Edilio breathlessly rushed into the room. Finally they were to be reunited. I'm here, Roger, he thought. I'm here.
He had no idea what to expect, or what his boyfriend had gone through in the month since the FAYZ wall had come down. But what really mattered was that they would be together again and nothing would separate them. Edilio would make sure of it.
Cautiously stepping into the room, he saw Roger sitting at a table, talking quietly with a woman Edilio assumed was his mother.
"Mom, I need to find him. You just don't understand. I love him so much and he's alive, I've seen him on the news. I know I'm only 14 but I've been through a lot and I'm pretty damn sure I know when I'm in love."
Edilio immediately knew that they were talking about him. Still going unnoticed, he snuck around the edge of the room until he was directly behind Roger and playfully covered his eyes with his hands.
"Guess who, babe?" he asked softly, voice full of longing.
Gasping, the younger boy tugged Edilio's wrist, yanking him forward and into his lap. "I knew you would come," he breathed. "Or I would go look for you. I knew that...just because we were out of the FAYZ that didn't mean we were just done."
Shaking his head, Edilio choked back tears. "No, Roger. I'd never leave you like that. I was so scared that you died. I was just s-so scared..."
And just like that, Edilio Escobar finally cried. Leaning into the tender embrace of his one constant, the one who kept him sane in that awful place, he was able to let out all the worries he'd had. A bit nervously, he tilted his head up slightly, connecting their lips in what was one of their first real kisses.
In all their stolen moments back in the FAYZ, they were both too preoccupied to deal with things like a first real kiss. Sure, they had given each other kisses before, mostly meant to comfort the other. The two boys had been unable to sleep without holding the other, reassured that they would still be together in the morning. But now they didn't have to worry about life and death. Edilio could simply melt into Roger's warm embrace and finally pull away for a moment.
Just long enough to whisper the words he had kept to himself for so long. "Roger, I love you."