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1. CAST MATES
It’s been a few months. Months of torture not just to Neil and Todd but also to their friends and the actor’s colleagues in Henley Hall, with him chattering about his friend with big blue eyes and love for poetry he wasn’t even dating. So when he came to practice one day with Todd keeping up with him, their hands intertwined—they seemed to let out the breath they’d been holding since they’d met Neil.
“Hey guys, how are you? This is Todd, my boyfriend. Isn’t he pretty?” Neil animatedly said, a huge grin displayed on his face. The blond was utterly flustered, his face covered in red.
Everyone murmured finally in unison. They may not have known Neil personally, but they all shared the same knowledge about him: that he was completely down bad for Todd even when they were still just friends.
Ginny delightfully stood up from where she was sitting, dropped the script in her hand, and marched towards Todd. “Hi Todd, I’m so glad to finally meet you. I hope Neil hasn’t told us everything about you and I can still learn things about you.”
“I don’t talk about him that much!” Neil defensively exclaimed.
“Oh, shut it, Neil,” Ginny replied, still looking at Todd with the pure joy of a new friend. “I know Todd more than you because everything about him always drips out of your tongue.”
Todd’s blushness increased, his surround of pinks and reds as a quiet and broken oh escaped his timid lips.
2. THE CLASS
They’d been assigned to write a poem and deliver it in front of the class again, and like the sweet boyfriend he claimed he was, Neil wrote his piece for Todd. More often, Todd wasn’t just the subject of his conversation or the matter of his thoughts—he was often the muse of his writings. Todd and his love were Neil’s most prized possession.
“Mr. Perry, mind us hearing from you?” Mr. Keating gleefully murmured. Neil grinned at him as he walked towards the front.
Neil opened the paper clutched in his palm, still with a smile on his lips. “I dedicate this to my boyfriend. To Todd, who’s my boyfriend.” His grin widened as he looked at the poet, who was currently blushing and all awkward with all the attention.
The boys erupted in teasing and oohs, and Neil saw Charlie grinning at the back of the classroom. Todd, on the other hand, blushed even harder when their teacher looked at him and gave him a knowing smile.
3. MR. PERRY
Neil was walking hand in hand with Todd as they headed towards where Neil’s father was waiting outside the car.
“Neil, I told you to be here at exactly 8:00 o’clock. You know how strict I am when it comes to time,” he sternly spoke.
“Hello, Father, this is my boyfriend Todd, and he’s all beautiful and adorable,” Neil happily replied.
Todd held his forearm and tried to stop him. “Neil, I don’t think this is the perfect time to introduce me.”
Mr. Perry just sighed, looking at the two. “Good day, Todd. Neil, you already said it multiple times, and we’ve met a couple of times.”
“Oh, okay! Should we go now then?” he divvy answered, pointing at the car.
4. JEFFREY ANDERSON
“Jeffrey’s coming to visit,” Todd murmured into Neil’s sweater as he buried his face in the actor’s chest. They were laying in the latter’s bed.
Todd couldn’t see how Neil’s thick brows knitted together. “What? When?”
The blond moved up to nuzzle into Neil’s neck. “This Saturday, his university is having a sem break.”
“Oh, alright,” he simply answered against Todd’s fluffy hair, tightening his hold on the boy.
The two were busy studying when there was a knock on their dorm room door. Neil immediately stood up and opened it. He smiled when he saw who it was.
Todd was behind him now as he opened the door wide to let Jeffrey fully enter and hug his younger brother.
“Hi, I think I saw you around when I was still here. Jeffrey, by the way. You can just call me Jeff,” the older one said, turning and offering his hand to a tense Neil.
“Neil, Neil Perry. And this is my pretty boyfriend Todd,” he replied, accepting Jeffrey’s hand.
Jeffrey laughed at him. Todd looked embarrassed and proud at the same time. “Neil, I know who Todd is. He’s my brother.”
“Oh, well, he’s my boyfriend now and I love him.”
Jeffrey pleasingly glanced and smiled at his brother.
