Current mood:	loved
Current music:	"Whatever It Takes" - Lifehouse

[FIC] Proposal Meme #2. NP, HP. PG.
PROMPT: Proposal Meme & a thank-you fic
AUTHOR: Jessi, princessjessia (Disclaimer)
FANDOM: Heroes [parabolical]
CHARACTERS: Nathan, Heidi, Peter
SUMMARY: It never goes according to plan with a ring involved.
RATING: High PG
WORD COUNT: 1014
NOTES: for madamlibrarian, with much ♥

Nathan was certain invisible people should be quieter than his brother had been all day, but as he'd enlisted Peter's help with this, he couldn't complain. Much.

Did you stall this much the first time? I can't remember. Should I ask Heidi to remind me?

Yet another reprimand over the fact Nathan had been diverted in his proposal attempts no less than seven times today, all of his own doing just like the first time he'd proposed to Heidi. Just like the first time, he'd started out with the idea she deserved something grand, especially this time. After everything they'd gone through together because of his actions, others actions and this crazy city they lived in now, she deserved something memorable and special.

Someday, he would learn to go with instinct over rationalization.

Smiling at his wife, who had just suffered through his seventh botched attempt with a look that said she was on to him and he needed to get on with it before endearing turned not-so and she went hunting in his pants pocket for the source of all his awkwardness, Nathan mentally growled at Peter.

Shut up. At least we won't smell like fish when I get my yes.

When, not if? Big talk. How about you put up or shut up yourself, Nate?

It was slightly taunting, that mental voice reaching him, and Nathan wasn't certain if it was taunting to goad him into doing this, or because the fish thing was actually a small sore spot. It had proven one fact, though – the Petrelli brothers were exceptional at one more thing. Proposals. Exceptionally bad at it, that was.

I said shut up, Pete.

'If' was looking far more likely than 'when'. How was it possible to get worse at proposing? He'd never done well with being terrible at things, always striving to get the wrong part eventually right, no matter how many appliances he destroyed or ears he made metaphorically bleed.

Proposing didn't come with the same do-over chances. Well, not usually.

Technically, Nate, I'm not talking.

This time, the growl was audible, drawing one of Heidi's eyebrows upward. Go away, I'm scrapping the plan.

Finally. It only took you six hours to rea-

Go away, Peter. It wasn't angry, just final. And frustrated. The elaborate plan was now in the dust seven times over. Nathan wasn't happy about that and he didn't need to see Peter to know his brother was grinning widely. In fact, Nathan didn't even turn around, because if Peter was having a Cheshire Cat moment with just that grin, he was going to throw something at him.

Just ask her. The teasing was gone, leaving only a gentle, understanding gentle prod, and then the mental barrier came down, not a chained metal door closing Nathan out so much as just a closed door for Nathan's privacy.

With a big "JUST DO IT" sign taped to the side Nathan could see. Subtle. He couldn't help but snort in amusement, and with that, both of Heidi's eyebrows were up.

"Are you two quite done with your mental walkie-talkies? Peter could even join us," she said, looking over her shoulder and then over Nathan's, calm curiosity the obvious intent, but Nathan could see her patience and understanding underlying it. She knew, and she was still waiting for him to say it.

Everything he'd planned to say went right out the window. This was two proposal speeches now he'd left in the dust with his proposal plans. But he intended to make sure there was never a third necessary.

"Heidi, I love you, I always have and you know that, but that's not the only reason why I'm doing this," he said, taking her hand, the other hand moving to his pocket. It was Murphy's Law, or just the twisted amusement of the higher powers, that dictated the ring being stuck in his pocket, no doubt caught on some thread. Dammit.

So he stalled, tugging discreetly at his pocket at first. "I want our new start to have all the things the first go did, because we deserve it. Both of us, and I get that now, that it shouldn't just be-"

The ring wasn't coming free. If anything, he'd lay money on it being more stuck by the second.

"I love you."

"-only for you. It's been rougher than I thought, even though I braced for the worst, but we got through it, Heidi-"

The yanking was becoming obvious now.

"Nathan, my answer is yes."

"-and I want to spend-" He stopped, halted not by what she had just said, but by what she had said before that, and stared at her. "Did you just say you loved me?"

Her expression never changed from that forever calm she had about her, but he didn't miss the look in her eyes. It said everything he would ever need to know and it was everything he needed, even if she had never said those words.

"I did. I also said yes."

He leaned forward, his hand tight on hers. Her look might have said everything, but he still wanted to hear it. "Say it again." His focus narrowed to her and those awaited words, the world beyond inconsequential to the degree that he didn't notice the ring was no longer stuck in his pocket.

"Yes."

He shook his head, quick and impatient. "No, the other part."

She smiled. "I love you."

Somehow, the ring ended up on her finger, but when he had a chance to think back, Nathan was never quite sure which of them had put it there or if it had made it there before she wasn't wearing anything else. All that mattered, however, was that the ring – and the both of them – had finally made it where they all belonged.