Love Is Kind

His ears were ringing. That’s all he knew. His ears were ringing, his head was pounding, and his vision was blurring red around the edges.

Zack groaned and did his best to blink his eyes clear of whatever was causing his sight to bleed—

“Shit,” he muttered weakly. It was all coming back to him, one slow second at a time. He’d been on his way home from the office. All day—all week, really—he’d been feeling nervous butterflies because he knew that he was going to propose to his longtime boyfriend soon. He’d had the speech prepared for weeks in anticipation of the event, and he’d been practicing it for the umpteenth time in the car on his way home from work.

It was routine at that point. Zack had done it every single day without fail, practicing in the car on his way home so that he’d be more than prepared for when the moment finally arrived. He’d decided that he was going to do it during dinner that night.

Only, the routine had been changed. He’d been held back by his boss, who’d wanted to discuss that term’s sales, which caused him to leave work fifteen minutes later than usual.

Had he left on time, he wouldn’t have been stopped at the red light. Had he been more focused on the light, he would have noticed that it had changed. Had he noticed the light had changed, the car behind him wouldn’t have honked the horn. Had he noticed the light had changed, he would’ve made it through the intersection without a problem. Had he noticed the light had changed, the car behind him would have been in his place.

Had he left on time, he wouldn’t have been hit by the oncoming GMC TopKick 6500 pickup truck. Not once in his life did ever imagine he’d be hit by a Transformer.

He could still hear the screeching, could hear the crunch of glass and the metallic bangs as his car rolled multiple times over the unforgiving asphalt. Now, there was the hissing of his engine and the muffled, panicked shouts of those outside his vehicle. He could only imagine what they were witnessing—something told him that it was worse than what he was seeing.

What Zack was seeing was… nothing, really. Despite the sun still being high in the sky, it was dark in the mangled car. He could feel wetness surrounding him, and everything ached. If he focused his dwindling energy, he could feel how many deep gashes littered his body. They explained it all.

He knew he wasn’t going to make it.

With a shaky breath, Zack was making a split-second decision and beginning the search for his (hopefully still-working) cellphone. He had one last thing to do before his end, and he didn’t have long.

Every movement hurt. Glass and metal that had lodged themselves into his skin seemed to be pressed in deeper the harder he tried. All he needed to do was reach his pocket, but it felt like he was pushing his way through a field of flaming cacti. If he were being honest, that didn’t sound quite as painful.

After what could have been hours of struggling, Zack’s phone was finally pulled from his pocket. The screen was cracked well beyond repair, but, to his surprise and relief, it was in near-perfect working order. Not much thought was put into pulling up the speed dial list, but it took a couple of tries (and a cut thumb—the least of Zack’s worries) before the device began to ring.

Within moments, his boyfriend, Jordan, was answering. “Hey, babe,” he said down the line, a smile in his voice. “You still at work?”

“Yeah,” Zack croaked. He had to shake his head and move the phone away from his face in order to clear his throat before he was giving it another go. “I think I’m gonna be here for a little longer. Got a couple minutes while boss-man goes to the bathroom. I don’t know when I’m gonna be home, so I just wanted to call and ask how your day went.”

Jordan hesitated for a moment before replying. He could probably hear the chaos still ensuing in the background.

“It was alright. A little boring. All the kids were kind of just… chill today. I don’t know. It must be a full moon or something. I’ve never seen them all so relaxed. How was yours? Well, I mean, minus the obvious, sucky part.”

“It was fine,” Zack dismissed easily, “but I need you to do something for me. I know that this is really impersonal, but I also know you like different and I can’t wait any longer. Go in the bedroom, open the top drawer of my nightstand, and there’s gonna be a blue box. I want you to open it. Tell me before you do, okay?”

Jordan hummed down the line and did as directed. Each step closer brought more adrenalin and concern into his veins. What if this was like some sort of scavenger hunt? Or what if this was Zack’s way of saying that—

“I got it,” the younger said as he sat on the edge of their bed.

“Alright, stop. Listen to me closely, understand? I only have another minute or two. Jordan, you know you mean the world to me, right? I wouldn’t, couldn’t, ever trade you for anything. You’re my moon, my stars, my sun. You’re the breath in my lungs and the… fuck, you’re my… my… shit, I had a whole speech planned. I don’t have long. Open the box.”

Zack’s eyes slipped closed in exhaustion as he waited. Upon hearing a sharp gasp from the other end of the line, he took a deep breath and finished his speech.

“Jordan Witzigreuter, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” the younger gushed. “Yes a million times. I love you.”

“I love you, too, beanie. So much. I gotta go now. I love you.”

“I love you,” Jordan repeated. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“I’ll see you soon. I love you.” The line went dead only moments later. Zack could feel every ounce of strength in his body diminishing as he dropped his phone. He had no more than a minute left.

He felt terrible for what he’d done—asking Jordan to marry him when he was on the verge of death—but he knew he’d never get the chance again. He knew he’d never get another chance to tell the younger how he felt. He’d never get another chance to show his love and appreciation.

That single moment of happiness his partner was surely feeling was all he had left to give. A single moment of happiness and a small, silver band that promised his heart.