I wrote this late at night when I wanted to get back into writing more. Good news -- it worked! Bad news -- this is a bit incomprehensible and has no plot. But it was fun to write, so I hope it’s at least a little fun to read!
Satan’s tired eyes fixed onto the digital clock. He puffed out his cheeks and blew the air out in an exasperated sigh.
3:00 AM, as the clock spelled out to him in big, blocky letters. He shouldn’t be surprised that he had stayed up so late, nose buried in a book. But this had become a regular occurrence lately and, if his aching joints had anything to say about it, he was allowed to be a tad annoyed at himself however foolish it might seem.
Satan heaved his stiff body out of bed, narrowly avoiding books and scrolls strewn about the room in organized messes. Yes, he knew where everything was and no, he was not going to change his system. It worked fine. Plus, every time Lucifer recommended to him that he become more organized that only made the blonde demon want to knock over one of the towering stacks to show the eldest who’s boss.
With a few little stretches of his legs and arms, Satan made his way out of his dimly lit bedroom. The hallways were just as shrouded in shadow due to everyone being in their respective bedrooms at such a late hour. Y’know, as they should have been.
But when Satan trudged down a few flights of stairs in order to get to the kitchen, hoping to fetch a nice, refreshing glass of water and head to bed straight after, he noticed a warm light flickering against the wall adjacent to the kitchen. Someone had beat him there.
Fairly certain it was not a burglar or murderer, the blonde shrugged and rounded the corner. He blinked as his eyes, which had only been exposed to a room and hallway amassed in shadows previously, adjusted to the fire he found roaring in the fireplace.
“Aye, it’s Satan! Hey, you don’t happen to have any chocolate chips on you, do you? Ahaha...” a familiar voice greeted him. Once his eyes did manage to adjust and he took in the sight of the two people in the room, Satan wasn’t surprised that food was missing from the vicinity. “We started making chocolate chip cookies and just now realized there aren’t any chocolate chips...”
Satan gave you a smile, head twitching towards Beelzebub, who’s mouth was too busy licking the batter from a wooden spoon to greet his brother verbally. “You decide to make food with this one in the room and are still surprised when it suddenly goes missing? I though you knew better.”
You let out a string of delirious giggles. “Yeah, you thought.”
“Will we not be able to finish the cookies then? Can I eat the batter?” Beel asked, to which you held the bowl you were mixing closer to your chest like a baby.
“Uh uh,” you shook your head, “We’ll find something to put in here. Oh OH what if we put raisins in and give them to Mammon tomorrow? It’s a perfect prank. It does no harm, it’s not even bad, it’s just mildly disappointing! Whatcha think?”
You looked around the room for approval.
“I’m still confused,” Satan said, rubbing his temple as the light from the fire started to make his head ache. “Why are you making cookies at 3am?”
“I was hungry and I ran into Beel here. The fuck else were we gonna do?” By now you had dragged a stool over to the pantry, hopping on top to reach the higher shelves that required even Beel to use his wings in order to reach. You pulled down the raisins and headed back to your batter.
Beel nodded. Okay then.
“...alright.” Satan crossed the room to finally just get his water and go to bed.
After completing his one task, the blonde headed towards the kitchen door with a wave goodbye.
“Wait!” You called. Satan stopped to acknowledge you with an eyebrow raised. “How do I bake here? Like...is there an oven or something? Because all I see is a giant open fire with a cauldron in it.”
Let’s skip the tears and start on the whole - ya know - being dead thing.
Pairing: Beetlejuice (musical version) x GN! Reader
note: i can get @worldslongestyeehaw to love Beej as much as i do with just one photo, something’s wrong with her if i still haven’t convinced her.
Warnings: BJ is a warning of his own
Summary: The Ghost with the most maybe annoying but when sleepless nights hit, he’s the calmest demon you’ll ever meet.
