#well...here it is

Zendaya pulled into the parking lot at the Dancing With the Stars rehearsal studios.  She reached over and picked up the bag of Chick-fil-A on the passenger seat before stepping out of her car.  The chilly November breeze swirled around her as cameras started flashing and the paparazzi bombarded her with questions.

“Zendaya!  Zendaya, have you been watching the season?”

“How do you think Eva and Val are doing so far?”

“What’s it like to see your boyfriend dance with someone else?”

“What do you think about their competition?”

“What do you think their chances of winning are?”

“Do you think Val is killing it this season?”

“Val kills it every season,” she called back before waving and entering the building.  It was fairly quiet, which was common for this late at night. As it was a Tuesday, Val had spent the day practicing next week’s opening number with the other pros before heading to the results show.  He had returned to the studio afterwards to start choreographing their next piece.  Knowing that she would be leaving the recording studio for the day, he had texted her to ask if she would bring him something to eat so that he could continue working.  In all of the years that she had known him, his focus and commitment during the season were two things that never changed.  

She made her way down the hall, following the sound of the thumping bass echoing from one of the rooms.  Slowly pushing the door open, she saw Val gliding around the room with an imaginary partner.  She watched the graceful movements he made, appreciating the ripple of muscle beneath his shirt.  His face was beaded with sweat, but his clothing was dry so she assumed that he had changed not too long ago.  His emerald eyes were focused on something that only he could see as he painted moving pictures with his body.

Judging by the steps that he was doing, it looked like they had a paso doble.  Damn, she loved a good paso.  He got so intense and attractive when he channeled the necessary character for that dance.  She couldn’t wait to watch him do it.  

As the song ended, fading into silence, she knocked lightly on the door to announce her presence. He caught sight of her in the mirror first before swinging around to face her, a wide smile spreading across his lips.  

“Hey, baby,” he said.  He shut off the sound system as she entered the studio and then walked over to her. They met in the middle of the floor, Val cupping her face in his hands and kissing her.  

“How long were you standing there?” he asked, smoothing her hair back from her face.  

“Just a couple of minutes.  I didn’t want to distract you.”

“You can distract me any time.”  His smile widened and she remember just how much they had distracted each other the night before.  

“Well in that case…” Her voice trailed off as her lips met his.  Val’s arms wrapped around her, his hands running up and down her back as he lovingly traced the curves of her body.  She loved being in his arms; they had spent so long building up to simple moments like this that she couldn’t help but revel in them.  Just the fact that they could show affection publicly now…she absolutely loved being able to show him how much she loved him without having to worry about getting outed by someone walking in on them.  

Zendaya finally broke the kiss off after a few minutes, saying, “I would love to continue, but your food’s getting cold.”

“I actually wanted to show you something first, if you’re up for it.”

“Sure,” she answered immediately.  “You know me; I’m always up for a good adventure.”  

He smiled at her before taking the paper bag and sitting it on the table at the far end of the room.  Coming back to her, he took her hand and led her out of the room.  

Val was nervous. He had competed internationally against the best ballroom dancers in the world, as well as performed in front of millions of people on national television, but he had never felt this nervous in life.  He didn’t even understand why he was so nervous.  They had known each other for nine years and had been dating for nearly four of them. After living together for a year and even going so far as to discuss marriage, he felt fairly confident that Zendaya would say yes.  But she was important to him, one of the most important people in his life, and the last thing that he wanted to do was screw up their relationship by making a wrong move. It was for that exact reason that it had taken him so long to tell her how he felt about her in the first place.

He led her to the elevator at the end of the hall, relishing the feeling of coming full circle.  He could still remember their rather short first meeting there.  He had been running late to a meeting with the producers before he was to find out who his new partner was.  Seeing that the elevator doors were sliding closed, he had called out for whoever was inside to hold it.  He hadn’t expected to see the small family inside when he boarded.  

Hey.

Hey.

You here for Season 16?

Yeah.

Well good luck!

In the grand scheme of things, it was nothing more than a chance encounter in an elevator. It happened all the time; it shouldn’t have been special…but it was.  That day marked the beginning of their friendship, which had blossomed into one of the most important relationships in his life.  It meant everything.  

