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It was the hottest summer to date and the temperature kept rising, breaking records and shocking citizens into panic buying up all the ice in the city, even going out of town for more. Yet Wylan had no complaints, absolutely none. Because he was lying on his tummy on his boyfriend’s bedroom floor, watching Jesper attempt to learn how to play the bass after having it displayed on his wall for ten years.
There was a shitty little fan plugged into the wall beside Jesper that shakily whirred between the two of them, pushing slightly less hot air at them, but still hot air. Wylan had his phone out as he recorded Jesper, covered in sweat and shirtless and humming out the notes he wanted to play while rustily plucking them.
What was there to complain about? Wylan swung his legs behind him as he put his phone down on the floor and began drawing hearts all over pictures he’d snuck of Jesper within the past half hour.
“I guess our dreams of being a musical duo end here.” Jesper leaned back, he’d been sitting on the amp that was just as good as decoration. His back touched the wall and he sighed, because it was a little bit cool, a temporary relief that went away fast.
“A bass, flute and piano duo?” Wylan looked up at Jesper through his lashes, not bothering to hide that he was doodling flowers all around him half naked.
“Yeah, a really famous one too.” Jesper moved to prop the bass against his wall, he’d come back to it later but he’d lost interest because he wasn’t good immediately. “What if I settled on something else other than baby? Would you draw the line on pookie or snookums?”
“Well you’re you, I’d be thrilled regardless.” Wylan pulled himself up off the floor and sat back on his heels, and Jesper’s eyes fell to Wylan’s bare stomach. “Those aren’t even bad, what about sexy pants or sugar lips?”
“Where the hell did you hear that?” Jesper mumbled as he wiped sweat off of his brow, taking the time to appreciate Wylan in a pair of pale blue sweatshorts and a shirt two sizes too big because it was Jesper’s. A dull grey Transformers shirt that had gotten ripped and so Wylan cropped it and stole it and Jesper was thrilled with the result. He’d get to see Wylan tummy when it got hot, like today.
“When you’re quiet you accidentally hear everything.” Wylan said softly, secretly thrilled Jesper was looking at him the same way he was when he was attempting to play the bass. “What if I started calling you stinky butt or sweetie pie?”
“I totally get what you were saying now,” Jesper did not hate either of the pet names, in fact thought Wylan saying anything was a little sweet so it didn’t matter what words came out of his mouth. “I’d be so down to be your stinky butt.”
“You are.” Wylan gave Jesper a sunny smile and Jesper had to turn his body towards the tiny fan at the sight of it. “I don’t know how I’m gonna sleep tonight, it’s so damn hot.”
“You can probably fit in the fridge.” Jesper gently rubbed at his bottom lip as he did a once over of Wylan sitting on the floor with impeccable posture and bright eyes. He was hanging on Jesper’s every word and Jesper loved him for it, loved that he could talk about anything and Wylan was eager to hear what was next. “By the way you have the perfect belly button for a piercing, well, the perfect belly button, period, full stop.”
“What the hell makes a belly button perfect?” Wylan looked down at his stomach and placed his hands on either side of it, imagining the jewellery. “Are you just saying that because you think it would make me wear more cropped shirts?”
“It’s perfect because it’s your belly button.” Jesper shrugged his shoulders, not offering up any other evidence. “That’s an added bonus, but I really think a dangly little piercing on your tummy at all times would be phenomenal.”
“Sounds like you have an ulterior motive.” Wylan muttered suspiciously, but was not going to blame Jesper for thinking it would be hot. There were things Wylan thought about Jesper doing all the time that would be hot. The most common thought was Jesper getting Wylan’s art tattooed because he kept bringing it up as proof of his love and Wylan had to pretend to be disapproving.
“Knock knock,” Colm Fahey pushed the ajar door open with his elbow and looked into his son’s room to see the two of them sitting in front of that pathetically small electric fan. “I’m heading out to see if I can get some ice cream, maybe some lemonade. Can I get you boys anything?”
“I’d really love some raspberries, and some yogurt, oh man, they have this lime yogurt, Dad can I pleeease get some key lime yogurt?” Jesper’s eyes rolled back in his head as he imagined a snack he had totally forgotten about until this very moment. “Also, because you’re here, would you give me your blessing to marry Wylan? Could we get married right now?”
“Raspberries, key lime yogurt, and my blessing.” Colm rubbed at his nose bridge, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding towards Wylan flushing bright pink on the floor. “You should probably ask Wylan if he wants to marry you first.”
“Of course Wylan wants to marry me, baby, we’re getting married, right?” Jesper scoffed at his father and then turned to Wylan, so confident in their future together that Wylan couldn’t even try to hide his smile.
“I’m fine with just ice cream, please and thank you, sir.” Wylan politely answered Colm first and then softly twirled a curl around his finger, giddy as hell thinking about their wedding. “Yes, I’d like to think so…”
“See? So are you going to give us your blessing or are you going to be homophobic?” Jesper gave his father a hard look, even though both of them knew this wasn’t true and it was his son being a complete little shit.
