Nothing For Christmas (Ianthony)

4

The night was cold, especially to Ian and I, who had never really experienced regular temperatures under freezing.

The snow fell in soft flakes; just enough to dot the shoulders of our jackets, but not enough to be necessarily annoying. I didn't love the snow, but Ian did, and I was completely content with anything he held so close to his heart.

The cold factor required us to walk slightly closer than we normally would, but I don't think either of us really minded. Where I was planning to take him was only a few blocks from our hotel. 

"Are we going anywhere in particular?" he asked, as if reading my mind.

I glanced over at him, gently squeezing his hand. "You'll see."

The flood of tourists around us was beginning to dwindle down for the night, which was nice. I didn't want a whole lot of people to be around when I popped the question. 

A few minutes later, after Ian had slipped on the ice twice and I had laughed hard enough to wake up the whole city, I led him onto a certain bridge, watching his expression carefully.

When he looked to his left, realization swept over his face, and he beamed at me, his eyes glistening.

"No way! I've always wanted to go here!"

I smiled back at him as he ran foward, eagerly.

"Don't slip, it might be icy!" I teased, but ran after him anyways.

Flashing me a quick middle finger behind his back, he ran all the way to the middle of the bridge, eventually leaning over the side and admiring the outside.

I stopped beside him, my eyes focused on his smile as he observed all the locks hanging off the bridge, where thousands of couples had placed a single lock to symbolize their eternal love.

Eventually, his eyes found mine, and no words needed to be spoken. I leaned in and sealed the gap between our lips, placing a gloved hand on the back of his neck.

As we kissed, I felt the weight of the ring in my pocket, and my stomach suddenly leaped into my throat. The reality of what I was about to do finally set in, and I tightened my grip on his neck and tried to remain calm.

There's no way he'll say no, I reassured myself. I have absolutely nothing to worry about.   

After we separated, he smiled warmly.

"Damn, if I would've known, I would've brought-"

He stopped as he watched me pull a golden lock out of my pocket, the smile on his face growing.

He reached for it, but I pulled it back abruptly.

"Wait, first..."

He raised his eyebrows at me, but after I stepped forward and let out a deep breath, his face softened and I think he realized what I was about to do.

I grabbed both of his hands, staring hard into his eyes to let him know I was completely serious.

"I know we haven't been together all that long but you're my best friend and I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

I let go of one of his hands and reached for my pocket, kneeling down into the snow.

"Ian, will you marry me?"

Ian, meanwhile, hadn't stopped smiling and only stared at me, squeezing my hand like his life depended on it.

"No."

I stood up, having expected that answer from him. And although the smile on his face showed his obvious sarcasm, hearing the simple word actually made my heart sink.

"Shut up, asshole," I retorted, slapping the front of his jacket.

"You looked so scared!" He laughed, then suddenly dropped his voice, looking me right in the eye. "Of course I will."

I took in every feature of his face as I slipped his hand out of his glove; his smile, his eyes, how the bridge of his nose had turned red from the cold. I wanted to be mad at him for taking something so seriously sarcastically, but deep down, I really didn't care. That was one of my favorite aspects of our relationship and it actually would've been weird if he had taken it seriously.

"You know you could have asked me like, a week after we started dating and I still would have said yes, right?" He looked down as I slid the ring gently over his finger, relieved that it fit right.

"I know. I don't know why I was so nervous," I replied, looking down shyly.

"Hey." He reached under my chin and turned my face up towards his, and right then, I noticed the stray tear cascading down his cheeks. "I love you and I can't wait to spend forever with you." His voice shook and I could tell he genuinely meant it.

I stepped forward and hugged him tightly, leaning my head against his as he buried his face deep into the crook of my neck. 

We stayed there for probably too long, just holding each other and realizing that now we truly would have each other forever. His body was warm and his quiet tears wet my snow-covered jacket.

I kissed him again a few moments later while reaching back into my pocket to produce the lock.

He smiled at me as soon as we pulled away, and as his eyes traveled down to the lock, I couldn't help but realize how much I truly loved him. He'd been my best friend for, what, fifteen years now? And was truly the only person I could count on and trust with my whole life. I'd worked with him for almost a decade and honestly never got tired of it. I saw him every single day and spent nearly every second with him, and yet, I still felt like that wasn't enough. Ian Hecox truly was my soulmate, and although it took me a few too many years to realize that, I knew now. And now I knew that I would truly spend every possible second with him for the rest of my time existing.

Those thoughts remained as we found an empty spot on the bridge and clicked the lock into place together, then threw the key into the river below, then laughed hysterically after realizing the river was frozen over and the key would sit on top until the spring.

That was the not only the first Christmas we spent as a couple, but the first one as an engaged couple. After that, we spent many as a married couple, but as most married couples' flames' die down, ours didn't. Our love never once lost its drive, its fire. 

And after that Christmas Eve in Paris, we both were sure it never would.

The End

A/N: hey so I know this is really stupid and ridiculously fluffy but I haven't written fluff in forever and needed some haha. and this is my first little mini-series so that's exciting!

also, the songs I linked to each chapter don't have anything to do with the story (besides the first one where I got the name of this from), they're just some of my favorite christmas songs ever that you should definitely check out!

merry christmas/happy holidays guys! :)