InsaneJournal

WHO Lucas Friar & Cam Mitchell
WHAT Ring shopping!
WHEN Saturday afternoon
WHERE A jewelry store
WARNINGS adorableness
STATUS Closed | Incomplete (gdoc to be finished in comments)


Lucas had been excited when he realized just when he'd gotten sent back to. His dad was going to propose to his mom soon! It didn't bother him overly much to wake up in his childhood room because he was used to Madison Valley's antics plenty, so he'd just checked in with his friends and surprised his parents, and then they'll all kind of settled into it easily enough. His parents were super chill like that. Of course, the first free moment they had, he'd suggested to his dad that they go ring shopping on Saturday just like they'd planned instead of putting it off. Part of that was because he wanted to go ring shopping for Riley, but he didn't tell his dad that just yet.

They'd made their excuses and headed off Saturday afternoon to find the perfect ring for his mom. Lucas had a bit of an advantage, knowing what his dad was going to pick, but he was determined to let his dad choose it for himself. He'd just browse on the side for a ring for Riley. As they pulled into the parking lot of the jewelry store, Lucas grinned at his dad.

"Are you excited?" Lucas was excited. That hadn't dimmed very much at all with age.

***

How weird was it that Cameron was actually getting used to his kid suddenly being an adult? He felt like he’d barely come to terms with having a kid at all but in their time together Lucas had done a lot of growing up, not just in the usual ways, and when he’d come out of his room looking several years older Cameron had just decided to roll with it.

And so there he was getting out of the car in front of a jewelry store, about to make a commitment to a plan he couldn’t have been more sure about.

“I don’t know if excited is the right word,” he mused. “The feeling’s somewhere between that and terrified.” It was both at once. He wasn’t second guessing himself, he wanted to be prepared when the right moment came, but knowing he was going to have the ring from here out was a scary thing. Which, for someone who did a lot of scary things for a living, was big.

***

"Yea, I definitely get that," Lucas replied. And he did. He was nervous about asking Riley, in part because he didn't get to ask Mr Matthews for her hand in marriage, but he had a plan to talk to Mr Hunter. He was just working up to it and having a ring before that was totally okay in Lucas' mind.

"But it's going to be great," he was quick to assure his dad. "You guys are really good together and Mom will love what you pick out." Lucas remembered feeling like he'd almost given it away in the days leading up to the proposal, but he hadn't luckily enough.

"I hope Riley is just as happy." He let that slip without even realizing it as they walked through the doors of the jewelry store. Oops. So much for being secretive about his own plans. Maybe his dad didn't notice.

***

That was more reassuring than Lucas could possibly know. If Cameron was nervous about anything, it was that Melinda wouldn’t like whatever he chose. She wasn’t a jewelry kind of woman, but he was a bit of a traditionalist when it came to these kinds of things. He wanted to ask her and he couldn’t do it without a ring, so the trick was going to be finding something that would suit her but still look like an engagement ring.

Considering all that was derailed a little as the walked inside, though. It was too much to ask that Cameron wouldn’t catch the slip up.

“You thinking about asking?” Pretty obvious that he was.

***

"What? Who? Me?" Lucas knew it was silly to even try to deny it but he did try. He flashed his dad an embarrassed kind of smile. "Okay, yea. I admit it. I've been thinking about it for a while now." He was totally hopeless at keeping secrets, especially from his parents. He hadn't mentioned it to Riley just yet because he knew it might spook her. It usually spooked her when he tried to talk about their future.

"I mean, I've been thinking about it for a while but how cool would it be to find rings together?" There was his excitement again. "I know it's weird when I'm older sometimes, and there's so many memories in my head that it's hard to keep track of everything. But I know that I want to be with Riley for the rest of my life." Lucas had thought about it a lot, for years honestly. Ever since that first time they'd woken up older.

