He had set up the table, the champagne, the movie, hidden his own tiny box, ... everything was perfect.

The only thing to do now was to wait for the love of his life to return home to put his plans into action.

...

It's a real pity life always somehow gets in the way.

Hurt/comfort
Happy ending
No one dies this time though, so don't worry!

This thing took me by surprise and had to pen it down. And... Is it just me or do I write almost everything from Marco's point of view the most? Confusing myself if I like Marco more than Ace, it would feel like betrayal since my bedroom is like Ace in every corner.

Forgive me for any weird mistakes/words in here, I did not re-read this after finishing it and a spellcheck, for I was too tired but wanted to post it anyway.

Marco POV! (SURPRISE! XD)

There had been an accident in the city, a bridge collapsing, injuring dozens of citizens, being one of the top surgeons at the local hospital, he, and many other staff-members, stayed long after their hours to help as many as they could.

When he had reached his car, his team having been send home purely from exhaustion, he had seen he had multiple messages from Ace, his roommate of 3 years... and oh, also his boyfriend for another 2 years more. Reading them over made him smile but also made him feel a pang of guilt. He had promised Ace he would definitely be home on time today.

Firefly

17:20 – Hey Birdy! Did you leave yet? I prepared some food, if you let me know when you get to the car, I can time it to be done for when you arrive. - Kisses from your lovely fire!

17:40 – I've started finishing up the dishes, I know you don't always check your phone after work. Everything will be done when you get here! Love you! - xxxxxx Firefly!

18:00 – I saw it was very busy on the main road today for some reason, will probably delay your drive a lot... Don't worry, I'll make sure to keep everything hot and tasty for you, including me hehe. Drive safe! - Huggies from your Boooooo!

(Missed calls from Firefly – 1)

18:25 – Marco? Baby? Are you okay? Did something happen at work? If you see this, let me know! - Love Ace

(Missed calls from Firefly – 2)

18:30 – I just saw on the news that the bridge collapsed recently. You use that too to get home too, are you fine? You weren't injured right? Be safe!

(Missed calls from Firefly – 4)

18:40 – Marco, please pick up the phone. I'm scared for you! You normally always answer rather quickly. I tried calling the hospital to see if you've left already but every phone-line is busy. If you see this, please let me know if you're okay!

19:00 – The hospital finally picked up. They told me you and your team are staying late for emergency operations on those involved in the accident. I'm glad to know that you're safe, I love you! Work your magic hands on those people!

19:02 – Ah... You probably haven't read a single one of these messages if you've been in the surgery room for hours... I get it now why you haven't replied. I get it now, it's fine, save those people! Drive safe when you get home, I read that they're already clearing out parts of the road so it should be open soon and you can use it to get home. Do take another route if it seems unsafe! xxxxx

21:00 – Marco, I know you're one of their best doctors and you probably won't even see this until you finish... but please don't overwork yourself. You've already been up for so long today! I'll be ready at home for cuddles and I'll even give you a massage, you deserve it! I've also rented a movie you like so you can relax after today! See you later!

Sighing he put his phone away, deciding it was already late and Ace would most likely be asleep by now, he didn't bother replying, he didn't want to wake up his lover with notifications.

By the time he finally got home, it was already close to midnight, his shift had already ended at 5, yet here he was taking off his shoes, 7 hours after he should have clocked out.

On any normal day he would be greeted by a smiling Ace standing in the hallway, always hearing him running towards the door when the teen picked up on the jingle of his keys while he was still outside, it was adorable and still warmed his heart after three years of living together.

