"Are you alright?" Vincent ask after Lucas sat down for a moment to catch his breath.
"I think so... at least I will be... My head's scrambled."
"Of course it is." Vincent patted Lucas' shoulder, feeling mortified by his reaction to Lucas needing a good sleep. "It's been a rough couple of days."
"Yeah... lots of hot air." He smiled weakly. "So Marty was with you?"
"mmh." Vincent sounded. "He picked me up from the side of the road and drove me to the game."
"Oh?" Lucas asked. "I'm sorry I put you in that situation. I'll have to call Marty and thank him."
"It's not your fault."
"I should have known she'd try to pull something like that." Lucas shook his head. "To think if Marty hadn't caught you? It was snowing terribly... you could have gotten pneumonia."
"I'm fine." Vinny crawled onto Lucas, and kissed him sweetly. "You're fine." He ruffled the boy's blonde hair.
"I know... I just can't help to think-"
"Well don't. Everything's worked out." Vincent kissed Lucas again. We're together, our whole lives, this is what we've been working up to. This is everything."
"I love you."
"I love you too." Vincent laid his head on Lucas' shoulder. "Do you think Marty.... I mean you and Marty... do you think you'll go back to being friends?"
"I dunno."
"I think he's sorry... I mean I think he really regrets all the stuff he said. Maybe he was just going through a lot."
"You seem to think I ought to forgive everyone?" Lucas smirked. "My mother, Marty..."
"You don't have to, and you should wait until you're ready before you invite anyone back into your life. But.. I think everyone deserves an extra chance."
"I'm glad you're so forgiving. Lord knows I'll make more than my fair share of mistakes, and need forgiveness."
"Oh no." Vincent smiled cheekily. "I wouldn't forgive you."
"You wouldn't?" Lucas raised an eyebrow. "What if I kissed you?"
"Even then."
"What if I was very sorry?"
"Nope."
"Really?" Lucas asked, eyes twinkling with amusement. "I think you're lying." Lucas closed the gap between them quickly and kissed Vincent deeply.
"Maybe I am... who's to say?"
....
"Do you have everything you need?" Vincent asked a few days later, emerging from the bedroom with a suitcase. "It's cold in New Hampshire. Bring your heavy coat."
"I've got everything." Lucas grinned. "Don't worry about it. Did you remember everything?" He asked, looking at Vincent's sweater clad shoulders.
'My heavy coat!" Vincent exclaimed, rushing back into the bedroom and coming out with a thick navy blue puffer jacket zipped up to his chin.
"You look cute." Lucas kissed Vincent coloring his cheeks with rosiness that befit his winter outfit.
"Let's go."
"Why are you in such a rush?" Lucas asked. "We've got nine hours in the car ahead of us."
"Eight and a half." Vincent argued. "And I want to get on the road soon. I'm anxious to see mom."
"Fine." Lucas groaned, grabbing his bag and slumming it over his shoulder.
"Careful!" Vincent scolded. "You're still injured!"
'All that's left is a boot." Lucas gestured down to his leg still in a black velcro boot. "I don't have crutches or anything, besides my shoulder's always been fine."
"Well I don't want you wrecking that too." Vincent scolded, pulling Lucas' bag onto his own more narrow shoulders.
"And I don't want you hurting your shoulder trying to stop me from hurting mine." Lucas took the bag back easily. "I just want everything to be back to normal." He said as the pair exited the apartment and walked to the elevator. "I don't want to feel like an injured puppy anymore."
"I can't help treating you like that... I'm just so worried you won't get to play next year."
"I will."
"But how do you know?"
"Sometimes I just know things."
....
Lucas wasn't fit to drive with his leg all casted up, so Vincent had to do the entirety of the driving. Not usually one to stay up late his mind began to wander the longer they drove away. The road stretched ahead of them for miles, and it would take even longer to go back, so they were stuck in some sort of limbo until they reached their destination. Lucas dozed beside him, and Vincent didn't dare wake the boy, knowing as much as he protested otherwise, he needed his rest.
It was perhaps the most eventful year of his life, though Vincent supposed that was how adulthood worked. Never in any shorter period of time would he make so many decisions. His life had retained some similarity as he aged, until all of the sudden he was choosing a career, a boyfriend, a house, a life... once the decisions were done things would stall of again and he could go longer without shifts, but in the moment he could find no solace in what was usual.
"Stop thinking." Lucas groaned next to him, shifting his weight.
"I can't help it, I'm bored...." Vincent complained. Boredom always made him contemplate life.
