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The world was cruel. Evil. Vicious. And it especially hated him. Or maybe there was just another supernatural being that was fueled by his misery. After all, Akira had already killed a god and stopped his counselor and an AI from attempting to be god. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility that there were more heavenly beings aspiring to strike him down.
But those gods would never get what they wanted. Akira Kurusu was above their attempts to bring him down. He was a god slayer, he saved humanity multiple times, and he brought his boyfriend back from the dead through the strength of his love and desire…or something. He wasn't actually sure. But he definitely killed a god. And saved the world three times.
This was nothing. Bad luck be damned. No god was going to get in the way of what he wanted. He was going to continue to fight. He was going to win. And he would kill another god if he needed to.
He would not be deterred from proposing to his boyfriend.
Unfortunately, the macho was not making things easier.
But that was fine. He had bucket loads of optimism and belief left inside of him.
The first six failures only fractured his heart slightly. A completely salvageable and easily fixable amount.
And seven was a lucky number, so he was feeling pretty good about this one. Really good. This one was going to work.
This attempt was similar to attempt four. He just used the mistakes he learned from that atrocity to make an even better plan.
Akira was very happy that he had absolutely no plans to become a writer because the two hour long complaint session Goro had subjected him to after he read the short story he wrote would have seriously damaged his ego. He really should have spent more time on making sure the story was good and not just focus on the code he hid within it. Goro was so mad at the 'anonymous author's' writing that he didn't even think to actually crack the code and realize it was a proposal.
But it was fine. Akira learned his lesson. If he wanted to make Goro solve a puzzle, he needed to make it very clear that there was a puzzle to be solved. And make sure he didn’t surround said puzzle with things his very lovely and amazing boyfriend would rather spend his time complaining about. Easy.
The scene was set. The preparations were done. Now he just had to wait for the love of his life to come home.
He smiled as he heard the sound of the front door open.
"I’m home!"
Akira smiled wider. "Welcome home, honey!"
Goro entered the kitchen a few moments later with a smile on his face. “I saw something funny outside the door.”
Akira cheered inside his own head. Yes. Good. Goro found the note that he left outside the door. And considering his mood he must be excited to crack the puzzle that Akira left for him. A puzzle that Akira left for him with very specific details that it was a puzzle from him. The only way this could go wrong now was if Goro couldn’t solve said puzzle and that was impossible.
“There was a squirrel outside eating paper,” Goro said, immediately crushing Akira’s excitement. “It jumped up and stole some advertisement on the door and then started nibbling on it. I hope it wasn’t anything important. It ran away with it the moment it saw me.”
Why was there a squirrel inside the apartment complex?! Squirrels weren’t supposed to be inside! The god against him was now summoning squirrels?! How was he supposed to compete with squirrels?
“I’m sure it was cute,” Akira responded slowly, doing his best to hide his pain.
Alright so seven wasn’t his lucky number. And neither were eight or nine. Or ten. Ten was really bad. He sent Goro into a panic. That was the opposite of what he wanted.
And eleven didn't work either. Neither did twelve. Or thirteen. Oof. Thirteen. And fourteen wasn't better. Nor was fifteen. Or sixteen. Or even seventeen.
But eighteen? He was feeling good about eighteen.
No puzzles this time. Or secret notes. Or scavenger hunts. Or fake calling cards.
A nice date and then he’d propose. Simple and romantic. The atmosphere would be perfect and there would be little to ruin their night. No squirrels. No bad writing. No one randomly walking in. No misthought out plans that sent Goro into a panic. A nice date with just the two of them. And then a proposal. Easy.
So he planned a picnic. On the roof of their building. At night.
He picked out nice comfy seats and a really cute mat and basket set. He made all of Goro's favorites and taste tested each one to make sure they were perfect. He checked the weather on ten different sources up until the last second. He made sure the candles were all fake so they were able to set the atmosphere but there was a low chance of a fire starting. He hung around fairy lights to make everything even prettier. And he made sure that he effectively scared anyone else's attempt at coming to the roof before locking the door once they were both up there.
To top it all off, there were supposed to be fireworks that evening that would be completely visible from the roof.
It was going to be great.
Akira smiled fondly as he watched Goro happily munch on a strawberry pastry in between complaints about one of his coworkers.
