Hopeless Romantic🌷

And despite the changes, it was still so painfully and lovingly your Adam. Back from the sky with the hopes of bringing you back with him.

You turned to look around the apartment that you two had shared. It had been a huge stressor on you to maintain the rent, but you had waited, hoping, praying he’d come back. You’d left all of his things exactly where he’d left them: a blanket strewn over the couch, a drawing he’d left on the fridge as a joke, everything. Of course you wanted to live where he lived, you had just gotten so used to that place being here. You turned back to him slowly. He was looking at you apprehensively, clearly anxious that you’d say no.

“You mean permanently?” You asked.

Adam started fidgeting with his fingers, glancing down at his hands and then back at you, “Whatever you’d want- you could just come and visit or you could stay a while or whatever you’d like I just…” Adam looked back down at his hands, “I just want you to be there with me.”

You smiled at his earnestness. You couldn’t lie and say that you didn’t want to go with, but to leave so suddenly…

“What would you like, Adam?” You tilted your head as you tried to meet his eye.

“We could be…” his eyes found yours through his eyelashes, head still low, “space roommates?”

—-

It was move in day for your new apartment and you were feeling apprehensive. Moving was always a lot of work and now you were moving into the unknown.

You didn’t even know this guy who you were rooming with. Your friend just knew him from work and knew that he was looking for a place to live, and you were just desperate enough to say yes.

“His name is Adam Glenn” she had told you, “and he works in HR.”

You were so nervous that this guy was going to be some stuck up loser. Be real- human resources? That was one of the least fun sounding jobs you had heard of. But if he worked a boring grown-up sounding job… at least maybe he’d be tidy. Maybe he’d just stay late at work every night and you’d never have to talk to him. Maybe he’d be able to be civil with you as he is with all of the irritated people at his desk every day.

You were struggling to get a box out of your car, wondering what you possibly could have owned that would make it so heavy. You had managed to shift it out of your car but it served too great of a challenge as it slipped from your hands and hit the ground with a sidewalk shaking thud. You cussed at the box.

“Would you… like some help with that?”

You whipped your head to the source of the voice, “what?”

He put his hands up in front of him, eyebrows going up. It was a man you’d never seen before. Despite how tall he was and how wide his shoulders were, he had managed to shrink himself under your stern gaze. His blonde hair framed his face, lying flat against his head. He glanced down at the box and back at you.

You sighed, trying to calm yourself down. You mirrored him and glanced down at the box, “Yeah… sorry. Its just a pain in the ass.”

Turns out that he was no better at lifting it than you as he struggled to even get a grip on it from the ground. It was almost endearing, especially when he stood back up, put his hands on his hips, and looked over at you looking troubled.

“It is a bit tough… isn’t it?” he sighed.

Eventually the two of you had decided on maneuvering it up the stairs together, which was far easier said than done. And on top of that, teamwork with a complete stranger is more difficult than it looks. Multiple times you (in the front) had nearly dropped the box down the stairs onto him and multiple times he (in the back) had gone a bit too fast and nearly

pushed you over backwards. But the stranger stayed positive the entire way, murmuring encouragement to you. 

His eyes widened in surprise at the number on the door when you stopped in front of your apartment.

“You’re moving in here? Or are you taking a break or are you helping a friend-?”

You shouldered the door open, still holding the box, “I’m moving in, what makes you ask?”

The two of you waddled the box into the apartment, moving towards the middle of the room.

“It’s just- I’m moving in here too.”

You dropped the box on Adam Glenn’s toes. 

—-

Whatever you had expected space travel to look like, this hadn’t been it. There were no stars or space suits, but there was knock-back so strong that it felt like you were on a roller coaster as you flew through a cosmos of color towards Eternia.

Adam looked over at you from his seat, grinning from ear to ear, a sparkle in his eye that you don’t know if you’ve ever seen in all your time living with him.

As the ship slowed down to a normal pace you allowed yourself to take a big breath.

