Fluff Friday - 7 - Horrible Histories
Title: The Question [AO3]
Characters: Mike Peabody/Milton "DI" Bones, Sam, Bob
Prompt: Mike/Milton proposal fic - Prompt by the lovely @iris-in-the-rain 💙
A/N: This is a the sequel Just you wait and More than enough in which things escalated at HHTV News and the gang decide to quit and start their own news channel.
Prompts are open, so if you want me to write a story for you as well just send me an ask with the fandom, characters and your prompt. I’m writing for Ghosts, Yonderland, Horrible Histories and Bill at the moment.
Six Idiots Whump Wednesday / Fluff Friday masterlist is here.
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The Question
“Sam? Bob? Can I talk to you for a moment?”
Milton tried not to look as tense and nervous as he felt as he led his co-workers into his office. They were in the final stages of launching their own historical news channel – Ancient News – and didn’t really have the time for any distractions right now but he couldn’t wait any longer.
He had been carrying this thought, this idea, with him for months now – ever since things had come to a head at HHTV News and he’d spent the better part of a night comforting Mike after he had almost died in the Arctic trying to prove himself to their former bosses. They had still fired him, and barely a week later Milton had been demoted for acting out on the job, as they’d called it. Historical Road Traffic Accident Squad – he would have felt insulted if he hadn’t planned on quitting anyway the moment his contract allowed him to, just like Sam and Bob.
The last few months had been extremely trying for all of them but Milton only needed to look into Mike’s eyes to know that all the worrying, the exhausting, never-ending meetings and sleepless nights had been worth it. There was a lightness to Mike’s step nowadays that hadn’t been there before and his smiles came more easily now as well, as if a dark cloud had been lifted from his soul and finally allowed him room to breathe. The fact that neither of them had seen the inside of a hospital since they turned their backs on HHTV News played a part in that as well. Milton never wanted to have to sit by Mike’s bedside again, holding his cold and lifeless hand in his, and see him hooked up to various monitors – and if everything went as planned, he wouldn’t have to. Ancient News would be better than HHTV News ever was, and safer. There would be no more running away from wild bears, no trips to the polar regions without proper equipment, no running themselves ragged trying to meet a standard that was impossible to uphold. This time, they would play it safe – for all their sakes.
“This doesn’t feel ominous at all,” Bob muttered as he sat down on the sofa, pulling Milton from his thoughts.
Sam nodded in agreement. “I feel like we’re about to get bad news again. And where is Mike? Shouldn’t he be here too?”
Huffing out a nervous laugh, Milton raked a trembling hand through his hair and shook his head. “Oh no, he definitely should not.”
Sam narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s going on, Milton?”
Milton took a deep, steadying breath and sat down next to her. He had prepared a whole speech in his mind, had gone over it again and again last night when the worry and fear over his best friends’ reactions had kept him awake long after Mike had fallen asleep. But now that the moment was here he found himself stumbling over his words as if he were back in school and being forced to stand in front of the whole class and stammer his way through a poem.
“It’s about Mike – well, about Mike and me, really. And about you, in a way, but also not? I mean, it’s not like your role in this isn’t important because it is – it very much is – but it’s mostly about Mike and me and–“
“Breathe, lad,” Bob said softly and reached across Sam’s legs to give his knee a reassuring pat. “No need to be so nervous. It’s just us.”
Milton took another deep breath and forced himself to meet their eyes. “I want to ask Mike to marry me.”
He bit his lip, waiting for their reactions. Sam and Bob had been supportive of his and Mike’s relationship from the start so he knew, on some level, that he had nothing to fear here and yet the relief that washed over him when their faces lit up with pure happiness on his and Mike’s behalf was undeniably, breathtakingly real.
“Oh Mil, that’s wonderful!” Sam exclaimed, clapping her hands in a rare show of genuine excitement.
Next to her, Bob nodded fiercely in agreement. “The best kind of news anyone could wish for. Mike will be over the moon!”
“You think so?” Milton asked, unable to stop a little bit of his old self-doubt creeping in. “I know the timing’s awful with the launch of the new channel and everything going on right now. But it feels like a new beginning and I just … I want Mike to know that I’ll always be by his side, no matter what’s going to happen, you know? That he can count on me to be there every step of the way, that I won’t just up and leave him when things get difficult and–“
“Mil,” Sam said softly and reached for his hands. Her eyes were shining wetly even as she smiled at him. “Mike already knows all of that. He might have doubts about a lot of things but your love for him is not one of them.”