"Well what are you thinking about this time?" Lucas asked, well aware of how Vincent could spiral.
"How much things have changed."
"... for the better?"
"Yes." Vincent agreed. "I believe they have."
"Me too." Lucas paused for a moment. "I'd rather think about how much still has to change."
"What do you mean?"
Lucas sat up firmer, more fully awake. A weak smile tugged at his lips, and Vincent knew he'd stumbled across one of the boy's favorite pastimes: imagining their future together.
"I want to get a dog."
"A dog?" Vincent raised an eyebrow. "What would we do with a dog?"
"What wouldn't we? We could go on walks, and play with it. I think I'd like to get a bigger one, but I'd be okay with a smaller one if you wanted that. So long as we get a breed that's good with children."
"Children?" Vincent chuckled.
"Of course.. you want children, don't you?"
"I don-- I mean... I've never really considered it. I guess I just figured it wasn't in my future.. on account of..." Vincent quieted, deepening in thought. "How would we...?"
"We could adopt, or get a surrogate, whatever you'd prefer." Lucas smiled to himself. "I've always wanted children."
"I guess I figured it wasn't in my future... but that sounds nice. Would you coach their soccer team?"
"If you could bear to spare me." Lucas grinned.
"I think I'll manage." Vincent shrugged. "Do you want to stay in Erie?"
"I think I'd like to move up to New Hampshire.. I'd like to live in a little white house on a creek. One with a porch swing out front and hydrangeas on the lawn. The kids giggling and chasing the dog as it runs across the path."
"I'd like to be close to my mom."
"I know." Lucas turned to eye the fields out the window. "I'd like not to separate you."
"And if she comes back to Erie? We still haven't sold our old house..."
"My parents have been talking about relocating to Philadelphia for political reasons... Maybe we could buy out my old house and live next door to your house. We'd have to gut the whole thing, start from scratch, and turn it into a forever home."
"I'd like that too... It all sounds wonderful."
"I hope so... Do you ever think about if we might get married?"
"I'd like to be married." Vincent said thoughtfully.
"Do you think you'd wear white?"
"Maybe... how do you picture me?" Vincent smiled.
"I always saw me wearing a black suit... and you in a white one. I'm sure that's weird to think about, and if you're uncomfortable... but I'd like it to be all about you."
"I'd consider wearing white..." Vincent trailed off. "You'd look very handsome in a black tuxedo.... Maybe your shirt could have one of those stiff collars with the little points... what do they call that?"
"Wing tip." Lucas smirked.
"I forget you grew up rich." Vincent teased.
"I don't know that because I grew up rich, I know it because I'm classy." Lucas wiggled his eyebrows. "Have you put any thought into venues?"
"My mother and grandmother both got married at Queen of Angels... It's just beautiful o the inside... really stunning. How would you...? Well, do you think you'd ever want to...?"
"A church wedding?" Lucas rolled his eyes. "That's the last thing I would have picked."
"We don't have to... it was just a thought."
"No.... If that's important to you, that's what we'll do." Lucas paused, before another thought struck him. "Hey, do they let gay people get married there?"
"I guess I hadn't thought of that." Vincent mumbled wistfully. "I think they have a couple of times. Not officially... but if we had the legal papers, I'm certain they'd do it under the wire. I know the pastor, he's very nice.... I doubt he'd even be surprised."
"You make it sound like our wedding is some covert operation."
"I'm sorry." Vincent frowned. "We could do something else... We could do a destination wedding or something... fly to Italy or France and do it there."
"We could elope."
"I'd want my mother to be there." Vincent frowned wistfully. "And yours."
"What about your father?"
"I don't know..." Vincent said after a moment of silence. "I haven't talked to him in a while.. but you remember he's made a play at custody a few times.. he sorta just drifts in an out of my life as he pleases. I suppose if we had a big wedding I'd send him an invitation.. not if we eloped."
"Elopement's off the table then. Big, church, covert, secret wedding it is." Lucas grinned. "I don't care, as long as we're together."
"Me neither."
....
When Vincent finally laid his head down on the pillow at their hotel it felt as if a thousand bricks tumbled off his shoulder and out of his head. He was so relieved, desperately so, and he fell asleep instantly, tangled in Lucas' strong arms.
It was true, no matter how it happened, he wanted to marry Lucas and spend the rest of his life with him. Sure it might bring challenges, but Vincent was certain they could tackle them together as they arose. He was confident in their relationship.