“Its exhilarating, right?” Adam asked as he piloted the ship towards a beautifully green planet.

You tried to laugh but it sounded more like a cough, “That’s one word for it.” Still, you couldn’t help the smile growing on your face as the foreign world grew in your vision.

“I wanted to bring you here sooner,” Adam said, “but I got so wrapped up with repairs and restoration and I thought maybe I’d wait to show you the best of it instead of the worst.”

The ship descended first over a vast expanse of lava fields, geysers of the boiling liquid erupting as you flew past.

—-

“Would you want to do something tonight? Like- maybe a movie or we like… make dinner for the two of us or something?” Adam called to you from his open bedroom door. 

He was emerging from his room, gently closing the door behind himself as you looked over at him. You and Adam had been roommates for a little over a month now, and you were learning a lot about him. Many nights he’d get home from work and beeline straight to his room, but despite that pattern, he was still making a very good effort to talk to you and get to know you. This was just a new attempt to spend time with you as well.

He was always very secretive about his room, but then again, you didn’t know him that well and you were sure he hadn’t seen much of your room either. But he was always mindful about keeping it closed. He wouldn’t even leave it open when he was running out to grab something. You assumed that he was maybe just a slob, or maybe some kind of nerd with a bunch of action figures or something. Not your business.

“Food would sound fun.” You mused from the couch.

The two of you set off checking your ingredients, which turned into an afternoon grocery run. You couldn’t help but smile at such a tall wide man pushing such a dinky shopping cart with a squeaky wheel.

Every adventure led you back to the apartment, with a homemade pizza sitting out in front of you, and Adam specifically covered in flour. You had no clue how he had managed it considering that you only had a little bit of the powder on yourself, but nonetheless, he stepped away to change his shirt.

And for the first time ever, Adam left his door open. He himself disappeared around the corner to get a shirt from his closet, but looking through the doorway you noticed that his walls were plastered in drawings.

You couldn’t help yourself, you slowly drifted towards his room until you were standing in the doorway, marveling at the fantastical drawings that Adam had plastered everywhere. Was he a writer? Were these concepts from a story? Was he just an artist?

As you pondered you failed to notice Adam rounding the corner and the only thing you could process was him catching you by the waist after he had toppled you over. His grip was firm and he looked spooked by the fact that he had nearly trampled you.

“I am so sorry, I didn’t think you’d be standing there-“ He stuttered out, still holding you.

It was you who righted yourself, “no, that’s my bad. You just left your door open and I saw your drawings and they’re really cool and I was trying to get a closer look.”

Adam quickly looked back at the drawings at his wall, and then back at you, “You… think they’re cool?” He said slowly, measured.

“Of course I do! Where’d you even come up with stuff like that.”

“Well,” he said sheepishly, bringing a hand to rub at the back of his neck, “It’s a bit of a long story…”

—-

Adam showed you all sorts of wonderful things as you flew above his home planet. You saw sprawling mountains and forests, dragons, griffons, floating islands. At the end of the grand tour he turned the ship towards his home city of Eternos.

His face glowed as he told you about all the repair work that has gone into it, how it almost looked like it did in his childhood, with shining pillars of regal golden and red. Adam’s eyes kept coming back to you, warm and gentle.

“I think you’re going to love it.” He said as the ship was coming over a large hill.

You smiled over at him, relishing in being with him again, “If its anything like your drawings, I know it will.”

At your words, the hill cleared beneath you and the city was revealed. Your jaw went slack and your eyes wide with wonder as you looked upon the most beautiful place you had ever seen. It was like the drawings, but impossibly more beautiful as the sunset cast a pink glow over the golden city.

As you flew closer you could see the people at their daily routines, lights beginning to pop up in the street and in the houses with the dying light. You could see soldiers, perhaps even the figures of Adam’s childhood, patrolling through the city. You could see a group of kids kicking around the ball in a clearing, playing some game that you’ve never seen. You saw Cringer, the tiger from the drawings- lounging in the sunlight. You saw artisans on the bridge over the river, carving out great pieces of stone into the figures of kings. Finally in the distance you glimpsed castle Grayskull, with a dull glow emitting from one eye.

