InsaneJournal

Who: Danny Lubbe & Stephanie Brown
What: A very important question
When: 2/14
Where: Steph’s
Rating: A for adorable
Status: Complete




It wasn’t as if Danny hadn’t told her to clear her after school schedule for a reason. He might’ve been impulse personified, but he could make plans too. He was just sometimes really, really bad at it. This was not one of those times. Kinda.

He pulled a little bit of the patented Lubbe charm on one of her friends, all smiles and enthusiasm to please just keep Steph from coming home until an exact time so he could surprise her. This girl was totally down for it even though she knew not at all what Danny was planning. Until he’d started, he didn’t know entirely what he was planning either other than it was so not going to be at his place.

It was sheer luck that her mom had to work that night again, but given that she still couldn’t really look him in the eye he was pretty sure she’d do anything in her power to avoid him just for the sake of not thinking about him naked and fucking other guys. He really wished his dad would adopt the same attitude. The guy kept trying to figure out where he’d gone wrong like whatever faults might exist in Danny’s personality were somehow his to take the blame for.

There was a thing that Danny kept pretty secret because it made it really obvious how on his own he’d grown up. He was a really, really good cook when he put his mind to it. Not like chef quality, but he’d learned from a young age where he was making mistakes the hard way. So, taking over Steph’s kitchen was easy. Making waffles with fresh strawberries and gourmet chocolates he’d gotten from the dude who got shot at that party was easy too. The only hard part was timing things and laying them out so they’d still be warm the minute that the door knob turned.

He’d gotten a bit cheesy in his romance, killing all the lights in favour of candles and a trail of lavender rose petals (they didn’t make eggplant coloured ones which Danny was kinda upset about,) leading to the kitchen. The display on the table he’d done up was nothing short of romantic, a black table cloth and dishes that he’d borrowed from his dad’s collection that were disgustingly nice and shrouded in mystery for a man who owned them and yet didn’t seem to ever have anyone over. Two tall candles in equally borrowed holders burned quietly, and Danny had managed to put his nimble fingers to good use twisting together two roses at the stem in a clear vase - one white, one lavender. Their breakfast for dinner looked worthy of a restaurant neither of them would ever really be comfortable in.

Set just at the top of the plate on her side was an elegant, aubergine box closed, but containing a ring that Danny’d been holding on to in secret for a while now. The doorknob turned, and the little Canadian menace could feel his heart somewhere in his throat.

“Mom?” Stephanie called, having noticed something was a little off when she walked up to the front door. ‘Spoiler’ senses or whatever it was, probably just her knowledge of the condo and the way it usually smelled when it wasn’t her in the kitchen. She knew her mother was already at work but called out anyway, more about giving whatever ‘boogiemen’ that could have possibly broken in a chance to flee than actually being concerned that someone was there. Of course someone was there, someone who had left what looked to be rose petals across her floor and to the kitchen.

The wild Lubbe was loose in her place and from the smell of it had been working wonders in the kitchen.

She closed the door behind her and dropped off her helmet, keys and jacket at the little table next to the door. His text telling her to keep Friday after school free had said something about sexy and or romantic plans and only then did it dawn on her that he had probably been planning whatever this was for some time. She loved Danny, knew he was impulsive, and that made whatever awaited her in the kitchen all the more special. He loved her and cared enough about her to plan something sweet for hopefully the first of their many Valentine’s Days together.

Of course nothing had prepared her for what she saw when she finally came into the kitchen. She would have been happy with just a candle and a pizza, maybe a terrible Canadian comedy to watch later as long as Danny was going to be there with her, but this. She hadn’t seen it coming. “Oh my god, Danny,” she half squeaked, her mouth falling open a little. She was going to say something else but brought a hand up to her mouth to quiet any other squeaks that could have come.

Danny didn’t do a lot of things by the book. Really, there were moments when he was sure that the book was in a language he just couldn’t understand. This, though, well it was something that needed to be followed through on properly. He picked the ring box off the table. “I’ve ah… I’ve been thinking a lot lately about you and me and us and…” He looked down for a moment, pressing his lips together. “And we both know that life’s not easy, and that we’re young but… I’d like to be there with you for all of it. Good times and bad ones and I believe in us more than I do anything else so…”

He dropped down to one knee, practically sure that she could actually see his heart on the sleeve of the button-up he was actually wearing. Danny opened the box, eyes on her all hope and love and the question he was about to ask. “Will you marry me?”

It was very likely a good thing that she had her mouth covered because she was sure the noise she made when he got down on one knee could have shattered glass if it hadn’t been muffled. Excited, happy tears rushed to her eyes and her hands came up to fan them away though it did her little good, her smile still bright and ‘sparkling’ through it all. “Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Danny! Oh my god.”

