"I'm telling you, Arthur, he is the one." Francis Bonnefoy said dreamily, mixing sugar into his tea. His best friend rolled his eyes.
"Oh please, I highly doubt you are, pardon me, 'in love' with some churro stand guy you saw only yesterday." Arthur commented cynically, sipping his tea. The two men sat at the kitchen table in Arthur's tidy apartment. It was around 5:00 P.M., and less than 24 hours earlier, Francis became love struck… once again. The friendly, happy, handsome Spanish man with the adorable accent and lovely green eyes. "Do you even know his name?"
Francis waved him off, "What does that matter when there's love!?"
"… A lot."
"Oh, Arthur!" Francis pouted. "You don't have to be jealous. You can find a guy almost as good as me someday-"
"I'm going to smack you!"
"Eh, um, one churro, please." Francis purred, giving the churro man his most seductive gaze. The gorgeous brunette smiled at him warmly.
"Would you like it filled with chocolate?" he asked. Francis grinned goofily.
"Fill it with whatever you like…" he looked the man down and saw it- the name tag. "Antonio." he added. Antonio chuckled.
"Alright," he said and began to prepare it. Look at those lips… Francis admired, Oh, what I wouldn't give for just one kiss… He then heard the soft tune, he wondered where it was coming from for a moment before he realized it was Antonio humming a song.
"You have a lovely voice." he complimented. Antonio stopped humming and looked at him.
"I was just humming… but, thanks anyway." he laughed. He wrapped the ready churro with a napkin and handed it to Francis. "$1.75." Francis dug into his pocket and pulled out a dollar bill, three quarters, and a dime. He dropped the money into Antonio's open hand.
"Keep the change." he winked. So smooth. He took his churro and slowly took a bite. He batted his eyes at Antonio. "Mmmmm! This is delicious, Antonio, thank you!" he gushed. So, so smooth. He turned to walk away, "Goodbye!" he sang, and pranced away.
As soon as he was at least ten feet away, Antonio laughed,
"Creeeeeeepy."
"Oh, Antonio!"
Antonio Fernandez flinched and resisted the urge to duck behind his cart. He had only met the guy yesterday, but he recognized that voice and French accent. He brought up a smile as the man with the wavy blonde hair and the stubble on his chin appeared. He smiled flirtatiously, twiddling his fingers at him in a wave. Antonio brought on a deceivingly genuine fake smile.
"Oh, hola, ummm…" What was this weirdo's name again? Antonio didn't remember him saying it before.
"Francis," he introduced extending his hand for a shake, "Francis Bonnefoy."
"Ah, sí." Antonio said, looking at the man's hand wincingly, "It's nice to meet you, Francis." Against his desires, he slipped his hand into Francis's. He expected it to feel sweaty and grimy, but thankfully it felt soft and clean. He was about to shake, but then Francis unexpectedly pulled Antonio's hand to him, and placed a kiss on the top of it. Antonio's eyes widened as he reeled his violated hand back.
Francis looked up at him with a shit-eating grin. "Ah, I see! You're one of the shy ones!" He chuckled. "Now, now, monsieur. There's no need to be so bashful!" Antonio stared at him with a wide, vacant smile. What?
"Señor, I really think you should go-"
Francis put an index finger in front of his mouth, shushing Antonio. Shhh, theres no need to speak, for I can see through you like beautifully cut glass. Antonio had been called thick-skulled before at times, but this man there was no comparison. Listen to me, Antonio. You are a beautiful man. Do not be held back by insecuri-"
"There you are!" A voice with an English accent suddenly hollered. The two men looked over as another man with messy blonde hair and bushy eyebrows stomped over to the cart. He was giving Francis a horrifying glare and grabbed him by the shoulder. He took a quick glance at Antonio, then back to Francis. "I knew I'd find you here, wanker!"
"Oh, hi, Arthur." he smiled, "Antonio, this is my friend, Arthur Kirklan-"
"Francis," Arthur interrupted, "Alfred and the others are expecting us, and every single one of them have been blowing up my phone!" He curled a hand around Francis's arm and tugged him away from the vendor. "Let's go, you can talk to your boyfriend some other time!" he ordered. Francis waved to Antonio as he was dragged away.
"Goodbye, my love!" he called, catching stares from other people on the street. "I'll see you again!"
Antonio couldn't help but chuckle a little.
That guy was really weird.
Then soon, nearly every day, Francis would visit Antonio's churro stand. And each day with a new arsenal of compliments, flatteries, and other come-ons. Sometimes, he even made the Hispanic man blush. Francis seemed like the guy who fell easily for somebody, but Antonio couldn't believe how persistent he was! And he was good at what he did. Since Antonio soon found himself always looking forward to having the romantic man show up on the other side of the cart. Antonio was a very friendly guy, Francis had just caught him off guard, but had now made his way on Fernandez's warm side.
