Lost In You
A/N: This is going to be largely AU due to the fact that the plot in my head came up out of characters I haven't completely sussed out yet. I've only been writing them a few weeks based off real life circumstances that has led to inspiration of things that could happen in the future. That said, a plot bunny happened, and it kinda ran away with itself, so prepare for something really cheesy ahead.
Also, rated T for suggestive language and situations.Â
It was bitterly cold outside, and Aria didn't want  to get out of her uncle's jeep just yet. If she turned the car off, the heat would stop running and soon the cold outside the car would cause it to dissipate, leaving them chattering in their clothes, because neither of them thought to bring a jacket. Then again, they were both too stubborn to wear a real jacket most of the time in winter anyway. They were used to the bitter cold winters here; why have a coat when you were only outside for two seconds, from the house to the car, from the car to wherever you were headed into next? It didn't ever make any sense to her.
"You have to stop doing that," she commented gruffly as she glanced over at Ezra. His hand was gripping her inner thigh so tightly, she was sure that by the time they arrived at their hotel later, she was going to have fingerprint bruises.
"I can't help it," he rasped. His pupils were blown, his irises a mere thin blue strip around them. "That only made it worse."
Aria huffed, gulped. She bit down on the inside of her bottom lip.
They had volunteered to go to the store on purpose, because they'd been apart the past few days. Between work, their current living arrangments, and just the general business of the holidays, neither of them had had much time for the other in the past ten days or so. Granted, they had talked copiously on the phone every night, but they were used to a certain lifestyle with one another and being apart so much was a deprivation neither of them knew how to deal with. They didn't know how to function without one another--two halves of a whole.
So when he'd turned up at her mother's that morning, the plan had been to sneak a quickie in, in Aria's bedroom before they had to leave. But of course the snow that hit the night before kept Ezra stuck in a traffic jam that made him fifteen minutes late instead of half an hour early like he'd hoped to be, so when he arrived, they'd promptly left with Ella and Zak, and headed out of the city towards Aria's aunt's house where the rest of her family would be gathering for holiday festivities.
They'd arrived to brunch, and then everyone exchanged gifts, and Aria recieved her gifts from her father as well, which felt out of place, given that they had largely fallen out of touch before Ezra had come into her life, and then upon meeting Ezra and realizing the younger man worked over him at Hollis, he had almost completely cut them both off. It also didn't help that Aria didn't get along with her step-mother, a vile woman whose name she refused to speak, and who had hurt her many times in the past. Still, it was ironic to her when she received the large bag from Byron that morning, that he passed her another, albeit smaller bag, for Ezra.
Shortly after gifts, the younger kids split off to watch a movie while they waited on dinner and dessert to finish cooking, while the older adults settled around the table, talking about the current goings-on in their lives. The millenials settled about the house, and it was around that time that Aria and Ezra started trying to figure out a way to break off from the crowd, into the bathroom for a quickie, but everytime they sought to sneak away, someone was in there, or there was a line three people deep.
Of course, dinner eventually finished. They settled down with their food, and Aria was mentally sending out signals towards her family members parking her in to get the urge to want to leave shortly after dinner so she and Ezra could make a quick exit to their hotel they'd gotten in Philadelphia for the next three nights. It was their big present to each other--four days and three nights without her mom, Zak, and without Hardy.
It was just as she was finishing up the last of her candied yams that her aunt piped up about forgetting to unthaw the cool whip for pie. Aria didn't waste a second; she shot up out of her seat with her keys and insisted she and Ezra would go before he could even say word, even if he did have a forkful of mashed potatoes halfway to his mouth.
"We parked you in," her uncle piped up.
"So give me your keys," she had insisted. "Unless you want to go."
That had been all it took for him to shake his head. He unclipped the keys to his jeep and tossed them across the room at her, and she snatched Ezra's hand yanking him up from the couch, barely muttering 'we'll be back' before they were out the door.
"There's no way it's going to be any easier to break away now than it was before," she said. "Everyone is still here. we're still parked in."
"Then what do we do," he asked her, pouting. He was clearly suffering. So sad.
Aria thought for a moment, her eyes drifting to his lips and how badly she wanted to- fuck- no! Nope. Okay, think.
"A diversion," she said after a moment. "We need a diversion."
