AN: This is about the first time Doug brought Evie to his home town for the holidays. This was originally written with the prompt: "I might just kiss you" so I tweaked it to fit the theme.

Timeline-wise: sometime after D3.

Hope you enjoy!

Hearty Home

"AAAHHHHHHHH!"

Dizzy's squeal rang so loud within the cottage that it scared the birds away from the nearby trees.

"Dizzy!" Ever the protective one, Evie found herself almost tripping on the stairs to get to the girl's room.

"Oh! Evie! Hi!" Her voice rose in pitch at each word.

"Are you okay?"

"Err, yup. Yup." She nodded her head, her lips firmly clamped against each other. "Just. Just… excited! You know? It's holiday break!" Her fists shot out from her sides, and she waved them up and down. "Yaaaaaay," she drew out.

"O… kay?" Her head tilted at the younger girl. This was weird, even for Dizzy. Still, after being assured she was alright, Evie turned back and closed the door.

When the brunette was sure Evie had gone back to her studio, or at least out of hearing range from her room, she dove into her bed. She exhaled loudly when her stomach bounced against the matters. "That was close." She raised her phone to show Doug on a video call.

He sighed.

"Thank you for telling me," she said in hushed tones this time.

"Tell you?" He chuckled. "I'm asking for your permission."

She rolled her eyes. "Just don't ship me off to boarding school, stepdad."

At this, Doug's blush grew so bright Dizzy thought her phone was automatically adjusting its brightness.

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"But what about Dizzy?"

Doug swallowed the lump in his throat. "Remember she mentioned that vacation with Celia?"

"Cinderellasburg? It's next week?" Evie's fingers reached for her small planner notebook and flipped through the pages. "I know about it…" She flipped more pages, then sighed. "I wrongly marked it as after New Year's." She grabbed a nearby pen and crossed out her previous scribbles of Dizzy's plans and re-writing them on the proper date.

"I really thought I'd spend the holidays with her," she pouted, then slapped her mouth. "Not that I wasn't looking forward to holidays with you."

He grinned at her, the thought never crossed his mind. "So it's okay for you to go home with me?"

She nodded, but her head dipped low. "I'm a little nervous though." After all, Charmington used to be the land where her mother ruled with her wicked ways. While her life now is nothing like what her mother wished for her, she still dared not set foot on Charmington even after all these years.

"But you already know most of my family. And Aunt Snow loves you, so staying in her castle with us isn't a problem."

Evie realized she had to suck it up lest she made a big deal out of this and made Doug worry. She couldn't tell him it wasn't his family that concerned her. As one of the advisers of the King, it was also odd she always avoided Charmington. She supposed it was as good a time as any to remedy that.

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From an outsider's point of view, Evie was the flirtatious and outgoing one between her and her long-term boyfriend and confirmed true love, Doug, who always seemed reserved and shy.

The couple and their close friends knew better than that. As the night went on with Snow White, Doc, Happy, and Grumpy hidden in some bushes near a window to spy on the young couple, their opinions of their dynamic changed quickly too.

Doug was a good-hearted joker, always trying to lighten up the mood with games thought on a whim or just making up funny faces, and an overall sweetheart who made sure Evie ate and slept right as well as taking time to send her little poems or trinkets every so often.

Evie, on the other hand, had the tendency to overwork and shut herself off from everyone when she got absorbed in her work, a sharp contrast to the bright and glamorous persona she had in front of the media.

"Are you sure Dopey said it's tonight? This is taking so long," muttered Grumpy. They've been following the two for almost an hour now!

"Shh," said Doc, the leaves covering his face rattling against his mouth.

Doug and Evie somehow ended up in one of the sunrooms after everyone had left for bed.

Snow White wiped her hands against her skirt in anticipation, watching as the blue-haired princess squealed when Doug picked her up by the waist from behind.

They started a round of one of Doug's invented games - a livelier version of the usual tag.

Evie kicked her legs in the air, trying to break free but to no avail. They laughed and he settled her back on her feet.

"That's five for me, two for you," he said with a grin, happy to finally win (and end) this game he started.

"I think my hair gave me away," she replied, tucking a stray piece behind her ear. "But a deal's a deal, game master," Evie said as she pecked his cheek. "What's my punishment?" she asked, breathing heavily.

He shrugged. "I haven't thought about it," he lied.

She narrowed her eyes. Auradonians were terrible liars, Doug more so than most.

"Okay, okay." He raised his hands up. "Stay there and don't move is your, uhh, punishment," he instructed, pointing to the far corner of the room where a full-length mirror stood.

Evie complied, curiosity taking over her features as he moved away from her and stood on the opposite side of the room.

"What now?" she asked when Doug didn't do anything but stand so far away from her.

"Please don't kill me," he said before dropping to the floor on one knee. He took a small box from his pocket and opened it to reveal a large emerald ring with sapphire accents on each side of the emerald.

Evie gasped, unwittingly hiding four other gasps from outside the window.

Even though she couldn't fully see what the ring looked like, her mind was slowly processing what was happening. Her true love on one knee, opening a small box with a ring on it.

"Evie," he met her shocked brown eyes from across the room, "I have been under your spell from the first time we met and it would make me the happiest man if I could stand by your side forever. Your intelligence…" He gulped. As confident as he came across earlier, this was still definitely nerve-wracking. How did Ben manage to sing a song for his proposal?

He made up the game to lead up to this, yes, but now that he was here… the adrenaline stopped and his heart kept slamming against his chest. "Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

She jumped in her place squealing, arms flailing. Her punishment was to, unfortunately, 'stay' on the spot, after all. "Yes! Yes!" She wiped stray tears away from her cheeks, grinning at him. "Doug!" Evie stretched her arms in front of her and wiggled her fingers for him to come closer. "Get your ass over here!"

He chuckled as he stood. She was competitive even while serving punishment. The whole 'punishment' was to make sure she didn't hit him in case she said no. He should have had more faith she was going to have this reaction instead.

Doug stopped in front of her and slipped the ring on her finger.

She paused to admire it. She knew the emerald itself was passed down by Dopey, having seen it on more than one occasion as a necktie brooch on the man. Doug settling it in the middle of small sapphires was such a sweet gesture.

"What do you think?" he asked, nervous she didn't appreciate the color combination. She never wore green, after all.

"I might just kiss you." She looked up at him, a smile splitting her face.

He smiled in return and wrapped his arms around her waist to draw her closer to him and away from her 'punishment' spot. "Then why aren't you?" He kissed her forehead first before capturing her lips in his.

From their hiding spot outside the window, Snow White carefully handed her handkerchief to a bawling Happy.

AN: I'd like to shout out to Alysscassandra, who previously asked for an engagement theme. I had this in my outline, but seeing how long it took for me to get to this chapter… I hope I didn't disappoint too much.

'Til next time!