One afternoon found Willy Wonka sitting across from Mr. and Mrs. Bucket at the Buckets' dining room table. "So, Willy, you wanted to speak with us?" Mrs. Bucket asked.
"Yes," Willy replied. Well, here goes, he thought, taking a deep breath. "I want to marry your son."
The Buckets stared at him with matching expressions of shock. They hadn't been the most supportive of Charlie and Willy's quickly blossoming romance at first, but now, years later, they had accepted that the two weren't going to simply fall out of love with each other. No, they had done quite the opposite. Willy was getting old, and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with the boy he'd chosen to be his heir, however long that may be. He trusted Charlie with his life and had, unwillingly at first but then unconditionally, given him his heart.
"I...don't you think it's a bit soon, Willy?" Mr. Bucket pointed out. "Charlie is only twenty, and he should have a chance to be adventurous and be young before he settles down."
"It is difficult, isn't it, for you to be so much older than him?" Mrs. Bucket asked. "Charlie has his whole life ahead of him, while you..."
"Hey, I'm only thirty six, thank you very much," Willy informed them. "And I love your son. I wouldn't hold him back from anything."
Mr. Bucket nodded. "You have treated him well," he admitted. "You have never hurt him..." He and Mrs. Bucket exchanged a look. "Though we'd rather you two waited, I can't think of any other reason not to give you our blessing."
"Thank you," Willy sighed in relief. "You won't regret this. I love Charlie more than I've ever loved anyone and we have something special."
"You're welcome, Willy." Mrs. Bucket smiled. "So, what do you plan to do about a proposal? I'm assuming it's going to be no ordinary proposal."
About that, Mrs. Bucket was right. Willy was nothing if not extravagant, and he spent the next week trying to think of the perfect proposal for Charlie. The Oompa-Loompas knew something was up, because Willy would pace around his office excitedly and would be quite vague when any of the Oompa-Loompas asked about what he was doing. The fact that he wasn't coming up with any new candy ideas was a dead giveaway that something was up.
Charlie noticed a change in him, too. "Willy, is everything alright?" he asked one day. "You've been acting strange. Stranger than usual."
"Oh - I'm fine, my love," Willy reassured him, patting his hand when Charlie wrapped his arms around his lover from behind. "Just had a lot of new ideas lately."
"The Oompa-Loompas said you aren't working on anything new," Charlie said, and Willy winced. "Something's going on. What is it?"
"I did change up my bedroom a bit," Willy said. "Would you like to see?"
"Sure." Charlie followed him down the hall to his bedroom door, and Willy pushed it open to reveal the new curtains and the extra closet that Charlie swore hadn't been there last time he'd been in Willy's room.
"I put in blue curtains. Your favorite color. And," Willy said, going over to the new door beside his closet and throwing it open, "a spare closet. Look at that! How convenient." Willy stood by the door, his eyes glittering as he bounced on his feet, unable to contain his excitement.
"Willy," Charlie said, going over to him and wrapping his arms around his neck. "Did you do all this for me?"
"Maybe...Heh..." Willy blushed as Charlie's body pressed up against his own, and the younger man brought their mouths together. Willy moaned as he was pressed against the wall beside the door and fiercely kissed. "Oh...it's been way too long since we last did this," Willy breathed as Charlie's lips moved down to his neck.
"That's because you keep working nights and I'm always asleep by the time you come to bed," Charlie complained as he trailed kisses down Willy's neck.
Willy felt his eyes flutter closed as Charlie fumbled with the buttons of his shirt. "And boy, have I been missing out," he groaned, lifting Charlie off the ground and carrying him over to the bed.
A few nights later, Charlie received an invitation from his love to dinner. Meet me at your parents' house for a surprise, the note read. Love, Willy. Charlie smiled, tucking the note in his jacket pocket as he headed towards the Chocolate Room.
The energy in the factory had been...weird, over the past few weeks. It felt like everyone was hyper, like they had drank too much caffeine or something. He knew something was up, and he suspected he was about to find out.
