Sweep Me Off My Feet

The Lennoxes were absolutely thrilled to learn that Zayne and Brinxton were officially dating and now living together. The Weeks were less thrilled, though Brielle was over the moon and ended up telling their parents in front of Brinxton that they could get on board and accept Brinxton's relationship, or she would make sure they never saw their grandchildren. Brinxton himself, though, made it clear on his own as well that he was dating Zayne openly and how he wanted to and that his parents could get on board or be out of his life, which was enough to shut them up on both counts.

Brielle also told Daniel that she expected him to make his apologies, for everything, because she wanted her brother in her life and she didn't care how he handled that so long as he left Zayne alone besides the apology.

Brielle invited all three families over once they had moved into their new home as a housewarming party. It was dinner and drinks for everyone to talk and exclaim over how nice the house looked. It was clear that Brielle did most of the work as everything was tastefully done in blues and pinks.

Both of Zayne's paintings were displayed in the living room in places of honor, which made him smile when he saw it. Brinxton admired the paintings with clearer eyes than he had used the first time he saw them. He loved the one of him and Brielle but she looked heavenly in both and Brinxton was quick to point this out quite loudly.

Brielle smiled at that. "All the credit goes to Zayne there, of course. You're a wonderful artist."

"Thank you," Zayne replied. "I taught myself a lot while I was laid up in bed, but I work hard to perfect things now. It's easy to make beautiful art with beautiful subjects though."

"You even made Daniel look like he's nice," Zach pointed out, which earned him a frown from the subject of his joke.

Daniel's brothers laughed, but Marianette Weeks said, "I'm not sure it's good manners to insult your host in his own home."

"Insult? I would never," Zach replied. "Just some friendly banter."

Brinxton caught Zach's eye and smiled widely, nodding his head as if tipping an imaginary hat. Zach smirked and went back to looking around at the house. Brielle wasn't going to defend her husband against this and she walked over to tell her mom that it was fine and they were just joking with each other while Daniel glared at Zach.

At dinner, Brielle had sat Brinxton and Zayne next to each other. Zayne kept putting his hand on Brinxton's leg under the table, wanting to be able to touch Brinxton as much as he could. Brinxton slid his hand under the table and held Zayne's, glancing at him initially with a loving smile on his face, before pulling his hand out from under the table and placing their linked hands on the table together. Zayne's face flushed a little at the attention that brought them, but he smiled too, happy that Brinxton was making such an overt display of who he was with.

Eventually, as dinner was winding down, Daniel turned to Zayne and said, "I wanted to tell you that I am sorry for everything."

Zayne put his hand back into Brinxton's and locked eyes with Daniel. "For what, in particular? I'd like to know that you are aware of what you are apologizing for this time."

Daniel squirmed in his seat a little, obviously uncomfortable, but his wife didn't come to his rescue. He cleared his throat before he spoke again. "For the cheating, and for not telling you about it. You didn't deserve that, and it was wrong to leave you in the dark about it to find out from Carter."

Zayne nodded his head thoughtfully, and then caught Zach's eye for a moment before he turned back to Daniel. "For your wife's sake, I accept the apology. I think you owe Brinxton one too, though."

"Brinxton?" Daniel asked, surprise evident on his face as he looked over at where his brother-in-law was.

Brinxton looked just as surprised as he looked at Zayne questioningly.

Zayne nodded in the affirmative. "Yes, Brinxton. See, I've been talking with a few people, and pieced together more about the night of the wedding. So you owe him an apology, and me as well, for interfering in our relationship and trying to break us apart. You not only kept him busy all night, but you did an excellent job of getting into my head too. So go on."

Daniel looked between the two of them like he couldn't quite believe he was being made to do this. "I mean, to be fair, Brinxton had made it clear to everyone before that he wasn't about to settle down or anything any time soon."

"Why does that give you permission to interfere between us?" Brinxton asked, annoyed.

Daniel stammered for a moment before he said, "The talk Zayne and I had in the suite was just me trying to protect him. That's all. I knew he wanted more and you had said you didn't."

"I'm a grown man," Zayne pointed out. "I don't need protecting, least of all by you."

