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The Wrench does Not freak out.
The Wrench is too awesome, too badass, too bombastic to do something as completely lame as freak out.
The Wrench is definitely freaking out.
He stares down at the ring. The ring he found. The ring he found shoved into the back of Marcus’s sock drawer, which he had been ransacking for a pair of socks to borrow, as all of his were dirty. He’s never so deeply regretted his laundry habits.
It’s pretty clear what the ring is for. It’s gunmetal grey, with three spikes across the top. Engraved inside is ‘I love you’ in Marcus’s handwriting. It’s clearly for him. Which was probably already obvious, they’d been dating for nearly four years. But still. A Ring.
He carefully puts it back as he found it, finally feeling jumpy about staring at it for so long.
It’s fine. It’s completely fine. There is absolutely nothing to freak out about. Wrench knows Marcus loves him, is in love with him, Wrench has even stopped questioning why so much. And he’s been really fucking in love with Marcus nearly since they met. That Marcus would want to make them official, theoretically for the rest of their lives, only makes sense. He’s into all that romantic crap. And while Wrench might once have claimed not to be, when it involves Marcus, well... maybe it’s not all crap.
So it’s fine. He’ll just... say yes. He’d be the biggest idiot to ever exist if he did anything but say yes. There’s nothing to freak out about.
He grabs a pair of socks and tries not to feel like he’s walking on clouds all day.
~*~
It turns out living with the knowledge that the man you’re in love with is going to propose to you is terrible. It’s especially terrible when it goes on for an entire month.
An entire month of carrying on as usual. An entire month of the regular acts of hacktivism and anarchy, interspersed as ever with movie nights and cheap takeout, the occasional date to an arcade, or laser tag, or the middle of the desert to test explosives.
Not knowing when it was going to happen, only that it was, was quickly driving Wrench insane. Insane enough to decide that he wasn’t willing to wait any longer.
“Wrench? What’s going on?”
“Sitara!” he all but shouted, jumping to his feet, “You have to help me with something!”
“Something we couldn’t have talked about in the Hackerspace? Is something wrong?”
“Something’s always wrong, but that’s not why we’re here. I need your help with something really important, and Marcus can’t find out.”
“So that’s why we had to meet all the way across town. What do you need help with that Marcus can’t know about? I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure keeping secrets isn’t the key to a healthy relationship, Wrench.”
“It’s only a temporary secret! Will you help me or not?”
Sitara didn’t roll her eyes, but Wrench could tell she wanted to. “Are you ever going to tell me what with?”
“I’m going to propose to him.”
Sitara just stared at him for a moment, before sitting down on the bench behind her. “Holy shit.”
“I’m going to take your abject shock as a yes,” Wrench said, sitting next to her.
“I mean, yes obviously! Jesus Wrench, I just never expected this. Like, you’re serious, right?”
“I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.”
“Okay. Holy shit. What do you need help with?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Sitara, Marcus is a romantic. I’ve never done anything romantic in my life!”
This time she did roll her eyes at him. “Okay, well, I’ve seen you two together, so I know that’s not true. You might have a very Wrench idea of romance, but it’s there, and clearly Marcus appreciates it.”
“Don’t make me know things about myself Sitara. If I haven’t figured out my own mind by now, then it’s none of my business. And anyways, Marcus appreciating me isn’t the point. I want him to know I appreciate him, and he likes romance, and he deserves a grand romantic gesture.” He stopped as Sitara smiled softly at him. “What?”
“Nothing, nothing. If it’s over the top and cheesy you’re after, we have a lot of homework to do. You ready to get started?” Sitara asked, standing up and offering a hand to pull Wrench up as well.
“Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you! What’s first?”
“First, we’re going to my place. We need inspiration, and that means romcoms.”
“I regret this immediately.”
“Hey, you came to me. Now are you coming or not?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
~*~
One week of planning, romcoms, hacking, and even more romcoms later, and Wrench couldn’t ever remember being this nervous in his life.
With Sitara’s help, Wrench had gotten a reservation at a fancy restaurant, rented a limo, and now stood outside his own apartment door holding a bouquet of two dozen roses. Sitara had even ‘dressed him up’ in a suit (although the collar of his shirt had spikes to match his mask, and he had absolutely refused to even consider wearing a tie).
Taking in a breath he tried to pretend wasn’t shaky, Wrench lifted his hand and knocked on their front door.
Marcus answered, also wearing a suit (blue, it really was his color), and his confused expression turned to shock as he took in his boyfriend standing there.
“Oh good, you’re dressed!” Wrench said, pretending with every fiber of his being that this was all completely normal.
“Uh, yeah, I got your note. I think the number of questions I have just tripled though. Are we going somewhere?” Marcus asked.
“We sure are, baby. These are for you, by the way,” he said, holding out the roses.
Marcus didn’t look any less confused, but he did smile and blush a little, so Wrench tried to feel encouraged.
“Thank you. I’ll just, uh-“
Wrench cleared his throat and pointed to the vase he had strategically placed next to the door earlier that day.
Marcus eyed Wrench as he placed the flowers carefully in the vase. “How thoughtful of you. Is there a special occasion?”
“I hope so, we’ve got to get going or we’ll be late!” Wrench said, grabbing Marcus’s hand and pulling him out the door, only pausing long enough to lock the apartment behind them.
Marcus was shocked all over again at the limousine, but Wrench’s nerves were coming on in waves and it was all he could do to babble about whatever ridiculous things they found in the various compartments as they were driven to the restaurant.
