Work Text:
One more box, the last one to move into the small rented room, not much would fit in surely, but the twenty four boxes of both men’s belongings seemed to just about manage. With the amount they’d spent on the studio, this small room between them was all the pair could afford, the place wasn’t even furnished. Luckily, Florian managed to get a cheap deal on a big king sized mattress to put on the floor, and although Ralf was at first unsure of the idea, he was soon won over by the man’s wonderful artistic view of it. And so while he was grabbing boxes from their cars, lugging them up the stairs and into their small space, Florian was busying himself in the space where they had the mattress comfortably tucked into, making it look nice.
It was quite a spacious room really, it would serve them for a year or two, mostly one big square on the top floor with a large cut out bed space in a corner just big enough for the mattress they bought and a very small bathroom next to it. It had the basics, a shower, a toilet, and a shared kitchen downstairs, quite cosy really.
“When you’re done decorating,” Ralf began, out of breath from his thirteenth trip up the four flights of narrow stairs. “Could you maybe have helped with the boxes?”
Florian looked up from his work, placing pillows and quilts on the mattress, under the tent he had made from Ralf’s favourite blanket. “I brought some up.”
“You brought up everything to do with that damn bed.”
“It’s a fort,” Florian corrected.
“It can wait, we still have everything else to unpack and I want to get to the furniture store before it closes, we still need somewhere to put our clothes.”
The man stood from his work and walked over to his friend, giving his hair a loving ruffle, “You don’t need to rush it. For the night we can keep our things in the boxes and unpack them slowly.” He smiled, pushing up his long sleeves. “Now, how many more boxes?”
“Well, you brought in eight, I brought in… thirteen. So that’s twenty four so far.”
“Out of?”
“Twenty four.”
“Oh. Well I’ll go lock up the cars,” Florian spoke as he moved past his friend, hurrying down the stairs.
“That’s all I ever wanted.” The other gave a sigh, watching after him, feeling a smile creep up on him.
Finally, with all the boxes in and placed neatly together, Ralf got to sit down. It was a lower fall than he anticipated, forgetting that their bed was just a mattress, but he flopped onto his back as he landed, sprawled out and oddly comfortable with his shirt half pulled up, exposing his soft belly.
“I just got that sorted.” Florian walked in with another smaller box of magazines, kicking the door closed behind him before putting the box with the others.
“It’s going to get messed up anyway.”
“Is that the same excuse you give your mother when she tells you to make your bed?”
Ralf looked towards his friend, glaring with a distinct lack of energy, Florian just laughed, walking over to lay down next to him. “Now you see why I got it all sorted before you finished bringing in the boxes?”
“Fuck you, this wasn’t intentional.”
His friend just hummed unconvinced and kicked off his shoes. “Anyway, I’m getting into my pyjamas. It’s time to be lazy.”
He stood up again to lock their door and fish around for which boxes held his clothes, pulling out a pair of blue flannel bottoms from one of them, “you want yours?” He asked behind him,
“Yeah,” Ralf replied, “might as well.” He sat up and watched his friend on the quest to discover where they were packed, finding the large t-shirt and bottoms.
“Isn’t this my t-shirt?”
“You left it at my house ages ago.”
“I’ve been looking for this.” Florian gave a half arsed complaint before chucking the clothes to his friend, “First you steal my girlfriend and now this? Unforgivable.”
“Did not.” Ralf spoke as he scrambled to catch the clothes, “You told me you didn’t want to be with her anymore and sent me to break up with her for you.”
“Doesn’t give you the excuse to make out with her,” the other man teased, pulling off his shirt. “But you’re right, she was too much for me.”
“She was enough for me…”
“Oi.” Florian threw his shirt as a warning hitting his friend square in the face.
Ralf laughed before adjusting his glasses. “I’m kidding. You know you’re the only one for me.”
“Real funny.” The other rolled his eyes as he pulled on his trousers, giving a stretch upwards and a big yawn. He moved back to the bed, rolling himself in the quilts and resting in a corner of pillows.
Ralf smiled at his friend, changing into his own pyjamas, feeling weirdly small in Florian’s oversized shirt. “Oh,” he said as a thought dawned on him, he began to look around in search.
“You can put them on the windowsill.” Florian chimed in from his cosy cocoon.
“What if they fall off and break?”
“Better than stepping on them.”
Ralf nodded, though he only argued for the sake of it, taking off his glasses and placing them carefully on the windowsill before scootching into his own spot. He sighed, mentally thanking his friend for buying so many god damn pillows and arranging them so comfortably, not that he would say it to his face.
“You’re welcome,” came the smug chime from the other end of the bed; Florian already knew what he was thinking it after all.
They rested for a little, Ralf feeling his eyes heavy as he relaxed into the comfortable pillows, it was too early to sleep. He felt the covers shift as Florian moved around the bed, clearly restless. “Ralf,” Florian called quietly.
“What?” the other groaned.
“Don’t fall asleep yet.” He moved, shuffling his cocoon over to the other side, shuffling behind Ralf before opening the mass of blankets to pull his friend in.
Ralf laughed as he was consumed in soft warm blankets, sure he’d overheat if he stayed, but he turned and buried himself in Florian’s chest. “Alright, I’m awake.”
“Good. Now I’m sure it’ll be difficult but you need to stay awake, this is really important.”
“What is it?”
“Your opinion on boys in lipstick.”
“My opinion is yes, your point?” Ralf smiled, feeling the vibrations in his friend’s chest as he hummed in thought.
“I think you should get some.”
“Am I not pretty enough already for you?”
“Red is very much your colour, you’d look very stylish.”
He didn’t know why this conversation was important, but none the less he had fun giggling along with Florian’s strange ideas and nonsense. The man rambled on some train of thought he was catching, and of course Ralf listened, smiling and nodding, the words going in one ear and out the other, eventually he stopped trying. He moved forward, silencing the other with a gentle kiss. “Florian,” he whispered.
“Yes?”
“Shut up.”