The ring case burned in his pocket and he did his best to hide just how happy he felt. He was so so happy. So happy. Today. Today would be the day. Finally. He would be free. And he could laugh at the god above who was trying to meddle in his relationship. Find someone else to mess with, asshole. Why was it always him? There were so many people on the planet. In Tokyo even. Why was it always him?
He felt a buzz in his pocket.
No. No. No. No!
Ignore it. Don’t answer. Pretend that phones don’t exist.
Another buzz.
Phones weren’t real. His leg was just being weird. That was normal. He was sitting in the same position for too long and now his leg was getting all vibratey. He just needed to move.
Ringing.
He was hearing things.
Goro stopped talking and looked at his pocket. “Are you planning to ignore it?”
He should have turned his phone off.
Akira shook his head and slowly pulled his phone out of his pocket. Please be a spam call. Please be nothing important. Please.
Please!
He looked at the caller ID.
Yusuke.
Damn it Yusuke.
No. This was good. Yusuke called for unimportant things all the time. This was what this was. He probably just wanted to ask about what he thought about the color vermillion or if he knew where to buy an ant house. Normal Yusuke things. Normal Yusuke things that he could call him back later for.
“Hey Yusuke,” he greeted.
“Ah. Akira. Thank goodness. I would greatly appreciate your assistance right now.”
“Sorry. I’m a little busy.”
“Oh. That’s not good. I’ve found myself in a…troubling situation. I’m trapped.”
Trapped?
Well, coming from Yusuke that could mean many things. It didn't necessarily mean he needed immediate help.
“Trapped as in physically or mentally?”
“Physically this time.”
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Maybe he was trapped somewhere safe. He could leave Yusuke trapped for a few hours.
…Maybe.
“I found this extremely stunning wall art while I was walking home, and I was trying to chase after the man who looked to be the artist. But in my attempts I have found myself locked in a dark room. Unfortunately my lock picking skills are nowhere near as good as yours.”
Oh Yusuke. How does this keep happening? How?
“I’ll be there soon.”
“Thank you Akira. Thank you. I am forever in your debt.”
Akira let out a sigh as he hung up the phone.
Goro let out a chuckle. “What has Yusuke done now?”
“He locked himself in some room. I’ll make Futaba find his location.”
“Hopefully he hasn’t been kidnapped.”
Akira scowled. “Do not make this worse.”
Goro let out another laugh at that. Akira smiled gently at the sight.
A loud bang sounded and he turned to his right to see an explosion of blue and green light up in the sky. Oh. The fireworks.
This would have been perfect.
Curse the evil god. Using Yusuke to hurt him. Poor innocent Yusuke? This was going too far!
“I’ll clean up,” Goro offered. “Go make sure Yusuke survives the night.”
“Please stop joking.”
Another firework exploded. Red and pink this time.
Goro smiled as he stood up. “I’ll make sure to take pictures. It would be a shame to take everything down without any. You decorated nicely.”
Yeah. Yeah he did.
It sure was a shame.
Akira’s problems all started on a normal Saturday evening in March. They had finished dinner a few hours ago and now Akira was watching a movie while Goro read a book and Morgana slept curled up on the couch.
The two leads on the screen were throwing a Christmas party, and Akira was sadly watching bored out of his mind. And the summary was so promising. It even had one of his favorite rom com actresses. Such a disappointment.
He turned towards Goro and found him staring angrily at the book he was reading. Ah. Rage. That was more interesting.
He muted the television. “Something wrong?” he asked.
Goro turned away from the book with a glare. “The wedding decor being described is absolutely atrocious.”
A small petty problem. Something Goro could probably complain about for an hour. Good. That’s the type of entertainment Akira wanted on a Saturday.
“How bad?”
“This author must be colorblind or she was possessed when she wrote this. Who in their right mind decides neon green and orange as their wedding colors? And she sounds so confident with her choices. And giant blue flamingoes being hung from the ceiling? Combined with bright pink flowers? How could anyone be happy in a room that atrocious?”
Akira smiled as his boyfriend continued to rant about the color assault wedding described in his book. His hands gripped the book tighter while he continued to glare at it as if it had personally offended him.
Fun.
“I don’t think green and orange would look that bad,” Akira argued.
Goro paused and turned towards him looking scandalized. “Neon? At a wedding?”
“Yeah. Sure. I’m sure it could work. The flamingos too.”
“For a wedding? Maybe a child's birthday could save it. But you would consider something so garish for a wedding? Unbelievable.”
