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“Shift up.”
“But I’m comfy.” Alex whined as he looked up at his husband from his position sprawled across the sofa, a bottle of beer held in a loose grip, the base resting on his stomach. “And you hate football.”
“I know, but I love you and I would like some cuddle time.” Alex rolled his eyes but allowed a goofy smile to settle on his lips as he heaved himself up into a sitting position and waited for Greg to slide in behind him. He shifted a little to allow for one ridiculously long leg to slide along the outside of his own, pressed between the overstuffed back of the sofa and the fluffy material of Alex’s pyjama bottoms. Within seconds Alex found himself now sprawled between his husband’s legs, his back pressed against Greg’s chest and stomach, and the back of his head now resting against Greg’s shoulder.
“Comfy?”
“With you in my arms, always.” Greg stated, pressing his lips to Alex’s temple and sliding an arm around his waist, thick fingers worming their way under the bright green fluffy pyjama top that his husband was wearing to settle on his hairy stomach. “You’re all warm.”
“I’m super cosy, these pyjamas are great. I’ll have to thank your mum when I next see her, and find out where she got them from.” Greg smiled and pressed another kiss to the side of Alex’s head and contented himself with enjoying the feel of his husband’s weight against his body and his freshly showered scent in his nostrils.
“You doing okay?” Greg didn’t register the question for a few moments, getting lost in the presence of his husband, mesmerised by the feel of the coarse hairs under his fingertips, in juxtaposition with the softness of the skin underneath. “Greg?”
“All good baby boy. Just enjoying you whilst you enjoy watching Liverpool United play… erm… the blue team.” Alex snorted and rolled his eyes, knowing that Greg mispronounced their name on purpose every time, ever since Alex had mentioned Liverpool were his team when him and Greg had first met; and also that Greg had very limited football knowledge so ‘the blue team’ was as good as Alex was going to get.
“They’re playing Chelsea, also known as the blue team. They’re also getting beat and there isn’t long left of this half.” Alex explained, trying to bring his clueless husband into the game, but knew he was wasting his breath. “Sure there’s nothing on your mind? You’ve been quiet for the last few days, ever since ‘the big reveal’. Is it something to do with that? About people finding out we’re married?” Greg sighed and Alex felt like he was laid upon a deflating balloon, feeling himself sink deeper by a couple of inches, and the hand on his stomach paused its maddening rhythm to press into the extra flesh around his middle.
“Yes and no.”
“How very forthcoming.” Alex snarked but with no heat behind his words, calming the nervous quells that threatened to start an uprising in his stomach. “Talk to me.”
“I want more.” Alex frowned as he wondered what more he could give his husband apart from the last twelve years of his life, ten of them as his husband.
“More? As in… more from me? More from our marriage?…. Or are you talking about… someone else?” A lead weight settled in the pit of his stomach as the words tumbled out of his mouth but he was pleased when Greg stiffened behind him, the fingers on his stomach pressing a little harder.
“Don’t ever say that! You’re the only man… the only person I ever want in my life. I promised you forever, and that’s what you’re getting mister!” Greg stated, jostling their moulded bodies before settling his head over Alex’s shoulder until they were bristly cheek to bristly cheek. “I want more from me, to you, to our marriage. You deserve the world putting up with ten years of being a secret, but I want to show you that I was serious. I want everyone to know that I belong to you. I was thinking about a tattoo- what do you think?” Alex’s honking laugh broke the seriousness of the conversation, and the giggles accompanying it grew stronger as Greg shifted more to look into his eyes, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh you’re serious. Greg no, you do not need to get a tattoo to prove yourself in this marriage. You don’t have anything to make up for. We decided we shouldn’t reveal our marriage in the beginning, we did that not just you, it just went on longer than I anticipated.” Greg sighed and settled back behind Alex, tugging the younger man closer until they were once more pressed against each other, his hand resuming the soft caresses on his stomach.
“I feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. I feel like I should be doing more to show that we’re married. That I have always belonged to you.” Alex sighed and stretched out his arm, placing his mostly empty bottle of beer on the coffee table before sitting himself up and turning around to face his husband.
“What’s this really about Greg? Because you don’t want a tattoo any more than I want you to get one. And you have always belonged to me whether everyone in the world knew it or not. Do you want to know when I knew you belonged to me?” Greg smirked and raised an eyebrow, dirty thoughts of their first few nights in bed together in Edinburgh racing through his mind, and Alex knew exactly what he was thinking of.
