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October, sophomore year
Thomas was studying. Well, not so much studying as staring at his textbook wishing to be anywhere else. He had been sitting there in his big bedroom that was decked out wall to wall with posters and trophies for what felt like hours. It sucked.
He was mere seconds away from closing his eyes and dozing off right on his biology textbook when his phone dinged. Normally, he had a strict policy set for himself about answering his phone while he was studying. The policy was that he didn’t.
But he recognized that specific text tone, and he couldn’t help himself.
Robert <3
hey you should totally come to your front door rn
And who was Thomas to say no? Within seconds, he was heading down the stairs, having not even bothered to make himself look presentable, and almost slipping due to his socks on the hardwood floor. He carried an infectious smile on his face before he even opened the door.
Upon hearing their son’s pounding footsteps getting closer, Thomas’ parents, Klaudia and Gerhard, grew curious. Klaudia poked her head out of the kitchen she was in with her husband to get a view of the front door.
“I hope you’re not going anywhere dressed like that,” she told her son, referring to his old football shirt, pajama pants, and lack of shoes.
Thomas laughed. “It’s just Robert, Mama.”
Klaudia retreated back into the kitchen, and Thomas opened the door to find exactly who he expected, holding something he did not expect.
“Robert, hi- aw, are those for me?” Thomas sounded like he was swooning, because, well, he was.
“Of course,” said Robert, handing Thomas the most beautiful bouquet of flowers he had ever seen.
It looked painstakingly put together. The only flowers Thomas knew well enough to recognize were the asters, white carnations, pink camellias, and of course, white roses.
A couple of blue flowers in particular caught Thomas’ eye, and he squinted at them. “Are these…” He couldn’t help but do the cliche gasp and cover his mouth maneuver when he saw the flower he recognized rather well from his childhood.
“Mhm,” Robert said with a satisfied grin. “Cornflowers, which if I remember correctly, are the national flower of a certain country in western Europe…”
Thomas squealed loudly in his excitement, had the absolute happiest look on his face as he looped his arms around his boyfriend’s neck, bouquet grasped firmly in his right hand. “Oh my gosh, you’re the sweetest!” he exclaimed, as Robert wrapped his arms around his waist and completed the embrace.
After a few seconds of silence, a record for Thomas, he pulled away from his boyfriend just a little. “Oh gosh, is it our anniversary?” He sounded worried, and it came out more as a statement than a question.
“What? No,” replied Robert, chuckling warmly.
“Valentine’s Day?”
“Tommy, it’s October.”
“My birthday-”
“It’s still October.”
“Your birthday-”
“Why would I-”
“Oh, okay, is it the anniversary of our first date, or first kiss, or something? Look, I know I’m not great with dates but it’s not that I forget what day these things are it’s just that I forget what day it currently is and by the time I realized that it’s the anniversary of our first date today is already tomorrow and I can’t wish you a late-”
Although he could listen to Thomas ramble for hours, Robert didn’t want his boyfriend to spiral, as he had a tendency to do just that. “Tommy,” he said softly, unhooking his arms from around Thomas’ waist. “I’m telling you, there is no occasion. It’s just Tuesday.”
“Well then what’re these for?” Thomas asked. His eyebrows were furrowed in confusion and Robert was close enough to see the scar on his eye that he acquired during a football match. He always thought it was cute.
Robert shrugged. “For nothing. I love you and wanted to give you pretty flowers, so…”
He trailed off, and Thomas looked down at the bouquet in his hand, honored to be on the receiving end of such affection.
“Well then, accept this as a thank you,” said Thomas, before giving his boyfriend a quick kiss.
Robert knew he must have had the stupidest grin on his face, but he didn’t have it in him to care. That kiss alone made the hours spent researching the meanings of different flowers, and the week’s wages spent on the best florist he could find in DC, worth it.
Thomas stepped back and opened the door to his house. “C’mon, I gotta, uh… get these in a vase? I think? I dunno, I’m not really a plant guy. But! Mark my words, I’m gonna make these last.”
When the pair went in and Thomas closed the door behind them, a voice piped up from the kitchen. “Thomas?” Gerhard called out. “Are you okay? We heard you squealing, or shouting, or whatever that was out there.”
Without warning, Thomas booked it to where his parents were, eager to show them what he was holding.
His voice carried, and from Robert’s spot at the front door, he took his coat off as he heard Thomas ramble to his parents about how he had the perfect boyfriend.
