5. Frankie
Frankie
Frankie knew he was overstaying his welcome, but he didn’t know what else to do. It had been three days and he hadn’t heard anything from Diego.
“Do you want to bake something?” Seth asked hesitantly from where he was standing in the kitchen nervously wringing his hands as he looked between Obie and Frankie.
No, he really didn’t want to bake anything, but he was a guest now, and if Seth wanted to bake with him, he’d do it.
“Do you want something in particular?” Frankie asked, trying to force a bit of life into his voice.
“I really like those guava pastries. I know the last time we talked, you were trying to put some sort of cream cheese mixture into them. I still have some of the canned guava and we always have pastry ingredients, so maybe we could…” Seth trailed off, possibly having noticed Frankie’s pain.
“How about you make something with chocolate? That always cheers Seth up,” Obie suggested. He cast his husband a pitying glance.
“If you don’t want to bake, we don’t have to.
I just thought… maybe it would help.” Seth looked so dejected.
Frankie couldn’t help but go to him. They met in the middle of the kitchen and Frankie folded himself into his arms. Frankie wasn’t short by any means, but Seth was quite tall, and easily enveloped Frankie in his lanky embrace.
He couldn’t believe it had only been 72 hours since he was standing in his own kitchen hoping his world was about to change. Well, it sure had changed, just not for the better. Maybe this kitchen would be his again if things didn’t work out and Diego kicked him out of the apartment.
Frankie and Seth moved around the kitchen effortlessly.
They had months of practice reading each other’s movements and subtle cues.
It made them the perfect baking partners, even if Seth could barely make peel n’ bake cookies.
He was a great helper though, handing Frankie exactly what he needed almost before he even asked.
Once the triple chocolate chunk cookies were in the oven, Frankie made a beeline back for the couch, which had become his haven.
The guest bedroom, as Seth and Obie were now calling it, was open and available for use, but something about sleeping in his old room just seemed like giving up.
So instead, he’d been curling up on the couch each night, his head in Seth’s lap and feet in Obie’s, grateful not to be alone.
He was just about in position to swan dive into the luscious cushions when a soft knock sounded at the door. Frankie tried not to overreact, but when all Obie and Seth did was stare at him, he sprinted for the door. He pawed at the lock, and nearly hit himself in the face as he yanked it open.
Diego stood there looking soft and sad, a look Frankie had been seeing a lot of lately. Come to think of it, Diego had been wearing the same expression every time Frankie came home from Seth and Obie’s place as well as when he had been ripping Frankie’s heart out Saturday night.
“Hi… can I… come in?” he asked. His fingers twitched at his side like he wanted to reach for Frankie but couldn’t. While part of Frankie desperately needed to touch this man, his best friend, roommate, business partner, and entire future, he thought it would be better if he didn’t.
He stepped back, pressing himself to the open door to allow Diego to pass. When Frankie turned around, he saw that Seth and Obie were gone.
“I’m so sorry this took so long,” Diego murmured. He turned to face Frankie and he finally noticed Diego was holding a thick manila envelope.
“What is ‘this’?” Frankie asked skeptically.
“Well… I hope it's a way for us to be together?” Diego said looking sheepish but also so very hopeful.
Frankie cocked a brow and slowly walked over to the couch. They sat down on opposite sides and Diego started pulling out documents.
“I had to wait for our lawyer’s office to open on Monday and then it took a full business day for him to make the proposed changes. Obviously, none of this is official until you sign it but—”
“And what exactly is it that I’m signing?” Frankie interrupted, apprehension prickling his skin.
“Uh, it’s basically all our business documents rewritten with additional clauses that would allow one of us to buy the other out, no questions asked, no additional legal proceedings, no problems, if we…
broke up, or otherwise wanted to terminate our…
partnership,” Diego said. He glanced up at Frankie with a naked vulnerability that nearly took Frankie’s breath away.
“So, in essence, you’re asking me to sign a prenup?” Frankie asked, trying for light and teasing, but instead sounding rather acerbic.