Really he was lucky she wasn’t bouncing because she certainly felt like bouncing. She loved this man, every little bit of him. She didn’t have to think about her answer at all, didn’t even pause to consider that she’d only known him since December and that he was still in high school and that he was still a porn star. She loved him completely and so there was only ever going to be one answer. She nodded repeatedly, “Yes.” Steph cradled his head in her hands and leaned down to take a kiss. “Yes, yes I’ll marry you.”

Danny beamed into that kiss, hand trembling a little as he tried to get the ring on her finger. He had to pull back just so he could see what he was doing even though he really didn’t want to take his eyes off of her. “I love you,” he said, absolutely beaming up at her. He stood up just so he could kiss her again, really kiss her like he wanted to instead of kinda feeling like his knee was about to give out on him and he’d end up tipping them both over somehow. It was a real possibility.

They were gonna have a house together. And a life. And it was going to be great. Better than he’d ever expected from his life. “Love you so much, Sparkles.”

Once the ring was on her finger and he was on his feet again she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with all her heart until it ended and she was happy enough just to say there. Staying in his arms forever sounded perfect, soaking him in, being this close for the rest of their days, she was down for all of it. And now, thanks to the ring on her finger, which she moved her hand down his chest so she could have another look at it, she had that chance at forever. She was going to get to keep her Danny.

“I love you too, so much.” stole a quick kiss then looked back down at the ring on her hand, her forehead resting against his temple. It was perfect and she was going to spend the next few weeks just randomly staring down at it and thinking about how she would never have to be without Danny again. “You are amazing.” her face really was going to hurt with all this smiling. “Stephanie Lubbe sounds really, really great, you know?”

Danny grinned at her, glancing down to look at her hand on his chest. Them. Whatever life or the dreams was going to throw at them, they’d at least have each other to get through it with. He doubted his were going to be nearly as bad as hers, but he knew that she’d be just as supportive to him as he was to her. Though really, if he was gonna end up accidentally weird magic pregnant in his dreams, he’d probably not say anything to anyone. At all. Ever.

“Yeah it does,” he said, pretty sure he couldn’t grin any harder than this. Who knew. He might surprise himself. Again. “You know that’s a Canadian totally conflict free diamond too. Nobody was hurt or disenfranchised in the making of your ring.” It was something he’d been really proud of. Diamonds were notoriously bloody, but he’d managed to find one for his Stephie Sparkles that very much wasn’t. “Well, unless the artist like accidentally hammered herself or something.”

“I love Canada. And the ring. And you.” she loved that grin on him but she had to kiss him again. Danny said he was going to marry her, had told her he was going to propose back on New Years, he had even apparently listened when she listed the things she liked because he had gotten everything right. She felt like she might burst with how happy she was. “Oh god, Danny, I’m so happy. So, so happy.”

The arm still around him tightened and she smiled up at him, she had to bring up her other hand to wipe away some of the happy tears that were clinging to her lashes. “I can’t believe it. I love you so much. This was absolutely perfect.”

Danny stole another kiss, really glad he knew those were happy tears and that he didn’t have to worry about how to get her to stop crying. “I love you too,” he said, affection so very clear in his voice. “But you should really sit down and eat before your waffles get cold. I worked really hard on them.” He really had. It was kind of embarrassing how much he wanted to get things as perfect as he had apparently managed. He pulled back enough to look at her, to reach up and brush his fingers against her cheek. “You are so absolutely beautiful when you’re happy, you know that? Like, you’re beautiful all the time, but when you’re happy like this you’re...radiant.”

Steph’s eyebrows shot up, “You made me waffles? Aw, that’s so sweet, handsome.” Danny was proving over and over how wonderful and perfect he was. She wasn’t sure what she had ever done to deserve someone like him but she wasn’t about to let him go. They may have talked about marriage before but now that she agreed to it she was thinking more and more that it was absolutely the right thing for them.

She would probably need that confidence because she already knew what everyone was going to say, that it was ‘too soon’.

“You make me radiant, Danny. It’s all you. You make me so happy.” She leaned back in, taking another kiss before pulling away again. He made her waffles and she was going to eat them. Waffles from Danny. Waffles from her fiance. Her fiance. It sounded so weird and yet so wonderful in her head. She was going to have to take every excuse she had to call him that just so she could get used to it.

“I don’t make you do anything,” Danny said, sitting down across from her. “Maybe I enable you to sparkle like you’ve always had in you.” This was definitely the best of decisions. He never thought he’d be as happy as he was right then. Forever. With Stephie. Yeah.