I'm going slightly mad // Hardzello

Chapter 58

After ending the call with Joe's parents Joe leans against Ben. He presses himself completely against Ben's side.
"I can't believe that you proposed to me." Joe says while placing his head on Ben's shoulder again.
"Why not, honey?" Ben says while gently rubbing his hand over Joe's back. The latter stays silent for a little while. Ben knows Joe is looking for the right answer in his head so he stays silent for a bit. Not that he minds the silence. Especially because he has the love of his life in his arm. Nothing can happen anymore. 
"It's just, deciding that you want to spend the rest of your life with someone is a big deal. You really need to love someone to decide to propose to them. I guess it's just that I still don't fully believe that you fell in love with me. Before we got together I've cried myself to sleep more than once because of this huge crush I had on you. I was convinced that you would never love me the way I was in love with you. This probably sounds silly but okay." Joe buries his head into Ben's side as soon as he stops talking. In that way, Ben can't see how red Joe's head has become in embarrassment.
"It doesn't sound silly, baby. You don't know how big my crush on you was before we went on our first date. In fact, let me show you how much I love you." Ben uses his fingers to lift Joe's head. As soon as they lock eyes for that brief moment Ben cups Joe's face with both of his hands before leaning forward to bring their lips together.

Joe parts his lips ever so slightly. As soon as Ben slips his tongue into Joe's mouth he uses both of his arms to pull Joe into his lap. Joe shifts a little to sit the right way. In the meantime, they never break the kiss. Both of them are hungrily fighting for dominance. Ben moves his hands under Joe's butt before he carefully tries to stand. Joe immediately wraps his legs around Ben's hips as soon as he realises what Ben is trying to do. Ben stumbles towards the bed. At the moment they are close to the bed Ben moves his hand so he is supporting Joe's back. While keeping their lips together Ben slowly lowers Joe onto the mattress. At the moment Joe lays on the mattress Ben breaks the kiss.
"I love you so fucking much." He says while he looks in Joe's eyes that are inches away from his own. Ben pecks Joe's lips before moving his lips towards Joe's neck. A long kiss like that was for them the beginning of a way longer night.

*********

Ben is the first one to wake up the next morning. Before opening his eyes memories come flooding back to Ben. Had he really proposed? Is he going to spend the rest of his life with Joe? Ben opens his eyes slowly. It takes some blinking before he is used to the bright sunlight poking through the curtains. Joe is laying completely on top of him. The sunlight reflects into the dark blue stone on top of the ring. Joe never took it off after they collapsed on each other the night before. Ben moves his arm so it lazily lays over Joe's lower back. As soon as he does so he feels Joe shifting his weight on top of Ben. He knows Joe is waking up because he can feel his breathing getting faster while he softly stirs.

Soon Joe moves his head up to look at Ben.
"Good morning, my fiance." Ben says. His voice is low and husky from just waking up. Joe giggles while he lets his hand run through Ben's hair.
"I like the sound of that." Joe says before rolling off of Ben.
"I'm glad you do." Ben says while leaning to the side to give Joe a quick peck on the lips. From the coffee table, the familiar sound of an incoming message is heard. Ben sighs loudly while he rolls from under the covers. He immediately shivers from the cold air hitting everything that his boxers aren't hiding. Joe tosses a shirt that Ben brought to wear in bed. Instead of wearing the shirt it had laid all night right beside his pillow. He slips it on before walking over to the coffee table.

While walking back Ben reads the message on his lock screen.
"It's Gwil. I promised him that I would let him know what you thought of the first present. I was kind of hesitant to give it to you." Ben sits down next to Joe on the bed again. Joe is still laying on his back. His eyes are barely open.
"How are we going to tell Gwil and the rest that we are engaged?" Joe waves with his hand to show the ring.
"We could ask them to come over and just tell them or I can randomly call you my fiance during the evening. To see if they pick up on that." Ben says. 
"That sounds fun." Joe says. He grabs the blanket to cover up his cold body. 
"We should leave soon though. We have a long ride back and we need to eat breakfast somewhere along the way." Ben says before letting his fingers run through Joe's hair. 
"Can you lay with me for a bit? I want to hold you." Joe says. Ben smiles before scooting over so he can place his head on Joe's shoulder. Within seconds Joe has his arms wrapped tightly around Ben. 
"This feels nice. Why don't we lay more often like this?" Ben asks. Joe smiles before bending down to kiss Ben's forehead.
"All you have to do is ask, babe." Joe says. He closes his eyes while focussing on the feeling of Ben in his arm. A feeling he could never get used to. It feels safe. It feels like home. 

Neither of them had fallen asleep but when the alarm on Ben's phone went off both of them jumped at the sound. Ben had already forgotten that he set that alarm yesterday. He brings himself up to kiss Joe after ending the alarm. 
"I am going to the bathroom to brush my teeth and so on. You can stay a bit longer in bed if you would like." Ben says before pecking Joe's lips once again. Soon enough Ben disappears into the bathroom. Joe grabs his phone from the nightstand. He guesses that his mother already told his brother and sister about his engagement. He makes a picture of himself with the ring close to his face. After writing a small caption he sends it in his family groups chat. Within a minute both his sister and his brother already responded. 

Mary: My little brother is engaged? Oh my god I'm about to cry. Congratulations little one. Give Ben a big hug from me. I'm so happy right now. My scream in happiness may have woken up my boyfriend. Oops.

John: Awesome. Congratulations man.

"There are two kinds of people." He says to himself laughing.
"You sound like Gwil." Ben says as soon as he walks out of the bathroom. Joe hands him his phone so Ben can read the messages. The latter shakes his head laughing while reading.
"So where is my hug?" Ben teases. Joe jumps up from the bed to wrap his arms around Ben.
"Here it is." He whispers in Ben's ear. Joe ends the hug with a short kiss.
"That one is not from Mary, but from me." Joe says before disappearing into the bathroom.

***********

Hey guys,

We just hit 16K reads. That is amazing! I got some pretty sweet messages through Instagram from some of you the other day. Thanks for that! You'll never know how much that means to me. Seeing that people actually enjoy my work is something I could only have dreamed of. 

Thanks so much! I love y'all!

Goodbye,

Xx itsametaphorjoe