Today however, there was no one waiting. It didn't surprise him in the slightest that his lover wasn't here at this ungodly hour. Even if Ace tried to stay awake for him whenever he worked longer hours, his narcolepsy would knock him out eventually. And to be fair, he didn't deserve a welcome back anyway, not when he broke his promise to be home. His lover knew that he had hectic hours sometimes and that he could randomly be asked to be at work longer, luckily Ace was very accepting of it, if only to pout sometimes about lost cuddle time but he would never seriously be mad, knowing and understanding the situation. But this time it felt different somehow, he can't explain why, maybe it was due to exhaustion, even if staying longer, the duration he had been operation continuously today had been immensely compared to normal, but somehow felt more guilty than usual. He would try and make up with Ace at a later date, maybe take him to that cute cat café that recently opened, ace loved cats, cuddles and food, all of which u could get plenty of there. Smiling at the thought he made up his mind while taking off his shoes, next weekend they could go there together.

After placing his shoes neatly in the cabinet, and straightening out Ace's pair, he walked into the home, hanging his jacket and workbag on the rack when he walked past.

He stopped in his tracks when he entered the first real room in the house, the kitchen. Since Ace was home earlier then him, he was often the one who made dinner and set the table so it was ready when he came home from work. He had often told Ace that he didn't need to do this much, that he would help when he got home, he didn't mind eating late. But he always just smiled at him saying Marco could pay him back by cooking on the weekend, which is what he did.

Today however it was different. None of the usual pots and pan, plates, kitchen ware was on the table. Instead, set before each of their seats were their special set of kitchen wares. They barely used them, only on special occasions, and even then, if it was their birthday or a family party, they still used their normal stuff, so it had to be very special for them to take them out.

Notable was also the extraordinary, untouched, food laid out in the middle of the table. He instantly noticed It wasn't just their everyday food, no, it was his favourite dish. His absolute favourite dish, a dish from his hometown far, far away from here. He loved it and would make him think back of his childhood, sadly he didn't get to have it often, you can't make it with any ingredients you can find here. And the rip-off look-a-likes just didn't taste the same.

From smell alone he could tell that this was the real deal. That meant Ace must have especially imported everything to be able to make it. While possible, they didn't do that often, it got expensive very quickly and since it was food, it was delicate and often arrived in bad shape. This also did explain why Ace had texted him a few times to know when he left. This kind of food tasted best when it was first made, it would lose more and more flavour every time you heated it up.

His guilt only tripled while thinking of all of this, Ace having prepared so much for him, especially for him and it would all go to waste. They could still eat it tomorrow, but it wouldn't be at his best. But what hurt him the most were the candles on the table. They often had some scented candles standing around the house, this wasn't special, but these weren't once they had in their house normally, indicating Ace has also specially bought them. These candles were those thin long ones you saw at every picture of a romantic dinner, only … they were no longer in their top shape.

The drip-pan at the bottom of the candle was almost overflowing with wax, a few droplets even having fallen down already. It indicated how long Ace had been sitting at this table, waiting for Marco to still arrive home. It broke his heart but there was nothing that he could do right now, he would definitely make it up and thank Ace for all of this with all his might!

Suddenly he noticed that there was light coming from the living room. Was Ace still awake?
Crossing the kitchen he made his way towards the room, he could also see the coffee table trough the doorway and … there was something standing on it.

It... it was a bottle of champagne, once again of a brand he favoured, and next to it stood two tall clean glasses, making it obvious for who and when they were supposed to drink this. The TV-screen was showing the opening scene of , once again, something he liked, an older movie that he loved for the storyline, and one Ace laughed at for the bad special effects.

Every additional thing he saw and noticed warmed and broke his heart at the same time. So much, there had been so much Ace had prepared for today, for the day he had said he would absolutely be home, and on the day that he failed to keep this promise.

The worst of it all was when he saw the slumped form on the couch. Ace. He wasn't awake, Marco could not only tell from his closed eyes, but also from the evened out peaceful breathing. His lover held a pillow close to him in a strong grasp, had Marco been here, that cushion would have been him, Ace always took a hold of him in his sleep. One of his lover's hands loosely gripped around his phone, showing that Ace had been waiting for his reply. And having seen the messages, he could picture Ace anxiously watching the news, texting and calling him to see if he's alright, while waiting for a reply that never came. Maybe he should have texted the moment he had the chance... no... Ace would have been asleep then too, and if it had woken him up it would have screwed over the sleeping pattern he had even more, something Ace needs to take care of to keep with his Narcolepsy, it was probably already screwed over a lot from him waiting up today...

