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John and Joe never came up with any too extraordinary Christmas gifts - except for their first holiday season when they were still kind of trying to impress the other -, but this year Joe decided to surprise the older man with a week in New York City, his hometown. He'd booked a suite including a balcony and many other things they may or may not need in a fancy hotel in Brooklyn for their little romantic spring getaway. He hadn't chosen Manhattan on purpose because he knew that John preferred the more peaceful places these days and that borough wasn't too quiet, but calm enough to spend some quality time in the hotel to relax after a long day exploring the city. He had everything perfectly planned out and thanks to it being his hometown, he could combine this holiday with his boyfriend finally meeting his family. Of course they'd talked on the telephone or Skype quite a few times, but this would be the perfect occasion to get to know them personally.
John's fear that people might recognise him and ask for selfies and autographs was soon wiped away by Joe. He assured him no one would even notice he's here because New York is such a big city. It would just be the two of them having some fun on the other side of the ocean. Joe's answer to the question why he'd organised this trip was always the same: "We need to get out and enjoy ourselves once in a while!" Yet, he'd been acting a bit weird around him lately, but John figured maybe that was the nervousness because he was going to introduce his long term boyfriend to his family for the first time in person. And honestly, he couldn't blame him. He wasn't scared of meeting them, but most definitely nervous if he'd make a good impression.
The majority of the flight, they were sleeping because they'd had to get up pretty early to catch the plane in time, but when they were awake, Joe told him about all the things they could do once they arrived. Walking around the Central Park, seeing the Statue of Liberty, seeing a Broadway musical, having fun on Coney Island, visiting the American Museum of Natural History as well as the many other museums there - typical tourist things basically. And of course, they'd visit Joe's family on their second day in New York. But that was only the plan for the first half of their vacation, the other half he didn't want to tell John yet. He seemed to have some surprises planned.
When the couple checked into the hotel, they were stunned by their suite, but John even more so than Joe, who stayed a few steps behind his boyfriend, a satisfied smile on his face as he watched the older man's reaction. He loved this room, yet he felt a little guilty because he knew this trip wasn't cheap at all and it came quite unexpectedly, so he didn't get to get him a 'proper' present to make up for it. In fact, it was fucking expensive, but Joe couldn't care less about the price; they more than deserved to get away and relax - well, if you could even talk about relaxing in a city like this. But away from all the work and their rather monotonous everyday life.
"Do you like it?" Joe asked, knowing the answer was obvious.
"What a question…" John turned and walked over to him, pecking his lips. "Thank you so much! I love it!"
The younger man smiled and kissed him back. "Always."
After they'd parked their luggage in their suite, they decided to spend the rest of the day strolling around Brooklyn, eating at one of Joe's favorite restaurants and taking cliché 'couple on vacation' selfies at popular spots like Prospect Park or the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. It was hilarious how Joe, an actual New Yorker, was the one to insist on playing tourists and convinced John to roll along with it. At some point he even started talking with a primitive Italian accent, but that was a tad bit too much. While they'd thought the pictures would look terribly fake - which was the point -, most of them actually turned out pretty cute. They looked like those WeHeartIt couples, but aside from that, the photos were good enough to be printed out once they got home.
As their tourist mission for day one came to an end, they spent the evening in Brooklyn Bridge Park, eating ice cream at Ample Hills. Joe sneakily took photos of John looking outside to watch the sunset over Brooklyn Bridge. After a while he noticed and he knew Joe was going to make jokes about the melted ice cream dripping down his chin, but he didn't really care. At some point there would be sexual jokes anyway and apparently this moment was worth capturing, so he let him do his thing. Besides, Joe's photos rarely looked anything else than good, no matter the motive.
The next day the couple continued to play tourists, but this time in Manhattan. They tried to get pictures in front of as many famous sights as they could, but it was quite difficult because there isn't a 'tourist season' in New York, there are thousands of visitors every day of the year. Actually enjoying the visits never came too short, though. It had been quite a long time since the older man's last trip to America and he hadn't been aware of how much he'd loved being here on tour.
