This is a fanfiction for an original story. PM if you want the original. ^_^
Disclaimer: Actually, these characters do belong to me. Hah! Well, and to Contra Mundi.
Warnings: Yaoi, general fluff. Spoilers for the end of the story.
Efflorescence: Noun. (ef-luh-res-uhns) Flowering, the opening of buds or a bloom.
Eduard walked down Chamber Street hoping to catch Arnen before he got off work. After eleven years of knowing each other, after seven years of unofficially being together, he was ready. He wanted to make the ultimate commitment.
The twenty-eight-year-old walked proudly up to the Tower gate, and was greeted by a none-too-cheerful desk clerk. Almost everyone who worked at the tower knew Eduard by then, as he tended to neglect his own job in favour of helping Arnen with his. Though, he usually just ended up distracting the twenty-one-year-old... But that didn't matter! As long as they were together Eduard was happy. The Tower staff, on the other hand, grew rather put off by him; his cheerful disposition seemed to only be contagious to Arnen.
"Hello there, Gabs, how are you? It's a wonderful day, I'd say. The sun is shining, it's not too warm but not too cold, and there isn't a single cloud in the sky! Well, there's the one right up there, but besides that it's perfectly clear! I'm here to see Arnen, anyhow, so I'll just let myself in." Eduard said this all quite quickly and without taking a breath, walking straight past the gate just as he finished his last sentence. Gabrielle Dockner, the desk clerk, merely sighed and muttered about hating being called "Gabs".
Once inside the research buildings, the redhead fairly glided through the corridors, until by chance he finally spotted him—Arnen was walking in the same direction as Eduard toward his office, and at quite a leisurely pace. Eduard thanked the gods that luck seemed to be on his side.
He snuck up (surprisingly quietly) behind the boy and, as the brunet was least expecting it, grabbed the other from around the middle. "Hello," he murmured, nuzzling against his neck. Arnen gasped lightly at the inexpectancy of Eduard, but let out a soft moan a second later.
"Eh… Eduard," the twenty-one-year-old answered, his voice quiet and slightly rasped from the ministrations the redhead made on his skin; Eduard bit down lightly on the tender neck and then licked it lovingly. "I-I'm still a—" One of Eduard's hands reached under Arnen's shirt to run fingers over the sensitive skin, "—ah… at w-work. You can't d-do this… ah, h-here…"
"I know," Eduard replied. Despite the pleasure his companion was giving him, Arnen suddenly felt worried; Eduard's voice was so uncharacteristically serious. Had something happened…?
Of course, Eduard, never one to beat around the bush, said almost immediately after that thought, "I was just thinking I'd like to marry you."
Arnen's violet eyes widened considerably, his flushed face taking a drastic turn to something quite shocked and flustered. "M… marry me?"
He knew. He'd known it since the very moment he'd awoken to that charming, smiling face. Back then, he hadn't been able to articulate the sensation, but after seven years to think about it, he felt it so deep within his heart that he was sure he could drown in the mere intensity of it.
It started with the way Eduard had looked into the boy's young eyes and recognized; acknowledged the broken ten-year-old in a way that no one ever had. It was that he cared for the boy, and loved him in his own special way. It was that… that every time Arnen felt he'd reach the bottom, Eduard was there to catch him and hold him near. And after that, it took one touch, one word, one glance, and the ten-year-old felt it more than anything else; love.
Once he had met Tempest and his memories of Eduard began flooding back, he was able to realize the depth of that emotion. Despite the idea Tempest had formed, Arnen did not think of Eduard as a brother; he didn't even want the redhead to be just a friend. Almost more than he could bear, Arnen wanted to spend every moment with Eduard, until he breathed his very last.
Ever since he'd had that epiphany, he'd contemplated the concept of marriage. Even without his ties to Eduard, it seemed an admirable bond, but with the addition of his feelings for his friend, marriage was all the more appealing. The longer he thought about it, the more he wanted it. But he was also cautious of such a desire; he suppressed it to the point where it was not something important, but more of a silly daydream. After all, Eduard was not the type to get married, settled—tied down. The redhead took pride in his freedom, and that was not something Eduard would so easily give up.
So after years of wishing, Arnen having never even mentioned the thought, for Eduard to tell him so openly that he wanted to marry him…
Arnen prided himself for keeping his promise to Eduard; once they'd finally been reunited, Arnen had sworn to never cry again so Eduard would drop his favourite nickname. Arnen hoped that this moment would not count.
Tears streamed from the twenty-one-year-old's eyes, and he turned in Eduard's grasp so that they stood face to face, his eyebrows creasing and his mouth gaping from the sobs that struggled to escape him. Eduard started, hoping he hadn't said the wrong thing, but he relaxed when he saw Arnen's eyes—he felt the words strongly before his fiancé could even gasp in breath to speak.
"I love you so much!"
The brunet flung his arms around Eduard and Eduard held him tightly against his chest as Arnen wept his thanks. Eduard could only smile and lean down to press his face into the soft, brown hair. "I love you, too… crybaby."
We'll rest easy, justified.
Suffer the swift defeat; I'll endure countless repeats.
The gift of memory's an awful curse;
With age it just gets much worse
But I won't mind
- Death Cab For Cutie, Stable Song