Bloom (ManxMan)

Be Mine Forever

Tired.

It's been a long day at the bakery and Isaac hadn't had time to stop by. He had a meeting with the representative of Defense department as well as Foreign Ministers afterwards.

It's a bit past seven, it was dark out and Andy was craving incredible food and a warm bath, preferably with Isaac in the tub with him.

It's been two years since Isaac became king and two since since they started dating. It's been a roller coaster ride for both of them. Isaac tried to arrange his schedule in a way that would benefit himself and his family. It's been months since they talked about children and even Andy had let it slip once that he once thought about marriage.

Andy walked through the doors and finds Isaac in the kitchen, turning the sauce he had cooking on the stove. Andy falls onto the seat, his elbow resting on the table, chin resting on his open palm.

"Well, don't you look all bright and lively." Isaac teases as he switched off the light underneath the sauce. He walked over to Andy and wraps his arms around Andy's shoulder, leaning down to press a kiss to Andy's hair.

"Tired?"

"Yeah. I just want food and a bath. Maybe you read something to me too?"

"Anything for you, baby." Osaac replies. "I made brown rice with a turkey sauce, some vegetables and there's red wine in the fridge."

"I can't thank you enough." Andy leaned against Isaac's hand. "I love you."

"And I love you too, baby."

Isaac gives Andy's shoulder a light squeeze before walking to the cupboards, he takes out two plates and dishes out two large spoons of rice, the sauce and turkey on the side.

"This is amazing." Andy groans after he swallows his first spoon. "Would you teach me how to cook?"

"I have been offering to for years but you kept deviating and distracting me."

"I didn't see nor did I hear you complain."

"That's because I can't say no to you. You're my flower." Isaac replied honestly, his voice sharp.

"One day I'm going to ask you to buy me an island." Andy grins, waving his spoon at Isaac, who was staring at him fondly. Like always they were seated across each other, their hands on each other while they eat with their right.

Not once had Andy regretted his relationship with Isaac. Not when some of the hateful words he read online got to him. Not when Osaac has to travel for weeks for more than a week. Not when various rumors began to swirl across the internet.

It's great. He was so in love with Isaac that it was unbelievable to him some times. Times like this when they seat close to each other and just talk, made Andy so happy. It's all about the little things.

Things like the jokes that were so dry and so bad that it still made Andy laugh, times when Isaac fell silent and wanted to be alone and Andy would let him with a cup of tea, times when Isaac had to force Andy away from the kitchen when he messes up Pastry after Pastry because he had a nightmare that scared him so much that it took Isaac three months to help him get over it. The little things like reading together, soaking together in a bath, going out for walks at the nearest park in the night, dancing slowly to the song playing from the heart that only them could hear.

Little things like their hands always finding each other, their pillow talks late at night and the soft caress of Isaac's hand on Andy's arm or back.

Once dinner was done, Andy offered to wash the dishes while Isaac went to get the bath ready. Once Andy got to the room, there was a faint smell of lavender in the air. He followed the scent trail until he got to the bathroom where Isaac was bent over the bath, his pinky dipped into bath.

"Please tell me I can get in. I feel relaxed already looking at this." Andy pouts as he gestured to the bath. Isaac gives him the go ahead and Andy does not hesitate to pull off his clothes.

Isaac watched his boyfriend pull off his clothes, his eyes raking all over the smooth skin of Andy's body before the baker got into the tub, sinking in until he was a floating head.

"Aren't you getting in?"

"I'm taking a mental picture of you. The way you move is so graceful." Isaac complements. He kneels beside the tub and ran his knuckles against Andy's cheeks.

"Thank you." Andy said, his smile bashful and cheeks red. "Now get in here."

"Yes, baby."

Isaac got up and pulled off his shirt, unbuttoning his jeans so he could slide them off. He dipped his fingers through the top of his boxers and pulled it down, the warmth of the room wrapping around him. Isaac has never been shy of his body, he was always proud and Andy suspects if he could Isaac would walk around naked all the time.

Not that he was complaining.

The king slipped into the bathtub, right behind Andy, his hands going around his boyfriend's waist as he pressed a kiss to the shell of Andy's ear.

"My king..."

"My flower." Isaac starts. "I spent the whole day thinking about you."

Andy chuckles, his hand softly stroking the hands Isaac had around his waist. "I know. I got your messages."

"And I got yours too. Including the selfies and the voice notes."

"I didn't want to to forget my face and my voice."

Andy laughed, he turned to the side and pressed a kiss to Isaac's cheek. "We saw each other this morning."

