Impress Me Not: Neon Underground

Chapter 73

It was a good day, even though they were still waiting for an answer. Mateo was happy to see Melvin joking around with everyone. He seemed to like messing with Anton the most. Anton took it with stride. He mainly just sounded worried when he talked.

Lucas came by a little while afterwards. Him and Anton had decided to spend the night. Mel agreed to it, and Anton didn't seem like he wanted to leave right then. They didn't exactly know when they were going to get the call, or what was going to happen once they got it. Vladimir had some plan that he talked to them all about, but Mateo couldn't really focus on it. Every time they started talking about the worse case scenario he tended to blank out and not hear a word they said.

Having everyone come over definitely helped, though. Melvin was much happier. Mateo couldn't imagine what was going on in that head of his before. He remembered how the man said that Mateo needed a break from him, but that was just ridiculous. Why would he? It wasn't like he was sick himself. Mateo would rather give up a year of sleep or going out and doing things than lose any time with him.

He really hoped that this wasn't as bad as everyone was saying it was. He really couldn't lose him. It was messed up that it took until now for that to settle in, but he really felt like this man was the only person that he could see himself with for the rest of his life. And he was seriously going to lose his mind if he wound up losing Mel.

"I really wasn't expecting all this to happen," Lucas sighed. He sat down on the couch with him while Anton was talking with Mel.

"Me either," Mateo told him. "I can't make heads or tales of what that doctor was trying to say."

"You never were good at listening to doctor garble," Lucas said. "I remember when called me to try and figure out something on your medical records."

"They're more confusing than our contracts were," Mateo said. "And this is just the worst. I hate that they're talking about all these possibilities when we don't even know if he has cancer or not."

"People worry about the worst," he answered. "So, doctors tell them the plan for the worst case scenario. It's just like when we were having to convince people to sign those contracts. They would ask questions about if something bad happened, and we would have to reassure them."

"Well, yeah," he frowned. "But this is someone's life."

"That's what makes it even more important to have those conversations," Lucas looked over to him. "You really love him, don't you?"

"I do," Mateo answered before his brain could fully register the question. He hadn't been thinking about telling anyone, but it was kind of obvious when he was around the man, in his house, constantly. "I really do."

Saying it out loud was relieving in a way. Mateo just wished he could have said it to Mel instead. He had said that he thought he loved him before all of this, but that didn't count. That doubt he had before had all flown away the second that this happened. It was a moment of clarity as he realized that he really couldn't live without the man.

"I'm happy for you, Mat," Lucas said. His brown eyes had a sparkle of happiness. "I'm glad that you finally found someone who can make you happy."

"I feel like an asshole," Mateo laughed and shook his head. "I treated so many people like shit. I even tried to treat Mel like shit at first." Granted, with Mel, that was because the man was torturing him. But still. "I don't know why I ever wanted to do all those things. Looking back, it all seems like the most stupidest thing I could have ever done."

"I didn't exactly help you with that either," Lucas shrugged. "I honestly don't think either of us were good people at a point in time. I'm just glad that we can put it all behind us now."