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They’ve been dating a couple years, living together a good portion of that time, and Kravitz Knows. He’s Known since pretty early on, really, but he’s been out of the relationship game for a very long time, and it took some time before he had complete confidence in interpreting his own feelings. But he knows now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Taako is the One, and Kravitz wants nothing more than to make it official by marrying him.
It’s not a deal-breaker or anything; Kravitz is beyond grateful that he even has a chance at love, well, from beyond the grave, as it were. If boyfriends is all they’ll ever be, he can live with that (in a manner of speaking). But Kravitz has a soft spot for traditions, especially where romance is involved. Plus, marriage was only ever a pipe dream for him back when he was alive, as public views on things like two men marrying have changed drastically over the years, decidedly for the better. Still, if Taako is dead-set against it, Kravitz can be content with what they have and keep his disappointment to himself.
But Taako isn’t dead-set against it. Sure, he’s squirrely about the subject in true Taako fashion, but Kravitz has long since learned to read his boyfriend. Often, what Taako doesn’t say speaks volumes more than what words actually leave his mouth. The subject has been skirted a few times but never discussed in depth, and Kravitz can glean from context clues that Taako is open to the idea as something that will probably happen in the future, but he’s still a little uncomfortable with the subject.
So Kravitz, being the supportive and generous boyfriend that he strives to be, bides his time. And he plans.
He spends months searching for the perfect ring. When your boyfriend is one of the most famous people in the planar system—not to mention someone whose tastes tend toward the ostentatious—you can’t expect him to sport just any ring. It has to strike a balance between impressive and tasteful (because ostentatiousness doesn’t preclude class, and Taako has that in spades). It also needs to be meaningful, because for all that Taako pretends like he doesn’t care about that sort of thing, Kravitz knows better.
In the end he has something specially made, a striking affair of silver filigree with a starburst of pink tourmaline and little diamonds. Clichéd, perhaps, to call back to their first meeting, and Taako will undoubtedly tease Kravitz for it, but Kravitz knows his boyfriend is more sentimental than he lets on. He imagines they’ll go for something a touch more subtle for their actual wedding bands, but Taako might as well have something flashy he can wave around at social gatherings to announce the engagement.
Kravitz also chooses a location for the date, and the itinerary he has scribbled on the back of an old bounty memo is the result of an inordinate amount of agonizing. The agenda includes a fancy restaurant in Neverwinter they ate at on one of their first few dates, an open-air bazaar with oddities Taako likes to peruse that’s a quick trip east by scythe to Silverymoon, and a moonlit walk on a particularly picturesque and uninhabited stretch of the Sword Coast. No public proposals for them—Taako, for all his flair, is a very private person and wouldn’t appreciate being put on the spot, and that’s not Kravitz’s style anyway.
Finally, Kravitz has written a speech for the actual big moment. He broke out actual stationery for this, and the sheet is crossed with several lines, faded and fuzzy, from where he’s folded, refolded, and worried the paper between his fingers. He gets a little nervous just thinking about it, but he's rehearsed it several dozen times, and he's tweaked it until it comes as close as he could ever hope to accomplishing the impossible task of succinctly vocalizing all his feelings for Taako.
In short, everything is ready but Taako, and Kravitz is just waiting for a sign that the time is right.
They’re lying in bed one night after a particularly mundane evening. They each arrived home from work relatively on time, about half an hour apart, and they talked about their respective days over a dinner of leftover chicken Florentine, neither having anything interesting to report.
They very nearly argued over whether or not to attend a gala being thrown by Lord Sterling to entertain some visiting dignitaries, to which the Seven Birds had all been specially invited. Neither Taako nor Kravitz really wanted to attend, but Taako wanted to blow it off, and Kravitz thought it would be in poor taste to decline the invite. The discussion was on the verge of being heated when Taako sighed and acknowledged that Kravitz was probably right, damn him, and Taako would go on the condition that they put in an appearance, grab a few hors d’oeuvres, and abscond with a champagne bottle under each arm after the absolute minimum time propriety would allow. Kravitz chuckled and said he supposed he could look the other way for the petty theft so long as they attended and thus avoided offending the governing parties of several of Faerûn’s foremost cities.
After dinner they settled, books in hand, into their usual spots on the sofa: Kravitz at one end, legs crossed at the ankle and arm settled on the rest; Taako reclining at the other end, feet propped in Kravitz’s lap. One of their several cats perched on the sofa back at Kravitz’s shoulder, flicking her tail sporadically so that it just barely brushed Kravitz’s cheek and made his eye twitch. Another cat curled on Taako’s belly about halfway through the evening and swatted at Kravitz anytime he tried to reach out to pet her or even rest a hand on Taako’s leg. Kravitz’s love affair with several of their cats was tragically one-sided, much to his chagrin and Taako’s amusement.
After a couple hours spent like this without a word exchanged, they decided to turn in, and after performing their evening ablutions, they climbed into bed. They exchanged a quick kiss and a good night, and then Taako curled on his side away from Kravitz as Kravitz settled back against his pillow.
That’s the state Kravitz is in now, hazy with looming sleep, when he feels his companion stir.
Taako rolls over, pokes Kravitz in the ribs, and says, “Hey, let’s get married.”
Kravitz is dumbstruck. He freezes, and it takes a moment for his sleepy brain to process what has just been said. Hell, it would have taken a moment for his perfectly awake brain to process, so out of the blue and oddly timed it was.
