The star nomad swung his leg a little, glancing at the clock to read the time. 4 minutes past 6. Sighing to himself, Wander looked back out the window once more waiting for his girlfriend to show up, being that earlier she wanted to do something special with him.
That girlfriend being Dominator, herself.
See, she had been gone for quite some time after the defeat of her ship and the galaxy renewed from all the damage she had caused. Till that one day she finally showed up after so long, surprisingly asking for forgiveness from Wander and the others. Of course, Wander was the first to accept her apologies while the others, mainly Sylvia and Peepers, took a little more time to accept her into the group. Over time, Dominator had gained trust and friendship of the others, and even regained Sylvia's friendship as well. She had at one point wanted to make it up to Hater about turning him down but had learned he had found himself a girlfriend over the time Dominator was gone, so she was happy for him.
She mostly spent time with Wander as he taught her numerous things, from being a good friend to doing favors for people. The more time they've spent together, the more their feelings seemed to grow; Dominator had to take a little more time on those feelings then Wander did and he was okay to wait till she was fully ready for a relationship. They had even gone out a few times but never really took it further than that. Wander didn't think Dominator would be ready for that sort of step just yet.
He perked up with he thought he heard a bell ringing outside his window and looked out. There was Dominator, clad in a black long-sleeved shirt and short black skirt. Her hair had grown slightly longer over time still in a Mohawk. What took Wander's interest at the moment was that she was seated on a bicycle, the type with two seats. Funny, he had expected her to show up in a car somehow. Maybe she really did have something planned.
"Hey, furball." Dominator waved up to him, smiling.
"Heya, Dee." He waved back, making his way to the front door. 'Dee' was a nickname Dominator could accept from certain people, Wander included. Once he arrived outside, he stood there for a sec. "When you get a bike?"
"What, this?" She gave a small laugh, "It's kind of a rent from a guy. Why? Bad idea?"
"No, not at all." Wander walked over, "Seats for both of us. Including the fact it's one of my many favorite shades of green."
"That's…that's good…" Dominator looked away for a sec, "So, do...do you want to take driver's seat or should I?"
Wander smiled, "Well you did have something planned, so ladies first."
"Fair enough," agreed Dominator. She first helped the nomad get onto his bike seat before getting on the front one and riding off, while Wander held on since his feet could barely reach his brakes. It took about 15 minutes for them to reach the location Dominator wanted to go; a restaurant with the name Purrito.
"Purrito?" the nomad asked.
"Well, you do like cats and it does have some sort of cat theme to it, so yeah." Dominator shrugged and used a lock on the bike, helping Wander down to the ground. Entering inside, the nomad got a good look around; seemed pretty fancy, not to mention the various cat-like creatures roaming around each of them had a theme of ice cream colors.
"Aw, they're so cute."
"Yeah, they say you can adopt some of these little guys if you wanted to. But I doubt your friend will allow you to take that many." Dominator spoke, smiling to herself.
"Not that many." Wander pouted, playfully.
She chuckled as a waiter came up and took the couple to their table, where they could be closest to the window and have a nice view.
The dinner went on with small talk, Wander enjoying a salad with water and Dominator had a burger with coke. The nomad was enjoying the company of the tall green alien woman but something still lingered in the back of his mind; why exactly was she doing all of this? Did she do something without him knowing again? There had been times she'd make mistakes and barely let him know about them, despite he'd usually find out and fix them himself.
"Dee…"
"Hm?" She looked up from her beverage and patty sandwich.
"I know you did something."
"What are you even talking about?"
"C'mon, we're having a good time; you're doing a bunch of things to my liking. What have you done now?" He raised an eyebrow.
Dominator chuckled weakly, "What? I can't treat a friend to something without being questioned like this?"
"So…what exactly did you do today?"
She tapped on her chin. "Well, I did almost step on a gem bug…"
"Yes?"
"I returned an overdue movie to Space Block."
"Go on…"
"And…" She snapped her fingers, "Oh and I also tried out a blunana bread recipe which I gave to some neighbors of mine, the lions whose colors change depending on their mood." She leaned back in her chair, "And that's about it, done."
"That's it."
"Yes, that's all I did today."
That's when a small robot floated up to them, speaking, "I am not staring at you. I am a cyborg photographer, just act natural. This is a candid shot. I don't require a camera, so…"
Wander smiled, "What do you say Dee?"
Dominator smiled, "Sure I guess." Both of them turned towards the robot as a small clicking sound was heard and the photo was slowly pulled out from its mouth slot, giving it to both Wander and Dominator. "Thank you," the robot nodded, leaving the couple to enjoy their picture and floating off to the next table, "Hi. I am not staring at you…"
After their dinner, the two rode up to a hilltop, where Dominator kept her hands over Wander's eyes leading him up to the top.
"Ready for yet another surprise?"
"You sure you didn't break anything?"
