Work Text:
To say that Telemachus was having a bad day would be the understatement of the century. There was a massive accident on the highway making him late to work, he arrived just in time to clean up the children’s area that one of said children had decided was the perfect place to throw up as they were absolutely sick despite all the mother’s shockingly angry insistence, some maniac had decided that setting a fire in the world cultures section of the library would make people agree with his political ideals, and his car had decided to stop working on his way home and apparently he had forgotten to charge his phone overnight because it died while he was trying to call a mechanic. When someone was gracious enough to figure out that he needed help they were a condescending dick and because that wasn’t bad enough, when he was finally taken to a mechanic said dick used a hard “she” when referring to him, talked for him based on what he’d explained, and Telemachus frankly just didn’t have the energy to correct him, something that wasn’t exactly helped by him having to verify a shitton of information, all of which used the name he didn’t have the time nor money to bury; top surgery was one kind of hassle but a legal name change was a whole other one. So when Telemachus was able to politely decline a ride from the dick who was giving more and more vibes of not knowing what the word “consent” meant, ran across the crosswalkless road to buy a phone charger, walked along the sidewalkless road until he got to a Starbucks, charged his phone, ordered an Uber, sat through the longest ride in his life being forced to listen to gospel music he was pretty sure was as old as his grandparents, and got to his apartment complex…suffice to say he was in a shitty mood. But he walked up to the door, took a breath, reached for his keys…and then realized they were in his car. As was his wallet. Given that fun addition to everything, Telemachus decided to do the only rational thing.
Walking over to the nearest bush and kicking the hell out of it while using every swear and combination of swears he knew.
Once all of that was out of his system, he went back to his apartment door and knocked, trying –and failing– to not sound like some angry asshole, though if he was being honest, he felt like he deserved to be one given the day he had had. But he didn’t want to be one when he was home. Because when he was home, the only ones there didn’t deserve his anger. It was just him, his snakes, and-
“I swear to fucking god if you’re holding a bible I’ll beat you to death with my signed-”
As the door opened, the voice that had been muffled suddenly cut off as Telemachus made eye contact with the only person he wanted to see for the next 12 hours.
“Well look who finally decided to show his pretty little face around here.” Neo teasingly chuckled.
Telemachus wanted to say that seeing the face of his boyfriend was able to instantly calm him down. Unfortunately he wasn’t in a rom-com and given his day, some of those words felt like a personal slight even though he knew for a fact they weren’t.
“Can you just let me in? I have had the shittiest day and I just…can’t right now.” Telemachus heavily exhaled.
Neo opened his mouth to say something but –thankfully– closed it and nodded, getting out of the way and letting Telemachus in. The apartment was a lot tidier than normal which probably meant that Neo had gotten a call from his brother as, for some reason, every time Neo got a call from Oneiros the moment the call ended he cleaned everything. It wasn’t even a stress thing as Neo had done it after calls ranging from subjects of being in the hospital after nearly getting beaten to death to announcing finally getting accepted into college. Telemachus hoped that the call had been for one of the better possible reasons as he honestly did not have it in him to comfort Neo if it was bad. Telemachus went towards the coat rack by the door to hang up his bag, only to realize that that was also still in his car, so he just sighed, kicked off his shoes, and went over to the couch and flopped down.
“Oof, not even changing out of your work clothes? You really did have a shitty day. Feeling overstimulated?” Neo asked, walking over but not sitting down.
“I don’t think so. More defeated than anything.”
“Want to talk about it? I’ll accept the summarized version.”
“Traffic, vomit, Karen, fire, car, asshole, dysphoria, sexism, church, bad memory.”
Neo seemed to think through that list a few times before nodding and walking over to what could technically be called a kitchen on the complex’s website.
“Leftovers?”
“Leftovers.” Telemachus said with a nod.
“We’ve still got some of that new mac and cheese casserole you made the other day that might go bad soon.” Neo offered.
“Yeah but that needs to be microwaved and while I’m not overstimulated now, I don’t want to risk changing that.”
“Last night’s pizza it is.”
After some rustling around, Neo walked over to the couch with a gallon ziploc bag that had a few slices of pizza in it that he tossed down next to Telemachus before grabbing the tv remote and sitting down, also handing over some paper towels he had grabbed as napkins. He went ahead and pulled up Telemachus’ YouTube account, went to the watch history, and selected the most recent incomplete video, a video essay about cannibalism that Telemachus had already watched several times but liked to rewatch whenever it showed up in his recommended feed. Telemachus very much so appreciated it and the two of them ate their leftover pizza in silence as they watched. Once they were done with the pizza and video, Telemachus moved their trash onto the coffee table so he could scooch closer to Neo, who was happy to wrap an arm around him and pull him close.
“My brother called today.” Neo said casually.
“Oh?” Telemachus replied as if he hadn’t discovered the trend of his boyfriend’s habits.
“Yep. Apparently he’s trying to get mom to go to therapy and he thinks he’s making progress.”
“Any progress on…the other issues?”
“You mean how a polyamorous relationship that was doomed to fail from communication interferences and only left one survivor led to her becoming biphobic and somehow transphobic a year before I came out leading to me eventually cutting her off and living with my dead dad’s dead boyfriend’s folks for a bit after high school until I could get my own place?”
“Yeah, that.” Telemachus said, huffing a chuckle.
“No word on that, but he’s optimistic. I’d need to see it to believe it.”
