"You don't even know what it is! It's a great opportunity to get to know each other."

"Marlo is straight."

"We don't need to know what it is. We're going."

Does Marlo want to hold his hand when they walk home?

He does. 

It's late by the time they get home. 

"I normally sleep naked but I am concerned that would make you uncomfortable."

"Six years ago it might have but not anymore." 

"All right." He strips down and throws the laundry into the basket. "I think they gave you pajamas."

He nods and opens a drawer. 

The drawer is much larger on the inside than it is on the outside.

Many of the things in this drawer Marlo can identify. The rope is pretty obvious, as are the knives. He can probably figure out the use of the whips, canes, and paddles. A few of the dildos are shaped like very realistic penises, which can provide some enlightenment about the ones that look like scrapped alien designs or abstract art or are simply far too large to fit inside a normal human body. He's probably even used lube. 

But many of them have no obvious use at all: egg-looking things with flared bases, in various sizes; something that looks like a bright purple rubber cactus; a set of thin silver rods; several tubes with inner holes the size of a banana.

Some of the things seem to have an obvious use, and that use is 'torture.'

Blink. Blink. Blink. 

He closes that drawer and opens a different drawer. 

This drawer has pajamas.

Good to know. He puts pajamas on. 

The bed is very small. There's no way to sleep on it without cuddling. 

That's fine; they can make themselves fit. 

Chris rests his head in Marlo's shoulder. His face looks peaceful.

Now Marlo probably can't politely avert his eyes from the reality that Chris is very well-built and has a penis. 

Those are both true facts. He mostly looks at Chris's face; seeing his soulmate this relaxed feels — good. 

He closes his eyes and goes to sleep with Chris on his shoulder and his arm around Chris. 

Chris is still and motionless when he sleeps.

In the middle of the night, when he's only half-awake, Marlo looks like Tetsuo.

Marlo isn't motionless but he doesn't move much. At one point he murmurs a few nonsense syllables and holds Chris more protectively. 

Chris wakes up early because Tetsuo preferred it that way. 

He wakes up early because it was the habit he got into in the army, and because the person in his arms is awake now. 

"Are you alright," very quietly, when he looks down at Chris's face. 

"I'm fine. Janet?" 

"Hi!" the obnoxiously cheerful robot lady says. 

"I'd like miso soup, rice, and salted salmon, please, and a copy of The Brothers Karamazov." 

"Here you go!" She places it on their living room table.

He's not sure how much he believes Chris that everything's fine. He gets breakfast from Janet (eggs) and stays with Chris. 

As he eats, Chris says, "I'm planning to check out the gay bar tonight. With luck, I won't be home."

"...good luck, then," seems like the only possible response to that announcement.