The April morning sun shone through the bedroom window and pierced Ki’s eyeballs.

“Owwwwwwww.” He pushed his fingers into his eyes hoping to keep them from popping out of his head.

Wait! He felt around. Where were his silk sheets? Who replaced his feather comforter with fleece?

Then he realized. “Shi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i.”

“Oh, you’re awake.” Charlie poked his head in the room. “Come eat breakfast.”

Not one to suffer from drunken amnesia, the embarrassment washed through him from his ears to his toes……at least until the throbbing in his head started again. It was as if the blood coursing through his veins carried tiny icepicks.

“Oowwwwwwwww.” He moaned, pulling himself out of bed and dragging his unhappy body to the kitchen. He slumped into the chair where a large glass of water, a larger bottle of Gatorade, and a couple of analgesics waited on a sunny yellow cotton placemat. Just looking at it made his eyes burn.

Obediently, he drank as he watched Charlie putter at the stove.

“Sorry,” Ki mumbled between gulps.

“For what?” Charlie’s hoarse voice was a balm to his sensitive ears.

“For last night.”

“Once I got you inside, you weren’t that hard to deal with.”

“I threw up.” Ki grunted.

“At least it was in the toilet.” Charlie set a colorful plate of chilaquiles with a perfectly fried egg on top.

“I made you help me shower.”

Charlie froze.

The sound of the dog happily gobbling up breakfast in a corner of the kitchen broke the silence. Ki watched Charlie’s ears turn red as he made another plate of food.

“You were drunk. It would have been irresponsible if I’d left you to your own devices.”

Was the little cutie’s voice a little huskier?

“These chilaquiles are insanely delicious.” Ki deftly changed the subject.

Charlie returned to the table with his own plate of food.

“The ranchero sauce is my abuelita’s recipe.”

“Abuletia? Little?”

“Little grandmother. My abuelita was a very loving woman. She taught me how to cook. Taught me the recipes from her childhood.”

“I never had one of those.”

“One of what?”

“A grandmother, big or little. My grandparents on both sides died before I was born. That type of memory sounds lovely, but I can’t relate. You’re fortunate to have that gift from your family.”

“Mmmmmm.” Charlie felt a minor discomfort.

Ki noticed anytime comments veered towards family, they became pain points. Besides his abuelita, Charlie never mentioned other family members.

“Tell me about your abuelita.” He shoved a fork full of saucy egg and chips between his lips. “Mmmmm. Charlie, every bite is heaven.”

Ki noticed that Charlie’s ears turned crimson again, and his eyes darted anywhere but on him.

Why was it so fun to make Charlie squirm?

Taking a sip of tea, Charlie, in his rough and worn voice, spoke. At first, his words were a little stilted and quiet, but as the stories about food and a loving grandmother spilled from those full lips, Ki grew more and more fascinated.

Charlie was good-looking to be sure, golden skin, straight thick mahogany hair, slight upturned nose, dark eyes, and voice of a demon all packaged together with a sort of quiet solitary feeling that opened up Ki’s chest and laid bare his beating heart.

Ki wondered if Charlie could see that exposed organ beating just for him.

It was a surprise to Charlie that he had so much to say. How many years since he had just sat and talked about anything other than work? It was hard to remember the last time he felt such warmth and comfort in conversation.

He spoke of the good times and the not-so-good times when abuelita would come for a visit. Ki asked many questions, which prompted more memories. The recipes, the music, the warmth she shared with all her grandchildren….but especially Charlie.

“She seemed to know that I differed from my siblings. I didn’t fit in. I wasn’t normal.”

“Normal?” Ki was surprised by the word spoken without expression.

“My family is extremely religious.” Charlie began.

“I can relate. My mother drives me nuts with hers.”

“They are quite comfortable with their Mexican social norms and those in the small southern community where we lived.” Charlie’s tone was matter of fact, as if giving directions.

“Sounds stereotypical.” Ki’s voice dripped with irony.

“I knew from a young age I wasn’t like them……I……” Charlie choked on his words.

“You did not ascribe to their cis-gendered hetero-normative world?”

Feeling the heat rise in his face, Charlie bowed his head in shame. Cool smooth fingers clasped his chin and raised it.

“Charlie Diaz, are you ashamed?”

Ki felt rather than saw the tiny nod.

“But why?”

“I was raised to believe…..THAT was deviant, those thoughts and behaviors. Not normal. I’m not normal.”

Those chilled fingers gently stroked Charlie’s chin.

“There’s that word again.” Ki’s heart bled. “Look my friend. We’ve progressed as a society…..sort of. We’ve learned to question our ideas normal. Normal is no longer……singular. No one group of people has a corner on the market of normal.”

Unshed tears gathered in Charlie’s eyes as he focused on the fierce black eyes of the man across from him.

“I wish you’d drop this belief that something’s wrong with you.” Ki calmed him with each stroke of his chin. “But I’m afraid that will probably take years of therapy to undo that type of nonsense. Did you come out to your family?”

