The Way I Feel Will Remain The Same

Nobody expected Spencer and Alex to last more than a year, even if that. But here they were, five years of being in love, and planning a Christmas party for their entire friend group. Well, Alex was planning a party. Spencer was with Ian and Brendon, trying to pick out the *perfect* ring.

“Spencer, chill out! It’s fine! Alex won't care about the size of the diamond.” Ian said, exasperated with Spencer’s inability to just pick a damn ring.

“How do you know that?” Spencer retorted. Ian rolled his eyes.

“I’ve known Alex longer than you have, and I’ve heard him talking about how much he loves for *at least* a total of a thousand hours. You could propose with a Ring Pop and he’d say yes.”

“Ian is absolutely right, Spencer. But I think this ring would be great.” Brendon said, pointing out the prettiest ring Spencer had ever seen. A pink diamond, surrounded by several smaller white diamonds, on a golden ring. Spencer was in love, and bought it instantly.

“I’ll get it re-sized if he says yes but it doesn't fit. Now we just have to wrap the box up and throw it under the tree!”

~~~

When the trio returned to Spencer and Alex’s house, Alex was busy decorating the tree.

“I thought we were gonna decorate it together!” Spencer whined as Brendon and Ian took the gifts to the basement, where they would be wrapped. Alex looked very much like a deer in headlights.

“You’ve been out shopping for hours, and I was getting impatient! I’m not done, you can decorate the rest if you’d like.” Alex suggested with a shrug. Spencer sighed.

“No, I’ve got gifts to wrap. Don't come downstairs, because some are for you.” Alex just laughed as Spencer went to the staircase to the basement.

It was a rough thirty minutes of wrapping presents with Green Day blaring in the background, but Spencer, Brendon, and Ian managed. When they went back upstairs, Alex was sitting with his laptop, a cup of hot chocolate on the table. Spencer leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, earning a smile and a blush.

"Were you three really blasting American Idiot on loop for thirty minutes?" Alex asked.

"Yes, we were." Ian answered, even though it was obviously a rhetorical question.

"Well I've got places to be and presents to wrap. I'll see you later." Brendon said.

"So do I. Bye." Ian said.

Once Ian and Brendon were out the door, Alex laughed a little. "When do you think they'll get over themselves and kiss? I'm actually losing my mind here. They're so clearly in love. I always feel like a third wheel around them."

"What? Ian is totally hot for Marshall, what are you on?"

"Do you not see them making heart eyes at each other? Yeah, Ian wants to fuck Marshall, everyone with working eyes and ears knows that. But he wants to *be with* Brendon. That's the difference here."

Spencer rolled his eyes, ruffling Alex's hair. "What are you doing, anyway?" Alex pushed him away.

"Gift shopping, go finish the Christmas tree. No peeking at packages that show up, okay?"

Spencer gave Alex a kiss on the cheek before going to decorate the tree, making sure every present was neatly tucked under it afterwards.

~~~

Three days later, on Christmas Eve, everyone was over at the Smith-DeLeon household for a party. Alex was half drunk on spiked eggnog, but that was to be expected. It almost always happened.