Alex decided to take the time to think about his next move, figuring the best course of option would be to keep everything as they are until he would figure a wording that would seem safe. The rest of the day went by without much else to mention.
As the movie that night finished playing, Ben rose from cuddling Alex, took the remote controller and turned the TV off. On his other side, the empty bag of cheese puffs laid. He then went back to his position, and asked his fiancé with a pasty voice if he enjoyed it. Alex put his hand back on Ben’s lap as the Asian man resumed lazily caressing his lover’s side with the still-a-bit-orange tip of his fingers.
"Yes", replied Alex briefly.
"Are you alright, Baby? You’ve been quiet all day. Are you upset at me or something?"
"No!" reacted Alex very promptly. "We’re good."
Ben gave Alex a look, but did not insist. Instead, he repositioned himself and grabbed the former quarterback’s left hand. He idly started playing with the ring on Alex’s finger, as the redhead gulped in anticipation.
"You still want to get hitched, right, Alex? I… we don’t have to, you know, I’ll love you just the same."
"I know, uhm…"
"I just don’t know what I’d do if you’d stop loving me", declared Ben, plainly. Alex turned his head to him in a mix of horror and shock. He didn’t know what to say. Of all the things he could say, some could have a major impact not only on a normal relationship, but also on reality to a whole other level. "The hell with it", he thought to himself. He had an occasion to play a safety net card, why would he waste it. Plus, he actually meant the words he was about to utter.
"We will always love each other, and nothing can ever change it. You know it, right? It’s enough to me, and I don’t believe there is any rush to get married, unless you do."
Although it didn’t feel like anything changed at all, Alex was convinced that from now on neither Ben or him could fall out of love from each other. A weird feeling of vertigo assaulted him, quickly replace by the ecstatic assurance that he wouldn’t lose his fiancé. Somehow, Ben also seemed reassured. Alex kissed him and hugged him in this position for a while.
Alex jumped awake as Ben’s hand slapped him flat on the stomach. "Up to bed, sleepyhead." Ben kissed his cheek, and Alex blushed for falling asleep like that. He was so comfortable. Ben wiggled his way out of Alex’s embrace and head to the bathroom. While Ben performed his bedtime routine, Alex went to the kitchen, looking for a snack. He grabbed a pear from the fruit bowl on the table and bit at it pensively. He believed he came with a proper phrasing to change himself back to his former self without worsening his situation. The trickiest part would probably be to tight himself back to his former family. Or, more precisely, to move on the family tree to the position of what would currently be considered his own nephew. This thought was quite weird.
"Late night hunger, Baby?"
Ben came out of the bathroom and kissed Alex on the cheek, before heading to the bedroom. Alex only chuckled at the unsubtle double entendre and threw the leftovers from his snacks.
When Alex spat his toothpaste in the sink and rose his sight to his face he was not yet entirely accustomed to, he decided to jump in and try on this sentence he had prepared and repeated mentally.