thea perkins đź—ˇ cyra noavek (cyra) wrote in dunhavenic, @ 2019-05-13 22:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, * jeanne, * kit, c: gareth stone, c: thea stone |
WHO: Thea Perkins & Gareth Stone
WHEN: May 13, 2019 (just after midnight)
WHERE: Their Home
SUMMARY: He liked it so he let her decide if she wanted to put a ring on it (and then she made him put a ring on it)
WARNINGS: None!
Coming home from dinner and a late night movie, Thea was absolutely convinced that her anniversary and Mother’s Day should always fall on the same day going forward, if only because this day had been just so…great. She wasn’t entirely sure why she’d been so afraid of moving in with Gareth for so long, as the couple of weeks since she had were some of the best in recent memory. It especially worked out nicely that morning when he’d had breakfast ready for her and the had then spent a large part of the morning and afternoon just celebrating them. Honestly, it was her favorite thing to celebrate. And though she would have been more than pleased to keep hiding away in their apartment with Gareth all day long, the only other thing that could have made the day end on such a perfect note was ending it with her mom. But Thea was home now and, even though it was barely a quarter past midnight, meaning their anniversary had come and gone again, the fact did little to detract from her every intention of waking him up for another kiss before sleep. If he’d expected anything less than that, though, he shouldn’t have posted what he’d posted on Instagram. He was just going to have to deal with it. She was pretty sure he wouldn’t mind, at all. To Thea’s surprise, though, the lights were still on as she let herself in through the front door. It was an entirely different feeling using that key now that she lived here, and a feeling that she still loved. Nearly two weeks of having returned the keys to the old apartment and the feeling had not yet lost its novelty. Toeing off her shoes and dropping her purse on the table near the door, she looked around until she found Gareth sitting at the dining room table. “Gar?” she asked, brow furrowing with concern, even if she was glad to see him up, if only because that meant she wouldn’t have to wake him, after all. “What are you doing in here? I thought you’d be asleep. Early morning appointment, right?” He could have gone to bed. In fact, he probably should have gone to bed. He did have an early morning appointment the next day- people who scheduled massages for nine AM on a Monday were the true monsters of the world. But since Thea had left to celebrate the day with her mother, Gareth's mind had been running in overdrive. There was no reason for it, of course. It had been a really good day. They'd been able to celebrate their anniversary with all requisite shmoopiness (as she called it). And for a while, yes, his thoughts had wandered to his own mother- a woman he knew from pictures and little else. Or Sifa Kereseth, a woman who had raised Akos but had always found more joy and fulfillment in her own powers than her family. Thea was his family now, there was no mistaking that. Even without a legal commitment- unless you counted having added her name to the lease- Gareth had no reason to doubt their staying-power. But she'd said she wanted more. They'd discussed it, even if it had been in vague-someday terms. He'd bought a ring more than a year ago. Gareth smiled as Thea approached, and gave half a shrug to the reminder of his morning plans. "I wanted to see you again before we went to bed, and I knew if I lay down I'd be out like a light. How's mom?" Thea grinned. Of course they’d been of the same mind. At least when it came to this. She was good at being at odds with him on things she really wasn’t at odds with him on, but never about this, never about how much she loved him. “She’s good, told me to ask you if we would come by for dinner this week so that she can deliver a hug to you herself,” she replied, sliding into the seat across from him. It wasn’t an advantageous spot for giving him the kiss she’d been planning, but she’d get to it. “As it turns out, I was already plotting exactly how I was going to wake you up when I got home, for exactly that reason. I just wanted to prolong this day a few minutes longer,” Thea confessed, walking her fingers across the table as she reached toward him, wanting his hand. “It probably works out in your favor that you were still up.” He watched her fingers walk across the table, and mirrored the gesture to reach his own hand for her, easily lacing their fingers together and resting them there on the table. "I'm always good for dinner. She can come by here, too, if you wanted." That was one of the (many) benefits of having this shared space, now. He glanced at his watch, then playfully raised an eyebrow in Thea's direction. "Well, technically the day ended about seventeen minutes