"Do you guys wanna get married?"
The combined surprise of three girls was enough to send Max tumbling to the floor of the living room with a soft grunt. She probably should have seen that coming. It was her usual mistake of poor wording that had made everyone upset after all.
"Max, are you nuts? Marriage is for responsible, normal people. We're basically still kids!"
"I-I only just got my mother to be more accepting! If I get married now, she'll kill me..."
"Do you know how many years of school we still have left? There's no way I'm doing that until I've got my degree!"
Everyone was speaking basically in unison and with elevated voices and it wasn't helping the slight headache that she'd received from bumping into the floor. Max got up to a seated position and rubbed her head on its sore spot. "Y-You guys, I was... talking hypothetically! Like... Like in a future sense... Of course I'm not ready to get married yet. But I was so swept up in the moment and I had to ask."
Chloe moved swiftly to pull her up from the ground. "Oooookay. Time to get Super Max into bed. Sweet dreams you two~" Her blue-haired girlfriend tugged her into her room and was soon snuggling with her in bed. Particularly when the two of them slept together, they liked to do so completely nude. It was never something they discussed outwardly, it just happened that way. Both Max and Chloe liked to be as close to one another as possible, and that meant not letting a single thing get in the way between them. Often, it wasn't even a sexual thing, but purely sensory, to have that constant feel of skin against skin.
Max was resting against Chloe's chest, fully aware that she was now being kind of sulk-y, and Chloe wasn't so unobservant as to miss it. Fingers raked through her hair, and eyes full of concern gazed down at her. "Sorry we ruined your adorable moment, Max. We... could have handled that better." She paused for a moment, searching for her words, which was not something Chloe did as often as she ought to. "Let's face it, under different circumstances, I would probably think more highly of marriage. But dad died and then mom was alone, and then mom married an asshole and at the time it just felt like a complete betrayal against dad. So I'm conflicted. And maybe I guess some of that came bubbling up and I freaked. I just didn't realize Kate and Victoria would too." There was another pause as she collected her words together again.
"But as much as it terrifies me... Honestly it's also the only thing I can ever think about when I look at you. I don't necessarily get all girly and think about the wedding itself or whatever. But sometimes I catch myself imagining us cooking pancakes together and we both have rings on our fingers and shit. So I mean yeah. It'll happen. Some day." Each time Chloe spoke up, Max could feel her body loosen up a little more. Her eyes closed and she was finally shaking off her worries from before.
Kate tugged on the frumpy t-shirt, much to Victoria's amusement. There was something about Kate's wardrobe choices – both during the day and at night – that had once upon a time driven her insane and now made her love the girl all the more. "Okay so... what about not immediately...?"
Victoria was so invested in watching her get dressed in her amazingly normal clothing that she had somewhat lost track of this conversation. "Wait, immediate what...?"
She was giggling as she climbed into the bed next to Victoria, kissing her cheek and smiling at her with appreciation and affection. "Y'know... marriage. Like, once you get over the terror of 'what if we got married tomorrow' and just focused on the general future. Is that something you'd... want?" With lights and things all shut off now, they were illuminated only by what could sneak in through the blinds. Even in that low light, Victoria could see that there was very legitimate interest and concern on Kate's face.
"Understand that I'm saying this in light of how I grew up – with parents who, for all I knew, probably hated each other as much as anything. They were like the kids of two royal families, married out of convenience. I mean, maybe they even loved each other for a time, but they knew that long-term affection would never be their thing." Victoria sighed and closed her eyes, not wanting to look at Kate's sincere, beautiful eyes while telling she explained herself.
"So I always assumed that would be the type of life I'd eventually find myself in. The only other images I ever had of being married were from television, and I knew I would never let myself become a bored housewife." Victoria let herself take a slow breath to center her thinking. "But... Happy, normal marriage free of repression and hate were basically never a thing that existed to me. And the idea that it's possible is taking some getting used to. But if it were just this, just... the kind of stuff we've already been doing, being domestic and happy and busy and productive and... I would marry the shit out of you, Kate Marsh~" Victoria shuffled and wiggled to get a little closer to Kate so she could playfully peck her lips.
Some combination of phrasing and kissing elicited a little giggle of delight from Kate and she nodded her approval. "You wouldn't think it, but I think I can relate to some of what you said. Except it was always like... dad was really happy to be married and everything. And mom was kind of... not so happy to be married. Or like... it was a burden for her to bear rather than something joyous for her to participate in. And I guess a lot of that has to do with church stuff and... you know, the usual list of Kate Marsh issues." She smiled wearily here. "And it's a pretty cliché thing, but I was terrified that some day I would become like her – kind of bitter and angry and sad and repressed. And I know that none of you would ever let me get away with it. So it's like the thought of it still makes me anxious, but mostly because of my own hang-ups. Getting to marry Victoria Chase would be pretty much the best thing ever."
Max shifted, almost imperceptibly, to see if she could find a slightly more comfortable position. Chloe had this amazing sweet spot and it always took her a few minutes to hunt it down again. Max could only hope that some day she would have this girl's body memorized. "What about Tori and Katie?"
"Well, polygamy's still not a thing, hon."
Max pouted up at her. "That's not...! I mean, we're not gonna ditch them some day, are we?"
She could see Chloe's brow knitting together, showing some overloads going on inside her head and heart now. Max hadn't seen her consider so many words so carefully in ages. "Babe, it's already not super common to find consistently polyamorous groups. I mean, I guess we could do some research into it. I just... always assumed that some day, even if it's not for years and years, we would probably end up going separate ways. It can be tough enough for two people to act as a single organism, and you're talking about effectively doubling that level of difficulty..."
"But... it's not impossible, right?"
There was another pause, but this time it was followed by rather bright laughter from Chloe. "Max Caulfield, you are going to be the death of me. What, stopping a killer, a storm, and saving an entire town wasn't enough for you? You want to go to war against the world of romance itself? Not even rainbow flags outside the courts are going to slake your thirst, huh? Look, we're stuck with each other, so there's no sense in fighting you on this issue. If you want, we will do our best to further degrade real marriage." Chloe was still snickering, good naturedly, and kissed the top of her head. "Besides, I don't actually want to give up either of our girlfriends. I just figured it was inevitable. I am more than happy to be proven wrong here."
Despite their combined hesitations when it came to weddings and marriage, watching Kate go into planning mode was quite possibly the cutest thing ever. Victoria didn't have to do anything, just stand back and watch her go. "No no, it's so easy. We can do a dual wedding together, and with most of the people who would be there, like everyone knows what it really is anyway. And the four of us can get a place together, just like here. Maybe this time, even go with the two bedroom option – like when we were visiting and we stayed at that hotel!"
As adorable as this little tangent was, it did make Victoria pause. "So... it'll still be the four of us that far down the line?" She wasn't trying to crush Kate's dreams or anything. If they actually could stick together like some big beautiful family, that would be amazing. But when it came time for big decisions – where to move, what jobs to take – that meant a lot more work between themselves. Hell, even the concept of a double wedding sounded like a fucking nightmare. But she also wanted Kate's optimism to win out like it often did. "That does... sound amazing..."
To her surprise, rather than engaging Victoria's doubt, she just closed her eyes and got this knowing smile. "It will be." And that settled the matter, as was often how things went with Kate.