tahiri veila hates shoes (hatesshoes) wrote in timestreamic, @ 2017-03-11 08:47:00 |
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Anakin slid his hand into his jacket pocket to feel the cool metal circle within it. The ring was still there waiting. He'd bought it a few days ago after his conversation with his brother. It had perhaps been ridiculous to ask Jacen's opinion on something as personal as getting engaged, but Anakin had more than one reason for doing so. The first was simply to check his own inclination against someone else's, and there was likely no one better than Jacen to think differently about something than he did. The second had been a more selfish attempt to simply reconnect with Jacen after everything that had happened when they were at the agency before. He remembered all of the negative things that had happened as would Jacen. And he wanted to remind his brother that Anakin still cared about him and very much wanted him to be in Anakin's life as a part of it. For right now he left the bedroom and headed into the living room from the kitchen to find Tahiri and for a moment he stood in the doorway watching her. They had been best friends for so long, and recently it had been something more than that. But with everything with the Agency, being torn apart - at least from Tahiri's perspective… it had kept him from really considering asking the question. And now they were here, in a place that was a galaxy away from their home. But he didn't care. It was time to stop making up excuses and just ask her the question. "You want a drink?" He asked, making his presence known. “Yes,” Tahiri answered him without hesitation, flashing him a bright smile. It still took some getting used to sometimes, being here with him. His memories were of a different timeline, one in which things on Myrkr went differently, but for her it had been years since losing him. If she was willing to stay here with the Agency for only one reason, it was because it meant having Anakin back. She might have had a life before and after him, but this life with him was the only one she was currently interested in. Her eyes narrowed briefly as she realized he was up to something, but rather than trying to figure it out, she decided she’d rather be surprised by whatever it was he had in mind. It wasn’t like she ever minded spending time with him. Anakin gave her a quick lopsided grin before heading for glasses and a bottle of wine that he'd picked up earlier. It was perhaps a bit fancier than they'd normally have in the evening, but that was rather the point wasn't it? If he was going to ask her in a town that wasn't their own, fighting a war that was equally not their own, then he was going to try to do all the other things right. He sat the glasses down on the table, turning his attention to opening the wine bottle. It was something that he had to admit, he was always a tiny bit glad he had the Force to help him out with. He poured them both a bit of it and then glanced over at her. "The question is whether or not a glass of wine makes an evening on a so-called hellmouth better," he chuckled, handing over one glass to her. She was younger, just a bit, than what he remembered at home, but still just as beautiful and certainly just as much Tahiri as the one he knew at home. “I think the real question,” Tahiri said as she took the glass from him, “is why we’re drinking this wine.” She eyed him warily, even more sure he was up to something. “Did you do something I’m going to be annoyed about?” He absolutely had some kind of ulterior motive in this drink. She wasn’t opposed to sitting here and drinking wine with her boyfriend, but she could tell there was something going on. Well this was going splendidly, Anakin took a sip of the wine and couldn't help but think there would be a certain amount of irony to arguing their way through a proposal, but instead he just shook his head. "I don't think I've done anything to make you annoyed, probably," he chuckled. "There might be something, but if there is, I've forgotten about it and you haven't found it yet, so we're safe. I just thought a glass of wine might be nice this evening." He supposed it might be better to just move on, she was already obviously suspicious, and there was no point in making her more so by taking his time on this. "I actually, it's more like I've been thinking about us, and I know we're both a long way from home, and I know the home you remember is different from the one that I do. But," he reached over to slide his hand into her free one. "I'm glad you're here. I wouldn't want to do any of this without you." Tahiri’s suspicious look faded to a fond smile when he got all sentimental. For all she liked to give him a hard time, she loved Anakin. She’d just started to really understand that when she’d lost him and coming here, getting a second chance to be with him, that was something she wouldn’t trade for anything. Nothing she missed about home was worth going back to if it meant losing him. Sometimes it still felt weird that their timelines weren’t completely in sync with one another, but they were still the same people at heart. The gap in their ages was larger than it should be, but that was a small price to pay for him being alive. It wasn’t something she had any plans to complain about, pretty much ever. “You are my home, Anakin,” she told him, gripping his hand tightly and doing her best not to cry as she thought about the life she’d had before this, one where he’d been gone. “Don’t you know that by now?” Anakin sat the glass of wine down on the nearby table and turned his full attention to her. They had been friends for almost as long as he could remember. The only people who had been in his life longer were his siblings, his parents, his family. Tahiri had been there through everything, and while there was an age difference, and even an experience difference with the woman he sat in front of, the important things all matched up and Anakin had never been more certain of anything in his entire life. "I do," he affirmed, smiling as he did so. "And I feel the same. I have for a very long time, which, I suppose in part, is why the wine." He