Friday, January 25th

     "Jesse!" Mrs. Milonas called out from the bottom of the stairs. "You're going to be late!"

"I'm almost ready!" Jesse called back, rummaging through his belongings to find a decent shirt to wear. "It's just a date," he muttered while throwing dirty laundry in the laundry basket. He really needed to clean up is room.

If he took a look at the current state of his room, one would think he'd been living there his whole life. He got accustomed to living with the Milonas family, and it was showing in his ways.

Though his room was a mess, he did help the family out by cleaning other rooms in the house whenever he had time.

But between soccer, spray painting graffiti—in places where it was allowed—skating, school and dates with Loek, there was hardly any room for more cleaning. Not to mention the fact he had friends that wanted to hang out all the time.

Jesse stood up straight with a groan and trudged towards the door to open it. "Mrs. Milonas, I can't find my green flannel anywhere."

"Stop calling me that. It's Romy," she told him while she walked up to him, tapping his nose. "And in a pig stall like this it's no wonder you can't find anything."

Jesse felt his cheeks burn as he watched how Mrs. Milonas—well, Romy—walked into his room, picking up clothes that scattered the floor.

"I reckon this is all meant for laundry?"

"Eh, yeah, I was going to clean that up,"

"When?" Romy chuckled while she faced him again. "Tomorrow, before the match? Or afterwards, while you've had a few drinks and you're probably too lazy?"

"I have no idea, honestly," Jesse answered with a smirk. "Maybe tonight, after my date."

"Why do I feel like I'll get a call later tonight, asking me if it's okay to stay over at Loek's place?"

"Because I usually call..." Jesse shrugged, still smirking. "I'll clean my room up this weekend, I promise."

Downstairs, the doorbell rang, and Jesse jumped into action, searching his closet for the one thing he wanted to wear. It wasn't that important, although Loek really liked it when Jesse wore the green flannel he was looking for. "Did you see the flannel anywhere?"

"I washed it for you, you should be able to find it in the laundry basket in the bathroom."

"Thanks, Mrs—Romy," Jesse replied, pecking a kiss on her cheek before he ran towards the bathroom. He quickly put on the flannel, hurrying down the stairs as he did so.

Calix had already opened the door for Loek, who looked handsome as ever, smiling widely as his eyes found Jesse.

"Hey," he greeted Loek, for some reason still feeling shy whenever Loek picked him up for a date. "You look great."

"Thank you, you're quite the looker yourself too," Loek answered with a smirk, pulling Jesse in his arms for a quick kiss. "Ready to go?"

"Eh, yeah," Jesse mumbled while he felt his cheeks flush. He still needed to get used to kissing Loek in front of others. Even if said others were Calix and his sister Iris. The latter sat on the couch, but as soon as Loek had pulled Jesse in his arms, she had jumped up with a red face, hurrying out of the room.

Calix had informed Jesse that she had a small crush on Jesse, and didn't want to see him kiss someone else.

Which flattered Jesse, but that wasn't the reason he was as shy as he was in front of others. No, that had to do with the fact he still felt a bit weird to be out as homosexual.

Outside of his group of friends, people had given him shit for it. Not that Jesse had expected everyone to agree with it. There still were people who thought it was wrong, and Jesse was fine with that as long as they left him alone.

And Jesse had his friends to thank for the fact most people did leave him alone. Roy had been in a fight with someone in school over it, and ever since, nobody had come near him to voice their opinions about his sexuality.

Still, Jesse felt weird, and Loek—thankfully—held that in mind whenever they stepped outside. They didn't show any signs of affection, usually.

That night, however, Loek kept pecking kisses on his cheek while they went to a restaurant to have a romantic dinner for two. He kept holding his hand, he kept smiling in a loving way, and it made Jesse restless.

He shuffled in his seat the entire evening and when dinner was done, he was almost bursting from curiosity. He wanted to know what was going on with Loek.

He stopped Loek while they were walking to the cab stand, halfway down the park, close to the pond, while the moon lit up their surroundings, reflecting on the surface of the water. It was a clear night, with bits and pieces of snow left from last weeks snow.

"What's going on with you?" Jesse asked while Loek turned to face him with a questioning look. "You're... I don't know, seeking more physical contact."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry," Loek started his apologies. "I know you're still a bit uncomfortable but it's so hard not to touch you in any way when we're outside."

Jesse blushed, looking down towards their feet.

"We've been dating for two months now and I just... With the whole 'no touching in public' rule, and you being very busy with so much else, I'm just a bit insecure about us."

"But you know I like you," Jesse mumbled, allowing Loek to take his hands in his. "I wouldn't go out on dates with you if I didn't."

"I know, but still..." Loek took a deep breath, and used one hand to force Jesse to look up and into his eyes. "We're not official."

"True," Jesse answered. He had no idea why he still hadn't made things official. Maybe he was just waiting for Loek to ask him so he wouldn't have to. It had been nearly 4 years since he asked Yoni to be his girlfriend and that hadn't even been a romantic moment.

Jesse remembered they had gone on dates numerous of times, and one day, Jesse just asked Yoni what it was they were, friends, dating, boyfriend-girlfriend. And like everything with Yoni, it went automatic when she said she wouldn't mind being boyfriend-girlfriend. So, they became official.

With Loek, however, Jesse wanted it to be more romantic. Not something they'd agree to with a shrug and a quick kiss.

"Maybe I'm just waiting for the right moment," Jesse eventually said with a shrug. "I don't know how or when..."

"Well, in that case..." Loek smiled while his hands slid around Jesse's waist. "Would you like to be my boyfriend?"

Jesse snorted, not expecting that question in that moment.

"Are you laughing at me?" Loek asked, pretending to be hurt. He let go of Jesse and stepped backwards, his hand against his chest, gasping for air in shock.

"No, no!" Jesse laughed, attacking Loek in a hug. "I'd love to be your boyfriend, don't walk away."

"Good," Loek breathed out in relief, cupped Jesse's face and pressed his lips against his. "Very good."

"Loek?" Jesse asked after another quick kiss.

"Yes?"

"This may be a bit to early, but I mean it; I love you."

Loek's smile widened and he seemed all too eager to say something, but he kept quiet for a few seconds, kissed Jesse again and then pulled back to look at him.

"I love you too." 

- The End -

Thank you all so much for reading Do You See Me Now? And all the patience whenever I got stuck with the story and didn't publish for a while.

I truly hope you all enjoyed the story, and I hope to see you all in my latest project: Emotional Quotient! It's my Camp NaNo book for July, like DYSMN? was my Camp NaNo book for April.

Emotional Quotient will be a bit different from what you guys are used to read on my page. It's in an alternate universe. It's still LGBTQ+, it's still boyxboy, it's just a bit sci-fy-ish xD

Hope to see you there! 

Love, June

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