Henry could barely move in his flat for research papers. Scrolls of documents fell off of his tables, textbooks and academic notes littered his floors, several laptops sat open on various web pages of differing subjects. And somewhere amongst the litter of knowledge was his boyfriend, Hans, steadily and frustatingly working towards his doctorate. Henry carefully stepped over the mess, navigating his way through to the kitchen, flipping the kettle switch with a yawn.
"How do you spell Mesolithic?" Came a voice behind one of the laptops followed by rapid typing. Without looking around, Henry shrugged, depositing two teabags into separate cups.
"I thought you were studying 1400s medieval Bohemia?"
"Distracted," Hans muttered frantically, switching between laptops as he continued to frantically type, "rabbit hole."
Henry smiled fondly, stirring the tea and bringing it to Hans. As he got closer, he noticed Hans' unkempt appearance; his hair was a mess, his eyes red and bloodshot and there were noticeable bags under his eyes.
He sighed, setting the cup down on the only surface with a minimal gap: the floor beside him, "did you get any sleep? When was the last time you ate?"
"Uh," he looked up, then, meeting Henry's gaze with a cheeky smirk, giving a single shouldered shrug, "does last night count?" Judging by the look on Henry's face, no, it did not count. He rolled his eyes, "I'm close to finishing the introduction to my thesis."
"You look like shit," Henry said bluntly, gently closing the research laptops and offering his hand, "you need to take a break. We're going for a walk. After you shower."
Hans sighed yet he allowed himself to be pulled up to stand, accepting Henry's kiss to his cheek with a soft hum.
"Care to join me?" Hans batted his eyelashes playfully, taking Henry's hands in his, "I may have more notes in the bathroom. I could get distracted again."
Henry chuckled, following Hans eagerly to the bathroom, "well, in that case..."
He scooped a giggling Hans into his arms and awkwardly hurried them to the shower without upsetting any of the research littered around Henry's small flat.
They found themselves back at the museum planetarium, gazing up peacefully at the stars as they held hands.
"I know you're going to do this, Hans," Henry said supportively, brining his knuckles up to his mouth, pressing a tender kiss there, "you're going to get your doctorate, make your uncle proud and run this musuem better than he ever did."
Hans smiled, curling up into Henry and resting his head on his chest, "thank you, Henry. It means a lot having you believe in me."
"You should move in with me," Henry blurted out. He had meant to do this later, at dinner, with wine and candles. Not at their workplace. Hans, however, sighed guiltily.
"I know I have my stuff everywhere. I just...I can concentrate better at your place," he admitted, trying to avoid Henry's gaze; he'd already been too nice, he couldn't take a polite rejection, "being with you is easy for me."
"No, I mean it," Henry sat up, his tone insistent and determined as he held onto Hans' hands, "move in with me!"
Hans bit his lip, leaning closer to whisper, "my place is bigger."
"My place is our place," Henry said simply with a single shrug, already knowing he'd won the debate. He even had the nerve to smirk smugly, "you said it yourself."
Hans didn't even bother to hide how pleased he was. He leapt in Henry's arms, kissing him frantically as he agreed enthusiastically with grateful yesses. Outside the planetarium, Samuel stepped away from the doors and shook his head, deciding against investigating the disturbance. He wasn't getting paid enough to deal with that.
