Forget Yesterday

“Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Zaaaaack,
Happy birthday to you!”

Zack blew out the candles on his birthday cake, and Matt, Alex, Jack, Rian and Vinny all cheered, as did the rest of the guests (a few people from Zack’s work, neighbours etc). Alex snuggled into Jack’s side, smiling to himself as he saw just how happy Zack looked, especially when he looked at Matt. Like seeing Matt made his whole day complete. He hoped that’s what he looked like when he looked at Jack.

“I’m going to cut the cake, okay baby? I’ll be back in a moment,” Matt promised.

“I think I’ll survive surrounded by my closest friends, Matthew,” Zack teased, bumping his hip against his boyfriends.

Matt just smiled, pecking Zack’s lips in a soft kiss before he picked up the cake and left the room. Zack immediately turned to face Alex and the rest of their group, the smile leaving his eyes.

“Okay, have I got something in my teeth?” Zack asked, worried.

“What?” Alex frowned, the others voicing the same.

“Have I got something in my teeth? Or do I smell funny? Or is part of my hair sticking up at a weird angle?” Zack panicked.

“No, nothing is wrong. Why?” Rian asked, placing a hand on Zack’s shoulder to calm him down.

Zack swallowed heavily, eyes darting over his shoulder.

“Matt’s been looking at me strangely all morning. Like he knows something I don’t,” Zack mumbled.

Shit. Zack was getting self-conscious again. This only happened, like, every 6 months. Zack had extremely low self-esteem, not helped by dating complete jerks through college, and since he’d been with Matt his issues had gotten a lot better. But not completely better.

“Matt’s probably just excited about your birthday. Has he given you your presents yet?” Alex asked.

“Well yeah…all but one. He said he was saving that for this afternoon,” Zack pouted.

“There, that’s probably it. He probably has a really nice present for you that he’s excited to give you. There’s no need to worry,” Alex reassured.

Trust Matt to get Zack all worked up like this.

Zack bit his bottom lip as he thought about it, but eventually nodded.

“Yeah…yeah, that makes sense. Sorry for freaking out on you guys,” Zack sighed.

“You don’t need to apologise. We’re your friends. That’s what we’re here for,” Jack smiled.

Zack smiled in return, and Alex grinned. Jack really was too perfect sometimes.

“Can I have everyone’s attention please?”

Matt?

Everyone focussed their attention on Matt, who was standing in the middle of the room, not far from where Zack was standing.

“Now I want to thank you all for coming to Zack’s birthday party. Fuck knows it would’ve been pretty embarrassing if no-one had actually shown up,”

Laughter. Zack blushed.

“All of you should know by now that Zack and I have been together for over three years. What most of you don’t know is that there was another reason for getting you all together like this today,” Matt said.

Alex frowned, not understanding. What was Matt doing?

Matt turned to face Zack taking both his hands in his. Zack just stayed silent, his eyes wide, innocent and confused.

“Baby, we’ve only been dating three years and living together for 10 months, but I know that there is no-one else for me. I love you from the bottom of my heart, you know that. There’s no-one else I want to spend my life with and I really hope that’s what you feel too. You know that I’m no good with words, so I’m just going to keep this short and sweet,”

Alex inhaled sharply as Matt got down on one knee. Holy. Fucking. Shit.

“Zachary Merrick, will you marry me?”

Zack immediately started crying, his hands flying to his mouth to cover his sobs. As soon as he nodded, the room burst into cheers, whoops and claps, Alex included. How romantic!

“Yes, fuck yes,” Zack managed to choke.

Matt pulled a ring out of his pocket and slid it onto Zack’s fourth finger, tears now leaking down Matt’s cheeks too. It was only when Jack cupped his face that Alex realised he had joined them in crying.

“Sorry,” Alex giggled, sniffing as he wiped his cheeks dry.

Fuck, he honestly couldn’t be more happy for his friend. After all the stress that Zack went through thinking that Matt was cheating on him when he was just planning all of this, Zack deserved his happiness.

“Don’t apologise. That was so sweet, proposing like that,” Jack smiled.

Alex just nodded, snuggling into Jack’s side again. Zack and Matt were now kissing in the middle of the room, completely oblivious to everyone around them. And so they should be.

“I’d like that one day,” Alex murmured.

Then he froze. What the fuck was he thinking?! Who says something like that to someone they’d only been dating 4 months?! What a fucking idiot! Where was Rian to stop him saying things like this?!

No, wait, seriously, where had Rian and Vinny snuck off to now?

Jack just grinned, pressing a kiss to Alex’s temple.

“That will be us one day,” he said softly.

“R-Really?” Alex asked.

Alex wasn’t just being an idiot then?

“Really. I want to be with you long-term, Lex. I can see my future with you, and I like what I see. Sure, it’ll be a long way off before we ever got married, but I’d like to think it could happen to us,” Jack smiled.

Alex’s breath caught in his throat, and he couldn’t stop the smile that spread over his lips. A future with Jack. He could live with that.

“One day,” Alex nodded.

“One day,” Jack echoed.

“THIS AIN’T NO MOTHERFUCKING ENGAGEMENT WITHOUT TEQUILA, BITCHES!”

Wtf?!

“Shit, Rian let Vinny near tequila. I warned him about this!” Jack groaned.

Alex just giggled and let Jack lead him past their still embracing friends without a care in the world. Today was fucking epic. How could anything ever change this?