“Oh I know….” Greg waggled his eyebrows before giving his husband a wink.
“Get your brain out of the gutter.” Alex snorted, two spots of colour settling on his cheeks as he two remembered the early days of not being able to get enough of each other. “It wasn’t any of the times we slept together. It wasn’t even during a passionate moment. It was the first time I stayed at your flat after Edinburgh. You were stood in the kitchen making breakfast and as I entered you turned and smiled at me and I knew then that there wouldn’t ever be anyone else for me.” Greg grinned and then cast his mind back to that morning nearly thirteen years ago.
-**-
From the first moment he had drifted into consciousness he felt two things: the first was the solid body of the man currently laid naked in his arms, his back pressed against Greg’s chest and stomach, his peachy arse nestled into his more than interested groin. The second was a sense of rightness: how right it felt to share an evening with him and then curl up in bed together, and how right it felt to wake up with Alex in his arms.
He’d pressed a soft kiss to Alex’s bare shoulder before sliding out of bed carefully, intent on making Alex breakfast. He slipped into the pyjama bottoms that Alex divested him of the previous night and padded softly out of the room, plucking the t-shirt that was laid across the chair by the door and sliding it on as he walked through the flat towards the kitchen.
He flicked the kettle on and then scrubbed a hand through his hair, the blonde grey strands sticking up in all directions. He then rasped at the overnight stubble on his chin as he opened the fridge, plucking out the milk and setting it on the counter before looking at the remaining contents to see what he could make for breakfast for the man still asleep in his bed.
Deciding on egg, sausage, and bacon, Greg pulled them from the fridge and set them on the counter and as he began to lay sausages on the oven tray he heard footsteps behind him and couldn’t help but smile. The grin continued when he turned to see Alex stood in the doorway to the kitchen, wearing pink and green boxers and an oversized white t-shirt that Greg realised was his. And Greg knew instantly that he wanted this every day, he wanted to wake up to this man every day, he wanted to make him breakfast every day just to see the soft goofy smile on his ridiculously handsome face.
-**-
“Are you listening to me?” Greg was brought back to the present by the curious tone of his husband who watching him with inquisitive eyes. “Where did you drift off to?”
“I was remembering that morning. The first morning in my flat when I cooked you breakfast and we spent the day together. I remember thinking that I wanted that every day, I wanted every day with you.” Alex grinned before leaning forward and pressing his lips softly to his husband’s, enjoying the taste of the cinnamon and sugar that clung to them from the dessert they’d had after dinner.
“Glad to see it wasn’t just me.” Alex chuckled against his husband’s lips, pressing another kiss to them before sitting back down. “Honestly though, please don’t be worrying about ‘making it up to me’. You haven’t done anything wrong. Let’s just continue together as we always have, just a little more out in the open.”
“So no tattoos declaring myself property of Alex Horne?” Alex’s eyes lit up with mischief before a naughty smirk settled on his lips.
“Well now I didn’t say that. Maybe I could get onboard with that type of tattoo.” Greg once more raised an eyebrow at his husband before tutting and rolling his eyes.
“Perv.”
“Only for you big guy.” Alex grinned and stood up from the sofa, picking up his near empty bottle and finishing it in one quick mouthful. “Want anything whilst I’m up?”
“No thanks. Hurry back, I’m cold now you’ve moved your fluffy body.” Alex’s honking laugh filtered through the ground floor of the house as he headed to the kitchen to retrieve another bottle of beer.
“One fluffy body back for snuggling.” Alex giggled as he re-entered the living room, laying himself back on the sofa and back into Greg’s arms, humming contentedly when Greg wrapped an arm around his waist once more, under his top and back onto his stomach.
Fifteen minutes passed in peaceful existence for the pair; Alex muttering to himself about the action on the television whilst Greg watched over the top of his head, registering just enough to see what Alex was annoyed with but more content to just hold his husband in his arms.
“What about a wedding ring?” The bottle of beer paused in its motion, the rim resting on Alex’s bottom lip. Greg waited to see what he would say, what comment he would make but found his husband strangely silent, bottle still poised but no movement occurring. “Have I broken you?”
“A wedding ring? For you?” Short monotone questions. He’d definitely broken his husband.
“Yes a wedding ring for me. You wear one, you’ve always worn one. I don’t think it would be too much of a sacrifice for me to wear one also.” Greg’s free hand slid down Alex’s left arm where it lay on his knee, thick blunt fingers brushing across the warm gold that sat on his third finger as he thought back to sliding that ring onto there all those years ago.
