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Their apartment was clean. That was new, and noticeable. Sashi didn’t see anything else at first when she first came in for the night. She was exhausted from another day driving around a wack town, dealing with maniacs and morons. Being a police officer was about as easy as she expected it to be - which was, in fact, not easy at all. It was tiring. But that was alright, because all she wanted to do right now was collapse on the couch, take a nap and-
“You’re home late,”
-and first deal with her boyfriend. The main priority, of course.
Sashi smiled as Penn greeted her in the living room, taking her by the hand and pulling her into an embrace. She sighed, and smiled, enjoying the forehead kiss she received.
“Overtime,” she mumbled. “And traffic.”
“It’s fine,” Penn assured. “I’m just glad you’re home safe.”
Always the sentimental type. Sashi smiled, leaning in for a quick kiss. However, once she broke away, she noticed how dark their apartment really was. And what was that music playing from somewhere?
Sashi arched an eyebrow. “What did you do this time?” she asked.
“Well, except from almost burn down the apartment trying to make dinner,” Penn trailed off. “Nothing.”
“You cooked,” Sashi said slowly. “Like, with a stove and everything?”
“With a stove and everything,” Penn declared, with a proud smile. “Spaghetti isn’t much, but hey, it’s better than nothing. Thought you deserved it. C’mon,” He held her hand, intertwining their fingers as he led her into the kitchen. “Not a five-star reservation this year, because you know,” He shrugged and smiled. “I thought something from the heart would be better.”
Sashi’s smile didn’t fade in the slightest, but her brain suddenly went into alert mode. This year? From the heart?
Oh, God. It wasn’t … today, was it?
It was. It definitely was. Penn was the spontaneous type, but this was a little much. Even for him. Shit. Goddammit. It was their anniversary and she went and forgot. And she didn’t even have time to run to the store and get him anything, not even a gift card.
“You like it?” Penn asked, slightly waving a hand to his little display in their pathetic excuse of a kitchen.
Their ridiculously small fold-up table had a white tablecloth draped over it, candles were lit, dinner was already set.
“I love it,” Sashi assured, pulling her boyfriend in for another kiss - this one a little more oomph than before. Hey, if she didn’t have a gift, at least she could get his hopes up for amazing sex, right?
...right.
It’s not like Penn cared about that type of stuff, but still. She couldn’t help but feel bad.
“Good,” he smiled. “Although, quick heads-up, if you come across any raw or overcooked pasta, don’t let me know. We’ll go over trial and error stuff some other time.”
“I’m too hungry to care, trust me,” Sashi mused, taking her seat.
Penn sat across the way from her, smiling his infectious and unerasable smile.
“You really did think of everything,” Sashi added, lifting her glass and grinning as she took a long, lengthy sip of wine. “I needed this.”
There was the usual. Forks clinking, occasional banter, and the gentle music playing from the small electronic speaker set on the kitchen counter. Not the most perfect situation for romance, but simple and sweet enough. It wasn’t unlike any other dinner they had together. But just because it was tonight, a little different than other nights, it felt better.
Relaxing. Almost romantic. And that was what mattered.
They mattered.
Together for quite a few years now, always having each other’s backs despite everything.
She loved him. He loved her. Really, it was that plain and simple, cut and dry, no other way around it.
They exchanged glances as well; sweet ones that made the other smile, blush or both. Yet Sashi seemed to look when Penn wasn’t, to catch him off-guard, like always. She couldn’t help but laugh as she looked at him, his innocent smiles and the way he seemed so child-like.
And Sashi wasn’t aware of the words slipping past her lips, “We should get married.”
At least it felt right once she said it out loud.
Sashi shocked herself, and especially Penn. He nearly choked on his bite of spaghetti once he processed the statement. All that was needed was the cliche record scratch. But instead, the ambient music kept playing from the speakers, and the two of them locked eyes.
“Really?” Penn practically squawked out. “Why do you ask? Are you pregnant?”
“What?” Sashi said, bewildered. “No, Penn, I’m not pregnant. I think we should get married because … well, why do most couples get married?”
“Spousal immunity? Tax breaks?” Penn shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Sashi rolled her eyes. “Because they love each other, you dork,” she retorted. “So … we should.”
Penn nodded. “Okay,” he said. “ Okay ,” He stammered for a moment, gently pushing away his dinner. He noticed his girlfriend’s expression slightly fall, so he tried to perk up. “Um, just out of curiosity, what brought this on? I - I mean, I never expected you to be the one to bring up marriage.”
“And why’s that?” Sashi asked sincerely.
More stammering. More stuttering. And oddly enough, she seemed unfazed by it. Sashi gave a nonchalant shrug, going to back to her dinner.
“If you don’t want to, that’s understandable,” she spoke up. “We are kind of young, and if you don’t think-”
“No, no, no, that’s not it,” Penn said. “I’m just surprised, that’s all. Besides, um,” He tried not to fidget in his seat too much as he reached into his pocket. “I - I was planning to be the one. To, y’know, bring it up or whatever.”
Of course he noticed her breath stop for a moment. He smiled at Sashi as he slid a ring box across the table, flipping it open once it reached the middle. Her gaze flickered up to look at him sternly, and he assumed she was laughing because of the coincidence.
So he had nothing to worry about. She’d say yes.
Penny in the air,
“Nice,” Sashi mused, with a smile and crossed arms. As if this was a business proposal. “So - the real question is, how well does Penn Kobayashi roll off the tongue?”
