Frost & Flames | Soulmate AU 2 |

Twenty-Eight

Waking up early to bring Bella to school in the morning is difficult considering how much sleep Rowan and I got last night, but the grin on Bella's face more than makes up for it. She's still small enough that Rowan and I can pick up by either hand and swing her between us, which she enjoys to no end. Her teacher is a little flustered as she always is during drop off, but she welcomes the three of as warmly as she normally does.

Rowan and I slink back into bed once we get back to the tower. Max is picking Bella up later on this evening so that Rowan and I don't have to hurry around before the game.

Thomas offered to get us tickets in a private box, or some other fancy club, but I waved him off, requesting seats at the glass. He had snorted over the phone, bemused, and agreed, promising he'd take care of it. I'd been to a few NHL games before, but the best I could ever afford were seats up in the nosebleeds. The game tonight is going to be a completely different world.

"Lake?" Rowan says from beside me. He's buried under our big cotton comforter, the one that we pull out once the weather starts to warm up because it's light and thin. I shuffle a bit, turning onto my side to look at him.

"Yeah?"

He pulls the blanket back enough to see his face.

"We gotta buy rings," he says seriously.

I snort, rolling onto my back so I can initiate an intense stretch. My spine cracks in multiple places, and I relax, going boneless in satisfaction. Most men don't wear engagement rings, but a lot of Bonded gay male couples choose to do so nowadays. It's been a thing long enough for it to be a tradition so, traditionally, those kinds of engagement rings are thin little things, typically without any gems or diamonds. That's right up my ally, to be honest, and it's probably similar to the style my actual wedding band will be.

"We haven't even told anyone yet," I murmur, sighing lightly. "We're probably gonna stay engaged for, like, a year. You know, so I can spend the whole time planning a huge, overly extravagant wedding neither of us want because of pressure from our friends and family, only for us to inevitably veto a majority of it a month before the big day?"

He cracks a smile, shaking his head and covering his head with the comforter once again.

"That sounds like something that would happen," he agrees. "I think I have an idea for what we could get."

"Oh? And what's that?"

He pops his head back out.

"Those traditional thin little metal bands, the ones that almost look like something a teenage girl would wear as an everyday accessory? We get matching ones, but one's red and one's blue," he explains.

"Aw, that'd be cute," I agree. "You'd take the blue, though, right?"

He turns his head to look at me, a grin spreading across his face.

"Of course," he replies. "Gotta give our pendants some credit for bringing us together."

I nod, smiling as I shove my hand under the comforter in search of his hand.

"We should order them," I say. He sits up suddenly, the comforter falling to his lap.

"Yeah? Right now?"

"I mean, if you want," I say softly, shrugging my shoulders and finally grabbing his hand. "We're verbally engaged, or whatever. Rings would be...the next step. If you want to wait, we can, no pressure, it was just a suggestion."

He shushes me, reaching for me and essentially hauling me half into his lap. I stare back up at his face as he brushes some of my hair back, smiling softly.