-**-
Greg found he had never felt more nervous but also more calm in his entire life as he stood in front of a handful of people close to him, declaring his love for the amazingly ridiculous man in front of him.
“Are you sure this is what you want? That I’m what you want? Forever?” Greg whispered softly, stood facing Alex at the front of the registry office marriage room, the pair of them wearing suits and, because their mothers had insisted, boutonnières.
“A thousand times yes.” Alex whispered in reply but Greg could see the tremor in his hand as he brushed his fingers across his bushy beard, the auburn hair neatly trimmed but still thick. “Are you sure? I know I’m a lot sometimes.”
“Don’t you dare!” Greg scolded softly, fingers reaching out and capturing Alex’s hand in his, brushing his thumb across Alex’s slim pale knuckles. “You’re amazing and I am more than sure, and very proud, to be about to pledge the rest of my life to you. I love you baby boy.” Alex beamed a grin in Greg’s direction that not only lit up his face but also set Greg’s insides aflame with love and affection and tenderness- all things he didn’t think he would ever find.
“… I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. All that I am I give to you, all that I have I share with you. I promise to be faithful and loyal, to respect and cherish you. Throughout our lives together.” Greg finished his vows and slid the gold band onto Alex’s finger, feeling his stomach flip at the image that this man was now his husband and now wore a very visible symbol of their marriage. He found that he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the gold band on Alex’s finger, mesmerised by the way it settled on his flesh looking so natural and right. “I love you.” Greg murmured softly, so soft that no one but Alex caught it, and the grin he gave Greg made it all worth it.
-**-
“I love you baby boy.”
“You said that on our wedding day.” Alex murmured, nestling himself back further into the broad expanse of his husband’s body. “You even worked it into the show, along with ‘sweet young prince.’ I love that people don’t realise the significance of some of the names you call me.” Greg pressed a kiss to the top of Alex’s head, the hair tickling his nose as the scent of Alex filled his nostrils.
“When did I first call you sweet young prince?” Greg questioned, trying to recall when he had first used that nickname for his husband.
“The night we met. I think you used it as a chat up line. I was standing at the bar and you slid in behind me and because you’re taller you got served before me.” Alex chuckled, taking a drink from his beer. “I turned to see who had been served before me and you just smirked and said ‘where you next my sweet young prince? How about I buy you a drink as an apology?’ Not gonna lie, it clearly worked because two hours later you had your tongue in my mouth and my hand in your pants.”
“You took advantage of my highly impressionable state and then left me to go and perform.” Alex snorted and Greg couldn’t help but join in, knowing that there was an instant spark between them when they had first met at that bar in Edinburgh. They’d both had shows; Greg with his stand up whilst Alex had been doing Horne Section shows as well as stand up. That first night they’d gone back to Greg’s dingy bed and breakfast because Alex was sharing a house with the band plus Tim, for the first week of the festival, and then just Tim for the rest of the festival- with Greg spending a lot of time there also.
“You were far from impressionable. You had your tongue down my throat within two hours then you came to see my show and then all but dragged me back to your hotel room for the rest of the night.” Greg laughed and hugged Alex tighter to him before bringing his lips down to his ear and dragging his bottom lip across the sensitive cartilage outer rim.
“You were incredibly handsome and ridiculously cute, although I do believe you became less cute when I walked with a limp the next morning.” Greg nibbled at the soft shell of Alex’s ear before allowing his tongue to snake out and brush his earlobe, the entire ear darkening at the touch.
“You used to love it when I gave you a limp. I think we’re both a bit old for that now though.” Alex chuckled, tilting his head and shivering lightly when he felt Greg’s bearded lips press against the sensitive side of his neck. “Although I’m sure I could be persuaded.”
“I’m fifty-seven. You’re more likely to break my hip if we go at it like we did all those years ago. And anyway, stop distracting me with your deliciously fluffy self. Wedding ring…. Me…. Purchase of….?”
“Yes.” Alex murmured softly. “But I want us to do it properly. If you’re getting a wedding ring then I put it on you and I say the words I didn’t get to say all those years ago when you didn’t want to wear one. Agreed?”
“Nope. How about you marry me again and this time we do it properly. With family and friends and a big party and you can say the words you want to say when you slide that gold band onto my finger. And I can show the world that I am married to the most amazing man. Agreed?”
“Agreed.” Alex turned in Greg’s arms and pressed their lips together, hands sliding up to cradle Greg’s cheeks. “Well if we’re doing this again, I guess it’s my turn.” Alex pressed another kiss to Greg’s lips before sliding himself off the sofa and onto the floor and onto one knee.
