As Lewis turns off the ignition, he looks up at you suddenly, and a warm smile spreads across his face.

"What're you thinking about?" you ask.

He shrugs. "Nothing. It's just nice to be able to look at you and appreciate how beautiful you are for once without, you know, being scared you're going to turn round and get creeped out by me randomly staring at you."

You laugh gently. "Likewise, Lewis."

The gaze lingers for a moment longer. Only about half an hour ago, you'd been on the brink of tears, thinking of running to escape it all - and now, fast forward to the present, here you are, staring at Lewis Brindley. Your boyfriend.

You think to yourself again, not for the first time - not for the last - what on earth have you done to deserve this?

Seeing the look in Lewis' eyes, you realize he's probably thinking something very similar of you.

And then he says, "As much as I love looking at you, we've got a Canadian to interrogate."

"Good point," you agree, and you get out of the car.

You hear faint voices as you follow Lewis up the stairwell, one of which you're pretty sure is Trott's. As you near the door to the common room and the voices get louder, Lewis looks back at you and smiles comfortingly, curling his fingers around the handle. You nod - let's do this - and he opens the door.

Trott and Ross stop talking and turn to you and Lewis standing in the doorway.

"Alright, lads," Ross says, a questioning look on his face that says, what the hell are you doing here in our room at eight o'clock at night?

"Where's Sips?" you ask.

Trott looks behind him, gesturing to Smith's corner of the room. "Right th-"

"Chris Daniel Lovasz," Lewis growls, barging past Trott and Ross - and sure enough, there, behind the desk standing next to Smith, is the Canadian bastard himself, in all his glory. "You -"

"Hey, what the fuck!" Sips protests, backing up to the wall as he takes in Lewis' murderous expression. "What's come over you man, what -"

"Lewis tells me you've been an excellent wingman," you interrupt, making your way across the room to stand next to Lewis.

Sips' eyes widen. "Oh," he realizes. "Oh, shit..."

"Um, should we go?" Smith asks, gesturing to the door and giving Trott and Ross a helpless look.

"It's been at least a year," Lewis says, ignoring Smith, "that you've known we've liked each other - and you didn't even say a word about it to either of us!"

Sips winces. "Hey, please," he says weakly. "Hear me out -"

"I've spent countless nights lying awake worrying about this," Lewis says, voice dangerously low, "And turns out you knew this whole time, and could have told me at any point -"

"Lewis, look -"

"I asked you ages and ages ago if Lewis liked me or not and you said you didn't know," you recall. "But that wasn't true, was it?" (A/N: see chapter 2)

"Please, guys," Sips says suddenly, much louder than before; even Smith flinches a little in surprise. "Listen." 

In your peripheral vision, Lewis opens his mouth, probably to voice his refusal, but you squeeze his hand gently, and he gets the message, falling silent again. 

"Don't you think," Sips begins, "that if I'd told you both right from the start that I knew you liked each other, you wouldn't be as close as you are now?"

Lewis frowns. "What -"

"What I mean," Sips says insistently, "is because there was always that doubt that the other liked you, it forced you to get to know each other more, get closer." He shakes his head. "I'm not making sense, am I?"

"No," Ross agrees from behind you. "You're not."

Sips shoots him a dirty look.

"Actually," you say suddenly, "I kind of get what you're saying. You mean if you'd set us up from the start, we wouldn't have had all that time to get to know each other better. It wouldn't be as good as it is now."

Sips spreads his hands. "Couldn't have put it better myself. Because you fell in love - naturally, I guess you could say? - it brought you closer. See?" You note the hint of desperation in his voice. "I'm a good guy."

Lewis narrows his eyes. "I get it now. But I still hate you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he protests. "Hold up. Even if I didn't tell you you liked each other from the start, I still helped you -" He jabs a finger at Lewis. "- get the confidence to ask you out." He points at you. "Without me, you'd both still be single and lonely. So you both owe me big time, man."

You look at Lewis. "He's got a point."

Lewis sighs. "I still hate you, though," he grumbles.

"The feeling's mutual," he replies. He grins contagiously. "Oh, and congratulations to the both of you, by the way."

It's really hard to stay mad at Sips - annoyingly so. "Thanks, man," you smile.

"Thanks," Lewis grunts half-heartedly, but even he's lost all his anger from earlier.

"You're very welcome," he says brightly. "Now if you excuse me, I've got coffee to make and Hearthstone matches to play." And with that, he sweeps out of the room.

"It's astounding, sometimes," you remark, "how little he cares about - well, anything."

"It is," Trott agrees. "I wish I could be like that."

Smith steps forward from his corner and looks from you to Lewis. "So I guess you guys are a couple now," he laughs a little awkwardly.

"Nah, how'd you work that one out?" Ross teases. "But seriously, mates, I'm happy for you."

"Yeah, literally everyone's been waiting for you to ask each other out for ages," Smith says.

"I've written so much fanfiction about you guys," Trott beams.

You frown. "Wait, is he joking?" you ask Ross and Smith.

They both shrug. "You never know with him," Ross murmurs.

"Well, thanks boys," Lewis smiles, turning to you. "Back home, then?"

____________________________________________

"Hello?" (Y/B/F/N) asks, voice crackling a little over the line.

"Hey," you say, sitting a little more upright in your bed. "So, I've got some news..."

"News?" she muses. "Go on then."

You take a deep breath. "Me and Lewis are officially going out."

There's a moment of silence. And then, "OH. MY. GOD!"

You laugh. "What?"

"FUCKING FINALLY!" she yells; you hold the phone away from your ear gingerly. "YOU BOTH TOOK YOUR FUCKING TIME."