What nearly brought him to tears however, was that he had spotted wet spots on the cushion, and as a consequence, noticed the dried-up tear tracks on his lover's face. He was the cause for these tears, he never wanted to be the cause of Ace's sadness, yet here was the proof that he had actually hurt the man. No matter how happy Ace always acts around him, forgives him with a smile every time he arrived home late, he knew Ace was still hurt.

He wanted to cry himself, but he didn't have the right too, not when he brought this onto himself when he decided to stay at work instead of coming home.

Carefully he took some steps forward to Ace and gently kissed his forehead while whispering a 'I'm home' before bending down and gently picking the man up in his arms. He carried him up towards their shared bedroom and undressed him down to his boxers, they both liked to simply sleep in them, prior to lowering him into their bed.

When he tried to leave, planning on putting the food in the fridge and hopefully save it for tomorrow, a soft drowsy voice stopped him.

"-arco?"

Turning around he saw a sleepy Ace looking at him through barely open eyes. He instantly turned around to kneel next to him, putting a hand on Ace's head, his lover immediately leaning into the touch.

"Ace-yoi, I'm sorry, I'm so so so-"

"I (l)ove you."

Breath caught in his throat and he could feel pressure behind his eyes, how could Ace still say that to him when he had left him like this. When he hadn't come home.

"I-I love you too Ace, I love you so much" His hand had started trembling on Ace's head "I promise that I'-"

"I'm tired, sleep with me?" While Marco had been trying to apologize, Ace had taken a hold of his trembling hand and was now holding it close to his heart.

Normally his first reaction would have been to indicate that there was still food left out and that the TV was still turned on, but right now he pushed those thoughts away, those things don't matter right now. Ace is now his biggest priority. Barely holding back some tears he smiled at his lover and kissed the hand that was holding his "Of course, my fire."

After he undressed himself, he slid under the cover that Ace weakly held up for him. The man instantly latched onto him and he also hugged him back quickly, soon after though he could feel a wet spot growing on his chest. Looking down he saw that Ace was slightly trembling and hiding his face, Ace was crying. "Ac-"

He got silenced by Ace squeezing him harder, knowing that Ace didn't want to talk right now, which was very understandable, he simply strengthened his own hold on Ace and caressed his hair and back until they both fell asleep.

The next morning Marco woke up first, like always, raising his hand he felt at his chest, it was dry, but he could still feel the moist spot as clear as ever. He can't just make it up, but he'll already start small and make Ace a treat, breakfast in bed. Something they normally didn't do since with Ace's eating habits, the whole bed would need to be vacuumed... but he didn't mind that this time, and wouldn't for a while.

Before making breakfast, he had remembered the bottle of champagne and judged it for the best if he put that in the fridge first for later. However, when he picked up the glasses, he heard a weird clinking noise. He scanned the ground for any items that he could have dropped, but there was nothing. He quickly realised the sound was coming from the glasses when he had moved again.

Looking towards the items in his hands, a shimmer in one caught his eyes. Putting one of the glasses down so he didn't drop it, he turned the other one over his hand. In his palm fell a small object, only thanks to his reflexes as a surgeon, did he not drop the items when he stumbled.

In his hand was a band, a ring to be precise. With quivering fingers, he picked it up to inspect it. It was a simple silver band, nothing special... besides the engraving on the inside. In it were the words 'My fire' as a drawing of a small fire, all in Ace's handwriting.

To others it may seem like a weird thing, but for Marco it made his head ring for the meaning that could be behind this. The words, the fire, it was something special between them. He called Ace 'My fire' and Ace called him 'My phoenix', often jokingly throwing stuff like 'birdy' or 'pineapple' into the mix, just like he would switch it up every now and then with 'Firefly' or 'freckles'.
Whenever they left each other written notes, they wrote their greetings this way. Ace always signing it by writing 'Your fire' at the end, accompanied with the exact tiny drawing that was engraved into the ring.