*Pale yellow means awkward and dark purple means sadness and peach means love.*
Y/N held their closed fists against their head as the words on the pages in front of them started to jumble together and make as much sense as the plot of any Wachowskis movie - well, any film save for the Matrix, but that’s a stretch. Grumbling, Y/n slammed their hands against the wood of their desk and glanced over at the clock under their lamp.
3:24 blinked in red, mocking them.
Letting out a defeated sigh that bordered the edge of a sob, Y/N stood up and sat at the edge of their bed, their arms resting on their legs. Y/N felt their body slowly start to shut down but their eyes and brain couldn’t follow suit. They didn’t even register the three words that left their mouth.
“Babes?” An oh so familiar voice called out from the otherside of the room.
Unable to even move, Y/N tried to make a noise to attract his attention and next thing you know, there beside them stood their stinky rat boi of a boyfriend.
“Babes - uh?” Beetlejuice sat down beside Y/N awkwardly, strands of his hair slowly turning to a pale yellow. “Are you - uh?”
Y/N managed to turn their head towards the demon and forced a smile - this sent BJ into protective boyfriend mode. As the strands of his hair turned to a dark purple, Beetlejuice lifted Y/N off the ground and into their bed, climbing in beside them and holding them close, with his hand a little lower than where it should be. Y/N giggled and gathered enough energy to swat the demon on his chest - puffs of smoke emitted from his jacket which made Y/N laugh.
Beetlejuice smiled as his hair turned peach as Y/N laughed and he watched as their eyes slowly started to catch up with what their body wanted and closed. He held them closer in a protective hold as they slowly started to snore and there he stayed all night long.
Life, Liberty, and Family: {Uncle!Melbourne x Sick!Reader}
Words: 1,609
Info: Anon request for a Lord Melbourne request. Related it to the GIF imagine I made here: XXX
ENJOY!
The day in question started out like any other day for the Prime Minister of England, Lord Melbourne. It was around two in the afternoon when Melbourne was sitting across from Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, as they were wrapping up their weekly meeting in the White Drawing Room when there was an intruding knock at the door to the room. Both the Queen and his Lordship were quite surprised when after Victoria gave her word of consent a white wigged, red coated footman came through the door with a look of utter embarrassment and something else that the Prime Minister could not place. “What is the meaning of this sir?” Victoria asked with a hint of curiosity but also frustration in her tone. It was well known that Her Majesty didn’t like being disturbed when she was meeting with her friend and Prime Minister.
The footman turned almost as white as the well-groomed wig on his head. He gave a hasty bow to the Queen and Melbourne thought the wig he was wearing was going to fly off the man bowed so fast. As he rose he snapped his heels together and became as stiff as a tree trunk. “My sincerest apologies Ma’am but a messenger from Lord Melbourne’s house of Brocket Hall has come with an urgent message for him.” The footman hastily informed the two.
Lord Melbourne glanced at the Queen who met his look and he saw the curiosity and confusion in her own gaze. She quickly turned back to the footman and ordered him to send the messenger in.
Almost immediately a young man in riding clothes came charging into the room. Lord Melbourne recognized the man as his young Master of Horse at Brocket Hall. His usually neat clean cut hair was in disarray and he clothes were caked with dirt. With a wild look in his eye he hastily bowed to her Majesty before he rose and the look in the man's eyes sent Lord Melbourne's heart pounding.
“Mr. Mathis what in world-!” But before Melbourne could finish the young man began to hastily explain.
“Please forgive me Your Majesty, My Lord.” After glancing at the Queen he turned his gaze upon his employer. “Lord Melbourne its Miss (Y/N).” His voice grim.
At the mention of his niece’s name, the Prime Minister’s head snapped up and he became nauseous.
If his own Master of Horse had trekked 25 miles to bring him news about his young ward something was not well.
“Whatever is the matter?”
“After you left yesterday sir, Miss (Y/N) went riding. As she was coming back her horse was spooked and it threw her. She was fine up until last night when she developed a terrible fever. The doctors suggested I rush to get you.” He said.
Lord Melbourne couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He stood silent for a moment before he turned towards the Queen but before he could say anything she called for a footman. A white wigged man came in the room.
