Briar looked at the box on the kitchen counter, eyes wide and mouth dropped slightly. Excitement began bubbling in his stomach.

"Is that for me?" he asked his boyfriend who smiled widely and stepped closer so he could wrap his arms around his taller lover.

"'course it is, babe. I hope you like it" Harlow softly husked in Briar's ear, inducing a shiver that was promptly ignored as impatience rushed forwards within his fluttery belly. He just wanted to jump up and down, perhaps give a little squeal but instead he forced himself to calm down to an appropriate level. With eager hands, he scooped up the velvet box and leaned back into the man behind him.

Upon opening the box a gasp fell from Briar, a hand flying to his mouth to catch his surprise. Within the box was a cushion on which lay an absolutely stunning pair of earrings. They were jewelled studs with feathers of startling silver falling from them, not too large but neither small enough to be overlooked. They were beautiful.

"Oh my god, Hari! They're so lovely" he sighed and once he wondered if they suited him, he pulled out of the arms holding him and rushed to the bedroom with the gift in hand.

Once positioned in front of the floor length mirror, he held the precious nuggets of silver up to his ears and moved his head from side to side, admiring the look of them. Briar particularly adored how the curve of the feathers accentuated his jawline a little more and the silver complimented his pale, rosy skin far better than gold would have.

That Harlow knew that little fact made him almost happier than receiving the gift itself; it showed just how much effort had gone into picking them. Though, it was really quite shocking that Harlow had chosen earrings as a gift in the first place considering he often asked Briar to not wear such things in their day-to-day lives.

"Stay there a minute and close your eyes, Bri" the slightly smaller of the two said as he entered the room. Sounds of the wardrobe doors opening and tissue paper being rustled almost tempted Briar into opening his eyes. But he was a good boy and did as told, hips doing a little wiggle in anticipation that he failed to suppress.

When something caressed his skin, he almost yelped and opened his eyes. But after a gentle shush from Harlow, he took a deep breath and decided to just wait. Something was placed against him again, silky and rather nice, the sensation only heightened by his lack of vision. And when the fabric of what he guessed was clothing brushed against his exposed thighs, he felt himself begin to feel flushed. Silk brushing over his skin, the only sounds in the room coming from their breaths and the heat of a body behind him was an oddly arousing concoction.

"Open" Harlow whispered and when their eyes met in the mirror, Briar knew his lover understood exactly what effect he was having on him. Then he let his eyes fall to the clothing held against his body and very nearly cried. His hands trembled, almost not quite willing to hold something so gorgeous and unexpected.

"Oh Hari..." he whispered, taking the fabric into his hands. It was a medium length silk dress, emerald green in colour with, as he discovered with exploring hands, a sexy slit up one side of the skirt that would end at his upper thigh. "I've always wanted to wear a dress like this" he confessed.

"It'll look perfect for tonight" Harlow said, analysing the reflection and nodding to himself.

Briar nibbled on his lower lip. Gifts, feminine ones at that, and now evening plans? He couldn't stop the needy part of his mind from screaming, 'DATE!'. Then the other part of his brain, the overthinking side he disliked, collapsed in a puddle and repeatedly mumbled, 'he's gonna propose'.

A date, now that was something Briar could get behind. He was exhausted and could barely remember the last time he wasn't working or when he and Harlow did something other than watch tv at home. Not that he felt they had to constantly be going places, spending money and basically being spoiled. If anything, he felt rather uncomfortable when he was given things and showered with affection. Briar never quite knew how to accept those gifts, justify the money spent on him or understand why people wanted to spend time with him. But... he wanted to feel special and adored sometimes, so a date would be greatly appreciated.

An engagement ring however... he felt deeply conflicted. They'd been together since he was fifteen, so one would think that after nine years together marriage would be a logical next step. Or at least an engagement even if a ceremony never followed it. Just a few years ago and Briar would have gone to church to pray and risked combusting into rainbow-hued flames if it meant finally getting hitched to the love of his life. Yet now, he wasn't so sure. And that made him feel awful, guilty.

"Hey, what's with the frown? Do you not like it? I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect one..." Harlow asked, frowning, and pulled the abused bottom lip from between Briar's teeth, rubbing it with a thumb.

"Oh, no, nothing like that. I love it, Hari. I was just trying to remember if we made plans for tonight; I didn't want you to be upset if I forgot".

When his boyfriend laughed, he felt his shoulders relax.

"Don't worry, you might not be the smartest tool in the shed but your memory ain't that bad, babe".

Briar nodded with a smile then felt a tightening in his chest when a rather obvious problem weeded it's way into his mind, "Are you okay going out with me in a dress? We haven't done something like that since... well, a really long time ago".

"Don't worry about that babe, it won't be a problem. You want to wear it, right? It was the most expensive one the boutique had. You've been moaning all the time about not getting to wear this stuff so I thought you'd like it. You do like it, right?" Harlow asked, seemingly worried.

Briar nodded eagerly to show his appreciation, setting the dress on the bed along with the earrings and already mentally debating on silver or black heels. Matte or sparkly was the real question that plagued him though.

"I love it. Seriously Hari, the minute I saw it I could've cried. Thank you so much for letting me wear it" he reassured and gave the other man a quick peck to reaffirm his words. "But where are we going?".

Briar should've known that this apparent sudden kindness was too good to be true, but he had just been so happy.

"An acquaintance of mine needs a plus one for an event he's attending. I described you and he immediately begged for your company. And guess what, babe," He stepped closer and took Briar's hands in his, squeezing rather tight in his enthusiasm. "He's going to pay us six grand!".

