When Lance finally let go of Gareth, Gareth looked at him lovingly and wiped his eyes with his thumb.

"Why are you crying now, huh?" he asked gently.

Lance just gave him a smile, one of relief and love as he replied, "I was feeling so bad at hurting you so."

Gareth gave a small smile of his own and kissed Lance's eyes, saying, "It's okay."

"No, it's not okay," Lance said vehemently.

Grabbing Gareth's hands in his, he said, "Gareth, let's get married."

Gareth jerked his head back at this sudden declaration, "What? Why so sudden?"

"It's not sudden," Lance said, "We've been dating for several years now."

"Well, yeah, I know that," Gareth said, holding Lance by the waist, "But you've never shown any interest before …"

Lance put his hands on Gareth's lips, saying, "Let me finish."

Gareth nodded, and Lance brushed his thumb on Gareth's lips as he said, "I realise that I��ve been unfair to you. Seeing Mark today made me realise that I no longer have him in my heart. It's you."

"If I lost you, I would lose half of my soul," Lance said softly, "So Gareth, will you marry me?"

"What? No ring?" Gareth teased.

Lance rolled his eyes and Gareth kissed him in response, holding him tightly..

"No take-backs," Gareth whispered after he broke the kiss, "You're mine now."

Lance laughed, "Well, technically, I'm not since it's just a proposal."

With a grim face, Gareth pinched both of Lance's cheeks.

He turned towards the still open-mouthed Mark and asked, "Will you be our witness?"

Mark shook his head, and he looked at Gareth in confusion. His mind still hadn't processed what he had been looking at and the words that he heard earlier.

Been in his heart?

Did that mean what he thought he meant?

And now … witness?

"Witness? Witness to what?," Mark asked, "More dog food?!"

Lance burst out laughing while Gareth looked at him with wide eyes before turning towards Lance, "That was whom you had been in love with before? He's pretty dense."

Lance was still laughing, poking Gareth in the ribs, "Look who's talking, Mr-what-is-this"

"Hey," Gareth protested, "In my defence, I've never seen one before."

Lance raised an eyebrow, "Really? You're going to be using that as an excuse?"

Gareth pursed his lips, shook his head and grabbed Lance's hand while saying gruffly, "Stap."

Lance started laughing softly and pecked his lips, "Fine, fine, I'll stop."

"Yes, please, stap," Mark whined from beside them, "I'm getting diabetes right now."

Gareth and Lance laughed together. Gareth placed his arm around Lance's shoulder and then turned to Mark, "Let me introduce myself again. Hi, Mark. I'm Gareth, Lance's husband-to-be."

Mark was still in a daze, looking at the both of them.

This was really, really huge news to him and he didn't know what to feel. He was just too shocked.

Lance saw the hesitation Mark was having, but he didn't say a thing. Then, he saw Mark slowly raise his hand, catching Gareth's hand in a firm handshake, "Hi, Gareth. Nice to meet you. I'm Mark, Lance's ex-best friend."

Lance reached out to Mark then, then stopped halfway, his hand raised slightly before he put it down. He wasn't sure how Mark would feel, so he didn't dare be like he used to, lest it made Mark misunderstand - and Gareth jealous.

"What do you mean, ex? A best friend is a friend for life, Mark," Lance said, "I just had issues. None of it was your fault."

Mark had seen Lance reach out to him but stop, and a part of him was a bit conflicted about that.

He stuffed his hands into his pocket and he leaned more to one side, "Was your disappearance because you had feelings for me?"

Lance gave a soft smile while Gareth stiffened.

Mark had always been straight-forward, which was one of the reasons why he had been Lance's good friend. He had been Lance's best guy friend, while Kay is his best girl friend.

Both were brutally honest with him, which was what he cherished.

"Yeah," Lance admitted, "I didn't want to spoil whatever memories we shared as friends, so it's best that I stepped aside. It wasn't as if you missed me much anyway."