"That was at four am, it doesn't count. I still don't get why you have to wake up that early, you have three people working for you now."

"Yeah but they are my recipes. I feel comfortable baking them myself, if you know what I mean."

"I do." Isaac replies, slightly nudging Andy's head.

The entire bathroom smelt like lavender, Isaac had dinner the lights and the water was the perfect temperature, not too cold and hot in the best way. Andy bent his knees, teasing the king whose eyes immediately goes to the leg.

There was a special spot on Andy's body that Isaac took his time kissing and just plain loving. It's a little tattoo on Andy's waist, the name: Isaac written across it in a script pattern, a small flower where the I (in the name Isaac) should be.

The tattoo was mostly covered by Andy's shirt and the top of his jeans. No one knew about it besides Andy, Isaac and the make up artist. Being King he wasn't allowed to mar his skin, that and Isaac has a fear of needles, so he was going to get Andy permanently marked as his in another way.

"Do we still have that interview with Lumini tomorrow?" Andy asked, his head resting against Isaac's collar.

"I already asked Andrea to move it. You weren't comfortable with the idea."

"They used to print all these rumors about you and claim a close source told them. I want to grab them by the head smack them until they see how great you are as King, especially what you did, closing down those conversion camps."

It still made Andy shake when he remembered how they had heard about a young boy who was found bleeding halfway to the palace. He had been bare foot an on all white. A few days later Andy and Isaac learnt the boy's parent had sent him to one of those camps and they had tried to beat the gay out of him.

It had been a whole mess but Isaac had handled it like a pro. He gathered a couple of his ministers and used half of the police force to shut down any conversion center found. Andy had gone on to set up an LGBT foundation that provides shelter, no one should be maltreated because of who they like and who they are. Andy had been so close to marching up to the boy's parents and slapping them so hard, they'd see double.

If he had a child, a boy or a girl or both, he'd accept them the way they are, they were his children not a packaged doll that he could do away with.

"What are you thinking about?" Issac whispered, his hands now stroking the soft skin of Andy's arm.

"Kids..." Andy replies honestly. "A boy and a girl."

"And what would you like to call them?"

"I'd like to call the girl, Lily and the boy Isaac." Andy replies, turning a bit so he could look at Isaac's face. The king shook his head, a small smile on his face.

"What about Oscar?"

"After your favorite poet and writer?" Andy asked and Isaac nods. "What if he's called Stephen Oscar Théodore, the first?"

"Yes, that's better."

"I can't believe we are talking baby names in the bath." Andy shakes his head, his fingers playing with the bubbles.

"Is there a right place to talk about this?"

"I don't think so." Andy says. "It's nice to know that our relationship is going so strong that we can see where we are headed."

Isaac falls quiet at that, he doesn't reply for s couple of seconds, the steady rise and fall of his chest against Andy's back was what clues Andy in that his king was still there.

Isaac gently nudged Andy and tried to turn him around. Thankfully the bathtub was huge and there was enough room for Andy to turn around and face Isaac. The baker silently gasped when he sees Isaac holding a small box, a calla lily hand stitched on the green velvet box.

"Isaac..."

"I've been carrying this for months, looking for the right time to ask you. While I was preparing the bath, I hid it behind the tub, not sure if today was right either. It is though. I cooked and you cleaned and me came in here. We talked about our future in a way that's easy and familiar to both of us. Loving you has been a dream, I will keep on loving you until my last breath."

Andy bit his bottom lip, trying to push back the tears but they were going to spill any moment.

"These past three years have been not more than the best years of my life. I love you, I love you and I love you. You bring out the best in me and help me with my worst, you know what I need and when you don't you try as hard as possible to. You got me permanently marked on your skin and I want to do the same, I want to marry you, I want to watch you walk up to me as beautiful as you are every single day, I don't know how you do it but it just... makes me want you more and more. I want to wake up next to you everyday, I want to have kids with you, little Lily and Little Stephen. I want everything with you. I want to take care of you, to love and to hold until we take our final breath."

Isaac pauses and Andy held his breath. He knew what was coming next but it still shocks the air out of him when Isaac asks.

"Andy, will you make me the happiest man alive and marry?" Isaac asked as he pulled open the box.

"Yes!" Andy cries. He raised his shaky hands as Isaac slipped what had to be the biggest diamond cut ring Andy had ever seen onto his finger. The ring was spectacular, little green gems weaving around the diamond like a vine and the words, my flower prince engraved on the inside. It was the perfect ring for Andy and sat on his finger like it had finally found its home.

Andy and Isaac still had a long way to go but with this ring and their love, they seemed one step closer than ever.

fin