Can We Talk?

by oshawottSupremacy

Summary:

Stanley's never known a life without Xeno, they've been together as long as he can remember. He thought he could hide his feelings forever, but after he gets back from boot camp it get's really hard and he realizes he has to tell him, but when will the right time come. What if Xeno doesn't like him.

Or

Stanley's been in love with Xeno for years thinking it's unrequited, and Xeno thinks they're already dating and about to get married

Chapter 1: Homecoming

Stan didn’t have many memories without Xeno. They had met at such a young age, and were the others only friend growing up to the point where neither had developed other friendships really. Not to the same level. Over the years they were all the other had. Even when he enlisted in the military right after they graduated. Xeno was upset with him, it was the longest they ever went without speaking. Xeno barely even said goodbye when Stanley left for bootcamp. Just hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. No words were spoken. Stanley just left scared he’d lost the only person he had ever cared about. The day he got home he had hoped to see Xeno in his room. When he walked into an empty house he felt a pang of disappointment hit him. His parents were always gone, he’d bet they didn’t even know he was getting out of bootcamp this week, but Xeno. He had texted Xeno before he left saying the day he’d be back today. Why wasn’t he here? Stan was finally gonna tell Xeno how he felt, it was all that got him through it. The hope he’d see Xeno again.

All of the sudden Stan heard the door open. Someone had frantically run inside. “So inelegant” he heard muttered over and over again. Stanley ran out of his room into the hallway. What he saw had his mouth hanging open. Not long after Xeno turned his head looking at him. “You weren’t supposed to be home yet” he said, looking at the man with a frown. Stanley looked at Xeno’s hands which held bags from the local grocery store.

“What are you-” he was cut off quickly.

“It was meant to be a surprise but I got caught up in the lab” The boy sighed. He looked at Stan shaking his head. “It was foolish of me to avoid you when you told me you had enlisted. We both knew this would happen. You didn’t have many options and you were born to shoot. I just… I didn’t know how to handle it, for the first time in the last 8 years I was left without my knight.” As he said those last words he felt Stan’s arms wrap around him.

“I missed you too princess,” Stanley smiled. Pulling Xeno closer to him and kissing his cheek. I can wait… I don’t want to ruin this, he thought as he hugged him.

Xeno looked up “you should take a shower, and then a very elegant dinner will be ready when you’re out” he smiled. Stan just nodded, pulling Xeno close to him and giving him a soft kiss before walking to the bathroom. As he turned the water on he rested his head against the wall. He should just tell Xeno. The risk of it ruining their friendship was worth it. He wanted Xeno to be his permanently. To be able to call him truly his. He knew that they did plenty of things that weren’t normal for friends. They had been all the other had though, and their friendship evolved over the years. That didn’t mean anything though. Eventually Stan realized he had zoned out and still needed to actually wash himself. He quickly grabbed the soap, rubbing it over his skin, smiling as the familiar scent he had missed brought him comfort. He rinsed himself off and stepped out of the shower grabbing a towel from the cabinet and wrapping it around him. He walked out passing the kitchen smiling as the smell hit him. He grabbed a shirt and some jeans making sure to add a swipe of his favorite purple lipstick before he walked out. Maybe he could tell Xeno over dinner. He sighed walking up behind Xeno and wrapping his arms around his waist as he finished setting the table.

“Thank you” he smiled as he buried his face into Xeno’s neck.

Xeno laughed “anything for you my knight” before turning around and kissing Stan. “Let’s eat. I put a lot of work into making sure you could have your favorite food as soon as I got home” before walking to the kitchen and returning with two burritos, placing one on each plate. “While you were gone I was looking into what life is like in the marines.” Xeno paused thinking, and Stan could’ve sworn there was a slight blush to his face ”I think we should get married. There are a lot of benefits to it, and it ensures I know what happens to you, you’ll make more money, I can have your health insurance while I’m in college since we both know my parents don’t have the best jobs” Stan stared at him mouth agape. Was Xeno really doing this, yes he could get those benefits, but he didn’t really need them. “We don’t have to parade it around, we can just bring up my parents if anyone finds out” he finished making Stan feel as if his world was crumbling. Right, Xeno’s parents wouldn’t agree, and he’d never truly go against them. Thinking back to when Stan started wearing lipstick and Xeno spent hours convincing them it was to impress a girl.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right” he looked down at the burrito, they were just friends after all. Just really close friends. He took a bite and smiled. “That’s a good idea, thanks Xeno, want to go and do the paperwork tomorrow”. He’ll just have to push the thoughts down, he told himself. “Are you staying the night,” he asked Xeno even though he probably knew the answer.

“I haven’t spoken to you in 3 months, the only person I ever bother giving the time of day, and you think I’m leaving after a simple dinner and chat about marriage” Xeno chuckled, “that would be so inelegant Stan” he grinned staring at the blonde. At least Xeno is happy Stanley thought to himself trying to convince himself he was happy too.

