It started during Hunter’s daily rounds. He and Josh were walking through the office halls for his daily rounds, Josh bumping into Hunter’s right shoulder with every other step. Walking towards the finance offices, Josh had outlined every time block and meeting until 12 pm when Hunter asked,

“So what meeting is after 12?”

And Josh stopped, finger hovering over his phone as he said,

“I don’t know.”

Josh, the king of punctuality, the master of memorization, had forgotten one of Hunter’s meetings. Luckily, when checking an older draft of Hunter’s schedule for today, he found the missing meeting and corrected the mistake, but Hunter never forgot that. Especially when it wasn’t the last time that day. 

Josh was forgetting several details, mixing up names and statistics, forgetting to ask for utensils in Hunter’s delivery, and so on and so forth. Hunter didn’t necessarily mind the slip ups. Josh made so few of them so Hunter saw it as the man ‘cashing in’ after being perfect for so long. What concerned him was why?

Josh just did not get distracted, so what brought on the sudden change? 

Hunter left for lunch, pondering the question but assuming he wouldn’t get the answer. And coming back from lunch, the effect had doubled. Returning from a peaceful lunch at the bar, Hunter had to watch Josh panic over losing a big client’s contact file. He spent hours trying to recover the document before realizing that he’d just named it wrong. Even if Hunter did want to let this fall under the rug, for the sake of his company, he had to say something. 

Later in the afternoon, when the light from Hunter’s window was enough to illuminate his office, Josh walked in.

“I need to get these additional contracts for the movie signed by you,” Josh told him, walking closer to place a short stack of papers beside his computer. “I already read all of them, you can just sign the bottom.”

Hunter grabbed his pen and picked up the first sheet. He trusted Josh implicitly, and was willing to sign whatever he needed. But when he quickly scanned the paper, he paused, his frown deepening.

“Josh, why are you giving me this?”

“I told you, you need to sign-”

“Josh, I signed these papers two days ago,” Hunter interrupted, seeing some of the color drain from his PA’s face. “I thought you already scanned them and sent them off.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize . . . ” The shorter man trailed off, glasses shifting down just slightly as he stared confused at the floor. “Sorry, I’ll get out of your hair.”

Josh rushed to snatch the papers back and leave the office but Hunter shot out of his desk, making the black man stop.

“Wait, are you okay?” He asked, “You’ve been acting strange all day.”

Now Josh seemed caught off guard, hands wringing together in front of him.

“It’s nothing, I just- Well you see I . . . ” Josh’s eyes moved back and forth frantically, his mind struggling to come up with the right words. Finally, he sighed and plopped into the chair in front of Hunter's desk. “I shouldn’t be letting it affect me like this but I’m going to propose. To Kellie.”

“Wow, man. Congratulations!” Hunter exclaimed, rushing around his desk to pull Josh into a fierce hug. 

“Thank you. I’ve been planning it for a couple of weeks. But now that it’s only a couple days away, I’m getting in my head.”

“Did you already talk to her about marriage?”

“A little,” Josh shrugged. “We’ve mentioned hypotheticals and stuff like that. But we’ve never definitively said if we want to marry each other.”

Hunter hummed, crossing his arms while raising a fist to his mouth. 

“I can see why you’re nervous.”

“Thanks, that made me feel a lot better.” Josh drawled sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he sunk back into his chair. 

“It’s the truth,” Hunter shrugged. Seeing how dejected Josh looked, he sighed, leaning against the front of his desk so he could look Josh in the eye. “Not having the answer is tough but Kellie loves you, that much is obvious. I’m sure you’ll be telling me about the good news very soon.”

“Thanks, Hunter.”

After giving Josh a few comforting pats on the shoulder, his mind wandered. He knew plenty of people that had gotten married, the concept wasn’t foreign to him. What was foreign was the certainty his married friends all seemed to have. Of course he’d imagined his married life and the comfort he would find in a husband of his own. But to be so confident that the person you’re with can be that, your life partner . . . how strange. Yet Josh had found his and Hunter couldn’t be happier.

“So, what are the proposal plans?” He asked eagerly, hands cupping his own cheeks in an oddly cute pose. Josh laughed at the off display Hunter made before getting into the explanation. It was going to be an elaborate proposal, but classic for the most part. Dinner at a nice restaurant and returning home where she would find rose petals guiding her to the couch. There she would see the slideshow of their best memories as a couple before Josh got down on one knee.

And while Josh shared his excitement about the plan, he also mentioned all of the prices associated and checks he had to sign to put it together. Checks on top of the engagement ring price. Turns out paying someone to create a custom song for your slideshow can become quite expensive.

So while Josh spoke, Hunter came up with the perfect solution. He would just pay for it. Hunter was the boss after all, and covering the costs of the proposal was a great wedding gift. 

