Take Me | Rydon

xvii.

"I just wasn't expecting anything," Ryan says quietly with a shrug of his shoulder. "I mean, I got you something also, but I wasn't sure if you even liked Valentine's Day and -"

"I wasn't sure if you liked it either," Brendon laughed and Ryan smiled at him. Ryan motioned for Brendon to come over with his finger, and Brendon eagerly made his way to Ryan. Ryan wrapped Brendon in his arms and kissed his temple. "I love you."

"I love you too." Brendon pulled back and kissed Ryan softly. "So when do we exchange gifts? Before or after dinner?"

Ryan laughed and pecked Brendon's lips again and removing his arms.

"After. Maybe during dessert," Ryan says, now heading for the fridge. "What'd you make anyway?" He opens the fridge and Brendon smiles when he hears "oooh," from Ryan.

"It's nothing special, but the brownies are homemade. Not the box kind."

"The box kind would have been good too," Ryan says, and he picks up a strawberry from the tray and walks over to Brendon with it. "Here."

"Hey, those are for after dinner." Brendon frowns but opens his mouth anyway. Ryan slowly puts the strawberry in Brendon's mouth and Brendon bites down on it. Ryan pulls it away and finishes it. He tosses the end of it toward the sink, but misses, and he puts a hand on the side of Brendon's neck and the other on his cheek, and he leans in.

"I'd rather have you after dinner," Ryan says, his voice low all of a sudden, and Brendon shivers. His hands are gripping the sides of Ryan's shirt.  "but if you want the strawberries, then that's fine."

Ryan pulls away and heads out of the kitchen.

"Jerk!" Brendon laughs, and Ryan smiles as he makes his way to the bedroom.

-

"I could eat all of this right now and I wouldn't even care if I got fat," Ryan says, shoving more of the pot roast in his mouth. Brendon's staring at him, an amused grin on his face. "So good."

"Don't eat so fast, you're gonna get too full and you won't feel good."

"I'll be fine," Ryan says, but he listens to Brendon anyway.

After dinner, Ryan helps Brendon with the dishes and they bring the dessert tray into the living room and set it on the coffee table.

Brendon runs back into the kitchen to get Ryan's gift.

When he comes back into the living room, he stops in his tracks, frozen to the spot, his heart pounding and his breathing becoming erratic.

Ryan's on one knee, a little white box in his hand with the top open, and there's a shiny silver band in the slot.

"What -"

"Come here," Ryan interrupts, and Brendon forces himself to move. He's clutching onto the gift bag and card, and Ryan takes it from him and set it down beside him on the floor. Ryan then takes Brendon's left hand in his and kisses the top of it. "This honestly isn't how I imagined this would happen, but I knew you wouldn't be expecting it so I figured it'd be perfect."

Brendon's cheeks are wet and his vision is blurred. He brings his free hand up to wipe his eyes and he covers his mouth.

"I'm not really sure if you're ready for this at all because you're so young, and I'm about to be twenty-eight so it'd kind of make sense for me to wanna settle down, but I don't wanna marry anyone else but you." The tears keep spilling from Brendon's eyes and he feels ugly right now, standing here in front of Ryan and crying like a little kid. "And even if you don't wanna get married, that's fine too, but I'd like to be able to call you my husband someday. We could have a long engagement if you're not ready right now."