In the beginning, they never thought it would be more than what happened.
Oh how wrong they were.
The wonderful almost-2 years that they had spent together had been amazing. Never a single dull moment.
But back in the beginning, Mark didn't know that.
The memory of him and Felix's decision is still fresh in his mind like it happened yesterday.
"I want to be more than today."
"You do?"
"Yeah."
"Because I do too."
Then progressing to thinking about their careers.
"Can we ever tell anyone?"
"Sure!"
"What if they don't approve? What if they hate us?"
"Then that's their problem."
And before they knew it, they were in each other's arms.
But it all really started on their year anniversary.
They hadn't had anything planned, no dinner, no night-out, just a quiet night at home. Which is what Mark really wanted after a full day anyway. Felix didn't mind it though, though he would normally want roller coasters and candy, nothing took the smile off of the man's face all day. A day of having a picnic in the park, going shopping and then finally heading to an empty beach upstate, where they lay on the sand, in each other's arms, watching the star-filled sky. It was perfect, not to everyone, but to them, perfect.
After driving home and finally collapsing on the couch from the cold, Felix didn't want to do anything else but eat, sleep and cuddle, even if he knew it was sappy. Well, he wanted to do that, until Mark said those words,
"You wanna build a blanket fort?"
Felix sat up, and clambered towards the neighbouring chair, where a large throw was set. He looked back at Mark, and seeing his smiling face, ran over to him.
"Yes please."
Grabbing Mark's hand and pulling him towards the couch, they got started on their fortress. They ended up using the dining room chairs as holding platforms, but then were met with a problem as they clambered inside, only for the roof to collapse. Finally, after 20 odd minutes of laughing and building, they had finally created the fort, lights and all inside.
"I'll get the snacks!" Felix volunteered, racing over to the kitchen and pulling open a large bag of M&N's and messily pouring them into a bowl. Mark just watched him do so from the fort, laughing when the M&N's spilled all over the counter.
When Felix finally made it inside, he saw Mark, his eyes looking at the iPad screen set up in front of them. Felix, doing the same as Mark, laid on his stomach and watched the screen. There was silence when the video they were watching stopped, and started buffering. It was a while before Felix spoke,
"Today was the perfect day."
"Really?"
"Really."
"But we didn't even go out to dinner! Or do anything special for that matter!"
"Mark, everyday I spend with you is perfect."
Mark stopped looking down, and looked up at Felix. He smiled, and looked down shyly.
He really hadn't meant to say it yet, but Mark really couldn't resist himself.
"Felix..."
"Yeah?"
"I love you, you know that right?"
Felix looked at Mark, smiling. And while Mark was expecting something like 'Yeah, I know.' or 'Ummmm okay.' What he got was totally different.
"I love you too."
Both smiling, Felix snuggled into Mark, before Mark pulled him away and kissed him passionately, then continued to watch the video. The pair soon fell asleep.
But it really happened when Mark woke up.
He just couldn't get his mind off of it.
Leaving a slightly snoring Felix in the fort, something was on Mark's mind, and it was major, too.
He hadn't meant to see it.
He really hadn't.
When a simple question had crossed his mind, 'What date is Easter this year?' He'd taken to Google to sort it out. And those stupid Google ads popped up in the window.
That's when he saw it,
Felix's ring.
He knew it was the one. It matched him perfectly. It just looked so...
Right.
Clicking on the ad and bringing him to the page where it was, he saw it for the first time. Mark thought about it.
Hard.
Looking at it carefully.
He was scared.
Mark opened up other tabs, clicking back every few minutes to take another look at it. Then finally going back to the site, being frustrated with himself, Mark then put it on those stupid 'Wishlist' part of the site, the part that he always thought was stupid.
Until now.
Being the curious person he was, Mark then decided to stare the devil right in the face.
He typed into the search bar 'male engagement rings'.
And so, without really even knowing it,
Mark started making plans.