You couldn’t help but glance over at Adam to voice your amazement, but the words died in your throat as you found him already looking, face illuminated by the orange glow. His emotions were betrayed by his eyes, oozing with poorly contained affection. He had kissed you only days before he left. He had kissed you and then stuttered an apology and then stumbled off the couch claiming he had to go to bed. You remembered how his lips felt; soft, gentle, hesitant. And now as he stared at you, you could see the emotion that had driven the decision. You could see why he had flown all the way back to Earth for his “roommate”. 

The moment passed as quickly as it had dawned, and Adam focused his eyes back to the front as he went to land the ship. You felt a pang in your soul, missing him as he sat right there, as if he was still galaxies away.

—- 

“Ok but I need to know if this shirt looks too… uh… bad on me” Adam appeared from his room wearing a coral pink dress shirt. He looked at you, as if your answer determined the fate of the shirt.

You allowed yourself to look a little longer than you maybe should have. You hummed in approval, “I like that color on you”.

Adam looked down as if to observe the shirt himself, tugging at the hem and sleeves a little as he looked. After a moment he looked up and nodded, as if satisfied with your opinion before disappearing back into his room.

—-

It was a sweeping tour of the city, Adam took you to all of the places from his drawing, and in turn he let you drag him to every nook and cranny that even vaguely interested you. The sun finally set and the streets were illuminated with lamp lighting that was straight out of some cheesy romance flick, the streetlights all neat in a row casting a warm yellow glow.

The whole afternoon had been the happiest you had ever seen Adam. When you looked at him it always seemed like he had been looking at you, as if his eyes had never strayed. He had changed before exiting the ship into some of his Eternian dayclothes, with a vest the same shade of red as the dress shirt that you so adored. 

All of his friends were ecstatic to meet you. It was a nearly overwhelming amount of people to meet, but then again, Adam was a prince and a hero, of course he’d be universally adored.

One thing that you couldn’t get out of your head was how many of them already knew you so well. Teela and Cringer both mentioned to you how Adam hadn’t stopped talking about you since arriving, and you couldn’t tell if they were being sarcastic. Sarcastic or not, their insinuations had Adam getting flustered, asserting that he had “just been filling them in on his Earth life”

“Yes! But aren’t they the center of your life on Earth? You lived together!” Teela laughed, amused at Adam’s defensiveness.

You couldn’t help but imagine a life here. It was the most wonderful place you had ever seen. But one issue persisted. You would not live here if Adam was not by your side, and it wasn’t fair to expect him- a prince- to prioritize you over his duties or over his friends.

—-

You and Adam had been watching a movie on the couch. You had been closer to each other than you needed to be, not making contact but sharing a footrest and a popcorn bowl.

You couldn’t remember what you had been talking about through the haze of time. All that you could remember that he looked down, only for a second, but for long enough to be caught.

Whatever argument you had been making died on your lips as you noticed, and you couldn’t help but look at his mouth in response, knowing that he was thinking about kissing you, knowing that you wanted him to. 

His lips brushed against yours, featherlight but soft. You could taste his chapstick and his hand came up nervously as he did it, fingers gently holding your cheek. It had been three seconds of bliss before Adam seemed to realize what he had done and pulled away.

You two just looked at each other for a moment, breathless and blinking before the worry set in on his face. He said your name so quietly that you nearly didn’t catch it.

“I’m so so sorry I didn’t- I should’ve asked- I…” he whispered. You furrowed your eyebrows at him but you didn’t have time to formulate a response before he was pushing himself off the couch, spilling the popcorn all over the floor.

He didn’t look at you, “It’s late and I have work tomorrow… I should- I should sleep.” and he vanished back into his room, leaving you sitting on the couch still trying to catch up with the moment, still remembering the feeling of his lips against yours.