No. He couldn’t actually picture a wedding being covered in bright green and orange and not give him a headache. Colors that bright should really be saved for highlighters. And the flamingos? Were they hung on the ceiling by their necks? That would be morbid for a wedding. A pack of bird haters.
“Neon green and neon orange are best friends and you're being really cruel to them,” Akira continued to argue.
“You can’t be serious. You would consider something that horrid for a wedding?”
"Maybe not. But I really just don't approve of your color hatred. I mean you didn’t see it. You’re judging based on a color you didn’t even see."
Goro looked at him absolutely aghast. “Are you colorblind?”
Akira smirked. “Nope. Just a single soul standing up for what’s right. Don’t judge colors based on looks.”
“That’s all colors are!”
Akira tried his best to keep his face blank, but he wasn’t strong enough to hold back his laugh. Goro’s expression turned from enraged to frustrated as Akira continued laughing. Morgana let out a groan and burrowed himself beneath the couch pillow.
“You were joking?” Goro sighed.
Akira smiled. “Maybe.”
“Well, that’s a relief at least. I was beginning to get worried.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve been considering much better wedding color combinations in case anyone asks. Like bright pink and mustard yellow. Or maybe orange and brown.”
Goro made a disgusted face before shaking his head. “You certainly think you’re funny.”
"I know I'm funny."
Goro somehow looked at him with even more disappointment.
“Well, Mr. Smarty Pants," Akira started, "what do you think the wedding should have looked like?”
Goro huffed. “There are dozens of color combinations that could work well. Orange and green themselves aren’t even necessarily bad. The shades she chose are just garish. And there’s no precedent that these characters are the type to choose more outlandish colors. It’s ill fitting and especially odd that she went into so much detail about the colors when the more details she added the worse it got. She could have easily left it at a simple narration, but the color description just continued to get worse and she added blue flamingoes and pink flowers on top of it. There might be more. I haven’t even finished reading about what monstrosities are present at this wedding. Maybe the characters will appear in bright yellow attire. That would complete a standard set of highlighters. And—”
Akira smiled fondly as Goro continued his rant. One of his hands clenched the book sitting in his lap tightly while the other flew around to accompany his rant. His eyes glinted passionately and his face twisted in furthering stages of annoyance as he went on.
His makeup was off revealing the cute splatter of freckles on his face and the small scar under his left eye. Glasses rested easily on his nose. His hair was a little messy. His clothes were casual. His posture was relaxed despite the clear agitation.
It was cute. Homely. Warm.
Akira loved him so much. If the rest of his life consisted of just this, he would be content. He couldn’t imagine being ten years older and being upset that his Saturday evening consisted of nothing but watching a bad movie and listening to his adorable boyfriend rant about wedding decor.
But hopefully in ten years it wouldn't be his boyfriend but instead his husband.
He bought the rings three weeks ago while walking around with Ann. They caught his eye through the window and Ann practically dragged him inside and convinced him to buy them. Now, they were sitting in her room waiting for him.
They were a complimentary pair of rings that suited each of them. They were perfect. And now they were just waiting. Sitting around uselessly in Ann’s bedroom.
“Well,” Akira started interrupting Goro, “what if we got married? How should we decorate?”
Goro froze in place and blinked confused before putting on a thoughtful expression. “That would depend on a lot of things. You can’t just ask me to plan a wedding so suddenly.”
Akira smirked. “No thoughts on color combinations? After all that?”
Goro frowned at him and rolled his eyes. “You’re insufferable.”
Akira let out a laugh.
“But…umm…” Goro started nervously. “Red would suit us both well.”
Akira smiled softly at the answer. Yeah. Red would suit them both well. He can imagine them both wearing red. Could see a hall decorated with primarily red flowers. Maybe they'd add some white. Maybe some yellow. Or blue. A tinge of black. It would be beautiful. Amazing.
“You want to get married?” He asked.
Goro blinked at him, surprised. The two of them stayed silent and stared at each other before Goro spoke. “Is…is this meant to be a proposal?”
Of course it was. Now he just needed to pull out the rings and…
Ann had his rings. He couldn’t propose now. Ann had his rings. Because he told her to pick them up for him. And then he never went to get them from her. Like an idiot.
He couldn’t propose because he had Ann pick up his rings and then procrastinated on getting them.