"Jeez, talk a little louder will you?" you murmur. 

"Sorry," she says more quietly. "It's just - fuck. I'm so happy for you both! And I guess you finally sorted all your shit out?"

"All the shit has been sorted," you confirm. 

"Is Lewis with you now?"

"He's in his room, probably asleep - he's had a long day," you say.

"Oh, so you're not sleeping in the same bed yet?"

"I said we'd sort everything out tomorrow."

"Cockblock," she mumbles.

You laugh. "Oh my God, shut up!"

"Never," she declares. "Holy shit, I was starting to think you were going to die single."

"Mm," you agree. "Oh, you'll never guess what Sips has been hiding this whole time..."

"Yeah, what?"

"Well, you know he's been telling me to ask Lewis out for ages?"

"Yeah?"

"Turns out he's also been telling Lewis to ask me out for like a year."

"No way!" she laughs. She hesitates. "Wait, so he knew -"

"Yep."

"So why didn't he -"

"Because," you interrupt her, "his logic was if he'd told us from the start, we wouldn't have had all that time to get closer with each other. And to be honest, he's right - if he'd set us up about a year ago, it would've been way more awkward. This way, it sort of just... clicked, I guess. It felt so natural." You shake your head. "I can't explain it."

"No, I get what you're saying. Sips is a smart guy," she says. She sighs. "I'm actually so happy for you - I feel like a proud mother."

You snort. "Thanks? Well, it's getting late, and I should probably go now - so I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Sure - you better fill me in on all the details."

You smile. "Don't worry, I will. See you later!"

"Bye!"

You lay back in the pillows, smiling to yourself. It feels like you're floating - you've never felt so weightless before in your life.

For the first time in what seems like years, you fall asleep easily, without a single doubt on your mind.

__________________________________________

There is nothing better than waking up to the smell of food.

Well - maybe apart from waking up to the thought that the man you've been infatuated with for the past two-ish years is now your boyfriend.

You open your door as quietly as possible, hoping you can sneak into the kitchen behind him and scare him like the asshole you are, but to your surprise, he's not anywhere in sight. 

On the table, though, there's a neatly folded note, a jar of Nutella, and next to that a plate of toast, complete with a rasher of bacon and an egg. You sigh happily; this man is too good to you.

You force yourself to push your hunger aside for a few moments and read the note.

Sorry I couldn't stay here until you woke up, but I've got way too much work :( I was going to wake you and tell you I was leaving, but you looked way too cute asleep. Hope the toast isn't cold by the time you're reading this! See you at the office, love you lots. Lewis x

And then slightly beneath it, P.S. Turn over :) 

You shake your head in disbelief. You must be doing something right if you've ended up with a guy who left cute notes when he left for work and, more importantly, makes you breakfast.

You glance at the other side of the page, and you're surprised to find it's not the two or three-sentence continuation you'd thought it would be, but instead a fully blown letter. You sit down gingerly and start to read.

(Y/N).

Where do I start? There's not a way of me writing this without it sounding cliche, but I'm going to write it anyway.

I love you.

I've loved you probably much longer than you think - in fact, longer than even I thought. I think deep down, I've always loved you, but being the brainless idiot I am, I didn't know how to recognize it - and once I'd recognized it, I didn't know how to deal with it. I guess I owe it to Sips, for helping me find my feelings for you (but don't tell him that, or I'll never hear the end of it).

The truth is, I love everything about you more than words can say, from your eyes and your smile to your kind nature and sense of humor. I'll look at you sometimes, when I'm feeling down, and realize the world isn't that horrible, really - not when it's got people like you in it. I love how just being around you makes me a better person. I love that about you - so, so much. 

But do you know what I love the most about you? Your forgiveness. I love that you always see the best in people, and know when to move on and not let things get under your skin. By this, I guess I'm saying sorry, for all those shitty things I've ever done to you (because that's a long list) - not telling you about Ellie, acting distant for no reason, the night of the party... 

But I hope that you'll realize now that I didn't mean any of it. I did all of it because I loved you, and wanted the best for you - but I fucked up so badly, time and time again. And time and time again, you forgave me, being the perfect soul you are. So thank you. I wish I could be half as good a person as you are. And I swear I'll never hurt you again.

So, like you said yesterday - let's just forget about all that shit in the past. And just think about us, now. Together.

Lewis x 

You're suddenly startled by the sound of a key in the door, and stand up from your seat, letter in hand. 

And in steps Lewis. He shuts the door, then notices you, and his face breaks into a kind smile.

"Good to see you awake," he says. "I forgot my phone, I just came back to -"

He's cut short by you throwing your arms around him and practically strangling him in a rib-poppingly tight hug. He chuckles gently, and wraps an arm around your waist. 

"Miss me that much already?" he teases.

You roll your eyes internally at him, but can't help but smile. "I love you so much," you whisper. "I read the letter, and -"

"Oh." He laughs. "Oh God, when I read it over it made me cringe so much -"

"Lewis, it was fine," you interrupt him. "I can't believe you took all the time and effort into that. It was perfect." You smile a little wider. "Like you."

"Oh, you," he mutters, and then he kisses you, soft but firm. "I love you so much..."

"I love you too," you reply, heart soaring. 

Today is the start of the rest of your life.

________________________________________

A/N: Oh my God. I can't believe I finished this story. It took over a year, guys.

I'm going to publish a longer author's note in the next chapter in a few minutes - it'll detail what I'm moving onto next, what series I have in mind, potential epilogue, etc.

Thank you so so much for reading - you don't know how much it means to me! I love you all insane amounts! <3