***

Pausing, Cameron looked at Lucas, long and hard. Maybe they were a bit young still, even as old as the two of them were now, but if they were still together in whatever future Lucas remembered, that had to mean something. It obviously wasn’t something that they were just rushing into. So in the end he just laughed, and clapped Lucas on the shoulder.

“You’re a weird kid, man,” he teased. “But okay. You help me out, I’ll think about helping you out.” He wasn’t just going to let Lucas buy anything, not knowing that he’d probably be back to normal soon enough, but he could help the kid pick something out so when the day did really come, he’d know what he wanted.

“Your mom first. The two of us, we’re not getting any younger.” The reminder that Lucas and Riley probably would was not so subtle, but it was definitely more of a joke than chastising.

***

Lucas rolled his eyes at his dad for calling him weird. “Hey, I may not be your biological kid, but I’m definitely your kid,” he replied. He picked up a lot of Cam’s habits over the years, in part because he loved his dad and wanted to emulate him as much as he could. “And you and Mom waited forever. I get why, but still.”

It was different for him and Riley, he reasoned, because they’d known each other for years. They grew up together, knew everything about one another, and sure, they had their fights, but they were always going to be Riley and Lucas. He wanted to be with her forever, to love her like her parents loved each other, like his adopted parents. They had so many great examples of what positive, healthy, loving relationships looked like.

“Come on, let’s try these ones first,” he suggested, leading Cam over to the traditional rings.

***
Cameron didn’t think they’d waited that long. Sure, they hadn’t rushed into anything the way people here sometimes did, but all things considered he’d say it was actually kind of on the quick side. He’d known people who had dated for years before thinking about getting married, knew some people who never thought about doing it at all.

He couldn’t be one of those people.

He just shook his head and followed Lucas, leaning over to take a look at the rings in the case. “Yeah, this kind the kind of thing I was thinking about.” Something that said engagement ring at first glance. “Something small and unassuming though.”

Melinda wouldn’t like anything flashy.

***

Lucas was impatient in a lot of ways and very patient in others. He'd wait for all of time for Riley to be ready for the kind of future he wanted for them, but he was impatient to get a ring and propose to her. It was silly, but that was Lucas in a nutshell. He was a weird kid.

"You know, I'm beginning to think you don't need my help. Maybe I should just go look over here," he teased, gesturing to the less than typical rings. Riley needed something that was one of a kind, but his Dad was dead on about what to get his Mom. He had only backed up a few steps though and caught the ring for his Mom in the section of the case he was in front of.

"You should take a look at these, Dad. I think they might be more Mom's speed." Subtle wasn't ever going to be one of Lucas' traits.

***

Subtle really did not work for that kid at all. Cameron almost had to laugh about it. He glanced back at Lucas, smirked a little and moved to stand beside him, looking at the case.

“Why don’t you just tell me which one?” he suggested, amused. He’d been all set to pick out a ring but this was a unique situation and who had the opportunity to ask a kid from the future to tell him what he’d picked out that his future wife would love. “Save us both a lot of time and me a lot of worrying.”

Because he knew Melinda, but he doubted his own abilities to pick something that suited her perfectly. He wasn’t sure he had an eye for that kind of thing, and had been prepared to spend a long time searching. At least if he figured himself out sooner he could concentrate his time on helping his kid out. And stopping him from buying something he wouldn’t need in a week.

***

Lucas chuckled but mimed zipping his lips shut. "I'm not going to just tell you what to pick. But I can guide you in the right direction," he replied. He wanted to help, but he also didn't want his dad to think he wasn't good at knowing what Melinda wanted. Cam was the best at figuring it out, even if sometimes he didn't get it right the first time. An engagement ring was a big deal and definitely something that Cam would get right all on his own. With a tiny bit of nudging.

"Tell you what, if you narrow it down to five, I'll give you another hint," he offered. It was kind of silly because he'd obviously not let his dad pick the wrong thing. Lucas was probably physically incapable of letting his dad walk out without the right ring. "Come on, you know Mom better than a lot of people around here. Seriously. You'll know what's perfect for her."