"Good morning," Thorne mumbles, nosing his lips onto the back of Cress's neck. "Happy anniversary."

She barely feels it, but the tightening of his arm around her waist is what wakes her up, and she groans and turns to face him in the bed, curling her body into his and sleepily letting her lips fall against his lips with a tired sigh.

"G'morning," she says back. "Happy 'niversary.'

He kisses her chastely on the mouth before rolling out of bed. She whines in protest but he shakes her gently, saying "rise and shine, girl of mine! It's our tenth anniversary, and I plan on giving you the best date ever. We're going out for some fun and then coming back in for some more fun." He winks at the last part, and Cress props her head onto her hand, watching him freak out.

Her smile is something of excitement and adoration and contentment. It's like the smiles he gives her when she's the cutest thing in the world.

Then she flops backwards and groans. "Can't we just stay inside and have fun?"

"Cress, you never pass up the opportunity to go outside and do things."

"But I'm tired," she groans, dragging out the last syllable. He rolls his eyes. He hasn't put on his shirt and he's only halfway into his pants but he buttons them and climbs over her, resting on his forearms atop Cress's body. He sinks his face down so that his lips are barely touching hers— he grins wickedly and says "I'll make it up to you."

He can feel her warm exhale against his mouth and he chuckles, grabbing her around the waist and rolling her on top of him, pretending to toss her off the bed. She shrieks but it's enough to get her awake.

"Twenty-six years old and you still need to be tossed off the bed to get out. Tsk, tsk," he says, as they walk towards the bathroom and he throws on his shirt. She adjusts her nightgown and they both squeeze their toothpastes onto their brushes and start to brush their teeth. Cress giggles and hip-checks him, and he dances his fingers up her bare back.

…

"You planned this out!" Cress beams and kisses him several times, wrapping her arms around his waist and walking beside him. She looks up at his beaming face and again, for a split second, the thought of marriage flashes through her head. This would be so wonderful with a ring on her finger, a child in their arms. Their daughter would have her hair and his smile, and their sons would have their mother's nose and everything else their father's.

But then she remembers what it was like to meet his parents. And she understands why he doesn't want marriage, why he is afraid. So she settles for relishing where she is, now, Thorne's arm around her back and her arms around him, as they walk to brunch at one of the fanciest restaurants in town.

She knows he planned this out because they don't have the kind of money to go to New York, New Wonders, ever. They've been tight on money since they moved in together when she was eighteen. He's never going to get better than a slightly-above minimum wage job because of his criminal record, and no one's going to take Cress if she didn't even receive a formal education, so she had to go to college before she could get a job— and she's just gotten out of school and they're still paying back Cinder for their loan.

Cress has only been in her alright-paying job for a year and a half. She's climbing up, but it's slow; so they live in a dinghy apartment and they don't eat out often.

…

"I love you lots," Thorne whispers to her as they follow the android to their seats. "I hope you know that."

"Of course I know that."

He grins, leans down to press a kiss to her mouth. "Good."

…

To be honest, when Thorne planned this date he wasn't thinking of proposing to her. He hasn't been thinking of a proposal at all because when he does think of it he thinks of Mom and Dad or his and Cress's money situation or the expectation of children and then it scares him so he deliberately forgets he ever thought about marriage.

Mostly, the term is unnecessary to him. If someone loves someone, they don't need to be legally bound to stay together. Why publicize and dramatize it?

He's also super scared of getting married.

But when he says that one of the waitresses looks like Kate Fallow and Cress turns her head at the wrong time and sees an old woman and she turns back to him and deadpans, with perfection, "good thing I'm here to fix my boyfriend's taste in women," it's not even that funny, but right there he realizes exactly what marriage is. It just... pops into his head, everything he's heard or seen, on TV, in his friends, in books. He wants to marry her.

He really wants to marry her. Hell, he's 30 and she's 26 but he wants to marry her, wants to show the whole world the perfection that is his girlfriend, his Cress— wants to be able to say "this is my wife" to anyone who asks, wants to reserve her smiles and her laughter and her jokes for him, and only him. It fills his whole being and he can't even bring himself to laugh at her joke or even close his mouth. Her gaze becomes self-conscious and he still can't say anything; he just stares at the ring he bought her for their fifth anniversary as it sits on her pointer finger.

"Did I say something weird? Was that too far?" she asks worriedly, and he snaps out of it in lightening, taking her hands in his and kissing her knuckles.

"That was the best joke I've heard in a long time."

"I still think you liked the joke from Earth's Second Moon better. The one where the guy's trying to figure out his eyelids and the lady tells him to open them and he says 'ohhhh! they're manual!'"

Thorne barks out another laugh. "Good point."

Now he doesn't know how to tell her. A part of him is still afraid, but he hides that fear and tries to figure out how he can do this. How he can just up and say Cress I think I've finally understood what marriage is, and I wanna do it.

Cress, you make me happier than I could ever dream of being. Can we stay like this forever?

Cress, I don't need to sign a marriage document to know I'll be with you for the rest of my life, but I want a tangible future.

Cress, if we get married, we can have kids. You wanna have kids? Later, of course. But seriously.

Cress, I think I—

"Carswell? You alright?"

He's been gaping at her for a while. And before has any final control over what he's saying he blurts out "Cress, I think I want to get married."

The fork drops to her plate with a loud clank of metal on ceramic, but Cress's eyes are too wide and her mouth is too gaping for her to even flinch.

"What?" she asks.

"I... I think I wanna get married."

And then Cress's lip trembles and she starts to sob quietly into her hands. Immediately Thorne has jumped to the other side of their booth and his arms are around her, stroking over her back and pressing gentle kisses to her ears, her forehead, the back of her chin, her shoulder.

Sometimes she cries when she gets really happy. He knows because she cried when he bought her the 490-univ (ridiculously expensive but so gorgeous) flower-vase that she had been pining for for three weeks. It hadn't been shoplifted but bought with his own money, from the first job he had been able to find in two years. She dropped the plate in her hands and started to sob when he walked in, a fresh bouquet of roses inside the vase.

She cried when he told her that he loved her, whispering it back into his shoulder, over and over again.

She cried when he bought her the five-year-anniversary ring. When they stepped into the doors of their first apartment.

And she's crying now; a part of him feels a little overwhelmed at the love they feel for each other, but when she pulls her hands away, beaming, and plants seven wet kisses onto his mouth while giving him her fifth anniversary ring and letting him drop to one knee and slide it onto her left ring finger— he doesn't regret any of it.

.

.

.

in theory, they go out and buy Cress a proper engagement ring that day, and it costs 1500 univs and they won't be able to eat anything but takeout for another six months. :D But if I tried to write that in it didn't sound good XD Yes, I did stick a 3rd Rock From The Sun thingie in there. :D I loved that joke, so so much. I don't know why. :D But there's a follow-up fic coming, of their wedding! It's so cheesy but I REALLY wanted to write TLC fanfic but I couldn't think of anything good to write lol and I very strongly support the theory of Thorne and Cress struggling for money earlier in life. And Kai gives them tons of money for them to buy their house and for Cress to go to school, and he says don't pay us back, but Cress insists and Cinder's the only one who's gonna accept the money (because Cinder knows what it's like to feel indebted to someone and she doesn't want anyone to feel that way). And seriously, even if Thorne goes and gets an education and stuff, I don't think he'll end up getting a job. I wouldn't hire someone with his track record, regardless of whether he was in the Lunar Revolution or not.

follow me on carswell-thorne-is-my-precious on tumblr for more TLC stuff! :)