A Daddy for Benito by Joe Satoria
22. HARRY
In all honesty, I never saw that situation ending well. From the second he told me; I knew immediately what would happen. She would deny me and everything around me. It had happened all my life, but I knew more than anything, it hurt Benito.
Cuddling up to him on the sofa, he was quiet. He didn’t say another word since she’d gone. We watched more episodes of Sailor Moon and he continued to stay cuddled up in my arms. He barely moved. I wondered if he was even awake. He was, and of course, he was just watching and taking his mind off everything.
“You want something to eat?” I asked. “Because I can absolutely make you something.”
He hummed. “On the sofa?”
“Yes, you can eat on the sofa, but only if you put a tea towel down to catch crumbs, or whatever,” I said. “We still have a lot of cheese and meat left from yesterday. If you want me to make you a sandwich, or cheese on toast.”
“Yes,” he said, immediately, turning he looked me in the eye and smiled. “Cheese on toast.”
“With tomato soup?” I asked.
“You have tomato soup?
“Usually reserved for sick days, but today didn’t go as planned, so I think whatever you want, I’ll get it for you.”
He turned back around, sighing into my chest. “More than anything,” he began, “I just want to stay here all day. I shouldn’t have texted her.” He sighed.
“It’s ok.” I kissed on the back of his head. “It was going to happen sooner or later, and with talk of family yesterday. I needed to speak to her. If we’re going to be serious about this, I think it’s only right we do that without me feeling a looming conversation I need to have with her.”
“So, I’ve been good?”
“The best,” I said, kissing him gently once more. “And I think it came at a perfect time. The new week starts tomorrow, so we can start with it.”
“Can I ask you a question?” He snuggled deeper against my chest.
“Anything.”
“Did you mean it before?”
There was a lot that was said, he would need to narrow it down for me to know what he meant. And most of it was a blur I was trying not to think about. I didn’t need it to linger on my long-term memory. “What?”
“The boyfriend thing,” he said.
“Well,” I chuckled, “eventually, I think it’s hard to find a real connection nowadays, and the way everything, all the signs are pointing, I kinda feel like that’s where we’re going.”
“So?”
“You want me to ask you?”
He nodded, turning his head briefly to look me in the eye. “Yeah.”
“Benito, will you be my boyfriend?” I asked with the largest grin in the world, it was eating up my face, and probably burning up calories too.
“No,” he said.
“Wait, what do you mean—you just—” my smile snapped away.
“There has to be terms,” he said, “I’ll only agree to be your boyfriend if, you have yoghurts in the fridge every day, you learn each character from Sailor Moon, and also you have to pick a favourite, and then—”
“Deal,” I said.
“Oh, I was going to say—”
“No, wait—”
“You already said deal.”
“Ok, what else?”
He shook his head, chuckling to himself.
I pressed my mouth into his neck, tickling at him with my beard. He winced into it, giggling. “I could say anything,” he said.
“Well, say it.”
“I never have to do the dishes again.”
That was an easy agreement. I preferred doing them anyway. It saved me rinsing them before using them. “Oh, damn, but—well, I suppose, I already said deal.”
“Yay!” He spun around, covering my face with kisses. “And you benefit to, because you get me.” He gestured to himself, rubbing both hands down his body.
“Well, you drive a hard bargain.”
“Is that the name of your—”
“Hard bargain? Well, I wouldn’t call it a bargain, unless your hole is cheap.”
He scoffed. I knew he wasn’t cheap. I was the one footing the bills for rent and food. He was far from cheap.
“I suppose now,” I began, reaching for his face, “if we’re both serious about this, we can think about planning to go away somewhere, together. I mean, you have been a good boy, I haven’t had a holiday in over a year.”
He flopped against me, chest to chest. I wrapped my arms around his back, pulling him into a deep hug. “I want a beach,” he said in a whisper.
“Then a beach it is.”