Ki’s hand dropped from his chin and clasped Charlie’s hand.

Again, Charlie nodded. Breath lodged in his throat as he remembered. His free hand flew up to his neck as if to protect it. A snippet of the old fear feathered across his nerves.

“From the looks of you, it didn’t go well.”

Charlie shook his head and took a deep cleansing breath. He felt Ki turn over his hand and massage his palm with his thumb.

“Want to tell me about it?”

“It was after college.” His hoarse voice dropped to just above a whisper. “I was on a scholarship to a university outside Chicago. Somehow, I felt free there. No parents, no siblings, just me. Between work and school, there was very little time for a social life. Besides, I already knew……I found men attractive. There was a compulsion to hide it from everyone. I grew up in a small town in Georgia……It was better to hide it.

By the time I was a junior, I had very few friendships. The opportunity to be a finance intern at one of the local businesses became available. It involved a bit of genuine work and research. I met someone, a recent graduate himself. He realized right away that I found him attractive. He reciprocated. We began dating. We were together until I graduated. I thought this was it for me. He was charming and ambitious. By the time I graduated, he had been promoted a few times. He was building prestige at the firm. What more could one want in a partner?”

Ki could think of two or three other things that are necessary in a successful relationship, but he intelligently kept his mouth shut and let the unusually talkative neighbor continue.

“Before graduation, we planned a big meet up at our apartment with my family.”

“Did they know you were gay when you invited them over?”

“I told them before my senior year in college over the phone. They were angry and didn’t talk to me for months. Towards the end of my senior year, they reached out. I thought they approved. Maybe that was why they were reaching out.”

Charlie fell silent.

“Then what happened?” Ki prompted.

“It started out rather normal. We were sitting around the living room making introductions, talking. It was rather uncomfortable, and my parents and siblings were obviously furious, but it was still just talk…….”

Ki used both hands to massage Charlie’s hand. He rather doubted that Charlie felt his hand or anything at that moment. His hand seemed to grow a little cooler, as if his blood were freezing within his veins.

“One minute we were talking, then my family became enraged, then they started beating us both……punching, kicking……so painful. My boyfriend called the police before he was knocked out by my father’s blow to his head. My brother almost strangled me to death before the police finally arrived.”

A cool finger brushed across Charlie’s neck. “He permanently damaged your voice box, didn’t he?”

Again, Charlie nodded.

“But you’re here and not with your boyfriend.”

“In the hospital, he tearfully explained that he couldn’t associate with such a violent family. This was too much for him. I could tell that he wondered…..by the way he looked at me. Would I grow violent just like my father…..my brothers? I could see the fear in his eyes. All of them…my mother and sisters just watched as if this type of thing happened every day.”

“Was it?” Ki interrupted. “Had you experienced beatings before?”

That dammed nod, broke Ki and his heart erupted with fury.

“My parents checked me out of the hospital and dragged me back to Georgia.”

“How did law enforcement let that happen?”

“My boyfriend refused to file charges fearing publicity. Hate crime tends to make the news. He was aiming for a partner position and being part of such a controversial case would have delayed his progress. I didn’t have the mental where-with-all to even realize I could file charges. By then, I was across the country.

It took me quite a while before I was well enough to look for a job. I was too afraid to return to Chicago, so I settled for something in Tennessee, near my family but far enough away that I didn’t live with them. There I quietly lived. Sometimes my parents or siblings would drop by to check on me. As long as I was alone, they didn’t kick up too much of a fuss. But I knew I had to escape. Abusers don’t need an excuse to erupt.”

“How did you make it to New Hampshire?”

“COVID. I know the pandemic was hard on so many people, millions, but for me, it was a blessing. The offices were closed. Once I could prove my ability to handle several east coast facilities from home, I negotiated with my boss for a move to New Hampshire. My company has a plant in Portsmouth, so technically, I am based out of that location.”

“Did you tell your family you were leaving?”

“No.”

“Have they contacted you since you left?”

“They tried. Just as I was leaving Tennessee, I mailed them a letter cutting all ties with them. It stated to never contact me again or I would involve the local law enforcement. Hopefully, they have no idea I moved to New Hampshire.”

Ki stood and walked over to Charlie, gently pulling him up and into his embrace. The heated embrace both soothed and worried Charlie.

The two fell silent as they hugged, slowly their surroundings intruded, breaking the spell. Heavy rain beat on Charlie’s metal roof, both loud and comforting. Deng Pao was snoring quietly from his bed.

Ki smiled into Charlie’s dark silky hair.

“Do you hear that?” Ki asked.

“Mmmmm.” Came the standard Charlie answer. It was a downpour, hard to miss.

“My driveway is surely more impassable with this storm. I’ll have to beg you, my precious neighbor, to allow me to stay another day and enjoy your hospitality.”

Charlie looked into those dark eyes. His own full of uncertainty. “Okay, but it is your turn to walk the dog. And……”

“And what?”

“Could you do the dishes again?”