Luigi mewed, curling around Aaron’s ankles, then Oscar’s, and they shut the door, sealing themselves into the warmth of the apartment.
“Well, this is a mess.” Aaron laughed, eyes crinkling behind his glasses. He scratched the back of his head, studying the pigsty that was the kitchen.
Oscar wrapped his arms around him from behind, settling a chin on his shoulder, kissing his neck. “We can get it all done together. Come on.”
They cleared away the scraps, packed up whatever was left, and started washing cups and mugs and glasses, plates and saucers, mismatched cutlery and roasting dishes. Aaron washed, Oscar dried and put everything away. It was well past nine in the evening when the sink was finally sparkling again and the countertops were cleared and wiped down, the table as empty as though nobody had ever been there, and Paulie’s borrowed things sitting by the front door so they could return them in the morning.
“Would you like me to make you a cup of fancy coffee?” Oscar asked, sliding his arm around Aaron’s waist and pulling him in. “Hmm? With those new beans you hid from everyone.”
“You bought them forme,” Aaron replied, pouting.
“Hmm, I did.” Oscar kissed him on the cheek. “Go relax, boo. I’ll make you a nice hot cup, and you can use your Christmas present.”
Aaron’s eyes lit up, his excitement echoing from the morning, when Oscar had passed him the mug warmer he’d finally bought. Aaron had panicked about not having anything to give him, and Oscar had pointed repeatedly at the sweater he was wearing.
As he waited for the coffee to brew, Oscar studied him, curling up in the corner of the couch, Luigi fussing around him, rubbing his face against his arm, Aaron tickling the topof his head while he looked for something to watch. In the morning, Oscar would spend a few hours playing video games to earn a little extra cash. It was important now that he get paid, with Aaron out of a job. There had been all of two one-week gigs he’d found without the help of the agency, and now that Oscar had offered the other half of his beta hours to Joe, Aaron had refused to let him ask for them back.
The coffee machine beeped. Oscar took a cup over to the coffee table, setting it down on the warmer as he climbed onto the couch beside him, curling his knees in at the other end.
“It’s nice having people over,” Aaron said, “but the quiet is nice, too.”
“Yeah, I…I love being home together.” Oscar hoped his affection had crossed the distance between them, that it had wrapped around Aaron like a blanket, that it had kissed him on the cheek the way Oscar wanted to.
“Me too,” Aaron replied. “It’s my favorite thing, that we get to spend so much time together.”
“Do you…” Oscar drew in a deep breath, willing his hammering heart to quieten, the spit in his mouth to slide down his throat and let him speak. “Do you want it tobehome together?”
“What…” Aaron frowned, gathering his lips to a point in the center as he tried to work out the puzzle of Oscar’s convoluted question.
“Let’s live together, Aaron. We already kind of do. Just bring your things over and…” Oscar shrugged. “Will you move in with me?”
“Wh…but…I don’t…I don’t have…” Aaron fumbled through the archive of his vocabulary to look for the words.Money,a job.
“I want to live with you,” Oscar said. “I want us to have a life together, and we practically already do.”
“I used all my last wages to pay Joe and Anna rent for the last two months. I haven’t?—”
“Aaron…” Oscar crawled between Aaron’s legs, wrapping his arms around his neck. “I won’t let you pay rent. Even if you did have money, I wouldn’t. I’m inviting you to live with me. It’s a rent-controlled apartment, and I can afford it. I want you to bring your things, throw out half my useless shit from the dressers, and putyouruseless shit in there instead. I want you to write down my address on all your applications.”
“I’ll clean then,” Aaron said, pursing his lips.
“You already clean,” Oscar replied. “Boo…”
Aaron pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, pressing them into the space between his eyebrows, and sucked in his lips. Oscar knew his response even before his eyes began to twinkle like the frost out on the sidewalk, even before he’d said it.
“I’ll go to the post office tomorrow,” he said, “and have them forward all my mail.”
“And your applications?” Oscar asked, pressing his chin into Aaron’s knee.
“You’re already my emergency contact. I just have to paste your address into a second box.” Aaron brushed a wavy strand from his forehead. “I love you, Spike. Thank you for giving me the best Christmas in years.”
“Yeah,” Oscar replied, kissing Aaron’s knee.
It was a good thing he’d bought him the warmer. His coffee would have gone cold by now if he hadn’t. But Aaron wasn’t thinking about coffee as he looked down into Oscar’s eyes again, and it stirred something in him, pressing a magic switch.
“Want to make it even more memorable?”
Aaron’s coffee sat untouched until the morning.
