Work Text:
It was no secret to Free De La Hoya that he wasn't exactly an ideal partner to most people.
True, people idolized him, people admired his nonchalant behaviour, some even crushed on him and displayed it in ways that really confused Free's brain.
He was never one for big, romantic gestures. He thought it was too much; the idea of someone doing grand displays of affection with some unknown expectation of his reaction. Their relationship riding on Free's expressions and tone; an overwhelming pressure to perform, to do his part.
But as he grew more comfortable with his identity and ability to express himself--in his own unique way– the he idea of... small romantic gestures became less daunting. Not— from just anyone, obviously. He and romantic interests were not a thing that crossed paths, like— ever.
But then there was Sisco.
Sisco knew him. Sisco knew he was very monotone, that he didn't quite know how to convey strong emotions unless it was anger, or passion during his moments of blading. Sisco knew that if he gave Free a gift, intending for it to be a sweet, romantic gesture, that Free would likely just respond with a gentle, "thank you" and maybe the softest smile.
But sometimes, Free did wonder if he was doing enough.
He snuck off to be on his own a lot, he liked silence, he got overwhelmed by being in places with a lot of people in close proximity for too long. He was bad at answering texts, and not the most notably romantic partner in the world. In fact, he was the opposite. He was the type to find a cool rock and give it to Sisco with a mutter of, "you remind me of this rock." And then not explain anything else.
So, maybe after binging a few horrible rom-coms with Sisco, maybe after seeing romantic gestures done by his friends who were dating, maybe after all of it, Free got insecure.
So that was why he was doing this, doing something so incredibly stupid.
Sisco and Free had moved out to a wooden, logged cabin in the middle of the woods a while after shit with Bel and them took off. It was peaceful, calm, and Free liked having the entire woods right at his fingertips. There was a stream right by the cabin, and Free was often found sitting out there, meditating or sketching.
Within his and Sisco's cabin, Free was currently holding a plastic red rose, tearing off the fake leaves and putting them in a trail on the hardwood floor. That's- what he was supposed to do, right? That's what people did-?? Where was this trail going to lead-?
Bedroom? No, he— not that. Dining room? He'd have to make a meal, um….
He decided on just having a random trail of petals that didn't really lead anywhere, tossing them all down with hesitation anf a lack of confidence. He sighed and furrowed his eyebrows. Fuck, he was so bad at this.
He took out another plastic rose, thinking to himself. Sisco was out blading with Rantaro and Wakiya, and he said he would be back in… Now it would be about twenty minutes.
He took a breath, looking around. What could he do now? Um— should he try cooking a meal?? Try running a bath or something for him? Fuck, he didn't know what to do. He had to get better at this.
He made his way to the kitchen and started trying to make grilled cheese, taking out the bread and tossing it on a pan that was already on the stove. He hesitated, then set the heat to four. Maybe he should set a campfire out back, he could usually cook over a campfire…
As Free rummaged about the kitchen, his phone, which— granted, he used way less often than his friends liked, buzzed with a text. He felt it in his pocket, and paused, reaching down for it. He forgot he had it on him, he honestly had thought he tossed it into the forest along with that pair of glasses Kris got him…
Free took his phone out of his pocket and saw a text from Kris, the girl who he basically considered to be his older sister. He navigated back to his settings and turned on the screen reader, a method he often used to combat how horrible he was at reading, plus the dyslexia… And then went back to his messages, clicking the message. The android voice spoke, letting him know what Kris had said.
'Hey, Free! You doing all good?'
Free tilted his head at the phone, thinking for a moment, then he replied, bringing his phone up to his mouth and using the speech to text.
"Kris, how do you be romantic?"
'Be romantic??'
"Yeah. Like you know, romantic."
'Are you trying to do something for Sisco, Free?'
Free paused for a second, staring down. He let out a groan and facepalmed, taking in a deep inhale and narrowing his eyes. Was he being that obvious? Well— obviously. Who else would he do something romantic for? He pressed his lips together, then texted back. He didn't use the speech to text this time, he just navigated to the emojis.
'👍'
'Okay. Well, have you done anything so far?'
He looked around at the mess of petals at his feet, opening his mouth slightly before pursing his lips together again.
"I tore up a plastic rose and threw the petals all over the floor."
'Free…'
"I'm trying here."
'Okay, well what do you think he'd like?'
Free narrowed his eyes. He didn't know, that's why he was asking— in a haste, he exited out of his texts and went to Google, taking a sharp breath and speaking into his phone again.
"Romantic things to do for your boyfriend of three years."