Diego’s face fell and he began to fidget nervously with the papers. God, Frankie was doing this to him. Diego had always been so confident and sure, but everything to do with them as a couple seemed to throw Diego off kilter. Could they risk that happening with their business too?
“Um, yeah, I guess that is in essence what it is, but, just like a prenup isn’t a bad thing, this isn’t a bad thing either?
It means I… I want to be with you Frankie.
So badly, and I want to protect this thing we’re creating together in case…
in case you don’t end up wanting to be with me long term–”
“Or you get tired of my slutty, undergraduate ways.” Again, Frankie sounded petty and mean, not funny and witty like he normally strove for when he was around Diego.
Diego grimaced and dropped his head. “Frankie I… I’m so sorry if I said anything that night that hurt you, or if I’ve said anything in the past that has hurt you.
You mean the world to me and I hold you in the absolute highest regard.
You are truly the only person I have ever wanted to be with and I’m just trying to figure out how to make both our business and our relationship work. ”
Why was Frankie fighting this? It made sense, in theory.
Just like a prenup wasn’t a statement on either party’s confidence in the relationship, these safeguards weren’t either.
But why did it feel like Diego trusted him enough to go into business with him, but not to run the business as partners in every sense of the word?
“What if I just back out of the business now? Then we could just date like normal people and—”
“No! Frankie, no I… that’s not what I want. That is quite literally the exact opposite of what I want. I want to start a business with you. I’ve wanted that for almost two years now.”
“But, you don’t trust me. Otherwise, why would you already be preparing for the worst when we haven’t even had a chance at the best.”
“I do trust you, Frankie! That’s not what this is about! We just have to safeguard the business for you, me, and Obie.”
Frankie had to move. He stood up and started pacing around the room, his chest clenching even tighter every time he looked at the paperwork.
God, why couldn’t Diego just love him? Love him with a stupid blind faith just like Frankie did.
Just like he’d been doing since he agreed to go into business with him.
Frankie slowed to a stop and hung his head. That was it, wasn’t it? Frankie was already head over heels for Diego, something he’d never felt before, and Diego was being his normal, levelheaded self and had to approach everything, including Frankie’s heart, with a plan.
Diego was watching him like a rabbit eying a wolf. Frankie abruptly stopped right in front of him. Diego flinched in surprise.
“D,” Frankie whispered.
“Franklin, mi querido, please. I don’t know what else to do, or what you want me to say.
I want to be with you, and I want to own an inclusive coffee shop with you where kids and other people like me and like you can have somewhere to go and feel safe, unlike how I felt my entire childhood and most of my adult life.
I want to do this with you, Frankie, please! ”
Frankie slowly sank down until he was kneeling on the floor in front of Diego. Diego kicked the coffee table back and practically threw himself onto the floor, knotting his hands in Frankie’s shirt and pressing their foreheads together. Frankie closed his eyes and took in a deep, calming breath.
“I want you too, Diego. I was practically begging you on Saturday.”
“And now I am literally on my knees begging you . Please, Franklin, forgive me for taking a little longer than I should have. I’ve been living with these feelings for so long…
truly longer than I think you’ve even liked me.
Since that first day in class, I knew there was something about you, and it’s only gotten stronger throughout these past three years of friendship. I really like you, querido .”
Frankie opened his eyes and took a moment to savor the burgundy color mottling Diego’s cheekbones. “You know I say I love you all the time.”
Diego frowned. “I know, and I’ve treasured every single one of those ‘I love yous.’ I…
I love you as a friend too, Frankie. But I can’t just casually say it like you do.
Is that what you need to hear? That I’ve grown to love you as a friend, and I want time to see if my feelings turn into actual, romantic amor ? Because Franklin, that's what I want.”
Tears Frankie had been doing his damndest not to shed for three full days, from the moment he saw stupid Emilio touching his Diego, returned to his eyes full force, and when he blinked, they spilled over.
“ Querido. ”
Frankie pressed their lips together in a soft kiss, nothing like the collision of Saturday night when Frankie had wanted to consume Diego. He’d wanted to hold him so tight he would become a part of Frankie, and he’d never be able to leave him.