Work Text:
August 2025
Smitty
“I can't wait to see their faces,” John said whimsically as he fingered the sterling silver chain around Smitty’s neck. The engagement ring hung from it, coming to rest over his heart. It would be strung up whenever they went out with friends. Like today.
It wasn't as if they were actively hiding it. John's ring was just sitting on his finger, for anyone to see, and yet, no one seemed to have noticed the vastly different style of ring.
They were in the car, having just pulled up in front of Matt’s place. The summer sun was out and beating down unsympathetically. Smitty had the AC turned up to the max as soon as they'd got in the car.
“They’re gonna freak.”
John met his eyes suddenly with his mouth open. “Someone might have a heart attack.”
Smitty shook his head, smiling a little. “Don’t say that.”
John turned to face the windscreen and drummed his fingers thoughtfully on his chin. “It’ll be either Pezzy or Eli.”
Smitty reached out to take his hand away from his face, bringing both their hands to rest on John’s lap. “John.”
He squeezed his hand as John laughed a little. “I’m kidding,” he said, and Smitty prematurely thought that was the end of the joke. "It would totally be Pezzy.” Smitty continued to stare deadpan at him, catching the quick side glance that John sent him.
The sight of it had Smitty breaking and they both erupted into a fit of giggles.
“I agree, though; it would be Pezzy,” Smitty agreed, much to John's delight. He slapped John's thigh as a way of kicking them into gear. “C’mon.”
John puckered his lips like a fish, eyes closed, and said, “Gimme a kiss first.”
Smitty half-rolled his eyes, grabbing John's chin with his index finger and thumb, and pulled him closer.
\ꕥ/
Tyler and Matt were busy at the grill when Smitty stepped through the patio doors; John had darted off to the bathroom as soon as they’d arrived. Matt’s black apron read ‘I love to rub my meat’ in a white font, ‘love’ replaced with a heart-shaped icon, and Tyler’s was a man’s chiselled torso.
A little ways away from the grill sat a long wooden garden table at the edge of the patio. Three extra chairs sat around it, amongst the six matching ones - one camping chair and two fold-outs. Across the top was a spread of various salads, sides and tableware. Smitty's stomach rumbled at the sight of it.
The rest of the group were scattered around the garden. Grizzy, Puffer and Eli bobbed idly in the water, half a dozen beer bottles sat on the side of the pool. Droid and Pezzy were sitting on one of the sun loungers. Pezzy sat further up the chair, one leg hitched up, hugged close to his chest, while Droid sat beside him. They were close, unusually close, muttering to one another like there was no one else around.
Smitty did a double take, watching them for only a moment before realising he was reading too far into it. Maybe the sun was getting to him.
At the sight of him approaching, Tyler raised his arm, spatula in hand, waving it at him. “Smitty, man! What’s up?”
Smitty smiled placidly. “I’m good.”
“Did you leave John at home?” Tyler asked, his attention going back to the burger he was preparing to flip for a second before looking somewhere over Smitty's shoulder, searching for the man in question.
“He's inside.”
“Beer?” Matt used the tongs to gesture vaguely towards a cooler sat beneath the patio table.
Smitty squinted at the cooler, like he could somehow see through the plastic, adjusting the bag on his shoulder. “You got any zero-percents?”
“Yes, sir.” Matt led him over to the cooler, shoving the tongs under his arm and reaching inside. He handed him a bottle covered in droplets of condensation. “Here.”
“Thanks.”
Matt leaned in closer, muttering, “You still planning on telling them today?”
“Yeah.”
Matt smiled happily, and patted his shoulder. “Good on you, man.” He remained the only person who knew about their engagement.
Smitty left the two of them to grilling and sat on one of the other loungers, letting his bag slide from his shoulder. There was a small table between his and the one Droid and Pezzy shared that he set his drink on. It clinked against the glass top but neither of his friends acknowledge him.