Brinxton crossed his arms and glared at Daniel. "Save your pretend apology, I don't even want to hear it. You won't mean it anyway."

Daniel almost looked relieved until he saw Zayne's expectant face and realized that even if Brinxton didn't want the apology, Zayne did. He sighed then, finally showing a bit of emotion this time. "Fine, I'm sorry, alright? I don't like you and my brother-in-law together, and I knew he was wishy washy on the whole commitment thing so I used it. I wasn't trying to lead you both to so much pain, I just wanted your whole situationship to fizzle out for good."

"It doesn't really matter if you like it or not, Daniel," Zach pointed out. "It's not your relationship. What they do is up to Zayne and Brinxton. The only time you really have to deal with it is around events."

Daniel frowned at that. "I won't interfere from now on. I promise."

"We wouldn't let you now anyway," Zayne replied with a small smile. "But I appreciate the effort it took to say all of that, even if Brinxton doesn't. That doesn't mean we're going to be besties or anything. I want some separation when it comes to you, but for Brielle's sake, we'll have to have you around sometimes. We can re-evaluate if you stop being selfish, but that might be up to my love here because he says I'm too lenient."

Brinxton shrugged an apologetic smile to his sister and went back to his meal. She just chuckled and took a sip of her wine. She didn't mind seeing her husband put in his place when he was wrong. Zach looked downright proud of his brother, though, because he was finally demanding some accountability.

