The apartment was strangely quiet without Caleb there. Goose was sitting curiously on the dining table while the other two babies slept with their Mama. He picked up the little adventurer and held him close. There was no more need to keep his suit pristine; a few cat hairs didn't matter.

The evening had been a stark reminder of the darkest of days. Surrounded by the comforts of home, he could begin to return the past where it belonged. This was his life now; his things, his family... all that was missing was Caleb. 

As he sat in the bathtub staring at his phone, he started to regret having left his husband's party. He should have been there to share in his success... to drink with his friends and revel in the splendor of the M Hotel. After drying his hair, he slipped into his pyjamas, poured himself a glass of wine, and sat out on the patio looking out at the view.

He wondered if Millie was drunk already, if Tibur had forgotten to worry about his hair... if his handsome husband had blown them all away with his speech. Caleb had said that Angela had been there, but he hadn't even had the chance to say hello.

After the second glass of wine he sent a message.

'Husband, is it too late?'

Of course it was. The party was nearing its end. By the time he got dressed and styled his hair it would be pointless returning to the hotel. Tristan sat with Mama in the night air, not even realizing that the temperature had dropped.

"Baby..."

Caleb's tie was skewed, his breath was short, and beads of sweat had formed on his brow. It looked as though he'd just run home.

"Husband, you're back?" said Tristan, rising to greet him, "How did it go?"

"It's not too late, Baby" he said, "Let's go for a drive."

"Now?" asked Tristan, "I'll get dressed."

"No need" said Caleb, "You're perfect as you are."

While Tristan put his shoes on, his husband fetched the cat carrier from the office and began to load the babies inside; coaxing Mama in from the terrace with the lure of treats.

"What are you doing?" asked Tristan.

"Family trip" Caleb replied, "You were sad having to leave them behind earlier. This time they can join us."

With the carrier in one hand, Caleb adjusted his glasses and took Tristan's hand with the other. Loaded carefully into their car, Caleb drove them out of the garage and into the dark Modeshi streets.

"Why don't you play some music, Baby?" he suggested, "Or sleep a little if you're tired."

Tristan opened the window and let the cool air wash over him. He connected his phone to the speakers, and a gentle melody played as they passed by the quiet waters of the Grand Marina. Tristan had no intention of falling asleep, but it was all too comfortable. By the time he woke up, they were already in the north of the island.

"You didn't tell me" said Tristan, popping the rising bubbles of anticipation so as not to get his hopes up, "How did your speech go?"

Caleb laughed for the first time that evening.

"How do you think it went, Baby? Fraser called it 'the most insincere thank you speech' he'd ever witnessed. Apparently I glared too much."

"Next time think of me" said Tristan, "I'm sorry I didn't stay to watch you; I shouldn't have let them ruin our night."

"Nothing's ruined" Caleb declared, "You're here with me now. Angela was right, the M Hotel wasn't the place..."

"For the party?" asked Tristan, "It was nice. I liked the fountain."

Caleb did some mental gymnastics, but relocating for a second time was probably not a viable option. He just had to hope that Tristan would be satisfied with what they'd come up with.

Tristan was perfectly satisfied just going for a drive with his husband, turning around after every shallow bump and checking that the babies in the backseat were fine. He was content with the breeze rolling in through his window, and the warmth of Caleb's hand as made sure he wasn't getting too cold. Nothing was required beyond this simple happiness, and yet the night continued to surprise him.

The car pulled up to the temple grounds, and Tristan's smile beamed in the darkness.

"Are we here to show the babies the view?" he asked, thrilled that his husband was willing to humor his most childish of fantasies.

"I'll carry them" said Caleb, "but hold onto me. I don't want you to fall."

Tristan shone the flashlight on his phone to light their path across the barren plateau. Every loose rock was kicked away by Caleb's shoe so as not to risk his husband losing his footing.

"Is it too cold?" asked Caleb, "Do you want my jacket?"

Dressed in his bunny pants and the coziest of T-shirts, Tristan didn't seem to mind the frigid coastal air, his heart was radiating the warmth that came from his husband's attention.

"Let's just get to the temple first" said Tristan, "Then I'm cuddling all the cats while we stare out at the stars."

