Akane groaned as she woke up that morning, struggling under the heavy weight on her chest and the limbs wrapped around her body. She looked down at the lump that was her fiance snoring away on her chest and sighed. Usually she would be happy to stay in bed and cuddle with Ranma, but she slacked off on her workout routine for the past several days and she needed to get back into rhythm. She tried to wiggle her way out of his grasp but only managed to free her arm that was trapped between her body and the arm that was wrapped around her. Judging by the fact that he didn't even stir, it was going to be difficult to get him up. She grabbed his arms to try and unwrap them from her torso but he just tightened his hold on to her.
"Ranmaaa," Akane whined. "Get off of me." Ranma just groaned and burrowed his head into her neck. Well, at least he moved, she thought.
Akane turned her head towards her alarm clock. 5:58 am. She should have been getting ready for her jog by now, but with how cozy Ranma was, it was going to be a challenge.. Though when wasn't she willing to accept a challenge? She lifted herself and Ranma by her elbows and made sure her legs were wrapped around his, and flipped both of them over onto his back. He barely even twitched at that but his hold on her remained strong. Akane collapsed onto him and huffed, thinking up her next move. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head and she grinned. She brought her fingers to his waist and squeezed.
Ranma screeched as he woke up, right into Akane's ear.
"Ranma, what the hell?!" Akane shouted.
"Why would you do that?!" He shouted back.
"I think I'm deaf in my left ear now!"
"Well, that's your fault!"
Then, the wall next to them was pounded on from the next room.
"Would you both shut up!" Nabiki yelled through the wall.
The two of them remained silent for a moment as they stared at the wall.
"Well, I guess we've been discovered," Ranma said, nonchalantly.
"So much for staying low-key," Akane deadpanned. "Way to go."
"Hey you're the one who woke me up!"
"You're gonna wake up Nabiki again," she hissed.
"Nabiki already knows about us, who cares?"
"Whatever, just shut up and let me get ready." Akane climbed out of her bed and started to yank off her pajamas. There was a time that Akane would have absolutely refuse to let Ranma in the same room while she changed, but now, even knowing that he was watching her change, she didn't mind. Sleeping together does that to you, she guessed.
They've considered themselves as being together for several months now, though their friends say they're practically an old married couple since they first met about 2 years ago. Akane couldn't see it. When she pictured an old couple she imagined 2 cute old people that were cuddly and called each other cute nicknames and didn't bicker constantly. While it sounded nice, she couldn't imagine her and Ranma like that and she was perfectly happy with that.
No one really knew about their actual relationship, with the exception of Kasumi and Nabiki and Akane's friends, much to the chagrin of Ranma and the former, but god forbid if Akane keep something from her best friends. They didn't want to be constantly fight off suitors, especially since things have finally calmed down some after Jusenkyo and the failed wedding. And they especially didn't want their parents planning another wedding behind their backs.
Ranma sat up and watched Akane get dressed. Mornings were probably his favorite time of day, when no one in the house was awake but the two of them and he could be open to how much he adored Akane. He admired the way she looked in the morning with her hair messy and sticking up in the back. He loved how her eyes gleamed in the early light that came through her bedroom window. He was completely entranced by her movements just for getting dresses. He might not admit to this, but he could watch her for the rest of his life.
Now there's an idea.
"Are you doing anything today?" He asked, watching her put on her tank top.
"Just studying, I suppose. I've got some exams coming up. Why do you ask?"
"I wanna get married."
Akane froze with her tank top over her head. She turned her head to stare at him sitting up on the bed, expecting to see some smug grin on Ranma's face or for him to burst out laughing at the stupid look on her face or something besides the serious look he was giving her. She tried to say something or at least produce some kind of sound, but nothing came out.
"You gonna say anything, Akane?" AKane just kept staring with her mouth flapping open. "You should probably put your shirt on all the way and close your mouth, you look like an idiot."
"Excuse me?!"
"Oh that's what gets you talking?"
"Are you joking," Akane whisper-yelled.
"Why would I joke about that?" Ranma replied, sounding like he was starting to lose his patience.
"Why wouldn't you? I swear, Ranma if you're joking-"
"I'm not joking!" He said, looking as serious as he could possibly be.
Akane hesitated. Akane knew the risk of wanting to get married. Much as they tried to get rid of them, their suitors were as stubborn as ever and after the first wedding disaster, Akane was worried about planning another one, especially since she knew their families would plan something big, something neither of them wanted.
"We can't." Akane turned around and continued getting dressed.
"What do you mean we can't? We're engaged, aren't we?" Ranma asked, standing up and following her around the room.
"Do you really want to deal with our families planning some big wedding for us? You know we'll have no say in it! And speaking of weddings what about what happened last time we tried getting married? Look how that ended!" Akane said while she put on her running shorts.