Akira shook his head. “Not an official proposal. I just wanted to ask.”
All according to plan. Or it was now. He had a new plan.
Goro looked at him oddly before turning away and looking down at his book with a blank expression. “I… can’t say I’m against the idea.”
“So you want to get married?”
He wanted to get married! His boyfriend wanted to marry him!
“I just answered.”
They were going to get married!
He wanted to marry him. Goro wanted to marry him. He really wanted to marry him.
“We’re going to get married!”
“So this is a proposal?”
Curse his procrastination and Ann being an amazing friend who did his job for him.
“It’s not. I just want to know. I can do a much better proposal.”
Goro looked at him with a challenging look in his eyes. “Oh. Good. I expect something amazing.”
Oh. Did he now? Well, Akira would think of something.
He aimed to please.
“As if I’d do anything other than give you the best proposal you ever had.”
“Low bar to beat considering I’ve only been proposed to once and it was atrocious.”
Ah…well. Low bar indeed.
"Wrong thing to say. You know what I meant."
At least he couldn't give him the worst proposal ever. Nothing was going to top the time in Shibuya with that random woman. That was a hoot.
And since it couldn't be worse that made everything much less stressful.
"It will be perfect. Get ready to be so amazed by how great I am that you thank the universe for allowing you to be in my presence let alone engaged to me. You'll drop to your knees and bow down to my greatness.”
Goro smiled at him softly and entwined their fingers together. “Well, that’s a low bar too. I already always feel thankful for being around you.”
Oh. Uh…
Well, it wasn't anything he hadn't heard before but…
It didn't hurt to hear.
Goro leaned in for a quick kiss that Akira easily returned. "And I already drop to my knees for you quite often don't I?
Akira gaped at him. “Oh. Uh…”
Goro moved away and let out a laugh. He poked Akira on the nose and smirked. “Step up your game Joker. My expectations for this proposal are quite low right now.”
Asshole.
"We are almost married. You can't keep flustering me like this."
Goro raised an eyebrow. "It's your own fault, isn't it?"
Oh. Akira was going to pay him back for this. He was gonna—
"Can you both shut up."
They both looked towards Morgana who was looking at the two of them with a glare.
Oh right. Morgana was here.
"I need to move out," Morgana muttered. "You're both so annoying."
Akira was on attempt thirty seven and he was losing his mind. He was running out of ideas and his plans were being ruined in even more elaborate and outrageous ways. He might have even found some of them funny if he wasn’t so frustrated with his failures.
He had tried everything. He took Goro to Jazz Jin and he got sick. He took him to his favorite restaurant and Goro got food spilled all over him by two waiters having a fist fight. He tried Leblanc and the power went out. He baked a cake and wrote his proposal is frosting and a raccoon somehow broke into their fifth story apartment and ruined it. He tried planning a picnic at the park and they got attacked by ducks. He tried filming his proposal as a video and somehow his video got so corrupted even Futaba couldn’t fix it.
He tried asking his friends for help and something went wrong. He tried doing everything himself and something went wrong. He tried planning everything and something went wrong. He tried being spontaneous and something went wrong.
He tried flowers. He tried notes. He tried going to the beach. He tried going hiking. He tried every single spot that had any meaning to them at all. He even tried doing it in the middle of having sex.
Something would always go wrong.
“Do you want to get a wedding piñata?” Goro asked, looking up from his laptop.
There were piñatas at weddings? There weren’t any piñatas at Ann and Shiho’s wedding. Or any of the other weddings his parents dragged him to as a kid.
Akira lifted his head from the table with a tired expression. “I haven’t proposed yet.”
“So no piñata?”
“You can’t start planning the wedding before I propose.”
“Too late for that. I’ve started to plan our honeymoon too.”
Akira dropped his head onto the table. “Please let me propose properly.”
He wasn't sure if he was talking to his boyfriend or his current greatest enemy.
Goro hummed. “You’re taking your sweet time with that.”
Please evil malicious god up above getting joy from his continued suffering. Go away. Please.
Or at least Lavenza could do him the favor of letting him know how to kill said god. He couldn’t kill god without the metaverse. A kitchen knife wouldn’t be enough. It didn’t matter how skilled he was. He was just one guy who was good at cutting vegetables.
Maybe he needed to just slip the ring on Goro’s finger while he was sleeping and wait to see what happened. Maybe that would be enough. There wasn’t a need to actually say anything, right?