“You’re right, let’s watch a movie then go to bed” he chuckled.

“Before we do that, do you know how long you’ll be back” Xeno asked.

“I don’t, I’m only in reserves though. I’ll still be able to go to UT with you, and I’ve already got that associates degree from you begging me to take college classes with you” Stan smiled, thinking back to how excited Xeno was when he agreed. He hated those classes and they were insanely stressful, but it was worth it to see Xeno that happy. Besides it was free, and it meant he was able to graduate with half of his college education already completed. “I can become an officer as soon as I graduate, but I’ll get notice if I’m getting deployed or have to be anywhere” he said while getting up and going to grab a dvd to put on.

“I presume I don’t get a say in the movie we watch then” Xeno sighed as if he hadn’t chosen the last 3 movies.

“I don’t want to watch another fucking space documentary” Stan groaned before grabbing his old WALL-E dvd and then going to lay down while the disc was read. Xeno soon after laid in front of him so that Stan’s arm could rest over top of him.

“This works” Xeno smiled while resting his head on top of Stanley’s arm. “We haven’t watched it since we were kids,” he chuckled. Stan just smiled resting his arm on Xeno’s waist. As the movie started he felt himself start to get tired, it wasn’t late but it had been months since he was able to lay with Xeno like this. He was finally where he belonged. He pushed himself to stay awake throughout the movie although he definitely felt himself drift off at some points. Eventually he felt Xeno fully just relax into him, and realized he must have fallen asleep. Stanley chuckled as he carefully picked him up and carried him over to his bedroom, setting him down and taking his jeans off so they wouldn’t dig into his skin while he slept. Then did the same and crawled into bed pulling Xeno close, hoping he’d still be there when he woke up.

Chapter 2: Courthouse

Notes:

I ended up reworded/slightly changing some bits to work better with the story since this was meant to be a one shot but the plot was calling me, so it's gonna definitely be longer. Super excited for it though. I'm hoping to update every Friday although I'm going back to Uni soon and that might, make writing a bit harder. I'm hoping this will be around 10 chapters, although it'll have a few time skips in it.

Stan woke up and smiled as he felt Xeno huddled against him. This was where he was meant to be, and he never wanted to leave. He pulled him closer and kissed his forehead.

“Good Morning Stan” Xeno smiled sleepily.

“Good Morning Xeno”

“Should we go and start our paperwork” before Stan stared at him realizing something.

“Xeno don’t you have to leave for college soon, if we get married we’d have to live together I don’t want to interfere with you going to college” Stanley rushed out feeling guilty. He hadn’t even thought of Xeno when he brought the idea up.
Xeno stared at him looking a bit more awake than before “you can just move into my apartment in Austin with me, I’ll only be there for two years, and you have a car you can use if you need to go to Houston for anything” before burying his face into Stanley’s shoulder. “Besides if we’re married and I’m working at NASA, I’m sure we’ll be able to figure it out” he said into Stanley’s shoulder although he could barely understand it.

“Let’s stay here a bit longer” Stan chuckled before he wrapped his arms around Xeno’s waist, and felt himself smile. He wanted this to be his morning every morning. Maybe him and Xeno living together would be this. Austin’s expensive so he doubted they would be able to afford a 2 bedroom. Especially on Stan’s salary, and Xeno was probably not gonna be working all that much. There’d always be the chance he’d get deployed, and not even be living there anyways, a 2 bedroom would probably be a waste of money.

“What are you thinking about,” Xeno asked, looking at Stan.

“Do you have an apartment picked out already in Austin” he replied.

Xeno looked down “yeah, it’s a one bed, but if you don’t like it I only signed a six month contract, I just needed something and didn’t know if you’d want to come with me” he said shyly. Stan just chuckled at that and gave Xeno a kiss.
“Let’s go start all the paperwork in 30 minutes and we can plan out the move, but a 1 bedroom is fine with me” he smirked. Even if they weren’t together, they’ve always shared a bed even when they had a choice. It was just nicer to have someone to sleep with. Xeno just nodded before hugging Stan tight.

“I missed you” he whispered, “it felt weird not talking for so long, why didn’t you ever text or call”

Stan frowned “honestly I didn’t know if I’d be able to, and I thought you were mad at me, you didn’t speak to me at all before I left even on the day...” Stan paused and stared at Xeno for a long while, “I thought I lost you” he whispered.

Xeno stared at him, “I was upset, it hurt more than anything even if I knew you were going to enlist eventually, but I was scared that I was losing you. I figured I’d take time to process, but then you were leaving and I didn’t want to bother you or get you in trouble so I thought you’d text me when you were able to” Xeno frowned. He hugged Stan tightly, and rested his head against his chest listening to his heartbeat. The two stayed like this for a while until eventually Stan sighed.