He scrolled through the results aimlessly, tapping on seemingly endless boxes of text and letting the phone read them out to him, then groaned. He didn't have time to do half of the things on this list, he was taking up all his time trying to read this damned—
Oh! He wrote down a list of things ages ago when he first got into this relationship, hold on…
He closed Google and went to his notes app, scrolling until he found the hastily typed out notes. Misspelled haste mixed with grammatically correct bits of nonsense that Free squinted at.
"What did I mean by 'leave the ceiling on'—??" He muttered. This was no help, he had to go back to Kris— reopening his texts, he finally replied to his sister.
"I have no idea."
Her reply was quick, like she had been waiting for it.
'Why don't you get him some stuff from Hot Topic?'
"That sounds really smart, honestly, but I only have like 10 minutes."
'Okay, uhhh— jeez, you've been dating him for how long now and you don't— okay, you could make him his favorite food, play some music he likes, make the lights all dim, light some candles, give him a gift! Stuff like that.'
'I don't know his favourite food… I tried'
'Maybe make something Italian?'
'Kris, I would butcher it and he would hate it. You've seen how he gets when people butcher Italian food.'
'Fair point…'
Free's ears suddenly perked up as he heard the door click, causing him to mentally curse. Ah, he was so bad at this— he ran back to the stove to flip his grilled cheese, only to realize he just put one piece of bread on without cheese or butter. Motherfucker, he got distracted…
"…Free?" Sisco's voice called out, confusion filling him. Free froze. He completely forgot he left rose petals all over the ground. Shit, shit.
"Uh— yeah, I'm here, hold on…" He responded, his voice projecting despite him not shouting. He ignored Kris' follow-up text and pocketed his phone, turning off the stove and hastily trying to clean up. Gentle clattering filled the kitchen.
Before Free could get himself sorted, Sisco was in the doorway, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder as he blinked at Free in a soft confusion, a gentleness that was only reserved for the other man's eyes.
"Hey…" Sisco said, narrowing his eyes as the other scrambled to put things in the sink. He let out a bit of a snicker. "Um… Whatcha doin' there?"
"I- nothing." Free quickly straightened up, shoving the pan he was holding further into the sink and turning towards Sisco.
Sisco blinked, his brow quirking. "…Uh huh. And… That's why there's… A bunch of rose petals on the floor?" He murmured, smiling a bit. "…What's up with that?"
Free stared at him, then he sighed and slumped over, running a hand over his face and moving to face the counter, leaning forward into it. "I… Nothing, I just…" He groaned. "…I was trying to… Do something for you."
Sisco watched him, then moved to slide the duffel bag off his shoulder. "Were you, now…"
Free sighed. "I was trying to, like… Be romantic, I don't know?" He furrowed his brows. "I always see all this romancy stuff in media, so…"
Sisco raised his brow, then walked closer and leaned into Free from behind, circling his arms around his waist. "You know I don't give a shit about that, right?" He asked.
"Huh?" Free glanced over, looking at Sisco, who now had his chin on Free's shoulder.
"I don't give a shit about that." The taller man repeated with a shrug. "Sure, it's fine once in a while, but my last boyfriend actually was… Incredibly romancy." He snorted. "It got overwhelming."
Free frowned, looking down. "Sorry… I wanted to be romantic, I just don't know what I'm doing…"
Sisco was the first person Free had ever loved in a romantic sense. He was so scared he was gonna fuck it up, and he was trying really hard.
"Hey." Sisco lifted his head, planting a gentle kiss on Free's cheek. "I like the quiet. I like the way you are. You don't need to do big shit for me. Like I said, it can get overwhelming. I… Like the shit we have going on." He put his head back down and nestled into his neck. "Plus, it's the thought that counts, no?"
Free sighed. "I guess…"
Sisco chuckled, shifting back and standing up. He opened his mouth to say something else, then paused. "…Were you making— toast on the stove?"
Free paused, turning to look at the bread on the counter. "No, uh—" he cleared his throat, embarrassed. "I was trying to make grilled cheese for you, but I kinda… Forgot all the ingredients except the bread."
It was Sisco's turn to pause now, and suddenly, he let out a roar of laughter. It caught Free off guard, the blonde turning his body to face the other. Sisco was laughing for a good few seconds, then he shook his head, wiping his eyes. "Oh my gods." He snorted. "Okay, bitch— I love you, but how about we just order takeout and watch a movie or some shit? I'll pick the movie, there. Then it's romantic or— whatever."
Free stared at him for a moment, then he let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair and smiling a bit. "…Yeah. Sounds good."
Sisco chuckled, taking Free's hand and walking towards the living room. "Cool."
Free followed him, breathing out and letting himself slump onto the couch as Sisco grabbed the remote.
Yeah. This was better.