“Have my two strongest horses put on one of my carriages to get Lord Melbourne home as quickly as possible.” She ordered. With a quick bow and a “Yes Your Majesty.” The footman disappeared to do as bid.
The prime minister turned to the Queen, at a loss for words. “You’re Majesty-.” He said but she placed a hand on his arm and he became silent. “Go.” Was all she said.
Without a word the Prime Minister gave a bow to her before he hastily strode out the room leaving the Queen to only wonder and hope that the young lady who her Prime Minister so cared about would be alright.
Within 10 minutes the carriage was ready and Lord Melbourne and his young Master of Horse were on their way home to Brocket Hall.
(Y/N) was his elder brother, Penniston’s daughter. His brother died when the child was only five-still a babe. Only 21 at the time, Melbourne took the child as his own. He had always been fond of the little girl. (Y/N) viewed her uncle as a father and the two had always been quite close. This was one of the Prime Minister’s worst fears come true. As the man’s thoughts were on that of his niece, he silently wrung his leather gloves between his hands as they traveled through the countryside.
They arrived home just after 8 in the evening. The horses had done well and were lathered with sweat. Before someone could rush to get the carriage door open-even before the carriage came to a full stop, Lord Melbourne had jumped out before rushing into the large house.
Hastily handing his gloves, hat and walking stick to a young servant boy he saw his housekeeper Mrs. Miller coming hastily down to meet him. He met her halfway. “How is she?” He asked the plump woman as she came to meet him.
Together they turned and began to head up the stairs. “Her fever broke about an hour ago but she’s still very weak from the ordeal My Lord.” The woman told him as she held her skirts up as they climbed the stairs making sure not to trip over them. As they headed up the stairs, Lord Melbourne turned towards the left and up the final landing before turning right and heading straight into his niece’s room.
In bed was his niece (Y/N). In a chair by her bed was her governess, silently watching over the young woman while a roaring fire cast shadows around the room. When he entered, both his niece and her governess’s head turned. The governess stood up and gave a small bow, but he ignored it, for his only concern was the girl in the bed. As he strode into the room and to her side, (Y/N) reached out for him and he grabbed her hand and gave it a light squeeze. It was limp in his own hands. He took a seat on the edge of the bed and gazed down at his niece.
“You came back.” His niece’s voice was hoarse and weak and a pang went through his heart at the sound. He gave her a small smile before he replied. “I came as soon as I could when I got word of what had happened.” He told her. “How are you feeling?” He asked her.
The crackling of the fire filled the room with small pops and hisses as he waited for his niece’s response. The young woman scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I’m perfectly fine. Everyone here frets too much” She told him. The Prime Minister couldn’t help but give smile through pursed lips.
His niece had always been a strong willed young lady-not unlike another young woman he knew. Many times he saw comparisons between his niece and Her Majesty the queen. Both were strong and willful young ladies.
“That’s not what I’ve been hearing my dear.” He said to her. The young woman gave him a look before she sighed. “I’ve been poked and prodded more times than can count these past two days and haven’t had a moment's peace with everyone running ‘round the house fretting over me.” She said, each word becoming a little stronger than the last.
Lord Melbourne chuckled. “Understandable my dear.” He said. “But it was for your own well being.” He told her and he gently pushed a lock of her hair out of her eyes. She reached up and grabbed his hand and held it in her own. “My horse spooked as we were crossing the creek and I feel into the creek.” She told him.
He nodded. “That explains the fever.” He said.
“How did you get here so fast?” (Y/N) asked.
And so he informed her on the events that took place earlier that day and as he spoke the young girl’s eyes got wider and wider as he explained further. When he had finished she covered her face with her hands in what seemed to be embarrassment. “Everyone at court will probably know by now.” The girl said. Once again the prime minister chuckled. “I suppose but why does it matter? What matters-.” He said and he grabbed his niece’s hands and took them into his own, making her look at him. “Is that I’m here now and here I will stay until you are well again.” He said to her.
