4. Diego #3
He didn’t push, though. Frankie hadn’t brought up moving in again and Diego didn’t know how to inquire about it without also asking him to move into his bed, which he couldn’t do, because they were business partners.
Every second they spent together working in the cafe should have been professional, but instead every second felt warm, even intimate.
If Diego were being honest, warm and intimate was how things had been with Frankie since he’d come back from Europe.
It had truly been the best year and a half of Diego’s life.
He woke up thinking of Frankie and went to bed every night looking forward to seeing him again the next day.
Why, then, was he constantly finding himself wishing for more?
He should just be happy with what he had and not risk losing this amazing man. His amazing friend.
While much of Diego and Frankie’s social life had narrowed down to a close group of mutual friends, Diego still had a few friends who were just his friends and not Frankie’s, as well as his trusted sidekick from childhood, his cousin Sofia.
He began asking their advice on what to do about his feelings for Frankie, alternating between anxiety, excitement, and fear.
He’d never come to any of them for help in the past, so they all stepped up to be supportive and told him to trust his own judgment…
which was absolutely not helpful in the slightest.
By the time the weather turned cold, and the local farmers market began selling gourds and farm fresh turkeys, all of the contracts for major renovations had been signed, and construction on the cafe had begun.
Frankie was looking for secondhand furniture like it was his job, which it sort of was, and Diego had quit his job at the coffee shop.
He was spending every waking moment that he wasn’t at the bar working on the business plan with Frankie.
The current plan was to open the cafe by March, April at the latest, one year after they’d signed the lease.
They’d start with a set menu and hope to expand to a rotating menu of treats and coffees from around the world.
Since Frankie already had existing relationships with several of the coffee bean vendors in the city, he was charged with wooing them, which he did effortlessly, and soon their menu was ready for opening day.
Frankie didn’t stop there, though. He continued to build out their baked good recipes and compiled an impressive list of fancy sounding drinks.
“You do know we can’t sublease to someone else while you’re still pretending to live with us,” Seth said one night as they all sat sprawled out on a picnic blanket in the front room of the cafe.
Work on the coffee bar had just begun, so that side of the cafe was walled off with painter's tarps.
The little nook on the other side was packed full of mismatched chairs, tables, and decorations, but there was just enough space by the front door to set up a picnic and review the newest shipment of paint samples – with several bottles of wine.
At Seth’s teasing, Frankie blushed scarlet and began spluttering out apologies while Diego and Obie rolled their eyes.
While it seemed like Frankie hadn’t picked up on it yet, Diego had noticed Seth was slowly nudging Frankie to get with Diego.
His efforts ranged from casual comments about the lack of hookups filtering through their apartment these days, to noting how “handsome; stunning; and absolutely breathtaking” Diego looked in different outfits.
Diego didn’t necessarily mind, so long as Frankie never figured out his best friend was meddling in his relationship with…
well, his other best friend. Secretly, he’d begun to bargain with himself that if Frankie was the one to approach him for a relationship, or even just a casual hookup, he would consider it.
Because that’s what good friends do, right?
Consider each other’s propositions? Diego took a large gulp of wine to drown out his thoughts.
“No pressure if you’re not ready to pull the trigger. We’ve just noticed that you seem to be crashing here a lot – which as I said when you signed the lease – is very common the first year opening a business,” Obie commented, refilling first his then Seth’s glasses of wine.
“I sort of thought you would want me to slowly disappear, but keep paying rent,” Frankie said bashfully, holding out his glass for a refill.
Obie frowned as he poured him more wine. “Why would we want that? You’re a joy to have around, Frankie, but if you’re ready to move in with Diego, by all means, don’t let us, or some sort of financial obligation you feel you have towards us keep you from doing so.”
Frankie pointedly didn’t look at Diego as he mumbled something into his glass.
“ ?Qué qué?? ” Diego asked nudging Frankie with his toes when he refused to respond.
“I said, it’s not up to me,” Frankie said. He downed half his glass of wine in one go.
