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When Henry walks into the living room, the last thing he expects is to find Alex on the ground, ass in the air, with his arms stuck under their couch. It’s not an unwelcome sight; this particular view never is, but it is certainly unexpected. He watches him wiggle around for a moment, before leaning against the doorframe and clearing his throat.
Alex freezes. “Shit,” he curses.
“What on earth are you doing?” Henry asks.
Alex pulls his arm out from beneath the couch and looks over his shoulder. “Me?”
“No, the ghost that resides in our home,” Henry clips. “Yes, you.”
He rolls over and sits up, frowning. “Do you really think our house is haunted?”
“Of course I do,” Henry rolls his eyes, and waves a hand at him. “What are you doing?”
Alex’s frown deepens and he looks down at the couch and then back up at Henry. “Any chance you can forget you saw me here?” He asks, making a face. Henry raises his eyebrows, and Alex’s shoulders slump. “Damn it.”
Concern rises in the pit of Henry’s stomach, swiftly washing away the confused amusement. “Is everything all right, love?”
Alex nods mournfully, dropping his head back on the cushion behind him. “I was trying to find your ring.”
“My what? ”
“Your engagement ring.”
That takes a moment to register. Henry shoves away from the doorframe, his hands dropping to his sides when what he’s said finally clicks. “My engagement ring,” he says numbly. Not a question, barely a statement; more an echo of fact.
Alex sighs, long suffering. “I was going to propose to you at dinner tonight. The thing is, I hid your ring really well because I was worried you were going to find it, and I’ve been looking all day. Only, I think I put it under the couch.” He shakes his head at the ceiling. “I hope I put it under the couch.”
Henry swallows. “You were going to propose to me tonight?”
Alex nods. “I still am,” He says, throwing his hands out at his sides. “If I can find the damn ring.”
“Right. But,” Henry reaches into his pocket and pulls the ring out of his pocket that he’d quite literally just picked up from the jeweler. “ I was going to propose to you tonight.” He holds the ring box up between them.
Alex lazily lifts his head and blinks at him. He doesn’t move or speak beyond that for several moments. And then, “What?” The word is a burst of air as he frantically sits up.
Henry smiles tightly. “Quite.”
They stare at each other for a long moment, seemingly sizing one another up. Henry takes a step towards him and Alex throws a hand out between them, “Don’t even fucking think about it, Wales.”
“But I’ve got your ring.”
“I have yours too!” Alex scrambles to his feet and starts to move the couch. “Don’t you even think about it,” He grunts over his shoulder as the couch slides across the hardwood floor. He looks over the back of it and shouts triumphantly, “Yes! I fucking knew it!” Before climbing over the back of the couch, legs dangling behind him as he drops his hands to the floor to presumably grab the ring.
His ass wiggles in the air as he reaches with all his might, before he finally pulls himself back up and over the back of the couch. He flops down onto the cushion and turns his attention on Henry, cradling a small red box ring box against his chest. He narrows his eyes, and Henry echoes the movement.
For several long moments, neither of them speak or move, their gazes locked on each other.
Finally, Alex says, “ I asked you to dinner.”
“And?” Henry replies, raising his eyebrows.
“And,” Alex says with emphasis, “that means this is my proposal.”
Henry laughs short and contentious. “I think not.”
“What?”
Henry takes a step further into the living room, and Alex frantically stands up, holding his chin up between them with narrowed eyes, as if he’s waiting for Henry to make one wrong move and counteract him. “Your sister and I have put a lot of planning into this—“
“You’re in cahoots with June?” Alex interrupts, a look of betrayal settling on his face. “I knew she was up to something,” He hisses, before straightening out his shoulders and taking a step closer to Henry. The look of betrayal washes away, replaced quickly by smug satisfaction, “Well, jokes on you. I’m in cahoots with Bea.”
Well, that explained why Bea had been acting so strangely the last few days. He’s been worried something else was going on. Pushing that thought aside, he takes another step into the room. “Yes, well,” He says, waving the hand not currently holding the ring box, “Your mother gave me her seal of approval, so.”
“No,” Alex shakes his head, and points at him, “because she knew I was going to propose to you.”
Henry shrugs, “ Perhaps she simply knew whose proposal was better.” He wrinkles his nose and points at himself. “Mine. If you’re wondering.”
