[Gift] Apple picking gone gay

Orryn and Gaius were having a very lovely fall day, a planned date going just right shortly after a week of dramatics where Gaius finally realized the impact he had when... well he'd accidentally ghosted Orryn. To him, their relationship never changed despite not talking, they'd just have to catch up after, to Orryn... the story was understandably different when Gaius had suddenly gone quiet. Which is why Gaius was treating him to a nice easy day, they'd pick some apples for later, and pick some of the bruised ones for later that day to make pie. Well Gaius would try to make the pie. That didn't mean he'd be successful.

As they walked through the trees of the small orchard they'd found, one that was thankfully less busy than all the others, the two linked arms, quietly walking next to each other. Gaius finally spoke up, "Are you enjoying yourself?" He hums softly, looking over at Orryn once he asks to read his reaction.

"I am." Orryn smiles back up at him, holding onto their small basket of apples they'd collected so far. Orryn had snuck a few bites from some of the trees to see if he even liked the type they were about to pick, much to the annoyance of Gaius. "It's nice being somewhere quiet but still out of the church." Orryn turns back to the trees, stopping at one to pick a few more, one of which was slightly out of reach of him.

Gaius reaches his own hand up to grab the branch to pull the apple closer to Orryn, "It is. I'd leave the church more often if it was like this." He laughs quietly, looking down at his feet to see if there were any intact but bruised apples, his basket was filled with them, they'd probably have some kind of apple food or drink for days with how many he had. He'd probably try to make one for the church as well with the extras.

"I know you would, but you still leave when I ask you to." Orryn teases, a small smirk at the ability to get Gaius to seemingly do almost everything he wanted him to. Almost.

"I do... I feel like after that comment I shouldn't anymore just to get the smug look off your face." Gaius teases him back, a small laugh leaving him as Orryn pouts at him. Orryn quickly smacks the brim of Gaius's hat, "Shush, you wouldn't dare do that, especially not after this last week." Orryn's smugness comes back and Gaius's drops with a small apology.

Orryn quickly presses a kiss onto Gaius's cheek, "It's ok. Just teasing. Let's keep going, I need a few more fresh ones." He pulls his arm gently to pull him with, which Gaius happily obliges bending down slightly to pick up a clean but bruised apple from the ground.

As the two continue, Gaius speaks up again, "You're truly happy though? Even after all of it?" His face creases in worry and this time he doesn't look at Orryn in fear of getting the answer before he'd heard it.

"I'm truly happy." Orryn confirms and Gaius turns to see a happy and smiling Orryn looking at him. "Promise." Orryn nods, picking another apple to place in his basket, finally finished with his bounty, and by the weight of Gaius's basket, he was done long ago too.

"Just checking." Gaius smiles awkwardly.

"For the fiftieth time?" Orryn laughs, bringing them back to the front of the orchard to pay for the apples they'd picked.

"More like the tenth, but yes. Just have to make sure." Gaius laughs, making fun of himself as well, what he felt now was a fraction of how Orryn felt... thankfully he could make it up to him now, so he made up his mind to stop worrying and focus on them together.

They weigh their baskets, totaling up to a very expensive number making Gaius balk until it was reduced since Gaius's were all bruised. With the number at a much more affordable and less ridiculous number, he finally paid and the two left to walk back to the church. As they walked, Gaius got more and more visibly nervous keeping his free hand in his pocket instead of resting on Orryn's arm like he normally does. It left Orryn puzzled, especially since Gaius was so intent on making sure the two of them were okay, what could have possibly happened in the two minutes of them leaving the orchard to cause this?

"Are you okay?" Orryn asks, placing his other hand on Gaius's upper arm and squeezing gently in comfort.

Gaius looks down at him, an easy smile quickly over taking his face, "I am, just you know... worried about baking this pie. Don't want to burn the church down." He laughs awkwardly, and while it was a valid worry and fear, something told Orryn that wasn't what was truly bothering him. He'd drop it for now but... he wanted to get to the root of it tonight at least, didn't want to go to bed knowing Gaius was worried or overly anxious about something.

"If you say so." Orryn frowns slightly and looks back ahead, "I mean I can always help you, you know that right?" He tries to keep his voice reassuring, maybe Gaius would spill it now if he was gentle about it.

"No. I mean, yes I know you can help me but I want to do it. The whole point was to make sure you get an easy day and I take care of the date today." Gaius nods, normally it was a shared responsibility but today Gaius had surprised him with a date that he'd planned on his own. Overall something wasn't adding up for Orryn but he had no idea what any of it could've meant at all. He was slightly worried but he didn't really know for what.

"Okay... if you're sure." Orryn smiles hesitantly, as Gaius seemed to fidget with his other hand. Maybe it was a present for him, a way for Gaius to say sorry, he'd be very happy at that. Especially since he knows how much thought goes into Gaius's gifts. With that thought, his steps grew light again and his smile full. That had to be what it was, he had no question in his mind at all.

The walk back continues without further obstacle or worry from Orryn, Gaius was still nervous but slowly calmed down throughout. They shared easy conversation after that, talking about different happenings in the church they each witnessed and how different they acted with Gaius versus Orryn. Small sounds of laughter leaving both as they spoke.

Once they finally reached the church, Gaius's nervousness seemed to come back and hit him like a ton of bricks. His knees felt shaky which isn't something he'd really ever experienced, in reality this whole week  had been something he'd never experienced and he was walking in a lot of unexplored territory for himself... but this is what he wanted to do and he hoped Orryn would feel the same.

They step into the doorway of the chapel, each step feeling like lead to Gaius as he forced himself through, the fact he was so nervous about something he was so sure about just a month ago... it baffled him, the gift in his pocket sat heavy as he fumbled with it more.