"Okay, but what kind," he asked.
Aria looked around and then glanced in the rearview mirror and spotted the grocery bag. She looked back at Ezra and smirked. "Dessert. You and I start a food fight with each other. Start sticking food on each other, we'll HAVE to take a shower."
Ezra furrowed a brow slightly at her. "You want me to waste pie?"
Aria rolled her eyes. "How badly do you want to fuck, Ezra?"
"Okay, okay," he replied quickly. "Let's do this."
.,.
Some minutes later, she stood in the kitchen holding her plate, watching as her cousins piled their plates high with snacks of all different kinds. She was smart, and had stuck with two brownies and a slice of apple pie with whipped cream. Ezra had gone with several slices of different pies, all of which he'd put whipped cream, and she'd told him she didn't care what he did with it as long as no chocolate ended up on her very white, brand new Christmas sweater.
When everyone had finally filled through with their desserts, she waited for him to strike....and waited.
And then waited some more.
When a full five minutes had passed, she glared at him, and he stared back at her, only to shrug his shoulders slightly. She tilted her head back at him, as if to say 'oh, come on. Man up.' Still, he did nothing. So finally, she swiped three fingers through her whipped cream on her untouched pie and wiped it across his right cheek and the side of his nose, smirking at him before wiggling her eyebrows at him.
"Seriously," he asked her.
"Serious," she replied, smirking. She leaned over and licked his cheek.
"Okay," he responded. He swiped two fingers through some of his own whipped cream and proceeded to brush them across her chest, marking her. It was on.
A grin crossed her face, and she rubbed her fingers through the frosting on top of one of her brownies and proceeded to stuff her fingers down the top of the collar of his black dress shirt, rubbing chocolate frosting on his chest.
"Oh hell no," Ezra commented as he placed his plate on the counter. Aria followed in suit, raising her hand as he reached for her arms, and she began to giggle as he tried to fight her into submission. In their squirming, she caught the left side of his face with more chocolate frosting, and before she knew what was happening, giggles were bursting through her chest, and she could feel his body spasming against her own as he laughed. A fistful of apple pie suddenly fell down her chest, and then he swiped all the way up her neck until his fingers caught her mouth, and she bit down, gently catching one of his fingers.
"Ow!" He whined between laughs.
"Bull," she cackled as she pulled half a brownie off her plate. She split it in half in her hand and shoved half of it down his shirt while she reached for his belt buckle with her other hand and did her best to wedge the brownie between his jeans and his body. Ezra took the opportunity at that moment to cover her face with his handprint, which happened to be covered in whipped cream. In the very same moment, Aria grabbed a generous finger full of whipped cream and slipped it along his crotch very suggestively. Unfortunately all the movement at once and Ezra pushing on her head caused her to shift wrong, and her feet began to slip. She grabbed onto his belt buckle, and he slipped his hands around her as she went down so she didn't slam her head against the floor. They both giggled endlessly, staring at the other as he knelt above her a few inches...at least until Aria yanked him down to her level, finally fully shoving the brownie in his jeans and laughing more.
"I love you so damn much," Ezra laughed as he leaned up over her.
She was still laughing, but it was one of those moments where everything was starting to fade back into focus, and she was very aware of what the moment was. She could hear her family members laughing around them, clearly at the sight of them and what had just taken place, and she didn't mind. But more than that, she knew this was one of those moments. This was the kind of moment girls hoped for when they were crying in their beds, contemplating suicide, wondering why they were still trying. This was the kind of moment girls hoped for three days after they met a guy and knew they were falling for them, but were terrified of getting hurt.
Moments like this didn't come often when you'd been broken like they both had been, and you had to learn how to love, by loving each other. But Ezra could still be a closed off person sometimes, so when she got to see this side of him....this kind of moment was what she lived for. This was the man she fell in love with. Nobody really understood that, but nobody needed to,because she always had, even when she hadn't.
"I love you too," she murmured back, smiling at him when she'd managed to catch her breath a bit. He leaned down and pecked her on the lips, earning an 'aww' from a number of family members.
"You guys gonna stay down there," her aunt commented a few seconds later.
Ezra was still staring at her, and Aria's heart was hammering in her chest. She was having one of those 'holy fuck I love you' moments and sometimes when that happened he made it really hard to breathe or move or think or even really just be alive. But he wasn't moving, and he wasn't looking away from her, and it was still quiet.
