"Jesus!"

Herb hears the front door slam all the way from his spot on the deck. A couple of seconds later Bojack is pushing through the glass doors to join him outside, with a grocery bag, two coffees in his hands, and a scowl on his face.

"I forgot how relentless the paparazzi are in LA."

Herb chuckles as Bojack hands him his drink, "Thanks Baby, what were they asking about this time?"

He scoffs and flops onto the deck chair next to him. "Oh the usual," He puts on a whiney voice, "'Bojack, what's your next project gonna be?' 'Bojack, why'd you go to New York for two years after your oscar win?' 'Bojack, why don't you refill your bird feeder?'"

Herb cocks his head to the side. "Birdfeeder?"

Bojack waves his hand dismissively, "One or two of them were birds I think. I wasn't looking too hard. In fact, I was actively trying to pretend they didn't exist."

Herb chuckled politely and they settled into their chairs again. Enjoying their coffees and basking in the mediocre February sun that LA provided, but which was a welcome change from the bitter cold of New York. There was a comfortable silence between them, but Herb could read Bojack like a book, and noticed he was deep in thought as he silently sipped his coffee. So the other man patiently waited for him to speak.

After a few minutes, Bojack lifted his head and quietly asked as he stared off into the mountains, "Is it weird I haven't picked up a new project yet?"

Herb smiled and gave him a sympathetic look, reaching out to pat his knee he said, "No BJ. I don't think so. Take as much time as you need, the last few years have been pretty eventful for you." His smile tightened a little as his shoulders raised a little, "… As long as you don't forget to find a new therapist soon."

Bojack groaned dramatically and rolled his eyes so hard he leaned back in the deck chair.

Herb pointed at him sternly, "Hey, Dr. Garcia gave you some great recommendations and I want you to go through them and make appointments. There I said it, it's done." He punctuated his request with a wave of his hand.

The horse huffed childishly, "Okay, I'll do it. Just give me a while to adjust, alright?"

It was a busy day in LA, the city was brimming with life and opportunity. And both elements came together between Bojack and Princess Carolyn as they met to discuss business for lunch at Elefante.

Princess Carolyn smiled widely at Bojack, "Oh, I have so many offers in for you right now. People are excited to see you back in LA." She clasped her hands together excitedly, "And I'm hearing movie buzz."

Bojack grimaced slightly, "Eh, I'm not sure I want to do another movie so soon. O- or anything big really." He traced his finger around the design on the tablecloth. "I really liked working in theatre in New York, maybe I could do some of that here?"

She laughs, "The theatre scene? In L.A.? Don't make me laugh Bojack."

He frowned, "You just did."

"Listen Buddy, you'd better settle on something soon. Everone's dying to see what you do next." She says as she grabs her glass of milk and laps at it.

He groans, "Tell me about it. Basically anytime I leave the house I end up getting followed by paparazzi asking me the same question."What's next"? Why does there always have to be a next, huh?"

She chuckles, "Get used to it."

He runs his hand through his mane, "Anyway, I don't know about jumping into something new so quickly, I've kinda just been having fun settling back down in LA with Herb."

"Settling down? You can't settle down now! Bojack fever is starting to build. I can spritz it with a little water for now, but sooner or late that fire's gonna grow Boj, and you're gonna want a strong foundation to feed it when that happens!"

"Is this a building metaphor or a fire metaphor?"

Princess Carolyn folds her hands in front of her and narrows her eyes at him from across the table. "It's me telling you not to fall into one of your "I'm not gonna work for months on end because I'm too depressed to get help" episodes."

Bojack throws his hands up and his head back, "Ugh! That was like one and a half times! Besides, I'm not even sad, I just moved across the country, and it's normal for me to want to relax a little." He crossed his arms "And FYI, the more things pick up for me, the harder it's gonna be to keep Herb and my relationship a secret."

She scoffs and rolls her eyes, "Yeah, funny how people didn't figure it out when you two moved in together years ago and are still living together now." She leans back in her chair and crosses her arms, "I can't tell you what to do or what will happen in the future Bojack. You can have fun with your little Doug Langway for now, but don't let a relationship get in the way of your career. That's what I always say."

Bojack bites his tongue to prevent saying 'That's why you're single'. instead, he sighs and rolls his eyes, "Yeah well, when Herb and I get married-"

Princess Carolyn shot up in her seat in surprise. "Oh, wow! I didn't know you two were engaged, congratulations! When did that happen?"

Bojack froze, "Oh, I mean… we're not engaged yet."

She waves her hand in the air, "Oh, right right, you just know that you're going to get married someday."

"Yeah, that's it."

She nods, laughing a little at her momentary confusion, "Okay, that makes more sense." She sighs, "It's so nice that you and Herb have had that conversation, you know, not enough couples do. And then one of them just pops the question all willy nilly, and runs the risk of the other one saying no because they had no clue what was even coming and aren't ready for that kind of commitment."

There's a long beat of silence between them and the bustle of the restaurant swallows up the hole in their conversation.

"You've... talked about this with Herb right?"

"Um..."

She slaps a hand against her forehead, "Oh my god. Bojack, you've got to talk to him! You can't just assume he'll say yes!"

Bojack starts to feel the anxiety leak into his chest and he fidgets with his silverware, "Well... We've been together for years. We've been through a lot together, we obviously love each other. Someday we're gonna get married, it just makes sense right?" He laughs nervously, "W-whats there to even talk about?"