“You can call me Dad or Colm,” Jesper’s father gave Wylan a warm smile, he’d reminded him over and over again that the formality really isn't necessary. That Wylan was really another son to him. “And Jes, you’ve been kissing boys since you were 13, I don’t care as long as you’re happy and it gets you to stop bothering me all the time.”
Wylan laughed happily, because he was so, inexplicably happy right now. He was allowed to exist in Jesper’s life and experience what it was like to genuinely have a family, to actually be loved. It was moments like this, the tiniest little things, that made him excited to keep living.
“Well if you let me marry Wylan right now, then I can stop bothering you, and continue to bother Wylan.” Jesper snorted, of course his father would take this as an opportunity to remind him he was his annoying son, but a loved son nonetheless.
“Any ice cream flavour preferences?” Colm ignored Jesper because if he humoured him he would never be able to get in his truck and get to the store before it closed. “I wish you’d wait, you’re 18 and you’ve just been dating for a year.”
“Um, anything maple or toffee or caramel, but if not it’s fine, Colm.” Wylan readjusted his legs because he was beginning to feel numb, he sat back on his butt and stretched until the stiffness in his knees went away. “I can wait, I’d like to get a degree or two before getting married.”
“And he likes pink lemonade.” Jesper stated matter-of-factly, turning his nose up at his father for not asking and then he pursed his lips. “A year and a half, thank you very much.”
“Jes, as somebody who has been married, you are not ready.” Colm shook his head and turned to leave, pulling his car keys out of his pocket and giving them a small jingle. “I’ll be back with refreshments in about forty five, Wylan you’re in charge of Jesper. Listen to him, he’s a stellar kid.” He pointed at his son in a soft warning and Wylan was pleasantly warm after the interaction.
“I’ll watch him very closely.” Wylan reassured him, eyeing the door as it was closed about two thirds of the way, it would remain open even when Colm wasn’t home. “Am I gonna get a ring anytime soon?” He tucked his hair behind his ears and Jesper chewed on his lip in thought.
“I didn’t know you wanted two degrees, baby.” Jesper slid off the amp and sat down on the floor in front of Wylan, grabbing his ankles and pulling him forward. Wylan squeaked as he got dragged a few inches across the floor before Jesper’s legs intertwined with his. “Unfortunately my dad is right, and you’re fucking stellar, baby.” He leaned in and Wylan closed the distance, kissing him slowly.
“As soon as I can dedicate myself to studying sciences, which I actually excel at,” Wylan explained, wiping some of Jesper’s sweat off of his temple casually. “I’m sure I’ll have no trouble getting all the degrees I want.”
“Absolutely, my brilliant boy,” Jesper smiled as his boyfriend blushed all the way to his ears, he really was the sweetest person he’d ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. “Let me know when you’ve had enough of studying and I’ll make you my husband, easy peasy.”
“Okay, I will.” Wylan’s hand smoothed over Jesper’s knee and giggled as he physically felt his boyfriend’s muscles twitch under his touch. “And are we gonna get a cat? A dog?”
“I have always pictured you with gerbils.” Jesper reached backward for the fan and repositioned it so he wasn’t blocking all the air from reaching Wylan. “But you’d do well with a cat too, sitting on your sketchbook while you’re trying to draw…”
“Gerbils?” Wylan’s eyebrows furrowed more at the fact that Jesper had thought about this and came up with gerbils and not said a single thing. “How about all of them? Gerbils, a cat, a dog, maybe a lizard.”
“You’re totally a lizard guy, maybe a skink.” Jesper murmured and further baffled Wylan because when did he ever not share all his thoughts with him.
“And what else have you been hiding about our future, stinky butt?” Wylan happily let himself be knocked onto the floor, Jesper sliding an arm under Wylan’s head so he could use it as a pillow. It was much too hot to be touching so much but neither of them could really resist it, it was unnatural to not be glued together.
“Well I haven’t been thinking about it that much,” Jesper whispered under his breath, his fidgeting fingers finding Wylan’s helix piercing so he had something to fiddle with. “But we’re gonna live in a little farm house, and that cat I mentioned is a barn cat.” He murmured, smiling wide as Wylan turned towards him and his eyes stared into Jesper’s kindly.
“Sounds like you’ve been thinking about it a lot, Jes.” Wylan laughed when Jesper turned his face to hide it softly against his arm.
“Maybe it came to me in a dream,” Jesper hummed out, pushing Wylan’s hair away from his face so he could see more of his pretty features, more of the freckles that were coming out with all the sun they were getting. “I don’t wanna scare you away or anything, but there’s a baby or two, in my dream, I mean.”
“A baby?” Wylan’s heart soared, he leaned into Jesper’s hand that was touching his jawline shakily and he turned his head to kiss his palm. “Then I definitely need to finish up school before we get to our farm house and babies, you don’t mind waiting?”
