The Painting

tags: au, artist!danny, steve is… well steve, pov steve, anniversary, marriage proposal

Tonight's plan was for me to pick Danny up from his gallery, and we'd head out to dinner. Today, we'd been together four years. Four amazing, hard, crazy, sometimes-fucking-trying years. The best four years of my life.

I pulled up in the alley behind the gallery and took the fire escape stairs to the upstairs office. I used my keys, and hurriedly let myself in. "Danny?" I called out, once I stepped inside. "Sorry I'm late," I explained, even though I couldn't see him. "Traffic was terrible."

He appeared from around the doorway. He smiled beautifully. Nervously. He shook his head. "It's okay," he said quietly and held out his hand. "Come with me."

He took me past his office and down the darkened stairs to the gallery below us. He walked me toward the back room, and I saw it was softly lit. But he stopped as we got to the door. He didn't say a word. He just looked at me. I opened my mouth to ask him what was going on, but he stepped inside the room. He held my hand and led me in.

All the paintings that were on the walls were now gone. In the centre, toward the back wall was an easel holding a square painting. I looked at Danny, and he was nervous he even looked a little pale. I walked toward the painting. He obviously wanted me to see it.

"Is this new?" I asked. He hadn't told me he was painting something new.

He smiled. "Yes."

"Is it for me?" I asked. "Is this an anniversary gift?"

He nodded, but shrugged a little. "Do you like it?"

I looked back at the painting. It was predominantly metallic and silver, glittery, but somehow like a flat base metal. The principal shapes were circular, with spinning effects. It was extremely well done. I'd never seen anything like it.

"Danny, it's… it's extraordinary." His brow pinched, like I answered wrong. I tried again. "It's so different from your other work. It's remarkable." I looked from Danny back to the painting. "What does it mean?"

His voice was quiet now. "You tell me."

Oh. Even after all this time, I still sucked at this game. I started with the product it represented. "It's elemental. The metal, it's raw material. From the earth?" His lips twisted into a half smile. See? I really sucked at this game.

He opened his mouth, but closed it again, obviously deciding on a different thing to say. "Tell me what you see."

"Silver. Metal. Wheels, turning wheels." Yes that's it.

He smiled, but shook his head. "No, babe."

I looked back at the painting and Danny stood behind me, his forehead rested on my shoulder. "Come on, babe. You can do this," he whispered. "What do you see?"

Circles. Two joined circles. Metal circles, but they were not wheels. They were almost interlinked and looked like the symbol for eternity. Yes, the symbol for eternity! That's it! It was…

Oh, fuck.

Eternity.

Two circles.

But they were not circles.

They were rings.

Oh, fuck.

I turned to face him, and he saw that I finally got it. "Danny," my voice didn't work, my lungs had no air. "Is that…?

He nodded.

Oh, fuck. "Two rings?"

He nodded.

"Are you…"

He nodded. "Will you?"

I nodded. And he crushed me in his arms, he held me so tight, kissing my neck, my ear and my hair. "Oh, babe," he said into my neck. Then he pulled my face back and brought our foreheads together, his eyes were a piercing blue. "Will you? Marry me?"

I nodded again. "Yes. Yes, yes, God yes." He kissed me with smiling lips and tears in his eyes. "I love you, Danny Williams. Of course, I'll marry you."

He laughed, relieved and ecstatic. His face was just beaming. I imagined it matched mine. Oh my God. I was getting married.

"I'm getting married!" I said, rather stupidly.

"So am I!" he laughed.