Chapter Text
Six Years.
You’ve known him for six years.
Six years of working right next door to each other. Six years of staring at his skill shown on every person who left his parlor and every sketch you decorated your shop with. The best six years of your life.
You can remember the first day you met. You stood in front of your shop and watched him unlock the door to his parlor.
“What’s so funny?” He asked, and you realized you had laughed out loud.
“I’m doing a wedding right now and the bride keeps saying what a rebellious person you are with your dyed hair and tattoos.” You smiled at his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “I just don’t see it. You’re too short to be a threat”
He looks mildly offended by your comment, turning around and entering his shop without a word and you can’t help but laugh. You will admit though, that was not your finest moment and definitely not the way you would have wanted to meet the love of your life, but oh well.
You waited outside for him that day, wanting to apologize for the morning.
“Hey.”
“Hello.”
“Okay so I realized that earlier probably was not the best way to meet your business neighbor, so I wanted to try again. Hello, I am Lavi Bookman.”
“Allen… Walker.” You shook his hand and you smiled, earning you one in response. He was way too cute to be called threatening. So what if he was sporting a sleeve of tattoos and the artist behind most people’s tattoos in the city? He was adorable. And he still is.
It was about four months later when you started going out to lunch together, and it only took another three weeks for you two to start treating each other to lunch. Neither of you spoke about it, it just happened. Allen told you it was like breathing. You agreed.
You could talk about anything with him, or just listen to his voice go on and on about tattoos, artists, music, or old movies.
You can remember the day you passively tried to flirt with him, saying you had too many flowers in your shop, so you wanted him to have some. He laughed at your bumbling words and told you to wait while he looked for a vase. You lit up inside. At lunch you watched him sketch out an intricate pattern around a previous drawing of roses. He tore the page from his notebook and you may have freaked out a little when he gave it to you, mocking your words from earlier.
You both laughed and gently walked into each other on the way home.
You remember going out to the movies on halloween. You have vowed never to admit it, but both of you were completely terrified. You’ve always been weak when it came to jump scares and you kept pulling Allen closer to you, who screamed at the parts where tension built up. Some how he ended up sitting on your lap and your arms where locked around him, but neither of you complained much.
----
You planned it out for weeks. The night you were going to ask Allen Walker out. If he seamed uninterested you would pass it off as Birthday wishes alone.
You stood outside his apartment for ten minutes, staring at your phone, waiting for it to strike midnight. As soon as the clock read 12:00 you made the call.
“Go outside.”
“Lavi, what --”
“Alllleeenn, come on!”
You hung up, giving him no room to protest. A few seconds later his door opened and Allen stepped onto his balcony. You couldn’t see his face all that well, but you could see the confusion in his stance.
“Just what do you think you’re doing? It’s freezing out!”
“I’m wishing you a Merry Christmas!” Allen was smiling at you. “Can I come up?”
He nodded, and you ran up his stairs.
“Also, Happy Birthday.” You whispered, handing him the arrangement you made: yellow tulips. Hopelessly in love. Not that Allen would know what they meant, but that is okay. You can’t tell all the tribal-esk tattoos apart like he could. Flowers are your trade; ink, symbols, and skin are his.
He took the bouquet and looked up at you, and you were not prepared to see him look so unbelievably happy. You were at a complete loss of words. No one should be able to look that cute. It’s a crime.
“Lavi… thank you.” You shivered as a cold breeze hit your face and Allen asked if you wanted to come inside.
“I’d love to.”
It wasn’t much warmer inside, so you stay close to Allen and end up sitting with him next to his fire place with your scarf draped over the two of you. He was leaning on you and you were resting your head on his.
“No one has ever remembered my birthday before.”
“How could anyone forget?”
“I don’t think anyone cared.”
“I care.”
“I know.”
It hurt to think no one cared about Allen and you weren’t going to leave him. You fell asleep with him on the floor. In the morning Allen made breakfast and you exchanged whispered words of Merry Christmas. Some how you ended up at the couch, staring at his beautiful grey eyes while he stared into your green ones.
“Allen, can I kiss you?” You don’t know what made you ask that. It wasn’t what you planned on doing. But he answered yes, so you just went with it.
You kissed slow and deep, twisting together your hands as you tried to express everything Allen made you feel in a simple meeting of lips. Inside, you were screaming as your wishes came true, this is all you wanted for Christmas.
When Allen pulled away he laughed and you did too. He was glowing.
“That was nice.”
“Nice?”
“Hmm…”
“So…”
“Shh… don’t ruin the moment.”
“‘Kay.”
Allen moved in, kissing you, again slowly and gently, moving his hand up your arms to wrap around your shoulders. You lean backwards, pulling Allen down on top of you. It was so nice, feeling his soft touches and warm breath in lazy kissing and cuddling. You didn’t want to get up, Allen just fit so perfectly in your arms, his head fit the crook of your neck like a puzzle piece.
Eventually, you remember why you originally came, so you gently say his name.
“Hm?”
“I was going to ask you this earlier, but I think it’s irrelevant now.” At least, you hoped it was.
