*throws confetti* I HAVE REACHED MORE THAN 100,000 WORDS ON THIS COLLECTION OF STORIES!
Anyway,
Shardicole: You're proposing?
Requested by raphlover2012
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He had been given a lot of second chances, Shard would think sometimes.
He had been trying to find out what to do with them. He still was.
Nicole, though – he'd dedicate half of those chances to her. So when he glanced across the park and saw her, of course he got up and dashed over to her. He did that again, in a café, days later. And on that gala in the palace: Shard? I didn't know you were invited? He neither, until it had been just a few hours before it would start, and then his friends messaged him in a frantic rush. And after he met Nicole, the both of them escaped to the gardens, quiet and peaceful, spending the rest of the event there together.
She said she was trying to figure out emotions.
They could search through websites and databases in no time at all, sure, but some things there just weren't definitions for. Things like; how do people form such strong emotional bonds with each other? Does life have a purpose? Why is it that Shard always gets problem with his processing when Nicole smiles with that little quirk of the mouth? How does she always shine the brightest in a room, even when half the city is there? Why is it so… pleasant, to just sit with her and do paperwork?
He asked her out, half as a joke, half because he genuinely though that maybe… They went on a date. That tiny awful cinema on the corner of the street? Yeah, they went there – and it was glorious. Somehow they had gotten the wrong subtitles, and it was hilarious. So after that they went on another date, because this is working, right…?
One year, three months, and eleven days later…
That is to say, Shard had somehow been keeping track of the days, all this time. It's not that difficult for a robot, he supposed – though keeping careful track of all the little things Nicole did had been taking up most of his memory. Chaos forbid that anyone would ever get to see those files; meticulously organised, labelled alphabetically: reasons I might be helplessly in love, 1-3518…
Helplessly being the operative word here. He already knew he was in love or whatever… whatever artificial intelligences did. Seeing as he was an artificial intelligence himself, he might as well go ahead and just name it 'love' for any future generations of robots-
Well then. Sorting files wasn't very challenging nor stimulating work, but he and Nicole had volunteered. That was why he was coped up in this room, alone with Nicole, skimming through folder after folder and putting them in stacks, hour after hour. They were completely silent, Shard lost in his thought processes—and Nicole just didn't say anything, the quiet like a comfortable blanket…
And that's when Shard came to the quiet, sneaking realisation that he was actually helplessly in love. That was… he just stared at the folder in his hands for ten seconds. He's… in love with Nicole, which he knew – but no, he wants to-
"Want to get married?" Shard blurts out, with total conviction, and he spins around and drops the files, smiling at Nicole. Who slowly, slowly raises an eyebrow as the papers flutter to the floor around him.
"Marriage?" She stammers.
"You know, weddings?"
…Do they want to have a wedding?
"You," Nicole sort of squeaks, "You're proposing?"
"…Yes?" Suddenly anxiety strikes him. "…So do you want to marry me?"
"Yes. Yes!" Nicole exclaims. "I'm just-" she drops her files too, looking overwhelmed. "We're getting married?"
"Yes?"
"Oh gods-"
And then they were just embracing, one of them giggling stupidly. Or the both of them, maybe.
Days later…
"I really wanted to do this properly," Shard begins explaining, while kneeling on the floor and rummaging through his bag. Nicole just sits in her chair, looking exasperated but with the world's biggest and most beautiful smile on her face. When he finds the box, hands her the ring, watches her slip it on – okay, yeah, he's also grinning like a lovesick fool.