“Listen here, buddy,” Alex says, rushing forward and waving a finger at him. “ I am going to propose to you . Because, not for nothing, you deserve to feel wanted and loved.” He pokes Henry in the chest meaningfully.
“Except,” Henry replies, reaching up and carefully peeling his hand away. “I’m going to propose to you because you deserve to feel every bit as cherished as you are.” Alex’s eyes widen a fraction before narrowing dangerously.
“This is ridiculous.”
“I concur.”
“I’m proposing.”
Henry shakes his head, “I don’t think so.”
“Well,” Alex draws the word out and crosses his arms over his chest. “I’m not letting you propose.”
“And why not?”
“I’ve been planning this for months.”
Henry blinks owlishly at him. “As have I.”
He throws his hands into the air. “Well, we can’t both propose.”
They both freeze.
“Oh,” Henry breathes. “Well. That’s a relatively simple compromise.”
Alex narrows his eyes. “Over dinner? Do you know how ridiculous that would look? I propose, then you get down on one knee and propose—”
“Who says you’d propose first?” Henry asks pointedly.
“Dinner was my idea.”
“Except, I’ve called ahead and made other arrangements at the restaurant that supersede it being your idea.” Alex glares at him, and Henry glares right back. Despite the animosity of the moment, and Alex’s determination to ruin his own proposal, Henry feels a little zip of excitement course through him. Because now that they’re just standing here staring at each other, the insanity of the moment is starting to settle in.
They’re fighting over who’s going to propose.
Because they both want to propose.
Because they want to marry one another.
He and Alex break at the same time, little bubbles of laughter slipping through angrily pursed lips. “We’re really arguing over this?” Alex asks. “Do we even need to propose at this point? The answers are pretty clear.” The words get lost in a jumble of laughter, and he brings his hand up to cover his mouth. “It’s not funny.”
Henry cracks, grinning at him. “It’s a little funny.”
Alex nods. “What are the fucking odds?”
“We’re just that in sync with one another,” Henry murmurs, the smile slipping into something softer. Alex is still laughing, but Henry has the pleasure of watching it sizzle out into a small smile, his chest rising and falling, quick with the laughter, and then slow with easy, happy breaths. “Alex.”
Alex’s mouth falls open. “You are not trying to propose right now.”
“I—”
“Oh my god,” He says, pointing, “You were going to take advantage of my distraction.”
“We know the answer. Let’s just—”
“I don’t fucking think so,” Alex says, moving in and covering Henry’s mouth with his hand. He looks at him with wide eyes. “You deserve a romantic proposal that you want to tell everyone about. That we can annoy our friends and family and potential future children with. I will not put a ring on your ringer without proposing properly.”
Henry smiles beneath his hand, reaching up to gently pull it away. “I’m not waiting until dinner, now,” He says, softly. “Now that I know the answer. I,” he looks down, rolling the box in his hand. “I want to make it official. Besides,” He glances back up from beneath his lashes, smirking at Alex. “This is quite the story on its own.”
Alex stares at him for a beat, before sighing. “It is a hell of a story,” he admits. “But I do want to propose to you.”
“And I want to propose to you.”
“So, what?” Alex asks, shrugging. “We just don’t get engaged?”
Henry shakes his head. “Absolutely not,” he says. “That is not an option.”
Alex watches him. Henry can see the cogs turning in his head. “Fuck,” he groans with a roll of his eyes. He takes a step back and sighs. “On your knee, Wales.” Henry drops to a knee before he can change his mind; hesitating only when Alex falls to his own knee in front of him. “We do this together,” Alex says to him. “I say a thing, you say a thing, then I say a thing. We propose at the same time.”
Slowly, Henry grins. “I love how smart you are,” He says.
“I know,” Alex huffs. “Wait your fucking turn.”
Henry laughs. “Fair enough.”
The cool confidence seems to slip away as Alex fiddles with his ring box. He flips it over and over in his hand, before glancing up at Henry from beneath his lashes. “I love you,” he says. Henry feels himself smile, and then Alex raising his eyebrows and motions for him to speak.
“Oh,” Henry breathes, shuffling on the floor. “I suppose I should say I love you, too.”
“Are you going to copy my whole proposal or . . .” Alex grins at him as Henry’s mouth falls open in faux outrage.
“Keep it up,” Henry chirps. “See if I let you propose at all.”
