Notes

Weeks after Brett and Kieran had hit the six months mark, summer blessed his camera roll with aesthetic visuals of his very boyfriend. They were closer to seven months, nearing the autumn they had started catching feelings and gone through a lot. It felt more like a year than seven months, so Brett would consider it a year. For that reason, he. asked Kieran if he would be okay with gradually appearing on his social media. To his surprise, he didn't show much resistance to the idea. With Kieran's family being far off from Brett's connections, he had even offered to go through his friends on social media to check whether they had mutual contacts. Of course, they didn't. Kieran had a limited social circle, in contrast to him. Hell, Brett had gotten new friends among the random followers who engaged more with his stories than others.

His followers had hilariously asked about his relationship status. He liked to believe that the lack of response awoke curiosity among the followers. Whenever Brett welcomed questions or checked his direct messages, he swore he could pick out a few questions regarding having a partner. Of course, he'd reply with no comment, no idea, I don't know, etc to be funny. Kieran was his treasured secret it felt like. As the loud and proud type Brett was, he also felt excited to finally share and flex how perfect Kieran was. The brunet shamelessly loved talking and pestering everyone with conversations regarding his boyfriend. Jane could talk about school and Brett would somehow bring up how Kieran studied environmental ENGINEERING, as smart as his boyfriend was.

"Hey, you can't peek yet," Brett inconveniently weighed down on his only and favorite 189cm bodypillow. His phone screen was very much accessible for Kieran to look at. His intelligent boyfriend seemed to wonder how he was supposed to avoid looking, as Brett was scrolling right in front of his face.

Brett wondered whether Kieran was nervous, or somewhat looking forward to going public. He'd never expose him in the sense of adding him to his tiktok whatsoever. Actually, he tried to decrease the amount of TikToks he posted unless it was him and Victoria.

As for Kieran's inquiry, Brett squirmed to turn around to fully lay on his abdomen instead to have his phone cover face Ki to assure secrecy. It felt somewhat strange to declare his love for Kieran digitally. He only did it to Hadi, Victoria, Levi, Jay sometimes, his siblings, and even his parents too. Brett couldn't begin looking at his folder named 'Ki <3'. There were a lot of moments to choose from.

He mostly captured Kieran every time he would zone out, look away, or look down as the blond never knew what to do with himself. Brett loved his camera shyness sometimes. Other times, he found himself begging Kieran to stop showing the middle finger or looking like he found Brett annoying. Though, those golden pictures were in the folder too.

Brett postponed looking for the specific order and content to post. He was thinking of announcing it as a story. The followers he had now would know first, and the story would remain saved, but all the way back among his many stories from travels, public events, answers to questions, etc. He wouldn't bother saving the story if it weren't for the fact that a lot of his following was curious.

He browsed through the relationship-related questions to post. Brett always anonymized the followers though. His first story acknowledged the many inquiries regarding his status. While there were many ways of wording the question, Brett chose three to include in his story. The background picture was just blank for now.

'Are you single?'
'What's your relationship status?'
'is he single tho'

As his own caption, Brett was very direct: "Remember these questions? The big reveal is..." with the most dramatic, intense background music from Marvel. Evers bit the insides of his cheeks to prevent himself from laughing. He didn't want to spoil or make Kieran question whether he was going to post embarrassing content about him and Ki.

It took Brett a while to decide what pictures or videos he wanted to include. He already excluded any content of them kissing as it'd be too mushy and extra. Besides, he was looking forward to posting engagement pictures in the future. Yes, the man was thinking five steps ahead. Eventually, he chose 4-5 golden pictures and 2 videos he could post. He had 4-5 stories to caption and declare how much he loved Kieran. Once again, he needed to save his words for the wedding vow.

"Alright, jokes aside. I've never been a private person - hence it's been difficult to hide my most treasured person. My boyfriend," Brett led the first story with text with a plain white background. Yes, he was dragging it out.

"I'm honored, proud, thankful, and humble to introduce you to my favorite person in this universe," the blank white background continued to pester his story.

Brett bit his lip upon choosing the picture for his first reveal. He saw Kieran on his phone, though he wasn't sure the blond was looking through his story. He caught Kieran's attention by tapping on his chest. Brett exhaled deeply, trying to deceive the very grin forming on his face. He asked Kieran whether he was ready. Brett wasn't prepared to choose his words at all. He would have to wing it. He tilted his phone off-side to get a view of his precious boyfriend. As for Kieran, he seemed somewhat nonchalant with his nod. The blush across his cheeks revealed it all. The shade of red Brett would never get tired of.

Both of his hands began editing the very first story. Kieran's heart-stopping self from the carnival. He believed it'd be a bold yet direct way of getting it over with.

"This is Kieran, my boyfriend of 7 months! He's been secretly blessing me this year with his presence alone,"

The second picture was taken by none other than Victoria, with Brett on his tiptoes with his hands on Kieran's shoulders, laughing at the theatrics after they'd gotten public to their roommates. None of the roomies were surprised, and Brett was so disappointed that he couldn't have a grand kiss in front of their roommates without receiving any applause.