* * *
April, sophomore year
Did Robert care for German food? No. Would he ever in a million years tell Thomas’ parents that? Also no.
If having the privilege of being in Thomas’ life meant he had to eat subpar wurst on a regular basis, well, that was just an L he would have to take.
He was taking one such L on a Thursday night. After spending a few hours after school hanging out with Thomas, he was invited by Thomas’ parents to stay for dinner. It wasn’t the first time, and honestly, Robert loved that his boyfriend’s family let him sit in on their dinners.
Wary as they were about their son having a boyfriend as early as freshman year, they had grown used to the presence of the Polish ambassador’s son in their home. Robert might even be so bold as to say they liked having him around.
“Oh, by the way,” Klaudia said, mostly to her husband. “I talked to Peter; he said he’d give me the days off for the trip.”
“Trip?” Robert asked, and immediately felt like he was overstepping.
Confusion crossed Gerhard’s face. “Thomas didn’t tell you?”
Before Robert could answer, everyone was startled by the sound of Thomas dropping his fork onto his plate, which created a sound far louder than a fork should physically be capable of making. “Oh, that’s right, I forgot! Okay so I was gonna tell you this morning but when I started thinking about Germany I thought about how weird it was that there’s no Germany based Pokemon region I mean there’s four regions based off Japan and two off of America and they’ve done France and Spain so would it be that hard to-”
“Thomas,” his father said, rubbing his temples and sounding like he had done this a thousand times before. “Remember what we talked about.”
The tips of Thomas’ ears turned red, and he finally stopped talking. “Uhm, right, sorry, uh… What I meant to say, was that a family friend is getting married this summer, so we figured why not make a trip out of it, so we’re going back home for a bit! And we’re staying in the house I grew up in, since Oma and Opa live there now, which is like, very cool, actually.” Thomas was absolutely beaming with this information, and Robert couldn’t help but feel happy with him; he knew how much his boyfriend adored his home country and longed to go back.
“How long are you gonna be gone?” Robert asked.
“I think like… two weeks? I wish we could stay longer, but Mom has to get back to work.”
“Well, I’m gonna miss you, but I’m glad you’re going,” said Robert, picking at his wurst to make it look like he had eaten more of it than he actually had. “I know how much you’ve wanted this.”
“You might not have to miss him,” Thomas’ mother said, knowing grin on her face.
“Huh?” The two teenagers said in unision. Robert sounded confused, while his boyfriend was already getting excited at the implication.
“Well, we were talking, and we’d be happy to have you come with us, Robert,” said Thomas’ father.
“Are you serious?!” Thomas shouted, a sound that made several people at the table flinch. “Really, can he come?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”
“We tried, Schatzi, but it’s hard to tell you anything when you barely let us get a word in.” Klaudia was trying not to sound passive-agressive, to questionable success.
“So, wait, are you like, serious?” Robert asked for clarification.
Both of Thomas’ parents nodded; there was no question.
“Oh, tell me you’ll come with us!” Thomas was bouncing up and down in his seat by this point, unable to remain still. “Please please please-”
“Well, I’d love to go, but the question is whether or not Mr. and Mrs. Lewandowski will let me go.”
Thomas seemed to be deep in thought. “Wouldn’t it be Mr. Lewandowski and Mrs. Lewandowska?”
Robert looked at his boyfriend, pleasantly surprised. “Well yeah, but that’s way too many words.”
Without warning, which was how Thomas did most things, to be fair, he got up and gave his boyfriend a crushing hug. “Ohmygosh, this is so cool! I already know all the places I’m gonna show you and what we’re gonna do; you’ll love it. Oh, we gotta decide what clothes I’m gonna bring, come on,” Thomas said, grabbing Robert by the wrist with the intent of leading him up to his room.
Klaudia was going to scold her older son for not finishing his dinner, but decided against it. He was a… free spirit, so to say.
“Tommy, I don’t even know if I’m going,” Robert said. Despite his words, he got up, happy to leave the painfully mid food behind.
“Oh, you’re coming with us, alright,” Thomas said, and led the way.
* * *
July, sophomore year
The family friend’s wedding was on the third day of the Mullers’ and Robert’s stay in Bavaria.
Robert sat next to his boyfriend, holding his hand throughout the entire ceremony, as he yawned for the fifth time since it started.
