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Alpha had done some crazy, scary shit in his time. For starters, everything that went down in Blood Gulch—Omega, Freelancers, Aliens, all that stuff. Then there was that whole thing with facing down the Meta and all of his old fragments, being pretty sure he’d survive (which he did, take that Washington) but having just that little bit of doubt.
But nothing, nothing had felt quite as crazy or scary as this.
He didn’t remember exactly when he’d latched onto the idea. They’d probably been passing through some town and either he overheard something or Maine had made some off-hand comment—either way, sometime in the last couple of weeks he’d heard the word ‘marriage’ and hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since.
Seriously, it had consumed almost every moment he was awake—which was basically all the time. Maybe a mild exaggeration, but close enough. He kept coming back to the concept, the idea of marriage, but more than that it was the idea of marriage to Maine.
(Thank god he’d finally learned to consistently block thoughts from the link.)
Yeah, he wanted to marry Maine. He loved them a whole lot, more than he ever thought possible if he was honest with himself—ugh, that was sappy. Kinda silly, when you considered how they already shared a mind, to be thinking about something like marriage, maybe, yeah. But he kind of didn’t care.
And sure, maybe he spent an entire day wondering how it was even supposed to work for people like them. He was an AI, Maine was a Spartan—could they even legally get married? Only to realise, at the end of it all, that they were both legally dead and they were never going to be able to do this legitimately anyway.
But— the point was, he wanted to marry Maine. He just had to figure out how he was going to ask and get the guts to. That was what he’d been thinking about for the past couple of weeks. That was what he spent hours hiding from Maine, trying to keep it a surprise.
More than once, he’d almost gathered enough nerve to ask them. Once, when they were curled around his comparatively tiny android body protectively, running their fingers through his hair and trailing them down his spine. Another time, when they burst out into that lovely deep laughter at some stupid joke he told. A third time, when they came up behind him, half-asleep and practically purring as they doubled over just to nuzzle his shoulder.
(Yeah, he had it bad.)
Finally, though, he thought he was there. That he’d gathered enough courage to just ask them.
Sat together on their bed he rehearsed it, over and over in his head. “Hey, Maine?” Okay, you just have to decide how you’re gonna ask this. Maine, wanna get married? No, shit, too casual. Uh— Maine, will you marry me?
Maine rumbled an acknowledgement, raising in pitch toward the end as their eyes widened just slightly. Kissed the top of his head, with him tucked into their lap.
“Uh— I wanna ask you something.” Yeah, that’s it. Maine, will you marry me? Maine, will you marry me?
‘Yeah.’ Maine thought back, after a moment’s pause.
Maine, will you marry me? Maine, will you marry me? Practiced it, over and over. He couldn’t fuck this up.
‘…yeah.’ They raised a brow, chuckled quietly.
Now just actually ask them for fuck’s sake— Yet still, to himself, Maine, will you marry me?
‘Yeah.’
Maine, will you marry me?
‘Alpha. Yes.’
Maine, will y— wait, what?
That deep, rumbling laugh filled the room and Maine tilted Alpha’s head back, grinned at the stunned look on his face. Shining blue eyes wide, jaw slack, the faintest hint of a blush.
“…did you— was I— that whole time—?”
‘Yeah. Could hear,’ Maine thought, kissing his cheek. ‘Why’d you think I kept saying yeah?’
“I was kinda— occupied with— you know— fuck.” Alpha dropped his head against their shoulder, covered his face with his hands. “I can’t believe— you mean it? You’re actually saying yes?”
‘Yeah. Course.’ They brushed their lips against the shell of his ear. ‘Love you.’
Hands sliding down from his face, Alpha grinned. “Love you too, big guy. So, you actually wanna marry this asshole, huh?”
With an affectionate rumble, Maine pulled him into kiss. That was a good enough answer for Alpha.