The first thing he spotted was the cables. It looked as though they'd been doing some kind of restoration work, as though there should be caution tape to keep the careless visitors from getting too close.

"Are you sure we can be here?" asked Tristan.

"It didn't stop us last time" said Caleb, "Just mind your feet, we're almost there."

As they reached the steps, Caleb gently set the carrier down and took hold of Tristan's hands.

"Did you bring a condom?" asked Tristan.

Caleb's eyes widened and his temperature began to rise.

"Baby..."

"Well, it didn't stop us last time" laughed Tristan, "Relax Husband, not in front of the children. It can wait until we're home."

Caleb cleared his throat, and wondered just how much the others had overheard.

As Caleb gave the signal, a bright light flickered, and Tristan's fingers tensed in Caleb's grasp. Projected across the vast stone wall of the ancient temple, was a rectangle of light.

"Just watch" said Caleb.

Tristan's smile appeared on the wall. As the camera pulled away, Goose's fuzzy form came into view, and was quickly tackled by his siblings as Tristan fought back his laughter in keeping them apart. The footage could have been taken on any of the blissful days they'd shared at home. 

"He does have a wonderful smile" whispered Tibur from their hiding place.

"It's not that great" said Michael, "if anything, he smiles too much."

Tibur grabbed his hair and aggresively landed a kiss on Michael's cheek. He was far too adorable whenever he got jealous.

The image changed, it was Tristan working in the store; greeting customers and neatening the displays. Once again, his dazzling smile filled the screen.

"I mean... Caleb's by no means a filmmaker, but shouldn't there be some kind of plot to it?" Angela asked Mrs Black, "I thought he would have hired a videographer to add a little dimension."

"You could show him a hundred pictures of Tristan smiling and he'd find something different in each of them" noted Fraser.

Tristan sitting on the terrace, Tristan asleep on the couch and lounging by the pool... snapshots of their life together were flickering across the temple ruins.

"Why does it seem like a lot of this was filmed in secret..?" asked Millie, "I don't remember Caleb coming to the store to take that video, do you?"

"He must have been planning this for some time..." hoped Tibur, "He captured him all over the island."

The earliest footage predated even that.

"Oh fuck" said Fraser.

"What?" asked his mother.

"Mom, that's Cabi, I recognize the bus stop! That's Tristan stopping to pet a cat in Cabi! How does he still have that? I thought the footage was all destroyed when he left for Modesh?"

"So did I" sighed Mrs Black, "We should have known better."

Tristan stared up at the screen; at the man he once was, and the man he had become. Caleb had loved every version of him. Moments he remembered and those long since forgotten, his husband had watched them all from the shadows. Like a silent movie made only for him, Tristan's life had been playing on repeat in his mind.

Anyone else might have had the sense to run.

"Husband" said Tristan, "Why is it only me up there? It feels kind of lonely. Aren't there any videos of the two of us together?"

Caleb cast a cursory glance towards the darkness.

"We can make one when we get home" he whispered, eager to raise the rating of their latest release.

The movie seemed almost neverending; Caleb had edited it down significantly from the original two-hour super cut of Tristan's highlights, and still it was on the longer side.

"Do we have to hide here the whole time do you think?" asked Fraser, his knee beginning to twinge, "Probably not, right? Let's just go over there. Farang, help me with my mom."

The executive decision made, the assembled group of friends and family came out from their hiding places and walked towards the couple and their cats, bathed in the light of the projector. Tristan had never seen himself smile so much all at once.

As the video neared its end, the music didn't play as it should have. Caleb glared in the direction of the projectionist but failed to have any effect.

"I'm sorry Baby" he said, "I don't think they brought the speakers... I wanted to play a song you like."

"Oh..." said Tristan, a flash of disappointment as he wondered which one he might have chosen.

"In the sunlight I see you..." sang Caleb hesitantly, "Like a flower breaking through. Like all the beauty in the world, is suddenly in view..."

There was something in the awkardness of his voice that made tears well in Tristan's eyes.

"Let me watch you for the rest of our lives" pleaded Caleb, "You're all I ever want to see."