She gives him a strained smile. "Uh.. yeah. Sure. I'm sure that'll work out great for you. Oh! But if you do get hitched, let me know. I can throw you a killer wedding! What do you think about a murder mystery element where the priest gets killed and then later we find out the best man did it?"

Bojack had been fussing about the house since he got back from his lunch with Princess Carolyn. He insisted he was fine, but Herb still kept an eye on him and watched as he fluttered on the edge of the living room. And constantly walked back and forth from his office to the kitchen for no reason. It was clear by the sideways looks the horse was giving him that he want Herb's attention but was too apprehensive and not willing to outright ask him for it.

After ten minutes of trying to gently ignore Bojack and let him assert his own needs, Herb gave up with a sigh. He rolled his eyes and turned off the TV, turning around to look at the nervous horse in the middle of another anxious walk to the fridge.

"BJ, is something the matter?"

For a professional actor and the child of abusive parents, Bojack was somehow not a very good liar. He stiffened up and broke out into a fake smile immediately.

"The matter? Nothings the matter, you- where did you even get that idea from?" he laughed nervously.

Herb was nonplussed, "Because you've been acting weird since you got home from your meeting with Princess Carolyn. Did something happen?"

He hesitates for a second and one could almost see him taking his emotional walls down. He takes a deep breath and slowly explains himself, choosing his words carefully.

"Sooooo... Princess Carolyn and I were talking earlier… about, relationship stuff. And, I said something, and she got all weird about this thing. And I uh, just wanted to," He clears his throat, "…. Clarify some stuff with you."

Herb puts down the remote slowly, "Okay… What's up?"

Bojack fidgets heavily and rubs his hands together, not used to having open and honest conversations like this. Especially not about relationships, and he feels incredibly exposed right now.

"Okay, uh so…. Just hypothetically... If we got married, that would be a good thing right?"

Herb's eyes widened to the size of saucers and he stared at him, a blush creeping into his cheeks. "Uh… would that, are we… living in Massachusetts in this scenario?"

Bojack shakes his head, "What? No, don't think about that right now, just, pretend that we can already get married. If we did, you would be… okay with it? Right?"

Herb sat up more and slid his legs off the couch, struggling to find the words to match his surprise. "Uh… I- I guess? I mean, we've been dating for almost seven years, and we live together… not much would change for us… " He scratches at his beard and blushes a little deeper, a meek smile forming on his face. "But uh... It would be nice to be able to say you're my husband."

Bojack blushes just as hard, and plays with his hands excitedly, "Yeah! Exactly right? It just makes sense! That's what I was saying to PC!"

Herb smirks, and points into the air, "Yeah, see that horse over there puking up a mountain of cotton candy into the bushes even though I told him to stop eating it a hour ago?" He puffed out his chest and laughed, "That my husband."

Bojack blushes impossibly deeper and crosses his arms playfully, but still appreciates how the joke made the tension in his stomach start to disappear. "Yeah yeah okay, one time."

Herb laughs again and gestures for Bojack to join him on the couch. He can't help but feel mushy thanks to the dopey smile Bojack was giving him. Bojack sits with him as Herb clears his throat lightly.

"In this… hypothetically of course... In this scenario you've made up. Would we, discussing all this right now and agreeing on it, would it be kind of like a ...proposal?"

Bojack's eyes light up and his smile gets even wider, "It could, I - if you wanted it to be."

Herb smiled and slid his hand across the couch cushion to lace their fingers together, "I think I'd like that."

The two men were positively beaming at each other.

Suddenly, Bojack's eyes lit up with recollection and he tightened his grip on Herb's hand, "Oh wait, shit! Hang on!" He jumped up and looked around the room nervously, "Uh, wait right here!"

He ran upstairs leaving a very confused Herb on the couch. After a few minutes, Bojack galloped back down the stairs and into the living room, clutching something small in his hands that herb couldn't get a good look at.

"Almost forgot these," he panted lightly.

Herb cocked an eyebrow at the horse, "Forgot what?"

Bojack waves his hands in front of himself excitedly. "Hang on hang on! Let me do the thing." He dropped to one knee and puffed out his chest, presenting the other man with a small black box. He opened the box to reveal two small silver rings.

Bojack cleared his throat and smiled wide at the other man, "Herb Kazzaz, will you marry me?"

Herb's jaw dropped in shock and he was speechless. He blushed furiously and stammered as he struggled to find his voice, "W-when did you? How long ago did you?"

Bojack chuckles, "I got them back in June."

"June? That was like 9 months ago!" He smacked the horse on the shoulder, "What took you so long?"

Bojack laughed, "I wanted to wait for the right moment!"

Herb shook his head incredulously and couldn't help himself. He leaned forward, placing his hands firmly on the horse's shoulders and planting a firm, passionate kiss on his lips. Bojack made no hesitation to return it as he moved back to the couch and wrapped his arms around the smaller man, not breaking the kiss and in fact, deepening it.

When they finally broke apart Herb nuzzled up to the horse and chuckled, "This day took a surprising turn."

Bojack chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, "So...?"

Herb looked up at him with a smirk, "So...?"

Bojack smiles, "You didn't answer. Whadda you say?"

Herb smiles back before he slips his arms around the horse's neck and leans up to give him another sweet long kiss. When he pulls away he nestles into the crook of his neck and laughs.

"Yes, BJ."

Outside of the house, hidden inside the shady leaves of a palm tree, there was the click of a camera shutter.