32
One year later...
Nolan grinned as Finn walked out on stage to wolf whistles. He deserved them. Now that he owned one that fit properly, Finn looked incredible in a suit.
Way better than Nolan, who still felt a little out of place, but knew Finn would be back when he was done starting the auction.
“Hello folks,” Finn began, beaming out at the audience. “You, uh, might remember me from last year, I was one of the lots,” he said.
“I’ll keep this as brief as possible, but I just wanted you to know that bidding on this auction could change your life,” he said, looking down at where he must have known Nolan was standing.
Nolan had been on the stage when they were setting up, and he knew Finn couldn’t see a goddamn thing from up there, but Nolan waved back anyway.
“I ended up going on a date with the most incredible man I’ve ever met,” he added. “He surprises me every day, and he puts up with me, which is a miracle. I can’t imagine living without him, and I, uh… I’ve got something important to ask him when I’m done up here.”
Blood rushed in Nolan’s ears. Finn couldn’t mean…
Could he?
The rest of whatever Finn had been saying before he handed the microphone over to May was lost on Nolan, his head spinning with the thought that maybe, just maybe…
As soon as he saw Finn walk off the stage, he rushed around to the back where he knew Finn would be.
Standing in the same side passage they’d first met in, Nolan watched Finn approach him with a tiny, shy smile.
“Hey there,” Finn said, looking Nolan up and down. “Did I mention you look great?”
“Only a hundred times on the way to the car,” Nolan said, heat creeping up the back of his neck. “There was, uh… something important? You wanted to ask me?”
Finn’s smile broadened, turning warm and kind and making his eyes sparkle in the low light.
“Yeah, there was something,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Do you think… uh… wait, I should do this right.”
Nolan stared as Finn dropped to one knee, looking up at him. “You think you might wanna marry me?”
The room seemed to spin around Nolan’s head for a moment.
Finn wanted to marry him.
Finn wanted to marry him.
“Yes,” he said, without needing to give it a single moment’s thought. “Hell yes.”
Finn’s smile turned into a grin. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Nolan said, offering his hand to help Finn up. “I mean, I guess. If you really want to,” he teased.
“I really, really want to,” Finn said, taking Nolan’s hand and standing. He brushed his thumb over Nolan’s knuckles, looking at him like he was seeing him for the first time.
Nolan’s heart felt too big for his chest as he looked at Finn and imagined calling him his husband. He couldn’t think of anything he’d ever wanted more.
“Welcome to the family,” Oscar said behind him, wrapping his arms around Nolan in a warm, tight hug before Nolan could react.
Not that he would have avoided it. He’d come to love Oscar’s hugs.
Ryan and Ezra filtered out of the shadows, too.
Nolan laughed. He’d been the last to know.
That was how it always was when one of them was planning a surprise for the others.
“I’m not marrying all of you,” Nolan said. “Finn asked first.”
Oscar sighed a long-suffering sigh. “I can’t believe you picked him over me,” he said.
“Or me,” Ezra added. “Geez.”
“I can believe you picked Finn,” Ryan piped up. “He’s hot, I get it.”
Oscar mock-glared at him, as if they weren’t disgustingly in love and only a few months out from their own wedding. December was creeping up on all of them, the wedding planned for the week before Christmas.
“I love all of you,” Nolan said, laughing. His cheeks hurt from grinning, but he didn’t even want to stop.
This was way better than this time last year.
“But I’m still marrying Finn,” he added, squeezing Finn’s hand and turning his attention fully to him.
Nolan had his family around him and the love of his life asking to keep him forever.
He couldn’t have imagined a happier ending.