A/N Thanks, madmad01, for the 8 (or was in nine?) reviews. (By the way, she's my friend from school. We're both crazy.) I promise there will be more Sebastian/Rit mush, and a real kiss. I promise. By the way, I'm sorry this chapter is kind of short.
Magnus looked nervous. Rit had never seen him look anything but confident and detached from cares, but now he seemed . . . worried.
"You really love him, don't you?" she asked.
Magnus didn't reply. They kept walking down the sidewalk.
She elbowed him. "Hey, Magnus."
Distracted, he turned to her. "What?"
"I said, you really love him, don't you?"
Magnus rolled his eyes. "No, I'm just marrying him because I feel sorry for him." His voice dripped sarcasm. "Of course I love him."
They turned into a store that looked like it had rings in it. Rit walked up to the counter, where a helpful looking salesperson was standing. "Do you have any engagement rings?"
The woman nodded cheerfully. "And who is the ring for? Is there a special guy?"
Rit nodded. "Not mine. His." They looked at Magnus. He was looking around the store, trying to look like he wasn't nervous, which wasn't working.
"I see…" the lady looked slightly uncomfortable. Rit was disgusted. Some people just had to be homophobic, did they?
"Is there a problem?" Rit demanded. She knew she was being nasty, but the woman had no reason to look like that.
"No, no, no problem." The saleslady looked a bit scared, now, wide-eyed. Good.
"First, over here, we have the traditional . . ."
Magnus and Rit walked out of the store with a small paper bag. Magnus seemed relieved that he hadn't had to go to more than one store.
"Well, now that's settled, isn't it?" he said.
Rit shook her head, smiling. "You still have to propose, you know."
"Shit." Magnus looked devastated. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"
"Figure it out." Rit opened the door with Magnus' key.
There was a knock on the apartment door a few minutes after they'd sat down at the table and Magnus had tried to teach Rit how to summon coffee. She'd only managed to summon the coffee, not the cup, so the table was slightly damp.
Magnus looked up, startled. He grabbed the paper bag and ran to Rit's room, where he supposedly hid it. Then he hurried over and opened the door.
Alec came in, slinging a backpack down on the floor. "Have any coffee?"
Magnus smiled at Rit, transformed. "Rit can get some, can't you?"
She glared at him, then focused. She held out a hand, concentrating hard on the essence of coffee – and a cup. After a few seconds, she was suddenly holding a plastic, waxy cup of coffee, with steam rising off of it. Victorious, she handed the coffee to Alec, who looked at it suspiciously.
"What, just because it's the first time she's done it doesn't mean she did it wrong," defended Magnus. "It's still coffee."
Dubious, Alec took a sip. It tasted all right, so he sat down with them, warming his chilled hands on the cup. "So, what did you do this morning, Magnus?"
"We took a walk in the park," said Rit quickly, covering for him.
Alec's eyes narrowed. "That's funny," he said, "because I was in the park. You weren't there. What did you really do?"
Magnus hesitated. "I can't tell you that."
Alec stood up. "Well. I'm out." There was tension in the air.
As soon as he had left, Magnus put his head in his hands. "Shit."
"You have to go fix that. Here," Rit closed her eyes and concentrated. One red rose appeared in her palm. She ran and got the bag, which was artfully hidden on her bedspread.
"Here." Magnus took the box out of the bag, grabbed the rose, and ran out of the apartment, not bothering to grab a coat or shoes.
Rit ran to one of the windows overlooking the street. She saw Alec's back disappearing down the sidewalks, and she saw Magnus chasing him. She saw Alec turn, presumably because Magnus had called his name. He still looked pissed.
She saw him stop walking, she saw Magnus catch up, and she saw him kneel. Alec looked shocked. She saw Magnus hand Alec the rose, then pull out the box. She saw Alec's overjoyed smile, the only real smile she'd ever seen from him. She watched as Magnus slipped the ring onto Alec's finger, and she saw them embrace, right in the middle of a Manhattan sidewalk. A crowd had gathered around them, and when they kissed, she could see people clapping.
Too bad she'd never have that, she thought. Who would marry her?
So, did you all like the proposal? I'll have more on it in chapter 11.