Briar's mind spun nauseatingly fast. At first he was relieved to hear it was not a proposal situation but that was the only positive his brain could register.

"Six grand, just to be a plus one? No, 'extra services'? That sounds too good to be true, Harlow. And I told you I didn't want to do that stuff anymore, especially if he wants sex" he spoke, doubt hanging thick in the air. Harlow's thrilled grin darkened to a scowl, pulling his hands away from the larger ones belonging to Briar.

"Are you fucking kidding me? I buy you expensive as hell earrings, a dress fit for a sexy, petite model and give you the only opportunity you'll get to wear them outside of the house... and you pull this shit? Do you have any idea how much debt we're in right now?".

In all honesty, no. Not at all. Briar had absolutely no idea how much debt they had because each time he asked, the number changed. When he was doing the work Harlow gave him, their debt seemed significantly lower. 'Just a little longer, and we'll be debt-free!', he would often be told. But once he decided to get jobs doing things he felt more comfortable with, like bartending and odd temporary jobs, suddenly the debt rose. Briar had questioned this, finding it odd, but was met with a harsh tone:

'I know you're thick as fuck, Briar, but c'mon... surely you can figure out how debt works without me holding your hand. I want a boyfriend, not a child'.

Briar felt like a total idiot for still not understanding, even after trying to research it. Sometimes his brain did feel a bit slow, childish, like when he got sleepy and just wanted to snuggle under a blanket with a cute little stuffed animal or when the idea of going to work made him tear up and crave paper and a pen just so he could pretend the outside world didn't exist. Like he wasn't a failure. But he never indulged in those childish behaviours and never questioned the debt again.

In fact, he didn't question much when it risked irritating Harlow.

"Is it bad?" he asked and felt guilty when his boyfriend's anger deflated and he suddenly appeared so much older than his age of twenty-seven. Gone were the boyish good looks of their county's best high school rugby player with blonde hair and blue eyes, lines of exhaustion taking place of laughter-induced crinkles.

"Yeah, really bad. After getting fired three months ago I'm still struggling to find work, bills are getting more expensive and the interest on that debt just keeps rising. I don't know what to do, Bri. I'm so fucking stressed. Then this guy I met was going on and on about wanting someone who fit your description and we got talking. I- we're desperate babe. Really desperate".

Listening to his first instincts to comfort, Briar went over to his lover and pulled him into a hug, the smaller males face fitting slightly painfully against his collarbone but he didn't mind. It was his fault for being so large. With soft shushes coming from his mouth and fingers running through Harlow's hair, he broke inside.

Why was he being so bloody selfish? Harlow gave him everything; a place to stay, warmth, food, security, companionship and love. They may have had to do things they weren't proud of to stay afloat and independent from their families, but they had each other. Surely he could do one more client... just one more and it'd all be okay.

"I'll go" Briar said and almost fell backwards when his boyfriend pulled back, looking up with wide eyes glistening like the ocean. "But this is the last one. Six grand should be enough to pay off the debt, right?". It was a hopeful guess.

Harlow seemed deep in thought for a minute, eyes scarily blank until he snapped back to attention and grinned widely.

"Yep! If I throw all of my saving in with it then we should just about make it. As long as I cut down on my meals and stuff, we should be fine".

Crack, went Briar's heart. He couldn't let his boyfriend go hungry while he still brought in wages (meager as they were). They were partners, this was a partnership just as much as a relationship in his eyes and that meant they went equal as much as possible.

"Um, I have some savings I could spare. But I mean it, Hari, we can't get into debt anymore. No more loans or I swear, I'm done".

"I'm sorry," Harlow whispered, looking down and sighing. "I only took those out so we could have a place to live. Your parents kicked you out and, well, I wanted to be able to give you a home- like a real man. I never realised how much of a scam they were... pathetic, ain't I?".

Seeing his strong and usually confident man all sullen was truly horrible for Briar.

"No, you're my saviour; when I had no one else, you took me in. Our relationship had been falling apart, just like everything else in my life, and you still chose to stay by my side when I was at my lowest. You are my everything and I'll always be grateful. I love you".

Briar went easily when he was pulled into a kiss, hot breaths passing between them as their tongues played together teasingly. A groan fell from him when Harlow gripped his ass, the lacy underwear he wore doing nothing to block the sensation. If anything, feeling the lace against his skin as the meat of his ass was squeezed added to his growing erection.

Their mouths moved faster, needy sounds pulling from Briar's mouth as his arousal reached so high his balls ached and insides itched for relief. It had been so long.

"Please, Hari, fuck me" he whined, looking down into blue eyes with lust. That lust soon cleared a little though as Harlow moved back, removing his hands from Briar's desperate body.

"You need to start getting ready: the event starts at nine and I've got a taxi booked for half eight". He didn't miss the crestfallen expression that over took his taller lover and quickly tried to step in before the mood soured too quickly,

"Tell you what, when the debt is finally paid off, let's go on holiday. Wherever you want; you've always talked about going to France so let's do that".

Briar smiled widely and nodded, "yeah, sounds great. I'll see you when I'm ready".

After a quick kiss and closing the door behind Harlow, Briar let the smile fall from his face. Nine years and his boyfriend still couldn't remember where he had always dreamed of visiting, the place he talked about as often as conversation topics allowed. He remembered every single thing Harlow was passionate about, almost creepily so really. His erection was long gone by now and he trudged into the en-suite bathroom, tears in his eyes.

***