The second time, but he still thought Charlie had moved first the first time, so it didn’t count.
The only thing Scott could really think about was how much he wanted to kiss him again. How much he wished all of this was a bad dream, and Charlie was coming over for movies and snacks and cuddles.
Scott wanted that. There was nothing else in the world that he wanted more right now.
Charlie wandered into the kitchen, shrugging his coat off and folding it over the back of a chair. Scott followed, watching him, waiting for him to say whatever he’d come to say.
Scott assumed it was some variation ofgoodbye.
At least Charlie was coming to do it in person, and not calling him tomorrow from Denver to say he was staying there.
One by one, all four dogs wandered into the kitchen to greet him, and he bent down to pet all of them, eventually picking Chewie up and holding him carefully.
Charlie had a soft spot for Chewie, but then, it was hard not to. Puppies were sweet and uncomplicated.
Everything else… complicated was about the right word for it.
Charlie kissed the puppy’s head and then set him down gently, leaving him to run to Scott’s feet for another pat.
Not for the first time in his life, Scott kind of wished he was a dog, too. They had much easier lives, as long as they had a loving home.
Of course, his life would have been a lot easier with a loving home, too.
He wanted that with Charlie.
He wanted it so much that the thought of not having it made it hard to breathe.
“Scott…” Charlie finally stopped in the middle of the room, turning to look at him. “I don’t wanna leave,” he started.
Scott’s breath caught in his chest. Charlie didn’t want to leave?
“I started applying for jobs elsewhere a while back, before I met you, because I thought I could never find love here. But now I have you, and I love you, and I don’t wanna go.”
Scott swallowed. Dizziness hit him in the back of the head, making the room spin for a second. Charlie stayed in the center of it, the one still, solid thing in all of the universe.
The one thing Scott was really sure of.
“S-say that again?” he stammered, his heart pounding. “That last part.”
“I don’t wanna go?” Charlie raised an eyebrow, taking a half-step toward him. If Scott looked even half as dazed as he was right now, Charlie was probably worried about him.
“The other part,” Scott mumbled. Charlie not wanting to go sounded great, but the partbeforethat was the one making Scott’s pulse pound, making his lungs tight.
It was overwhelming, but in the best possible way.
“I love you,” Charlie said, his voice soft, a tiny smile turning up his lips. “And it’s okay if you don’t feel the same way. That’s what I came here to ask.”
“Is it, uh...” Scott swallowed, his throat dry and tight. Was this really happening?
It sure seemed like it.
“Is it okay if Idofeel the same way?” he asked, every word a struggle.
He’d never said anything like that before. He’d neverfeltanything like this before.
Charlie was it. Charlie was what he’d been looking for all this time.
And it was surprising and unexpected and not at all what Scott had pictured, but Charlie was still perfect. Still everything he wanted, now that he was sure what that was.