He had nothing against weddings or anything, it’s just that he only knew enough German to impress Thomas’ parents, which was to say, not much.
As the groom recited what Robert suspected were vows, Robert’s bored gaze landed on the handsome boy sitting next to him, and he thought.
He thought about buying a gorgeous but simple ring. He thought about getting down on one knee and asking Thomas to let him have the privilege of being at his side forever. He thought about one, or maybe both of them, changing their last names to show that they shared everything with each other. He thought about coming home to Thomas, and getting to listen to him ramble and anything and everything under the sun for the rest of their lives. He thought about the two of them up on that altar.
It didn’t take long for Thomas to catch his boyfriend blatantly staring at him. “What’re you staring at?” he asked playfully, knowing damn well what the answer was. Someone behind him sushed him.
“Jus’ thinking,” Robert said. Unlike Thomas, he had a wonderful thing called an inside voice.
“About what?” Thomas asked, bringing Robert’s hand closer to him and fiddling with it absentmindedly.
“... Nothing.”
* * *
September, junior year
For the third time, Robert showed up at Thomas’ doorstep on a September evening, dressed in his nicest suit, and carrying a medium-sized clear boutonniere box in his hand, ready to take his date to Homecoming.
It was Thomas’ mother who answered the door and welcomed him in.
“Guten Abend, Frau Muller,” Robert greeted as he stepped inside.
“Guten Abend,” Klaudia said in return, and Robert could tell by the glint in the diplomat’s eyes that she was impressed. “He might be a while… You know how he takes his sweet time getting ready.”
“I’m happy to wait for him,” said Robert, and he meant it to the depths of his bones.
He was making small talk with Thomas’ mom about football when footsteps could be heard racing down the stairs.
Soon enough, Thomas’ younger brother, Simon, burst into the entryway, red tie clutched in his hand and mischievous grin on his face.
“Oh, hey Robert,” the middle schooler greeted, to which his brother’s boyfriend just waved in response.
Naturally, in no time at all, a second, even louder pair of footsteps could be heard descending the staircase, and Thomas didn’t even register the presence of the other people in the room before lunging at his little brother.
“God, you are such a nuisance,” said an agitated Thomas as he tried to pry his tie out of his brother’s hands. At some point during their altercation, Thomas realized that they had company.
He immediately deflated a little. “Aw, you weren’t supposed to see me ‘till I was ready!” he said, referring to the fact that he objectively wasn’t. So far, Thomas had been dressed in his formal white shirt and black slacks, but he lacked a jacket, tie, and he hadn’t had the opportunity to do anything with his hair yet. He also hadn’t yet put on shoes, as evidenced by him standing there in socks.
Before Robert could tell him that it was fine, he contintued. “It was supposed to be this whole thing, y’know! Like you’re here and you’re waiting and then I come downstairs even though I’m a little late and you see me and you’d be all like-”
“You’re beautiful,” Robert blurted out.
“Well, yeah, that’s what you would say, but now-”
“No, I mean it…” Robert gave a light laugh as he continued to take in the sight before him. “I’m gonna be the luckiest guy at the dance.”
Thomas went red, and for once, was speechless.
“If you go to the dance, that is,” said, Thomas’ mother, checking her expensive watch. “It’s getting late. Simon, let your brother get ready.”
With all the smugness in the world, Thomas took his tie back from his brother, and headed upstairs with his head held high.
Robert’s gaze lingered on the staircase even when his boyfriend was out of sight. “He’s really something,” he said.
When Thomas was actually ready, he came down the stairs a second time, and Robert was as breathless as he was the first time.
“Look at you,” Robert said as the took Thomas’ hand at the bottom of the stairs.
“You’re not too bad yourself,” said Thomas with a wink, giving him a kiss on the cheek. He then eyed the box Robert was holding in his other hand. “I take it that’s for me?”
“C’mere,” was all Robert replied with, and he took great care with pinning the boutonniere on the lapel of Thomas’ suit, not wanting to get either of them with the sharp pin.
“It’s perfect,” Thomas said when it was secured.
“Like you.”
Simon made a gagging noise in the background.
“Time to go, you two,” said Thomas’ mother. “Have him back by eleven.”
“I’ll have him back before then,” Robert said, opening the front door for his date. “After you.”
* * *
December, junior year
Robert and Thomas were as asexual as they come, but that wasn’t going to stop them from making out every time they were alone.