Besides the possible meaning behind the ring, the ring itself, while simple in design, Marco knew it was anything but that, it wasn't for nothing, it had reasons. Ace had searched for something that he could wear to work.
As a doctor, especially as a surgeon, jewellery is a big no no, anything really that can get into the way of operations is. But this ring was flat and even had rounded corners, nothing would catch on it. And without a jewel or other accessories, there was also no danger of losing the stone,… into a person's body when operating.
After years of being in his work field, he had also learned to recognise different metals, or well the important and common ones. And he could feel/see that this was titanium. Not only was it very sturdy and would survive his constant need of grabbing tools and contact with disinfection alcohol, it was also one of the only metals that were allowed near some of their machines. Ace had thought of everything, for him.

The meal, the movie, the engraving, the ring, where he found the ring... Everything that Ace had prepared yesterday, why he had prepared it, why his lover had been so nervous these last weeks, why his lover had been asking him to be home to today. God, Ace had asked him so many times, mentioned it at multiple occasions as a casual thing if Marco would be home yesterday evening, he had said 'yes' every single time. It all made sense now, it made so much sense.
Ace... Ace had wanted to propose to him. He had been asking for him to be home because of this, for this special moment, for this life-changing decision.

Tears suddenly started falling out of his eyes when he realised it. He had missed this, he hadn't been proposed too, he hadn't been here for the question, al because of some work.

He... he... he could have called Ace his fiancé today... If he had simply come home after his hours had ended, if he had come home as how he had promised... he would have been engaged now! They would have made vows together, promising to be with each other, he would have been linked to the love of his life... for life!

Dread suddenly filled him and he clutched at the ring. Would he still be able to now? Will Ace still want to be with him? Ace had told him that he loved him yesterday, but maybe that was just the sleep and exhaustion talking. How could Ace st-

Movement from behind him stopped his thoughts. He thought it had only been some minutes, but it seemed that he had been lost in his own thoughts longer than he expected.

"Ace..."

Standing in the doorway was Ace, one who was very much not asleep anymore. He saw his lover's face change from confusion to a nervous smile upon seeing his tears and emotion filled face before he had noticed what he had been holding in his hand.

It was only because he had been paying a lot of attention to Ace right now, that he had seen a flash of sadness cross over Ace's face before his features turned into that nervous smile.

"I.. Aha ehm yea... I... Marco... I see you found it haha" Ace awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

"Do you have one too-yoi?" he blurted out before he could think but he couldn't help but ask. Damnit, what did it even matter, he would never ask him now.

"Huh, yea, of course." After a moment of confusion, Ace walked over to the coffee table and took something out of the drawer. It was a small box.

With quivering hands, he reached out for it. With slightly blurry eyes he opened it to see another ring. The ring had the same design as him, flat with rounded edges and inside was an engraving. Only this one had a drawing of a bird, a crappy made drawing of a bird, accompanied by the words 'My Phoenix'. Both were made in his chicken-scratch of a handwriting.

While he was inspecting it, Ace suddenly laughed, but it was a broken one, one filt with too many emotions too count. "I ehm... Marco... I had prepared a lot... I even had a speech ready and everything but... I don't think I could recite it now..."

He didn't know what to do, there was so much going through his mind. Should he apologise again, but it wouldn't do anything, he had ruined it all already. What did he need to do now? He was on his way to apologize again, even if it wouldn't do anything, it was the only thing he could do now and hope Ace won't leave him and will forgive him someday. But he got beaten by his lover who started speaking again. He still sounded emotion filled and Marco was sure he saw some tears in his eyes too, but his voice still somehow sounded strong, confident, sure.

"This isn't as romantic or nice as I had hoped it would be, for how I had planned for it to be. But... I can't postpone it, I don't want to postpone it."

His breath caught in his throat, and his tears stopped streaming out of his eyes in shock, time stood still around him. Why did it still sound like Ace still wanted him? Why did it sound like Ace still wanted to propose to him? As if he was going t-

"Marco, My Phoenix. I love you, please marry me?"

