The Right Time (Lestappen)

A picture is worth a thousand words (part two)

I know I said Wednesday but when do I ever stick to a plan!! 

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Max's heart was racing as he held the engagement ring out. He tried to steady his hand but he couldn't do anything about the inevitable shaking. This was the most nervous and most excited he had ever been about anything. He had rehearsed what he was going to say a thousand times. He had also repeated it over and over again whilst Daniel had pretended to be Charles. Daniel had always said yes and as he knelt on one knee he hoped the real life Charles would be just as excited. As he went to speak his mind suddenly went completely blank. All the words he had rehearsed were nowhere to be found instead he just found himself having to speak from the heart and hoping it made sense in some way.

"Charles, I -, well I'm not great at all this sort of thing but well I know we haven't really been together that long but I already feel like we have been through so much together. I know that you have cared for me when I have needed it most, made me laugh when I was feeling down, protected me from others and from myself and you have given me more love than I could have ever hoped for. I don't know what I've done to deserve you but I know that I don't ever want to let you go. I hope you feel the same way because I really want to spend my life with you. You really are everything to me. So Charlie will you marry me?"

Max wasn't even sure what he had just said, he had so much adrenaline running through him that it almost felt like an out of body experience. As he looked up at his boyfriend he could see the huge smile on the younger man's face.

"Max, yes, of course yes" Charles almost sobbed as Max took his hand and slid the engagement ring on his finger.

The Dutchman had barely gotten to his feet before Charles threw his arms around him and locked their lips together. Max wrapped his arms around Charles' waist and pulled him in close before parting his lips and encouraging Charles to deepen the kiss. When they eventually broke apart Charles looked down at the engagement ring on his finger barely believing that this was actually happening. This time last year he was convinced that Max only saw him as a rival, he hadn't even known Max was gay, yet here they were head over heals in love. It was better than anything he had seen in any of the romance films he had watched even it was the old rivals to lovers cliche.

"Max, I-, what you said it was so beautiful and I just, I just want you to know that you mean the whole world to me and I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together" Charles stuttered out.

"I love you so much Charlie" Max pressed a light kiss on Charles' lips.

"I love you too Maxy"

"There are some people who I think might want to celebrate with us" Max said as he moved to open the door to the room.

"He said yes" Max shouted as he welcomed in the guests he had invited, and in some case flown out to Mexico, to join them.

As the small crowd filtered into the room the first person Charles spotted was his mum who ran towards him and hugged him so tightly he could barely breath.

"My baby, I'm so happy for you. I'm so happy for you both" she cried as she held on to Charles.

He looked across at Max who was currently being smothered with hugs and kisses from his own mum. The Dutchman looked happier than Charles had ever seen him before. Charles' mum eventually let him go and wondered over to Max and squeezed him just as tightly.

"Congratulations baby brother" Lorenzo cheered as him and Arthur embraced their brother.

Charles could barely process what was going on. The room was filled with laughter and cheering as well as champagne bottles popping open. Seeing both his and Max's family there alongside their closest friends was amazing. He was almost overwhelmed by the amount of support everyone had given them and to see them all mingling together filled him with happiness.

"I told you it was a pretty cool photography exhibition" Pierre joked as he hugged his friend.

Charles couldn't help but laugh, it suddenly made sense why Pierre had taken so long to get ready. By the time Pierre had tried on his tenth outfit Charles had been almost ready to kill him but now he realised that Pierre had just been making sure Max had enough time to set everything up. It was comforting to know that not only did he have a wonderful fiancé but he also had amazing friends.

It was pretty late before the guests had started to drift off back to their hotel. His mum had barely wanted to say goodbye but Lorenzo and Arthur had guided her back to her hotel room. They had correctly assumed that Charles would want to have a private celebration with his new fiancé.

By the time Charles and Max had made it back to the hotel suite they were both filled with a strange mix of exhilaration and exhaustion. As they both stripped off and slipped into bed together they started softly kissing each other. It was slow and lazy as they planted kisses on each other's lips as they lay facing each other. As Max started running his fingers through Charles' hair the younger man started to kiss down his fiancé's neck. As he worked his way down to Max's shoulders he enjoyed the delicious noises coming from the Dutchman. As Charles let his lips trail over the skin he realised that exhaustion didn't seem to bother him anymore, after all sleep didn't sound anywhere near as exciting as spending the night kissing his fiancé's body from head to toe.  

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Ahhh so they are finally engaged 🥰 Hope you liked it and thank you as always for all the lovely comments and votes, it is always the best encouragement to keep writing so it's greatly appreciated <3 <3

I would try and guess when the next chapter will be up but lets face it I can't stick a schedule to save my life! It will be up very soon though (although warning - I am estimating about 3-4 chapters left but we will see because as always I am making this up as I go along)