Better Off In Love (Peterick Au)

Happily Ever After

It only took a couple of months for the pair to decide that living in two different places really made no sense when they spent all their time together, so after a relatively short search, they bought an apartment together to make their first official home. The whole place was decorated with an eclectic mixture of pieces from both of their old flats, and both men loved the unmistakably them style it had.

They had fights, sure, but at the end of the day there was no one else either person wanted to wake up to and fall asleep with. After waiting far too long for the right moment, both of them were determined to never let what they had get away.

Some time around Patrick releasing his third album mostly made up of love songs about the boyfriend he clearly adored, Pete decided it felt like the right time to propose. He planned it all out in his head, cooking a romantic meal that turned out surprisingly well, considering his culinary skills normally left something to be desired. Clearly some deity was looking out for him that evening, and it was all worthwhile to see the love of his life sat opposite him in the candlelight, sipping a glass of wine in their home.

Pete didn't think he would get nervous. Sure, he had some anxiety issues, but he could comfortably go out on stage in front of thousands and thousands of people, so it would all be fine, he told himself. In reality, all his romantic ideas of making a long speech went out the window as soon as he shakily got on one knee beside his, hopefully, soon to be fiancé. It was fine though, as he knew he had forever to tell Patrick just how much he loved him.

He had hardly got his question out before Patrick was saying yes, repeating the word over and over again as if he could never make it quite clear enough how certain he was about this. Pete only just managed to get the ring on Patrick before he inevitably burst into happy tears, held tight against his fiancé's chest.

As soon as they announced their engagement to their friends, Hayley swore she would plan the wedding and that she and Lynn would be bridesmaids whether they wanted them to be or not. Pete and Patrick had simply accepted their fate, as they felt this was probably easier.

Over the following days and weeks Patrick found that he couldn't stop looking over at the plain gold band that now adorned his left ring finger, the simple inscription of "P+P" on the inside in cursive script. It was absolutely perfect, and Patrick was thrilled that he would be spending the rest of forever with his favourite person on the Earth, because he knew Pete felt the same way about him.

Although both Pete and Patrick could be considered far too old to be believing in fairy tales, it didn't stop either of them from thinking that their lives sure looked like the perfect happily ever after they'd both always dreamed of.