Prompt Twelve: Love & Longing

Prompt Twelve: Love & Longing : Word count 522

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"And then both of you fell in the mud?!"

"Oh no. Don't you start. I've already had this with Mike."

At Sej's request, he and David had met in a park, instead of a bar. The afternoon was bright, and warm, and they sat on the grass catching up. David's master had let him off two hours early, and now they were enjoying the extra time.

"It must have been mortifying. What'd you do after?"

"I drank myself stupid, and made a further fool of myself. Ruined new suit, failed my date, and insulted a friend. Not a good day. But enough about me, what have you been up to for the last six years!"

"Six years, yeah that's a lot to catch up on. Where do I start?"

"How about your job, how'd you end up a tailor's apprentice?"

"Well the pay is enough to get by, Jonah is a great guy, and the work is interesting." David blushed and Sej laughed out loud.

"Work is interesting, I bet it is. Measuring up all those fine young men. Haha."

The blush deepened, but David smiled. "You were always so good at figuring things out like that. So many times I thought you must have known about me."

"You give me too much credit, or not enough for your ability to hide it. You hid it very well, I had no idea."

"My parents still don't know. My dad would kill me. Well actually nobody does. Except you, now I guess."

Sej felt awe again at his friend's strength. To have kept a part of himself hidden for so long, and still having to.

"Oh David, here I was moaning about stupid things like falling in the mud, and you, you have actual problems. I feel awful."

"No, no don't. You don't know how amazing it is to finally have someone know. And then have them just talk to me about day to day things like it's not even something. I feel so much lighter. You've been great."

"David, I have to ask, and please, either answer is fine, we'll work it out. But do you still have feelings for me?"

Sej wished he didn't need to ask the question, but it had been nagging at him since the night David had told him about the party. To Sej's delight, David just laughed. He couldn't remember the last time David had done that.

"No, not like before. Don't get me wrong, I love you, but more like a... a brother now, not anything else."

Sej did his utmost to hide any relief, and smiled too. David had been right about being lighter. This David was more alive than any time Sej could remember. How heavy had the burden weighed him down?

"So, brother, you've heard how my recent attempts at romance went. Clearly I'm going to end up a miserable old bachelor, maybe get a cat. You got your eye on anyone?"

The blush was back.

"Well, maybe, but it's hard. I can't exactly just walk up to them and ask them, they might not..." The burden was back, but David seemed to push past it. "Nor do I have anyone to set me up with someone."

"Ha, you do now!"

They both laughed.