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It’s not exactly how Nick had expected it to happen. They’d looked at rings at least half a dozen times over as many months, either never quite finding what they were looking for or second guessing their choices and panicking whether at 24 and 22 they and Charlie were too young to be getting engaged, even though they had been dating for nearly 8 years and living together for more than a year.
Nick had always figured that when the time came, it would be a carefully planned out moment. Not a big public show, because they would both be uncomfortable with that, but still planned . Maybe on their anniversary, or just on a night when Nick could make a nice dinner and have a speech prepared.
Instead, it happens on a random Tuesday. Well, it happens for the first time on Tuesday. Nick and Charlie both had a few glasses of wine with dinner, and they’re feeling tipsy and silly, bopping around the kitchen to Taylor Swift while they do the dishes. Nick rinses a plate and hands it to Charlie to dry, but instead of turning back to continue washing, Nick watches Charlie shimmy and mouth the words to Look What You Made Me Do , his eyes bright and laughing.
“Marry me,” Nick says, without even thinking about the words in particular.
Charlie stops, mouth open mid-lyric and turns to Nick, half dry plate still clutched between his hands. “What?”
“Marry me,” Nick repeats, this time with more intention. Now that they’ve said it, they can’t take it back. They don’t want to take it back. For all the second guessing, now that the question is out there, Nick doesn’t want to wait another second for an answer and to commit themself to Charlie in a whole new way.
“You’re drunk,” Charlie laughs out.
“I’m not,” Nick replies, feeling a little hurt by the accusation and the way Charlie seems to be blowing off the question. Nick tries not to pout visibly. “Is that a no then?” They try to make it sound like a joke, but it clearly doesn’t fool Charlie.
Charlie puts the plate and dish towel down on the countertop and then turns to face Nick fully. “Nick?” Charlie waits for them to meet his eyes before he continues, voice suddenly low and soft. “Were you being serious?”
Nick fidgets, looking away. “I mean, I wasn’t planning to ask like that. But yeah, I was serious.”
“Nick,” Charlie says again, his voice almost too gentle. He steps in and wraps his arms around Nick’s shoulders. Nick’s hands wrap around Charlie’s waist of their own volition. “I’m sorry,” Charlie says earnestly. “You know I want to marry you, right? We’ve been talking about it for years.”
Nick sighs. They do know, but maybe that’s exactly why they never expected any reaction other than an immediate and enthusiastic yes . “Yeah. Yeah, I know.”
“Are you mad at me?” Charlie’s eyes look sad and concerned. “You’re allowed to be, you know.”
“No, I don’t think I am.” They pull one hand back from around Charlie's waist and rub gently at their eyes, which suddenly feel just slightly itchy like Nick might cry.
“I’m still sorry,” Charlie says. He leans in slowly, giving Nick plenty of time if they aren’t in the mood to kiss him, but Nick leans into the familiar press of Charlie’s lips, taking comfort in the reminder of just how secure their relationship is. “Did you …” Charlie starts uncertainly after a long few moments of kissing. “Do you still want me to give you an answer? Because you know it’s a yes.”
“No,” Nick replies gently. “We’ll do this again one day. Properly.”
They both lean in again, sharing soft kisses made of apologies and forgiveness. “Why don’t you go pick a movie while I finish the dishes,” Charlie offers when they finally pull apart.
Nick nods and heads off to scroll through some ungodly number of streaming services to find something they haven’t watched yet.
After the movie and a couple of episodes of The Office , they head to bed. Despite feeling tired and wanting this day to end so they can start fresh on Wednesday, Nick can’t fall asleep. They toss and turn, mind unwilling to calm, and eventually move to the living room to avoid disturbing Charlie, falling asleep on the couch in the wee hours of the morning while old episodes of Gilmore Girls play quietly on the TV.
Nick wakes late the next morning with the TV off and a note from Charlie lying on top of their phone on the coffee table. Nick smiles; waking up to a text or a note from Charlie never fails to make them feel warm and fuzzy, even if it means they don’t get to wake up next to the man himself (which is clearly the ideal option, but Nick will take what they can get when it’s not possible).