When he brought this up to Josh, however, the man was vehemently against the idea. It was something about pride and knowing he had set up the proposal himself, he argued. Hunter didn’t agree, since he had no part in the planning, just a part in the payment. However, he relented knowing that arguing over money was pointless. He let Josh think that he won. In actuality, Hunter mentally organized to give Josh a bonus on top of his next paycheck for the exact amount of the proposal costs and the ring. Hunter was the CEO after all. He called the shots.

—————

River could tell Hunter was a bit on edge that Friday. Continually adjusting his outfit or shifting in his seat was an exaggeration of his typical Hunter-ness. If it wasn’t for Hunter keeping his bright smile and joking like normal, River would have pressed the issue. Just in case, though, he prepared Hunter’s favorite. The smile that man produced when he was handed the simple Gin and Tonic was like nothing River had ever seen.

“You can’t keep spoiling me like this,” Hunter complained, grinning widely as he took a sip. “Mmm, just as good as I remembered.”

“I can stop if you really want me to,” River offered with a devilish grin. His efforts were rewarded when Hunter’s eyes widened, a bit of panic there. “I’m sure there’s other people in here who would love my drinks.”

“No stay. If there’s one thing I love more than the drinks, it’s your company.”

River looked too giddy, he knew, and biting his lip as he smiled did nothing to reduce the effect. He needed to get his act together and stop acting like a fool around this kid. Just as River wiped the happiness off his face, Hunter got a phone call. 

Hunter was confused about who was calling him at this time but his heart lept when he saw Josh’s name on the screen. Had Kellie actually said no? Did Hunter need to go to him to comfort his broken heart?

“Hello?”

“She said yes!” 

Hunter’s ear was practically bleeding but he didn’t adjust the phone, happy to hear that Josh was now an engaged man. 

“I almost couldn’t believe it. I mean, I can’t thank you enough for convincing me to go through with it.”

“All I did was nudge you in the right direction. She said yes because of you.” 

Hunter could see and feel River’s eyes on him as he spoke, and became self-concious of his words. He didn’t think there was anything strange about his comments, but River’s focus had him puffing up his chest and deepening his voice. 

“Speaking of fiancés, where is yours?”

“She’s in the bathroom right now. We’ve been kind of–uh–busy since she accepted but I wanted to let some people know–” A loud ‘oof’ followed by surprised laughter interrupted Josh’s sentence. That paired with the general muffled sounds made Hunter believe that Kellie had reentered the room. 

“Wait, Kellie. I’m still on the phone-”

A strikingly lewd sound, far too similar to a male moan, rang through the line before Josh spoke again. 

“Hunter, I’m gonna need to call you back.”

“Sure, see you next week, Josh.” But Josh already hung up. Hunter pulled the phone away from his face and laugh. With the two being such professionals at work, he forgot the reputation they had as a couple who enjoyed a little too much PDA.

“That sounded like a fun call,” River commented, eyes narrowed just slightly as he looked back and forth between Hunter and his phone. 

“Yeah, my coworker-” 

River raised a brow and Hunter cleared his throat. 

“My best friend just got engaged to my other friend, the manager of the 3D animation department.”

Hunter took a moment to explain how he’d helped Josh a little a few days prior. He hadn’t thought he was that helpful at the time but it seemed to have impacted Josh more than he realized. And, since River wasn’t involved, Hunter got to explain his genius plan to pay for all of the proposal costs. 

“Wow, that’s really nice of you.”

And River meant that. That was nice of Hunter. The man retold the story like he was telling a joke while breezing over all of the money he was just casually dropping on his friends. Hunter’s puppy dog energy knew no bounds. It was one thing to be outgoing or bubbly: River had seen that time and time again. However, when it came down to it, they couldn’t be trusted to do the right thing. River was confident in his ability to read people and thought Hunter would be the same. But at every turn, when he expected Hunter to give up or finally show some dark side, he continued to be kind. It disarmed River. He didn’t know what to expect from the younger man. And that was exciting. 

“You know, you’re a caring guy, Hunter.”

The words were normal enough, but the expression River watched him with was anything but normal. His heart thumped at the sheer intensity in the other’s man’s eyes but Hunter still chuckled, taking River’s kind words as a joke.

“Caring,” he repeated. “Like a dad?”

“Yeah, you would make a great dad. You’re probably good with kids aren’t you?”

It was a quick observation, but Hunter flushed at the accuracy. Once his friend, Luke, started having kids, he was on a quest to become their favorite uncle. It was a running joke within their friend group that Hunter only hung out with them to see the kids. 

“I guess,” was his curt reply. He was avoiding River’s eyes now and the man could tell. “Well, what about you? You try to be an asshole most of the time so are you good with kids?” 

Smirking to himself, River grabbed Hunter's empty glass and went to refill it. 

“Yeah, I think I’m pretty good.”