Diego could have sworn he heard Seth whisper, “Oh my god” and Obie covered his face with his hand.
“Franklin, I’m sure you’re not implying that you’re waiting on a gilded invitation to move in. I said you were welcome when we did the tour—”
“Actually,” Frankie interrupted quietly, staring down into the ruby red liquid in his glass.
“that’s not really what you said. You said you didn’t want me to do anything that made me uncomfortable, and moving in with you, if you don’t actually want me, makes me pretty fucking uncomfortable.
I would never want to jeopardize our friendship or our business partnership by making you uncomfortable.
” Frankie glanced up and there was heat behind his eyes, but then he just as quickly glanced away again.
Diego did his best not to sigh out loud, but Obie had no such qualms. He released an exaggerated sigh and dramatically poured himself more wine. “So yes, Diego. He’s waiting for a golden invitation.”
“Gilded,” Frankie said and Obie threw a balled up napkin at him.
“You do know where he lives, Diego. You could send him an invitation!” Seth chimed in as if this were a great idea.
“ Mierda, ” Diego cursed, and he downed the rest of his wine. “Franklin. Would you like to move into the second bedroom officially? The best friend and business partner suite, as it were.”
“You could get a golden—”
“Gilded,” Frankie said in exasperation.
“A gilded nameplate!” Seth chirped and Frankie groaned.
Perfect. Diego could solidify himself in the friend zone with a golden, gilded name plate.
Maybe then he wouldn’t be tempted to blow up their friendship accidentally by stumbling into Frankie’s room… or into Frankie’s bed.
Moving Frankie’s meager belongings into the apartment took less than half a day and just like that, all of Diego’s secret hopes and wishes came true.
Except not really.
The first few weeks living with Frankie were sort of like a dream.
They woke up around the same time for work, Diego at the bar, and Frankie doing breakfast deliveries.
Then Frankie would come back home sometime during the day and flood Diego with “to dos,” questions, and updates that Diego would respond to when he got home from work, which was usually right when Frankie would leave for the dinner delivery rush.
Frankie would either bring home dinner, or Diego would try to have something ready for them to share around eight and they’d talk, work, plan, and, more often than not, cuddle.
It was bliss, and it was torture, and it was too much and not nearly enough.
Diego found himself jacking off in the shower like a teenager – which he’d done very little of as a teen, since he had been so out of touch with his own body, he couldn’t even look at never mind touch himself.
Now, while he wasn’t in love with his body, it did finally feel like his .
To top if off, he had the added bonus of going through a second puberty, and an increased libido due to T.
His bio dick didn’t exactly work like a cis dick.
He would have had to undergo a much more complicated surgery with higher risks to connect and move his urethra, and there was little that could be done about producing semen.
While the full surgery was still an option, Diego felt solid in his conviction he didn’t want it.
He couldn’t pee standing up without a specific kind of packer, but it got erect, or rather it would engorge with blood and get a bit bigger, which was one of the most important things to Diego.
It fit in the curve of his palm, in theory allowing him to rub one out like every cis guy could, and took for granted.
The surgeon had taken tissue and tendons from his labia majora to help elongate his bio dick, and while it was sensitive to touch, it didn’t feel much different from rubbing against what was left of his labia – in other words, not a whole lot.
He’d learned, and Collin and Emilio had shown him, how to take and give pleasure with his body.
He’d even done some exploration with toys, both in his front and back hole, but still liked jerking it like any other dude in the shower.
While embarrassing because of its origin, aka his roommate, it was incredibly satisfying.
Every once in a while, he worried that Frankie might hear the vibrating toy he liked to use, but as the days continued to pass, Frankie started spending more and more time on deliveries, and a couple of times came home after Diego went to sleep.
Diego missed their intimate moments, sharing funny stories from their days, and connecting over food and drink, but the renovations on the cafe were really ramping up and sometimes Diego was almost glad for the peace and quiet at night.