Epilogue
“Remind me why the fuck I’m letting you help?” Nicholas gripes, sorely tempted to throw something at Charlie if he doesn’t stop talking. He’s been at the house for three hours and talked for almost all of them. Then again, so have Jason and Alec, with a fair bit of Eden’s sharp tongue sprinkled in.
The only people not driving Nicholas up the wall are Theo and Emerson, but that’s probably because neither of them talk much unless it’s to Jason or Alec. Not that they get a chance with their yapping boyfriends.
“You’re letting us help because you love me,” Charlie says, draping an arm around Nicholas’s shoulder.
“No.”
“You love all of us,” Alec pipes up from his place at the stove.
Nicholas grumbles, knowing better than to say anything rude to Alec.
Partly because he’s cooking Andrew’s favorite foods for after and also because that half-pint has grown on Nicholas.
Not that he’s going to ever admit it. Alec’s ego doesn’t need to know that Nicholas does, in fact, see him as his little brother.
A very loud, often annoying, needy little brother but one just the same.
“He didn’t say no,” Charlie astutely observes. “He loves us.”
“Fuck off, Charlie.”
“I don’t think I will. And you don’t want me to. You need me.”
“I don’t need you,” Nicholas scoffs.
“You do too. I know Andrew better than anyone in the world.”
“Not better than me,” Nicholas argues, knocking Charlie’s arm off his shoulder.
“He’s literally my twin. I definitely know him better than you.” Charlie’s shit eating grin lets Nicholas know that he’s trying to get under his skin, that he’s doing this just to make him mad, and it’s working.
“Fuck off.”
Charlie laughs, sauntering away to the living room presumably to find Eden, Theo and Emerson, who have been in the other room filling buckets with white rose petals for the last hour.
Rose petals which need to be sprinkled on the grass very soon if they want to finish getting this fucking proposal set up before Andrew comes home from his afternoon with Amanda.
She’d swept him away for a morning at a local winery, and while he knows that Andrew knows something is happening at home, because Andrew hates surprises, that doesn’t change a damn thing as far as Nicholas is concerned.
Just because Andrew knows he’s being proposed to today doesn’t mean he knows how.
He won’t be expecting Nicholas to have gotten his brothers’ help, something he admittedly only managed by grunting his desires to Emerson, who set about arranging the entire thing in that quiet, efficient way of his.
This proposal has been a long time coming.
Or a long time in Nicholas's head since he’s known he wanted to marry Andrew since that weekend in New York.
He knew this man was going to be his forever, he just needed to prove he deserved him, and figure out what kind of proposal would make Andrew happy, get the ring custom designed, and plan something special enough for his princess.
Given that he needed to secretly discover Andrew’s ring size, there was never any hope of it being a surprise.
Not that Nicholas would’ve done that anyway.
Not knowing how much Andrew loathes them.
The best he could manage was having Amanda sweep Andrew away for a relaxing day while he set everything up.
“Are you nervous?” Alec asks, appearing at Nicholas’s side.
“No?”
“Theo says he was nervous to propose to me.”
“I’m not nervous,” Nicholas repeats.
“Andrew won’t say no.”
“I know he won’t,” Nicholas groans.
“Good.” Alec claps him on the back. “Nothing to be nervous about then, just the most important moment of your entire life.”
“Can you go away?”
“Only because I want to find Theo and remind him he probably misses me.”
“You two have only been apart for an hour.”
“I know, I bet he’s dying without me,” Alec replies, all but fucking skipping when he leaves the kitchen.
Grumbling to himself about interfering little brothers, Nicholas nearly shouts when Eden appears out of fucking no where. The sneaky little fucker. For someone with such a loud mouth, he can be deceptively quiet.
“What?” Nicholas demands.
“You two are getting engaged.”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to marry him.”
“Well done stating the obvious, Eden.”
“You’re going to worship the ground he walks on.” Eden jabs one of his bony little fingers into Nicholas’s chest. “You will never, ever hurt him. Ever.”
“I would never,” Nicholas frowns.
“Good. Then I won’t need to kill you.”
Before Nicholas can even begin to formulate a response, Eden is stalking out of the room with heavy steps, his skirt bouncing with every stomp of his Converse.
Nicholas isn’t sure he’s ever going to fucking understand Eden, and he’s not sure he wants to.
He’ll leave that to Charlie. Speaking of Charlie.
The ring box that was sitting on the kitchen island right before he left is noticeably missing.
