Commitment

© Sweet Kisses™

~*~

"Can I take this damn blindfold off now? I can't see!"

"Too bad! You'll just have to wait!"

Nick inwardly fought off a loud laugh at the sight of Kevin sitting beside him in the car, whining like a baby, a black blindfold concealing his vision. When Nick had promised Kevin a surprise, then revealed the blindfold, Kevin was more than a little shocked. Matter of fact, Kevin had thought that it was just a tiny bit kinky. But, being the person that Kevin was and wanting to make Nick the happiest person in the world, he obliged and donned the blindfold, then was immediately led to Nick's car, apparently driving to his so-called "surprise".

They had gotten to the stage in their relationship where everything was running smoothly. Sure, they had fights now and again, but not like they used to. All their fears and worries about being together had somewhat magically disappeared into thin air. And sure, their friends and family were having a slightly tough time trying to deal with them being a couple, but they both knew that time healed everything. After all, time kept them together and time worked out all their problems, so they just assumed that sooner or later, their family and friends would get used to them being a couple.

And after all, they just couldn't be apart. They knew that better than anyone.

"This is not fair, Nick, and you know it!" Kevin cried, his head turning every which way it could. "It's not!"

Nick then finally did laugh. "Oh boo-hoo, Mr Richardson," he replied slyly. "Cryin' ain't gettin' ya nowhere!"

Kevin crossed his arms across his chest and, to Nick's surprise, pouted childishly. "Cruel bastard," he murmured.

Nick chuckled softly to himself, thinking that Kevin was depicting his own mannerisms more and more everyday.  He sighed happily and surveyed the area while he coasted effortlessly along the winding road. The landscape was a beautiful green masterpiece, with cloudless blue skies and bright yellow rays. But at this time, however, the sun was just beginning to go down and the previously cloudless blue sky was splashed with a spectacular array of red and orange, the colors skimming across the sky.

Nick knew that Kevin would just love his surprise, and after all, he'd better. It had only taken him something sort of a miracle with what he had in mind.

"Are we there yet?" Kevin demanded, turning his head slightly as though he were trying to look at Nick, though he couldn't.

Nick burst out laughing again. "Would you shut up for two seconds? Remember, this is what you did to me a long time ago. And don't forget that."

"Well, excuse me, Mr  Memory," Kevin snapped, "but I actually let you see the light of day after three seconds!"

Nick shook his head, even though Kevin wouldn't see him do so. "Actually, no you didn't. When you blindfolded me, you pretty much tortured me. If I have this so called perfect memory, I remember that you whispered things into my ear that you knew very well would make me cry, you also kissed me when I couldn't see you and you touched me when I didn't know you were going to touch me. So - "

"Just get me out of this already!" Kevin yelled.

Nick smiled smugly. "Whatever you say, baby," he replied softly and suddenly stopped the car.

Kevin gasped. "What? We stopped? Is there actually a God?"

Nick leaned across, bit down on his lower lip for a moment to stop himself from laughing at Kevin's confused, helpless expression and whispered into Kevin's ear, "But we haven't even started! Don't tell me Mr Richardson don't want to play!"

Kevin's lower lip trembled, completely unaware what Nick was doing to him. "Well...I do...b-b-but..."

Nick glided his hand around slowly to support Kevin's neck, intently staring at Kevin's expression and loving every minute of it. He paused for a few moments, watching with glee at Kevin's tortured expression and listening to his deep breaths. He paused for another moment, then with slow and careful progress placed his lips softly down on Kevin's before Kevin reacted instantly and returned the kisses with as much intensity and passion that he could. They just stayed like that for several moments, kissing each other loving, before they both broke away in need of breath.

After stepping out of the car and standing in front of Kevin, Nick took Kevin's hand and placed it in his own. "Okay, you can get out now."

Kevin stepped out of the car, still blindfold and then turned his body around, so that when he started talking, he wasn't even facing Nick. "You know, Nick, this isn't - "

"Uh, Kevin," Nick interrupted, quickly moving in front of him, "I'm right here." He covered his mouth with his hand to stop himself from laughing for the millionth time already. "You're talking to the wind."

"This is all just a big game to you, isn't it?" Kevin demanded, placing his hands on his hips.

"Yes," Nick managed to say while he fought off a fit of hysterics.

Suddenly, a sly smile spread across Kevin's face slowly. "You know what you can do with this stupid blindfold, Nicky?" He then raised his hands to the blindfold. "I'll just take it off right now!"