Once it computes, there’s a part of him that wants to throw something of a tantrum and stomp out of the room. Not because Taako was the one to propose—Kravitz isn’t one to be hung up on silly things like roles, especially since they don’t have them in the first place. But seriously, this is how Taako does it? Here? Now? With no apparent prior thought, no fanfare? All of Kravitz’s beautiful planning is wasted.
But no. Wasted isn’t quite right, because the goal was reached either way. It was all really about making the occasion perfect, and what could be more perfect than this? Going to sleep beside the love of his (after)life (a ritual not strictly necessary for either party but enjoyed by both), in a bed made for them by a dear friend, in a house they bought and decorated together, with a cat whose name they’d argued about for three days purring at their feet.
Kravitz knew what he was getting into when he fell for Taako, and Taako is nothing if not unpredictable. There couldn’t be a more Taako situation than this, really.
Coming out of his stupor, Kravitz’s eyes finally shift and land on the elf in question, who has propped himself on one bony elbow now, hair already disheveled, glamour down, and utterly lovely. His expression is as open and honest as Kravitz has ever seen it, but it’s clouding over, fear and dismay and embarrassment swiftly encroaching.
“Hey,” Taako mumbles, backpedaling. “It’s, um, it’s cool if you don’t wanna, uh, I mean, I totally get—”
“Yes.”
“You—yeah?”
“Hell yes,” Kravitz says, and he kisses him.
Taako melts against him, the nerves he apparently built up over the last few moments draining out of him and being replaced by relief and happiness. Kravitz deepens the kiss when he feels Taako open up to him, and for a moment he revels in the feeling of his now-fiancé’s hot mouth against his cooler one (though not as cold as it once might have been, warmth having come by degrees as he spent more time among the living).
“So we’re engaged now, huh?” Taako says pointlessly when he comes up for the air Kravitz doesn’t need.
Kravitz chuckles. “Seems so. I can make it a little more official if you’d like. Hold on a second; I’ll be right back.” He pulls away from Taako and crawls out of bed, then he summons his scythe, slices a doorway to the astral plane, and disappears through it. He steps into the center of his office, feeling out of place in his nightclothes and bare feet, but he hurries to his desk and rummages in the drawer for the little box he stashed there. He dashes back through the rift, dismissing both it and his scythe with an idle hand-wave.
Taako is sitting up on the bed now, blinking owlishly at him in puzzlement. Kravitz hesitates for half a beat, then nods to himself. It may be redundant and belated, and he feels a little foolish, but what the hell. He sinks to one knee, there in his pajamas in their darkened bedroom with a pile of cast-off dirty laundry half a yard to his left.
With a deep and unnecessary breath, he plunges into his well-rehearsed speech. “Taako, you're everything and more than I ever wanted in life, and everything and more than I never thought I could have in undeath. You're incredible and vibrant and brilliant and beautiful and so, so brave. And even though I know you’d deny it, you’re generous and caring, and when you deem someone worthy of your love, you give it fully and fiercely. I count myself beyond lucky that you could love someone like me and want to build a life with me, when the very nature of my being presents some rather unique challenges. But if anyone can handle unique challenges, it's you. I love you with every bone in my body, and I want to spend the rest of your life with you, and beyond. Taako, will you marry me?” He flips open the box and holds it aloft.
“You idiot. You absolute fucking dolt.”
Well, that was… not unexpected, if Kravitz is being honest. But with his dark vision, he doesn’t miss the wet shine of Taako’s eyes. “Pardon?” he asks, just to prompt Taako to clarify what specifically has earned Kravitz these illustrious titles.
“You had a ring and a speech and everything? For how long?”
“A few months now.”
“What the actual fuck were you waiting on?”
“You,” Kravitz says honestly. “Would you have said yes if I’d asked you a few months ago?”
“Yes. Probably. Maybe. Shit, I don’t know. Fuck you. You still should have asked.”
Kravitz just rolls his eyes at that. “I had a whole evening planned, to be perfectly candid.”
“So I jumped the gun and cheated myself out of the enchanting proposal of a lifetime and saved you from a great deal of performance anxiety, is that what you’re saying?”
“Your words, not mine. Can I get off my knees now?”
“Sure. And hand over my ring, you big dork.”
Kravitz obeys, and Taako plucks the ring from its padding with no ceremony, tossing the box aside. He slides the ring into place and splays his fingers to examine it. “Nice,” he declares—a resounding endorsement coming from him. Kravitz snorts.
“Okay, babe, this is getting stupid,” Taako says. “Why aren’t you already kissing me?”
It’s a damn good question, and Kravitz thinks it’s better addressed than answered. He pulls Taako to him and kisses him like he means it (which he really, really does).
After some minutes, they end up back under the covers, but where earlier they hadn’t been touching at all, now they are pressed as close as physically possible.
Kravitz brushes one more delicate kiss against the tip of a long elven ear. “Why now?” he asks. “There wasn’t anything special about tonight.”
“Exactly,” Taako agrees.
“What?”
“Tonight was hella ordinary, right? Boring even. We didn’t even bone or anything. But, like, I was still happy, you know? All of a sudden it seemed kind of pointless to pretend I might not want this someday.”
“Taako,” Kravitz says, at a loss for a proper response to that but unable to keep the giant grin off his face.
“Sorry I ruined your plans and all though.”
“Don’t be,” Kravitz says, and he finds he means it. “This couldn’t have been more perfect.”