“Charlie, you fucker,” Nicholas bellows. “Where’s the ring?”
“What ring?” Charlie yells.
Nicholas stalks into the living room, every set of eyes turning towards him.
“Andrew’s engagement ring,” Nicholas grits out. “I know you took it.”
“Why Nicholas, I’m offended you would accuse me.”
“Charlie,” Nicholas growls.
With an annoyingly calm smile, Charlie pulls the small pastel purple ring box out of his pocket.
Box. Book. One of those. Nicki ordered the little box online, designed to look like a miniature book to honor his princess’s love of reading.
On the front, their names are embossed in gold, inside Andrew’s ring is nestled safely in velvet.
“Hand it the fuck over?”
“Say please,” Charlie smirks.
“Charlie,” Nicholas growls. “I will fucking end you if you scratch that box.”
“Chill out,” Charlie says, holding the box out.
Nicholas snatches it, flipping it open. Instead of Andrew’s beautiful, one of a kind hand crafted white gold engagement ring, there’s a fucking duck. One of those goddamn little plastic ducks he’s found hiding around his house on more than one occasion.
“He’s wearing the ring,” Jason offers.
Sure enough, there on Charlie’s hand is Andrew’s ring. He doesn’t kill Charlie because that would make Andrew sad, but he sure as shit thinks about it.
“Maybe you shouldn’t make the big man so angry,” Theo suggests.
“Boring,” Charlie grumbles, removing the ring. “I just wanted to make sure it would fit him.”
“It’ll fit because it’s been custom made for him,” Nicholas replies in a seething tone.
He snatches the ring back, throwing the little duck at Charlie then slipping the ring back in its little pocket.
Then he tucks the box into his pocket, knowing better than to let it out of his sight a second time.
Honestly no wonder Andrew is always tired. Handling this group is a full time job, and one that Nicholas is not at all equipped for. He lost his patience about fifteen minutes after they arrived.
“We finished the flowers,” Emerson announces, startling him.
It’s only in the last few months that he’s started actually talking directly to Nicholas.
Before that, he was pretty sure Emerson hated him, but apparently he was scared of Nicholas, which made him feel kind of shitty.
Jason assured Nicholas it was more of a not trusting jocks then Nicholas specifically, but earning his trust has been unexpectedly affecting.
He’s learned to tone down his brusqueness, at least for Emerson.
Everyone else still gets the standard asshole version of him.
“Thank you, Emerson.”
Emerson smiles, making Jason smile equally wide as if Emerson’s happiness is his own. Nicholas has never seen two people with a healthier, more unselfish relationship. It’s sweet, albeit a little nauseating at times.
“When is Andrew coming back again?” Jason questions, looking at his watch.
“Amanda said she’d bring him home at five thirty to make it for sunset.”
“Then we’ve got an hour. Come on crew, asses off the couch.” Jason claps, whistling when Charlie and Eden don’t immediately move. It’s interesting to watch Jason start commanding orders, probably the same way he does as a teacher and coach, all but shoving Charlie out the back door.
With all them working together and everyone mostly working, they make quick work of lining a pathway in white rose petals and candles from the house and across the grass down to the stairway that leads to the beach, where Nicholas has already set up an elaborate display with three hundred fifteen long stem white roses.
One for every day Andrew has been in his life and made it infinitely better.
When he first started planning the proposal, he imagined whisking Andrew away, but he’d quickly rid himself of the idea.
However nice it might sound in theory, it wasn’t what Andrew would like.
Andrew loved the sea, and their home, and beginning their forever in the place it started was everything his princess would want.
Now months after he first started planning, it’s all come together, and he’s never been so happy or nervous.
There’s no doubt that Andrew will say yes, yet his agitation won’t abate. He wants Andrew home. Wants this ring on his finger so he can finally call him his fiancé. He wants to take Andrew’s last name and give him forever. Now.
“You look nervous,” Jason observes.
“I’m not nervous,” Nicholas lies.
“Okay.” Jason claps him on the back. “In that case, we have something to give you.”
“Who is we?” Nicholas asks, turning around to find Charlie, Eden, Alec, Theo, Emerson and Jason all staring at him. Alec is all but bouncing with a gift bag in his hand which he shoves at Nicholas.
“All of us,” he answers.
Suspicious as fuck, he rips the tissue paper off, pulling out a familiar purple and black jersey. What the fuck are they playing at?
“Turn it around,” Jason instructs.
No less suspicious, he drops the gift bag then turns the jersey around, four letters embroidered across the back. King.