On tumblr I got the fake dating prompt "I only say yes under one condition: I want a public proposal with the potential to be a viral sensation. Go big or go home." with Marynon, and that spawned this fic.

FullCircle Arcadia is a random business name I generated using a generator tool. Is secretly a money-laundering business for whatever nefarious scheme Morgana is working on? If it is, then Shannon, Eli, Toby, Jim, and Mary aren't aware of it.

This was probably a bad idea, but it wasn't like Shannon had any other options. Aja was Shannon's closest friend, and she would probably be down to fake an engagement if it weren't for the fact that she was happily married to her high school sweetheart. Sadly, Shannon wasn't close to many of her other female friends anymore, what with her practically being married to her accounting job at FullCircle Arcadia. That was probably one of the reasons why her parents were breathing down her neck about settling down with this or that nice guy from church. Well, that and the fact that they refused to accept that their daughter was a lesbian. The coworkers in finance that she could almost call friends had listened to Shannon bemoan about her parents, but the others weren't exactly good options. Eli was sweet, and Shannon was sure that if she explained her situation to him he would gladly help her. However, even though he was gay faking an engagement with him would give the wrong message to her parents. Toby and Jim had all the problems of Aja and Eli combined, since the two of them had started dating three years ago.

Outside of finance and Aja, Shannon could think of two people who might be sympathetic enough to Shannon's plight. Claire had apparently been an actress back in high school, and the two of them had had friendly conversations before. However, Claire was kind of intimidating, half because of of how she dressed in skulls and spikes on her days off, and half because she had recently started working more closely with their boss, Mrs. le Fay. And, come to think of it, over the same amount of time Claire had been smiling less and scowling more and looking more and more exhausted, but that wasn't a problem Shannon could solve. Plus, Claire was bi, and as much as Shannon wouldn't mind her dating life to be a little more substantial than occasionally Facebook/Instagram stalking a cute coworker while in an incognito window, she didn't want this engagement to turn into real feelings.

Which meant that really, Mary from marketing was Shannon's only option.

"So," Shannon said to her coworker. "Will you do it?"

"I only say yes under one condition," Mary said, looking at her long acrylic nails and the way their indigo to orange ombre glimmered under the fluorescent lights. Shannon had always thought that long acrylics looked nice, but they weren't practical, for typing or other things.

"And that condition is?"

Mary looked Shannon in the eyes. "I want a public proposal with the potential to be a viral sensation. Go big or go home."

Shannon blinked. "What?"

"Listen, are you serious about faking this?"

"Yes."

"And you're serious enough that we'll fake this to our coworkers?"

"Yes." Well, personally Shannon was fine with maybe telling one or two of her coworkers that this was all fake, but she wanted this to be a secret from her parents. If they found out she was faking an engagement, then things would only get worse with them.

"Then if we do something big, then people are less likely to doubt us."

Mary did have a point. "But what about you? What would you get out of it?"

"I'd go viral, duh."

"Sure, but you're sure going viral won't, y'know, hurt your chances with guys?"

"Well then, good, finally. Heck, maybe it'd even help my chances with girls."

Wait, what?

"I thought you were straight... weren't you on-again off-again dating Hank from sales up until three months ago?"

Mary rolled her eyes. "Some of us don't exactly figure stuff out quickly."

"Yeah, sorry."

Mary was gay. That meant that things could get messy for both of them.

Mary was Shannon's only option.

"Okay," Shannon said. "For the viral proposal, is it okay if the ring is fake?"

"Yeah, I'm not expecting a real diamond, but I do want something that looks fancy and expensive even though it won't be."

"Okay, then. What's your ring size, and do you want me to propose or do you want to do it? Likewise, can I count on you if it doesn't go viral?"

"Seven. Let's brainstorm; I'm sure we can figure something out, and if we go with my idea then it would be my fault if it didn't go viral. It will, though."