"He's my antidote, my rock, support, serotonin, and been the very person watching me heal and grow,"

The third post was a very short video of him secretly filming Kieran for a few seconds. Of course, he playfully rolled his eyes and smacked the back camera with his palm as if to stop him. It described their dynamic so well. Brett didn't feel the need to add a caption.

For the fourth post, he needed to include lyrics that were as little cliche as possible. He needed something sweet and not too cringe. Shut up and dance was me was cringe and overused.

"and I don't wanna play this game... do you feel the same" by Woodney Pitney did the job of describing how they came to be. The melody was lighthearted and playful to avoid it getting too mushy.

Their picture was merely a chill snap of him spectating Kieran cooking something up. Kieran's features such as independence, and the cook of his boyfriend became evident. Brett loved him so much he could cry upon processing it. However, he had words to focus on. He left the lyrics as the only caption. His snap caption was also pretty funny if he said so himself. It was "Haha imagine kissing the chef, jk, unless!" followed by embarrassed emojis.

The second video included Brett and Kieran holding hands while sauntering down the street, Hadi scowling behind them until he recklessly broke their hands to seemingly tackle Brett instead. Of course, Brett was complaining while Hadi insisted on 'bros first'. It was the first display of friendship toward Kieran from Hadi's point of view.

Brett was surprised the first time Hadi paid for Kieran too, sneaking a 'do not mention it or i'll kill you' stare toward his boyfriend. Brett and Kieran also shared a look right after Hadi had been very nice to him. The telepathic communication led him to playfully tell both Brett and Kieran to fuck off per usual.

For his last picture, he wanted to post snaps of him openly snuggling against Kieran at night. However, even Brett believed it was for the best that those memories were for their eyes only. He browsed through a worthy concluding picture in his gallery. He was fast to find one of Kieran with him and his younger siblings. Jane and Brandon looked gleeful to share a moment on cam with their brother-in-law. Hell, even Kieran made an effort in 'posing' whatsoever. He was genuinely happy at that very moment too. He swore Kieran had grown less and less nervous around his siblings and felt less pressure around them during their cute picture.

As for the last caption, Brett had no idea what to write. There was so much he could conclude with. He tagged Jane and Brandon at least.

"There you have it! I'm taken by the most perfect person all species have to offer. He lynched my heart like no one else has or will <3 Us forevers"

"Finally I'll be able to share snippets of our journey

Brett wanted to laugh at the shitty jokes but decided not to. Regardless of whether Kieran was scrolling through the story or not, he finished off the little story for now. He bit his bottom lip before shamelessly stealing his phone and deciding they should abandon their phones for a while.

Tonight he got stupidly lovestruck after processing what he had written about Kieran. All of it was true. Their journey was ever so meaningful, and he was more than grateful to have Kieran in his life.

After he had forced them to leave their phones, Brett didn't waste a second hugging his boyfriend first. He felt his chest go warm once Kieran hugged him back, even though they had done this so many times. Hugs before Brett would go off for an interview once in a while, or a hug before Kieran would go to buy the most well-put vegan ingredients for the month. Well, tonight marked the first day they were out there in public. A part of his public profile, that was. Brett already heard and felt the vibrations on his phone. The buzzing didn't stop, but his body relaxed against Kieran's effortlessly.

Brett wanted nothing more than squeeze and hold Kieran firmly for the night. His heartbeat quickened in the delayed excitement of finally presenting his followers to his boyfriend. While he had declared his love online, Brett needed to remind him how loved he was in real life too. He let out a long yawn against the crook of Kieran's neck, though he could never get tired of placing feathery kisses along the warm skin. He shifted his hand to Kieran's jaw, leaning back to admire his features again.

He believed that there was no limit to how long Brett should stare and love every single thing that Kieran offered. Brett's thumb aimlessly brushed against his cheek. He didn't think he needed to say that he loved him out loud. Brett knew very well Kieran could feel so with every kiss trailing up his jaw and eventually aimlessly over his face. Kissing Kieran could quicken his heartbeat immeasurably. Lately, kissing Kieran slowed his heartbeat down to feel at peace. The comfort of having Kieran against his skin gave him a sense of peace unlike anything else.

There's so much he wanted to tell and remind him. He was handsome, his smile brightened up his world, and he was the most beautiful thing Brett had ever laid his eyes on. It was safe to say Brett couldn't resist kissing his lips to express every word he couldn't make into sentences. He almost smiled against the kiss until realizing it would mean that he'd have to pull away. Brett felt disgustingly mushy tonight with the Instagram declaration. He enjoyed it, so, so, so much.

At the end of the night, Brett laid on his side with his leg over Ki. The older was unfortunately locked into one position. Though, the two of them could sleep peacefully. He traced Kieran's cheek one last time before he'd have to fall asleep. God, Brett could proudly say the last emotion he felt before falling asleep was raw love. Love for his one and only boyfriend - Kieran.