David Rose

The day is finally here and David is, predictably, having a meltdown.

The wedding is taking place at an absolutely adorable bed and breakfast just outside town, the grounds lush and green, decorated with flowers and a perfectly rustic arch over the place where they'll be getting married, built by Derek. There are chairs set up, tables later for dinner, a little dance floor and David has hired the best DJ they could afford. Everything is perfect. It's literally perfect.

So of course David is having a meltdown because one of his socks is missing. He's had his entire outfit planned for months, but now he can't find one of his socks and he's torn apart the room in the bed and breakfast where he'd spent the night before in an attempt to find it. He and Patrick had spent last night apart and tonight they're going to be sleeping in this room together, grand and beautiful and just as adorable as the rest of the place, but right now David needs to find his fucking sock.

Crisis is averted when Derek ends up sniffing it out where it's fallen behind the dresser and David snatches it from him, grumbling that they're brand new and they can't possibly smell like him yet, except he definitely tried them on once or twice to make sure the entire ensemble worked and then he ends up having a teary little panic attack in Derek's arms for a minute or two.

But then it's fine. He's fine. Everything is fine, because he's marrying Patrick.

The only thing that isn't perfect is all the people who are missing. His parents. Alexis. Stevie. For a minute he almost has another breakdown, but instead he just thinks of what Stevie would tell him to do and he knows, between her tears, she would tell him to go marry his best friend.

So he does.

He walks down the aisle on his own, following after Derek, carrying a bouquet of wild white roses. When he reaches Patrick, he shifts his bouquet to one hand, grasping at Patrick's arm so he can squeeze tightly before the officiant begins the ceremony.

And when they're asked to exchange vows, David inhales through his tears and tries to speak without blubbering. "Patrick," he says, then sniffles. "I've never liked a smile as much as I like yours. I've never felt as safe as I do when I'm with you. I've never known love like I have when we're together. It's not always an easy road for me, but knowing you're walking it with me makes everything better."


In all honesty, Patrick had been expecting about twenty more little fires to put today than he’d run into. It’s a wedding, which means there are a lot of moving pieces, and it’s his and David’s wedding, which just means those pieces are a little more precise and exact. Still, everything’s going really well to the point that Patrick is beginning to wonder when the other shoe will drop.

He’s got his suit, which is probably boring, but it’s perfectly pressed and presentable, and he’s been standing and waiting for David to walk down the aisle towards him.

And then, there he is, the love of his life.

The day stops feeling real, because he really never thought he’d get this. First, it had been his confusion about his feelings, and then when he figured it out and proposed, he wound up with David in a place where David had no memory of being engaged. It’s all worked out, and David proposed, and here they are.

Here they are.

“David,” Patrick begins, “I know this is probably going to make you cringe,” he admits, “but,” is all the warning he gives before he eases into an acapella rendition of Mariah Carey’s Baby, because he knows that it’s important to David, and it also encapsulates what he feels. When he’s finished, he does have to add his own words. “Nothing in my life ever felt right, and I couldn’t figure out why. Then, I met you, and it was like a light was shining down from above. I knew that the only way I would feel right is if I had you in my life, and if I got to love you. You’re my best friend even if I know I’m not competing for Stevie when it comes to yours, and you’re my partner, and you are the love of my life. You are everything that I’ve wanted, but didn’t know I did until I met you, and I am so glad that today, you’re my husband.”

He’d though the vows would be hard, but they’re easy. They’re as easy as being told he can kiss David and taking advantage of that moment to share a first kiss with his husband, giddy and with his partner.


The party is perfect. He'd been worried about the DJ, about the food, about the desserts and the alcohol, but by the time he has two glasses of champagne in him, David is worried about much, much less. He's married now, after all, to the best man he's ever known.

David prefers the winter months and not only because then it makes perfect sense for him to wear leather sweaters. There's something oddly comforting about Christmas decorations and he thinks it has something to do with the Christmas parties they used to have. Before they ended up losing all their money and were completely poor and couldn't buy each other gifts or even put up a tree that wasn't two feet tall and falling apart.

Okay, so that Christmas had actually been pretty nice, too, now that he remembers it, but that isn't the point.

Right now, standing in front of Rosebud Apothecary in a pair of stylishly skinny black jeans, black high-tops, and yes, a white and black leather sweater, he's staring at the wreath he's just put on the front door and trying to decide if he prefers this one wreath or the other. The one currently on the door is bright and festive, with a few red poinsettias. The other, which he's currently holding in his hand, is very minimalist. A beautiful gold ring with some simple boughs of evergreen along the bottom, dotted with red holly berries.