“Hm.”
“I mean, I had the whole thing planned out. The whole nine yards and all that jazz. It was going to be amazing. I was going to knock you off your feet.”
“Lavi.” Allen presses down on your chest and you realize you’re babbling.
“Yeah.”
“You’re stalling.”
“Oh… my bad.”
“Hm.”
“Yeah.” You could feel your heart rate pick up and you were probably blushing. Great.
“Any day now would be great.”
“Will you be a thing with me?” You got the words out quickly and Allen laughed.
“A thing?”
“You know, a couple…” You were definitely blushing now.
“Lavi Bookman, are you asking me out?”
You sighed. “I sure as hell am trying to.”
Allen pulled himself up slightly to look at you. “Of course Lavi, I would love to be a thing with you.”
You couldn’t stop the smile from breaking out on your face.
----
Five Years. You have been dating Allen Walker for five years.
Dating did not change much of your routine: going to work, meeting for lunch, walking home. You added meeting for dinner some times, treating each other to coffee, entwining fingers together under a table, kisses good morning, good night, hello, I missed you, and for no reason at all.
The years flew by, but you tried to remember everything about Allen. Your hands wandered over his skin, memorizing every twist and turn of his black tattoos. When your shop was empty, more than once you found yourself browsing the internet, looking for a design you liked. You asked him to ink you, to give you a piece of his art work permanently. He told you to first find something you would like to be part of your life forever.
You would have been happy to have anything from Allen with you forever.
You want Allen with you forever.
----
You leave work without Allen, telling him you had something urgent to take care of, which, in your defense, is not a lie. So for the first time in a long time, you are walking home alone. You feel… lonely. Mostly nervous. But very lonely. Allen was a very big part of your life already; being away from him was lonely. But if everything went according to plan, you won’t feel lonely ever again.
God you’re nervous.
You’ve been planning this for a while now, but you’re shaking you’re so nervous. You can barely unlock the door. Once you manage it, you have to take a few deep breaths before you start moving, bringing out the candles you bought earlier in the week and spreading out the rose petals in, what you hope, looks like a path to follow.
You want this to be perfect.
You sit down on your bed and turn the box over and over again in your hands. For days now you’ve been trying to think of what you could say, what you could possibly say to tell Allen everything you wanted to. Do words even exist to convey how he makes you feel?
You hear the front door open and you feel like you’re going to pass out. You take another deep breath and shove the box back into your pocket. Calm down. It’s quite, and you can hear him take a deep breath. You can only imagine what’s going through his head right now. Is he as nervous as you are?
He opens the bedroom door, eyes scanning every surface you’ve decorated before landing on you. He looks confused, but he’s in awe. You can tell from the slight gap of his mouth and the subtle spark in his eyes. You smile warmly and try to keep your voice level.
“Hey.”
“What’s all this?” You hear shock in his voice and you can’t help but let out a nervous laugh.
“Me making a fool out of myself again, probably.”
“Lavi-”
“Come here.”
Allen steps forward, looking down to follow the path you left for him. When he gets close enough to you, you reach for his arm and pull him down next to you.
“Hey.” You say again, words failing you
“Hey.”
“We just did this.”
“Yeah.”
You laugh weakly. “I’m sorry, I’m really nervous.”
You don’t say anything. You take a few stuttered breaths and try to remember what you were going to say.
“Allen?” You run your hand through his soft hair. “Did I tell you I love you today?”
“Twice.” He leans into your touch and your heart flutters. “Once when we woke up, once when you left early.”
“You keep track… well, I love you.”
“I love you too. But I’m going to freak out if you don’t tell me what this is all about.”
“Sorry, you know me - if it’s not as cheesy as it could be, I didn’t do it right.”
You take another breath and reach into your pocket. Allen’s face goes blank for a second, then his mouth falls open and eyes widen in shock. His hands fly to his mouth and you know you’re doing something right.
“Pretend I have a really sweet, humor-filled, romantic speech about how much I love you, all of my favorite memories of you, how you are the best part of my life and all that stuff, okay?”
You take another breath, trying to remember what you planned to say. Allen’s eyes are locked on the box in your hands. You don’t blame him.
“Allen, I don’t want to imagine my life without you. I like symbolic things like my flower and rings and you like permanent things like your tattoos and vows, so…” You place the box in his hands and wrap yours around his.
“Will you marry me?” You open the box.
Two silver rings. You may have been saving up for them for some time. They were beautiful. The first time you saw them, you nearly died. They carved Allen’s design onto them elegantly, flowers being held by his abstract tattoos. You fell in love with it the first time he drew it, and every time he drew it again and again.
Allen suddenly gasps and you realize he hasn’t been breathing. Well, you made him speechless but you didn’t want to kill your boyfriend.
“Yes.” Allen says, looking up at you. His smile is huge, and it takes a minute for you to register that he said yes.
“Yes yes yes!” He shouts it again and throws himself into your arms, kissing you. You’re sure you’re smiling and you can feel the tears threaten to spill down your cheeks. “Oh my god, yes!”