it suddenly became very real that they would be cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for five people.
Frankie took over all the baking, and Obie and Diego drew the shortest straws for the turkey, leaving Seth and Penelope to whip up a series of regular sides like potatoes, green beans and gravy, but also some increasingly outrageous dishes.
Frankie was sort of intrigued by the idea of the orange and cranberry sweet potato mash, but the cinnamon rutabaga and sour cream and onion cornbread casserole did not intrigue him in the slightest.
He bumped shoulders with Obie at the oven, leaned against Penelope while chopping ingredients, and let his hand graze across Diego’s upper back as he passed behind him.
As their little house filled with warmth from the oven, and the tantalizing smell of turkey and spices, Frankie wasn’t sure if he’d ever felt more at home on Thanksgiving.
“I love you guys,” he said as they all sat down to dinner.
“Awww, love you so much, baby bro,” Penelope said, nearly falling out of her chair to hug his shoulders.
“We love you too, roomie. Seriously… best roommate I could ever have,” Seth said, and Obie lifted his glass to Frankie.
He tried not to, but as he gazed around the table, he found himself meeting Diego’s soft gaze. “I’m so glad you’re home, rey ,” Diego murmured and Frankie was surprised to find he knew what it meant: “my king.”
“Happy to be home , roi ,” Frankie responded in French, and Diego’s smile could have lit a thousand of their little apartments.
As they dug into their food, Diego began to fidget and although it wasn’t quite as noticeable, Obie also seemed a little off. Finally, Seth said, “Is everything alright, my love? Do you not like the food?”
Obie lowered his empty fork to his plate, picked up his napkin, and made a big show of wiping his mouth. The entire time, he stared directly at Diego who slowly flushed a rather endearing shade of pink.
“Everything is great, sweetheart. We have some news, Diego and I, but I’ve been waiting for his cue to share.”
Diego’s lips were pressed together in a tight line and he inclined his head to Obie.
A beat passed, and then a huge smile split across Obie’s face. “I’m taking that to mean I should share my news first. So… I have officially hired three new staff members, and am actually going to be renting out the studio to one of them, which means—”
“You’re moving in!” Seth shrieked and launched himself into Obie’s arms.
“Yes, baby. I’m moving in, so long as that’s okay with Frankie.”
Frankie nodded, somewhat bemusedly since Obie had been spending almost every night at their place anyways even if he didn’t arrive until late and sometimes had to leave early in the morning. Hopefully for Seth, this would mean Obie would be around during waking hours moving forward.
Obie shifted Seth around until he was curled on his lap side saddle, his face tucked into Obie’s neck. “What’s the second thing?” Seth asked eagerly.
“Well, with the money I’m going to be making on rent, after what I’ll obviously be contributing to rent here—”
Frankie waved him off. As far as he was concerned, Obie didn’t have too much to contribute, except maybe in food and utilities. Obie and Seth were sort of one entity taking up one room in the apartment.
“Well, I will be contributing in rent, but it will still leave some extra income, and the store is doing phenomenally well, so… I’ve been thinking about making some investments.
Originally, I had thought about opening another store, but in trying to staff this one I’ve come to realize one is more than enough.
But, I still want to help shape this city by promoting queer owned businesses and safe spaces.
So,” he looked expectantly at Diego, who appeared to have gone mute with anxiety.
His shoulders were tense, and Frankie could see him white knuckling the napkin in his lap.
“So…” Obie continued slowly, giving Diego one last chance to step in. When he didn’t, Obie rolled his eyes and exclaimed, “I’m going to co-sign whatever space Diego and Frankie settle on for their inclusive cafe.”
Frankie dropped his fork, Penelope gasped so hard she choked; Seth popped his head up and let out a loud whoop and Diego just stared anxiously at Frankie.
“If… if you still want that. If you really do want to go into business with me – and with Obie,” Diego asked softly.
“Obie is just a financier. Obie wants nothing to do with making the hard decisions or staffing a cafe long term,” Obie chimed in.
Seth giggled and kissed him on the nose. “You do have pretty shit taste in coffee, love.”
“I really do, baby,” he kissed him solidly on the lips and Frankie felt all melty inside.
Then, he turned to meet Diego’s terrified gaze and he did melt.
He leaned forward out of his chair and threw his arms around Diego’s shoulders, pressing his face into the overheated juncture point between the mound of his shoulder and his neck.
“Of course I still want to go into business with you. You’re my best friend, my future business partner, and my cabbage. ”
Diego let out a choking noise somewhere between a laugh and a cry. He lifted up a shaky hand and placed it against Frankie’s cheek, turning to brush his lips softly over Frankie’s hair.
“ Mi vida… ” he whispered, and Frankie swore to high heaven he was going to remember to look this one up tonight once the others went home.