When they finished dinner, they had some drinks and then everyone parted ways. It was clear by their expressions that the Weeks were still trying to come to terms with Brinxton being so out and open with someone, but they didn't want to push their children away so they left it alone. In the end, it wasn't worth fighting Brinxton on.

~~~

A few months later, Zayne went in for his normal appointment with his spine doctor to go over what they needed to do as far as epidurals and ablations went. She still wanted to do both, but she was looking closely at his recent CT scan and was concerned by just how thick the bones of the spine were looking. It was creating a sort of "armor" around the spine that would just exacerbate the pain he was dealing with, so after his normal procedures she wanted to get him back in for surgery to shave that down.

Brinxton could tell Zayne was nervous about this, even though he agreed to the surgery. It was closer to the surgery that Zayne admitted that despite knowing that Brinxton was here for the long haul, it was hard going into another back surgery after what happened with Daniel. It wasn't that he thought Brinxton would leave over it, because he had proved he would be there through the difficult parts, but it was difficult to be that vulnerable around other people.

Brinxton understood that this was going to have to be one of those situations where Zayne would just have to live through and sit with his anxiety until he saw that Brinxton truly wasn't going anywhere.

Brinxton was right about that, and within two months, Zayne was in for the surgery. They allowed Brinxton to be in the room as they got Zayne into his hospital gown and the IV in. Zayne was in surgery for a few hours and they brought Brinxton in once he was finally in recovery. It took Zayne a little bit to get himself completely awake, and once he was he was fairly sore.

They kept him in the hospital until they were sure he could move around in his wheelchair okay and could go to the bathroom by himself without too much help. Zach was happy to show Brinxton how to help Zayne with getting around the house, and Brinxton had to help him with showers for a few days while he recovered.

It was like night and day when it came to recovering from back surgery with Daniel vs. Brinxton. Daniel would do a lot of avoiding while letting Zach and Elias be the ones to take care of Zayne and help him. He always used the excuse that he just couldn't deal with it emotionally. Zayne could imagine that might have held a lot of truth in it, but Daniel avoided doing much of anything if he could with it.

Brinxton, on the other hand, seemed to prefer being the person who Zayne leaned on and asked for help from. He would be the one to spring up to get Zayne a drink or get him food, or help him into the bathroom when he asked, before Zach and Elias could even think of getting out of their seats.

Zayne was able to get a physical therapist to come to the house and make use of their home gym to get him doing exercises regularly to get more strength back into his back. It wasn't long between the PT and Brinxton's support that Zayne was back to acting like himself.

Brinxton explained to Zane that he had taken a temporary leave of absence from work for the surgery and recovery but his office was beginning to crack down on working remotely, so he might have to go in for some malicious compliance the following week. He said he would be working long hours on purpose to solve a particularly stubborn coding problem on the clock so they would see what they were getting from his work from home hours.

Zayne figured that Brinxton knew what he was doing as far as his job went so he left him to it. The more Zayne could get back to his own job, the better he felt as far as being independent. It also kept him busy while everyone else was at work. It could get lonely being stuck in the house all the time, especially when the other people who lived there all worked away from the house most of the time, though Zach had started to do many of his sketches at home because he was so fatigued and tired all the time. Zach claimed it was just his migraines, but Zayne wasn't sure he bought that.

He also knew that pushing his twin into anything never worked, so Zayne had to let him deal with that on his own.

All through this, Aspen and Elias were planning their wedding too. They found one of the houses just down the street from Zayne's place was on the market, and with Zach's help they got the price down based on the things that would need to be fixed once they were in there. Zach did the sketches of what they were going to do to fix the place, and it was the first place that Brinxton got to see exactly what Lennox Construction could do with a home or building.

It went from being very closed in and small feeling to a more open layout with a finished basement and a living room that melded perfectly with the kitchen for a lot of space to entertain in. They had a housewarming party to show everyone what Zach and Zayne had done, since Zayne was in charge of ordering their materials and tracking prices.

Elias' bachelor party was much more laid back than what Daniel had. It was just starting to get snow into the mountains again so they rented a cabin. People could spend time at the bonfire, ski, or snowboard. Zayne got a particularly good back brace for the trip and with Brinxton's support, got onto a snowboard for the first time in seven years. He would never get back to doing the kind of tricks he used to be able to do, but it felt monumental to be able to go down a bunny slope again.

Even better because he had Brinxton there for it.

It was during the bachelor party, while sitting at the fire inside while Zayne and Elias were getting out of their snowboarding gear and showering for Zayne because it helped soothe his back, Zach turned to Brinxton with a knowing smile.

"Two years of wedding events," Zach commented as he took a sip of his hot apple cider. "All this romance and love in the air. I wonder...whoever could be next to go down this particular path, huh?"

Brinxton looked at Zach knowingly and said, "Oh you've got that lovin' feeling, Zach?"

Zach snorted at that. "Nah, I'm very comfortable with my casual man-whore life. But with the wedding coming up, that puts you two at two years unofficially together, one year official."

"Do you always track ALL of Zayne's bowel movements?" Brinxton asked, impressed.

Zach grinned at that. "He's my twin. I just know when everything happens. Like a hive mind."

"Has he always had a dream scenario for a proposal?" Brinxton asked.

"Zayne has always been a little more private and reserved than the rest of us," Zach said thoughtfully. "Something just the two of you, somewhere that means something to you both, with roses and non-alcoholic sparkling cider."