“Well, I do wish your brother success.” Telemachus said, moving up to give Neo a peck on the cheek, “Everyone deserves therapy. Especially if that’ll help them be nicer to my incredible, handsome, manly boyfriend.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, you love me or whatever.” Neo scoffed, rolling his eyes, though he couldn’t stop himself from smiling.
“Damn right I do. Now, what would you say about ice cream and TV? You know, just to really help me forget about all the shittiness of the day because I’ll admit, some of that shittiness still stings.”
“I’d never refuse such a thing.”
Telemachus gave him a quick kiss, grabbed their trash, and took it over to throw it away before grabbing a couple of spoons and a pint of their favorite ice creams each. As he walked back, Neo was reaching out for him so adorably and Telemachus couldn’t help but smile.
Then he jammed his toe on the hard wood of the coffee table.
Telemachus didn’t even react in pain. He just took a breath, set the ice cream and spoons on the coffee table, and sat down on the ground, pulling his legs to his chest and burying his face. He just…couldn’t anymore. After the day that he had had, that was just one too many things. And he just couldn’t. The coffee table had successfully done the final blow in defeating him after everything else that had been so much worse tried and failed but still chipped away at him. He heard Neo moving over to him, though still giving him space, but he made no move to acknowledge him.
“Machus? Do you…need me to do anything?”
Neo was always so sweet. Sometimes he didn’t exactly handle situations the best, especially early in their relationship when they were both still figuring themselves out, but he always tried. That was one of the things that Telemachus loved most about him. How he’d always try his hardest for him no matter what. He loved him so much in so many ways and Telemachus doubted that’d ever change. But at the same time, Telemachus had no idea what he even wanted from Neo at that moment.
“I don’t know.” Telemachus muttered, “I just feel like I can’t do anything.”
“Well yeah of course, I’m the one who does you after all, not the other way around.” Neo casually replied without a second thought.
Telemachus was so caught off guard by that response that he slowly looked up at Neo, being so baffled that all of his other feelings had just…gone away.
And suddenly, looking into the eyes of the man who responded to his defeatism with a sex joke that was actually helpful, he knew exactly what he wanted from Neo.
“Neoptolemus, will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
The two of them just stared at each other for a few moments.
Then they realized what they had just said.
“Why the fuck did you say that?!” Telemachus exclaimed, panicked.
“Why did I say that? You’re the one who just proposed!” Neo shot back, also looking panicked.
“You said yes.”
“Of course I did! Why wouldn’t I? Machus, I bought a ring for you months ago. And the only reason I didn’t propose right away is because I realized that you probably had some intricate plan stewing and I didn’t want to mess that up. Plus I know how much you value predictability and all that shit.”
“You bought me an engagement ring?!”
“Yeah! I did! Because I love you and want to be with you for the rest of my life, you dork! Was the fact that I didn’t even have to think before accepting your proposal not obvious enough?”
“You…meant it?” Telemachus slowly asked, tone suddenly dropping from the high-pitched panic.
“I mean…yeah. If you meant your question, then- then I meant my answer.” Neo stammered, looking away as his face flushed sheepishly, sheepishly.
Telemachus just stared at him for a few moments, then laughed. And Neo laughed too. Then they simultaneously reached out to pull the other into them, making them meet in the middle as they kissed long and tenderly on the floor of their apartment. And when they pulled back, faces flushed, Telemachus was beaming as tears welled up in his eyes.
“Yes, I did mean it.” Telemachus softly said, “But…I had actually told myself not to make any big plans for proposing to you because I assumed you’d want to have the whole getting on one knee moment.”
“Well if that’s the case…”
Neo got up and ran into the kitchen, grabbing a chair from the meager dining area they had as he did, and got on top of it to grab something off the top of the fridge. He then swiftly went back over to Telemachus, got down on one knee, and revealed that he had grabbed a ring box, the ring inside being steel with lapis lazuli imbedded in the band, Telemachus also just barely being able to see that the inside of the band had engravings of feathers that –as far as he could tell– looked very owl-like.
“Telemachus, will you marry me?” Neo asked, his eyes also filling with tears.
“Obviously!” Telemachus laughed.
“Come on, I said the thing to you, now you say it to me.”
“Alright, alright. Yes. I will marry you, Neo.”
“Fuck yeah.”
“Just get over here, my fire.”
“Gladly, my light.”
Neo set the ring box aside and let himself be pulled into another kiss. They were both crying at that point, but neither of them cared. All possible cares had been wiped from their minds and they just wanted to be close together. Even when they pulled back, they stayed as close as they could. At least until Neo moved back, grabbed the ring, and –with Telemachus’ help– put it on the proper finger. Telemachus examined it closely, seeing how it shined under the light, took a breath, and looked at Neo.
“I love you so much.” Telemachus said.
“I love you too. And now, you’re going to be stuck with me.”
“Hmmm, but all the same, you will be stuck with me.”
“Great thing then because that’s exactly what I wanted.”
Telemachus just chuckled at him and draped his arms over his shoulders to kiss him again. He knew that the direction they were going would likely lead to them moving to the bedroom –after they put away the ice cream, of course– but they didn’t have to do that yet. And Telemachus just wanted to enjoy the moment he had for as long as he could. A moment where it was simply him and his boyfriend –his fiancée– on the floor of their apartment not needing to worry about anything but the moment they were in.
And that moment was more than enough to make Telemachus consider the day the best day of his life.