“Droid, Pezzy. You guys good?”
“Oh, hey, man!” Droid greeted, albeit his energy seemed forced, at the same time that Pezzy said, “We're fine.”
“Alright," he conceded, though he didn't quite believe Pezzy.
John came through the doors then, and it was like one of those cheesy reveals from a movie, when the main character enters the party, dressed to the nines to appeal to the love interest, who looks on in adoration, immediately falling in love with them. Except John wasn’t in some gorgeous dress, and Smitty was already very much in love with him. John took one step out of the bifold doors, hands fisted on his shorts, as he looked out over the garden. The buttons of his billowy shirt undone and flapping about in the slight breeze.
Smitty’s breath caught in his throat. Fuck, he looks good. A flash of heat rushed through him, that he would blame on the sun if anyone asked why he was flushing furiously. He took a sip of beer to cool down.
“This is a sausage party, if I ever saw one,” John announced with a grin.
“You wish!”
He hopped down the few steps to the patio, heading in Smitty's direction. “Oh, I do, Nelson. I do.”
John didn't sit beside him once he'd come up to him, instead nudging Smitty's knees apart with his own and standing between them. John held his shoulders whilst Smitty gripped his hips, dipping his thumbs beneath the elastic waistband of John's trunks.
Smitty decided to try out something new.
“Hey, baby.”
John gasped, letting go of one hand clutching the chain around his neck, the gold band around his ring finger catching the sunlight and shining momentarily into Smitty's eyes. “Are we finally using endearments outside of sex?”
Smitty shrugged a shoulder. “I feel it makes sense.” And looked up at John with a knowing smile, which was mirrored enthusiastically. Smitty slid his hands to John’s thighs, just above his knees and below his trunks, squeezing the muscle there.
“You look so fucking good right now,” he shamelessly told him, suppressing the urge to press his mouth to John’s exposed stomach.
“I know. I do it just for you, baby.” Despite the heat, a chill ran down Smitty's spine. He liked the way it made him feel. Neither of them had ever found the use of endearments all that appealing, borderline cringey, but it was definitely beginning to grow on him.
“You need sunscreen?” Smitty asked, letting go of him to fish out the bottle from his bag.
“Yeah, my shoulders mainly.”
John slipped off his shirt and dropped it on Smitty's head, who huffed with faux irritation before pulling it off. He popped the cap open and squirted some of the stuff onto his palm, wiping some on his other hand for an even spread. John stepped backwards as Smitty stood up, reaching out for the other's shoulders.
\ꕥ/
They spent some time in the pool once Smitty had rubbed in the last of the sunscreen, and he'd taken the chain off from around his neck, leaving it safely in his bag. One, he didn't want the chain to rust; and two, his friends would see the ring immediately.
Once in the pool, John set about splashing everyone, kicking the water with his feet in the direction of the others. It quickly devolved into a battle. At one point, Puffer had Eli under the water just long enough for Smitty to worry, until a few seconds later and Eli was grinning, water droplets clinging to his eyelashes and ends of his hair. Grizzy also managed to dunk John beneath the surface as payback.
It lasted a good ten minutes.
The five of them stood in a kind of circle in one corner of the pool, the furthest one from where Droid and Pezzy remained on the lounger. Although, now, it didn't even look like they were speaking, just staring at one another and occasionally… smiling.
Smitty knew that smile. He'd seen it countless times from John, and from himself, too.
Water dripped from Smitty's sodden hair down his forehead and onto his shoulders before falling back into the pool again. He lifted his hand to wipe it across his face, which John seemingly took as an opportunity to sidle up behind him, wrapping his arms around Smitty's stomach and planting his chin on his shoulders.
Smitty tipped his head forwards, in the general direction of their two friends. “What's with those two?”
“Not a clue.” Puffer shrugged, and so did Grizzy.
Eli looked back at them before muttering, “They've barely said a word since they got here.”
Smitty frowned. “They came together?”
