Dear, Tam | Kam Fanfiction

Chapter 52

"I don't understand why you're covering my eyes when I know we're at the Shores of Solace, Keefe." Tam said as Keefe's hands were over his eyes as he guided Tam towards the dining room.
"Well, I want you to be surprised with how I decorated the place!" Keefe exclaimed.
"Mmh...okay...and is your dad home or?" Tam questioned.
"Nah, he's working late." Keefe said.
"So it's just us two tonight again."
Tam hummed in response.

"Alright! And stop."
Keefe stopped walking and Tam stood in place.
Keefe gently took his hands away from Tam's eyes and rested them on his waist from behind him now.
Tam's eyes opened as he looked at the dining room.
Tam raised his eyebrows as candles were lit everywhere and there was a lovely bouquet of flowers in the middle of the table. Dinner was already set on the table, and two wine glasses were set out with a bottle of Fizzleberry wine.

"...Keefe, did you steal that wine from your dad?" Tam asked, looking at his boyfriend in suspicion.
"Uh, no. Kesler gave it to me as a gift." Keefe said, smiling at Tam.
"And since we're both adults, we can drink it!"
Tam hummed, still suspicious of Keefe.
"Right...well it all looks really nice. Why'd you put so much effort into this dinner date?" Tam asked as Keefe took his hands away from his waist.
"Well, because I wanted to be romantic and talk to you about something!" Keefe exclaimed, walking towards a chair and pulling it out.
Keefe looked at Tam, indicating for the male to take a seat in the chair he pulled out for him.
Tam felt his nerves rise.

"Oh...?" Tam questioned.
"What did you want to talk about?"
Tam made his way towards the chair and took a seat.
"It sort of has to do with our future, I guess." Keefe said as he tucked the seat in with Tam sat on it.
Tam gulped, feeling his throat dry.
Keefe had made the dining room look so romantic and lovely, and he wanted to talk about their future. Did this mean what he thought it meant? Because if so, Tam wasn't ready for that kind of commitment. Not yet anyway.

Keefe went ahead and took a seat across from Tam.
"Well, we can get into that later!" Keefe exclaimed.
"Anyways, I asked Kesler for recipes I could make for dinner and I decided to make this."
Tam looked at the bowl at the table and it did look good and smell good, but Tam was unsure what it was.
"What...is it?" Tam asked, looking at Keefe.
"It's a type of mushroom stew." Keefe said.
"It tastes good, uh...nothing like the mushroom stew from Exillium though! I mean...eugh, that taste still haunts me..."
Tam hummed, unsure about it as he grabbed the spoon.
Keefe began to eat it and Tam looked at Keefe, seeing how he seemed to enjoy the stew. Tam took a spoonful of it and placed it towards his mouth, slowly eating it. As soon as the stew hit his tongue, he craved for it more and began to eat it less reluctantly now.
It seemed that Keefe was a good cook.

As Tam ate the stew, Keefe grabbed the bottle of Fizzleberry wine and opened it. He stood up and leaned over to pour the wine into Tam's glass, filling it up three fourths of the glass and then filling his cup the same amount. Once he filled the glasses, Keefe sat back down, setting the bottle in the middle of the table, next to the flowers.
Tam looked at the wine and he felt a little unsure about it, he'd never had anything of this sort.
Tam set his spoon down as he decided to pick up the glass of wine. Tam took a small sip and Keefe watched as Tam's face shown a mix of emotions.
"Mmh...that's sweet." Tam said, looking at Keefe.
"Oh, is it bad? I can get you something else-" Keefe began.
Tam smiled at Keefe. "It's fine. I like it."
Keefe couldn't help but smile at Tam.
"Good...that's good." Keefe said, slowly continuing to eat his stew.

"So, how are things at Foxfire anyways?"
"...Mmh, fine I guess. Marella is hanging around us a bit more, so that's nice. How about work?"
"Kesler is being really nice towards me, he's been helping me even if I have questions that aren't work-related."
"Ah..."

*****

Keefe was just setting away their empty bowls and cleaning up in the kitchen as well as getting dessert ready and set up nicely on some plates.
Tam was nervous, he held the glass of wine in his hand. They didn't drink much, this was just Tam's second glass. Tam stared at the Fizzleberry wine in his glass, he only drank a third of what Keefe had poured.

Tam's feelings were all over the place as Keefe still hadn't talked about what he wanted to talk about. Tam was certain Keefe wanted to...well, propose or something like that to him and that just made Tam feel queasy.
Tam really wasn't ready for that step. It was a scary thing to think about. Especially since he hadn't graduated yet either and there was just so many things that they needed to talk about to and-

"Love, you need to take a deep breath."
Tam looked up to see Keefe enter the room, holding two plates with a slice of cake.
"I can feel the anxiety coming from you in the kitchen." Keefe said, smiling softly at Tam.
Keefe went over to Tam and he took the seat next to him instead, setting the plates aside.
Tam glanced at the cake and then at Keefe.
"Sorry." Tam mumbled.
Keefe gently took the glass of wine from Tam's hand and set it on the table. Keefe then took Tam's hands into his and held them.

"What are you worrying about this time?" Keefe asked, tilting his head.
Tam gulped.
"Look, Keefe if this dinner is because you wanted to propose to me, then I am just gonna tell you that I am not ready for marriage or for us to be engaged or whatever so please-" Tam began.
Keefe began to laugh and Tam blinked, looking at Keefe in confusion.
"W-what's so funny?" Tam asked, extremely confused.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry..." Keefe smiled, squeezing Tam's hands.
"I wasn't going to propose tonight Tam."

Tam blinked at Keefe.
"You weren't? Then...what did you want to talk about?" Tam asked.
Keefe sighed softly and he smiled at Tam.
"Am I making you feel...pressured about our future?" Keefe asked, tilting his head at Tam.
Tam looked at Keefe.
"Well...I mean, I- uhm..." Tam fumbled with his words.
Keefe smiled at Tam as he leaned in.

"Tam, I know I keep bringing up us sharing a place together and that sort of things, but I'm just...excited to begin our life together." Keefe said.
"We can take our time with our future together, you know that I don't mind, right?"
Tam blinked as he looked at Keefe.
"Really? Cause I mean, we've been dating for like years and the reasonable thing to do once I graduate is to move in together like right away so-" Tam began to ramble.
"Tam, love of my life, we'll take things as slow as you want. I'm ready for whatever comes next, but I need you to be ready too." Keefe said, cutting off Tam.
"I'll focus more on the present, if you'd like. I'll shut up about our future."
Tam let out a sigh of relief and he rested his forehead against Keefe's.

"Keefe, talk about our future as much as you want." Tam said softly.
"Now that I know you'll be patient with me, I'm fine. I'll be okay with it."
"Are you sure? I don't want you to, I don't know, have like a panic attack over it or-" Keefe began.
Tam cut off Keefe with a short sweet kiss. Keefe bit his lower lip once Tam pulled away.
Tam smiled at Keefe.
"I'm positive." Tam said, squeezing Keefe's hands.

"I'm just glad you weren't gonna propose to me, god...I was so nervous about that..."
"Haha, you telling me you don't want to marry me, Song?"
"One day, yes. But right now? I'm happy being your boyfriend."
"Mmh...good, that's what I wanted to hear..."

Of course Tam didn't have to be so worried. Keefe would never act so rashly without knowing Tam was ready for any of the next steps for their relationship.
All Tam had to do was focus on his studies, graduate, get his work-life done and dealt with and then he could finally discuss things about his and Keefe's future together.

---------------------------------------------------------

Word count: 1371