And the penny drops.
“Uh,” Penn coughed out a laugh. “Not that well.” He pulled out his best smile, the one that almost always won her over. “But Sashi Zero , on the other hand,” He became concerned by the way she rolled her eyes and stared at him blankly. “What?”
“As much as I love you, I’m not taking your last name,” she said plainly.
Penn stammered out a few incoherent syllables. “How come?” he finally blurted out.
Sashi gave a small shrug. “Just doesn’t seem to suit me,” she replied. “It’s not that weird for you to take mine.”
He bit his tongue. It kind of did, in his opinion. But technically, she didn’t say no to his proposal. In fact, she asked him first. So that was a double yes, right? Hopefully. Maybe. Perhaps- who was he kidding? Of course it was a yes. It had to be. She was just being Sashi and that was …
… well, okay, right now, that was really being a mood-killer.
“Look, we’ll figure out the technicalities later,” Penn said, smiling and reaching forward with the ring.
“But I asked you,” Sashi retorted, still remaining neutral and calm. “So to be honest, you should take my last name.”
Penn raised an eyebrow, closing the velvet box. “Sash, that makes zero sense,” he replied. “Besides, it’s traditional.” He ignored her bemused expression, pointing a finger at her. “I know we’ve never done traditional stuff before, but come on. You can’t do this for me?”
“I’m willing to marry you and put up with you for as long as the fates allow,” Sashi said coolly, leaning back in her seat and taking a sip of her wine. “I’d say that’s a pretty tall order with someone like you.”
“Oh, really? ‘Someone like you’ - what’s that supposed to mean?” he said.
Sashi huffed. “Oh, you know I didn’t mean it that way,” she argued. “Penn, don’t act like a baby about this.” She repeated his name again as he got up, rubbing his temples. “What?”
A sigh escaped Penn, mixed in with a groan. “Are we really arguing on the night we get engaged?” he muttered.
“This isn’t arguing,” she said.
“Actually, it kinda is,”
“Okay, so what?”
Penn paused, staring at her in the pale lighting of their apartment. “Look,” he hesitated. “Let’s just let this blow over, and we’ll talk about this in the morning or whatever,”
However, he was cut off by a chair screeching across the floor and Sashi slamming both of her hands on the table.
“No,” she declared, staring him down and letting him get stuck under her gaze. “I love you, dammit, and I want to marry you. I’m not agreeing to this because I feel obligated. Hell, I asked you first. Because when you put out all of this romantic stuff, and I realized that I was a big enough idiot to forget our anniversary, I thought what the hell?” She paused, releasing a deep breath. “We have our little spats, we don’t see eye-to-eye all of the time, but that’s okay. You don’t have to take my name and I don’t have to take yours. Simply put, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Penn. There’s nothing more to it. I’ve always been your sidekick, I just dropped the title and … and I want to replace it with something new. But only if you’re up for it too.”
She almost gagged at how cheesy she was being, but if that was what it took to make Penn happy - well, Sashi could admit with confidence that she had done dumber things in the name of love. There was an awkward silence between the two of them, until Sashi cleared her throat, gently sitting back down. Her chocolate-colored eyes seemed amber at this point, as she continued to look at him.
“How was that for a proposal speech?” she said meekly, trying to bring light back to the situation.
“It wasn’t half-bad,” Penn admitted, scratching the back of his neck nervously. “It was really good, actually. Better than what I had planned, which was a whole lotta nothing.” He clutched the box in his hand tightly, finally gaining the courage to properly look at her. “You don’t have to become Mrs. Sashi Zero , I guess.”
“I bet all of the notebooks and journals you doodled that on are cringing right now,” she quipped good-naturedly.
“For the record,” Penn said, managing a laugh. “I only imagined it. Never wrote it down.”
Sashi smirked. “Sorry you won’t ever get the chance to, then,” she said.
Another halfhearted chuckle escaped Penn, and he leaned up against his chair, tossing the ring box in the air and catching it. “So,” he mused. “Do I get a retake?”
She gave a brief nod, and stifled her laughter as Penn walked over, getting down on one knee.
“Sashi Kobayashi, will you make me the luckiest man alive and marry me?” he asked.
Once the words left his mouth, Penn was yanked up by the collar of his shirt and pulled into a kiss. It was a sweet one, but not without the typical fieriness that came with affection from Sashi. She wrapped both arms around his neck and he practically settled himself into her lap.
“Is that a good enough answer for you?” she winked.
“One last thing,” Penn said. “Will you wear the ring?”
“Might as well,” Sashi replied, feigning exasperation.
Say what she want about disliking typical romance. He saw the wonder in her eyes when he slipped the simple silver diamond ring on her finger. And there was no denying the stupid, lovestruck smile on her face.
Penn pressed a kiss to her hairline. “Love ya, Sash,” he whispered.
“I love you too, Penn,” she murmured, kissing his cheek.
There was a pause - just a moment of the two lovers embraced and enjoying one another’s company - before he spoke up,
“So, I was thinking about a spring wedding,”
“And I kind of just want to go to the courthouse and sign some papers,”
Penn paused, raising an eyebrow at her. “Do you wanna talk about that later and just celebrate our engagement right now?” he mused. “Preferably in the bedroom?”
Sashi chuckled. “As if we’d celebrate it anywhere else?” she whispered, moving in to kiss along his neck.