“You’ve got to be joking,” he says, his coffee cup frozen halfway to his mouth.
He’s got the collar of his green coat turned up to the wind, one hand bunched in his pocket, and he looks annoyed as hell. And cold. That’s not exactly what I was expecting.
“Er…no,” I say slowly. “I was sort of serious.”
Not sort of serious. I was completely serious. I feel the grin slipping from my face. I might have cocked this up.
He lowers the paper coffee cup and stares at me.
“Simon, that’s not how these things are done,” he says, shaking his head. Incredulous. “No forethought, no planning. There are supposed to be dinner reservations and mood music, not this,” he gestures back at the field where my pick up football match is still going. There are grunts and laughter and shouts. “You don’t do this when you’re sweaty and it’s fucking freezing outside.”
I should have known he’d be a prick about this.
“All right,” I say slowly. “Do you want to go to dinner tonight?”
But he’s on a roll, he’s already started, and he’s about to settle into a lecture. Crowley, why did I do this? Why didn’t I wait? I just saw him there, licking whip cream off his coffee and holding an extra one for me, and I just thought, “I love him.” And then it slipped out, right after, “Hey thanks.”
“There’s supposed to be romance. A speech. A grand gesture. Emotion,” he says. He’s practically vibrating with righteous, pretentious energy. I want to kiss him, but also not, because he’s being aggressively obnoxious and I just kind of opened myself up here.
“Have you forgotten that time I kissed you in a burning forest and saved your life? That was romantic. That was a gesture,” I argue, cupping my hands around my coffee cup for warmth. He got me a large.
“Simon that was seven years ago. You’ve got to let that go,” he says, shaking his head. “Honestly, no planning—“
“I planned!” I interrupt, and he scowls at me.
“Really? You planned this? You sat down and thought, this is exactly how I want to do it, covered in mud on the coldest day in March.”
“I mean,” I grin. “Not exactly. But there was thought. There was planning.”
“Like what?” he says, but his hand has come out of his pocket and reached for the hem on my t shirt. “Show me one thing about this that was premeditated.”
“I will. It’s back at the flat.”
“Back at the flat?” he says, about to start mocking again, but then he pauses.
“Yeah,” I say. I grin. I love when I get the chance to mock him. “Oh.”
“You just got overexcited and blundered right into this, didn’t you? Got an idea and couldn’t wait. You probably thought this up for the first time and bought the ring yesterday, didn’t you?”
I shrug and tug at his hand.
I hate how well he knows me.
He sighs dramatically and locks our fingers together, a smile playing at the edge of his mouth.
“Well then. Let’s go home so you can show me this supposed proof.”
“Wait are you not going to answer?” I say. “Because you haven’t answered.”
That’s a pretty important part of this whole thing that’s currently missing and hanging unanswered in the air between us. Baz just sips at his coffee again and starts walking.
“Yes, obviously,” he says dismissively. “I just want to see proof, so I can judge how little effort you put into this. Honestly, one of the most important moments of our life, and you do it after a intramural football match? Just stroll up, looking a disaster, ‘Baz, I think we should get married.’ You lot didn’t even win, I don’t know what you’re so happy about.”
“Hey Baz?” I say, tugging on his hand. He glances at me and I can see the crinkling at his eyes, hear the smile in his voice. He hums at me, an eyebrow cocked. “Shut the fuck up,” I say, and he laughs, loud and staccato into the cold air. I can see his breath.
“Maybe after you put a ring on it. Honestly, Snow.”
“By the way, I’m taking your name. So you have to stop calling me Snow,” I say, and he shakes his head.
“Absolutely not. You’re not destroying my family legacy like that.”
I scowl, and he laughs again.
“No forethought. Just blundering in,” he tsks, shaking his head like an old bird. But he wraps our joined hands around my shoulders and drags me in to place a smiling kiss against my hair. “You absolute nightmare.”