"I told you, I didn't do anything wrong this time. At least, nothing wrong so far. Anyhow, here it is!" She removed her hands for Wander to see what she wanted to show. What Wander saw was a sunset scenario, bright white color and has colors swimming around in it like a rainbow river. The nomad was indeed entranced by it…
"Alright, what's up?"
"Eh?" Dominator seemed puzzled.
"Dee, you can tell me anything. There's got to be a reason you've been acting like this all day." He crossed his arms, tapping his foot. The tall green woman stuttered a little to find any more excuses but sighed heavily.
"There's no more getting past this, is there?"
"Honey, I just want to know the whole reason for this, that's all I'm asking."
Dominator swallowed, "Okay…" She quickly got down on one knee, looking a bit red in the face. Sticking out her hand, she added, "I'm gonna…need your hand for a sec."
Wander blinked, starting to go red as well and slowly placed his hand into Dominator's, feeling her slightly grip it.
"Look, Wander… I know you usually picture any man of a relationship doing this with his girlfriend, partner, whatsoever and you probably wanted to wait till I was ready because that's just how you are… but I'm telling you and also asking…" She presented a small box from her pocket. "That if you're ready for a full relationship between us, then I am too." Dominator then clicked the box open to reveal none other than a ring.
The nomad stood there, mouth gaped. Did she just…? Did she really do what he thought she just did? Sure, he thought he'd do it himself but knowing how Dominator was… he blinked rapidly to try and keep away a few tears.
"…Super cheesy, wasn't it?"
"No, no, that was…that was good." Wander wiped his eyes for a sec, "Didn't expect this coming from you, honestly. But…" He leaned in for a quick smooch, "I'm also ready to take the next step too." He gently took the ring, putting it on his own finger.
Now Dominator was the one to start blinking till a grin grew on her face and she jumped up, doing her victory dance. "Yes, yes, yes, yes!"
Wander had to laugh at her response, staring at the ring she gave him; it was an icy color and appeared to have a small heart shape inside of a fiery color.
"So where'd you get this from?"
Dominator calmed down from her whooping to answer him, "Homemade actually."
"Really?"
"Yeah, but hasn't been easy to try mixing lava and ice together but somehow managed." She noticed more tears welling up in his baby blue eyes. "…You want to hug me, don't you?"
He nodded a small whimper from his lips.
"Alright, come here, you." Dominator held out her arms, letting out an 'oof' as he wrapped his own arms around her waist. Smiling, she pulled him closer hugging back.
The next day, outside a restaurant, Sylvia and Peepers were waiting having received news from the nomad. Hater also had showed up, typing away on his phone.
"Couldn't make it?" asked the Zbornak.
"No, Emily's busy with her zoo project." Hater answered; Ripov still did bounty hunting but since helping with the search for Captain Tim, she took it easy on most animal creatures, even to give them a little sanctuary .
"Look, there they are now." Peepers pointed to two certain figures walking their way; Wander smiling up at Dominator, as she patted his head. "They're acting more mushy than usual."
"Don't some of us, Pipsqueak?" Sylvia smirked.
"Heya, fellas!" Wander waved to the group as they approached. "Glad you could make it."
"So what's the big news that you called us down here, buddy?" The Zbornak asked, smiling. Her and the others' answer was Wander simply holding out his hand, showing the ring. Dominator did the same with a ruby ring on her own finger, which the nomad had dug out from his hat. "Are those…?"
"Aw, lucky!" Hater pouted, being in 'boyfriend/girlfriend' zone still but he also seemed happy for the two.
"When you propose to her, Wander?" Peepers questioned.
"Actually, Dominator was the one who did the proposing and such else."
"Yeah, though I was half expecting something to screw up." Dominator let out a small sheepish laugh.
Sylvia crossed her arms, a smile on her face. "Seems you two are the first out of us to get officially hitched."
"Heh, seems that way, yes." Wander leaned into his soon-to-be-wife's side, "But we've still yet to pick a day for the wedding and such."
"Then what we waiting for? We should get to discussing plans for you two love birds!" Sylvia headed towards the doors of the restaurant till Peepers got in front, opening one of the doors.
"Allow me, sweetcheeks."
"Heh, thanks Pipsqueak." She ruffled his head playfully entering as the Watchdog followed after her. Hater quickly typed a reply on his phone before following after the other two.
"Can you believe it, Dee?" Wander smiled. "You and me getting together as an official couple…"
"Yeah," agreed Dominator.
"Sylvia and Peepers are getting a good hang on their relationship…"
"That might've been some of my doing."
"Plus, Hater and Emily are getting along just as fine as well."
"Yes, well…" Dominator blinked, "Who?"
"Oh you know Emily. She helped Hater find Captain Tim when he got lost once."
Dominator mentally smacked herself, "Oh is that what her name was? I've been calling her Rip-off this whole time."
"That's Ripov with a V, sweetie."
Peepers poked his head out, "Hey, you two gonna be gawking at each other all day, or you coming in?"
"Were coming, Mr. Peepers." Wander smiled, taking Dominator's hand in his, both of them sharing a smile with each other before heading inside to join the others.
