Jared Abitol is ugly, past his prime, and desperate for love.
Years of being hyper-aware of his own looks have made Jared develop social anxiety. When you look like Jared, love isn't easy to find. Jared might not have the looks or confidence, but h...
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Jared had known that when the day to ask Darnell the important question came, he would be nervous, but he didn't know he would be this nervous. His nerves were eating him from the inside out. He felt nauseous and had shivers running through him. He wasn't even sure he would be able to get words out of his mouth if he tried.
It was a Saturday evening and he had taken Darnell out today. He had wanted things to be special and romantic, but he had a feeling he ruined things with how paranoid he was acting throughout. Jared sighed, wishing things had gone the way he had planned it in his head. They were supposed to have gone to the aquarium together, and then the local fair before heading for dinner at a nice place, but they only went to the aquarium and Darnell insisted they head back to Jared's place because the man didn't look too well.
It was around half-past seven in the evening now, and Darnell was taking a shower while Jared sat in bed with the ring case in his hands. He had showered before Darnell, wanting to have some thinking space. Jared opened and closed the ring base, licking his bottom lips as he kept trying to decide if giving it to Darnell was a good idea. No, he wasn't asking Darnell to marry him or anything. He was asking Darnell to move in with him, and he'd give him the ring he had been too paranoid to hand to him on their first actual date. He guessed that they could now be called couple rings.
Jared kept looking at the box in his hand and was unaware of the door to the bathroom creaking open. He only looked up when he heard the younger man humming. Darnell gave him a smile as he tried to dry his hair, moving towards the queen-sized bed before sitting right next to Jared. Jared had hidden the jewelry box away, so Darnell couldn't guess what was going on.
The older man tried to return Darnell's smile in an equal manner, but his heart was in his mouth, and he couldn't breathe properly. The whole thing was nerve-wracking, and he was starting to think that it might have been a better idea to ask Darnell through text.
"Do you still feel sick?" Darnell asked, leaning forward as he looked into Jared's eyes. Jared looked away, shaking his head before rubbing the back of his neck. Darnell wasn't wearing any clothes, and even though Jared saw him naked almost every day just looking at him made his face warm-up and his heart chime.
"Then what is it?" Darnell pressed, moving to touch Jared's thigh. The older man was just in a pair of shorts and nothing more. "Hmm?" Darnell kept insisting, rubbing his thumb in circles on the man's skin.
Jared opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He sighed, shaking his head. "I'm sorry," he muttered to a confused Darnell. He just felt bad for ruining everything. It was supposed to be romantic and memorable, but here he was shriveled up in a ball of anxious, and not being able to at least finish the rest of what he had planned.
"I don't understand. Did something happen?" Darnell asked when Jared covered his eyes and took in deep breaths. Why was this so hard for him to do?
"Yeah," Jared sighed before swallowing his fear and reaching behind him to get the jewelry box. "In sorry I couldn't make things more special. I'm just really nervous," he apologized, showing the box to the younger man. Darnell's eyes were fixated on the box as Jared opened it to reveal the rings. The young man stared at them for a while before licking his lips and looking down at his hands. Jared's heart rate increased. He couldn't understand why Darnell had gone so quiet.
