"So, I've been thinking."
He snorted. "Dangerous, for you."
"Shut it." She shoved him so hard he fell off the couch. Then she peeked tentatively over the edge to see if he was mad about his abrupt trip. "Sorry, Gippal." Her apology was ruined by her smirking smile.
"You'll be sorry if you do it again." He aimed a swat at her backside, and she shrieked with laughter. She was still giggling as he settled back into his previous position on the couch, reclining back against the armrest. "So, what were you thinking?"
"Maybe we should get married." She laid her head on her folded hands, kicking her feet up in the air.
He cocked an eyebrow. "Are you proposing?"
"Depends. Are you accepting?"
"Depends. Did you buy me a ring?"
"I sure did. It's a really nice one, too." She grinned.
"Sure," he said skeptically. "Let me see this fantastic ring of yours."
"Ah-ah-ah," she wagged a finger in his face. "You don't get to see it until you say yes. I'm not handing that baby over to just anyone."
"Well, I'm not accepting until I get the ring." He crossed his arms, nodding resolutely.
"I guess we're at an impasse, then," she sighed. "Just think. We've been dating for years-"
"Year," he corrected. "We've been dating for a year."
She continued on blithely. "And Vydran's not going to be happy if he gets a grandkid before he gets a wedding. Our baby-"
"Baby?" He echoed weakly.
"Kidding." She giggled. "You should've seen your face, you looked like you expected Pops to be banging on the door with a shotgun at any moment."
"Idiot, you nearly gave me heart failure!" He ruffled her hair in retaliation, tangling her silky blonde hair and sending beads and pins skittering all over.
"Jerk," she pouted, trying futilely to establish some order in her thoroughly disheveled hair. A rat's nest of braids and tangled strands fought for dominance and won. Groaning her irritation, she retrieved a brush from their bedroom and sat down on the couch again, wincing as a stray hairpin poked her in the rear. She gathered up her scattered accessories and shoved the brush at Gippal.
"Thanks, but my hair is perfect," he snickered.
"You made the mess, so you get to fix it," she declared, turning her back on him and removing her bandana. "Do you have any idea how long it takes to get my hair like this?"
"Yeah," he snorted, "since I can never get into the bathroom in the mornings, I think I do have some idea." But he did it anyway, delicately unwinding the braids, taking special care not to pull too hard. He liked her hair down better than he liked it up; it was long and silky and just a little wavy. Sometimes he thought maybe she'd figured him out and she 'made' him brush her hair because she knew how much he liked doing it. Or maybe she really was just trying to be a pain in the butt.
"Hey, Gippal?"
"Hmm?"
"I love you."
And he melted, just like always. He kissed her shoulder. "I love you, too."
He worked in silence for a while, separating the strands for her braids, carefully sliding the beads back on in the order she always used. He let her slip on the bandana, and then he carefully arranged her braids around it.
"So, I've been thinking," he said.
"About what?"
"Oh, I dunno. Maybe we should get married."
She snorted. "Did you buy me a ring?"
"You bet I did," he said, laughing. "It's a really nice one, too."
"Oh, yeah? Let me see this ring of yours." She crossed her arms defiantly.
"Okay."
Something small and gold fell into her lap. Amazed, she gingerly picked it up, watching the stone capture the light, sending little sparkles hurtling around the room as she rotated it. Her fingers flew to her lips to stifle the little gasp she couldn't help. She blinked back tears.
"Really, Gippal?"
"Yeah, really." He wrapped his arms around her waist, settling his chin on her shoulder. "Dummy, d'you think I'd give you a ring like that if I didn't mean it?"
She laughed, brushing away the few tears that had managed to escape. "I did buy you a ring," she said.
"I know," he replied. "I found it in your sock drawer a week ago."
"What were you doing in my sock drawer?" she asked, nonplussed.
"Putting away your socks," he responded, exasperated.
"But you snooped!" She accused.
"You're damn right I did," he said. "It's my faction, I'm entitled to snoop. Besides, it gave me an excuse to get you a ring. So, what do you say?"
"I don't know. I guess we could get married," she said slowly.
"You guess? You guess we could get married?"
"Well, you do have some issues we'll have to work on," she said. "Like the propensity to snoop."
"The one time!"
"You're still a snooper!"
"Stop using that word!" He ruffled her hair again, with the predictable result. No matter, he'd just get to fix it again later. He pinned her to the couch with the weight of his body, tickling her sides mercilessly.
"Let me up, let me up!" She cried, laughing.
"Not until you say yes!"
"Yes, yes, yes! Okay? Yes!"
He stopped tickling her, waiting for her to catch her breath.
"I love you." He kissed the tip of her nose.
She sighed. "I love you, too...snooper."