The young woman couldn’t help but be relieved at hearing those words. Her uncle’s presence was a great comfort to her and she was glad he was home. “When I’m well enough I must write the Queen and thank her for her kindness.” (Y/N) said almost an afterthought.
Lord Melbourne smiled at his niece. “All in due time my dear. But for now you must rest.” He said and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “I’ll come and check in on you in the morning.” He said.
The young girl nodded and as he stood up he readjusted the bedding so it covered her more. “Sleep well my dear.” He said.
She gave him a small smile. “Goodnight Uncle.” He smiled and nodded. “Goodnight.” And he began to walk out of the room. Just as he reached the door, he heard his niece call out to him. He stopped and turned towards her.
She gave a small smile before she said, “Thank you.”
He gazed at her before nodding in reply before turning and exiting the room, heading for his drawing room to write correspondence to the queen, thanking her for her help and informing her that the young lady was going to be alright.
Here’s a longer oneshot for a man who is often forgotten. Lovely Matsuda, you have a huge place in my heart.
This wasn’t an afternoon like any other.
No, shut up! It’s the same as any other day.
Something big was about to go down.
It’s not big, it’s normal! Normal sized, normal day!
Your heart was practically beating out of your chest, slamming against your rib cage so hard you swore it made your body sway a tad bit forward.
Everything is going to go fine, no disasters.
You stood in front of your mirror, combing out your hair. The bathroom was dead silent save for your short, uneasy breaths. You tried your best to draw them out to how you normally breathed, but you began to try so hard to breathe normally that you forgot how you normally breathed altogether.
Is this pace too slow? Am I not getting enough air? Is that why the room’s spinning or am I just panicking for no reason?
You weren’t panicking. You swear you weren’t. Maybe you were just breathing so fast and your heart was racing so much because you were dying! Yeah, that could be it! You almost preferred that possibility to what you were in store for later that evening — something set to occur around 6:00 pm sharp. Dinner. Doesn’t sound so bad right?
Wrong. You almost laughed at yourself bitterly for thinking so absurdly — doesn’t sound so bad? Maybe when you don’t have all the details. So, let’s rephrase that, shall we?
Dinner. With your boyfriend’s parents.
Ah, speak of the devil. You turned around at the sound of a light knock at the bathroom doorframe. Touta Matsuda, the adorable little puppy dog of a human, stood with his fist still curled and his knuckles against the doorframe. He asked you if you were nearly ready to head out, his dark eyebrows upturned with light creases denting his forehead.
You jolted. With a lightening fast grab at your phone you tore it from its spot on the counter and looked at the time — how was it already 5:40!? Hadn’t you started brushing your hair around 4:00? You didn’t even want to begin to think about the fact that you’d been standing at the mirror for forty whole minutes telling yourself you weren’t panicking. And the worst part — that reverse psychology didn’t even leave a mark! Your chest still felt tight and nothing felt right. Oh no... you’re thinking in rhyme. You had to do something quick, before you started to speak in riddles like some kind of bridge troll.
“Hey, Teddy Bear?”
“What’s up? You don’t look too good...”
Even staring at yourself in the mirror for nearly an hour didn’t allow you to notice until Matsuda pointed it out. When you looked back at your reflection, you saw the truth in his statement. You looked very put together overall — clothes neat and without a single crease marring the fabric — but your face was paler than it had ever been before. Your eyes had sunken from lack of sleep, as you were tossing and turning for hours the previous night just thinking about your arrangement for that evening. You just looked scared.
“I’m gonna be completely honest with you,” you began, stepping closer to your boyfriend and weaving your arms around his waist. The soft fabric of his dress shirt calmed you enough to get the words out without choking on them. “I’m really, really nervous about tonight. They’re gonna hate me for this—“
“Hey, don’t say that! It’s no one’s fault that we‘ve both been too busy to formally meet my folks since we started dating. I mean, I am a cop after all, and this case hadn’t exactly been easy on me or anyone on my team.” Matsuda reasoned. It was always hard to argue with him when he had this whole “optimist” thing going on. He was just too cute and cheerful to claim anything he said was a lie.