Standing in the same spot as they had been on that day nearly a decade ago, he squeezed her hand to remind himself of the present.  They had come such a long way from where they had been during their season.  After dropping her second album, Zendaya had finally blown up like he always knew she would.  He had stood on the sidelines and watched as she toured internationally, taking the world by storm.  He hadn’t thought that he could be any more proud of her, but he had been wrong.  His heart had swelled with pride and adoration as people all over the globe fell in love with her just like he had.  

But he had also been terrified of being left behind.  Although they had still talked or texted nearly every day, her popularity was giving her the foothold to make more famous connections.  He had often questioned whether or not she would finally forget about him – after all, he didn’t run in many of the circles that she did anymore – but she never did.  If anything, the time that they were forced to spend apart due to their careers had only made them hold on to each other even tighter.  

As much as he had loved that, it had only brought on his fear of holding her back.  When he had tried to give her some distance in an attempt to allow her to focus more on her career, she had used one of her only stateside days off to fly to New York and confront him about it.  One thing had led to another and their feelings had finally come pouring out. They had kept up a careful balance of careers and making time to see each other, as they always had.  The meaning behind their efforts was just finally out in the open.  

Val had driven to upstate New York with Alex and Maks to see her in concert.  Standing on the side of the stage, he had been reminded of the show that he had attended at the LA County Fair.  Both times he hadn’t been able to contain himself, resulting in numerous posts on social media about just how talented his Zendayachka was.  The difference was that now he was able to claim her as his girlfriend rather than just as someone he considered family.  It hadn’t been that much more of a distinction, since he had always referred to her as his, but it had felt enormous at the time.  Not nearly as enormous as what he was about to do though.  

As the elevator came to a stop on the correct floor, he was reminded of another elevator ride the night Zendaya’s tour had ended.  Instead of waiting a week until he would arrive in LA to begin a new season, she had flown cross-country and surprised him at Dance With Me.  They had reiterated the fact that they were in love with each other and Val had taken her home with him.  She had ended up in his arms on the elevator ride up to his apartment, her legs wrapped around his waist as he lifted her up against the wall and kissed her.  He had carried her from there straight to his bed.  

The doors parted in front of them, bringing Val back to himself.  He glanced over at Z and saw that she was smiling over at him.  

“We getting off or…?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “Yeah.”  He squeezed her hand again before leading her to the far end of the hallway.  Pausing outside of Studio 8’s double doors, he tried to reign in his emotions. He had questioned his decision to do this here, one of the places connected with the loss of their mirror ball.  But in his heart, he had known that this was right. No matter what drama had ensued during the finale, every day that he and Z had stepped through those doors, it had been all about them. Their partnership, their friendship, the trust that they had in each other, the connection that they were forging. The cameras, the producers, all of that had disappeared when they were rehearsing. And Val was a romantic at heart; doing this here was too poetic to pass up.

He hadn’t told anyone involved with the show that he was doing this.  All four of their parents knew, as he had sought out their blessing.  Babushka knew because she had given him her old wedding ring.  Maks and Alex had both been informed and dropped everything to help plan and stage the moment.  Alex had even installed hidden cameras and microphones so they could preserve this - hopefully - happy memory.  

“Val, what’s going on?” Zendaya asked.  He met her gaze and saw her brow wrinkled in confusion.  

“Come with me,” he said, pulling the door open.  The room was pitch black, the only light shining in from the windows that looked out into the hallway.  After leading her to the middle of the room, he released her hand.  He felt the air ripple as she instantly tried to reach out after him.  

“Val?”

“I just need you to trust me, Z.  Can you do that?” he asked as he made his way back towards the door.  

“You know that I trust you.  It’s just that when I said I was up for an adventure, I didn’t really expect one.”

If everything worked out the way that he hoped, they would definitely be going on an adventure.  His fingers danced across the wall before finally coming into contact with the switch.   The ring box was a heavy weight in his pocket.   Taking a deep breath, he flipped on the lights.  