"I'm not saying that we get married in 6 months or a year or something. I'm saying that we get married today. As in right now." She gave him a funny look but he didn't let up. "Look, we can go down to the courthouse and get married. It'll be quick and easy."
Akane glared at him and put her hands on her hips. "I haven't even said yes, yet. Besides we aren't 20. We'd have to get our parents to approve of-"
Ranma stopped her. "Who do you think got us engaged in the first place?"
"Again, do you remember the last wedding?" Akane nearly yelled. Ranma lunged at her and covered her mouth with his hands.
"Would you shut up!" He hissed. "You'll wake the entire house."
Akane glared at him and licked his hand. Ranma's hands flew in the air. "Agh!"
"Don't you ever do that again, Ranma!" She hissed back.
"Then be quiet!"
Akane shook her head. This was getting them nowhere. "Anyways, my point being our fathers will get excited and start planning another wedding and invite all of Nerima and it will get crashed by our suitors. Again!" By this point, she was pacing around the room. "Even though I want to get married, there'll be so much trouble and shouldn't we be dealing with our suitors in the first place? I mean, then we could get married but we've been trying for the past year to stop them-"
Ranma cut off her rambling. "Wait, did you say you want to get married?"
"Well, yeah."
Ranma went down on his knees with the goofiest smile he could muster on his face. "Then let's do this! We'll go to the other side of town and we'll make our families swear to be quiet about it." He grabbed at Akane's hands. "C'mon, Akane, it'll be great."
Akane squeezed Ranma's hands and smiled. "Alright, let's do this."
Ranma jumped back up to his feet and shouted in victory as he grabbed Akane by the waist and spun her around, making Akane laugh. The next thing they knew, the bedroom door slammed open and Nabiki stood in the doorway, looking frazzled and as pissed off as could be.
"You two better have a damn good reason to be screaming at 6 in the fucking morning," she said venomously. "Kasumi and I have been really good about keeping your little affair under wraps and the least you could do is be a little subtle and not be shouting at the crack of dawn."
"We're getting married!" said Akane.
"...What?"
An hour later, with the rest of the house now awake and sitting around the kotatsu for breakfast, Ranma and Akane began to feel the nerves creep up on them. The two of them knew that their plan wouldn't progress if their parents didn't know, but the idea of their reaction, though they both knew it would be a positive one, still worried them. Nabiki sat across from them still looking dumbfounded by the news. Akane glanced at Ranma and reached for his hand underneath the table. They might as well get it over with.
Akane took a deep breath before she spoke. "Ranma and I have something we'd like to say." Everyone turned towards them with extreme interest, catching Akane off guard. Akane hesitated to continue, but felt Ranma squeeze her hand.
"Akane and I are getting married today," Ranma declared and braced himself for the storm that was about to happen.
Everyone was quiet for a few moments, taking in what was just said. Then, all at once, as if a switched were flipped, the room exploded. Kasumi lept up and nearly tackled Ranma and Akane into a hug, out of character from her usual demure attitude.
"I'm so proud of you two for figuring this out!" She said as she squeezed the two of them.
Soun and Genma cried on each others shoulders saying things like "It's finally happening, Saotome," and "The schools will finally be united, Tendo!"
Nodoka crooned, "Ranma, you're finally taking action like the man you are, I'm so proud of you both."
Nabiki kept on eating.
This continued for the next couple of minutes. Kasumi started to plan a special dinner in honor of the announcement with Nodoka. Soun and Genma began to plan for a grand wedding with Nabiki poking in occasionally with what could fit inside their budget. This was when Ranma and Akane began to panic.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ranma intervened. "We're not having any kind of big wedding. We're just going down to the courthouse and signing some papers and we need you two," he gestured to Soun and Genma, "to approve of it."
"Which is the only reason we actually told you at all," Akane muttered under her breath. "And another thing, none of you can tell anyone about what's going on. We don't want a repeat of what happened last year."
The memory of the failed wedding still haunted the Tendo household. With the cost of damages, the post-suitor-attack-clean-up, the lack of an actual marriage, and Happosai drinking the remains of the Spring of Drowned Man, any mention of the wedding became taboo.
(No one is entirely sure what happened to Happosai after the wedding. He seemed to just disappear, but wherever he is, everyone is sure that he is still stealing women's underwear).
Genma started to argue, but every argument he could come up with died in his throat. Instead he crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "I suppose as long as you two are getting married then it's alright by me."
"I'm so proud of you both for carrying on the schools and the dojo! Thank you both!" Soun continued to cry into his sleeve.
"Can I still make that special dinner tonight?" Kasumi asked.