Work Text:
When he awoke, it was before dawn. Aldo shifted in his bed, his hand grazing gently Thomas’s sleeping form beside him. He could hardly believe it, after all their years of friendship, after all those years of Aldo’s yearning for something he thought he could never have, here Thomas was, asleep in his bed next to him.
Aldo slipped out of bed, and padded over to the balcony where he quietly stepped outside. The sky was dark, but had taken on the dusky blue hue fading into a canary yellow at the very edge of the horizon, the way it often did in Rome before the sunrise. In the streets below him, the city was starting to stir, individual figures scurrying up and down the road, some stopping at the café on the corner for an espresso and cornetto perhaps. Aldo was not normally up at this hour, he preferred to sleep in as late as his schedule would allow it, but today, after all the turmoil of the conclave the three days prior, then the events with Thomas the evening before… he couldn’t help but relish this moment of quite before the rush of events this day would bring.
He had known the results of the conclave would change his life, but he could never have imagined that the day after the conclave he would find himself standing on his balcony, not pope, but still the happiest he had ever been in his life. His entire life had been turned on end, his future uncertain to him for the first time in his life and yet- he didn’t care.
Questions flowed through Aldo’s mind, not in the hurried, turbulent way ideas quickly examined and then either discarded or accepted as he usually did, but languidly and curiously. He rolled them over in his mind like the bocci balls he would roll about as a child, enjoying observing them from different angles. What would become of him and Thomas? Would they stay at the Vatican, strive to keep their relationship a secret as they went about their daily lives? Would they retire somewhere remote, or perhaps leave the priesthood all together and get married? He couldn’t imagine the later situation, and he knew Thomas, his Thomas, well enough to know that he would not want that any more than he did. They had not broken their vows, not yet anyway, but if the way Thomas was kissing him last night was any indication…
Aldo heard the door to the balcony slide open behand him, breaking him out of that very pleasant memory. Thomas stepped out behind him and wrapped his arms around the shorter man’s shoulders. At the contact, Aldo couldn’t help but shudder. However, he pulled Thomas’s arms tighter around himself, stopping the other man from pulling away.
“You’re up early,” Thomas mumbled, resting his cheek against the side of Aldo’s head.
Aldo hummed in assent. “I’m just thinking things over.”
Thomas groaned. “Not work, I hope?”
Aldo turned to face the other man. “How can I think of work when I have you here with me?” he said teasingly, loving the blush that crept across his friends’ cheeks.
“So, you haven’t changed your mind then? About this… about us?” asks Thomas quietly. “I was worried for a second, when I saw you were gone…”
Aldo shook his head.
“Never, Thomas, never. I will forever be grateful that you are a better man than me in so many ways. That you had the courage to say to me what I had been feeling for thirty years –,”
Thomas cut him off by darting in to steal a kiss, then just as quickly retreated, looking around. It was Aldo’s turn to blush furiously.
“Ah, sorry, perhaps I should not have, out here.”
Taking Thomas’s hand, Aldo led the man he had loved for the better part of three decades back inside his apartment where he stood to face him at the foot of his bed. Then, cradling the back of Thomas’s head gently, drew him down into a kiss. As the night before, it was Thomas who deepened it, leaving Aldo breathless and wanting more. Shaking his head to steady himself, Aldo looked out the window at the brightening sky, where streaks of oranges and pinks could now be seen among the fluffy clouds.
“Come back to bed with me,” Aldo urged. “We still have time.”
Of course, Thomas did not need any urging, and soon they were cuddled up deeply among the pillows sharing kiss after breathtaking kiss. Together, they watched the night fade away as the sun rose to bless the new day. Resting against Thomas, Aldo could not be more content. They still had time before they needed to start their day, they still had time to figure this out what was to happen next. And most importantly, they still had time to love each other for many years to come.