The Increasingly Misnamed Short Story (AKA, This is A Not-So-Short Story, pt. 20)

Been reading along, but don’t remember what happened earlier? Just tuning in and wondering how we got here? You can find all of the previous installments here for more.
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The boyfriend looks at the floor. He plays with the floorboard with his toe.

“M-maybe it m-ight b-be b-best if y-you talked o-outside.”, his boyfriend says, still looking down at the floor.

“Are you sure?’, he asks, gently placing a hand on his arm.

His boyfriend shakes his head. He opens his mouth to speak, but stops with a slightly disconcerted look on his face.

“N-no, I-I’m n-not r-really sure.”, his boyfriend says, “B-but I d-don’t kn-know if I ever w-will.”

The boy rubs his boyfriend’s back, caressing him gently. He hugs his boyfriend tight and whispers something in his boyfriend’s ear.

“If that’s what would make you feel more comfortable, we’ll go outside.”, the boy says looking at both men.

He nods as he takes his boyfriend in his arms.

“I’ll be right back.”, he says as he closes his eyes and rests his head on his shoulder for a moment.

As much as it pains him to let his boyfriend go, he loosens his grip as he kisses his boyfriend’s forehead. His lips gently caress the furrowed skin of his brow.

“I love you.”, he says to his boyfriend with a slight grin.

“I l-love you t-too.”, his boyfriend replies.

“Shall we?”, the boy asks him

He replies simply with a nod. He lets his hand fall from his boyfriend’s arm as he walks away toward the door of his boyfriend’s apartment. Once the exits the apartment, he beings to feel a bit apprehensive. What does this guy want from him? Is this going to be some bad news? It appeared to not be the news he was afraid of, but is it still something bad? These thoughts continuously raced through his head as he continued to walk down the hall… the hall that seemed so much shorter than it had before.

Once he stepped on to the elevator, he felt his apprehension grow. It’s not like he didn’t like the boy. He genuinely didn’t mind him. Hell, he actually kinda liked him. He couldn’t let his mind stop wondering about what the boy could possibly want to talk to him about. After all, this man has always been his boyfriend’s boy.

The elevator dinged with every floor. With every ding he could feel his apprehension grow. He felt like a child about to be chastised by his teacher. Not knowing the scope of this conversation except that he and his boyfriend were not breaking up wasn’t enough to break this special kind of dread.

The final ding sounded and the door opened in front of the pair.

“After you.”, says the boy with a slight grin on his face.

He takes a deep breath as he steps forward.

(To be continued)