Unexpected

Chapter 15

Word count: 1587

Carlos had texted Anna that he'd stay at Robert's place for the rest of the night but she hadn't read it yet. It would have been surprising if she had. It was 4 am by now.

Carlos was laying on Robert's couch. It was surprisingly comfy but Carlos couldn't fall back to sleep for the life of him. He would have had at least three more hours. But he just couldn't go back to sleep.

Sighing, he reached for his phone, hoping to find some distraction. Maybe he still had an unfinished audio book laying around somewhere. When he had just started scrolling through his audio books and podcasts, not yet having figured out how he would even listen to this since he didn't have any headphones, he heard weird noises from down the hall. 

Confused, he got up from the couch, leaving the blanket on the couch even though he felt himself getting cold. He walked down the small hallway of Robert's flat, getting closer and closer to the door at the end. He was pretty sure that this was Robert's bedroom and that he probably would get himself shot when he entered. But the door wasn't even closed. It was halfway open, giving Carlos a shitty few at the foot of the bed. The whole flat was dark and Robert's bedroom wasn't different. 

Still, Carlos could see the restless movements of the blanket which could just mean that Robert was moving a lot. "Robert?" he asked. He wasn't really trying to be quiet but his voice sounded a lot louder than he had intended to because the flat was so quiet. But it didn't matter. He got no reaction. Carefully, he stepped closer and pushed the door open all the way with his fingertips. 

Robert was laying on the right side of his bed, his head jerking from side to side every few seconds. Now and then he turned his entire body. It was obvious that he was sweating. And it wasn't even that hot. 

"Robert. Are you okay?" Carlos asked again but he didn't get a response. Carefully, he walked closer, trying to figure out if Robert kept a gun anywhere. He climbed onto the empty side of the bed, realizing that Robert apparently only had one big blanket instead of two smaller ones. 

"Hey..." he said a bit louder, putting his hand on Robert's shoulder. Immediately, Robert jerked away, his head turned towards Carlos. But he did not wake up. "Robert, it's me. Wake up." Carlos said, shaking Robert lightly. 

This time, Robert did wake up. And before Carlos had even the chance to say anything, Robert had tackled him. They both fell out of bed, making a loud crash noise when both of their bodies hit the floor. Carlos had no chance. He immediately got yanked up, turned onto his stomach and Robert fixated both of his arms on his back and put nearly his entire body weight on Carlos. 

"Robert, fuck! It's me! Carlos!" Carlos shouted but he didn't try to free himself, knowing it would just hurt and he wouldn't get free anyway. 

There was about thirty seconds of silence before Robert finally let go of him. Carlos waited calmly till he heard Robert stop moving, then he sat up and looked at the other man. "Hey. Are you okay?" he asked softly and put his hand on Robert's naked thigh. 

Robert was sitting on the edge of his bed, looking down to Carlos. He was breathing heavily and pulled on the fabric of his shirt, obviously uncomfortable in his sweaty shirt. "I'm sorry." Robert sighed. Carlos got up from the floor and sat down next to him. His cold leg pressed against the hot, slightly sweaty thigh of Robert's. "It's fine." "No, it's not. You told me you have PTSD from being held like that. And I straight up tackled you out of bed and pushed you to the floor. That wasn't okay. I'm sorry. You did nothing wrong. Thanks for waking me up, by the way." He sounded sincere. Tired. Exhausted. But sincere. 

"It's really okay. PTSD was probably too extreme. Some idiot tried to hold me like that once while he was fucking me and he really hurt me. Remember my sprained shoulder and fractured wrist? Yeah..." "That happened during sex? God, you're a kinky fucker." Robert laughed. 

Carlos got up and walked over to Robert's closet and opened it. He grabbed a T-shirt. "Put that on. You must be uncomfortable." he said and sat down again, helping Robert out of his sticky shirt and then gave him the new one to put on. "Wanna lay back down? We still got a few hours." Carlos offered. "No, I'll get a coffee and do some work." Robert sighed, "Don't really feel like sleeping." "I meant with me. Lay down with me. I can't sleep either so..." "I sweated through the entire mattress for sure." Robert sighed and scratched the back of his neck. 

"We can cuddle on the other side of the bed." Carlos offered, suddenly realizing that he was being pushy. Maybe Robert just didn't want him to be there.

"If that's fine with you." Robert shrugged. But he really seemed like he wanted this. Needed it even.

Carlos laid down and Robert took the place next to him, putting his arm under Carlos' head. "Do you want to tell me what you dreamed?" "I'd rather not. It's enough that I have insomnia, you don't need it too." "Wanna tell me something else? Talk about something?"

"Can I ask about you being queer? When I said that I have a lot of questions, I was actually serious. And you said we have a lot of lunch breaks but I don't know if you were joking." "I was. But more about the lunch breaks, not about you being allowed to ask questions. If something crosses a line, I will simply not answer. Well, I will but I will tell you that I'm not quite okay with answering that." "Fair. I will try not to cross lines. And I did do my research." "Bought a book?" "Turn around and put the light on." Robert sighed. Carlos started laughing: "Oh, you did not!" He turned around and switched on the light on the nightstand.

In the light, a completely rainbow book appeared.

"Damn, that's a real pretty one." "You should have seen the face of the cashier. She suddenly started babbling about her... their grandchild and about that he is aromantic. Didn't even know what it meant. Had to use the book to find out." "You did a good job with the pronouns. Proud of you. And aromantic is a big spectrum. Took me a while to wrap my head around it, too."

Carlos carefully cuddled up closer to Robert. And Robert just put his arms around him tighter, finally putting the blanket over the both of them. "How did you figure out that you're poly?" Robert asked.

"Well, it was after I started dating Anna. A lot after. I always had crushes while dating other people. But for one, I quickly learned that this is nothing you talk about and two, I never quiet put enough effort in to actually fall in love. Or whatever. So... I kind of thought I was just weird or everybody just kept their crushes secret. But when I was really serious with Anna, I got really close with one of my best friends and he tried to kiss me and it made me panic because I actually felt butterflies and I wanted to be with him badly but I also loved Anna so much and just wanted to be with her and love her and date her. I wanted to marry her already back then. But this guy... He gave me butterflies and I was so nervous around him and... I really wanted to fuck him."

"What did you do?" "I talked to him and Anna about it and did some googling and we agreed that we'd be fine with it and set some boundaries to figure out what we were fine with and it was my first poly relationship." Robert raised an eyebrow: "Really?"

"Fuck no!" Carlos laughed, "I broke down crying in front Anna and begged her to understand and that I wasn't trying to do anything and I wouldn't make a move on him and that I love her and that I don't know what the hell is wrong with me." "Nothing. There's nothing wrong with you." Robert said.

Carlos smiled. "I know. Now." he whispered, "Thank you, though. 19-year-old, really confused me is crying out of happiness right now." "You think, 19-year-old, really confused you would like me?" Robert smiled. "I don't know. Present-Me really likes you, though. Present-Me might even have the tiniest crush on you."

"Well, Present-Me likes Present-You a lot, too. I don't know when I had my last crush. But I barely can remember the last time I was in a serious relationship, so..." "This is not a dramatic romance movie thing. You don't have to say I love you just because I think you look hot." "You are hot. Really hot. I can assure you that." "Well, if my job is giving me nightmares and makes me vomit into trashcans in the middle of the street, I might as well look hot. You know... just fair."

Robert looked down at Carlos, softly caressing his cheek. "I would really like to kiss you right now." he said. Carlos moved his head up a little, smiling softly: "I'd like that too."