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"I suppose so." Travis chuckles, bringing a hand up to brush hair off of Carter's forehead. He's been waiting to do something, wanting it to be perfect, but he now realizes that every moment with Carter is perfect. There's no reason to wait. "Hey, do you remember one last time?”
Carter groans. "How could I forget? Fucking hated it."
Travis reaches over to his bedside table, heart in his throat. He rummaged around until he finds what he's looking for. Carter's breath catches when he sees it. A dainty rose gold ring with a twisted love knot on the top, 26 little diamonds inlaid in the metal. He had immediately known it was the perfect ring, images of Carter wrapped in the rope he loves so much flashing in his mind when he first saw it. He can see in Carter’s expression that the boy loves it already.
“I was thinking,” Travis murmurs, the ring so damn fragile between his fingertips. “How would you like to be my boyfriend, one last time?”
“Yes,” Carter breathes. Then he wiggles his fingers and bounces impatiently. “Yes, yes, yes.”
Chuckling, Travis slides the ring on the boy’s thin finger and presses a kiss to it. Carter nearly tackles him after, as much as someone can be tackled when already lying down. He straddles Travis’s hips and tucks his face in the crook of his neck, fingers digging into his biceps.
“I love you,” Carter says, so much emotion in his voice that Travis can feel it. “Fuck, I love you so much, Travis.”
“I love you too, sweetheart.”
It takes Carter forever to fall asleep that night. Long after Travis has drifted off, the man’s broad chest rising and falling softly, he’s still wide-awake staring at his ring through the darkness. He doesn’t have any lamp light to help him. He’s stopped needing one a while ago. The man beside him is the only thing he needs to keep the darkness at bay these days.
Eyes too heavy to remain open, Carter finally rests his cheek on Travis’s chest and sighs happily. The man shifts in his sleep. His arm that’s wrapped around Carter tightens, almost like he’s unconsciously checking to make sure he’s still there. Then he relaxes again. Carter smiles against the caged bird tattoo over the man’s heart.
He breathes in slowly. Lavender. Tea tree oil. Cinnamon. And the new addition of charcoal.
It’s Travis.
It’s home.
It’s his happily ever after.
“We won,” Carter whispers to himself, a smile breaking loose on his lips. He kisses the caged bird and settles back to finally fall asleep.
We won.
