At Odd's Ends (Bruce Kulick x Eric Carr)

Ch 31: Moonlight

The instant practice ended, Bruce packed up his guitar and headed for the door. "Bruce, wait!" I cried, jumping to my feet and running after him. "Bru come on, wait, don't go yet!" He let out a sigh, drawing to a halt and turning to look at me. "What?" he asked, voice almost cold. "Can we please talk?" I asked. There was a pause as his soft brown eyes traced the lines of my face before he shook his head and my heart dropped.

"I'll pick you up for dinner tonight at 7. We'll talk then," he said in a flat voice, shouldering his guitar and walking off. I watched him go for a minute before remembering I should respond. "Sounds good, I'll see you then! I love you!" I called after him. "Love you too," he replied, stepping into his car. 

Shaking my head, I walked back inside, putting away my drumsticks and grabbing my phone. "Oh, congrats on getting engaged!" I said, giving Gene a smile. He jumped, startled, before smiling. "Yeah, thanks. Sorry if it caused any uh...drama between you two. We weren't gonna say anything but I mean I didn't want to lie to Bruce either." I just shrugged. "It's alright. It's been three months, we need to talk about it again anyway. But really yeah, congrats! I'm glad you two are happy together." 

Gene looked at the ring on his hand, a soft smile spreading across his face as his cheeks grew pink. "Yeah. We are happy together. I really hope you and Bruce are able to work everything out. You deserve to be happy together too." My smile got a little more forced and I nodded. "Yeah. Well, we'll see," I said. "Anyway, I've got to head out, I'll see you later!" "Bye Eric!" he said, giving me a wave before walking out of the practice room. 

The door shut behind him, leaving me alone, and I walked over to the box that had our old costumes stored in it that hadn't yet been put into storage. Hands shaking, I flipped open the lid of the crate, rummaging through the folded clothes before finding Bruce's striped suit jacket. A shaky smile spread across my face and I lifted it out of the box. With a weak laugh, I hugged it to my chest, burying my face in the jacket. It still smelled faintly like his cologne. Tears welled up in my eyes as I screwed them shut, clutching the jacket. "Aw Bru," I whispered, before rising to my feet, folding up the jacket and returning it to the box before running off to my car, speeding off.

At exactly seven, there was a knock on my door. I jumped to my feet, throwing open the door and giving Bruce a smile. "Hey," I murmured, feeling suddenly shy for no real reason. "Hey," he replied, hesitating for a moment before kissing me. I kissed him back, closing my eyes, wishing we could just stay in the moment. It had been like three months since he had kissed me, and I hadn't realized how much I missed it and him.

But of course we broke apart. "So you ready for dinner?" he asked. I nodded, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze. "Very much so." It was a nice meal in a nice restaurant and I was happy to go on a date with him after too many months of not being sure exactly where we stood. At the same time though, I was on the edge of freaking out, unsure whether or not I'd be able to tell him what I wanted to.

After dinner, we rose to our feet, walking outside toward his car. "Hey, instead of going home just yet, did you want to go on a walk?" I asked, desperate to stall him until I had worked up the nerve to say what needed to be said. "Oh yeah sure. It's a nice night outside," he said. We walked for a bit until reaching a park. It was beautiful in the moonlight and we took a seat on one of the park benches.

I took a deep breath, running a hand through my hair. "Um look Bruce--" I started, but he held up his hand. "No. Let me go first," he said, and I nodded. "Oh...okay," I said, feeling nervous. Bruce let out a soft sigh before giving me a thin smile. "Look, I just...it's okay. Marriage really isn't important in the end I guess, it doesn't matter. I'd rather have you as a boyfriend than as nothing at all. You're the most important thing to me! More important than like marriage or anything. So it's okay if you don't want to be married. I shouldn't have been...well, so selfish," he said, but his eyes were full of pain and I knew it was killing him to say that.

Heart sinking, I shook my head, picking up his hand and giving it a squeeze. "No! No Bruce listen to me. I-I was thinking about it, I was thinking about how much I had missed you these past few months when we weren't really together but not exactly apart, and I mean...you're the only person I've ever really loved! I've never loved anyone the way I love you, and I think I am ready to take that step, I am ready to marry you! I wanna marry you!" I cried. 

Blinking, he sat back, staring at me in shock. "W...what?" he asked after a pause. "I wanna marry you. Here, lemme make it more formal," I said, pulling my hand free and fumbling into my pocket for a ring. "Bruce Kulick, will you marry me even though I'm kind of a huge dumbass sometimes and it took me way too long to realize I did want to marry you?" I asked, dropping to a knee. 

A slow smile spread across his face and he grabbed my hand, yanking me upright and pulling me into a kiss. I kissed him back, wrapping my hands through his hair before at last we broke away. "Here lemme see your hand, I wanna put the ring on!" I said eagerly. Still smiling, he held out his hand, and I tried to slip the ring on, feeling my face burning as it got stuck. "Okay so...so I might not know your ring size," I mumbled.

Laughing, he put the ring on his pinky finger instead, sitting me on his lap and kissing me. "It's the thought that counts. I guess I need to give you your ring back though, like uh propose to you again, since we're going to be married eventually," he said. My heart melted and I nodded, resting my head on his chest. "We are going to be married. And even though it took me awhile to realize it, I'm really glad we will be," I said softly.

He kissed me gently, wrapping his arms around my waist. "Me too."