Hiro's long-held question of what Ando was up to came to him unexpectedly on one of the first clear, sunny days there'd been in weeks. At the time, Hiro had been preoccupied with making plans for Valentine's Day, which was approaching rapidly. Between that and Anzu, there were plenty of things for Hiro to think about other than a few vague explanations and a suspicious conversation.
To Hiro's surprise, Ando left work early that day. "Where are you going?" Hiro asked, leaning back in his chair curiously as his boyfriend tidied up his desk and prepared to leave. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine," Ando assured him, stopping at Hiro's desk to give him a quick peck on the forehead. "I've just gotta run some errands. Cover for me, okay?"
"Okay…" Hiro muttered; he wanted to ask "what errands?", but Ando was already on his way out the door by that point.
Sighing, Hiro forced his attention back to his work. However, he remained somewhat distracted for the rest of the day. For whatever reason, he felt as if something big was about to happen. The only problem was, he wasn't sure whether it was something to look forward to or something to dread.
By the time the workday ended, Hiro hadn't gotten work done so much as stared at empty Word documents and made little avatars of himself and his friends in online dress-up games. He knew he'd get flack for slacking off, but it was hard to concentrate when he had that odd sense of anticipation hanging over him. Either way, he was more than happy to get home to his boyfriend. As silly as it was, Hiro kind of liked it when one of them had to either stay home from work or work late. Working at the same place meant heading home together as well, which had been fine when they'd been platonic buddies who went home to separate apartments, but felt kind of anticlimactic nowadays.
Upon opening the door and stepping into the apartment, Hiro took great enjoyment in calling out "Hi, honey, I'm home!" This greeting was met with a loud curse from the bedroom, followed by Ando rushing out with his hands behind his back.
"Welcome home, sweetie," Ando said, beaming. Keeping one hand behind his back, he brushed the other along Hiro's cheek. "Um, could you come into the—no, wait, here is fine—no wait, how about in the…"
He trailed off into a flustered mumble. Hiro had no idea what was going on, but suddenly he was pretty sure Ando had left work early not to run errands, but to do whatever he was about to do. Glancing around the apartment, it was clear that Ando was trying to set a certain mood—there was soft lighting, as well as classical music playing in the background.
"If you want," Hiro offered, "I can take us someplace you think would be appropriate."
Ando seemed to consider it for a moment, but then shook his head. "No, I don't need that," he said, speaking in a way that told Hiro he was choosing his words carefully, "Because my love for you doesn't depend on your powers. Even in the darkest times, when I'd be helpless otherwise, it's you who keeps me going."
Hiro wasn't quite sure how to take all this sudden romantic prose. The last time Ando had talked like that was when they'd first started dating. Giving his boyfriend an awkward smile, Hiro asked, "What's this all about, Ando?"
Ando drew in a sharp breath. Suddenly it occurred to Hiro that Ando might be about to break up with him, or tell him that he only had a short while left to live, or some horrible thing like that. But then what was the romantic lighting and music for? Before Hiro could puzzle it out in his head, though, Ando took his hand and got down on one knee.
Looking directly into Hiro's eyes, Ando pulled his other hand out from behind his back. In it, he held a slim silver band—a ring.
"Hiro Nakamura, will you marry me?"
In that moment, everything seemed to slow to a halt. Usually for Hiro when time seemed to stop it was because he'd actually freezed time, but that obviously wasn't the case now. He just wasn't sure what to do… what to say… what to think!
Heart beating at a mile a minute, Hiro met Ando's gaze without really meeting it. His eyes may have lined up with his boyfriend's, but he was staring right through Ando into the unforeseen, terrifying future that lay before them. He supposed if he really wanted to know how to answer he could just go a year or so into the future and check, but that seemed kind of like cheating. He just… He'd never been proposed to before…
What if he said no? Would Ando be mad at him? Should he say no? That would be the responsible thing to do, probably. The two of them would never be able to afford an elaborate wedding like Hiro had always dreamed of having one day. But, Hiro realized, that was just the thing—the way their lives were going, they really would never be able to afford something like that. Besides, accepting Ando's proposal wouldn't mean they'd have to get married right away. They could wait on that. But, even though Ando may well have asked him again in a few years' time if Hiro turned him down now, Hiro felt like this was a now-or-never kind of opportunity. Whether it would change his life for the better or the worse—though when he took another look at Ando's beautiful brown eyes, Hiro couldn't see how it could ever make things worse—this was a chance Hiro had to take.
"Yes," Hiro said quietly, his voice catching. Clearing his throat, he tried again somewhat louder. "Yes! Yes, I will marry you!"
"Oh my God, thank you!" Jumping to his feet, Ando threw his arms around Hiro and squeezed him as tightly as he normally only did when they'd just survived some harrowing obstacle. "Hiro, I… you don't know how much this means to me, really…"
Hiro smiled, tearing up a little and he interlaced his fingers behind Ando's back. "I think I have some idea," he murmured. "This does mean a lot to me, too, you know."
They held each other for a moment longer, inexpressible volumes of emotion communicated silently through their embrace. Then they pulled apart and Hiro took off his glasses to wipe them on his shirt, and when he put them back on he looked back up at Ando and excitement bubbled up inside of him to the point where he couldn't stand still.
Bouncing up and down on his heels, Hiro grinned giddily, unable to think of anything to say. It really felt like he should have been saying something right then. The silence was broken only when Hiro's phone rang. "I'll get it," Hiro called as he ran over to grab his phone; his cheeks reddened a moment later when he remembered that of course he'd get it; it was his phone! To be honest, Hiro was still used to using landlines.
"So, how did it go?!" On the other end, Hiro was somewhat surprised to hear Kimiko. She sounded very excited. "Did you say yes?"
Turning to raise his eyebrows at Ando, Hiro replied, "Kimiko, you knew Ando was going to propose? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Anzu told me that Ando had told her when she was at your guys' apartment," Kimiko explained. "I didn't want you to know so that it would be a surprise. But never mind that," she went on, "Did you say yes or not?!"
"…I said yes," Hiro said. Saying it aloud sent a thrill through him, like confirmation that he had indeed accepted Ando's proposal. Suddenly an idea occurred to him. "Say, what if we had our wedding at the same time you and Anzu have yours?"
"A Nakamura family double wedding, hmm?" Kimiko mused. Hiro could tell by her tone of voice that she wasn't big on the idea, which was fine, since it was just something he'd thought of off the top of his head. "That sounds… interesting."
"We don't have to do that," Hiro said quickly. "It was just an idea. Anyways, let's talk about this later, okay? Ando and I have a lot of things to go over."
"Oh, I'd imagine so," said Kimiko, chuckling a bit. "Talk to you soon, little brother. Bye!"
"Bye," Hiro replied, although Kimiko had already ended the call. Slipping his phone into his pocket in case he got any more calls, he turned back to Ando. "Okay, my brand new fiancé," he said with a grin. "I'd say we've got a lot of planning to do."
