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Jacob had been Alex’s best friend for years. They had met when Alex was catering to one of the Canucks various events. Jacob had spilled some of his wine on Alex when Henrik had bumped into him while rushing to grab the last of the Swedish meatballs before Daniel could. Jacob had apologized profusely and even offered to pay for the dry cleaning of Alex’s outfit. That’s where their friendship began.
All these years later, their friendship was going strong as ever. Jacob was currently over at Alex’s apartment, sitting on the couch and drinking a beer. Alex was in the kitchen, chopping some onions and carrots to add to the soup he was preparing for dinner. Just as he added the chopped vegetables to the pot, he noticed Jacob walk over to the island and take a seat at one of the barstools.
“You know,” he paused, taking a drink from his beer bottle. “I bet you were the homecoming king in high school.”
“What makes you think that?” Alex walked over to the sink, pumped some soap onto his hands, lathered them together, and turned the tap on. He put one of his fingers under the stream of water to test the temperature. Satisfied that it was acceptable, he placed both hands under and started rinsing them.
“You’re gorgeous,” Jacob chuckled. Alex heard him place the beer bottle on the island briefly before he picked it back up and took another drink. “You’re the boy everyone from a town like yours would dream about. I bet every girl was lined up in whatever old blue jean fashion you guys wore to be your girlfriend.”
Turning the sink off and grabbing a paper towel, Alex dried his hands off before turning to face Jacob. He leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest.
“I was the homecoming king,” Alex said, smiling.
“Who was the homecoming queen,” Jacob asked, taking another sip of his beer.
“My boyfriend at the time. His name was Magnus.”
Jacob smiled and raised his beer in salute. “Cheers. I’ll drink to that, bro.” As proof of his statement, he put the bottle to his lips and drank whatever was left inside of it. Making a satisfying sound he wiped his lips with the back of his hand when he was done drinking.
“You know,” Jacob started, pointing the bottle toward Alex. “I’d change your autograph.”
Raising a questioning eyebrow, Alex frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I’d put my name on you,” Jacob replied. When Alex continued to look confused, he sighed and placed the beer bottle on the island. “I want to put a ring on your left hand. I want everyone to know that I’m the lucky one that has Heaven’s boy on my arm.”
Bringing his hand up to his face, Alex covered it. He felt a soft heat rising across his cheeks and the tips of his ears. He spread his fingers and looked at Jacob through the slats. He was smiling fondly and his eyes were showing signs of love and one too many beers.
“I want to take you to the edge of town and get on one knee,” Jacob continued, using his hand to move toward the direction of town he was speaking about. “I really want to change your autograph, Alexander.” He chuckled, running a hand through his hair.
Alex brought his hand away from his face and smiled weakly at Jacob. The thing about this was that he had been having more than platonic feelings for Jacob for a couple of years; he wanted to be his boyfriend more than anything. Hearing Jacob say he wanted to marry him was making Alex feel things that he didn’t know he could feel. Alex’s stomach was tied in all kinds of nervous knots; his heart rate was rivalling that of a jet going Mach 10; his face was burning with the passion of a volcanic eruption. He felt so strongly about this that he wanted to rush across the kitchen and kiss Jacob as passionately as he could.
“Jacob,” Alex started, voice strained from nerves. “You’re a little drunk. You don’t mean any of this.”
Jacob chuckled and shook his head. “Of course I mean this! You’re a star in my world. I want you on the hood of my car,” he motioned out the window, presumably in the direction of the parking garage, “so you can blow me kisses like they do in the movies.”
Sighing, Alex walked across the kitchen to sit on the barstool beside Jacob. He lit up and leaned his head onto Alex’s shoulder. Alex wrapped his arm around Jacob’s shoulders and squeezed him closer before placing a kiss on the top of his head.
“You should really let me change your autograph,” Jacob said, voice faltering a little. “I want to propose to you at sunset at the ocean on the edge of town. I want to give you a ring that you customize to make it uniquely yours.”
Swallowing thickly, Alex rubbed along Jacob’s upper arm. Jacob hummed and nuzzled in closer to him. He sighed at that moment, voice soundly slightly wet. Alex lifted Jacob’s head with his other hand. Looking into his eyes, Alex noticed that he was crying. Sitting him straight up, Alex took both thumbs and wiped the tears away. Jacob grabbed Alex’s wrists and rubbed along the pulse points soothingly. Alex shivered and leaned into the touch.
“I want everyone to know that you’re mine,” he said, bringing one of Alex’s wrists to his lips and kissing it gently. When he felt Alex shiver again, he smiled and brought the other wrist to his lips and kissed it. Alex shivered a third time and leaned into the sensation. “I want to skip dating and just go straight to marriage. The team says we act like a married couple as it is.”
Alex felt his heartbeat hammering in his ears. Jacob’s team had become a second family to him in the years he had been friends with Jacob. All the players that had come and gone were like siblings to him. They meant the world to him–almost as much as Jacob did. If they said that he and Jacob acted like a married couple there was no question that it was the truth.
“We should talk about this when you haven’t had 4 beers,” Alex said. His mouth felt dry as he spoke those words. Every part of him hadn’t wanted to say what he had said but he knew it had to be done. He knew this conversation was one that needed to happen when Jacob was sober enough to understand the ramifications of what he was asking for.
Tears fell silently down Jacob’s face as he looked at Alex with a blank expression. Despite that, he nodded. “Yeah, yeah. You’re right.” He grabbed Alex’s cheeks and gently soothed his thumbs across them. Alex shivered for what felt like the thirtieth time and leaned into the sensation. “Just know my opinion won’t change when I’m sober.” He leaned in and planted his lips against Alex’s.
Alex sat there, frozen for a moment. Jacob tensed against Alex and started to pull away. Alex quickly brought his hands up to cover Jacob’s hands. Alex pressed firmly, holding him in place. Jacob relaxed and leaned back into the kiss. At that moment, Alex started moving his mouth fluidly with Jacob’s, trying to keep up with the languid pace he was setting. It was a pace that he wasn’t used to for kissing. He was used to vigorous, passionate kisses. This was languid and soft. Alex reminded himself that Jacob had consumed 4 beers and that had probably slowed down his motor functions enough to affect his kissing abilities.
When they pulled apart, Jacob was panting slightly and had some hair stuck to his forehead. Alex took one of his fingers and brushed the hair aside. Jacob hummed and leaned into the touch. Alex smiled softly and kissed Jacob’s forehead. Jacob chuckled and kissed the tip of Alex’s nose.
“Mr. Alexander Markstrom,” he said, grabbing both of Alex’s hands and interlacing their fingers. “Has a nice ring to it, right?”
A soft feeling rushed through Alex’s veins. It did have a nice ring to it. Alex bounced the name around in his head a few times while Jacob looked at him expectantly. The longer it bounced around up there, the better it was starting to sound. Alex swallowed thickly and nodded at Jacob. Jacob grinned and took one of his hands out of Alex’s grasp to reach into his pocket. A moment later, he placed a jewellery box on the table.
“I’m going to go sleep off the alcohol,” he said, motioning toward the guest bedroom. “You look that over and we’ll talk in the morning when I’m sober.” With that, Jacob leaned over and pressed a kiss to Alex’s temple before he slipped off the barstool and walked to the guest bedroom.
Alex was left sitting there, staring at the box. He hesitated a moment before he opened it. The necklace inside made his heart and stomach swoop simultaneously. It had a simple heart charm with two distinct words engraved on it:
Min Älskling