Epilogue
I never thought I'd love anyone like I loved my mum, and that turned out to be true, but the love I felt for this man was so different and so happy, that it let me remember my mum fondly and I no longer worried so much about forgetting the exact memories, because the memory of that love was all I needed.
Marcus was all sweaty. He'd taken his shirt off while he'd been working and his muscles gleamed in the sunlight from the window. Esca liked that. He smiled as he watched Marcus step back from the door, examining his work proudly. Esca knew Marcus could replace the door, but Marcus had doubted himself. It was perfect.
"Well damn," Marcus laughed. "Would you look at that."
"It looks great," Esca smiled. "Now you just need to learn to lock it when you leave."
Marcus turned to Esca and shifted nervously. He'd been acting like that all day.
"About that…" Marcus seemed to be having serious difficulty saying what he wanted to say.
Esca allowed the panic to surge through him. This was the moment. This was when Marcus was going to ask him to leave. Esca didn't know if he could take it. He relied too much on Marcus now. What was he going to do?
"I wanted to talk to you about this," Marcus said motioning to the whole apartment.
Esca hung his head in shame. He stared at the ground as he realized he'd overstayed his welcome.
"Hey, hey," Marcus said pulling Esca's chin up. "I wanted to give you this."
Esca stared into Marcus's eyes a bit longer before looking down at his palm. A single, metal key sat in his hand.
"It's a key to the new door. I only left my door unlocked because I always wanted you to be able to get in. Now you have your own… well assuming you want it," Marcus blushed red as he realized he'd assumed a lot.
"I do," Esca said quickly, before Marcus could take it back.
Marcus smiled a huge, proud smile. Perhaps bigger than any Esca had seen on him. "I love you," Marcus said quietly.
Esca stared, even longer than before. Marcus shifted nervously in his gaze. Esca hadn't quite expected that.
"I love you, too."