Free Chiaroscuro by Jenna Jones Page A

said.
    "So. Um."
    Jamie hitched up the box on his hip. "Let's get these inside, yeah?" and turned around to climb the stairs.
    "I love you too, Jamie," Micah said from behind him.
    Jamie closed his eyes a moment, then put down the box and came down the stairs, walking to Micah until they were nose-to-nose, and kissed him. "All right, then," he said. "Can I call you my boyfriend now?"
    "Yeah," Micah said, and then laughed and threw his arms around Jamie's neck. "Yeah. You can."
    ***
    Jamie's apartment was on the east side of the building: one bedroom, one bath, a small but well-lit kitchen, and a dining room/office that opened into a sun room that in turn opened to a small balcony. The previous tenant had painted it: a brightly mournful blue in the living room, peach in the bedroom, an aggressive yellow in the kitchen. "Can I repaint it?" Jamie had said when he signed the lease, and the landlord replied, "Oh, thank God, yes."
    That project would happen soon enough: first there was arranging his things, framed canvases and boxes of notebooks, clothes and books, the bed, the creaky futon, the nightstands.
    The flat was far less cramped and noisy than the first one he'd had in America--and much better than the first flat he'd had on his own, which had been just a bedsit with a communal shower down the hall--but still, he felt a bit deflated when he looked around. He'd had a house--he'd been a homeowner. Now this.
    Dune laid a hand on Jamie's shoulder and kissed his hair. "Buck up, Jamie."
    "Is it that obvious?"
    "You're practically pouting. At least you have a place to live--at least you don't have to get a roommate." He glanced at Micah, who was sitting on the floor, putting together one of Jamie's bookcases. "Unless you really want to."
    "We'll see about that," he said, though that made him feel much more cheerful. Micah might feel more inclined to moving in with him now--might be more willing to come out to his family, knowing that he had Jamie at his back.
    Dune gave him a significant look and picked up a box of clothes. "Bedroom?"
    "Yup." When Dune was in the back room Jamie went to Micah and put his hands on his shoulders, massaging him. "And how are you?"
    "This was a lot easier to take apart than put back together." He leaned back against Jamie's knees.
    "Do you want me to see if I can find the instructions?"
    "Nah--I'm sure you threw them out a long time ago." He closed his eyes. "You know what's funny?"
    "Anything involving monkeys in human clothes is usually hilarious."
    Micah smiled without opening his eyes. "Dope. I mean, nothing's different but everything is. You know?"
    "I know." Jamie bent to kiss the top of Micah's head. "Can you stay tonight?"
    "No," Micah said with a sigh. "My mom's picking me up at nine. She wanted to do some shopping with my sister for her prom and then take me home."
    Jamie sighed too and sat down on the floor next to him, and put his arm around Micah's shoulders. "I miss you, you know."
    "I miss you, too." He leaned against Jamie, their heads together. "I brought up living with you while I go to school last night."
    "Oh?"
    "Yeah. Um. It didn't go over too well. That's why my mom wants to pick me up--to check the place out. And since it only has one bedroom..." He kissed Jamie's cheek.
    "So we'll tell her we'll be sharing the bedroom."
    "Right," Micah said, rolling his eyes. "She'll love that. I'm going to have to break the news to them very carefully. I have no idea how."
    "You say: Mom, Dad, I'm gay."
    "And then I spend the next month explaining that yes, I'm sure, no, I'm not interested in girls, no, I'm not going to go to pray-you-straight meetings..." He sighed, and then kissed Jamie, hard. "Let's run away."
    "Running away doesn't help. Trust me on this."
    "It was worth a shot, I guess." He picked up a shelf for the bookcase as Ben came into the flat with another box.
    ***
    He sent Dune and Ben on their way after beer and pizza and many hugs of thanks, and was alone with Micah. There