***Tin & Can - Forever's Not Long Enough by John Newman***
Can: I want to spend the night at your apartment
Tin: You've been here the past 4 nights. Your mom will call again complaining she misses you.
Can: So? I need comforting
Tin: I've also "comforted" you the past 4 nights.
Can: So?
Tin: I think you only want me for my body.
Can: Not true
Can: I want you for your body and your money
"Tin thank you for dinner. It was so good." Can leaned back in his chair and a slow lazy smile spread across his face as he closed his eyes.
"Well, it's time to go study".
"Oi, no, I hate studying".
"I don't care, it's what you need to do" Tin said as he moved to clear the dinner dishes from the table. He glanced at his boyfriend and saw he hadn't moved at all. A sudden thought flitted through his mind and a sly smile crossed his face. "I know you don't like studying. Open your eyes baby and tell me what you do like."
"Food!" Eyes still closed while a hand lazily rubbed circles on his stomach.
"Hmm. Then what do you love? Be serious now."
"Soccer." His eyes still closed.
He tried one final time after he crossed the kitchen. "Who keeps you warm and cuddles you at night and makes you feel secure?"
Can's eyes popped open and a big smile spread across his face. Their eyes met and Tin smiled back excited to hear his boyfriends' rare declaration of love. "Gucci!"
The bang of silverware carelessly tossed into the kitchen sink clanked through the room. "Hmph. You can just go home if you want to be with your dog so badly. Maybe Gucci can cook your dinner next time too."
He felt hands snake around his waist and a slight kiss on his neck from behind. Tin turned on the hot water tap, testing the water temperature as he filled the sink. "Come on hug me back, I do love you so quit pouting. And quit nagging me like you're my mother."
They stood in place, arms around his waist as Tin washed the dishes. Can's hands moved up his chest to unbutton the top few buttons of his shirt as lips continued to kiss his neck. Each kiss a bit more lingering as fingers caressed his collarbones.
Tin pushed away Can's hands and wiggled out of his embrace. "I'm not pouting. You know you have to study to do well in school and graduate." He picked up a striped dish towel and slowly dried the freshly washed dishes. He did not turn around when he heard Can move away.
A few minutes passed before Tin snuck a peek towards the living room. Can looked to be playing games on his phone, a wide smile on his face as his fingers danced across the phone screen. Tin sighed, shaking his head and drummed his fingertips on the edge of the sink. He spoke loud enough for his voice to carry into the other room. "I plan to marry you once you graduate and we move overseas." He returned to the dry dishes, putting them away into the cupboards and drawers, his ears keenly listening for any reply to what he said.
Finally. "Who the hell said I want to marry you?"
He stilled but Tin did not turn around to look at his boyfriend. He waited a full minute busying himself with wiping down the countertops and folding the kitchen towel and gathering the trash from the can under the sink. He turned back towards the living room and saw his boyfriend was still playing on his phone. He sighed and for a long minute he watched the other boy, a slight smile never leaving his face. This was not the first time he mentioned a future with Can and like the other times, the boy replied as if he didn't care. Can didn't even want to live together and still insisted on spending about half the week sleeping at his mothers' house.
"I guess I'll go shower. I'm tired so maybe we can go to bed early?"
"Hmm. I'm going onto my PC and play games all night. No need to wait up for me" was the casual reply, fingers still quickly moving without even glancing up.
What Can didn't know until graduation day was that Tin knew he didn't play games on all those nights he stayed up late while his boyfriend slept in the other room. Tin had silently pushed open the door and peeked out often enough to see the books spread open on the coffee table, the pages and pages of homework and notes, the concentrated look on his boyfriends' face as he sat cross legged in front of the couch. Plus, the astonished phone call from Lay demanding to know what he had done to her brother to make him willingly study. He had to buy her silence and continued spying with an occasional expensive gift and the promise that if she did in fact succeed in winning Ruj's heart during college, he would pay for her engagement party.
Can's graduation gift from his boyfriend was a platinum band inset with a row of tiny sparkling diamonds and a wedding proposal that was accepted with not only a loud "yes, yes, yes" but also tears as soon as Tin opened the ring box.