Or maybe he’d slip the ring on his boyfriend’s finger and then wake up in the morning to find that the ring was magically completely gone and Goro didn’t even know it existed. Akira instinctively touched the ring box in his pocket.
The homophobic god in the sky may be evil, but at least they weren’t evil enough to take the ring away from him. He would have an actual mental breakdown if he lost this ring. It was too perfect.
“You should try to get that done soon," Goro continued. "If we don’t book a location in the next few weeks, we won’t be able to pick out an acceptable date at any of the venues I picked out.”
The groan that left Akira’s mouth came straight from his very tired heart.
Balloons. Attempt forty three was balloons.
He bought balloons. They spelled out ‘will you marry me?’. All of them arrived in silver instead of the red color he picked out. It didn’t matter. Small problem. Negligible. The color wasn’t bad. It was fine.
They all blew up fine. They all hung up fine. Now he would sit. He would sit right here on the couch. Right here underneath the hung up letters. And he would wait. Wait until Goro got back. And then he would be free.
Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.
Nothing would go wrong if he just sat here. Nothing.
He just needed to wait.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait.
POP!
He jumped off the couch at the sound of a loud pop that shattered his remaining hope along with it. He watched from his place on the ground as each balloon popped in front of him and left behind nothing but ripped up pieces of plastic. Pop. Pop. Pop.
No reason for them to be popping. Or at least no reason he knew. Yet here he was. Watching as every single one exploded in front of him. Pop. Pop. Pop.
The last one exploded. Akira stayed on the ground surrounded by balloon corpses.
He heard the door open. Akira stayed on the ground surrounded by his newest failure.
“I’m home.”
Akira closed his eyes and let out a pained groan.
He was done. He was done with trying. This was attempt forty four and it would be the final attempt.
He was going to take Goro to dinner. And then he was going to propose once they got back home. He didn’t care if anything went wrong. He didn’t care if their food was wrong or if it started raining or if the lights went off or their neighbors were too loud. He didn’t care. He was going to propose tonight. No matter what. Shitty anti-marriage god be damned.
Once upon a time his goals were to create the perfect proposal. Something amazing and special. Now his goal was just to propose. It didn't matter how. He just wanted to be done.
Proposing to his boyfriend should not feel like a such chore.
Yet here he was.
He let out a sigh as he sat down.
"Are you alright?"
Akira looked up at Goro who was giving him a serious look. “Yeah.”
Goro frowned. “You’ve been acting strange.”
Get it together Akira. What was he doing?
Akira forced a smile. “I’m alright. Really. Just tired.”
Goro didn’t look pleased with that answer. “Is something wrong at work? Have you been getting enough sleep? Do you want to leave?”
Yikes. He was really doing badly at setting up a good night this time. He already got Goro worried. And they just got here.
It was fine. It was fine. It was fine.
“I’m fine really.” He set a gentle hand on one of Goro’s that was resting on the table and smirked. “You look pretty today.”
The frown didn’t disappear from Goro’s face, but he could see the tenseness leave his body. “You already said that.”
“I’m not allowed to say it again?”
Goro let out a sigh and a small smile came to his face before he moved his hand away from Akira’s and picked up the menu.
Great. Crisis averted. Now he just needed to get through the night. That’s all he needed. No matter what happened.
They let their server know their orders and devolved into easy conversation about their week. Everything was going smoothly. Akira forced himself not to start tapping the table in nerves.
Something was going to go wrong. Of course it was. But it was okay. A small problem was okay. He didn’t care anymore. He could figure out a way to recover. It was fine.
Their food arrived without a problem. The food was prepared without a problem. They ate without a problem. They talked without a problem.
It was going nicely.
Too nicely.
Why couldn’t something go wrong already? The anticipation was making it worse!
The fucked up god watching them must know that. Asshole.
It was fine.
They easily paid the check and left the establishment. Goro was smiling as he explained what was happening in a show he and Ann were watching together. Some thriller romance. Akira wasn’t entirely paying attention.
He gripped Goro’s hand tighter as they started their walk home.
Something was going to go wrong. Something was going to go wrong. Something was going to go wrong.
“Akira?”
Something was going to go wrong. Something was going to go wrong. Something was going to go wrong.
