Elliot looked at the ring for so long that Adrian began to suspect he'd made a catastrophic mistake.

"You can say no," Adrian said quickly. "You can say not yet. You can say I'm an idiot for doing this while you're packing socks."

Elliot laughed through the tears gathering in his eyes. "You really picked this moment?"

"I had a speech prepared for dinner. Then I saw you folding my sweaters and realized I couldn't wait."

"That's the least romantic explanation I've ever heard."

"I can try again. With candles. Possibly a violinist."

"Absolutely no violinists."

Adrian stayed on one knee beside the open suitcase. Elliot sat on the edge of the bed and looked at him carefully.

"This isn't you trying to fix everything with a ring, is it?"

"No. I know I can't."

"And you know I still want the studio?"

"I have a standing appointment to assemble your shelves badly."

"And I want us to talk when something hurts instead of pretending it's fine."

"I promise to listen. Even when I want to defend myself."

Elliot wiped his cheek. "You're making it very difficult to tease you."

"Please don't stop. It's part of your charm."

He took Elliot's hand, waiting. Elliot studied the ring, a simple band with a narrow line of gold running through it.

"It's beautiful," he whispered.

"The jeweler said it would sit beside your original ring. I didn't want to replace anything."

"You remembered I like simple things."

"I'm learning."

Elliot drew a long breath. He could see the man who had once chased him for a year, the husband who had hurt him, and the stranger who'd fallen in love with him in a hospital room.

They were all Adrian. The difference was that this Adrian was willing to listen when Elliot told him what love required.

Elliot tilted his head. "Are you sure? I thought you were straight."

Adrian grinned. "I was. Then you walked into my hospital room."

Elliot started laughing. Adrian added solemnly, "And ruined my entire heterosexual career."

"A tragic professional setback."

"I'm considering suing you for emotional damages."

"You tried to steal me from my husband."

"A bold romantic strategy."

"An extremely stupid one."

"And yet here we are."

Elliot slid off the bed and knelt opposite him. He kissed Adrian slowly, then rested his forehead against his.

"I love you," Elliot said. "Not because you're perfect. Because you're here, and you keep choosing to be here."

"I love you too."

"And yes."

Adrian blinked. "Yes?"

"Yes, you ridiculous man. I'll marry you again."

Adrian slipped the ring onto Elliot's finger with hands that trembled. He kissed Elliot's knuckles, then laughed as Elliot pulled him into an embrace.

For several minutes they remained on the hotel carpet, holding each other beside the half-packed suitcase.

Noah called just as they finally stood. Adrian answered on speakerphone.

"Tell me you didn't propose without inviting me," Noah said immediately.

Adrian stared at the phone. "How did you know?"

"You asked me yesterday whether a man could wear two wedding rings. I possess basic reasoning skills."

"He said yes," Elliot announced.

Noah shouted so loudly they had to move the phone away from their ears.

"Congratulations! I demand to give another speech."

"Absolutely not," Adrian said.

"I have three years of material."

"That's exactly why not."

Elliot took the phone. "You can give a speech. Five minutes."

"Elliot, I have always said you're the sensible one."

"Four minutes," Adrian corrected.

Elliot insisted they write their vows separately. Adrian objected on the grounds that Elliot was an artist and therefore had an unfair advantage with words.

"You run a company," Elliot reminded him. "You speak in public all the time."

"Quarterly earnings are less intimidating than telling you how I feel."

"Then don't sound like a quarterly earnings report."

Adrian drafted three versions. The first was too formal. The second contained a joke about stealing married men that Noah loved and Elliot threatened to ban.

The third was only a few sentences. Adrian read it aloud to the empty kitchen, then stopped because he wanted Elliot to hear it first on their wedding day.

Elliot, meanwhile, painted a small watercolor of the hospital lunch container. He planned to give it to Adrian after the ceremony, a reminder of the day everything had gone wrong and strangely begun again.

They were careful not to let wedding preparations swallow their ordinary life. They still went grocery shopping, watched movies, and argued cheerfully about whose turn it was to take out the recycling.

One evening Elliot asked Adrian whether he felt strange wearing two rings. Adrian considered the question, then held out his hand.

"The first one reminds me what we promised," he said. "The second reminds me we chose it again."

Elliot kissed his knuckles. For once, Adrian didn't ruin the moment with a joke.

The planning began when they returned home. Elliot wanted a small ceremony with family and close friends. Adrian initially suggested renting an entire historic hotel.

Elliot gave him a look.

"Or," Adrian said, "we could have dinner in a garden."

"Better."

"With a modest number of flowers."

"Define modest."

"Fewer than the number of people attending."

"Progress."

They visited a garden venue outside the city, where string lights hung between old trees. Elliot stood beneath an arch of climbing roses and looked around with quiet satisfaction.

"This," he said. "I can imagine us here."

Adrian took a photograph, not of the garden but of Elliot smiling beneath the arch.

"What?" Elliot asked.

"Nothing. Just collecting evidence again."

Elliot caught him by the lapels and kissed him. A passing employee politely pretended not to notice.

Over the next weeks, they made choices together. Elliot designed the invitations. Adrian chose a menu that included the grilled cheese they'd eaten on their first date.

Noah insisted the dish should be labeled THE STRAIGHT MAN'S DOWNFALL. Elliot laughed; Adrian threatened to revoke his invitation.

At a fitting, Adrian watched Elliot step out wearing a cream-colored suit. He forgot what he'd been saying halfway through a sentence.

"Well?" Elliot asked.

"I have no vocabulary."

"You're usually very talkative."

"You've destroyed my ability to form a coherent thought. Again."

Elliot smiled, pleased. They practiced their vows at home but agreed to keep the final versions secret.

Noah volunteered to organize a pre-wedding dinner. Adrian asked whether the evening would involve embarrassing photographs. Noah replied that he couldn't guarantee the absence of historical evidence.

Elliot chose a casual pizza place instead of an expensive private room. They spent the evening telling stories about the first wedding, some affectionate and some spectacularly humiliating.

Adrian laughed along, surprised by how much easier it felt to hear about the past without measuring himself against it.

At the end of the night, Elliot slipped his hand into Adrian's and said, "I'm excited."

Adrian answered, "Me too," and meant it without reservation.

One evening Elliot found Adrian standing by their wedding photograph. He wasn't looking at it with jealousy anymore.

"Do you miss him?" Elliot asked softly.

Adrian shook his head. "I'm grateful to him. He found you. I get to keep choosing you."

Elliot took his hand. Adrian kissed the new ring, then the old one beside it.

"One last question," Adrian said.

"What now?"

Adrian lifted Elliot into his arms, laughing when Elliot grabbed his shoulders in surprise.

"So… is that a yes?"

Elliot kissed his cheek. "Only if you promise to never forget our anniversary again."