“We really need to get up otherwise we’re gonna lay here all day” he smiled, pulling Xeno up to kiss him. Xeno nodded before slowly pulling himself away, and standing up.

The two walked out of the courthouse smiling, marriage license in hand. The process was actually rather simple, although now they’d have to go and fill out paperwork so that Xeno could get on Stanley’s insurance.
“Can we get some food first” Xeno asked looking out the window, “anything will work we just didn’t actually eat breakfast” he laughed remembering how they were both in a rush to get out the door.

Stan nodded, “we’ll stop at the next diner we see and grab something” he said watching the road.

Xeno silently nodded, and Stanley pulled into a parking lot soon after.

“Let me guess, you’ll be getting a cheeseburger with everything on it” Stanley smirked.

Xeno rolled his eyes, “forgive me for knowing what I want” he laughed as he pushed the menu away.

“After this we’ll go and do the rest of the paperwork, and then we’ll be done for the day. When are we leaving for Austin?” he asked smiling. “Whenever I have any sort of training I’ll be gone, but I’ll be with you as much as I can, and I got

“I move in, next week you can take your time though. I know we’re both gonna be busy for a while, but we have all the time in the world” Xeno said as the waitress arrived with their food. “I just want you to be happy honestly. I’ll always have a spot for you at home, and I’ll visit you whenever I have a chance” he grinned.

“That makes me really happy Xe,” Stanley said using the old nickname that always made Xeno blush a little bit. The two started eating, their lack of breakfast catching up to them.

“By the way Stan,” Xeno frowned, “my parents are helping me pay for college, so as far as they’re concerned you live in the dorms” he looked at Stanley apologetically realizing he had forgotten to mention this.

Stanley just laughed “Xeno, I figured, don’t worry, if they show up I’ll either find somewhere else to stay, or pretend like my roommates are being noisy and ask to crash on your couch.” Xeno just smiled, and kissed Stanley on the cheek at this.

The two got home and immediately collapsed onto Stanley’s couch. Xeno leaning over to lay his head in Stanley’s lap. “Where were you planning to live by the way?” Xeno asked.

Stanley scratched the back of his head “I had found a co-op on campus that was $700 a month I think to live at, I’d have 4 hours of chores a week as well, but it was cheap and on campus, I just haven’t made it off the waitlist yet,” before looking down at Xeno who was staring at him.

“You know you probably would have killed someone right” he asked shaking his head, “there would be like a hundred people living in that building.”

“I can tolerate people”

“No you can’t, you think you can, and then I pull you away from people when you start to get upset” Xeno replied, staring at him. Stanley just glared.

“You’ve only had to do that a few times, and I had a reason to get upset, they were being mean to you.”

“Still had to do it,” Xeno laughed. Stanley just rolled his eyes before leaning his head back thinking. Maybe when they’re done with college he can tell him. That way he can make sure Xeno is taken care of through his college days, and doesn’t have to hide who he is from his parents as soon as Stanley made enough money. They had already removed him from their health insurance claiming he was never sick, and why should they pay for that and his college, which consisted of just his housing, since Xeno planned to get a job and had already received several scholarships which covered his entire tuition.

“What do you want to do with the rest of today” Stanley asked, not wanting to just sit on the couch. “How should we celebrate our wedding my dear” he chuckled earling a flick on the chin from Xeno who hadn’t bothered to look up.

“We both need to pack, I think if we’re moving in a week.” Xeno reminded him. Stanley just frowned.

“You’re no fun” he sighed.

“We can pack your things, and then you can help me pack mine, my parents are gonna move down with me and take me to buy some things when I get there, but they won’t question if I ask to drive with you, you’ll just probably need to leave your things in the car till they leave” Xeno suggested. “If they decide to stay a night in Austin I worked while you were gone so I can cover a hotel for you to stay in” he smiled.

“Why would you cover it if I’m the one sleeping there?” Stanley asked.

“Because it’s my inelegant parents who are making you” Xeno reminded him. Stanley just rolled his eyes staring at the door. “They care about you Stan, they’re just busy, I’m sure they would have been here when you got home if they could” Xeno tried to reassure him.

“I figured they wouldn’t be home when I got back, but I thought they’d at least be here at some point during my first day, I go to college in a week and they haven’t even texted me” he sighed. Xeno sat up and pulled Stan towards him.

“I know, but hey they’re never gone more than 2 nights, so they’ll probably be back soon, maybe before we go to bed” Xeno smiled hoping he was right. Stanley was always so happy when he spent time with his parents. Even if that time wasn’t often. They tried they really did, they just always seemed to be off working, or sleeping. Stanley knew it was because they were trying to keep the house afloat, and support him. He just wished he could see them more.

 

“I hope you’re right, I barely even saw them before I left, and I want to take them to dinner to thank them for everything they’ve done for me” he smiled, “and after this maybe they won’t have to work as mu-” Stanley was cut off by the sound of keys in the door. He turned his head to see it open.