“I—”
Akira paused as he heard a hiss of pain and the grip on his hand grew tighter. He looked over to find Goro curled up with a hand gripped to his chest and a pained expression twisted on his face.
“Goro?!”
Goro just let out a pained sound before his knees buckled underneath him. Akira quickly caught him and brought them both down to the ground.
“Shit. Shit. What’s wrong?”
Goro mumbled something he couldn’t understand and curled up on Akira’s chest with a groan.
“Honey?!” Nothing. “Goro?!”
The world was cruel. Evil. Vicious. And it especially hated him. Or maybe there was another supernatural being that was fueled by his misery. After all, Akira had already killed a god and stopped his counselor and an AI from attempting to be god. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility that there were more heavenly beings aspiring to strike him down.
And his cruel fate this time involved being physically incapable of proposing to his boyfriend. His boyfriend who was now grumbling in a hospital bed as they waited for the doctor.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
“I feel fine now,” Goro complained, sitting up. “They don’t need to check. It was nothing.”
“You passed out.”
“For a few minutes.”
Akira clenched his fists in his lap. Now this supernatural god was sending Goro to the hospital to stop him. They realized that Akira got to the point of wanting to ignore small mishaps, so they brought out the big guns?
What was next? Was someone going to stab them? Was their apartment going to set on fire? Was someone going to die?
Was that something he was going to risk?
“Akira?”
Akira let out a humm to signal that he heard him.
“Akira. I’m fine. Stop worrying.”
Akira curled up further into himself.
He hated hospitals. That damned god definitely knew what they were doing.
Goro reached over and set a hand over one of his. He looked up at Goro who was giving him a concerned look.
“I’m okay. Really. It was only a sudden flash of pain. You know that those occasionally happen. Not to this magnitude, but it isn’t anything to worry about. I’m alright.”
“Maybe for now.”
Maybe the next time Akira tried to propose he would get a call from Haru saying that Morgana was dying. Could Morgana even die? He didn’t know, but that god would definitely figure out a way.
“Akira—”
“I’m not proposing.”
“Huh?”
Goro looked at him as if he had lost his mind. Maybe he did.
“I can’t propose to you.”
“Ummm…that’s sudden. It’s alright if you don’t want to get married.”
Akira shook his head. “I do want to get married.”
Goro looked at him confused. “Then—” He paused. “Are you breaking up with me? Now?”
Akira’s eyes widened and he quickly shook his head. "No. No. Definitely not."
Goro let out a sigh of relief and the heartbreaking expression he had morphed back into annoyed confusion. “Then what is wrong with you?”
“It sounds crazy.”
Goro scoffed. “Crazier than anything in the metaverse? I doubt I wouldn’t believe anything you say.”
Well, that was true.
“Every time I try to propose to you something goes wrong.”
“How many times have you tried?”
“Forty four.”
Goro’s eyes widened at his answer. “Forty four?”
Akira nodded. “Squirrels randomly show up and eat my papers. Balloons pop for no reason. Yusuke gets trapped in restaurants. You need to go to the hospital. There’s always something. Every single time.”
Goro continued to look at him oddly. “That…are you serious?”
“Of course I’m serious. I’ve been trying so hard!” Akira let out a groan. “And something always happens that ruins it. Every time. I think someone is out to get me.”
“You tried to propose to me forty four times?”
“Yes.”
“That’s so many.”
So many. It had been months since Goro and him had first talked about getting married. He’d been trying for so long.
“I was going to propose tonight. No matter what. That’s what I told myself. That no matter what problem happened I’d propose anyway. But…”
Goro gripped his hand and looked at him seriously. "Then propose."
"What?"
"It's not midnight yet. Do what you decided you would do and propose."
Now?
"I think if I try proposing now one of us is going to have a heart attack."
Goro hummed and looked at him with a serious expression. "Well, then we have to kill the god that's fucking with us."
Akira blinked. "How?"
Goro continued looking at him with the same amount of seriousness. "I have absolutely no idea."
Akira let out a disappointed sigh.
Goro frowned. "Don't give up so easily."
Don’t give up? Were forty four failures not enough? It landed them in the hospital.
Though Akira has done worse for less. He broke his arm and two ribs because he fell off Sojiro’s roof just because he wanted to prove to Futaba that he could climb up there. His friends still hadn’t stopped making fun of him for it.
Akira let out a chuckle. “You sound confident.”