“Smooth.” Greg stated with a smile and the grin Alex gave him was blinding. He placed his beer onto the table and then took hold of Greg’s left hand.
“Gregory Daniel Horne-Davies.” This time it was Greg’s turn to snort. “Will you do me the honour of marrying me…. Again?”
“Always baby boy.” Alex chuckled before launching himself at Greg, landing back on the older man’s chest and pressing their lips together once more before they snuggled together, Alex’s attention turning back to the football, still wrapped in his husband’s arms while Greg thought back to the evening he proposed to Alex.
-**-
“So I’ve been thinking….” Greg started as he entered the hotel room and shrugged off his coat, the walk and the alcohol from his mother’s birthday party making him warmer than he should be now he was indoors.
“Always dangerous.” Alex grinned as he similarly shed his coat and bobble hat, his cheeks flushed pink from the cold, even though the walk wasn’t too far.
“Ha bloody ha.” Greg stated, relieving Alex of his coat and hat and hanging them up beside his own before turning to his boyfriend however all the words left his brain as he watched Alex remove his boots and unbutton his shirt, revealing the white vest underneath. As he watched Alex lay his shirt over the chair in the corner he brought his hands to his own shirt to do the same but the paused when his brain suddenly came back online and all he could think about was the future and how that would look for him, and for Alex.
“You okay? You didn’t have that much to drink. Want me to grab you a bottle of water?” Greg shook his head and ran a hand across his face, scratching lightly at the light end of day stubble coating his chin. “Greg?”
“Sorry love, I zoned out a bit there. Suddenly had a lot on my mind.” Greg unbuttoned his shirt and laid it next to Alex’s and unbuttoned his jeans, pushing them down his long legs and before folding them and laying them on the chair. “Do you want your pyjamas or are you just gonna sleep in your boxers and vest?” Greg reached into their small case and pulled out Alex’s pyjamas, holding them in his hand whilst the younger man made a decision.
“Can naked be an option?” Greg crossed the room and reached out to pull Alex close, delighting in the feel of his body.
“Naked is very much an option. However as much as I would like to get hard, I don’t think it’s going to happen tonight.” Alex grinned and pressed a soft kiss to Greg’s lips, large hands sliding down his bare chest and pausing at the waistband of his briefs.
“I don’t think I’m up to anything either but I would really like to cuddle up in your arms if that’s on offer?” Greg pressed his lips to Alex’s whilst his thick fingers unbuttoned his jeans, pushing them to the floor and smiling when he stepped out of them.
“Baby boy get naked and get into bed.” Greg left him to undress whilst he brushed his teeth in the tiny bathroom, relieved himself and then pulled two bottles of water from the small fridge. He climbed into bed and switched off his lamp, leaving Alex’s on and waited for the younger man to also use the bathroom.
“Chubby icicle on its way.” Alex stated as he dashed from the bathroom, around the bed and the under the duvet, scuttling back until he was pressed tight against Greg’s equally naked body.
“You’re perfect. Don’t talk about yourself like that.” Alex shivered in light of continuing the conversation before wrapping his arms around the arms wrapped around his body. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Marry me.” Alex stiffened in his arms as Greg’s words registered.
“What? Marry you? Are you serious?” Greg pressed himself closer, tightening his arms and pressing his lips to the hair shoulder in front of his.
“I’ve never been more serious about anything. Watching you today with my mum, watching how you slipped comfortably into being with my family tonight. Walking back through Wem and showing you my hometown. Just being with you, enjoying life with you. I don’t want to do this with anyone else- I want to be your husband and it’s legal now. We can marry just like everyone else. So what do you say? Alex Horne, will you marry me?”
“Yes. You know I’ll marry you.”
“I don’t think you could make me happier than you have right now.” Greg murmured into Alex’s ear, lips brushing against the soft skin.
“Let’s see if you’re still as happy ten years from now.” Alex snorted, burrowing himself deeper into Greg’s arms and Greg closed his eyes, tucking his face into the back of Alex’s neck and allowing himself to dream about a future with Alex as his husband.
-**-
“When I asked you to marry me all those years ago, you joked that I wouldn’t be as happy ten years from now. Ten years later and we’re planning a second wedding and I’m happier than I’ve ever been. I’ll ask you again in another ten years.” Greg stated, pressing his lips to the greying fluff atop his husband’s head with a smile.