At Alfred Jones's home, Arthur and several other friends allies waited for Francis's arrival.
"Dude, why does he always gotta be so late?" Alfred complained, throwing his head back exasperatedly while pacing in front of the door. Arthur, sitting on the sofa, set his elbow on the arm, supporting his cheek on his fist. He rolled his eyes.
"He's probably out flirting and stalking." he enlightened the group.
"How did I not guess it was something to do with skirt-chasing?" Alfred smacked his forehead.
"This is ridicurous!" Yao Wang shouted, rising to his feet, "This is nearry the sixtieth time, now! He needs to be more conscious about his duties and responsibirities!" he stomped his boot down on the hardwood floor, his expression stern as usual. Ivan Braginski, sitting next to Arthur raised his hand with a frozen smile.
"We execute him then, da?"
"Dude… serious-"
"I'm here!" Francis announced as he burst through the unlocked front door (Almost hitting Alfred).
"You're rate again!" Yao quickly shrieked, pointing an condemning finger at the Frenchman. "You are not responsibur!" Francis just chuckled his stereotypical chuckle, as he shut the door behind him.
"Oh, I'm sorry, mon ami." he apologized. "I just got caught up-"
"No excuses!" Yao interrupted, "You must face punishment! Ivan!"
"Okay!" Ivan sang, suddenly appearing behind Francis with a pickaxe raised above his head.
"No, Ivan, don't!"
"Oh, stop crying, you big baby. He wasn't really going to hit you." Arthur chided Francis, sitting next to him on Alfred's front porch.
"I'm not crying!" Francis denied, wiping away what apparently weren't tears from his eyes. Arthur rolled his eyes.
"Of course you aren't. Anyway, look, you really need to get it together, Francis." Arthur advised seriously. "You've been all over the place for nearly three months now! You're always late when we hang out, and you're never listening. Stop being so careless."
"But Arthur, I'm in love!" Francis cried, much too passionately and loudly. Arthur shushed him.
"Quiet, dingbat!" he scolded, "My word! And who is it this time? I bet you don't even know their name, eith-"
"Antonio Fernandez Carriedo." he burst out competently. Arthur froze in surprise, his expression bewildered.
"The churro guy?"
Francis nodded.
Arthur was honestly amazed. "You're still hanging on to him?" Francis nodded again, and Arthur was in total shock. Francis was never serious about somebody for this long. He was a unpredictable, capricious, and ADD player when it came to love. A new person for a new day, it seemed. The longest before had just been a week, and Francis had been following this this man for almost three months? Arthur was awestruck.
This made it so much harder to give him this lecture. Looking into his eyes, Arthur could tell his best friend was serious about that man. He didn't want to get in the way of Francis heading to perhaps an actually stable relationship.
"You love him?" he asked.
"So much." Francis vowed. Arthur leaned back and let out a long exhale. He came back forward, rubbing his temples with his thumb and middle finger.
"Then you just need to tell him, alright?" he quietly encouraged. He'd explain to the other guys that he didn't chew up Francis later.
"Hola, Francis!" Antonio waved with his usual soft grin.
"Mon amour," Francis replied as he joined Antonio behind the churro stand under the shade of its red canopy.
"So, you decided to come twice today?" Antonio remarked. "It's kinda late, though. I was just about to pack up and go home." The cloudless Summer sky was being dyed orange by the setting sun, the street was desolate of people, and Antonio's cart was cleared.
"Oui." he answered, "Antonio, there's something I'd like to talk to you about." he said with rarely seen solemnity.
"What is it?" Antonio asked with concern. Something must've been wrong for Francis to be this serious.
"How do you think of me?" Francis inquired. "Because, Antonio, I truly believe I'm in love with you." Antonio's tongue felt like it swelled to three times its regular size. He didn't know what to say. Francis went on, "You are the only one I've ever felt this way about. You're all I can ever think about." He was serious? Antonio had always thought he had just been being playful. That all his compliments and such were really just platonic. He looked down at his feet speechlessly.
"Francis… I don't know what to say…" he trailed off. Suddenly, Francis reached out and grabbed his face, guiding his gaze back to him.
"Say yes." he said, "Say you'll take the chance."
And then crashed his lips onto Antonio's.
Francis let the world melt around him. Suddenly everything was silent except for his and Antonio's excited heartbeats. He could feel the initial hesitation from Antonio, but then he succumbed to the kiss. He raised his hands onto Francis's trailing his fingers down to his wrists, then gently taking a hold on them.
Slowly, Antonio pulled away, smiling at him, still lightly gripping his wrists.
"I'll take a shot at it." he chuckled, before Francis pulled him in for another kiss.