Morning babe <3
I know you had trouble getting to sleep, but I hope you got some rest eventually.
I’m heading to campus - see you in a few hours.
I love you so much.
C
Nick realizes with a groan that it must be pretty late if Charlie is already on campus for the class he TAs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with his thesis advisor.
Nick stands and stretches, pocketing their phone before stumbling out of the living room and towards the toilet. They’re distracted from their mission, however, by the sight of a bag from the amazing little French bakery that Nick and Charlie almost never go to because it’s in the opposite direction from almost everywhere else they ever seem to need to go. Nick peeks into the bag and sees both an almond croissant and a chocolate one along with a bright pink post-it. Nick fishes out the post-it, wondering why Charlie would have left another note, while simultaneously debating whether they want the almond croissant or the chocolate.
Nick looks at the neon post-it:
Both are for you.
Coffee is ready to brew.
<3
Nick smiles at how well Charlie knows them and ambles toward the kitchen to turn on the coffee maker.
Once again, they’re distracted from the task at hand, because there, right in front of the coffee maker, is one more note written on a sheet torn off the novelty notepad that features the phrase “Anything is paw-sible!” and a cartoon of a dog that looks surprisingly like Nellie. The message is simple.
Marry me?
Perched on top of the note is a ring. It’s not fancy. It’s not even metal. In fact, it looks like Charlie has carefully braided narrow strips of paper in bright yellow, aqua, and navy together and joined the ends to form a loop the size of a ring.
Nick can feel tears threatening and they fight them back as they fumble for their phone, immediately calling Charlie. They don’t even stop to check the time to know whether or not he’s still in class.
Charlie answers on the second ring. “Hi baby.”
“Are you sure?” Nick asks without preamble. “About getting engaged right now. Are you sure?” Nick wants so badly for this to be what Charlie wants and not some sort of mixed up guilt-fueled reaction to the weird moment the night before.
“Yes!” Charlie nearly yells, the happiness in his voice echoing down the phone. “Nick, I’ve been researching rings for months. I had a plan .”
Nick can’t hold the tears back any longer, and they laugh wetly. “I did too!” Nick says. “And believe me, it didn’t involve proposing over dishwashing.”
They both giggle, and then a long moment of silence stretches between them.
“So, uh, is that a yes then?” Charlie asks softly.
“I don’t know,” Nick says, teasing. “I asked you first.”
“Fine. Ask me again, then.”
“Charlie, will you marry me?” Nick asks, voice thick from crying.
“Yes. God yes. I’ve wanted to marry you since I was 14.”
Nick laughs and gently swipes at the damp trails on their cheeks. “Will you be home soon? I need to kiss my fiancé.”
“Five minutes!” Charlie says happily.
They finally hang up after a rather drawn out goodbye for two people who will see each other in mere minutes, and Nick places their phone on the counter. They hit the button to start the coffee maker, and as the coffee brews, they pick up the delicate paper ring and slip it onto their left hand. It’s a little too big and it threatens to slip from Nick’s finger with any wrong move, but Nick has never loved an item more.
***
That night, they will both pull out their research on rings, despite Nick’s proclamation that the carefully braided blue and yellow paper ring is the only one they could ever need.
Eventually, Charlie will argue the impracticality of wearing a paper ring day in and day out, and Nick will relent. Instead, the pair will pick out matching yellow gold bands in a subtle braided design.
Nearly two years later, when their wedding day finally arrives, Nick will present Charlie with a gift. A little shadow box containing a piece of paper from a novelty dog notepad; a carefully braided paper ring of blue, aqua, and yellow; and a second, somewhat less carefully—though no less lovingly—braided ring in pale yellow, vibrant yellow, and cerulean blue.
Beneath the carefully placed items is another small piece of paper, this one in pale pink. On it is the inscription
I would have married you with paper rings.