took a breath, a little nervous despite the fact that he was certain of this, and that he was nearly confident of what Tahiri's response would be. Still… "And this," Anakin reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring. "Tahiri… I want us to be home. To make a home… together," he looked up to watch her face seriously. "I want you to marry me. Will you?" It only took her a moment once he pulled out the ring to realize what he was doing. In retrospect, she probably should have figured it out sooner, but even though she loved him more than anything in the world and even though and even though she knew he felt the same way, the idea of marriage hadn’t really occurred to her in the sense of something they’d do anything soon. From her perspective, they hadn’t had a lot of time together. Just being able to be together was still a novelty. “Yes.” She said the word before he’d even finished asking. “Yes, yes absolutely yes,” she said it a few more times for good measure. Maybe she hadn’t expected the question so soon, but there was no doubt in her mind that this was right. This was what she wanted, too. Anakin grinned broadly, unable to help himself. He leaned forward, jubilantly pressing his lips to hers, and then pulled back. "Good," he laughed. And it felt like the most absurd of understatements. There weren't words for how good it was to have her say yes. Nor were there words to really capture just how much he appreciated the response. He knew, and she knew it far more intimately, that it wasn't an option in every universe, but it was an option here - in this one - and they were going to take it and grab hold. "Here," he reached for her hand, for the right finger, and slid the ring onto it, and then he brought that hand up to his lips and kissed it. "This is yours then." “Well, it IS why I said yes,” she teased him. “I really just wanted the sparkly jewelry.” She could joke, because she doubted he’d believe that for a second. Tahiri didn’t normally wear a ton of jewelry. She’d always been kind of tomboyish and even though she could wear a dress and make herself up as nicely as any other girl, she wasn’t into a lot of that so-called girly stuff. The ring, she loved because of what it symbolized. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to give him a hard time, though. “I knew you were up to something,” she said smugly even as she admired the diamonds that now graced her left hand. Maybe she hadn’t guess that it was this, but she was going to take the chance to gloat where she could. “This means you’re stuck with me, you know,” she added, blinking back happy tears as she pulled her eyes away from the ring to look at him again. Anakin was still grinning, feeling a little like an idiot, but he couldn't bring himself to care. "I hope it means I'm stuck with you," he laughed. "That was the idea really." He leaned forward and kissed her gently once again, reaching a thumb up to brush a stray tear off her cheek. "Do you like it?" He asked, his eyes falling down at the ring. "You wear so little jewelry, but I just - I liked the idea of this one. It felt like you." “I love it,” she said, nodding her head before she leaned in and kissed him. “It’s perfect.” The truth was that it could have been made of plastic and been the most tacky piece of jewelry in the world and she still would have loved it, but he was right about this ring being her. It fit her finger perfectly, somehow, and it was beautiful, but not something that would get in the way while she was fighting. “I’m never going to take it off,” she promised. It felt almost like a dream, getting to have a moment like this with him. They’d still been children, really, when she’d lost him, but here they were, both of them grown up, thanks to the efforts of this agency they now worked for. That was something she’d always be grateful to them for. If it weren't for Tahiri's delight, and the feel of her skin against his, Anakin might have floated away. As it was, he wanted to never leave her side. Hopefully, with the Agency here, he wouldn't have to. They could stay here together, helping to fight and getting to live a life together. It was a chance that Tahiri wouldn't have at home, even if it was one he might have at home, and he was grateful for the opportunity to offer it to her here. He shifted so that he was sitting beside her, gently pulling her so that she could fall against his side. "We'll have to figure out the how and what of when, and where, because I'm not certain how any of this translates into anything very large, wedding wise, but I don't think I need that. I just need you. And we've got my siblings here, and my Uncle - even if he's pretty young. And we have friends we've made here. We could still have a number of people if we want. Or we could just have Jacen and Jaina." “You’re a sap, Anakin Solo,” Tahiri teased, but she was smiling as she leaned into him and tilted her head so her eyes were still on his face. She could give him a hard time for being sentimental, but she knew what he meant. She felt the same way. “We can have something small,” she decided. “Just your family, our close friends. It doesn’t have to be some huge affair.” That sounded nice, actually. “Maybe something on the beach,” she added after thinking about it for a moment. “I don’t mind the sand here so much. It would be nice to do something by the water.” Anakin leaned in to give her a kiss and a warm smile. The idea was perfect, the entire thing sounded exactly like what he wanted. Or maybe anything Tahiri would have suggested would have been that way. He mostly just wanted to get to married to the woman in front of him and anywhere would do. "I like the idea of a beach," he said simply. "It'd be pretty and relaxing and we could just have my family, and whomever we want for friends, and… maybe a small dinner or something after? Whatever you want." Tahiri liked that, too, and she nodded her head. “That sounds kind of perfect,” she admitted. Maybe they could do it after they saved the world. Or during. The details could probably wait, but the important thing was that they were getting this future. That on it’s own was pretty incredible. |