Wha- No- Why would-, he slumped to the ground before the one who just proposed to him, breaking down in tears again, sobbing out loud while he choked out words. "Why, why do you still want me-yoi" he clutched the rings in his hands, Ace hadn't gotten down on one knee for the proposal, but he didn't care, it was the last thing on his mind right now "I- I- I didn't come home! I wasn't here! I had promised I would be here and I broke that promise, I left you alone. I-"

"Marco it's okay"

"No, no, no it's not. You, you planned all of this! I could have called you my fiancé today, I would have loved it too, I've imagined this so many times, spending the rest of my life with you, and I ruined it by prioritising my work over you, when I had said that I would be home!"

Ace kneeled down before him and took a-hold of Marco's still clenched hands. "Marco, look at me, listen to me."

He didn't know when he had closed his eyes, but when Ace told him to look at him, he realised he had clenched them shut, with pain filled eyes he looked into his lover's eyes, seeing he wasn't the only one with wet cheeks. He felt Ace's own hands tremble and how they squeezed his at specific words to show he means them, to make sure the full message comes across.

"I love you. Marco Newgate, My Phoenix, I love you so much, so very much. And yes, I am not going to lie, it hurt. It hurt when you didn't come home last night. When I was here, waiting, preparing... Waiting for that jingle of your keys, but they never came, the door never opened. And then there was the news that the bridge collapsed." For a moment Ace stopped, choking on his own breath before he continued "I- I thought you were hurt, that you were there, that you had been on that bridge when it collapsed. That- that- that you were d-d-dead. You never reacted and the hospital didn't pick up, I was so scared, I thought I would never see you again, Marco!" Tears were freely dripping onto their joined hands, they were squeezing each other so hard it almost hurt, but it showed both of them that they were alive and together, so it was fine. "When they finally picked up and told me about your situation, I was happy, I was so happy that you were okay, that you hadn't been on your way home."

"A-Ace." He croaked out his lover's name, he hadn't put that much thought into it anymore about how Ace had sounded worried in his texts about his wellbeing, didn't realise how scared he had been. He had hurt him a lot more besides not showing up. At least this part could have been prevented had he just sent a simple text that he would work longer. "I- I'm sorry, if I had just texted that I was going to overw-"

"You couldn't."

"I co-"

"No, you couldn't. It happened towards the end of your shift, you would still be cleaning up you supplies from you last surgery. And seeing the amount of people hurt, they probably started wheeling them in instantly, not giving you time to text me."

"..." Ace was right, but still, a text would have taken less than a minute.

"I... I know stuff like this could happen, that you would overwork. I have known for years how your schedule is."

"But that doesn't make it okay" He croaked out with emotion when they went back to the original topic "you shouldn't accept it."

"Shhh," Ace whipped some of his tears away, even while they were still streaming freely down his own lover's cheeks. After firmly re-taking their hold on each other's hands, Ace continued "Marco, after I knew that you were okay and I could finally think rationally about the whole situation. If you didn't stay, if you had come home as promised, so many people would have lost their lives, would have lost their own loved ones. Because you stayed to help them, you saved them."

"You don't know that..."

"No, I know you did. You saved them by trying. Even if they didn't make it, you gave them a chance. A chance they wouldn't have had if you had left. And yes, it still hurt for me that you were not here, but I get it, and I am so, so proud to be with you, that I am the one to greet you home after you've saved so many people. These things will happen again and again. No matter if you want to or not, no matter if you made a promise."

"But they shouldn't..."

