Nick

All the nerves Nick had felt earlier in the drive over were immediately forgotten as soon as he saw his Charlie. He looked so hot in his suit, Nick just wanted to skip the restaurant and carry him back upstairs to Charlie’s childhood bedroom and strip him out of it so that he could explore the sexy body he knew was hiding underneath. Nick felt that he and Charlie were just two halves of one whole, needing to be close to one another to feel complete.

Now he was in the back of the car with Charlie by his side, any doubts he had about proposing were long gone. Tonight, had to be the night, if he left it any longer he thought he might explode. In Nick’s heart he knew that if he could marry Charlie tomorrow, it wouldn’t be soon enough. He felt like a teenager that had a crush on someone, mentally going through married names in his head as he thought of all the different possibilities.

Mr Nicholas Spring

Mr Charles Nelson

Mr & Mr Nicholas & Charles Nelson-Spring

Mr & Mr Charles & Nicholas Spring-Nelson

It wasn’t something he and Charlie had ever really discussed, but Nick knew he didn’t care if they changed their names or not, or what name they picked if they did choose a change, as long as he could shout out to the world that he was Charlie’s. Just like he had screamed it to the sea back on the beach all those years ago when he shouted out that, ‘He liked Charlie Spring in a romantic way, not just a friend way’. Nick was sure if he was on that beach again now, he’d be shouting to anyone that would listen that, ‘He loved Charlie Spring in every way possible and would go on loving him until the day they died!’

David

The car ride to the restaurant was unusually quiet, he suspected Nick was still nervous about his plans to propose that evening, and Charlie wasn’t the most talkative, at least not around him. But even Olly was quiet tonight which really wasn’t like him at all.

David reached his hand across to squeeze Olly’s knee and asked, “Everything ok Oll?”

“Hmm,” Olly responded not hearing what David had asked.

“I asked if everything was ok, you seem quiet.”

“Yeah, I think I’m just worried I won’t fit in at this fancy restaurant. It must be fancy if we all have to dress up like this.,” he said gesturing to his suit.

“How do you know the restaurant is fancy? Maybe this was just an excuse for me to see your sexy ass in those tight trousers?” David teased.

“Davey, you can’t say that in front of our brothers,” Oliver gasped in mock shock.

David glanced in the rear-view mirror at his brother and future brother-in-law, “Haha, I don’t think they’re paying us any attention Oll.”

Oliver

Oliver hoped David had believed his reason for being distracted. He’d actually been thinking of how he was going to propose. Should he get down on one knee, or sneak the ring into his desert, or maybe just reach across the table, take hold of his hands and ask him. So many possibilities, but none of them felt quite right, none of them felt quite them.

He probably should have considered what he was going to do before this point, but every time he’d tried he got distracted. His thoughts had drifted to what-ifs instead, like What if David said no or that he thought it was to soon, or that Olly was too young to know what he wanted.

And then what if David actually said yes, what would their wedding be like, would David want a big ceremony surrounded by all their friends & family, or would he want something more intimate. Olly would even be happy with just running away and eloping, as long as he could show David just how committed he was to their relationship.

The thought also occurred to him that he didn’t want to steal Nick’s moment, he knew Nick had been waiting such a long time to propose to his brother. He didn’t want either of them thinking that he was just trying to get everyone’s attention on him. It was then that it occurred to him, he knew exactly how he was going to propose to David.

Charlie

Nick seemed distracted in the car, normally he’d be all over Charlie whenever they were this close, but Charlie didn’t mind. It gave him time to try and calm his nerves, he kept tapping his pocket to make sure the box with the ring was still there. He’d had so many bad dreams the last few weeks, dreams where Nick said no and left him, dreams that he’d lost the ring, or it had slipped inside the lining of his jacket.

Once he woke from each of these dreams and saw his beautiful Nicky lying next to him, he knew it was just his brain doing what it always did, showing him the worst possible scenarios to make him feel worthless. His years in therapy had helped him to at least recognise when this was happening now, rather than allowing him to spiral further and further into the bad thoughts. Normally he’d talk to Nick when he was starting to feel like this, but then he’d have to ruin the surprise. Charlie knew that it was just the stress of the unknown that had Charlie in a spin.

Charlie knew, deep down, that Nick wouldn’t leave him; he also knew deep down that it was only a matter of time until the two of them got married. They’d never discussed it but they were already married in all but name. They spent every moment when they weren’t working together, they were always invited to events as Nick & Charlie, as if they were one person rather than two, and everything in their apartment was theirs rather than Nick’s or Charlie’s. He just wished that that knowledge would be enough to quiet the little voice of doubt that sat at the back of his mind.