To Orryn, this was simply their return, they'd go to the kitchen and he'd lead Gaius through baking because no matter how much he said he wanted Orryn to have a nice day and relax... nothing really stressed him out more than Gaius unsupervised or uninstructed in the kitchen. He set his basket of fresh apples down, setting them to the side for the other church goers before keeping his set aside and labelled. He wanted to do a few special things with them, so he'd have to keep them away from the grabby hands of the others.

As Gaius set his basket down near by, placing bruised apples in a line and counting them out for the recipe, Orryn slid his hands around his waist, pulling him into a hug from behind, kissing his shoulder and side of his neck where he could reach. "Thank you for planning this all out..." He hums softly and he feels a gentle shiver go down Gaius's body against him.

"Of course. It was the least I could do for you." Gaius turns to hug him properly before he's stopped by Orryn holding him a bit tighter.

"Mhm, and you can continue doing that for me by letting me at least help a little. It'd make me feel better." He smiles up at Gaius who looks at Orryn from the corner of his eyes.

A second goes by...

then another...

"Fine." Gaius gives in, letting Orryn help him. He did know it might make him feel better but it would ruin his plan... no matter he could come up with a better one on the spot.

The two worked together fluidly... though Gaius's actual work on the pie was less fluid and more hesitant and stiff, second guessing everything he did even when he was told exactly how to do it just sesconds ago. Coming closer to the end of the pie, the present sat heavy in his jacket again, his anxiety grew and Orryn could almost feel it in the air around them.

"You know, this pie won't taste very good if you don't put love into it. It's just gonna taste like stress and clammy hands." Orryn teases him, taking the whisk and bowl out of his hands before giving him a proper kiss. "Whatever's got you in a twist will be okay. If you're worried about the pie turning bad, well... I don't think it'll be bad. You're still learning." Orryn smiles, "But it might look bad." He couldn't help but tease slightly.

"Oh how funny. If it looks bad it's on you too." Gaius decides to tease back, giving Orryn a little reassurance that yes, Gaius was and would be okay. It just might take a moment to get there.

"Oh really? I've just been instructing you, if anything it just shows you can't take instruction if it looks bad." Orryn completely ignored how he was indeed doing most of the work in this moment. Gaius was empty handed and watching him with soft eyes, something he was used to in these private moments when no one was looking. "Besides, I won't be the one decorating it, thats all for you to do." Orryn teases again, still refusing to hand the bowl back to Gaius as he continues to work on the pie, adding each ingredient, mixing, throwing into a pan to bake for a bit even beginning to peel the apples for him.

"Are you going to let me do anything at this point?" Gaius bumps him out of the way finally, "It's supposed to be my gift to you. Not your gift to yourself." He laughs gently, watching Orryn pout as he was moved out of the way. How rude, he just wanted to make this pie with him. Totally not like he was hogging all the jobs from him.

"Well, I did let you work on it. You did most of the pie crust!" Orryn tries to bat Gaius away from the apples, but is met with more resistance than he expected."That's like... the most basic part of it. I can do more than that." Gaius does his best to block Orryn out, using his body to completely push him aside and away.

The two bicker for what felt like hours... and what totally could have been hours as they fight over different areas of the pie to make. True to form, as Orryn had thought, the pie definitely didn't look the best... though that could have been because they both fought over how the lattice should go or how much filling and should they crimp the edges or not. It certainly was an apple pie though.

As they sit to eat, take the first bite of the pie they'd made together, fighting but also with love for each other, finally Gaius couldn't handle the heavy beats of his heart from his nervousness, taking small picky bites and smiling after each one, commenting small basics of 'Oh yeah its good. Tastes great.' small menial ones that had nothing behind them because all he could think of was the little velvet box in his front pocket.

The two sat across from each other just mere feet away but in this moment it felt like Orryn was right on him and watching his every move... while the latter was definitely true since he'd felt the shift of Gaius's attitude, it was only in worry for the man.

If the pie wasn't the gift? If the date wasn't the gift? What was?

"Are you okay?" Orryn asks, reaching a hand forward to hold Gaius's.

Gaius hesitates for a second, reaching into his pocket to take out the box in his right hand before placing both on top of Orryn's hand.

As soon as Orryn felt the object, he looked down at Gaius's hand then back to his face, confusion written all over his features.

"I meant to do something a bit nicer than this... honestly I wanted to do it in the orchard but... I freaked myself out of it." Gaius laughs awkwardly before pulling his hand back and waiting.

Orryn pulled the box back to himself, maybe some kind of jewelry? Or a little trinket for him to carry around? He wasn't sure what it could be as he looks between the box and Gaius, which seemed to only cause the other man more anxiety, so Orryn quickly opened it. Inside laid a simple ring, the middle had a band of color inlaid, the color of Gaius's eyes, a soft but deep red. He looked up at Gaius who cleared his throat.

"I uhm... I know this isn't very common to do and I'm not asking you to be sole partners... we can still venture out obviously but... I do want a way to make it known you're my primary partner in a way. This was the best way I could think of." He smiles slightly, this was the first time either one of them had said anything about being primary partners, much less asking for proof of it.

Orryn was unsure, not in what to say, the answer was yes... just... how to react. "Yes... Absolutely, I... This is perfect." He smiles as he speaks the words, small tears welling in his eyes as he stands and crosses the table to hug and kiss Gaius, "Primary partners, huh?" He laughs through his happy tears, sitting in Gaius's lap to keep kissing him. "That sounds a little too formal doesn't it." He teases Gaius, and himself for their unwillingness to name whatever it was that they'd had.

"A bit. Maybe we can go back to fuck buddies." Gaius teases, his own eyes beginning to tear up.

"No." Orryn quickly intterupts, tapping the brim of his hat once more.

"Primary partners."