Lance couldn't help that bitterness in his voice though.

Even though he had wanted to step aside, he hadn't just dropped off the face of the Earth. He may have not been the one to take the initiative to call Mark, but he didn't reject him either.

Mark was the one that didn't pursue their friendship either. It was only after two months of non-communication that Lance took the resolute decision to change his number without informing him.

He didn't let Kay tell him either, though Mark never did call Kay to ask.

Mark shrugged, "That's not true but yeah, it was partly my fault, too."

He sighed, "Dominique was pretty jealous, actually. She resented my closeness to you so I had to distance myself. It was only meant to be temporary so as to give her some sense of stability, but it soon turned to be several months."

Gareth snorted, "If your girlfriend can't accept your friends, what sort of girlfriend is that?"

Mark looked abashed, "You're right. That's why we broke up last year."

Lance was surprised, "What?"

"Yeah," Mark said, "It was gradual, the way she got control over me and my life. By the time I realised something was wrong, it was too late. I lost a lot of friends along the way and I fought with my parents a lot."

Mark looked at Lance seriously, "But the one person I missed the most was you. I never thought I'd see you again, though I prayed I would."

He looked at Gareth, then back at Lance, "This is all new to me so give me some time. Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Lance looked down, unable to explain.

Gareth took over, hugging Lance, "How could he? You were the only friend he had and he was afraid of losing you. No one knew about his sexual orientation and it was only a few years back did Lance come out."

Mark bit his lower lips.

Lance had always been there for him, but he, Mark, could not be there for him during Lance's darkest moments. He had truly failed as a friend.

"I'm sorry," Mark said with a sigh.

"Don't be," Lance replied, "Like I said, it was not your fault at all. We all have our own lives to live."

Mark took a deep breath and let it out, "Can we start over?"

Lance smiled, "I'd like that."

They shook hands.

"Now that we have that out of the way," Gareth said, pulling Lance away from Mark, "Will you be our witness?"

Seeing the still dazed look on Mark's face, Gareth rolled his eyes and said, "For our wedding."

Gareth looked at his watch, "The Civil Bureau will be open soon."

"What? Now?!" both Lance and Mark shouted simultaneously.

"Hell yes, now," Gareth said, looking at Lance, "You think I'm going to let you change your mind?! Fat chance."

All governmental offices in Country Tz opened at 7.30am, and the sun had just risen. If they left the park now, they would just arrive at the Civil Bureau just as it opened its doors.

Lance smiled, "Fine, let's do it."

They looked at Mark, who shrugged, "Lead the way then."

And so, Lance got married to Gareth on a fine Saturday morning.

✿ Author only posts on w.e.b.n.o.v.e.l. ✿

"Are you sure about this?" Gareth asked Lance hoarsely, touching his smooth chest and hard abs.

Lance looked at him lovingly, saying, "It's our honeymoon, dear husband. This is my gift to you."

Gareth's breath got heavier as he caressed Lance's perfect skin.

"I trust you," Lance said as he watched the wonderment in Gareth's eyes.

Seeing how Lance submitted himself to him completely, without fear, made Gareth's heart burst. He kissed Lance deeply, unreservedly as if he was afraid of Lance getting away from him.

"It won't bruise your skin?" Gareth asked.

"No," Lance said, putting his wrists together towards Gareth, "Go ahead."

With that, Gareth took out the handcuffs.

Well, they weren't exactly handcuffs like what policemen use but instead, wrist-cuffs with faux fur at the inner layer. There was a slightly longish chain so that it allowed more movement than an ordinary handcuff.

He then brought Lance's cuffed hands above the head and hung it on the bedframe.

He looked down at Lance, who was basically at his mercy and his c*ck just throbbed at the thought of all the things he could do to Lance.

"Dear Lord," Gareth said breathlessly before kissing him aggressively, "I love you so, Lance."

Soon, the bed was creaking, the rooms were filled with lots of flesh smacking and moans which lasted till past lunchtime.