You sighed, trying to fight back with more doubts, “But it’s been forever. They’re gonna think I’m avoiding them or something!”
“Nonsense! If anything they’ll be grateful for you taking care of me every night when I get home from work. I still don’t know how you do it. You’re too patient with me, babe! Not that I’m telling you to stop, of course! It’s— well, you know what I mean!”
Dammit, Matsu’s cuteness struck you down once more and, against your will, you were forced to give into his positivity. You let out a laugh, tightening your grip around his waist and resting your chin on his broad shoulder. “Yeah, I guess so.”
But he was forgetting one little thing. You had absolutely no idea what kind of people Matsuda’s parents were, so how they would react to something like this was beyond your comprehension. Though, you didn’t think terrible people could have produced someone so pure hearted and precious. Still, you had no idea how formal they were, if they cared whether you told them yet or not. If they were opposed to how you were going about this or if they would support you. And Matsuda, being the kind person he was, wanted to tell them the important news in person, so there was no avoiding this any longer.
“Listen, I...when we talked about marriage I didn’t agree to it despite my parents.” Matsuda hummed, taking hold of your lower back to pull you closer to him as a gesture of comfort. “They know you exist, at least! They know we’ve been dating for a while and they know you make me happy. So what would be the issue?”
You sighed, rolling your eyes and dropping your forehead onto his shoulder. Goddammit, he’s right.
You just had to make Teddy Bea— Uh, Matsuda’s parents like you! Then they’d support your relationship, and in turn your decision to get married. End of story. Well, you’d have to see them again, like at the wedding, but you’d cross that bridge once you got to it!
Yeah, okay. Maybe, with the comfort of your fiancé beside you (was is okay to call him that? You haven’t even bought an engagement ring yet...), just maybe, you could do this.
Probably.
This shit’s gonna be easy, you told yourself. And, you know the funny thing? You actually started to believe it.
It was like all of the comforting words Matsuda blessed your ears with earlier actually had some effect and, now that you stood at his parent’s doorstep, the tight feeling in your chest had eased up. Your head stopped pounding with your own heartbeat drumming in your ears. You felt comfortable, even when Matsuda knocked on the door before taking ahold of your hand.
Soon enough, an older woman answered to the knocks. Her face, marred with smile lines, brightened at the sight of you two. She was on the shorter side, but by no means did she appear weak. Her hands held a strong grip on the door as she held it open, and such energy gave off a giddy and caring aura about her. She stepped aside and held a hand out, gesturing for you to come in with a cheerful call of “Hello there! Oh, come in, come in. Honey, they’re here!”
You allowed Matsuda to take the lead, guiding you inside behind him, connected by your hands still. With only a few steps, the slight bite of the chilly fall air outside had vanished in an instant only to be replaced by a warm and fuzzy atmosphere. It had the air of a home that was prepared for guests, which served to make your heart flutter at the idea that you were important enough to make people want to prepare their home for you.
A staircase occupied the farthest wall to the right, and beyond that led to a dining room. While candles dotted the table, plates were set up neatly in front of every chair for four people. The burning candles gave off the scent of a pine forest, filling your nostrils and effectively making you even more calm. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.
Another set of footsteps was soon given a face — a tall, lanky man with the same messily styled and dark hair as your beloved boyfriend — presumably Matsuda’s father. This presumption was made into fact as the man glommed into Matsuda, patting his back and barely giving your boyfriend any air in his lungs to speak properly.
“Hey, mom! Hey, dad! I really missed you guys. Whatever you’re cooking smells amazing, too!”
You couldn’t say he was wrong. You couldn’t really place it with the pine scented candles mixing with the scent, but whatever it was, it was making your mouth water.
“O-oh, um, this is (Name). They’re that person I was talking to you guys about on the phone the other day,” The now suddenly bashful Matsuda introduced on your behalf.