Alex narrows his eyes dangerously. “As if you could walk out of this room without a ring on that finger.”
“Try me, darling.”
Alex’s tongue darts out to touch the corner of his mouth, his head shifting left to right as a smile starts to curve the corners of his lips. “Oh, baby,” He says, voice low. “I love when you play dirty.”
A breath hisses out between Henry’s teeth at baby . “Careful,” He murmurs.
Alex stares at him a moment longer, breathing slow, calculated breaths. “Fuck,” he says, eventually. “Stop being so hot.”
Henry smirks. “What’s wrong, darling?” He asks. “Distracted?”
“Say your line,” Alex hisses, flushed and shaking his ring box at Henry. “Before I force this ring on your finger and drag your ass upstairs.”
Henry looks down at Alex’s free hand. “What if I just ask?” He murmurs, glancing back up. “What if I just ask the question?” He reaches out and grabs Alex’s hand, the ring boxes crashing against each other in their palms. “What if—I know how much you love me, and you know how much I love you, what if we just.”
“Forgo the speech?”
“Our lives are the speech,” Henry says, shrugging. “Every moment that led here, is what I want to say. I’m grateful that I found you. That you’ve given me the strength to find the freedom I never thought I’d be able to grasp—”
“You’re doing the speech, Henry.” Alex says, grinning, his eyes gleaming. “If you’re doing the speech, I’m doing the speech, too.”
Henry shakes his head. “No speeches,” He says, soft. “Do you know what you mean to me?”
Alex’s smile softens. “I’m fairly certain it’s what you mean to me.”
“Tell me.”
“Everything?” Alex breathes. “That’s what you mean to me. You’re—Fuck, I’m not as good with my words as you are. But you’re the sun and the stars and the fucking air I breathe.”
Henry nods. “You’re the beating drum of my heart.”
Alex’s smile falls. “See?” He says, huffing. “Words.”
Henry squeezes his hand and leans in. “Darling, I don’t need you to wax poetic. I just need you to know that I love you.”
“Well, I need you to know that I love you more.”
Henry rolls his eyes; feels something wet dip over his cheek, and realizes that he’s crying a little. “You’re going to be competitive about this, too?”
“Always, baby.” Alex’s grin is back, cheeky, his own eyes glassy. “It’s important to me that you know you’re loved. Desperately. Deeply.”
Henry takes in a shuddering breath, stroking his thumb over the back of Alex’s hand. “I do,” he says, softly. “There’s not a day that goes by that I doubt your love for me.”
“Same,” Alex replies. “You said, earlier, that you wanted to make sure I feel cherished, but,” he shrugs, “I already do. Every day. You make me feel so fucking loved, Henry. I know I’m cherished. I feel it every time you hold me.”
Henry laughs, the sound wet, his chin trembling. “Okay, so I think,” He says, swallowing thickly. “This is the part where we ask.”
“Yeah?”
Henry nods. “Yes.”
“Same time?”
Henry rolls his lips and looks down at their hands, before nodding again and looking up. Alex is blurry beneath the tears in Henry’s eyes. He lets go with the hand not holding the ring and reaches up to stroke his thumb over Alex’s cheek, catching an errant tear as it slips over his lashes. “Same time,” he murmurs.
Both of their gazes drop down to the ring boxes, and then they’re both fiddling with the lid, trembling fingers struggling to pop them open, until two rings are glinting beneath the fluorescent living room lights. Henry’s breath catches at the sight of the simple gold band; and he barely manages to catch the sound of Alex’s inhale when he sees his own silver band.
They look back up at the same time.
And together, they chorus, “Will you marry me?”
Childlike laughter as they both nod, yes’s on their lips, heavy in the air between them. And then, clumsily, at the same time, they reach out and slide the rings on their respective fingers.
Awestruck laughter bubbles up out of Henry’s chest as he gazes down at their hands.
It’s not how he imagined the night to go, but as he tears his gaze away from their hands and looks up to find Alex’s gaze already on him, eyes alight with the possibilities of the future, Henry doesn’t find that he minds.
All that matters is they found themselves here.
“I love you,” Henry murmurs, voice thick with emotion.
Alex reaches up and grabs the back of his head, pulling him in and pressing their foreheads together. They close their eyes at the same time and inhale.
“I love you, too,” Alex says into the negative space between them. “Forever, baby.”
Henry nods against him. “Forever.”