“Maybe my dad has a point,” Jesper sighed loudly, admitting Colm was right twice in one conversation was going to kill him. How else was he supposed to be a rebellious teen if he kept agreeing with the guy that enforced everything? “My parents didn’t have me until they were 27, so, if you wanna hang around for 9ish years, baby. I can get you that farm house.”
“I wasn’t planning on going anywhere,” Wylan rolled a bit closer to Jesper despite the unbearable heat around them and he kissed his nose lightly. “That gives me lots of time to finish school, and I think we’d like travelling a little bit before settling down. Also, Jes, controversial, but I think it would be sweet to be engaged for a long time…”
“Okay, okay, okay,” Jesper grinned because he couldn’t help it, he struggled to get a good deep breath in because he was so overwhelmed with happiness. “Our super in love timeline, when we get to university you’re gonna get a promise ring maybe when you’re working on your first thesis.” He whispered and Wylan looked at his hand, imagining a ring around his finger reminding him he was Jesper’s forever.
“Sounds absolutely wonderful.” Wylan batted his eyes as Jesper intertwined their fingers and held their hands close to his chest. “Can I get you one too? I don’t like the idea of us not matching.”
“Yeah, of course, baby, I’d love a ring I could go around flaunting.” Jesper nodded his head quickly and Wylan pulled his face back gently so he wouldn’t get bonked in his excitement. “Promised to each other while you do your first degree, then I’m thinking after you graduate I’m gonna propose. And we can do the long engagement cause I’ll be working on the farm house, ideal situation I’m restoring and refurbishing it so it’s all ours. I really wish it was not as hot as balls right now because I want to be kissing you so bad.”
“That sounds perfect to me, I’m guessing you’ll have learned how to refurbish a farm house in those nine years?” Wylan thought about the sweat dripping down their bodies and the buzzy little fan pushing hot air around the room and the wide open window letting tiny little bugs in. It was a small price to pay to kiss his boyfriend. “I don’t mind getting heat stroke if it means I get a little kiss out of it.”
“Surely I can learn to do anything, if it means making you happy I will build the house from the ground up.” Jesper trailed off as he reached for Wylan’s thigh and used it to pull his boyfriend’s leg over so Wylan had it draped around Jesper’s waist. “I mean if we’re already sweaty…” He batted his eyes and Wylan giggled, slotting their bodies together easily and getting his hands on Jesper’s bare chest, feeling up his burning hot skin.
“We still have like half an hour,” Wylan tilted his head up to meet Jesper’s lips and Jesper had to remind himself Wylan wasn’t done talking so he had to pull away before he got too carried away. “And thinking about being your very educated husband in a little farm house is really, really doing it for me.”
“Really, really?” Jesper laughed into Wylan’s waiting mouth and they kissed some more, he was more than happy for Wylan to push him down and crawl on top of him easily. “I’ll get to designing a promise ring for you then, so if I seem distracted I’m still thinking about you.”
“You’re gonna design it?” Wylan all but whined out, so unbelievably taken off guard and touched by the gesture that he melted on top of him and hugged him tight instead of what he was initially planning to do. A lot less rigorous and exhausting, but it was still just as satisfying. “I really love you, why are you the sweetest person in the whole world?”
“Um, second sweetest,” Jesper got both hands around Wylan’s waist, fingers sneaking around to touch his stomach which he’d been wanting to do for what felt like hours. “I love you the most.” He chuckled when Wylan excitedly leaned down to kiss him but both of them were smiling too much to do it properly, their teeth met instead. Wylan’s squeaky laugh was worth it, worth everything.
Jesper should have known better, that his dreamy planning of their future wasn’t going to scare his boyfriend away but actually push them infinitely closer. Now they both had a shared goal, a common reassurance that yes this was forever no matter what anybody else said.
It didn’t matter that they were 18, almost 19 and heading off to university when summer ended, because they’d be going together. As soon as they met it became obvious being apart was going to be weird, even when they were just friends. They filled up missing space in each other’s lives, and now were eager to stuff that space full with their love and promises.
A small part of Wylan hadn’t been able to imagine a life without Jesper, even from the moment they’d met. He just didn’t know what to do with it, preferring not to think about Jesper going anywhere. And there was that huge part of Jesper that was imagining the rest of his life with Wylan, but would hate to be too much.
Wylan had never made Jesper feel like too much, never even rolled his eyes when he started talking and couldn't stop. Jesper had found his focus, found his Wylan. Found somebody that he’d want to spend his whole entire life with, and now he’d learned Wylan wanted to do the same thing.
The air was hot around them, but still Wylan’s lips against his were warmer. The sun was beaming down harshly, but it didn’t compare to the constant warmth around Jesper’s heart that Wylan had managed to achieve just from looking at him, smiling at him, touching him. Wylan was Jesper’s own personal sun, and he’d be his forever.
Ring or not, teenagers or not, graduated or not, married or not, they were going to be forever. They already were forever. If Wylan was his always, then Jesper was his forever.