When he arrived at the small house that he used to live in, still tucked cozily into the Chocolate Room, everyone froze when they saw him. The table was set for dinner, and he cocked his head inquiringly at his family. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Come, my dear boy," Willy said, taking his jacket and hanging it up on a hook by the door. Charlie smiled at him, accepting a lingering kiss. Years later and Willy still made his heart flutter and his knees weaken. "Let's have some dinner first."
"Alright," Charlie agreed, sitting down beside Willy and across from his parents. The house had been too quiet since his grandparents passed on and he didn't spend as much time here as usual. He realized he missed it. Charlie's mother had prepared a beautiful turkey decorated with berries and leaves around it, and mashed potatoes and gravy. Charlie stuffed himself with food, and groaned about his full stomach when several Oompa-Loompas brought in the largest cake Charlie thought he'd ever seen. It was chocolate, of course, intricately decorated with many layers. "Willy, did you bake this yourself?"
"Possibly." Willy's eyes twinkled mischievously, and he turned in his seat and took Charlie's hands. "Charlie, my love, do you realize what today is?"
Charlie had to think for a moment before he remembered, his heart warming, "The day that we met." He smiled.
"Yep," Willy agreed, blue eyes meeting violet ones. Charlie's heart began to race. "The moment I saw you, I knew you would be the one to win the contest and become my heir. And you proved me right that day, and every day since. Charlie, I'm not a very open person, and the years we have spent together in a romantic relationship have been a journey for the both of us. Before you, I never had a lasting relationship with someone I was deeply in love with, and that changed when you admitted your love for me. You never judged me as I slowly opened up to you, and I realized that I didn't have to be afraid anymore when I'm with you."
"Willy," Charlie breathed, tears filling his eyes, moving to kiss him.
The older man stopped him. "Wait, there's more. You were always there for me - you helped me begin a new relationship with my father, and you gave me something too when you moved in with me. You gave me a family." Tears were streaming down Charlie's cheeks at this point, his parents were smiling, and Willy's throat was thick with his own tears. Willy reached for something on top of the cake, and Charlie realized, his heart squeezing, that there was a ring sitting in the perfect center of the top layer. "I want to-" Willy began, but everyone gasped when the cake exploded all over the table, spattering the Buckets and Charlie and covering Wonka and the ring he was now holding in melted chocolate.
Charlie couldn't help but burst out laughing through his tears, and he reached out a finger and brushed some of the chocolate off of his lover. He licked it off his finger as Willy stared at him, blushing furiously. "I-I don't know what happened," Willy said. "I swear I didn't add my Exploding Chocolate into the cake!" Just then, they all heard giggling coming from outside the house, and they all exchanged knowing looks. "I'll get them-"
Charlie put a hand on his arm, laughing. "It's alright, Willy," he said.
Willy sighed, making a mental note to get his revenge later, and continued on with his speech, ignoring the fact that he was absolutely covered in chocolate. "I want to come home to you every night, and wake up with you in my arms, for the rest of my life. So..." Shaking, Willy got down on one knee, holding the ring out to Charlie, "Charlie Bucket, will you marry me?"
"Yes," Charlie choked out through his tears. He bent down to kiss Willy, slow and deep, and the two quickly forgot about Charlie's parents, who were taking pictures. Charlie was about to slide his tongue into Willy's mouth when his father cleared his throat.
Reluctantly, the two broke apart. "My apologies, sir," Willy said, tipping his hat to Mr. Bucket as his new fiance giggled.
"It's quite alright, Willy," Mr. Bucket said. After Willy cleaned off the ring in the sink and quickly dried it, Charlie allowed Willy to slide the ring onto his finger.
"It's absolutely gorgeous, Willy," Charlie said through his tears, holding up the diamond ring to admire it. It was sparkling in the light now that it was mostly chocolate-free. Willy kissed him again, distracting Charlie from the ring, and pulled his love close.