Chapter 12 Choosing Us #2
The rooms were organized but lacked personality.
It had been a perfect apartment for the man Adrian used to be.
Now they wanted something different.
Not simply Riley’s home.
Not simply Adrian’s home.
Their home.
They started with the living room.
Riley wanted warmer colors.
Adrian wanted to keep the room uncluttered.
They compromised.
A warm cream wall replaced the colder shade that had been there before. Riley chose soft cushions and a comfortable throw for the sofa. Adrian selected a simple wooden coffee table with clean lines.
Riley added framed artwork.
Adrian chose where the photographs would go.
They worked surprisingly well together.
When they disagreed, neither treated the disagreement as a battle.
They discussed it.
Sometimes Adrian won.
Sometimes Riley did.
Sometimes they found a third option neither had considered.
That was what Riley liked most.
The apartment was changing without either man losing himself.
One afternoon, Riley carried a framed painting into the hallway.
Adrian looked up from his laptop.
“Where are you putting that?”
“Here.”
Adrian studied the wall.
“Good.”
Riley smiled.
“You don’t want to see it first?”
“I trust you.”
Riley stopped.
The words were simple.
Yet they carried weight.
Adrian trusted him with the home.
With his life.
With the future they were building.
Riley carefully hung the painting.
It showed a small house beneath a wide evening sky.
Two figures stood in the doorway.
They were not detailed enough to identify.
But Riley knew who they represented.
He stepped back.
Adrian came to stand beside him.
“I like it.”
“I thought you would.”
“What does it mean?”
Riley looked at the painting.
“Home.”
Adrian nodded.
“That makes sense.”
The changes continued.
Riley created a small art corner near the window.
Adrian had once used the space for medical journals.
Now it held shelves of paints, brushes, sketchbooks, and paper.
Adrian didn’t mind.
In fact, he built an additional shelf for Riley himself.
“You made this?”
“Yes.”
Riley ran his fingers along the wood.
“It’s beautiful.”
“It’s a shelf.”
“It’s my shelf.”
Adrian smiled.
“Exactly.”
Riley kissed him.
“Thank you.”
Adrian’s arms slipped around him.
“You don’t have to thank me for having space in your own home.”
Riley looked at him.
“Our home.”
Adrian smiled.
“Our home.”
They moved through the apartment one room at a time.
The kitchen became warmer.
The dining room became more comfortable.
The hallway filled with photographs.
Even the bathroom gained a few small touches Riley insisted were necessary.
Adrian didn’t understand why a plant needed to be there.
Riley insisted that every room needed something alive.
Adrian eventually stopped arguing.
Then came the study.
Riley stood at the doorway.
“Are you sure?”
Adrian looked at him.
“About what?”
“This room.”
Adrian understood.
The study had always been his private space.
His books.
His research.
His files.
His memories.
Riley had never wanted to invade it.
Adrian walked inside.
“Do you want to change it?”
“Maybe a little.”
“Then change it.”
Riley looked surprised.
“You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
“You used to keep everything exactly where it was.”
“I still do.”
“Adrian.”
He smiled.
“Except now you live here.”
Riley looked around.
“What if I move something important?”
“I’ll tell you.”
“What if I make it too colorful?”
“I’ll survive.”
Riley laughed.
He didn’t transform the study completely.
He simply added small pieces of himself.
A lamp with warm light.
A framed illustration.
A comfortable chair near the window.
A shelf for his notebooks.
The study still looked like Adrian.
But now it also looked like Riley.
That felt right.
The affirmation cards received special attention.
Riley found the small wooden box in Adrian’s study one evening.
He held it carefully.
“Where should this go?”
Adrian looked at it.
“Somewhere visible.”
Riley smiled.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
They chose a small shelf in the hallway between the living room and bedroom.
It was impossible to miss.
The box sat there beside a framed photograph of them together.
Riley placed a small card beside it.
You are allowed to be cared for.
Adrian looked at the words.
Then at Riley.
“That one should stay there.”
Riley smiled.
“Why?”
“Because I need to remember it.”
Riley touched his arm.
“You don’t have to earn care anymore.”
“I know.”
Adrian kissed him.
“And neither do you.”
The apartment gradually became something neither man could have created alone.
It had Riley’s warmth.
Adrian’s order.
Riley’s artwork.
Adrian’s photographs.
Soft blankets.
Books.
Plants.
Medical journals.
Sketchbooks.
Two coffee cups.
Two lives.
One home.
The bedroom changed last.
It had been the most private room in the apartment.
Adrian had originally chosen simple furniture and neutral colors.
Riley added warmer bedding.
A soft rug.
A small lamp.
A few framed illustrations.
Adrian chose a photograph for the bedside table.
It was one of the two of them laughing together.
Riley smiled when he saw it.
“You look happy.”
Adrian looked at the photograph.
“I was.”
“You are.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Yes.”
They stood in the middle of the room.
Riley looked around.
He remembered the first night he had stayed there.
He had slept in the guest room.
His belongings had been packed in bags.
He had promised himself it would only be temporary.
Now there was no guest room in his life.
There was only home.
Riley walked toward the window.
“I can’t believe how different it looks.”
Adrian came up behind him.
“It is.”
“Do you miss the old apartment?”
Adrian thought about it.
“No.”
Riley turned.
“Not even a little?”
Adrian shook his head.
“I barely remember it.”
Riley smiled.
“You lived here for years.”
“I know.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“But it feels like another life.”
Riley’s expression softened.
Adrian wrapped his arms around him.
“I can no longer remember what this apartment felt like before you filled it with warmth.”
Riley closed his eyes.
He rested against Adrian’s chest.
The words were more meaningful than any compliment about the artwork.
Riley hadn’t simply decorated the apartment.
He had helped Adrian create a life inside it.
And Adrian had given Riley something just as important.
A place where he could belong without asking permission.
They stood together quietly.
Outside, the city continued moving.
Inside, their home was finally still.
Riley looked around once more.
The walls held their memories.
The shelves held their dreams.
The affirmation box held proof of the journey that had brought them there.
Their bedroom held the promise of everything still ahead.
Riley smiled.
“We built this.”
Adrian kissed his temple.
“Together.”
Riley slipped his arms around him.
For the first time, the word home did not describe a building.
It described a person.
And as Adrian held him, Riley knew that the life they were creating was no longer something they were waiting to begin.
It had already begun.
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