"Is the cabin open this time of year? And how do I get him there without spilling the beans?" Brinxton asked conspiratorially.

"I may know the people who own it," Zach replied with a chuckle. "Just tell me when and I'll have Jessie get it ready to be stayed in. I can send you the address too. As for keeping it secret, have him wear a blindfold. Tell him it's an early anniversary surprise."

"Can you have her prep the cabin with rose petals trailing into the front door? I'll clean it up afterwards." Brinxton inquired.

"I can do that," Zach agreed. "Jessie will be thrilled to help with Zayne's proposal in any way she can."

Zach proved right too, because Jessie was happy to have the place ready for them in the most romantic set-up possible. She set up the place with rose petals trailing down the front walk and into the front door, a few bouquets of roses in the entryway, and flickering flameless candles for safety all around the cabin, but especially in the bedroom. There were also chocolate covered strawberries and sparkling cider chilling with more in the fridge.

It also wasn't hard to talk Zayne into the blindfold because he liked surprises. Plus he trusted Brinxton entirely, so if he was going to these lengths to surprise him, then he knew it must be something good. Zayne leaned his chair seat back and just enjoyed the ride while talking with Brinxton.

They talked about the shenanigans that Brinxton got up to in the code while torturing his boss with his office work. His boss had only lasted one 60-hour week before relenting on the work from home policy, which Zayne was impressed with. He knew how Brinxton could be when he was annoyed and was purposely poking at buttons. He was just sorry he didn't have the chance to see what trouble Brinxton got up to personally, but the retelling was fun enough. Talk then turned to how Brielle and Daniel were doing as Brinxton followed the written directions to the cabin.

Brielle had tightened the reins a bit with Daniel, though he was still able to go and get dicked when he wanted within reason. She was being careful with how he treated Zayne and his group though, and Brinxton knew that Brielle had made it clear that she was happy to keep him busy with a ton of annoying jobs if he upset their group, especially her brother.

Zayne laughed at that. "I really wouldn't wish Daniel on anyone, but Brielle seems to have him well whipped. I'm impressed by her moxie. But then again, I know her big brother and he's also a force to be reckoned with."

Zayne could practically feel the heat radiating off of Brinxton's cheeks as he blushed furiously. Brinxton could see Zayne smirk in his peripheral vision, obviously pleased with himself. He had mentioned to Brinxton how he loved seeing his face turn red just as much as Brinxton liked seeing it on Zayne.

When Brinxton pulled up to the cabin, he could see that Jessie had done what he asked. There were even roses along the ramp to the front door and in the garage just in case they entered with Zayne's wheelchair. She'd even turned on the white Christmas lights on the outside, which twinkled and lit up the pathway along with the beautiful solar lights along the side. Brinxton turned off the car and put his hand on Zayne's thigh comfortably. He got close and whispered in his lover's ear, "Wait here while I get the chair."

Brinxton got out of the car and closed the door gently to keep the warmth in the car while he wrestled Zayne's lightweight chair out of the trunk. He unfolded it and got it set up the way Zayne liked it and wheeled it to the passenger door. Knocking briefly to alert Zayne that he was opening the door, Brinxton pulled on the handle and swung the chair into position before reaching forward to help his still-blindfolded love out of the car. Zayne trusted Brinxton completely, and the transition into the wheelchair, despite the lack of eyesight, went smoothly.

Brinxton wheeled Zayne to the footpath to the house, positioning the chair to get the full scene just right before locking the wheels and stepping in front of the chair and digging the ring box out of his pocket. He knelt on one knee and said loudly, "Okay, time for the big reveal! You can take the blindfold off."

Zayne took the blindfold off and took a second to let his eyes adjust and get his glasses on before really taking in the scene before him with an expression that spoke to his shock and happiness. He took in the lights, the rose petals, and then finally looked at Brinxton down on one knee. He couldn't hide the smile that came to his face, and Brinxton could see the tears in Zayne's eyes in the soft light all around them.

"Zayne Lennox, we've been together long enough and been through quite enough for me to know without a doubt that you're the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I know we had some rocky times, but I feel like it helped us grow -- and grow together. Zayne, I love you. Will you marry me?" Brinxton said, clearly reciting something he'd worked on for a while.

Zayne's smile only got bigger through Brinxton's speech and as soon as he asked the last question, Zayne was already nodding his head. "Yes! A thousand times, yes!"

Brinxton hesitated before standing up, "Only a thousand? Should I try again?"

Zayne laughed. "Should I say an infinity? It fits better but doesn't roll off the tongue as well."

Brinxton shook his head as he approached and handed over the ring box, "Nah, too vast, we don't want to set too tough a goal to start off with y'know?"

Zayne grinned at that and looked at the ring for a moment with a fond smile before he had Brinxton put it on his finger. "It's perfect. All of this was." He pulled Brinxton down into a kiss, savoring it as their first kiss as an engaged couple, something Zayne had thought might never happen after the accident.

They made their way inside, where the romantic surprises kept coming. Jessie had thought of everything. Zayne loved every bit of it, enjoying the chocolate dipped strawberries and accepting the sparkling cider from Brinxton with a grin before they clinked their glasses together.

"I love that Jessie and Zach helped you," Zayne said quietly. "It feels good to know they approve and want to help you plan this so much. My family means everything to me and knowing they love you just solidifies everything more for me."

Brinxton smiled broadly and hugged Zayne close, kissing him sweetly. They settled in on the couch to watch Zayne's favorite movie (information supplied by Zach) with some popcorn and snacks that Jessie had staged nearby, Brinxton covering Zayne's lap with a convenient blanket.