Raphael /BoyxBoy/

||Epilogue||

Raphael was helping me pack. It seemed like my suitcase no longer had the same amount of surface area as it did when I first bought it.

"Sit on it," he said. "I'll try to zip it up."

I sat on my suitcase and watched him try to put on a neutral face as he struggled with the zipper.

"Careful," I said. "You'll break it."

He glanced up. "Maybe that's my aim."

I caught his eye, refusing to look away until he did.

He looked down at the zipper again and went back to moving it around, arm muscles bulging with effort until the zipper pulled away.

"You broke it," I stated.

He dropped the broken zipper in my hand. "Oops."

"Raphael," I started, curling my fingers around the broken zipper.

"I'll fix it," he said, interrupting me. "I can fix things, you know. I'm not completely useless."

"I know."

"So," he said, "stop freaking out. I got this."

He reached for the zipper but I clenched my fingers around it before he could grasp it. "Maybe we should take a break. We've still got some time."

He took a deep breath and stood up from where he was crouching by my side. "I'll get a glass of water."

"I'll come with you."

He hesitated before nodding, and I watched his shoulders slowly relax.

Raphael slowly filled two tall glasses with water, and I leaned comfortably against the kitchen counter as I watched him do it carefully. "You could always visit."

"So could you. Which makes more sense because Scarlet and Dan would be here too."

"They could go with you."

"Doesn't matter." He turned around and handed me a glass. Sweat dampened the roots of his hair, a result of staying cooped up in my room with no air conditioning or fan in the middle of summer. I slowly sipped the cold water and watched him gulp his own like he hadn't had a sip in a very long time.

"I still haven't met your friends."

"It's kind of too late, don't you think?"

I ignored him. "Do you tell them things about me? Like how you tattooed me, like how you helped me out, like how you've been staying over almost every night since Scarlet left but you keep insisting on sleeping on the couch even though her bed is empty and I don't mind sharing my own."

"They don't know anything about you."

"Why?"

"Because it doesn't matter if they do, does it? Your flight is tomorrow, it's not like they'll ever miss you."

"What about before? Why didn't I meet them before you knew?"

"I've always known, Jake. I knew when I sent the email, and I knew when you left, and I knew when you came back. Can we talk about something else?"

I looked down at the glass in my hand. "Okay. Will you come with me?"

He shook his head and left his glass of water on the kitchen counter before walking away.

"Is that a no?" I called after him.

He flipped me off without turning around.

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