Goro smiled. “Of course.” His smile turned softer. “Someone I know has been very adamant about me trying to fight for what I want.”
Akira’s smile turned softer. “Oh. He sounds pretty great.”
Goro tightened his grip on his hand. “Surprisingly, he is. You wouldn’t think so at first since he’s also an idiot.”
Akira snorted. “Rude.”
Goro smiled mischievously at him. “He knows he deserves it.” Goro looked at him more seriously. “But I still really want to marry him.”
Akira froze at the statement. Goro looked at him expectantly.
“I…I think he really wants to marry you too.” Akira reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring case. “Picked out a nice set of rings and everything.”
Goro smiled softly. “I heard he tried to propose forty four times.”
“An absolute legend. I heard he’s killed a god before too.”
Goro hummed. “I believe that’s just a rumor.”
Akira rolled his eyes but the smile stayed on his face. He looked down at the ring case in his hand. His gaze then turned towards the heart rate monitor.
Something could still go wrong. The doctor could walk in the moment he opened his mouth. Goro could pass out again.
But…he wasn’t about to give up this easily. And if it took killing another god to finally be able to put a ring on his boyfriend’s finger, then he would do whatever it took to shoot that god through the head. His friends would help. They’d figure something out. Have one last adventure. Again. This time with everyone.
Maybe they could have another road trip. They’d have to keep it short. Ryuji didn’t have that many days off left. But they’d figure it out.
After all, this was nothing. Bad luck be damned. No god was going to get in the way of what he wanted. He was going to continue to fight. He was going to win. And he would kill another god if he needed to.
He would not be deterred from proposing to his boyfriend.
Akira let go of Goro’s hand and opened the ring box. A shiny set of two gold, red, and white rings looks back at him. He smiled at the sight.
Goro looked at them with a surprised smile.
“I had a really long speech prepared. But maybe if I ask fast enough, god won’t strike me down,” Akira started. “I can’t imagine having a future without you in it. Marry me?”
Akira looked at Goro expectantly waiting for a response. Goro continued staring at the rings with a blank expression. And staring. And staring.
“Honey?”
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
What?!
Akira quickly turned towards the heart monitor. Goro let out a wild laugh.
“Ignore that!” He shook his head. “I’m fine. I’m fine.” He let out another chuckle. “A hospital is a horrible place to propose. My heart won’t slow down and some nurse is going to rush in and think I’m dying.”
Oh. Akira let out a laugh of his own.
His own heart beat loudly in his chest. Loud. Fast. Overwhelming.
Goro set his hand on top of his. “Obviously. Now put the ring on.”
Akira nodded and pulled Goro’s ring out of the box. He carefully set the ring box down on the side table before gently pushing the ring on Goro’s outstretched fingers.
“Is everything alright?” A nurse called rushing in.
The two of them looked at her and nodded.
“My apologies. I’m fine. My fiance is just an idiot who thought it was a good idea to embarrass me while I had a heart monitor on.”
Fiance.
Fiance.
He was his fiance.
The nurse sighed and shook her head. “That’s good. Let me know if you need anything.”
She made a quick inspection of the room before walking out. Akira let out a loud laugh once she was gone. Goro shook his head exasperated.
“Get a hold of yourself.” He reached over to the side table. “Here. This is yours, right?”
He pulled out the remaining ring from the box and held it up to him. Akira easily held his hand out and had the ring slipped onto his finger.
And the moment he did, he could physically feel a giant weight lifted from body. He felt energized. More alive than he had in months. Happier than he had in months.
He did it.
He was engaged.
He finally did it.
It was over.
…
He did it!
He was engaged!
He got engaged!
He was getting married!
He was really going to get married!
"We did it," Akira said in awe.
"Seems so."
"Sorry it was underwhelming."
"You tried to propose forty four times before succeeding. I'm honored you think I'm worth that much effort."
"You are. I love you very very much."
Goro huffed and turned away. "Well, I love you too. And…and I also can't imagine a future without you." Goro looked at him determined. "And we can just have the best wedding ever to make up for the horrible past few months you've clearly had."
A wedding. He was going to have a wedding.
He looked back at the heart monitor. It seemed to have returned to normal.
"I'm surprised we haven't been struck down. I hope they didn't decide to target our wedding."
Goro looked at him very dangerously. “If they fuck up our wedding there will be blood.”
Akira wholeheartedly agreed.