“I bet they do,” John muttered, mostly into Smitty's ear, but the others heard and chuckled. But it confirmed one thing: that it wasn't just him that had noticed the unusual tension between their two friends.
“They did, yeah.” Grizzy answered. “Fuck knows what's wrong with them.”
Eventually, Droid and Pezzy joined them, and Smitty watched as they came down the pool steps. Pezzy gripped Droid's forearm like he was worried he would slip. But instead, Droid did, just a little, catching himself on the side of the pool as well as Pezzy hoisting him back up. At least, they were smiling about it.
“You guys alright?” Smitty asked as they drew closer.
Pezzy smiled innocently at the group. “Yep.”
“Fantastic,” was Droid's response as he let go of Pezzy's arm.
And that seemed to satisfy everyone else, the conversation shifting, however Smitty remained sceptical.
\ꕥ/
“Grub's up, boys!”
Everyone waded out of the pool, half-heartedly drying themselves off, before sitting at the table. Smitty sat with John on his left and Grizzy to his right. They dug in immediately. A flurry of hands and bowls and plates.
Smitty was spooning potato salad onto his plate when John asked, “Smitty, the love of my life, apple of my eye, could you pass me a roll?”
Smitty did as he asked, diligently.
“Thanks, babe.”
“No problem, babe.”
“Is the honeymoon phase supposed to last this long?” Pezzy asked the table.
“Fuck you. You're just jealous,” John snapped back with no real anger in his voice. Smitty noticed Pezzy as he shot a sparing glance towards Droid. Smitty was this close to just outright asking why they were being so fucking strange.
“Am not!” Pezzy shot back.
“Are too!” John continued childishly.
Smitty placed a pacifying hand on John's forearm. “Okay, okay, children, that's quite enough of that.”
“Yeah,” Eli began, tipping his beer bottle forward a little, actually answering Pezzy's question. “Pretty sure it's marriage and then the honeymoon phase.”
“Clearly, these shits are anomalies. Marriage is too good for them,” Grizzy chimed in, biting into his burger. Some of the contents fell out of the other end, splatting onto his plate.
Smitty waved his hands in front of his face. “Woah, woah, woah. Who said we'd never get married?”
Grizzy shrugged. “Doesn't seem like your thing.”
John clicked his tongue. “Well, that's where you're wrong, bucko.”
Silence fell over the table. Smitty stared at a bowl of potato salad for a few seconds. He didn't know how to say it. It was such a simple thing to say - We're engaged! But instead, Smitty left the table to grab the ring from his bag. He slid it from the chain and slipped it onto his finger as he went back to the table.
His friends all stared, mouths agape, when Smitty and John wiggled their fingers at them, presenting the matching rings. Except Matt’s, who wore an extremely amused grin.
The silence lingered for a moment longer before something seemed to snap in each of them all at once.
“No shot-”
“No fucking way.”
“Are you serious?”
“Dude, what!?”
“Did you know about this?” Puffer asked Matt, being the only one to notice his lack of reaction.
Matt tipped his head forward and smiled knowingly. “Yep.”
Everyone took turns looking between Smitty and John, then at Matt, until Tyler asked, “Was this secretly an engagement party?”
Matt held his hands up in defense. “It wasn't, I swear.”
“Seriously, though, congrats. That's so awesome,” said Grizzy, wrapping an arm around Smitty's shoulders and pulling him into his side.
What followed was a layered chorus of ‘Congratulations’, ‘I'm so happy for you two’ and long embraces from each of their friends. They both showed off their rings, despite them being the exact same. Droid squealed a little as he inspected them.
“Fuck you, no, I'm not,” Smitty jested when Tyler pointed out that his eyes had misted up, tears on the verge of sliding down his cheeks. Smitty wiped at them and laughed. Man, he loved his stupid fucking friends.
“So,” Eli began once they had all sat back down at the table. “Who's wearing the dress?”