ago." And, all things considered- all things he was considering, anyway- that was probably for the best. "Better to have the customary evening greeting here at the table rather than you poking and prodding me awake to kiss you goodnight, you mean?" Thea watched as her fingers closed around his, reveling in the way it felt to have even this simplest of touches, before she looked back up at him. “I’ll call her tomorrow and see what she and Dad want to do. I like the idea of having them here, though,” she said, letting the unspoken in our home remain implied. Shrugging, she replied, “Yes, but Thea Perkins’ superpower is being able pretend like it’s still May 12 for her own benefit. Though, honestly, I’m happy to make it a new thing that we celebrate our anniversary and our another-year-and-a-day-versary, so I can save that superpower for another time if need be.” Thea squeezed Gareth’s hand and gestured toward the hallway with her chin. “But I’m home now, so how about that goodnight kiss and some sleep that I know you need. That I need, too, actually, since I’m all professional now.” "Save it, just in case," Gareth replied. "It doesn't have to be a another-year-and-a-day-versary to get a decent goodnight kiss, though I'll do my best if that's what the day really is." Before he could, however, he pulled his hand back from hers and reached into a pocket. Then, carefully, he set a black velvet ring box on the table. He left it closed, though he did slide it just a bit closer to Thea. "You don't have to open it," he said, slowly. "And I don't have to ask until you want me to, but I... wanted you to know that this is here for when that happens." “I’m just saying,” Thea teased, responding even as Gareth pulled his hand away from hers, “we technically have an additional 364 days of the year to turn into holidays to celeb--” Her words cut off, her breath hitching in her throat as she caught sight of the small box in Gareth’s hand. She looked between it and Gareth, trying to process the words he’d said and feeling like it was definitely taking too long for her head to catch up with her rapidly beating heart. They’d talked about this, yes, but she hadn’t been expecting it. It had felt like such a far off future, one they’d get to eventually. But… But she knew in her heart that she liked now much better than someday. “I don’t want to open it,” Thea said, looking at him, only him. “I want you to open it. If that’s what I’m 99.999% sure it is, I want you to open it, and I want-- I want you to ask me.” Her seemingly easy denial wrapped around his heart, the words constricting such that he almost didn't hear her addendum that followed shortly after. I want you to open it. So, he did. The ring inside had been commissioned, and wouldn't be duplicated elsewhere. A marquise-cut labradorite bordered by the moon in its various phases, and then haloed on top and bottom by ten small diamonds. It was a ring for someone who was in love with the stars. "So," a small grin tugged at the corner of his lips. "Thea Hazel Perkins. You wanna set a date for this thing, or what?" The ring was perfect, and Thea’s wasn’t the only heart that swelled at the sight of it. It called to a part of her that she’d only known about for a short time but had undoubtedly been there all along. But it wasn’t the ring that had her at a loss for words, rather him and this solid, tangible promise of the forever she’d imagined with him. Thea was suddenly aware of just how inconvenient this damned table was. And so she pushed her chair back and, taking a deep breath, she moved around it until she was right in front of him. She ungracefully pulled herself into his lap as her mouth captured his in that kiss she’d been wanting but hadn’t been able to give up until then. Lips still brushing lightly against his, she murmured, “I’d marry you tomorrow, Gareth Stone.” She'd wanted him to ask, and they'd already talked about getting married one day. But Gareth still held his breath as Thea stood and rounded the table without saying a word. But then she'd planted herself in his lap, and he remembered to set his hands at her waist just before she leaned in to kiss him. He leaned up into her, grateful for this sort of response. It left little to be deciphered, in the end. "Tomorrow it is, then." And maybe she was being facetious and maybe he was calling her bluff. So long as she walked away from this table with that ring on her finger, Gareth wouldn't care. Thea grinned devilishly and brushed her nose across Gareth’s. “It’s already tomorrow, though, so Happy Wedding Day,” she replied, before reluctantly pulling away from him just enough to hold her left hand up between them, wiggling her fingers at him. “You should probably go ahead and put that ring right here, because there’s no turning back now.” He laughed, slightly, amending, "I thought you meant today's tomorrow, not yesterday's tomorrow. But either way…" Gareth