Milton felt his cheeks flush and managed a wobbly smile in return. “I know. It’s just – he’s been through so much, with his father and HHTV News and those … those guys he dated before me. And now everything is changing – in a good way, of course, but that doesn’t mean it’s not scary and I want our relationship to be something he feels completely safe and secure in and doesn’t have to second-guess.“
He looked up at them, a little helplessly. Sam gave his hands a reassuring squeeze.
“Then I think a marriage proposal is a wonderful idea,” she said softly.
“And the timing couldn’t be more perfect,” Bob added.
Milton exhaled shakily. It was no or never. “Will you – will you give me your blessings?”
Sam’s smile softened as if she’d been expecting his question this whole time. Bob, however, looked completely floored.
“Mine as well?” he asked, his voice hitching a little with emotion. “Why? I – I mean, I’m flattered but I’m not related to Mike and–“
“You’ve been more of a father to him over the years than his biological one ever was,” Sam said, letting go of one of Milton’s hands to reach for Bob’s. “To both of us.”
Bob blinked at her, stunned.
“Really?” he asked hoarsely.
“Yeah, Bob,” Sam said, giving his hand a gentle pat. “Really.”
Bob cleared his throat, a little flustered, and turned to Milton. “Well, in that case: of course you have my blessing, lad. I couldn’t imagine anyone better for our Mike to spend the rest of his life with.”
“Agreed,” Sam said. “My brother is very lucky to have you, Milton.”
“No,” Milton said quietly with a shake of his head. “I’m the lucky one.”
————
The proposal itself turned out to be less nerve-wrecking than asking Sam and Bob for their blessings. Milton had known Mike for so long now, knew him so well that there simply wasn’t any room left in his heart for insecurity or doubt when it came to them.
That didn’t mean Milton wasn’t nervous when he asked Mike to accompany him to the Stone Age a day before the official launch of their news channel under the guise of doing a test run. He’d checked the timing again and again– Sam had checked the timing again and again – to be sure they would arrive at precisely the right moment in time – the perfect moment. He had been to the Stone Age before, several times even, but Mike had never gone that far back until now. Arriving in a long-forgotten era for the first time always felt special, almost magical, and Milton was counting on the element of surprise that came with that feeling of awe when they stepped out of the portal and onto a dewy, grassy plain that lay under the most brilliant starry sky that had not been touched by light pollution yet.
It never failed to take Milton’s breath away, seeing the Milky Way in all its beautiful glory like this, and judging by Mike’s quiet, reverent, “Wow,” next to him, the sight of a million stars and galaxies twinkling over their heads had the same effect on him.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Milton whispered into the cool night air. As subtly as he could, he let his hand slide into his pocket. When his fingers found the small box resting there, he took a deep breath and slowly pulled it out.
Mike, unable to tear his eyes away from the night sky, shook his head in wonder. “It is. I never knew the sky could look like this. Why did you never–“
He broke off when Milton got down to one knee in front of him and took his hand in his.
“Mil?” he whispered, looking star-struck.
Milton smiled up at him, every fibre of his being overflowing with love for this beautiful, ridiculous, wonderful man that had trusted him with the most precious thing in the world what felt like a lifetime time ago: his heart.
“Mike,” he began softly. “If it were up to me, I would give you the moon and the stars so your nights would never be dark. I would make you smile every day and carry all your burdens so you knew nothing but joy and happiness until the end of time. But we both know that life doesn’t work like that. All I can give you is a promise – that I’ll always watch for shooting stars with you, even in the middle of winter when it’s freezing and the nights are long and dark. That I’ll try my best to bring joy into our lives even on the most difficult days and that I’ll always be by your side, no matter what the future brings.”
With shaking fingers, he opened the small box in his hand and revealed a simple golden ring that had both their initials and their anniversary engraved on its inside. He took a deep breath and smiled up at Mike. “Will you marry me?”
Mike fell to his knees in front of him, smiling more widely than Milton had ever seen him before, and pulled him into a kiss so full of joy that it left him breathless.
“Yes,” he murmured against Milton’s lips in-between kisses that felt as beautiful and endless as the sky above them. “Of course I will. Of course.”
Milton laughed and pulled him into another kiss, his heart soaring with love.
————
The ring gleamed proudly on Mike’s finger when they returned from the Stone Age. Milton stood back and watched with a smile as Mike proudly showed it to Sam and Bob, slowly realising that this was the start of the rest of their lives.
He couldn’t wait to see what it would bring.