He had gotten the inspiration from the finale tradition of hanging poster-size pictures of a couple in their rehearsal studio, but had taken the idea and made it his own.  Starting with a few favorites from their season, he had chosen a collection of images that he thought exemplified the journey of their relationship instead of just their journey on the show.  He had had them printed on large sheets of photo paper before having them matted and framed and hiding them in a spare bedroom at Kaz and Claire’s.  

Maks and Alex had flown in for the show on Monday night, using it as their cover story for being in LA.  Knowing that she would be in the recording studio on Tuesday, they had sat with Z during the performances, catching up with her between dances.  During the results show, they had used Val’s keys to enter the studio and had spent two hours mounting the pictures.  There were so many of them that it created a solid band of photographs in the middle of each wall, the blue paint underneath only becoming visible above and below them.  

“What - ?” Zendaya cut herself off, blinking in the sudden brightness.  Val turned and watched as her eyes adjusted, taking in the way her expression shifted to one of surprise.  She rotated in a slow circle, her gaze touching each picture before moving on to the next.  When she finally faced him, he could see tears glistening in her eyes.  He wasn’t all that surprised; she hid her emotions from the rest of the world, but never from him.  The shock of the moment probably didn’t help at all either.  

“Val,” she whispered.  “What’s going on?”  He approached her slowly, giving her time to adjust.  When he reached her, he took her hands in his.  

“Every time that I’m in this room, I can’t help but think about when you walked through those doors and I made a complete ass of myself.”  

Zendaya laughed, the sound watery due to her heightened emotions.  

“And I think about how far we’ve come since that day…all of the experiences that we’ve shared and the memories that we’ve made.”  He paused, feeling his throat tighten and his eyes burn.  Breaking eye contact, he looked down and tried to put a lid on the emotions that were so quickly spiraling out of control.  He had to make it through this.  He had to make this perfect for her; she deserved that much.  He could cry later, dammit.  

“Oh my God,” she whispered.  He looked up and saw understanding begin to register in her eyes.  Her hands started to shake and her bottom lip trembled before she could control it.  

“This is where it all started for us.  This was our beginning…so I thought it was a fitting place for a whole new beginning.”

Zendaya bit her bottom lip, trying to contain herself, but when she tried to blink away the tears in her eyes, one spilled over and slid down her cheek.  He dropped one of her hands in order to gently brush it away with the pads of his fingers.  She closed her eyes, leaning into his touch as he placed his forehead against hers.  

“You’re my best friend,” he whispered.  “My best friend who I also happen to be in love with.”  Another tear fell as she nodded, whether in agreement or acceptance he didn’t know.  He brushed it away as she placed her free hand against his chest.  He could feel his heart thundering against her palm and knew that she could too.  

“I love you too,” she said softly.  This time he nodded, his vision blurring slightly.  He didn’t even bother blinking the tears away this time.  He was heart-on-your-sleeve guy.  Why shouldn’t he want the love of his life to see just how affected he was by her?  

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Zendayachka.  So…”  He let his hand fall from her face and reached into his pocket.  As he pulled out the black box, she withdrew her hand from his chest and used it to cover her quivering mouth.  

In a single, fluid motion, he was kneeling down in front of her.  He raised the hand that he still held up to his face, nuzzling his cheek against her palm and closing his eyes.  His heart ached with love as he pressed a kiss to it before lowering her hand and looking up at her.  He popped open the ring box and allowed everything that he was feeling to show on his face.  

“Will you marry me, Z?  Be my wife and my partner for life?  Start a whole new journey with me?”  He had barely finished when she dropped her hand from her mouth and kneeled down in front of him.  

“Yes,” she answered, her voice filled with emotion but strong in her resolution.  He felt a wide smile unfurl on his lips, his whole being seeming to light up like the sun had just broken through a cloud.  

“Yes?” he asked.

“Yes!” she said, laughter bubbling up from within her.  Excitement and happiness were etched into every feature of her face as he slid the ring onto place on her left hand.  As soon as it was on, she threw herself into his arms and he clutched her tightly to his chest.  Burying his head in her neck, he breathed her in.