Even though John himself wasn't that much into musical theatre, he took Joe to a matinee performance of Wicked. Seeing something on Broadway was just something you must do when you go there and since Joe was into musicals, he'd thought about a week ago he should probably book tickets. John had known the songs and what the show was about, but he hadn't been sure if he'd enjoy three hours of it, but afterwards he had to admit to himself that it wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would be. Maybe having Joe listen to lots of showtunes in the car paid off. Still, he liked his boyfriend's rendition of Defying Gravity better.
Soon it was time for them to meet Joe's family for dinner, but to calm John's nerves, they took a short walk in Central Park. "It's not going to be that bad, John," the younger man promised, intertwining his fingers with John's.
He sighed and lightly squeezed his hand. "I know, I'm just really nervous if they'll…" He cut himself off, deciding to stop before he'd say too much.
"Like you? You know they've all loved you from the beginning." Joe smiled at the memory of his mom getting all excited and asking tons of questions when he'd told her about his new boyfriend.
"Yeah. It's something else, I don't know." He knew exactly what it was, but he couldn't tell him.
Joe stopped in his tracks and wrapped his arms around John's torso, looking into his eyes. "It'll be fine, love. There's nothing to worry about, okay? They know you, they love you. You literally belong to the family already."
He pecked his lips before pulling away and taking his camera out, holding it up with a grin. "Romantic Central Park selfie!"
They sat on the nearest bench and John put his arm around his boyfriend, resting his hand on his shoulder as Joe pressed his cheek against John's and snapped a picture, huge smiles on their faces.
Joe was right. His family absolutely adored John. He almost forgot this was their first meeting because he got such a warm welcome and he felt so at ease when talking to the family members. Joe's nephews and nieces were really cute and they could barely hide their excitement when the couple stepped into the corridor. Without even knowing him properly, they ran towards the older man as if he was a beloved relative they hadn't seen for a long time. He felt surprisingly comfortable that evening and he found he hadn't had to think about what to say hours beforehand. He was able to just talk to them without feeling insecure about every single word.
There was one thing he was still nervous about, though. After dinner, he helped Joe's mother clear the table and wash the dishes, thanking her for getting to know them personally and being welcomed into the family before he brought up the subject he'd been thinking so much about all day. "You know I really, really love your son."
"I know." She smiled at him, drying off her hands.
"And I-" He lowered his voice a little, biting his bottom lip. "I hope to spend the rest of my life with him. I'm planning on proposing to him this week and I would be honoured to have your blessing."
Although the answer seemed self-evident, he got a bit anxious. What if she'd tell him to wait longer? If she only knew he had already waited longer...
"Of course, John!" she half-exclaimed, trying her best to keep her voice down. She pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm so happy Joe has found someone like you. He hasn't been lucky when it comes to love, actually…"
John gladly returned the embrace, visibly relieved that there really was no reason to be worried.
Back in their hotel late at night, the couple stood on the balcony, looking down at the city's lights in silence. "Why exactly did you want to go here with me?" Really, he was curious. Feeling like they had to unwind was one thing, but a wellness weekend or something like that would have done the job too, right? There had to be a deeper meaning behind it.
Joe smiled wordlessly before walking back into their room and returning barely a minute later with two glasses of champagne, handing one to his lover. "You're the best thing in my life," he said, clinking glasses with John. "Cheers."
As John took the first sip, he noticed something at the bottom of his flute. It was shiny and silver and round. Oh. "I don't know if it's too early, but…" Joe frowned a bit at him swallowing. "I can still return it, I kept the receipt."
"I-I wanted to…" John put the glass on the round glass table and rushed into the room, leaving his boyfriend anxiously waiting for him before he came back with a small red box, smiling awkwardly as he got down on his knees. "I was going to ask you too…"
He opened the box, revealing a broad silver ring, similar to the one in the champagne flute, except the one he'd bought for Joe had a rib at the center.
"Oh my God," the ginger laughed. "I thought you were going to say no when you just left!"
"Does this look like a damn no to you?" John grinned and Joe pulled him up, kissing him deeply.
He really was the best thing in his life.