“Hi there, it’s really nice to meet you both!” You greeted, shameful that you didn’t think to say something sooner.
“Oh, well aren’t you just the sweetest thing? Come this way, dear, don’t just stand around!”
“O-oh, alright—“
“So!” The boisterous man by Matsuda’s side called. He clapped his son on the shoulder, looking from him to you with a teasing quirk in his brow. “You’ve finally decided to come visit now, have you?”
“Oh, don’t give them a hard time!” Matsuda’s mother interjected, holding up a nearby dish towel with a threatening glower, no real malice behind it. Matsuda’s father held up his hands in mock surrender.
You smiled, forcing the corners of your lips upwards although you couldn’t force it to meet your eyes. you felt absolutely terrible. These people opened up their home to you, cooked for you, let you go out with their son, and yet you couldn’t tell them that you wanted to marry their son, and he wanted the same. Occasionally you shared a glance with Matsuda, who only stared back with eyes that said “not yet”. And you hated the fact that you felt overwhelming relief each time you received that look from him. The fact was — you didn’t want to tell them. If you did there would be no going back, no do-overs. But at the same time you wanted to get it off your chest more than anything in the world. You wanted their son’s hand in marriage. That’s not usually anything to sneeze at.
And yet, all you were doing was lying to their faces. Well, was it lying if all you were doing was keeping something from them? Was it just as wrong? Of fucking course it was. There’s no way out of this one, you’re a horrible person and that’s that. Shit.
Even as you all sat at your designated seats around the dinner table, not a peep left your mouth. As Matsuda’s mother began to dish out servings of her incredible-smelling cooking with the help of her husband, you only uttered words of thanks. You really couldn’t thank them enough, considering the bomb you were about to drop onto their lives.
You all ate peacefully with the light conversation making it’s way around the table. Matsuda and his parents were quite possibly the easiest people to talk to that you ever did meet. No joke had to be held back for fear of being judged, and a few of your little comments caused Matsuda’s father to choke on his food from laughter. You and Matsu’s mom took to ganging up on the men for their apparent shared habit of snoring like a monster at night, the both of them getting defensive with claims that they had no way to control that kind of thing. You and Matsu even shared a few stories from your albeit limited amount of time alone together, going to the park or visiting a museum. It was only when a lull in conversation caused a bout of silence to overtake the room did you look to Matsuda for some assistance in keeping up conversation, only to find him looking at you with determined eyes.
Oh. So it was time, was it? Alright, you could do this.
You breathed in deeply through your nose, clasping your partner’s hand under the table.
“Mom, dad? We uh...Well, we have something to tell you,” Matsu admitted, his voice starting out as nothing more than a whisper and gradually increasing in volume. You rubbed your thumb over the back of his hand.
“Oh? Good news or bad news?” His mother inquired, eyebrows creasing slightly with a tinge of worry which the playful tone in her voice failed to mask.
“I hope you think it’s good news! Uh, so, (Name) and I...well, it’s good to see that you guys seem to be getting along well! Can I just say that before I start? Yeah...so. Okay, um—“
“Son, you know you can tell us anything. Just say it, we won’t be angry with you.” Something in the older man’s tone told you he already somewhat caught on to the situation. He just wanted to hear it from his son first, which was understandable.
“We’re going to get married,” Matsuda blurted. The slight jitters you felt in his hand eased up immensely after he said it. His shoulders relaxed and his lips stretched with a smile. “We aren’t exactly sure when or where, we don’t even have the rings yet, but we’ve talked it through and...well, we’re doing it.”
Your gaze, which was fixed on your Teddy Bear throughout his entire explanation, absolutely adoring the loving glint in his eyes as he talked about your future together, shifted back to his parents. What you were met with did not exactly please you.
“...oh. Well, dear, I...”
“It’s not that we aren’t happy for you two, don’t get us wrong...”
It took you a while to completely comprehend what you were hearing.
“What...? You don’t want us to get married?” Matsuda chimed in before you could say anything, not that you were even sure that you could.
