Chapter 11: An Adult Conversation
Fenton was ready to move in by the next week. While the two had only been dating for a few months it was clear that their relationship was on a slightly more accelerated timetable than most. I suppose having a high-stress job does that, and nothing's higher fucking stress than keeping two cities from self-destructing or being destroyed by nutjobs on a semi-regular basis. It had been discussed between him and Drake, and it was obvious that the move made sense. They both were clearly dedicated to each other and frankly, Gos needed the extra supervision-Gos, why do you have a crossbow hidden with your lacrosse stuff... Due to Fenton's previous residence being with his mother he didn't have a ton of personal affairs at his home, that wasn't to say he didn't have a large amount of things to move however.
It was Wednesday and Fenton had finally completed packing up the last of his personal experiments that M'ma had deemed 'too dangerous for home'. "So, you finally got your own place?" Gyro asked as Fenton stacked the final box of equipment he'd been keeping at the lab onto a hand truck, pleased at how it was slightly easier than he'd anticipated.
"Sorta, I moved in with Drake…" Fenton mumbled, while not ashamed by any means, it was still a relatively personal subject. Gyro was slowly edging more toward friend than acquaintance, but his decision was still something that was largely based in his romantic interest with Drake, something Gyro had been somewhat dismissive of.
Gyro paused, seemingly choosing the correct words before he replied. "Good for you, I definitely don't think I could handle a kid, but if you're up for it I hope it works out."
Fenton tilted his head slightly before he cracked a small smile. "Thanks Gyro, I appreciate that."
"Think nothing of it. I'm just glad to have all your old shit out of my closet." He waved dismissively, trying to get back to their normal patter.
"Of course." Fenton replied, "Is that the same one you've been locked in twice? Or the one you keep all your 'special' projects that Mr. McDuck doesn't know about in?" He alluded to the fact that of the two closets that their lab had Gyro hadn't had great luck with either.
Gyro huffed, "Look, just get your shit out of here before I decide to use one of those 'special' devices to disintegrate it."
***DT***
It took a few days, but Fenton had unpacked his entire lifetime of possessions into his new shared apartment. He glanced around, thinking about how it seemed like there wasn't as much as he'd expected. He'd decided to leave the furniture at his mother's, Not much use in a bed if I'm sharing one with Drake… Which meant his clothes and personal affects were mostly tucked away in Drake's spare dresser or in the closet. He had a handful of things in the living room and kitchen, but nothing much beyond a few mugs and some small trinkets he'd gotten on vacation or from when he was in college. Really, if it wasn't for the office it wouldn't've been too hard to completely miss his presence.
Drake never really had used the office much before. With his own superhero HQ he'd moved anything secure there, meaning that the office had basically been a room to store his woefully outdated PC and a handful of old papers only tied to his civilian life. He'd consolidated and relocated that to give Fenton the space. Fenton had initially protested, but had accepted after Drake had explained.
"Look, I'm paying for the room, someone's using it. Either you put your science stuff in there or I'm finally going to get around to making myself a sewing room so I can do alterations on costumes somewhere other than my hot-as-hell classroom."
So Fenton had brought in his equipment and carefully set it up. The first thing he did after getting it all put in was to change the knob to a more secure one. His stuff was still experimental, which meant it could be dangerous, especially for people who didn't have good intentions. While neither Drake nor Gos would ever do anything to it, he had to consider that someone else could end up visiting or breaking in and trying to take it. And that's the last thing any of us need.
***DT***
It was a Friday, which meant Gos had gone next door for her weekly slumber party with Honker Muddlefoot. Fenton had quickly come to realize why Drake didn't love his next door neighbors. Además de ser extremadamente tontos, también eran muy molestos. At least Honker seems okay; he seems to be the only one with brains in that family. But in any case it meant that the two of them were alone.
"Well, this was a hell of a week." Drake sighed as he poured himself a glass of wine. He glanced over at Fenton, who quickly signaled he wouldn't be opposed to a bit of refreshment. "Thanks again for helping out with the Liquidator. That guy's a real nightmare sometimes."
"No problem, just happy that the suit's waterproofing held. I'll have to thank Gyro; he came up with the polymer to keep it watertight."
