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We’re back at the same cabin we rented last Christmas, celebrating our one-year anniversary as a throuple. We’ve all been excited about the trip for months, and I was not expecting Scotty to be the one with the most votes from our friends and family on social media with only two minutes left.

“Your North Pole display really is impressive,” Joey compliments, and he’s not wrong.

I just wasn’t expecting Scotty to create a whole intricate village complete with reindeer stables and elf workshops around Santa’s cottage when he asked us if we could do more than one building this year. Clearly I underestimated him, and it won’t happen again.

The timer goes off, and Scotty officially has his first victory in our annual gingerbread competition.

“Congratulations, sweetheart.” I lean in and kiss him before Joey does the same.

“Thanks.” He beams, looking genuinely proud of himself as he stares at his winning display.

“Honestly, as much as I hate losing, I love that you put in this much effort,” I admit, and his smile grows as he directs his attention back at me. “And speaking of surprises, I have something I’d like to talk to you both about that I was hoping to incorporate into my victory reward, but even though I lost, I don’t want to wait any longer if you’re okay with it, Scotty?”

“I suppose I can wait a few more minutes for my prize,” he teases. “What’s up?”

“I know we all agreed to do ornaments again this year for our presents, but I got you both something that is entirely selfish, so I’m going to argue it’s more of a present to myself than anything.”

“What is it?” Joey asks, already amused, though he has no idea what I’ve planned.

I grab the envelopes I hid on top of the fridge, and hand them each the one with their name on it. They exchange a curious look before ripping them open.

“Plane tickets?” Scotty asks as he skims the ticket, still confused. “Holy shit, are we going to Bora Bora?”

Joey’s head snaps up to look at me. “Are we going there for why I think we’re going there?”

“If you think we’re going so we can both marry Scotty, then I hope so. But if he isn’t interested in that, we can just have a nice vacation,” I answer casually, even though I’m a little nervous about how he’ll respond after he’s claimed not to care about our marriage status for so long.

“Excuse me?” Scotty demands, his gaze pinging between us.

I smile as I drop down to one knee, then I take the ring box out of my pocket, open it, and hold it out for him to see. “I know you told us you didn’t care about marrying us, that living together in a new place was what mattered to you. And I think we’d all agree that living together for the last year has been amazing. But you also said all you’ve ever wanted was to feel like a priority, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the idea of marrying you since that day. I want to be able to call you my husband too. I don’t want there to be any difference in how we all claim each other. Legally it won’t be acknowledged in the States, but it would mean a lot to me if you’d marry me, sweetheart.”

Scotty is beaming at me, nodding before I even finish. “Yes. Of course I’ll marry you. I didn’t even really think that was an option, but I love the idea of being your husband. I jump up to pull him in for a quick kiss, but I’m aware that Joey hasn’t said anything, so I refrain from having it last too long. When we both turn to where he was standing a moment ago, though, he’s gone.

“Love?” I call out.

His response comes from the loft. “One second!”

A moment later he’s descending the spiral staircase with a huge smile on his face, so I don’t think he’s upset I didn’t warn him. I debated if I should tell him about proposing ahead of time, but I really wanted the trip to be a surprise for them both so that Scotty wouldn’t feel like we were making plans without him or excluding him in any way.

When he’s back in the kitchen with us, he also drops down to one knee in front of Scotty and holds out a second ring box that I’m guessing was hidden in his suitcase upstairs.

“I was planning to wait for Christmas Day to celebrate the anniversary of our first date, but I’ll gladly do this now,” he explains, his smile as big as I’ve ever seen it. “Baby, the last year with you has been absolutely incredible. I am so grateful that you gave our relationship a chance, and I can’t imagine a single day of my future without you in it. I already consider you to be my partner in the same way I consider Patrick to be my partner, but I’d love to call you my husband and to celebrate our love with an official wedding. Will you also marry me?”

Scotty is tearing up now, as he nods. “Of course I’ll marry you too.” They kiss, and when they break apart, Scotty laughs through the tears that are now falling down his face. “Fuck, guys, I never thought I’d be proposed to once, and now it’s happened twice in one night. I seriously don’t know what I did to deserve both of you.”

“You’re you, duh,” I respond as I wrap my arm around his waist and pull him close enough to kiss his temple. “I hope you know how incredible you are. Don’t ever question how much we love you. But if you ever do doubt it, now you’ll have two rings to remind you.”

“Oh my god, do I get to pick out rings for you both too?” he asks, sounding excited.

“If you’d like, I’d love to add your ring to my finger,” Joey answers.

I agree. “Me too.”

Scotty finally slides both rings onto his finger and holds his hand out for us to see. The one from me is silver with three small stones clustered together on it. The one that Joey gave him is gold, with three thin silver lines etched into it. I love that they don’t match exactly, each standing out on their own, but still go well together.

“It’s perfect,” he says quietly. “I’d like to get you each something different, I think. I like how it’s clearly two different rings.”

“Me too,” I agree.