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Hanschen Rilow was not the type of boy that people did nice things for. So, he was understandably surprised when he got home from work that day and found that his bed was not the way he had left it as he rushed out of the house that morning. His sheets were...soft. They smelled clean. Had he even made his bed before he left? He didn't think so, but it was currently made up immaculately, the sheets tucked in and the comforter smoothed.
Hanschen popped his head out from his bedroom and looked across the hall to the sitting room where Ernst was currently curled up on Hanschen’s couch, a bowl of cereal and his laptop in front of him.
Hanschen walked into the living room an leaned over the back of the couch, his fingers making fleeting contact with his boyfriend's shoulder.
Ernst jumped gently, but then turned his head to look back at his boyfriend and smiled when he saw that it was Hanschen.
“You’re home! I didn’t notice you come in,” Ernst signed, leaning over the back of the couch to kiss Hanschen softly. He slid back into his seat and patted the space next to him, grabbing his computer by the corner and moving it across the cushions to make a place for Hanschen.
“Did you...wash my sheets?” Hanschen asked, raising an eyebrow and climbing over the low back of the couch to fall into place next to the other boy.
“Yeah. It had been a while,” Ernst responded, shrugging.
Hanschen followed that statement with a moment of still silence, just sitting there with a slightly blank look on his face.
Ernst started to backpedal, worried he had done something wrong.
“I mean, do you mind? I just thought…I don’t know, are you upset?” he asked, trying to break Hanschen’s off-putting silence.
Finally, Hanschen spoke up again, his face still slightly blank as he looked down at Ernst like he was something completely incomprehensible.
“But...I don’t have a washer or dryer.” he signed slowly.
“Hansi, there’s a laundry place downstairs,” Ernst said, now his turn to wear a confused expression. “You’ve lived here for months, did you not know that?”
“No, I know where it is. But it’s all the way on the first floor. You went all the way downstairs just to wash my sheets?” Hanschen asked, reaching out for the spoon that sat in Ernst’s cereal. It was the sickeningly sugary neon stuff that Ernst loved and which had slowly invaded his own cabinets over the past few months. He took a bite and leaned back against the couch cushions, slowly chewing.
“Hansi it’s not that far.” Ernst answered tentatively after a few beats of Hans sitting there still.“You have an elevator, it took like 25 seconds to get down there. And besides, I’ve been dirtying your bed just as much as you have lately,” he said with a wink, trying to lighten the mood out of this strange confusion.
Hanschen looked back at him, shaking his head slowly, perplexed. “But...why not just wait until I washed them next,” he asked.
“Because I wanted to wash them and you’ve been really busy lately with your work. I was going to be home all day, so I did it for you. It’s really not that complicated, bee,” he said, letting out a small laugh as he leaned forward to place a soft kiss onto Hanschen’s lips.
Hanschen still looked confused, but Ernst had had enough of this.
“C’mon my hardworking prince, let’s go enjoy those clean sheets,” he said, using one hand to reach for Hanschen’s hand and the other to put his laptop and cereal bowl down onto the coffee table.
Ernst lead Hanschen back into his bedroom, kissing Hanschen tenderly and backing him onto the bed.
—
As they lay there together later that night, their legs intertwined and Ernst’s head laying softly on Hanschen’s chest bare, the thought of the washed sheets came back to him.
It was just so considerate. Ernst was always so considerate, now that he thought about it. Even if he didn’t ask, Ernst took care of everything. And for Hanschen. For him. Why?
Hanschen wasn’t always a good boyfriend, hell, he wasn’t even always a good person. He had never had a boyfriend like Ernst before. He had had boys that had cared about him, sure. Max had cared about him, but they had just been teenagers back then, and then he was gone so quickly. And then there had been Bobby. He and Hanschen had gotten along well together. They had the same sense of humor and liked the same drinks, but they took their relationship one night at a time. There was no time to grow attached in a single night, and their relationship had just been single night after single night. No growth, and no attachment. There had been others sprinkled in between that who stayed for a night or a week or even as long as a month or so, but no one noteworthy.
Those relationships had been fine. Hanschen had been content with the life that he bad back then. Then, Ernst came along and everything that he had ever had completely paled in comparison.
That was the main thing that confused Hanschen. He had been content back then, so what in the hell had he done to deserve something even better. He wasn’t especially kind or considerate or generous, so he wasn’t sure what he had done.
Because Ernst was perfect. He had soft freckles and soft hair and soft skin and he was amazing. Ernst asked him how his day was, and kissed his eyelids and cooked for him even when he didn’t ask. He thanked Hanschen for the littlest things, and he made a point to listen to Hanschen’s explanations before getting mad. Of course, he wasn’t really perfect. He always fell asleep during movies, even when it was a movie that Ernst had begged Hanchen to watch in the first place, and he had really cold feet, and Hanschen couldn’t make him understand that he was sometimes really unhappy for no reason. As understanding as Ernst was, Hanschen could not keep up with his boyfriend’s impossible resilience. But he was also smart, and perceptive, and forgiving, and Hanschen knew that he loved him more than he could ever tell Ernst. Hanschen should tell him that more. He should have told him that before they went to bed. He should have told him that when he got home. Hanschen just wasn’t used to the feeling of saying it whenever he felt it.
Hanschen was knocked out of his contemplation by Ernst turning to look up at him, his curls tickling Hanschen’s nose for a second as he moved.
He pulled out one hand out from under Hanschen’s side he lazily signed “what are you thinking about?”
“You,” Hanschen replied, a sheepish smile on his face.
“What about me?” Ernst said, a teasing grin on his lips.
“Just about you. About that I love you. Also…you’re not supposed to leave laundry alone. Did you wait down in that laundry room for the whole time it took to do the washing?” Hanschen asked, and Ernst rolled his eyes.
“That, still? I brought a book. C’mon Hansi.”
“No, I’m serious. I just don’t understand why you went so out of your way,” he said.
Ernst looked at him incredulously.
“ I love you, idiot. I wanted to do something to make your day better,” he signed, pulling out his other hand so he could sign more clearly to Hanschen.
Hanschen blushed. “You make my day better just by being here. You don’t have to do anything extra for me.”
“You’re not listening Hansi. I wanted to,” Ernst signed, now exasperated with his boyfriend’s fixation.
“Why,” Hanschen asked and his boyfriend made a frustrated noise.
“I love you. You deserve to have people do nice things for you, Hanschen. You do nice things for me, Hansi, and I never question you,” Ernst said, sitting up more so he could look down into Hanschen’s eyes.
“I do?”
“For fuck's sake, of course, you do!”
“Oh.”
“Yes, oh. I love you, you love me, and we do nice things for each other,” Ernst said.
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry. I love you.”
“And so you should. I’m damn delightful. Now, if it really bothers you that much, I’m sure we can find a way to dirty the sheets so you can wash them this time,” Ernst said, a sly smile on his lips as he reached down to kiss Hanschen’s collarbone.
Hanschen signed “Oh God yes,” but his words were lost with Ernst’s head buried in his shoulder. Instead, he wrapped his arms around his waist, tracing patterns on the soft skin where Ernst’s shirt had ridden up his back. Ernst got the message.