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The first thing that clued Arin in on the fact that something was going on was the fact that Dan was sweating bullets throughout the entire date.
“Dude, are you okay?” he asked about halfway through their meal. They were seated at a booth close to the front, where there was music being played live, in a rather fancy restaurant. Generally they didn’t go on very traditional dates like, well, restaurants, but they decided to change things up that night.
“Hm? Oh, it’s nothing, I’m fine, honestly,” replied Dan insistently in a completely unconvincing tone. “I just thought that maybe going here with you would help get my mind off of the stress of the next NSP album. That plan completely failed, though.” He gave a nervous chuckle, trying to pretend he didn’t know that Arin wasn’t falling for it.
Arin sighed inwardly when he heard Dan’s reply. He’d been acting really off the last couple of days and he was beginning to become concerned about his boyfriend. “Whatever you say,” he muttered. Dan could detect the younger man’s displeased tone and cursed to himself. Why did he have to ruin Arin’s night just becaused he was stressed about something? He was pretty sure he knew what the outcome would be, so why worry so much about it?
He grabbed Arin’s unoccupied hand in one of his and said, “Listen, I’m sorry I’m ruining this for you. I’m just a stressed idiot who can’t keep it to himself.” His tone was sincerely apologetic; he truly was upset with himself for making this night suck so far. Arin looked up from his food and gave a small smile.
“It’s alright, I promise,” he reassured the older man. “Just try and take your mind off it, alright? Once we’re done eating we can go back to the house and just chill for the rest of the night. I’ll bet you $10 I can beat you in a Smash tournament,” he added with a smirk. Dan looked up and smiled.
“You’re on, fucker.” He took his hands away from Arin’s and cracked his knuckles. Arin laughed, casting a fake glare at him. “Even though I voiced Luigi in Starbomb, I’m actually not afraid to kick your ass.” Arin simply rolled his eyes and went back to eating.
Throughout the rest of their meal, they chatted idly, talking about their plans for Starbomb 3, Dan’s plans for the next NSP album, and how annoying Ross had been at work that day. (“He insulted me in pun form!” Dan cried, wiping away a fake tear.) Soon enough, they finished their food, and Arin began to stand up from the booth.
Dan’s breathing suddenly turned slightly shaky. “Hold on a moment,” he said quietly, quickly pulling out his phone and sending a text before beckoning Arin to sit down again for a moment.
[8:47] Danny: barry, quick, get in here. ugh I’m nervous
[8:48] Barry: Alright, I’m heading in. It’ll be alright, man, I swear.
[8:48] Danny: I hope so…
A moment later, Dan could faintly hear the restaurant door opening, and he glanced in the direction of the entrance to see Barry walking into the restaurant. Arin turned backwards, following his line of sight, and raised one eyebrow.
“Why is Barry here?” he asked nobody in particular. “...and why the hell does he have a ukulele?” He looked back at the other man with a confused look on his face. “You have any clue why?”
Dan shook his head. “No clue, man… actually… I do. I know exactly why.” Arin’s expression only grew more curious as his boyfriend stood up and walked next to Barry as he approached. Barry gave a small wave to Arin before walking forward. Leaning over to the bearded man, Dan murmured, “Barry, I’m so scared…”
Barry smiled and looked up at him. “It’ll be okay, Dan, I promise. He’s going to adore this.”
“But what if he… no, I’m not going to think of that, it’ll only make it worse. Happy thoughts, Dan. Happy thoughts.” He began rambling quietly to himself before he stepped up to the people performing the music.
“Excuse us,” Barry began softly. “Would it be alright if we performed one song? It’s for a very special occasion, trust us.” The singer paused for a moment before signaling to the guitarist to stop and then handing the microphone over. Barry then gave it to Dan, smiling warmly. “You’ll do great,” he assured him, patting him lightly on the back with the hand not holding his ukulele. Dan returned the smile shakily before turning to face Arin who was sitting at the booth a few spots away. Arin gave a hesitant wave, the confused look still remaining on his face.
Gulping slightly, Dan brought the microphone to his face and said into it, “Um… this is dedicated to my boyfriend, Arin… I love you, man.” The expression on Arin’s face turned from curious and confused to slightly shocked just as Barry began strumming on the ukulele. When he was cued, Dan took a deep, long breath before beginning to sing.
“Wise men say,” came his voice from a small amplifier next to him, beautiful to Arin as always. “Only fools rush in, but I can’t help falling in love with you…” He could see the younger man let out a small gasp from where he was sitting. He gave a half-smile and waved in his direction as he continued the song.
“Shall I stay? Would it be a sin if I can’t help falling in love with you?
Like a river flows surely to the sea, darling so it goes, some things were meant to be…
Take my hand, take my whole life too,
For I can’t help falling in love with you.”
Arin began to stand up, hesitantly first before just bolting up and almost sprinting up to Dan, stopping a couple feet in front of him. He had the biggest grin that anybody had seen on his face before, his face slightly pink from blushing. Barry was trying hard behind the pair not to begin giggling; the two were so goddamned cute together. The singer beckoned him forward so that they could stand side by side, Arin reaching for one of his hands and entwining their fingers together-- a couple of “awwhs” came from the crowd of people closest to them. Dan turned his head to look into the younger’s eyes as he began to repeat the second verse.
“Like a river flows surely to the sea, darling so it goes, some things were meant to be.