She wanted to ask him what it was. She wanted to move, or breathe, or speak, but he never did anything fast, and she knew if she did any of that, the moment would be done, and whatever was happening in his head would be over.
She was so aware, in that moment, of her hands. Her left, still gripping his jeans. Her right arm wrapped over his shoulder with her fingers under his collar. She'd gotten frosting on the end of his hair and the back of his neck as well as the top of his back.
Just then, there was something in his eyes, so quick she barely caught it, but it was there. She narrowed her eyes just the slightest at him, was about to inquire, and he finally spoke.
"Marry me."
Gasps drew from the peanut gallery, and if she thought she was supposed to flood with any kind of emotion at the statement, there was no sudden rush, because she'd always known. Within days of meeting him and their innocent flirtation that eventually grew, she knew. Even though he was supposed to be the guy that was out of her league, and she was supposed to be the girl that couldn't handle him and his baggage, they just fit. So she'd known long before there was ever even an 'I like you' thrown into the mix.
"That was always the only plan ever, from the day I told you I felt bad for the woman who had to wake up next to your grumpy 'not a morning person' ass," she chuckled as tears began to roll down her face. Â Ezra smiled at her and leaned down and kissed her. She was sure there was clapping and hollering, but she could barely hear it. Â
They finally stood a few minutes later when she managed to remove her lips from his own, and she remembered that they needed a shower. Aria asked one of her cousins to retrieve a bag from her car with their clothes in it while her mother and her aunts insisted on snapping a few pictures, since this would now mean they were officially engaged. Aria did her best not to glance into the other room where she could hear her stepmother muttering something about her father not being asked permission for Ezra to propose. Aria didn't care. She knew that he'd asked Ella, and that had all she'd ever required of him.
When her cousin returned with the bag, Aria grabbed Ezra's hand and headed towards the bathroom, tossing the bag onto the bathroom counter when they arrived. Her aunt followed after them, only to pass her a plastic bag for their soiled clothes. Aria closed the door behind Ezra and began to remove her clothes. Once she was down to her lingerie and had her clothes bagged, she turned on the shower and glanced back him, confused that he was still fully dressed.
"What's going on," she asked. "I thought you were all excited."
"I just realized it wasn't a real proposal," he replied somewhat sadly.
Aria sighed and walked back to him, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Come on, Ezra. It was."
"I didn't give you a ring, I didn't get down on one knee-"
"You asked me to marry you," Aria replied. "I said yes. Some people don't even exchange rings. It's fine. We'll worry about the semantics later."
"People will want to see a ring and proper photos," he insisted. "And I didn't give that to you. I had it all planned too. A few weeks from now."
Aria frowned and then scowled. "Are you really going to take this away from me?"
Ezra looked back up at her after a moment and then gulped and shook his head, albeit a bit sadly. "No." He took a moment, and then spoke again. "No. Just give me a moment." He opened the door and walked out and she gaped at him, muttering a 'what the fuck' under her breath as he closed it behind him.
She didn't bother to wait for him, instead removing the rest of her clothes and stepping into the shower and the inviting heat of the warm water.
Ezra returned about ninety seconds later and removed his clothes without speaking before stepping into the shower in front of her and stepping under the stream of water with her, wrapping his arms around her. Aria sighed into his mouth, leaning against him as he brushed his fingers up her sides until he reached her arms. He ran his fingers up the length of them and clasped their hands together.
"I love you," he murmured against her lips between water droplets.
"Love you more," she replied before shoving her tongue back in his mouth. Ezra let go of her hands and wrapped his arms around her again, turning them in place so that she was facing the back of the shower. He steadily walked them backwards until her back hit the wall.
"Mmm, and I need you more," he replied huskily as he ground his hips against hers.
Aria moaned, but shook her head. "Mmmm....mm-mm."
Ezra sighed into her ear, lifting her up as she buried her face in his collarbone. "Yes, hun," he rasped. "I'm always gonna need you more."
.,.
Twenty minutes later, Aria stood in front of the mirror, trying to make sure there wasn't a single hair out of place on her head while Ezra was continuously suckling on her neck, leaving is third hicky since they'd gotten into the shower. She'd long since given up trying to wave him off since it wasn't doing the job. His apetite was clearly going to be insatiable for the moment, but she was pretty sure he'd be tied over at least for a few hours.