5. OSCARS
Years have passed, and they’re now a successful actor and writer, and Neil still loves introducing Todd as his boyfriend to everyone like it’s still the first time. He got another project, and his hard work paid off when he was called for winning the prestigious award Actor of the Year at the reputable Oscars.
“Oh, wow,” he started when the cheers and claps stopped. “This is impossible without the amazing crew and my colleagues. It’s been great making this film with them. And especially to my day one, my best friend, my love, who’s always there to support me. My boyfriend, Todd, I love you so much.”
The cameras instantly shifted to Todd; he was on the big screen as he reddened and smiled coyly. Neil stared fondly at him, his brown eyes glistening as they always did every time he looked at Todd.
“I love acting and I love New York. Thank you, everyone,” he finished his speech. The crowd erupted in applause again. But Neil’s focus had been Todd, Todd, Todd. All the love inside his heart was for his boyfriend and no one else.
+1
They arrived at the hotel they were going to stay in for the Oscars awarding tomorrow night when someone called Neil’s name. They both synchronously turned their heads. The brunet smiled when he realized it was another actor.
“Neil, nice to see you. How are you?” the man spoke, greeting them with a big beam. Todd stayed behind his boyfriend; he had matured with his anxiety and socializing, but he always knew when to step aside when it was Neil’s time to shine. Also, Neil was always there to introduce him to someone.
“Leo, I’m doing great. How about you?” he queried.
“You tell me. Just finished filming a few months ago,” the actor, Leo, chortled, making Neil chuckle as well. “So, good luck for tomorrow, huh? I’m sure you’re going to bag another award again.” Neil just gave him an appreciative smile as he watched the man disappear from his sight.
Behind him was Todd, confused and seemingly upset. Did Neil just not present him to his fellow worker? Maybe he just forgot and got carried away with the conversation, he thought. But Neil never missed it; it was like a default gesture for him. Everyone who knew and got to know Neil knew he had a boyfriend, with the name Todd Anderson.
The poet had a frown on his face until they reached their floor and room. Neil seemed oblivious and clueless about what was happening—opposite of Todd, who was currently getting devoured by his thoughts and didn’t notice his boyfriend asking him a question.
“Todd,” Neil called. Todd instantly looked at him, confused. “Huh, sorry, what?”
“I said, do you want to call hotel service for dinner?” he dementedly said. “Are you alright?”
Todd shifted his sitting position on the bed. “Oh, no. I’m still full.”
Neil walked gently to him. With one knee sinking into the bed and his hands framing the space beside Todd, he loomed closer, the air between them narrowing. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
Todd avoided his gaze. “Nothing’s wrong.”
Neil lifted Todd’s chin so he could look at him. “Please stop lying. You look upset. Did I do something?”
“Seriously, Neil, I’m not upset. I uh… I just—I just got used to you introducing me to everyone as your boyfriend,” he hardly spoke straight. “And for the first time in 10 years you didn’t do it.”
Slowly, there was a fond smile on the brunet’s face. “Sweetheart,” he removed one arm from where it was placed on the bedsheet and sought something in his pants’ back pocket. “This is not exactly my plan for where this should be, and I still have nothing prepared to say, but I think maybe this is the perfect time.”
Todd was all confused as Neil removed himself from the bed, where he had been leaning over Todd, and knelt on one knee.
“Todd Anderson, you’re my best friend, my beau, my other half. And I wouldn’t want it to be not you in any other way. There’s nothing more comforting than returning to you and our place. And I want us to forever come home to each other.” Tears began to fall from Neil’s eyes. Todd looked like he was close to tears too. “Will you marry me?”
That was the final crack in Todd’s dam of tears, and he lunged at Neil, wrapping his arms around his neck and burying his messy face in Neil’s chest while chanting yes.
Neil shined under the lights and camera flashes once again as he received his trophy. “And to my fiancé Todd, I love you, darlin’.”
Todd now showed off his ring to the camera as the crowd erupted in gasps and claps.
Todd forgave Neil for forsaking him only that once.