Stronger Together (bxb) ✔

Chapter 44 - Bryan

Bryan's POV

I stick my head outside the door which the twins have just disappeared through. "They're gone," I tell Diego, closing the kitchen door. Spinning around to face him with a huge grin on my face, I say, "tell me what happened! Chase groped your butt!"

"I know! I still can't believe my sweet, innocent cuddle bear squeezed my butt! I blame your boyfriend for corrupting him," Diego responds, smiling from ear to ear.

"Yeah, I can see that," I respond with a chuckle. I wouldn't be surprised if Jesse talks about my butt constantly, my tomato is definitely obsessed with it. A smile graces my face at that thought but I quickly refocus on Diego. "Is he comfortable with casual touches now?"

He nods with a smile still plastered to his face. "He told me to treat him like I would any other boyfriend so that's what I'll do!"

"You should still be careful with him," I respond.

Diego can be a bit intense, and though he'll never intentionally hurt Chase, he's very touchy. From observing how he was in his previous relationships, he would always want to be holding hands or touching his partner's hair or hugging them, something to maintain physical contact.

"Just because I'll be treating him like I would any other person I was in a relationship with, doesn't mean that I won't be checking for signs of discomfort, like him tensing or flinching. I also told him that he has to be completely honest if he doesn't like something," Diego replies and I nod before moving to the kitchen sink to wash my hands.

He has been really good with Chase thus far, so maybe this is the right approach, although I'm still a bit skeptical. "Ok, but you know how you can be in relationships. You're almost always touching your partner. It was different before because Chase had drawn clear boundaries about what you weren't allowed to do. I'm just worried that you'll unintentionally hurt him, now that he's lifted pretty much all the boundaries."

"Yesterday after he asked me to be his boyfriend, he didn't let go of me once," Diego pauses and frowns. "Well until he started to panic on the way back, but my point is, he might be just as touchy as I am! Besides, I think I know him well enough to know if something I do makes him uncomfortable and he doesn't seem to have a problem talking to me about anything so I really think he'll tell me if he doesn't like something," Diego concludes, rubbing the back of his neck as he waits for my response.

He might be right and he is very intuitive. "Ok, I'm sure you'll be a great boyfriend to Chase."

Diego releases a sigh of relief before he once again breaks into a wide, excited smile. "And he let me cuddle with him last night! I woke up with my perfect boyfriend in my arms!" He has a dreamy look on his face as if he still can't fully believe that happened.

"Dude! I almost messed up last night," Diego says, refocusing on me. I cock an eyebrow and wait for him to continue. "I almost told him that I love him!"

I chuckle and roll my eyes. "You still don't think he's ready to hear it?"

It took all of a week of meeting up with Chase to work out, for Diego to confess to Dean and I that he was in love with him. But he also said that he didn't think Chase was emotionally ready to hear it, so he'll keep it to himself.

Since then, he's only fallen harder for Chase. When he's not with him, he's talking about him or staring off into space with a lovestruck look. He even has the photo that Jesse took of him and Chase at the barbecue as his phone lock screen.

I don't think I've ever seen him this happy with anyone else. Part of the reason for that is because Chase genuinely cares about him and can very easily make Diego smile or cheer him up after a long day of work.