Bryan's POV

I stick my head outside the door which the twins have just disappeared through. "They're gone," I tell Diego, closing the kitchen door. Spinning around to face him with a huge grin on my face, I say, "tell me what happened! Chase groped your butt!"

"I know! I still can't believe my sweet, innocent cuddle bear squeezed my butt! I blame your boyfriend for corrupting him," Diego responds, smiling from ear to ear.

"Yeah, I can see that," I respond with a chuckle. I wouldn't be surprised if Jesse talks about my butt constantly, my tomato is definitely obsessed with it. A smile graces my face at that thought but I quickly refocus on Diego. "Is he comfortable with casual touches now?"

He nods with a smile still plastered to his face. "He told me to treat him like I would any other boyfriend so that's what I'll do!"

"You should still be careful with him," I respond.

Diego can be a bit intense, and though he'll never intentionally hurt Chase, he's very touchy. From observing how he was in his previous relationships, he would always want to be holding hands or touching his partner's hair or hugging them, something to maintain physical contact.

"Just because I'll be treating him like I would any other person I was in a relationship with, doesn't mean that I won't be checking for signs of discomfort, like him tensing or flinching. I also told him that he has to be completely honest if he doesn't like something," Diego replies and I nod before moving to the kitchen sink to wash my hands.

He has been really good with Chase thus far, so maybe this is the right approach, although I'm still a bit skeptical. "Ok, but you know how you can be in relationships. You're almost always touching your partner. It was different before because Chase had drawn clear boundaries about what you weren't allowed to do. I'm just worried that you'll unintentionally hurt him, now that he's lifted pretty much all the boundaries."

"Yesterday after he asked me to be his boyfriend, he didn't let go of me once," Diego pauses and frowns. "Well until he started to panic on the way back, but my point is, he might be just as touchy as I am! Besides, I think I know him well enough to know if something I do makes him uncomfortable and he doesn't seem to have a problem talking to me about anything so I really think he'll tell me if he doesn't like something," Diego concludes, rubbing the back of his neck as he waits for my response.

He might be right and he is very intuitive. "Ok, I'm sure you'll be a great boyfriend to Chase."

Diego releases a sigh of relief before he once again breaks into a wide, excited smile. "And he let me cuddle with him last night! I woke up with my perfect boyfriend in my arms!" He has a dreamy look on his face as if he still can't fully believe that happened.

"Dude! I almost messed up last night," Diego says, refocusing on me. I cock an eyebrow and wait for him to continue. "I almost told him that I love him!"

I chuckle and roll my eyes. "You still don't think he's ready to hear it?"

It took all of a week of meeting up with Chase to work out, for Diego to confess to Dean and I that he was in love with him. But he also said that he didn't think Chase was emotionally ready to hear it, so he'll keep it to himself.

Since then, he's only fallen harder for Chase. When he's not with him, he's talking about him or staring off into space with a lovestruck look. He even has the photo that Jesse took of him and Chase at the barbecue as his phone lock screen.

I don't think I've ever seen him this happy with anyone else. Part of the reason for that is because Chase genuinely cares about him and can very easily make Diego smile or cheer him up after a long day of work.

Most of the guys in Diego's past took him for granted and only cared about what they could get from him. Chase is like a breath of fresh air because while he loves all the gifts that Diego has gotten him, it's evident that isn't the reason why he's interested in Diego.

"I don't know. I don't think he noticed, so I'm saved," Diego responds, finally resuming his preparation of breakfast after washing his hands again. "Why? You think I should tell him?"

"I don't know, that's up to you to decide," I reply, peeling the oranges he gave to me.

Diego is silent for a moment before he says, "I've waited this long to tell him how I feel, what's another week or two. We haven't even been dating for twenty four hours, I don't want to overwhelm him."

I hum a response and continue peeling. "Did you get Chase those pizza shirts? They were cute but wasn't it a bit presumptuous? What if Chase felt pressured by them?" I ask after a moment, remembering the cheesy shirts.

Diego has always been a fan of couple items, he loves anything that outwardly screams they're a couple. I'm sure if he had it his way, he and Chase would always be wearing matching clothes.