—-

Adam was leading you through the palace, showing you the final part of Eternos, and the place he held the closest. 

He showed you everything, his parents quarters, the dining hall and kitchen, the library (which was still accumulating a new not-burned collection), and a million more rooms with a million more uses. Each one he let you wander as much as you’d like. You wondered if he’d let you say in any given room forever if it meant you staying on Eternia.

You could feel the tour drawing to a close as you came to his quarters. Adam’s childhood bedroom had been destroyed, but he had fully furnished his new room to include so many trinkets and books, a couple of cushy couches, and the biggest bed you had ever seen. His unreadable eyes followed you as you picked your way around the room.

You smiled over at him, “It’s so… you.” You laughed lightly to yourself out of endearment. 

“So you like it?” Looking across the room, Adam looked so small.

“It doesn’t matter if I like it. It matters if you like it Adam.”

“No- I mean…. I mean do you like all of it?” Adam reiterated. He looked so at ease but you could see the worry held in his tense shoulder.

You turned away from him, imagining the comforting warmth of your apartment on Earth. You could see the warm lighting and the dishes strewn across the kitchen. You could see the trinkets that you and Adam had together filled the space with, a Star Wars poster on the wall above the TV, his drawings hung on the fridge. You imagined coming home from work, Adam emerging from

his room to greet you, a smile on his face at the sight of you. You wondered if you could let that go.

“I do like it.” You muttered.

Adam somehow caught it across the room, “Enough to stay?”

You sighed mournfully, slowly sinking onto Adam’s bed, “Adam, I want to say yes but-“

“-then say yes” Adam began to approach you across the room, “if you want to say yes than do. Please.” He pleaded.

“…but this is your world Adam. Not mine. It’s all so charming and beautiful and every bit as wonderful as it was in your stories,” you felt. a lump in your throat that tasted like sorrow, Adam’s pace had slowed but he still approached, step by step. “but if I came here, you’d be the only thing that I have. And you have your planet, your duties, your friends. I will not hold you from that, but I cannot sit around waiting for you to have a moment for me.”

Adam stopped in front of you, looking down at you as if you had just ripped his soul out, “What do I have if not you?”

You laughed dryly, “What does that even mean?”

“I mean- living with you has been the best thing to ever happen to me.” Adam crouched down to be on your eye level, “heck, you have been the best thing to ever happen to me. You believed me when no one else did, you had patience when I needed it most, and you filled my life with your laughter. I don’t want to live anywhere if it’s not with you.” He tentatively rested on hand on your knee.

You smiled, not satisfied, “Why’d you kiss me that night?” You could hear how small your voice sounded.

Adam paused for a moment, searching your eyes, debating if the answer was going to break everything, “because you’re beautiful.”

“Just that?”

Adam’s hand moved from your knew to clutch your own hand, “because maybe I wanted to ask you out and I just didn’t know how. Because maybe I wanted to live with you forever. Because maybe I wanted to wake up to you in the morning. I kissed you because there is no one I want in my life more than you. Please.” His other hand snaked so the two of you were now fully holding hands. Adam looked up at you reverently, the same look from the ship.

You couldn’t help but break into a wide grin at his confession.

Adam swallowed thickly, adam’s apple bobbing as he did. He said your name as if it was the prettiest word on his lips.

“Stay.”

And you were his. You leaned in and captured his lips in a kiss. This time there was no hesitance, no quiver to his lips as he met you surely and lovingly. You stooped your head to meet him where he kneeled between your knees, one hand still holding his, the other snaking to play with the hair at the nape of his neck.

It was exactly what you had been dreaming of for six months. It was something, you thought, that you wouldn’t mind coming home to every day for the rest of your life.

Because it was never the apartment, it was always him. And it was always him with you.

Finally you two broke to simply breathe. You leaned your forehead against his, “I’ll stay as long as you want me to.”

————————————————————————-