"But they will Marco. And you know it. And I accept that. I may get sad sometimes, maybe even get mad at some point, but when that happens, please forgive me for that. I love you so much, I don't want to lose you for any reason." Ace was full-on crying right now, holding onto him with shivers and sobs racking trough his whole body. Some of the next words where whispers, while others almost seemed yelled in their silent house, but the emotion behind it was so very clear. "Marco damnit! Just get it into that stupid pineapple of yours! I love you, I really, really, really love you! Even with those screwed-up hospital schedules and the sudden longer hours, I love you and I don't want you to leave my side. The time I can spend with you make up for all of this, they mean so much to me, mor then the whole world. So please, p-please Marco, stay with me, stay by my side forever, for eternity. Give me the honour of welcoming you home every night, let me be the one to lay next to you on the couch or in the bed... I don't even care where you want to lay down, you could want to sleep on a bed of Lego's and I would want to be the one to lay next to you! Just let me stay with you, let me stay beside you and allow me, to someday in the future, change Fiancé into another word and allow me to call you my husband. Marco, Marco, Marco, please. Marry Me."

During the whole speech Marco had been silently bawling, he hadn't cried this much in years, but this was all so, so much. They had been tears of sadness in the beginning, but now they were tears of pure happiness of Ace still wanting him, that he still loves him this much and is asking to marry him.

Even if Ace had said he wasn't able to do his pre-pared speech, in the end he had given one, one filled with so much emotion. He could never match it, especially not now, he wasn't even sure if he would be able to get a lot of words out, but he would do his best for the most important ones.
"Y-yes, yes, Ace. I don't want to spend my life with anyone else, I only want to wake up with you by my side. I should be the one asking you to give me the honours to be your husband."

Even with tear tracks on his face, Ace smiled brightly and carefully prayed open his hand to take one of the rings. He watched on in without movement how his lover... Fiancé, gently slipped the ring around his finger. Once it was done, Ace pressed a kiss to it before looking into his with nothing but pure love for him.

"A-" He suddenly realised he still had Ace's ring in his other hand. He didn't know if this was appropriate or not, but he wants to put a ring on Ace too, even if he wasn't the one who prepared it. His mind was trying to come up with words to say, to also tell Ace how much he loves him and that he wants to be with him, just like Ace had done, but right now he couldn't get any words out. Too many emotions still holding him in a chokehold. He would make sure to still give Ace his deserved speech of his love too at a later time.

"I-I, A-Ace... May I?" he held the ring forward, trying to hold it as steady as possible with his still trembling being. Without even being the slightest bit off-put at him using his own prepared ring, Ace smiled and held out his hand for him to slid on the matching ring. He also kissed Ace's ring, but not before holding it against his forehead for a moment, relishing in the feel of being bound together with him now.

Afterwards they simply held onto each other's hands, absentmindedly rubbing their thumbs over each other's rings. They looked at each other with emotional loved filled eyes, smiling fondly they leaned in for a soft kiss before resting their foreheads against each other. Both getting a bit overwhelmed again by everything that had happened, they stayed like this for some moments until the new tears that had come dried up.

Finally parting they stood up together and wordlessly squeezed each other's hands before Ace broke the weird, still lingering, emotional bubble.

"So, I still have that movie rented until around noon. What do you say about spending the rest of the morning on the couch with some breakfast while watching it?"

Wiping his face clean as much as he could, his heart warming at the feel of metal rubbing against his cheeks, he smiled, a true smile that reached his still moist eyes "I would love that-yoi".

As thus, the freshly engaged couple made their way to the kitchen together to make some simple breakfast. he cooked up some bacon and eggs, while Ace put on some coffee. When it was all done, they made their way towards the couch, food and drinks in hand.

While eating their breakfast, Ace was glued to his side, touching at all times. Once done eating, they started the movie and changed position. While he himself had laid down onto his back, Ace had come to lay on top of him, head on his chest. The perfect position for Marco to feel all of the warmth his lo- fiancé had to offer, while Ace could listen to his, very much alive, fiancé's heartbeat. During the whole movie, he had his hand on Ace's back and took his time to stroked his hair. He was the luckiest man in the world to have someone like Ace with him.

No one died this time hahah, but I've still put it into this series. Dark flame will have everything that's not on the happy side, even if it sometimes has a happy ending.

Also! Last chapter of 'He Made a What!?' is in progress! On 7,5k words now, it's getting out of hand hahahaha