this never happens.

nate fick is never caught off guard. he is meticulous, cautious, and always prepared. 

so when he walks into pappy and rudy’s house to the sound of his friends and family shouting “surprise,” his heart nearly stops. 

normally, most people respond with sounds of shock and thank yous, but nate wasn’t most people so the only thing that came out of his mouth was, “what the fuck?”

luckily his loved ones knew him well enough to take in stride.

he smiled wide, though, and managed to talk to everyone in the large crowd there, thanking each person for coming and the warm wishes of “happy birthday.”

all except the one person he wanted to be there the most, but knew couldn’t be here no matter how hard he tried.

it’d been two long and gruelling years without brad by his side, holding his hand, kissing him within an inch of his life and nate had barely managed to adjust even now. but he knew what brad needed and why brad needed to stay, so he managed, waiting for the day when he could see, hear, touch, and kiss brad again. 

he snapped out of his thoughts and told himself to throw his efforts into the party and enjoy the fact that his friends and family loved him enough to do this. still, the stray thought of what brad would say or do in certain conversations couldn’t help but pop into his head.

most of the guests eventually trailed out into the large backyard where the real party was set up, but nate held back to talk to gunny and pappy.

“i can’t believe i’m about to say this, but ray was right.”

nate choked on a bit of beer and covered his coughing fit with a warm laugh.

“about what?” he asked.

“he said that if we followed his idea we’d successfully surprise you.” pappy explained.

“and what was ray’s genius plan this time?”

pappy’s eyes widen and nate noticed gunny making some sort of signal behind him

“o-oh you know just distract you enough in order to surprise you.”

pappy looked nervous and before nate could ask him what was going on, there was a loud crash outside.

“can’t leave them alone for five goddamn minutes,” pappy muttered before running outside.

nate turned to gunny and stared, imploring him with eye contact alone to tell him what was going on.

gunny just laughed, “not today nathaniel. you’re not getting a word out of me. let’s go enjoy the party.”

half an hour later and nate had realized something was missing.

the party hadn’t felt complete since he got here.

and that’s when he realized that ray was nowhere to be found…or heard.

fourth beer leaving his hand and fifth entering it from the cooler, nate shouted across the yard, “walt! where’s ray?”

half a second later someone latched themselves to his back, their legs bracketing his chest. 

“you mean this ray ray?”

nate started laughing and turned as ray dropped to his feet and hugged him tight.

nate still thought it was odd how close he and ray had gotten seen they hit stateside. for the first six months, nate was an absolute mess and he had no idea what would’ve happened had ray not been by his side, them supporting one another through readjusting to civilian life. they were inseparable now, much to the group’s dismay because nate had usually picked up where brad had left off in keeping ray in line. now, since they were thick as thieves, nate just encouraged ray to all that he could be.

nate still laughs at the look on their faces when he fondly told walt to ‘shut up and leave ray alone’ and then encourage ray to continue his rant about chocolate chip cookies was the reason the education system was failing.

he and ray pull away and he hands his beer to him and grabs another.

“what the hell took you so long?”

“i had to pick something up for the party, man. good strippers are hard to find.”

nate would’ve been worried, but ray’s eyes looked everywhere but him, and over the past two years nate had learned that it was a tell that ray was hiding something. 

he laughed, “well where are they? i’m sure trombley can scar them for life.”

“i could only afford one, nate. it is your birthday after all.”

nate swallowed heavily, “ray, you’re not serious are you?”

ray laughed warmly, “i’m just fuckin’ with you.”

nate sighed in relief.

“but your gift is inside though.”

nate smiled, “alright. i know you won’t shut up until i open it. i’ll be right back.”

nate set his beer on a coaster on the counter, remembering the shit storm that was the eggnog christmas debacle where rudy nearly killed trombley.

he started looking around the small gift table for ray’s addition, but couldn’t find anything. 

“ray,” he shouted, “where’s your gift? i can’t find it.”

nate heard the tell-tale sign of boots hitting hardwood before he heard a voice that made his heart simultaneously stop and race.

“sorry, the plane was delayed and we didn’t have time to wrap me.”

nate closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he turned around.

immediately nate’s knees gave out, but like always brad was there to catch him.

brad’s warm laugh caressed the top of nate’s head.

“you always were weak in the knees when it came to me, nate.”

nate didn’t speak, nothing he could’ve said would’ve been right.

he launched himself into brad’s arms and held on tight, needing to feel, to know that brad was really here with him.

he looks up at brad and immediately their lips are sealed, firm and passionate and everything nate needed in order to bring him back down to earth.

he opens his eyes slowly and watches as brad’s smile widens into the blinding joy that nate didn’t realize his missed as much as he did.

nate doesn’t hear the party as loudly as he did before and he suspects this was the real surprise that ray had planned for.

he looks up at brad, skeptical, “brad?”

brad was staring at him intently as though nate would disappear any minute.

“yeah?” brad responded, hands moving from nate’s sides to run through his hair.

“who knew you’d be here?” nate asked

brad laughed, “every single one of them.”

nate smiled warmly at brad’s laugh, “fucking assholes.”

brad shrugged and grabbed nate’s hand, “to be fair, it was ray’s idea.”

there was a long moment where the two men just stared at one another.

nate didn’t want to put of the inevitable, so he took a deep breath and asked, “how long are you here for?”

brad’s smiled dropped, “as long as you want.”

nate’s jaw dropped and he was speaking before he could stop himself, “forever.”

brad’s stunned silence worried him, so nate cleared his throat awkwardly.

“i-if that’s not too much to ask.” he laughed, albeit a little forcefully, knowing what he was asking for.

brad’s arms wrapped around him again and pulled him in tight.

“i can work with that.”

he kissed nate but neither could really connect because they were both smiling to wide.

nate pulled back, “do you think ray could be both our best man?”

brad’s laughter continued all the way until they were in the backyard.

and surrounded by their friends who had become and would remain family, brad and nate’s hands were intertwined, as they always would be.

forever.