There was a pause in the conversation, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Quite to the contrary, it was a pleasant moment of stillness in the hectic mess that was often their lives. Drake sighed quietly and slid onto the couch beside Fenton. He was reading a book. Drake tried to glance at the cover, but the angle made it hard to read. He shrugged before handing Fenton his drink. Fenton accepted and took a small sip.
He looked down at the glass, "Hmm, this is good. Is this one of those ones you ordered in that crate from online?"
"Yeah, I forget what it's called but I definitely like it."
"Well, whatever it is I like it."
Another moment passed before Drake decided to try again to read the cover. Fenton noticed.
"It's called 'Out of the Silent Planet'; it's by C. S. Lewis."
Drake frowned a moment, "So, it's a kids book, like Narnia?"
"No, it's actually really good. It's about a professor who goes to Mars."
Drake glanced over Fenton's shoulder and read along for a few lines, "When you're done I might take a look at it."
Some time passed and eventually a proper conversation began. "We didn't rush into this, did we?" Drake asked.
"Moving in together?" Fenton replied, understanding that it had only been a few months, which to many may seem too short a time to be with someone prior to moving in.
"Yeah. No one said anything, but a couple of the other people at work were a bit surprised at how quickly we'd decided to do it."
Fenton shrugged, he knew it was the right choice. Even though it had only been a few days he immediately had felt happy when he moved in. Fenton tended to be like that. He seemed to have some sort of internal barometer that pretty well gauged situations in a hurry, and usually it was right. The last time he'd felt something immediately it had been the hesitation when Mark Beaks had offered him to be Waddleduck. Ignoring that really bit me in the ass later on. "I mean, we aren't exactly aiming to be normal, why care what others think?"
Drake smiled before he thought back to a conversation from a few months prior, "Not to bring down the mood, but does that mean you're going to do something about the whole 'Gizmoduck is Cuban' thing?"
Fenton's smile grew slightly, "Well, I was going to wait a bit, but I guess I can tell you now."
Drake raised an eyebrow, "Tell me what?"
"I arranged an interview with Veralyn Cuervo at Telecentral in a week."
"The Spanish network?"
"Yeah, I said Gizmoduck wanted to give an interview in support of his fans, with everything happening right now at the border I wanted to show that people from anywhere can be heroes. Not just chicos blancos aburridos like you."
"Hey! I'm not boring!" Drake defended.
Fenton smirked, "So you have been practicing."
Drake blushed slightly, "If you're going to speak every other sentence in Spanish I have to at least try to keep up."
Fenton pecked him lightly on the beak. "Gracias por intentarlo, mi amor. Thank you for trying Drake."
Another comfortable silence followed for a few moments before Drake spoke.
"We're never going to be normal, are we?" He mused.
"A gay superhero couple? No." Fenton chuckled.
Drake paused a moment before he continued, "But, what about some of that normal stuff?"
"What do you mean?" Fenton asked, unsure of what Drake meant.
"I mean, what about the 'American Dream'?"
"Drake, I'm Cuban." Fenton deadpanned.
Drake sighed, "I swear… No, I mean, y'know, some kids, a house in the 'burbs, a nice wedding…"
"We already have Gos." Fenton commented, "Are you saying you want to move?"
Drake dragged his hand across his face, realizing as he did so how clammy it had become. "Fen, I love you."
"I love you too, Drake."
"What I'm saying is," Drake fumbled with his words, "What about long term?"
"Long term?"
"When we had dinner with your mom she mentioned the future, and for some reason I haven't been able to stop thinking about, well, our future since."
Fenton's brow rose.
"What I'm asking is, if things keep going this way, I mean…" Drake inhaled, "…would you ever want to marry me?"
Fenton blinked. "Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes."
Drake relaxed, "Okay…" HOLY SHIT HE SAID YES!
"So, is this you proposing to me?" Fenton asked, unsure of what was happening.
Drake turned scarlet, "Um, well, I don't have rings or anything, and like, there's some other stuff and umm…"
Fenton kissed Drake, the two reluctantly separating a moment later, "Drake, whenever you're ready, the answer is the same. I love you, and yes, I'd want to marry you."
Drake smiled, glancing down at his lap to try and hide his somehow deepening blush, "Thank you."A moment later and coughed, "Um, so Gos won't be back until morning, and all this talk of love kinda has me…" He nodded downward.
Fenton rolled his eyes, "Alright, let's go." Fenton smiled as Drake happily dashed toward their bedroom.