Marcus whistled lowly as they stepped out of the limo in front of their destination. “This is one fancy place. I’m noticing a theme here.” When Wrench didn’t reply except to give Marcus’s hand a squeeze, Marcus tried to break the ice, saying, “You sure they’re gonna let us in here, with uh...” he gestured to Wrench’s mask.
Wrench had to take a small breath before answering, “They’ve been paid an obscene amount of stolen money to not mind, so they’d better let us in. We’re just in time, let’s go.”
They got shown to their table by a pained looking maitre d’, and more than a few other patrons gave them nasty looks, but Marcus didn’t seem to mind, just kept sneaking glances at Wrench that made his heart skip a beat. He let Marcus order them wine (the waiter’s face when he asked for a straw was priceless) and himself food, and did his very best to keep up normal conversation. It was hard - not just because of the nerves, but because it was so obvious Marcus was enjoying being wined and dined like this. He was practically glowing, and Wrench wished he could always make Marcus look like that.
He briefly got lost in a daydream of covering their apartment in rose petals and candles, and had to concede that Sitara might have been right about him having a sense of romance, but he was absolutely never telling her that.
Marcus apparently decided that this lull in the conversation was his opening, and set his fork down. “So, not that I’m complaining about any part of this - honestly, what’s a better date than fancy food and making bougie people uncomfortable? - but, is there an occasion? I’m pretty sure our anniversary isn’t for a couple months, and we’ve never done anything like this for it.”
Shit. Sitara had been right. He should have written a speech beforehand, but he didn’t, so he’d just have to wing it. It’s fine. He’s great at winging it.
He took a deep breath. “Well, Marcus. I’ve been thinking. We’ve been together for a while now, and it’s been pretty perfect, at least, I think it has been, and I can’t imagine ever finding anyone else like you. You’re an incredible person; you’re kind, and funny, and genuine, and you care about things so much, and every day you make me feel like the luckiest person in the world because I’m one of those things you care about.”
Marcus quickly got misty eyed as Wrench spoke, and now Wrench watched as his eyes widened and he brought a hand up to his mouth while Wrench slid out of his seat and down onto one knee, pulling out the ring he had gotten for Marcus.
“Marcus. I’m really fucking in love with you. And I really think I always will be, so uh... wanna get hitched?”
Not quite up to romcom standards, but Marcus was crying freely now, and he nodded frantically, beyond words. Wrench pulled the ring out of the box with shaking fingers, a simple silver band with an engraving inside. He slid it onto Marcus’s finger and had to blink several times to keep the tears from falling behind his mask.
“Wrench...” Marcus said finally, staring down at the ring on his finger.
“Yeah?”
“Doing this in public was a terrible idea. I can’t kiss you.”
“Sure you can! Just uh, close you’re eyes really tight for a few seconds, okay?”
Marcus did so without hesitation, and Wrench casually pulled a flash bang out of his pocket and tossed it in the air, setting it off as he closed his own eyes and pulled the mask off long enough to give Marcus a lingering kiss while chaos erupted around them.
They pulled away slowly, and Wrench put his mask back on before saying, “We should probably run now.”
“Lead the way,” Marcus replied, and they took off hand in hand.
~*~
Back in the safety of their apartment, Marcus barely waited for the door to be closed behind them before he had Wrench’s mask off and was kissing him again.
“I can’t believe that really just happened,” he said, pulling back from the kiss far too soon in Wrench’s opinion, “Did you really do all that just for me?”
“I’d do a lot more than that for you, Marcus. My first idea involved the Eiffel Tower and a very ambitious fireworks display, but Sitara talked me down. We can still go and do that if you want though.”
Marcus looked dazed all over again at that, and Wrench couldn’t help but kiss him again, only this time he was the one to pull back. “Oh! Can I have my ring now?”
“Your- what?”
“My ring! I found it in your sock drawer!”
Marcus furrowed his brows, though he was still smiling, and said “Why you nosey-!”
Wrench grabbed Marcus’s hands anxiously, saying “No takebacksies!”
His face softening again, Marcus said with that level of sincerity only he seemed capable of, “Never.”
“Fuck,” Wrench says quietly, taking his hands back to wipe his eyes. Marcus left the room and came back with the ring box that had been haunting Wrench’s thoughts for over a month now.
“I mean, you kind of beat me to it, but if you want I can still get down on one knee?”
“It’s not like I’m gonna say no after all that, babe, put it on me already!”
“So impatient,” Marcus laughed, even as he visibly tried not to get teary eyed again, sliding the ring onto Wrench’s finger.
“I’ll have you know I’m very patient, I’ve known about this ring for ages,” Wrench replied, unable to take his eyes off his own hand.
“Uh, how long ago did you find it?”
“Like a month ago. Why, how long have you had it?”
“Uh, remember when we went paint balling? And you wasted half your ammo painting ‘W+M’ in a heart on one of the walls?”
“Holy shit! Marcus! That was like half a year ago! I’ve only been planning for a week, how did I beat you to this?!”
“Honestly dude, I psyched myself out about it. I didn’t know if you felt any type of way about getting married, and I thought maybe I’d bring it up with you first, but... I kept putting it off. I really was going to do it before our anniversary though.”
“Oh Marcus, you should’ve known I can never say no to you.”
Marcus smiled almost shyly at that, blushing again. “So uh, does that mean you already saw the engraving on yours?”
“I sure did, you cheesy mother fucker. You should look at yours too.”
Marcus pulled his ring back off and turned it to read the inside. It said ‘I know’ in Wrench’s handwriting, and he collapsed laughing into Wrench’s arms. Wrench didn’t think he had ever been so happy, and didn’t know what he had done to deserve it, but he was determined to make Marcus feel as happy as this as often as possible.
He was really fucking in love with him after all.