Page 90 of Rat Park
But it was one that Dominic was determined to win.
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Dominic heard Flor enter the apartment with his copy of the keys from where he was reading in bed late one night. Flor had been out catching up with friends from high school, and Dominic wasn’t surprised when Flor stumbled into the room tipsily.
“I’m home!” Flor declared with a grand sweep of his arm. Dominic laughed, closing his book and setting it on the bedside table.
“Have fun?”
“One of my friends is pregnant!Pregnant!With a human child!” Flor said, almost tipping over as he took off his shoes.
“Not with a crocodile? Nowthat’sweird.”
“Itisweird! She’s the same age as me and I’m barely an adult! I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to keep a Tamagotchi alive!”
Dominic snorted, making space for Flor under the sheets. “Shouldn’t you put your pyjamas on first?” Dominic asked even as he wrapped his arms around Flor.
“Cuddles first. Then pyjamas,” Flor said with a stubborn lilt to his voice as he settled against Dominic’s chest.
“Whatever you say.” Dominic stroked Flor’s hair and Flor made a pleased sound.
“This is nice. You’re very nice.”
“Thank you,” Dominic said through a smile.
“I’m not nice but you, you’re nice.”
“You’re nice too, Flor.”
“Nope, no. Nope.You’renice.”
“We can both be nice.”
Flor shook his head against Dominic’s chest. Dominic snorted, letting it drop. Flor was obviously just that bit too drunk to reason with.
They settled against each other in the warm light of the bedside lamp. Dominic felt himself relax fully, lulled by the rise and fall of Flor’s breaths against him.
There in that peaceful moment, Flor shifted and said, “You’re going to leave me one day.”
The words were so incongruous, the serious tone so out of the blue, that Dominic didn’t react for a moment. When his brain managed to reboot, he pulled at Flor lightly, needing to look in his eyes. When Flor refused to move his face from Dominic’s neck, Dominic rolled them over so he was looking down at Flor’s pouting face.
“What?” Dominic said because maybe he’d misheard.
“You’re going to leave me one day,” Flor said and, to Dominic’s horror, his face crumpled as tears sprung to his eyes.
“Hey. Hey, hey, Flor,” Dominic said, fingers brushing over Flor’s face as if he could rearrange the muscles there back to levity.
“You are!” Flor wailed.
“Flor, I have no idea where this is coming from, but that is not true.”
“You don’t know!”
“I know better than you.”
“No! No! You don’t even know what you don’t know! I’ve been such an asshole to you so many times and you don’t evenrealise.”
“When? When have you been an asshole?”
