There was deathly silence in the hall where Ivan worked. All of his guards made sure not to make a sound, taking cares to avoid scuffing the floor with their hard brown boots and dragging bodies from the Mafia boss's room in their arms, all of them not daring to make a peep. Ivan Braginsky, the ruler of the Russian Mafia in the city, didn't really mind. After all, he was the one who asked his guards not to interrupt his concentration no matter what, whether it'd be gun fire or escaped prisoners. So Ivan was enjoying his peace and quiet, savoring the silence while filling out papers no signing forms, when the door cracked opened and a man thundered onto the room.
"IVANJAV! I have a REQUEST!" The mongol roared, slamming his hands onto the desk which now hosted a severely jumpy mob boss holding his pen in a death grip.
"Um, Munkhbat?" The Russian squinted and saw that underneath his somehow newer scars and the cloak, it really was his old body guard. He then whipped around to see his CURRENT body guards, all of them sulking in the corner. "You guys just let him in?"
"No TIME for this NOW! You can punish your body guards for being really easy to sneak past later! I need this request NOW!" Munkhbat jabbed his finger on the desk before taking Ivan's hand and dragging him to the patio outside. "Much better. Here we can talk."
"Munkhbat, if you don't mind me asking, what the HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?! You retired 4 years ago!"
"I need something, I thought I made this clear," he snorted, slapping Ivan's gesturing hands away from his face and choosing to look outside to the luxurious blue ocean that the patio overlooked.
"What is it?" Ivan asked tiredly. He knew his old body guard well enough to know he wouldn't stop bothering him until he got what he wanted, and Ivan simply decided to simply go along with Munkhbat's strange and LOUD behavior.
"Er, it's sort of complicated," the mongol avoided, choosing now to almost drop the topic of why he was here with a flush of red suddenly appearing on his face. Now Ivan was a lot more intrigued.
"You can tell me Munkhbat. After all, is this not the reason you are here?" he reassured, patting the retired fighter on the back before taking a cigarette out of his pocket and starting to smoke. There was silence for a while, with the gritty smoke of the cigarette drifting up into the frigid sea air that always showed its face in November, making all those not accustomed to such things to shiver and bunker down inside.
"I want to get married." Ivan almost spat out his cigar in shock. Munkhbat, his old, lonely, extremely violent, sometimes life endangering bodyguard was going to get MARRIED?!
"I can't believe it! Who's the lucky woman?"
"See, that's where the request comes in. It's not exactly a woman," Munkhbat fidgeted, not looking Ivan in the eyes and cheeks growing hotter and hotter on the Mongol's face. Ivan stranded in confusion before he finally got it.
Ivan tutted and patted him on the back. "I never pictured you one for young ladies. If it's a reasonably young one, I can still, let's say, persuade, the mayor to let you get married! They're sitting on this old law-"
"No, no, no!" Munkhbat shook his head horrified. "Do you really think me capable of such a thing?!"
"Then, if you don't mind me asking my old friend, why are you here?"
"Like I said, I want to get married. However the law in the city says I can't, and my wed to be doesn't want to get married outside of the town."
"Wait, if you not marrying a woman, then what are you marrying? You're not finally converting to beastiality are you?"
"For the Buddha's sake Ivan it's a MAN! I want to get married to a man! But I can't because the city laws forbids it!" Munkhbat snapped, throwing his hands in the air like all hope was lost for his Russian friend and staring off into the ocean, not meeting Ivan's eyes.
"Wait, wait, wait. You're GAY?!" Ivan gaped, staring at the man who saved his life more times than he could count and tried to imagine him like one of those gay men he seen on T.V.
"No, I just want marry a man for tax purposes OF COURSE I'm gay you NIMROD!"
"So all this time. All the years we spent together, killing people and burning down houses, you've been GAY?!"
"YES! Why is this so hard for you to understand?!"
"The whole time. You liked men the whole time.
"Yes."
"Through everything?"
"That's how being gay works Ivan, yes."
"Even when we were killing people."
"Da."
"Okay maybe I'm not understanding correctly," Ivan put his hands up and tried to analyze his old body guard in a new light. "You're GAY?!"
"It's like talking to a brick wall," Munkhbat muttered, putting his face in his hand in defeat.
"And you want to get married? Here?"
"Why in the name of the 12th Dalai Lama's colorful pleated TROUSERS is this so hard for you to understand?!"
"But you don't LOOK gay," the fully grown mob boss stated in confusion.
"And you don't look stupid either, but I suppose life is FULL of surprises," the mongol quipped back, banging his head against the patio banisters.
"And what do you want me to do about it?"
"I. Need. You. To. Legalize. Gay. Marriage. Can you understand that or will I have to say it slower for your tiny brain to handle?"
"Fine, fine, I was just asking," the Russian muttered, rolling his eyes and gazing at the serene sapphire ocean before them.
"Can you at least tell me who you're marrying?" Ivan sighed, still shocked from the sudden revelation.
"A man named Tshering. He's a buddhist, like me. He's this wonderful, amazing, kind, sweet, adorable person that I really do love with my entire heart. I'm willing to spend my entire life with him." Munkhbat smiled and gazed at the setting clouds with love struck eyes, his usually scarred and fierce expression twisted into one Ivan had never seen on his friend before. The Russian felt the steel of resolve grow in his heart, and the internal vow rang in his head to make sure his friend would always be happy, no matter the cost. It might be strange, he thought, but Munkhbat deserves this. It's the least I can give him after all this time.
"So you want me to, let's say persuade, the council members of the city to legalize this marriage."
"That is what I came up here to say, yes."
"Consider it done. Besides, I owe you at least 4 favors," Ivan sighed, wondering if he'll ever pay them all off.
"It's six favors, and yes. You don't mind do you, I know this is all sudden but-"
"Munkhbat, how many times did you save my life while you were my personal bodyguard?"
"Um," the mongol counted on his fingers, furrowing his brows before throwing his hands in the air. "More times than I can count probably."
"Do you remember that time where Yao sent a sniper after me in retribution for what I did to his temple?"
The older man snorted and nodded his head. "Of course I remember! I got shot!"
"But do you remember how?"
"I pushed you out of the way of sniper fire and got hit in the shoulder and moved just enough that it missed a major artery. Regardless of what you might believe, I haven't gotten senile yet."
"What about that time Alfred's brother tried to poison me? Do you remember what you did?"
"I slammed your favorite tea cup to the ground and had your stomach pumped before you went into a comma."
"And the time they both tried to send a mob of angry criminals after me and we were cornered in that alley?"
"I threw you on a building," Munkhbat chuckled, "And pummeled rocks at the criminals until you were at the next rooftop over."
"Exactly. Need I go on? You've saved my life Munkhbat, so I think it's high time I give you something in return. Consider it my wedding gift."
The old body guard shook his head with a smile. "It can't be."
Ivan furrowed his brows in confusion. "Why not?"
"Because it's my proposal."
