The next morning proved to be exactly what Miles needed. After finally pushing through the fight with Tristan, to wake up next to him and not in the guest room felt amazing. It was a different resolution to their other fights. For starters, he had gone to sleep full clothed, where he usually would have been recovering from (often rather athletic) make up sex. Fighting always ended with makeup sex, though apparently not the fight that they had just had. He didn't feel upset or bad about that in the slightest. Cuddling with his boyfriend was something that could feel far more intimate.

Miles had had sex with a lot of people, but in hindsight it probably wasn't until Tristan that he had ever felt that it could be more than a physical experience. The emotional connection that it had brought him with Tristan was more important than any number of orgasms he could have had in his lifetime. He really hadn't ever thought that the loving feeling everyone had always promised him would really exist, but then there it was.

Tristan stirred next to him, rolling over to face him. Miles couldn't have stopped himself from smiling if he wanted to. Waking up next to Tristan was the best thing about having moved in together, and that was exactly why he knew he wanted to do this every day for as long as possibly could. Tristan rubbed his eyes, smiling over at his boyfriend.

"Morning," he said, "watching me sleep again?" Miles smiled.

"It sounds weird when you say it like that."

"That's not a no. How long have you been awake for?"

Miles glanced at his phone. "About an hour."

"And you stayed?" He had promised as much the night before. He couldn't have left, no matter how much he might have wanted to. There would have had to be a pretty big emergency before that was even an acceptable thought to have.

"I did get up to pee," he admitted, "but I came back."

"I like this," Tristan said, shuffling over a bit to snuggle against his boyfriend some more. "This is what I was talking about."

"I know."

"Is it bad that I'm actually surprised you're here? Even after you said you would be?"

"No, that's fair. But it matters to you and you matter to me." Tristan hummed in agreement.

"You're whipped." He grinned, leaning up to kiss Miles. Miles, without any second thought, obliged. It wasn't something he was going to argue; mostly because Tristan wasn't wrong. Tristan had him around his little finger, and he could admit as much. "Do you want to go make breakfast?"

"Why do I feel like that wasn't a question?" Miles asked. It went unanswered, save for a look of feigned innocence. "I take it you're staying?"

"I'll join you in a minute, if you go get started."

"Okay." He pressed a parting kiss to Tristan's forehead and climbed out of the bed, stopping to grab a discarded hoodie from the floor and pulling it over his head on his way out.

"Miles?" he stopped in the doorway, turning to face his boyfriend. Tristan blew him a kiss.

"I love you too."

"…and that is why Gatsby is the superior Garcia twin."

"Tell me again why your career doesn't involve persuasive speaking?" Miles asked his boyfriend over their pancake breakfast out on their tiny balcony. Their apartment wasn't a lot, but they had done what they could with it. While they were both in well-paying jobs and could have afforded somewhere nicer, having a two bedroom apartment that was decorated to their tastes and regularly having money left over to save or spend that wasn't put towards rent, bills, and other necessities worked out perfectly for them. They could sacrifice a big balcony with a breath-taking view if it meant they had money for a few luxuries.

"Just one of my many talents."

"I wish I had a defence for Daisy but I've only been watching the show as long as we've been together and I mean, a character who causes that much drama and then gets killed off? Going to beat the Daisy Garcia's of this world every time."

"Not even a rebuttal attempt? You love Daisy," Tristan urged.

"I've never said that. I wouldn't even admit to the others that I watch West Drive with you." Tristan had been watching the long running show for a decade of ups and downs, all through his teen years. It was something important to him, and Miles never for a moment tried to avoid something that was of such gravity. He knew that Tristan knew that he enjoyed the show, but he also knew that Tristan understood he would never admit as much to anyone else. They knew that they weren't the same person, that they could have different interests, and the fact Miles had ever even tried to watch the show was enough. His continued watching of it only pointed to one thing; he actually liked it.

"But?"

"But Noah Metzler and Daisy Garcia make a very attractive couple and I wouldn't hate to be in that sandwich."

"There we go." Tristan paused for a moment, his fork halfway to his mouth. "Shit, we know Zoe Rivas now. You can't just go around talking about how you want to bang her, or whatever."

"Not even if you're invited?" Miles teased. Even he had the decency not to say something like that to her face.

"Oh please, like I'd accept." Tristan shuddered.

"Aw, not even for me?"

"Not with Noah and Daisy, no. With Jacob Fletcher, maybe."

"Jacob and Noah or Jacob and Daisy?"

"Jacob and- hey, wait! This is just what I said we can't do. Oh my god, I have to close my fan accounts. Delete my blog. Private all the West Drive Experience videos!" Tristan stood up, just moments from bolting inside and doing all he said he would.

"Hey, Tris, it can wait until after breakfast, right?" Miles said, a last effort to calm Tristan. He would prefer that his boyfriend didn't set fire to their apartment in trying to destroy all evidence that he was ever a fan of West Drive.

"Right, yeah." He sat back down with a sigh.

"Not to backtrack, but firstly, I don't want to 'bang' anyone," Miles said, "secondly, while I agree with you that we should tone it down before something weird comes up in conversation about who you're shipping Zoe's character with at any given time, there's no point trying to hide everything. You know the others revealed your true fan identity to Zoe the second we left, right? Like, inevitably. You should just own it. I don't think she's going to start a conversation about her job any sooner than you or I would, you know? She's just a person. A very pretty person, but a person."

Tristan rolled his eyes, slumping his shoulders. "You're right. I hate that."

"Gee, thanks."

"Do you think we'll even ever see Zoe again?" Tristan asked, the longing evident in his voice.

