"We should get married."
She said it out of the blue one day, as they watched the ending credits of the movie they'd rented. Iemitsu nearly choked on his drink, and stared at her. Nana smiled contentedly as she snuggled against his arm, eyes still trained on the screen.
"M-married? Nana, you know that-! That is, my job is-" he stammered, "I can't just-!"
"We love each other, don't we?" she asked blithely, looking up at him with her warm, kind eyes.
"I love you more than anything in the world," he said firmly.
"Well, I love you too!" Nana sat up, grinning. "People who are in love should be married."
And then she flopped over again, like that was all there was to it. He wished that was true, but as a mafioso, marriage was anything but simple. Even more so as a member of the Vongola's CEDEF. When you worked in intelligence, you learned all too well how easy it could be to spot an enemy's weak point. If he married Nana and she was hurt, he could never forgive himself. She was just too important. He decided to choose his words carefully.
"Nana, married couples should be together," he pointed out. "We barely get to see each other as it is."
Giggling, Nana just waved it off.
"It's fine, it's fine! We've been happy so far, haven't we?" She took his hand, tracing his knuckles with her thumb. "If I miss you, I'll just look for your star in the sky. And you can look for mine. We'll never really be apart."
Nana had once explained to him that every soul had to bust out of heaven in order to be reborn. When they did, they would leave a hole in the floor of heaven that could only be filled up again when they returned. By this logic, she believed that the person born under the North star had been around since before the sixteenth century. She also believed that once she found the right star, she would always know if her boyfriend was safe.
"Besides," she said, the smile slipping from her face and fading into a more serious expression, "I'll always love you. It's better to be in love and apart than being together and not loving each other at all."
Iemitsu stared at her, but she'd turned her eyes back to the TV. The credits had long since stopped rolling, and the screen was just blinking in and out with a message about rewinding the tape. He sighed.
"I could be away for years at a time. What if there was an accident? What if I never came back?"
"If you didn't come back, I'd be very sad," she told him earnestly, "But I'd be happy for the time we had together."
The Young Lion could've cried. He loved Nana with his whole being. Heart, body and mind, it all belonged to her. It was for that very reason her existence needed to stay under wraps. There had been whispers lately, that he was being considered for the next External Advisor. If anyone knew exactly what it was that the up and coming CEDEF member was doing while he was on his trips to Japan, Nana would have a target on her back. It could be anyone. A rival, an enemy, hell, it could be the Decimo-to-be, Enrico. That paranoid asshole had never been very happy about having the Primo's direct descendant nearby.
"Your job is dangerous," she murmured, bringing a hand to cup his cheek. "You can't always be by my side; but it's always better to just live your life as happily as you can, for as long as you can. I love you. Let's get married."
Sometimes he wondered how much she really knew. She'd always seemed to take his claims of working in construction at face value, but when she said things like this he felt like he was seeing a different side of her entirely. He'd always known her to be more perceptive than she let on.
He waited for a little bit longer, but Nana seemed to have made her closing argument. Sighing, he kissed her hair. He stared into her earnest brown eyes, and as always, found himself drawn in deeper.
"Alright," he agreed. "Let's get married."
Okie-dokie, so I don't usually write romance, but this is a pairing that never seems to get any attention in the fandom. More often than not in fanfiction, the '#1 Most Lovey-Dovey Couple' is anything but. I needed to make amends.
I understand that Iemitsu is not by any means a popular character either, and I'm not defending his behavior, but it's getting pretty boring to see him be demonized so often. He isn't some sort of man-child galavanting across the world on whacky adventures, guys. He's a grown-ass man whose been in the mafia for his entire adult life. Be real. The guy knows what's up with his own family.
It's almost as frustrating to see this fandom's interpretation of Iemitsu as it is to see all of those fanfics featuring an evil Mrs. Weasley.
At any rate, this story is now in the world. It's there, and there it shall stay.