The rest of the store is already decorated in gorgeous Christmas greenery, with soft lighting and a few well placed Christmas scented candles to lend a hand to the whole atmosphere.

But he can't decide between the wreaths.

"Patrick!" he calls as he takes the first wreath off the door again. "I need your opinion."

These are rare words for him to speak. Truthfully, David would ask almost anyone else if they were nearby, but the street isn't exactly bustling and the only customer in the store right now looks a little too much like a teen goth for him to bother. So Patrick it is. He just isn't going to mention that he'll go with the wreath Patrick doesn't pick.

David is doing this and he's doing it properly.

The only reason it's taken him this long, when he'd sort of wanted to ask Patrick about a week after his memories had returned, is because he'd had to get the ring made. That and he had actually wanted to give his focus to Michael and Alex to make sure everything was just right for them.

But their wedding has come and gone. The ring is in a box that he'd hidden in the little side pocket of the couch in their living room. Their living room, their home, their store. For weeks, David had considered where to do this, only to come to the conclusion that this is the place. Without Patrick, he knows he wouldn't have any of this. He'd still be living in that sad, city assigned apartment and this building would be standing empty because he wouldn't have been able to open another store without him.

It feels right to do it here. Where they've combined their lives all over again.

It's a good day at the store. They have a steady flow of customers and David only freaks out once and only because he had been certain he'd seen a rat in the stock room. It had turned out to be a bit of rag he'd tossed there the week before when he had seen a spider and he makes no apologies for his meltdown, because he thinks it's entirely justified.

And as five o'clock rolls around and they begin to close down for the day, David continues to glance toward the apartment stairs, trying not to make anything seem too obvious. It had been a difficult thing, keeping Patrick from going upstairs at all for the past few hours, but with a bit of help, he'd managed to keep him distracted. And now, thanks to more help from some of the makers he buys from for the store, the apartment is (hopefully) filled with flowers and candles with a spread of cheese and wine set out for them on their coffee table. He'd passed his keys for the outer apartment door off to one of them earlier in the day and she'd just come in to give them back under the guise of checking out her display of candles near the front window.

A wink from her had told David all he needs to know.

He locks the door and pulls down the blinds, then shutters the windows before he turns to look at Patrick.

"Shall we?" he asks, trying not to smile. David doesn't often do things for other people and he's never been very good at surprises, but he doesn't think Patrick has any idea what they're about to walk into in their apartment above.

Every day, David and Patrick get a little bit closer to being ready to open the store. The building has been cleaned up, the shelves from Derek have been installed and look amazing, they've managed to get a few exclusivity deals with some vendors from around town when it comes to selling their wares, which is exactly what he'd been looking for.

They have skin products, cheese, wines, clothing, jewelry, art, all kinds of things, because apparently people in Darrow are very crafty, and a lot of them haven't the slightest idea how to get their things sold. David had even found one woman who made stunning handmade pottery and was convinced none of it was worth selling. He'd managed to get her to agree to sell her stuff only through him and he's pretty sure they're both going to make a killing on it.

The only thing left to do -- besides move in upstairs, which he wants done before the store opens -- is start up their social media account.

This is partly why he'd called Therese to meet him at the store. He knows he can't afford to pay her a lot just yet, not until they start turning a profit, but he knows how important social media is to a store like theirs and he knows the pictures have to look just right. Bringing in a friend who knows what the hell she's doing in that regard seems like the best and only option, really.

So David has tea ready for the two of them and he's standing near the front door of the store, waiting for Therese to arrive.

There are no cherry blossom orchards here to visit, especially not in March, and if there are any shitty little motels where he can lie about being on a honeymoon in order to get free booze, David doesn't know about them, which means there are limited places where he can go with friends.

And he actually has friends now. Plural. It's not just Stevie these days, although when he's being kind of pathetic and sad, he thinks he would trade all his multiple friends to have her here.

Not that he would ever say that out loud because he actually really likes the friends he has here and knows not to be that completely shitty to people he likes. It's why he's informed Derek they're going out for the night and he debates doing something super butch, like going to some live fighting or something, but it turns out that's actually super gross and David hates the mere thought of it.

It's just that he's not sure Derek will appreciate something like wine tasting.

In the end, he goes for something in between. Not a bar, because he figures someone who owns one of those probably has bar in his life, but a place where they can get drinks and play pool. Okay, so sort of a bar, but as far as David can tell it's a very gay billiards hall and he figures it'll be at least a little different than what Derek is used to.

There is a huge rainbow flag behind the bar, which he's counting as a good sign as he waits for Derek, already drinking an exceptionally well made Mojito.