Nick rushed forward. "No! No, please - "

But it was too late. The blindfold was already removed and Kevin was suddenly staring at his surprise.

What he saw was rolling green hills in the distance that looked as though they were as comfortable as carpet. The sun was just setting and the moon slowly rising, the stars soon to come out, birds were chirping sweetly, and they were out in the middle of nowhere, or the country. A place where Kevin always wanted to live. And then he saw the ranch style home to the side of him, with a spacious deck that circled the whole house. It was that rich, mahogany style color, and everything seemed perfect.

"This..." Kevin gasped and then tears were forming in his eyes. "This is it? The surprise?"

Nick nodded, smiling. "Yup," he replied, taking Kevin in his arms, wrapping them around Kevin's waist, Kevin's back to his chest and placed his chin down on Kevin's shoulder while they both looked out to the distance ahead. "This is our new home. Of course we'll still live where we are now for business purposes, but any time you just want to pack up and leave, for any reason at all, this is the place. Just for us."

He placed a soft kiss on Kevin's neck and delicately patted Kevin's abdomen. "A place where no one can find us, no one can us touch us, no one can contact us, no one can see us, hear us, hurt us or be horrible to us. A place where we can be comfortable to love each other and do what we want, when we want, how we want...and you know what that means. It's just for you and me."

"Nick," Kevin whispered, sighing happily, "this is so beautiful. I can't...I can't believe you did this for me!"

Nick smiled. "Well, you did this for me, so I thought I'd return the favor."

Kevin chuckled, extracted himself from Nick's grasp and turned to face him. "So this is what you were talking about, huh?" He leaned forward and kissed Nick gently. "This is the best surprise ever."

Nick's blue eyes shone magically. "Hey, you haven't seen the inside yet, or the bedroom, or the shower, or the jacuzzi or anything..."

Kevin chuckled as he was led inside the house that was now classified as their home away from home. Nick talked a thousand words a minute, dragging Kevin along by his hand while he went into long detailed stories about the surroundings and the interior. And the interior was just as magical as the view Kevin saw on the outside. On the inside, the place had been decorated in a radically different way to their other home, but it was still perfect. It wasn't all chrome, white and black, it was bright colors and comfortable furniture with large, open rooms and a lot of space to just sit back and unwind when city life was hectic.

"How did you find this place?" Kevin asked, awestruck, his eyes roaming around the place quickly.

"You'll never believe this," Nick began, taking hold of Kevin's arm, "but it was actually our friends who found this place for us."

"Really?" Kevin said softly.

"Yup," Nick replied, nodding with a small smile on his face. "You know Howie's into property and real estate, so I told him what I was looking for and he went out on a hunt. He couldn't really find anything that was what I really wanted, so he got A.J. and Brian involved, because hey, there's success in numbers, right? Well, Brian actually found this place through a friend of Leighanne's but Brian couldn't get out here because of some business reason or another with his charity, so A.J. came out here to check it out. He called me the same day, told me it was absolutely perfect and that I should get out here straight away to see it. And, well," he concluded, smiling more brightly, "to make a long story short, it was perfect and both A.J. and I agreed that I should stake my claim right then and there. So I did."

Tears were forming in Kevin's eyes and he couldn't believe that all his friends had been in on the idea when not to long ago, they didn't want to have a thing to do with them. He thought it was nothing short of a miracle. "But who...who did all this? Who made this place look so perfect in here?"

"Well," Nick drawled, "you'll probably faint over this one, but it was actually Leighanne, Sarah and...Kristin."

Kevin's eyes widened dramatically. "Kristin? Why?"

Nick shrugged. "I don't know, it just happened that way. Leighanne mentioned to me that Kristin would be a great help since she lived with you and knew what you liked, so...she was glad to help. The three ladies sure did a great job, huh?"

Kevin nodded, the tears now shining in his eyes, his heart brimming with happiness. "They sure did."

A few hours later, after inspecting the entire place, filled with a detailed account of every little thing from Nick, both Nick and Kevin were curled up together in a blanket before a fire, the flames dancing across their faces, glasses of champagne in their hands.

Kevin leaned over and kissed Nick gently. "Thank you," he said softly. "This is really beautiful, and I love you so much for it."

Nick chuckled and returned the kiss. "Good thing you appreciate it," he replied and then suddenly gasped. "Oh, I forgot something. Be right back," and ran off down the hallway.