"Dude! That's the best part! I didn't buy them! Chase bought them and he gave one to me and requested that I wear it to the film festival!" Diego exclaims, abandoning his egg cracking to grin at me like a kid seeing a candy store for the first time.

"Seriously!" I say, unable to hide my shocked expression.

He chuckles and bobs his head up and down. "I know! I wanted to kiss him when he showed me the shirts. And when he asked me to wear it, I almost died from happiness! Bryan, I'm telling you, Chase is perfect!"

If households could be powered by joy, Diego could provide electricity to the whole world right now. I return Diego's smile, truly glad that he found someone who seems so compatible with him. "I'm glad he brings you so much joy."

"Thanks," Diego says, beaming at me. "I should have asked before but how was your date night with Jesse?"

I chuckle at the hint of guilt in Diego's voice. "You can talk about Chase as much as you'd like, you sure you're done?"

Glad to have a free pass to gush about his boyfriend, he does that while he prepares the pancakes batter. "Ok, now I'm done! How was your date?" Diego asks a few minutes later.

"It was amazing! Oh my god! Look what my tomato got me!" I exclaim, holding out my left arm for him to see the bracelet that Jesse bought me. "He has a similar one! His says 'I love you more' though! Isn't it cute!"

Still smiling, Diego examines the bracelet. "It's beautiful! And it really suits you!" He moves away and puts the first set of pancake batter into the frying pan. "Did he accept the office?"

"He did! But he's doing some work on my parents' house because he's stubborn and refuses to simply accept the office," I reply, slightly grumpy. Jesse and his independence, while admirable, are really annoying when all I want to do is spoil him and give him every little thing his heart desires.

Diego immediately turns towards me. "You're letting him meet Esmée?" He says with a look of bewilderment.

"You don't think I should?"

"It's just, you know your mother, she might do something embarrassing and scare him off. Don't you remember when you introduced me to her? And then Dean a year after?" Diego questions, shuddering at the memory.

I grimace equally disturbed by the memory. My mother is awesome and I love her but she's just too much sometimes. I first met Diego when I was in Junior year of high-school.

I came out to my parents the year before and they were very supportive, mom maybe a little too much. She immediately did a bunch of research on ways to support me, since at that time, she didn't know any other members of the LGBTQ+ community. In hindsight, that was really sweet of her and I couldn't have asked for a better mother, but to a seventeen year old boy, it was cringe worthy at best.

So when I introduced her to Diego, she instantly thought that we were dating and immediately started giving us the safe sex talk. I nearly died on the spot from embarrassment. When I met Dean a year later, she assumed that we were a throuple and again went on about protection and trust in a relationship.

I've never let her meet any guy that I've dated in fear that she'll say something to terrify him. Recently she's been really into weddings because a lot of her friends' children have been getting married.

Not to mention, every time I talk to her she asks me about Jesse. I've told her little snippets of my time with Jesse and she absolutely adores him. I sent her a few photos of us a few weeks ago and she gushed about us to anyone that would listen. Calls from family members and friends that I haven't spoken to in years have been coming in, congratulating me on my relationship.

It would be a miracle if she doesn't ask Jesse when our wedding will be, even though I've told her multiple times not to bring this up. Jesse is on the fence about marriage because he says he has never witnessed a happy marriage. So he's concerned that if we got married, we would start to resent each other, but I'm really hoping he'll change his mind about marriage in the future.

"Hello!" Diego all but yells, waving his hand in front of my face. "Maybe your mom won't say anything embarrassing," he says, once gaining my attention. "Maybe hide all your baby pictures too," Diego mutters and I shudder. Another thing she loves to do is to show off my baby pictures, even the two naked ones of me in a bubble bath.

"They won't meet for at least another two weeks. Jesse has to make some headway with his new client first, before I'll introduce them," I mumble, pouring the orange smoothie into four glasses.

I shake my head, dismissing all thoughts of the possible impending disaster and instead resume telling Diego about my evening.

A few minutes later, we lay out the food on the table. "I'm starving, let's get the twins," I say and Diego nods excitedly. 

Thank you for reading! ❤ If you enjoyed the chapter, don't forget to vote and/ or leave comments!