"I don't think she's going anywhere. The apartment across the hall is full of stubborn people, so long as she doesn't have anywhere else to go she's not leaving," Miles assured.

"Miles?"

"Yeah?"

"I've just realised that we have a guest room and we made Zoe Rivas sleep on a couch chosen by Zig Novak."

"It's a very comfortable couch," Miles defended. It was better not to bring up that he had thought that he was going to sleep in the guest room.

"Well it wasn't purchased to match the décor, that's for sure." Miles couldn't help but grin.

While the plans had been laid that they would spend the whole day together without interruptions, by early afternoon it became clear that while the Zoe Rivas was potentially just across the hall nothing else would measure up to that in importance. After ten minutes of inventing an excuse to visit (although, as Miles pointed out, they dropped by without excuses more often than not), Tristan pulled Miles out of their apartment and to the Matlin-Novak-Cardinal residence. His outfit was far more appropriate for seeing a West Drive star than he felt his outfit the day before had been.

Tristan knocked politely on the door, something he usually only did upon finding it locked. He needed to ensure that, at all possible moments, he was making the right impression on Zoe. A moment passed, he squeezed Miles hand for support, and the door opened.

It was Grace.

"Oh, hey," she greeted with slight surprise, stepping aside to let the pair in, "it was open."

"Hi Grace," Miles replied as Tristan's whole body relaxed with disappointment, "are the others around?"

"Yeah, they're somewhere," she said, gesturing at the apartment as a whole, "they were getting ready but that was half an hour ago."

"And Zoe?" Tristan chanced.

"She's here," came a familiar voice from the kitchen, Zoe emerging with a mug in hand a moment later.

"We were about to leave, when Maya and Zig are ready to go," Grace said, "we're going to go pick up some of Zoe's stuff."

"It takes all of you to do that?" Miles asked. Grace shrugged.

"Support crew."

"My mom isn't thrilled," Zoe said, "but she cares about me enough to realise that going ho-" she paused and cleared her throat, "that going back there doesn't make sense in a disagreement of this size until we can speak on the phone to one another properly, and she's agreed that I can go and collect some clothes and things and that she is willing to treat me like an adult on this one." Having not really ever had any explanation as to why Zoe had stayed over, Tristan and Miles did the sensible thing in smiling, nodding, and storing away the information to piece together later. "We're grabbing lunch after, if you want to come?"

"Yeah," Tristan accepted, obviously thrilled, "wait, are you staying here longer then?"

Zoe nodded. "Looks like it."

"We have a guest room. You can come stay with us, if you don't want to sleep on the couch," Miles offered, "we kind of operate like one big family anyway, you can always come and go between the two apartments." Tristan nodded in agreement, squeezing Miles hand in a nonverbal thank you. He understood.

"I'll get back to you?"

"Of course. Consider it a standing offer."

"Okay, let's go," Zig said, exiting his and Maya's bedroom with his fiancée following quickly, "Miles, chuck me my jacket?" Miles tossed the jacket draped on the back of the couch to him as Zig realised that the couple that didn't actually live in the apartment was present. "Oh, hey, guys. Are you coming with?"

"Yeah," Tristan answered, "I didn't know you owned anything with sleeves."

"I-" Zig started, before Maya rolled her eyes, "can't argue with that."

In the walk down to the roadside, the agreement was made that Tristan would drive Grace and Zoe in a thinly veiled move to continue chatting with the star, while Miles rode with Zig and Maya. Miles had some things he needed to discuss with the other couple, and he was honestly thankful for the distraction that Zoe was.

"So you want to talk to us about something?" Maya prompted, not a minute after the car was started, "is it about the wedding? We haven't set a date yet."

"I want to ask Tristan to marry me," Miles rushed, the words almost spilling out of him. It felt strange to admit it to Maya and Zig, but he needed their blessing.

"Congrats, man," Zig said.

"Yeah, congratulations!" Maya said, "But why did you need to tell us that before you told him that?"

"Because you two haven't been engaged that long. I don't want to steal your thunder or anything," Miles explained. It was something that had been weighing on his mind since he had made the decision a few weeks ago, and had come more into focus since he had spent the day before ring shopping and visiting his mom for her support and opinions.

"So long as you don't get married before us it's not a problem," Maya said, "you can't set your date until we've set ours, deal?"

"You have some time, I'm not going to ask him tomorrow," Miles assured, "Zoe is still new and exciting and until he can hold a conversation about anything else it's not worth trying."

"What are you waiting for?" Zig asked, "If you know you're going to, then you should just go for it."

"Maybe."

"Do you have a ring?"

"Maybe."

"Wait, aren't you two fighting?" Maya asked, "I know you were all cuddly at our place yesterday, but I also know that doesn't mean a lot for you two."

"We worked it out." Miles figured they didn't need all the details about how it had all gone down. They didn't need to know that Miles' absence the day before to get his proposal in order had been part of their fight.

"Good. I'm glad."

"Me too."

"Do we need to act surprised in a week or two when he says yes?" Zig asked.

"Have you met my boyfriend?"

"Okay, fair point. He'll say yes though."

"He will," Maya agreed.

"Thanks," Miles said, "I hope you're right." He was pretty confident Tristan would accept, though. He couldn't imagine a world without his boyfriend in it, and he was sure the feeling was mutual. He knew Tristan wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

"So, will Zoe and Grace start dating before or after Miles proposes?" Zig challenged, "twenty bucks says it's before."

Maya shook Zig's extended hand. "You're on," she said, "now put both hands back on the wheel, I want to make it to Zoe's house. It's probably beautiful."