Dream Like New York

Who: Beau Watson and Austin Shaw
What: Of Bad News and Bridal Magazines
Where: Beau & Austin's Apartment, NYC
When: After this

When Austin arrived home after a busy day of work, shopping, and trawling through Google still trying to decide on the perfect wedding venue, his arms were laden with bags from various designer clothing boutiques and groceries from Whole Foods to cook a special dinner for Beau when he got home from work later. Although Beau's shifts could be erratic and long, they had found an easy rhythm together again since reuniting and deciding to get remarried. So much had happened during the breakdown of their marriage - towards the end, during, and when they came back into each other's lives - that it wasn't a matter of being able to 'do-over'. They both knew that. It was about restarting, knowing they were both different people now after all they had survived. Still, one thing Austin would never take for granted again was how familiar Beau was and how right he felt with him. They were meant to be. Austin definitely thought soul mate material but Beau had never really believed in that concept. Mostly because he had almost died twice in his short life now that he saw the world in a much more layered way than most. He did agree, though, that at least in this life while he still had one, they belonged together.

Part of Beau's promise to marry him again and the acceptance of his proposal was that this time, he wanted Austin to have his dream wedding. Their last marriage was spur of the moment at City Hall because he struggled back then with the concept of having a future. He thought looking too far ahead would jinx having one at all. It had been perfect for them at the time and Austin never felt he missed anything not having the big white wedding he once dreamed of as a kid. Only now, it made sense to do it differently this time around. Beau didn't want him to have to sacrifice anything for him and since they agreed to that, Austin had been all-in on the wedding planning. It had been a good distraction after news of Justin and Sasha's terrible car crash, which effectively put Austin's contract as the designer of Justin's permanent tour wardrobe and Justin as the face of Austin's clothing label indefinitely on hold. He still had a lot of other clients, of course, and designing for each new season would always keep him busy but planning their wedding was definitely a priority, second only to focusing on their relationship more this time around. All the little things that meant something, that were easy to get lost in the mix when life got hectic.

Enthusiastically singing It's Raining Men, the last song on his playlist in the car, he juggled his keys out of his pocket and by some small miracle managed to get the door open without dropping anything. He nudged it open with his hip and did a quick pirouette through the door, letting it swing closed behind him. He was only a few steps inside the sprawling open-planned loft apartment when he stopped short, spotting Beau sitting on their modular sofa nursing a beer on his chest. The apartment was dimly lit by only one lamp by their open fireplace and even though the TV was on, Beau didn't seem to be watching it.

"Hey, darling. What are you doing home? I wasn't expecting you until later. I thought you were working the evening. Shit, did I open the wrong day on our Google Calendar again?" He dumped all the bags on the dining table and came over to Beau, leaning over his shoulder to give him a kiss and a cuddle. "Beer, huh? Everything okay?"

Who: Austin and Angel Shaw
What: Surprise Visitors
Where: Austin's Loft Apartment
When: After this

When his doorbell sounded, Austin shot awake with a jolt. He was lying on his stomach, one arm looped around a naked Beau asleep in the bed next to him. He propped himself up on his hand, groggily peering around through squinted eyes to try and figure out what had woken him. His immediate thought was that Beau had woken him for some reason, which made his gut do a little flip-flop to even think of. He didn't know if he could tell Beau this, but ever since Beau told him he had clinical depression and had contemplated ending his life, that was a worry hanging over his heart. Even if Beau reassured him he had no intentions of acting on the thoughts and his psych treatment had been successful in controlling them.

He was careful to shift in the bed so Beau didn't wake up and blearily flopped out of bed to grab his robe and face mask. He was trying to messily tie the robe's sash around his waist when he answered the door, again just expecting it to be a delivery driver. At the sight of his masked twin brother, Angel, Austin squeaked in surprise. "Oh my god!" He grabbed his twin in a smooshing reflexive hug because it had been months since he had seen him in person and it was either that or burst into tears at seeing him.

"You're here! Fuck, why are you here?" he quickly added, lightly shoving Angel back to arm's length so he could assess if he was okay or not. Then he yanked him back into the squeezing hug, social-distancing be damned.