You get to bed and can’t shut your eyes. Your brain brings you to contemplate what sort of situation you brought yourself into. How would Travis react if he’d learn that your best friend from whom he had nothing to worry about, your words, now had quite a crush on you? You contemplate your feelings on this whole situation, wondering how your life would be, somehow, if Paul had always been gay and you would always have been his type, mostly. You ask yourself what are your feelings about him, could they be more than friendship, despite the weirdness? As as you ponder, you faintly see the red digits on your old clock turn to 12:21 am, and you feel yourself numbing into slumber.
You are awoken by the morning light, filtered through the bedroom’s curtains. As you mumble undistinctlely (probably something along the lines of "where am I?" or "Paul?"), you confusely notice the weird emptiness of the bed. Well, of the other side of the bed. When you hear the clinging sound of pots in the kitchen, you tell yourself that Paul must’ve gotten up early and decided to suprise you with breakfast. You get up with a candid smile on your face and hazily put a t-shirt on as you move out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen, scratching your hairy stomach on the way there. It feels like you were hit with a ton of bricks (or a ton of anything else, for that matters), but the smell of batter and the butter melting in the pan wakes you a bit more.
"You makin’ pancakes, sweetie?", you manage to ask as you peck Paul’s cheek and grab his buttcheek. You notice he’s gotten leaner down there as well as everywhere else, since he’s swapped with that ginger cop. For a moment, you wonder what else had changed, then you sit at the table, gazing at your boyfriend busily going from the countertops to the oven.
Sometimes, you wonder why it took you so long to finally start dating. Everyone has said the two of you were meant for each other, even before you both came out. People commonly mistook you for a couple, saying it was a shame when you said you were best friends, nothing more. Of course, you did not want to risk ruining your friendship, but if you had known, you would have taken that decision years earlier. Perhaps it was necessary to first realize you were jealous of each other’s boyfriends, even if you wouldn’t admit it, or to try different things before settling down. Perhaps, but mornings like this one, you feel like you could’ve traded all you past boyfriends, lovers and so on for just one more night with Paul. You know he would mock you, if you were to tell him so, tell you how romantic and cheesy you can be. He would maybe even flirtily tease you about just being with him for his man parts, despite your pretentions.
"You need any help?", you muster yourself to ask out of your daydreaming, ready to get back up. Paul shakes his head no and you charge back with a playful smirk. "Not even a massage? You must be exhausted after all that whipping." You boyfriend turns back to you, all smile, and winks at you. "Maybe later..."he teases you. At this moment, you realize something seems off. Or out of place. You scan Paul from head to toes, then you look around the room and scan him again, as you feel your pulse accelerating. He’s changed something, hasn’t he? And you just noticed! You hope he won’t get upset when you give up on guessing and decide to straightforwardly ask him.
"Erm, I might have not noticed before, but hum… Have you changed something? I feel like something’s different, but I can’t put the finger on it. Am I wrong?"
"Oh! Something has definitely changed." he replies. He also flushes, getting as red as a lobster, to your biggest surprise. You inquire "What is it?", but before he answers, you see the plastic ring on his finger. You follow with another question.
"Have you used the ring again? You could have waited for me, Paul!"
"Gosh… yes." he admits piteously. "I couldn’t wait, ya know. You gotta understand…"
"Don’t worry, Paul, I’m not upset. Just tell me : what’s changed?"