Take my hand, take my whole life too,
‘Cause I can’t help falling in love with you.”
Dan could swear he saw tears beginning to well up in Arin’s eyes. Barry’s grin only widened when Dan gently kissed Arin’s forehead; he stopped strumming on the ukulele as the singer slowly repeated the last line.
“‘Cause I can’t help falling love with you.”
He reached around to fish for the small item that had been practically burning a hole in his back pocket the entire night. His breathing hitched from anxiety as he dropped down onto one knee, holding the small container in one hand and the microphone in another. It took Arin a moment to process what was happening before his face paled. Dan brought the microphone up to his face again, opening the container that was revealed to contain a diamond ring, and asked shakily into it, “Arin Hanson, the love of my life, will you marry me?”
Finally the tears that had been threatening to fall spilled over from Arin’s eyes, his smile only widening as he leaned down and whispered into it, “How could I say no?”
Dan was silent for a moment, the words failing to register in his head immediately, before he suddenly sprung up and grabbed Arin in the tightest embrace he possibly could, tears of joy beginning to fall rapidly. Half the restaurant began cheering, and Barry just smiled widely, clapping; over Arin’s shoulder, he could see the vaguely shit-eating grin and rolled his eyes slightly. Finally the two separated and the older got a chance to slide the ring onto Arin’s finger before he was quickly pulled in for a brief kiss.
“I fucking love you, man! But… is this why you were acting so off?”Arin asked quietly after he pulled himself away from Dan.
“I love you so much, too, why else would I propose? ... and yeah,” he confessed, his cheeks turning slightly pink as he replaced the microphone, his voice somewhat strained due to his throat closing up from the tears. “I was fucking terrified, man…” Arin just chuckled softly.
“You had to have known I was going to say yes, you nerd.” He smirked before pressing another kiss against Dan’s cheek.
Dan shrugged. “It was still nervewracking, man. But, uh… can we pay and leave? I don’t like crying in front of people.” He took a quick glance around them; all of the tables except one surrounding them were full. Arin simply nodded, wiping away some of the tears from his own face using the hem of his shirt.
The pair of them and Barry walked back over to the couple’s table, and Dan began to pull out his wallet before Arin grabbed his wrist. “No way, dude, you bought me a fucking diamond ring. Let me get this.” Dan hesitated before stuffing his wallet back in his pocket.
“I spent the better part of a month’s pay for that, so you probably should handle that before I go broke,” he joked as Arin fished $50 out of his own wallet. Barry laughed a bit at this.
“That was honestly really beautiful, Dan. Great job,” the bearded man complimented, gently patting Dan’s back. He turned to look at Arin and told him, “You’re pretty damn lucky, man.”
Arin smiled. “I know. I can’t believe I’m marrying this beautiful, wonderful, amazing asshole.” Dan snorted, fake-glaring at him although he eventually did begin laughing. Barry rolled his eyes at the two and grabbed both of their hands in one of his (the other was occupied by the ukulele), practically dragging them out of the restaurant, only pausing when one of the waiters that was passing by congratulated Dan and Arin.
“Wait, hold on a moment, while we’re still in a bit of light,” said Dan the moment they exited the restaurant. “We should send out a picture or a tweet or something.” Arin considered this for a moment before shrugging.
“Why the hell not?” he said as he pulled out his phone and hugged his boyfr-- no, fiance, next to him. “Barry, you should photobomb or something. Like, have the top of your head peeking up behind our shoulders.” Barry laughed and nodded, standing behind the two and crouching down a little bit; Arin held up the hand that had the ring on it, they took the picture, sent it out on his twitter and the NSP twitter (Dan had it as a secondary account because he was always temporarily losing his phone), and within a minute their phones were blowing up with notifications.
“Let’s just leave it for now, I wanna go home and cuddle with my fiance,” Dan giggled. It felt strange using the word fiance, but he didn’t exactly mind it. The younger men smiled and nodded, and Barry said goodbye to them as he walked out to his car on the other side of the lot. “See you tomorrow, bear!”
As the couple climbed into the car, Arin said while shutting the passenger door, “Dan, two questions. One, how long have you guys been planning this, just out of curiosity?”
“Three and a half weeks,” responded Dan with a small shrug, putting the keys into the ignition. “The idea first popped into my head about two months ago, though. And the second one?”
“... can I sing the song? I know what it’s called.” His voice was slightly hushed almost as if he was embarrassed by it.
Dan grinned. “Of course you can. You have a beautiful singing voice, I don’t understand why you don’t use it.” Arin blushed slightly as the older man said this, simply nodding and pulling out his phone to look up the lyrics. He began singing it as Dan drove the car out of the parking lot, and it truly was great. Like he said, Dan truly admired Arin’s singing abilities and wasn’t sure why he hardly ever sang.
“Like a river flows surely to the sea, darling so it goes, some things were meant to be.
Take my hand, take my whole life too--” As Arin went into the last two lines, Dan began to join in with him, making the last parts of the song a duet.
“Cause I can’t help falling in love with you.” When they finished this line, Arin gently grabbed one of Dan’s hands from off the steering wheel to hold it in his, gazing lovingly at the older although he couldn’t see it as he was concentrated on the road. Louder than the rest of the song, his deep voice rang loud and clear in the car as they finished the song.
‘Cause I can’t help falling in love with you.”