“We didn’t say that!” The older woman defended, inching up to sit on the edge of her seat. Ah, yes. Battle mode. “Far from it, actually. All we want is for you to be sure that you’re ready.”
Matsuda’s dad nodded, continuing with his wife’s sentiment, “You said yourself that you’ve been too busy to come see us, so how much of that time have you really had with each other?”
You couldn’t even argue against them. It was true, you and Matsuda haven’t really been able to spend a ton of time together lately. Perhaps marriage was what you both seemed to agree would act as a patch — something you thought would fix your issues as soon as you could call Matsuda your husband. But how much better off would you be after that?
“I...mom, dad...” Matsuda’s words faded, disintegrating into nothingness as his hope seemed to do along with it. He hung his head as his grip on your hand loosened but, before it could completely slip from you, you clasped it tightly.
“Thank you so much for your advice,” you said, marveling that you managed to keep your voice from wavering. “We’ll think it over.”
The burn of Matsuda’s eyes could practically be felt boring into you. You knew he was upset, you knew he was confused. But the very last thing you wanted to do was end the night on a bad note. You could try your best to save what was left of your first impression dinner and talk about this later. When you were alone.
“...yes, o-of course. Ah, would anyone like a second helping?”
About an hour of stiff conversation and shifting glances later, you and Matsuda decided that perhaps it was time to leave.
He hugged his parents goodbye with noticeably less enthusiasm than he had when he’d first greeted them, and you took to simply waving and thanking them for the meal.
Once you were outside, a shiver ran down your spine. The temperature had dropped considerably, now with the moon in place of the sun overhead and clouds of fog taking to the air every time you exhaled.
“I’m...I’m sorry,” you heard from beside you. Your head swiveled to meet the eyes of your boyfriend only to find that his were directed towards the ground. “That didn’t go as I thought it would.”
Your mouth opened to answer, only to close again. It was easier to grab his hand, which was swinging limply at his side, at thread your fingers through his. So, that’s what you did.
Matsuda flinched, eyes shooting toward the point at which your hands were connected, staring at it with wide eyes. Once he was over his shock, he gave you a grin — a smile that turned his eyes into crescents and warmed his cheeks with a soft blush. That smile was what always told you that everything would be okay.
You stopped walking so suddenly that Matsuda nearly tripped trying to stop in time.
“What’s wrong? (N-name!?)”
Matsuda covered his mouth as he stared down at you, now kneeling on one knee in front of him. You never let go of his hand, but kept it clasped in yours. Your lips met his knuckles, thumb brushing over the spot that you kissed afterwards.
This was not the end of the world. So you shouldn’t get married, so what? It’s not like that’s your main goal anyway. Marriage — your method of escape from actually facing your problems — would have to wait. Big deal. That just left more time to spend with your adorable Teddy Bear without the stress of a wedding hanging over your heads. Any breaks you two had in work could be used to get to know each other better, relearn those things about each other that might have slipped from your memories due to time apart.
“Touta, I love you. I love you too much to let this stupid disagreement do any damage to our relationship. I want us to become stronger because of this. We don’t need a legal binding to tell us that we belong together. So, this isn’t a proposal, but a promise — Whether we’re married or not, I will do my best to make you the happiest man alive and let you know each and every day how much I care for you. And, if we still want to, later on when we know we’re in a stable place, we can get married.”
A splash of water hit the ground in front of you. You blinked, expecting more to come in the form of a rain shower until you realized that water was the tears still rolling down Matsuda’s rosy cheeks. “Yeah, that—“ he sniffed, wiping his face with the sleeve of his jacket, “—that sounds good.”
“Just good?” You joked.
“A-amazing? I can’t really find the words right now...but I do want everything you just said. I’m just a little surprised that, what with how tonight was going with me consoling you, you’d end up doing the same for me by the end!” The ravenette scratched the back of his head, averting his eyes, “I d-don’t really feel like the one wearing the pants in this relationship right now!”
“Who said you were in the first place?” You muttered, rising to your feet and heading off toward your car.