reached over and grabbed the ring box off the table, pulling the ring itself out of its now-former home. Holding Thea's hand, he slipped the ring into place on her fourth finger, then pressed a kiss to her knuckles. "There's been no turning back for four years now," he countered. Thea lifted her hand to Gareth’s cheek, reveling in the delicious weight of their commitment now securely wrapped around her finger. “That’s fair,” she conceded because he wasn’t wrong. It hadn’t taken her long to fall hard for him, even before she’d worked up the nerve to demand he take her out on a date and that was one decision she had never regretted. Not even when she spent a week caught up in Cyra’s feelings did she forget just how much she loved this man who was so good to her, who loved her through all of her good days and her bad days. She loved him through all of his, too. “And as much as today or tomorrow sounds perfect,” Thea said, interrupting her own words to steal another kiss before continuing, “I think Mom would be very upset if we did this without her.” A slow smile spread across her face as she added, “We should give her at least a week to prepare.” That first date had been her idea- or demand, really- but Gareth had caught up with her soon enough. They'd had good days and bad- but everyone did. The important thing was that they tried, and they worked through things together. Slow progress was still progress. Not that let's-get-married-in-a-week was slow. "Next Sunday? Or are you more of a evening wedding on a random Tuesday sort of girl?" -- Thea wasn’t entirely sure if they were still having a laugh, or seriously discussing nuptials a week from now, but she found that she wasn’t entirely ready to ask and find out that it was all in fun. The more she mulled the idea of it over, the more she liked it, even if it was crazy. Even if it was fast. They’d been together for four years, though, so was it really all that fast? Her voice grew quiet, serious, as she replied, “I’m a fan of Sundays.” He noted the change in her tone, and that gave Gareth his answer to the earlier unvoiced question of whether or not this was for real. He… was glad he'd called her bluff. "Sunday, May 19th. I'd say that sounds like the perfect date to get married, Thea Perkins. I'll be there." Wherever there ended up being. Minor details. This...this was not how Thea had thought her night would go. If she was honest, she’d thought being his wife would be more like a ten-year plan at their pace, though she had never had any complaints about where they’d stood with each other after that first date. Despite that fact, though, she was excited by the idea that they didn’t need a long engagement, or a huge ceremony, to have everything they wanted. “I think Mom will be okay with that. I’ll call her in the morning to let her know we’ve got a wedding to plan,” she said, unable to contain the joyful glee in her eyes as her arms wrapped behind his neck, her left hand fanning out so that she could see the perfect ring adorning her finger. She found it hard not to touch Gareth when she was near him, in general, but the need to be close to him was even more prominent just then. “I’m going to love hearing you call me Thea Stone,” she said, forehead resting against his. "I'll tell Brynn and Rhys, too. And you just give me a list of honey-dos and I'll get them honey-done." Gareth laughed at his own terrible joke. His hands had moved to the small of her back, holding her close and comfortable. Thea Stone. A smile tugged at his lips, and Gareth kissed her again- slow, lingering. With no previous plan for when they might be engaged, he had never thought to assume that she'd take his name when it happened. So this, from her, was the first he'd heard that name spoken aloud. "I may never call you anything else," he admitted. “You’re such a nerd,” Thea laughed, but let the laugh fell silent on her tongue as soon as she was kissing Gareth again. This kiss, somehow even more so than the others they had shared since she had been home, sent a shiver through her, like she was standing on the precipice of this new and thrilling thing and stepping off the edge and letting herself fall into it was exciting, and terrifying, and everything. “My nerd, though, who can absolutely call me whatever he wants to” she amended, then added, “and I think it’s about time for bed, don’t you?” He'd given a faint shrug at her assessment of him. It wasn't as if he could really argue it, besides, and he rather liked her addendum to the name. "It definitely is," Gareth agreed, releasing his hold on her- though only for a few moments at most. "Lead the way, my Almost-Mrs." Thea pulled herself away from her fiance--fiance, what a word!--and got to her feet, reaching out to take Gareth’s hand in hers as she pulled him to his, too. “Right this way, almost hubby,” she grinned, and led him straight back toward their bedroom without delay. |