On the rough stone steps of the temple, dressed in his dark teal suit, and in the presence of their friends and family, Caleb kneeled before the only man he'd ever love.

"Tristan Scott, will you marry me?" he asked him.

The stars glittered, the breeze blew, and the light from the movie screen shone in Caleb's earnest eyes.

"Husband" said Tristan, "You ask me that every time we come here. And you already know the answer."

"Say it Baby, please."

"Yes, I'll marry you Caleb. I was your husband well before I even knew your name." 

"What did he say?!" called Fraser.

"Yes!" cried Tristan, "I said yes!"

The outcome wasn't a total surprise; for everyone watching it was hard to imagine that Caleb and Tristan weren't made for one another. As they crowded round to offer their congratulations, Tristan carefully opened the carrier and handed the kittens to the care of his friends.

"Lose them and I won't let you leave until you find them again" Caleb warned.

"Congratulations to you both" said Millie, "It was hard to believe when we heard you'd never had a real proposal between you. You seem the type to have celebrated every little thing."

"We will from now on" Caleb pledged.

"When your kids start at kindergarten you can throw them a parade" jeered Michael, "Do they make uniforms for cats?"

Caleb's glare returned.

"Scratch him, Turkey!" ordered Tibur, wielding the kitten like a weapon. "Don't listen to him Tristan, he's only jealous."

Tristan was much too happy to care that Michael was making fun... and was already thinking about where he could buy tiny uniforms from. A parade was an absurd idea, but first day pictures would be too adorable to pass up.

"Oh!" said Angela, "We almost forgot the champagne. Steven, hand out the glasses and I'll open the bottle."

"There's another one here!" said Millie, having nabbed a bottle on their way out of the hotel.

With their glasses filled, they raised a toast to the happy couple.

"To my little brother" said Fraser, "and the only man willing to say 'yes'."

"I wouldn't put it that way" added Mrs Black, "But I'm happy you've found one another. It's a rare thing indeed to find someone you love that can love you so deeply in return. Continue to cherish the marriage you build; you never can tell how long this life of ours will last."

"Did your father pass..?" Millie asked Fraser in a whisper.

"Huh? Oh! No, our Dad's fine. It's just that Mom likes to travel alone. She leaves him at home whenever she comes to visit."

"She's my role model" said Angela.

"I'm sure he'll come for the wedding though" noted Mrs Black, "Some things are too important to miss."

"Our company's fifteenth birthday wasn't enough of a draw" said Fraser.

"You know your father hates those events more than I do" soothed Mrs Black, "In a lot of ways he's as anti-social as Caleb..."

"And you've been married for a long time?" asked Tristan, "Happily, I mean?"

"Don't worry dear" said Mrs Black, "I'll give you every tip I've learned over the years, but they may not be all too helpful I'm afraid. If nothing else, I'm sure I can negotiate you a little more freedom to go and do your own thing. I believe my son would monitor you twenty-four hours a day if thought it was possible to live without sleep."

"I don't mind when he watches me" admitted Tristan, "It's almost like having an angel following you around, don't you think?"

Mrs Black nearly spat out her champagne.

Fraser had always been the angelic one, Caleb was... well, quite different from his brother. But so long as Tristan was happy, that was all that mattered.

"I have to say" said Michael, risking Caleb's temper by standing too close, "It's a little underwhelming."

"What is?"

"The proposal! I was expecting something more after all the work I heard was going down at the hotel. But it was just a little home movie in the end?"

The change of time and venue had altered Caleb's plans. He'd abandoned the string quartet, the confetti cannons and the professional lighting rig, even the ballroom he'd had repainted in Tristan's favorite colors. The temple, the movie, and the people he loved. He'd thought it had been enough.

"I'm sorry that once again there was no minigolf to keep you entertained. Maybe when it's your turn, you can come up with something better."

"Don't give him ideas" said Tibur, "I'm still a poor student. Tonight is about you and Tristan."

Even in his pyjamas, Tristan dazzled. Surrounded by love, and under the watchful gaze of his besotted husband, he was the brightest star that night. Caleb got out his phone. On the screen, he watched the movements of his mouth as he smiled. 

All the beauty in the world was suddenly in view.