Mal scoffed. “You make me happy. Just you. Only you.Alwaysjust you.”
Tears pricked at Nico’s eyes. “You make me happy, too. Just you. Only you. Always you.”
Mal pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I ordered pizza and wings from Vinnie’s. I’ll give you a massage after dinner while we start season two ofArcane.”
Sounded like the perfect night.
Nico turned his power-pout to a hundred, looking at Mal with big eyes as he asked, “Did you get me tiramisu?”
Mal snorted, rolling his eyes. “Put that face away. Of course, I did. I can’t believe you’d even ask me that.”
“And I don’t have to put clothes on?”
Mal’s expression turned deadly serious. “Fidget, listen to me. And I really mean this. As long as there’s nobody else here to see your pretty little body, you never have to wear clothes again.”
“Promise?” Nico asked.
Mal grinned. “Baby, I’ll put it in our wedding vows.”
Nico scoffed. “Weird way of proposing, but I accept.”
Nico’s heart did cartwheels in his chest as Mal’s face lit up. “Yeah?”
“Yeah, of course,” Nico said faintly, unsure how he’d tripped and stumbled into a marriage proposal.
His confusion over Mal’s excitement was quickly rectified when Mal wiggled out from under Nico to reach for his nightstand. “Cool. Then I can give you this.”
Nico’s pulse rocketed to the moon when Mal showed him a small red ring box. “If this is a prank, I’ll kill you and everyone involved,” he vowed, taking the box with shaking hands.
He cracked open the box, breath hitching. He blinked back tears as he tried as he pulled the ring free, trying to take in every detail. It was silver, with branches all around and an anatomical heart right in the center. Nico traced the raised heart with his finger, then turned it this way and that, not wanting to miss a thing. There, on the inside of the band, sat two words in raised letters. Eight letters that would press into his skin every day for the rest of his life until they were a permanent mark.
TIL DEATH
Nico handed it back to Mal, watching as his face fell and he blinked at him rapidly. “You said yes?”
Nico smiled, cupping his face. “Yeah, and now, I’m saying don’t be lazy. Propose properly. I’m not the only one getting on my knees tonight.”
He pointed to the ground, then tilted his head.
Mal grinned, sliding off the bed. “Fidget?”
“Yes, Bunny?” he asked primly.
“Will you marry me?”
Nico tapped his finger against his chin for a second or two before saying, “Yes, Bunny.”
He held his left hand out, wiggling his ring finger until Mal slipped the cool band onto his skin. Nico couldn’t even begin to describe the feeling burning through him. Happy seemed like such a weak word for it. So did love. What he felt for Mal was…transcendent. Divine. Sacred.
“Take a picture?” Nico asked.
Mal smiled and nodded, taking Nico’s camera and opening the app. Nico had to hold his wrist with his other hand to keep them from shaking.
He added the photo to the group chat without explanation just as the doorbell rang. Mal rose from his knees and smacked a kiss onto Nico’s lips, tugging his black pants back on.
“Hey,” Nico called when he hit the doorway.
“Yeah?”