Several moments later he returned and received a curious look from Kevin. He quickly sat down again, wrapped the blanket around him and curled up closer to Kevin. "I got you something else. But it's nothing like the house. It's actually a symbol of everything that I feel about us being together and everything that we've experienced. I know that everything hasn’t been smooth sailing – “

“You got that right,” Kevin said with a laugh.

“But that’s all behind us now and I’d like to think that this is the beginning of our relationship. Our real relationship. Before everything was so confusing and with everyone that we loved not liking what we were doing...it made everything so much more difficult. But now that everything is getting better and we’re better, I’d like to think that this is the start of our relationship. I’ve known you for so long and when that all changed, it was weird. But in a really nice way. And I’ll tell you something.” Nick paused and smiled softly. “The first time we ever slept together, I felt more love in one ounce of our bodies being together than I had in my whole entire life. You know that?”

Kevin shook his head, his eyes wide. “No,” he whispered.

“Well, it’s true,” Nick replied quietly, nodding. “And because we’ve been through so much and we’re still together, that says something, it means something. So I want to show you how much you mean to me, how much this relationship means to me, and how committed I am to you, because of you.”

“Nick, what are you talking about?” Kevin said, still in a whisper. “Are you going to tell me something’s wrong?”

Nick laughed at Kevin’s fearful expression and shook his head. “No, no,” he replied. “I’m talking about this.” With that said, Nick raised his hand to reveal two gold rings. “This is what I mean. None of that, you wear my ring, I wear yours, this is us. No. We’re not doing that again. This is the real thing, I know it, and I want to do this as the real thing. Like you and me, partner and partner, friend and lover...the whole deal.”

“Do you mean...?” Kevin stared at the rings apprehensively. “Marriage?”

Nick placed the rings down in front of him and took Kevin’s hand in his own. “Kevin Scott Richardson, do you take – “

“Oh my God,” Kevin whispered. “You’re serious.”

“This man,” Nick continued, “Nickolas Gene Carter, to be your lawfully wedded partner – “

“Correction,” Kevin interrupted. “It’s husband.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Partner sounds better.” He cleared his throat, then proceeded. “In good times and bad times, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, till death do you part?”

Kevin stared at Nick for a few moments, debating whether or not if this whole thing was real. But just one look into Nick’s eyes said it all. This really was real. “I do.”

“Good,” Nick said, smiling. “Now, your turn.”

“Nickolas Gene Carter,” Kevin began, “do you take this man, me, to be – “

“Come on, Kevin, be serious,” Nick scolded with a frown.

Kevin widened his eyes for a moment, thinking of how much Nick sounded like himself. Weird how couples sometimes unknowingly emulated each other. “Kevin Scott Richardson, to be your lawfully wedded partner, in good times and bad times, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?”

Nick smiled. “I do,” he said, then picked up the rings, handed one to Kevin and slipped the other onto Kevin’s finger. “I now pronounce you...my partner.”

Kevin laughed softly and slipped a gold ring onto Nick’s finger. “I now pronounce us...married.”

Nick then threw his arms around Kevin and tackled him to the floor, taking him by complete surprise and kissing him deeply. “Can we consummate the marriage now?” he whispered breathlessly, pressing his forehead against Kevin’s.

“Hell yeah,” Kevin replied, returning the kiss intensely. “But you’ll have to take my clothes off first.” His eyes danced with excitement. “Oh, yeah. And yours, too.”

Nick raised his eyebrows mischievously. “Oh, I see. But...do you think you could keep yourself quiet if I did?”

“Huh?” Kevin asked, his expression curious.

Nick smiled cheekily and lifted himself up onto his knees, pushing Kevin down onto his back, one knee on either side of Kevin to keep him restrained. He almost burst out laughing at the helplessness in Kevin’s eyes. “Well,” he began, taking hold of his shirt, “suppose I might want to...” He lifted his shirt up just above his navel. “Strip...for you...slowly...do you think that you could keep yourself from begging me to keep going? Or if I decided to...undress you...slowly...and maybe...kiss you...touch you...in nice places...do you think you could control yourself?”

“No,” Kevin replied huskily and pulled Nick down to him to engulf him in a long, leisurely kiss, both men sighing happily, contentedly when their lips met. And while they kissed, they both began to take off each other’s clothes quickly and when they eventually were bare with each other, Kevin saw something in Nick’s eyes that filled his heart full of love. He saw love and a future. A very long future. “I love you, Nicky.”

Nick fastened his arms around Kevin’s neck and smiled softly. “I love you, love you, love you...”

“Till death do us part, Nicky,” Kevin whispered.

Nick continued to smile. “Till death do us part.”

~**~