So, when they got to Robert’s place after school and found the place empty, what else were two teenagers gonna do?
It had taken the couple damn near ten minutes to get up the stairs and to Robert’s room, as they often found themselves getting distracted and stumbling on their way up the stairs.
Even as Robert fumbled with the doorknob and let the pair into his room, they were completely lost in each other, oblivious to the world around them. He returned his hand to its rightful place at Thomas’ waist as they stepped further into the spacious room.
“Have I,” Thomas said between kisses, “ever mentioned how much I like when no one’s home?”
“Think so,” answered Robert, equally as breathless.
They kept progressing further into the room until the backs of Thomas’ knees met the edge of the bed, and down the two went.
Robert was utterly lost in the feeling of Thomas’ hands messing up his hair-
“Hey Robert, I see you’ve got company-” a female voice said from the bedroom door.
The boys both yelped, and even though Robert immediately pushed himself off of Thomas to put some distance between them, Thomas was still lying on his bed and they found themselves in a rather compromising position.
At the door stood a young dark-haired woman, who couldn’t have been a day over twenty.
“Tommy,” Robert said with his hand over his mouth, as if that somehow covered up what they were doing. He was now sitting on his bed, rather than lying on it like Thomas was. “This is my sister, Milena. Who should be at college. In New York. Two hundred miles away from here.”
Thoroughly embarrassed, Robert glared at his sister, wanting an explanation.
“Winter break, dumbass, I flew in a couple hours ago,” was all Milena said, looking quite pleased with herself.
“What? That’s not for another week.”
“Maybe for you lame-ass high schoolers, but not for me!” The young woman laughed, and directed her attention to the poor, panicking German that was on her brother’s bed. “You must be Thomas; I’ve heard so much about you!”
Before Thomas knew it, the older girl was in front of him and offering him her hand to shake. Thomas took it hesitantly. “Hi,” was all he said, the simple greeting coming out unnaturally loud.
Normally, Thomas would have said something more polite to try and make a good impression. But how good of an impression could he make when this woman had just caught him with her brother’s tongue down his throat?
“Robert’s told me so much about you. Like everything.” Luckily, she didn’t seem too weirded out by what she saw.
“Aw, really?” Thomas asked, blushing just a little.
“Yeah seriously, he’s, like, so annoying about it. It’s always ‘Thomas this, Thomas that-’”
“Milena,” said a very stressed Robert.
“Alright, alright, sorry!” she said, backing away and heading for the door. “I’ll let you get back to what you’re doing,” she winked.
“Milena,” her brother groaned, following her to the door.
“Oh, don’t be bashful, what you’re doing is nothing compared to what my roommate and her boyfri-
“Goodbye,” said Robert urgently.
“Oh, and you should probably cover up that hickey before dinner.”
Robert slammed the door in his sister’s face.
* * *
March, junior year
“It was a great goal, and I’m not trying to take anything away from Leon, but it wouldn’t have been possible without Marco’s touch, y’know?”
For the third time that conversation, Robert brought up his best friend, and for the third time that conversation, Thomas bit his tongue.
“Yeah, totally,” he said absentmindedly as he retrieved some books from his locker.
Robert noticed his boyfriend being more spacey than usual. “You okay?” he asked, stepping a little closer.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just a bit tired, is all.”
Robert seemed to understand. “Y’know, I’ve been thinking,” he said, fiddling with the strings of his red hoddie. “I don’t think we’ve been on a proper date in a while.”
Thomas immediately perked up, all previous mentions of Marco completely forgotten. “Yeah, I guess it has been a minute,” he said, hopeful. The two hung out and texted on the daily, but it had been a couple weeks since they went on a real date.
“Then how about we go out tonight?” Robert continued to mess with his hoodie strings, and he looked rather nervous, as if his boyfriend of several years would suddenly reject him.
Thomas did no such thing. “I’d love to!” he immediately said, in that shouty voice that Robert loved so dearly.
Robert chuckled fondly at Thomas’ sudden excitement. “Okay, I’ll text you the details later,” he said.
“Can’t wait,” said Thomas, swooning evident in his voice. He closed his locker softly.
“I gotta go to class,” Robert said, before giving Thomas a kiss on the forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” replied Thomas. And with that, Robert was on his way.
* * *
They went on their date.
The rain was relentless by the time Thomas got home.