Chapter title from "Pretty Shining People" by George Ezra
Kiss Prompt: One person has to bend down in order to kiss their partner, who is standing on their tip-toes to reach their partner's [Willex]
August 2018
"Okay, I would like to go on the record as being very against this whole zombie army thing."
From his spot up in the loft over the Magic Box showroom, Willie cuts his eyes down to his pacing boyfriend with a bemused chuckle. "I don't think Caleb gives us a vote on his apocalypse plans, babe."
"How is that fair? He gets to veto all of our plans to save the world, and we just have to deal with his attempts to end it?"
"He's raising an evil horde, not an evil democracy."
But his boyfriend continue to work the floor of the Magic Box like he's trying to dig his way down into the earth. It's very classic Alex, and it tugs fondly at Willie's heart. Being alive for a millennium has made him a bit immune to the apocalypse churn. Someone's always trying to end the world, and yet the thing has stubbornly continued to turn. Part of Willie understands that that's down to a lot of effort and planning and fighting and sacrifices. But there's another part of him that feels like Caleb's plan will just fold in on itself if the whole Scooby gang stays at home and orders a pizza instead of going into battle next week.
He's definitely not going to say that to Alex though, both because he knows that it's nonsensical optimism and because he suspects that his already tightly wound and stressed boyfriend would implode. Possibly literally, with all the magic that courses through him.
"Babe, have you tried screaming?" he asks gently as he pulls an ancient tome out of the loft bookshelf.
"I don't want to scream. I want Caleb to scream, and then vanish into a hell dimension, and stop trying to end the world for five seconds, and…"
Willie flicks a finger at the book and lets it magically float down toward Alex.
"I promise you can handle this spell."
"I'm not worried about the spell." Willie raises an eyebrow. "Okay, I am worried about the spell, but I'm also worried about our friends, and the magical battery, and the fate of the world, and did I mention the army of zombies? Cause I feel like you're being very casual about that, and I don't think 'army of zombies' is casual."
Oh no, he's working himself into a lather. Willie starts climbing down the ladder, rooting through his mind for something calming to say, but coming up empty. His boyfriend needs something else to focus on, something positive to spiral over. There's a ring burning a hole in Willie's pocket, but… that needs to be bigger. Not a giant gesture—that would stress Alex out—but something more than just words in the Magic Box.
"You know what we should do?" Willie asks casually.
"Cry?"
"Move in together."
Silence. Partway down the ladder, Willie stops and glances over at Alex, whose mouth hangs open in shock.
Willie's never been a nervous person. Worries are easy for him to push away, always have been. But Alex is frozen, and the former vengeance demon is finding it hard to ignore the flutter in his gut.
"… or not. No pressure."
"You want to move in with me?"
"Obviously. You're hella cute." A small, encouraging smile peeks through Alex's stunned expression, and Willie secures one hand on a step of the ladder so he can half turn to face his boyfriend. "Doesn't have to be a big thing. Just… why spend time apart when we could not spend time apart, right?"
Alex sidles up to the ladder and nods up at him. "I can't argue with that."
"Only if you want to though. Like I said, no—"
"Of course I want to."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." The grin spreading over Alex's face leaves his eyes dopey in that way Willie loves, and he can't stop himself from bending over. Alex immediately pops up on the balls of his feet as Willie captures his chin and brings their mouths together in a soft kiss. They're slightly too far apart—it's not a great kiss, their lips straining too hard to meet. But it's a kiss that comes before a lifetime together, the kind of kiss that makes that ring in his pocket feel even warmer and more inevitable.
The kind of kiss that reminds him that this tightly-wound, anxious warlock is his.
As Willie pulls his mouth away, he smiles breathlessly. "Right on."
Alex's grin is so broad that it looks like it's trying to split his face in half, and it takes him a moment to tamp it down enough to form words. "Do you think apartment hunting is easier after an apocalypse?"
"Only seems fair. Apocalypse should work for us sometimes, right?"