"Alright," she stated after a long few minutes. "I give in."
Ezra looked up at her in the mirror and smiled. "You look beautiful."
"Good enough for pictures?" She asked. "Because they're going to want to take more."
Ezra nodded. "Did you get all that food out of my hair?"
Aria nodded back at him. "Yeah, that's why I kept running my fingers through it."
"I thought you were just playing with it like you always do," he replied.
Aria laughed. "No. I was looking for chunks of brownie."
Ezra grabbed their bag off the counter and Aria opened the door, stepping out into the hallway. They walked back out into the family room and Ezra dropped the bag near the rest of their gifts before grabbing her hand, stopping her from going into the kitchen. Most of the family had settled back in the family room as it was, and others had cleared out.
"Here you go," Spencer stated. Aria turned around, suddenly very confused. As she did, she saw her best friend, Hardy, and Hardy's parents all standing nearby. She looked back to ask Ezra what was going on, but he wasn't there. And then she looked down.
"Ezra-"
"I said I didn't do it right," he stated. "Let me do it right."
Aria inhaled a deep breath and then let it out before nodding.
Ezra didn't look up at her for a long a moment, though he held tightly to her fingers in his hand. When he finally gathered his words though, he looked straight up at her.
"You weren't supposed to happen. Not just when you did, but ever. We've both said that. You...you never existed in my wildest dreams. You were unattainable. You don't lose everything the way I've lost it, and make the mistakes I've made, and fail the way that I have failed...and then get you. You just don't."
He paused, and his chin trembled, and it was all Aria could do to not throw herself at him.
"So I pushed, and in a lot of ways, I think I've probably pushed you to the point where I really don't deserve to have you at this point. Because you are so god damn right when you said you love me more. You have loved me through so much bullshit that you didn't have to, and you have loved me when I was putting you through crap because of stuff everyonne else has done that had nothing to do with you, even though you kept saying over and over again that you were nothing like them and you were right, and you kept showing me over and over again that you were different...
"But fuck, baby, I also mean it when I say I need you more," Ezra stated shakily. "You say you can't imagine a life I'm not apart of? I can't, and won't, live a life you're not in. And I don't want to go any longer without recognizing that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and as much as that scares the crap out of me, I've known that for a long time." He took a moment and inhaled a few breaths, blinking a few times. A single tear rolled down his cheek. "So Aria Rose Montgomery, will you do me the honor of marrying me?"
That was it. She felt as if someone had her with a sledgehammer in the gut as tears began rolling down her cheeks and she responded in a high-pitched cry, nodding. Ezra opened the black velvet box in his hand and pulled a ring out and slid it onto her finger before Aria launched herself onto him, clinging for dear life as she cried into his shoulder. She was so happy and elated, but also overcome with emotion by all that he'd said that it took her a solid minute to gather herself.
When she finally did, she leaned back and glanced at the ring on her finger, getting a good look at it for the first time. Ezra adjusted it slightly on her finger.
"Does it fit okay?"
Aria nodded. "It fits perfectly."
"Good," he replied. He looked up at her. "This was the one I told you about that my mom really loved. The one they made her take off at the hospital, and she told me never to lose."
Aria's chin began to tremble again, and she wrapped her arms around him once more, clinging tightly to him.
"It's okay," he told her as he rubbed his hand up and down her back. "I figured the best way to not lose it now is to give it to the one person I'll never lose. Right?"
Aria nodded, still clinging to him. She had to remind herself to take deep breaths. Her brain was doing the whole 'he's had a crappy life' thing, and anytime it went there, it was a rabbit hole that was hard to climb out of.
"Okay," he said after a long minute. "Okay?"
She took another breath, and then leaned back and nodded. Ezra kissed her once more and wiped her tears away before kissing her forehead, and Aria finally stood back up before offering him a hand.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, the soon-to-be Mrs. Aria Fitz," Ezra said as he offered Aria's hand towards her family members. That quickly, her mom, aunts, and half her cousins shot up out of their seats, ready to see the ring. She just looked up at Ezra and laughed.
"Love you," she murmured.
He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. "Love you more."














