Work Text:
November 1992
"Do you trust me?" Mike asked as he led her out of her house to his car.
"Of course, I trust you, Mike." El stopped at the passenger door, peering at him on the other side, "But I don't understand why I have to put this on."
She waved the bandana he had given her at him. Mike sighed lightly, resting his forearms on the top of the car, "I just really, really need you to do it. It's, like, the hugest part of this whole thing."
"Of what whole thing?"
It wasn't that she was against wearing it; he'd just been acting strange since he had returned home for his fall break. Not so strange in a way that other people would have noticed, but she could feel something wasn't right with him. It was at least strong enough for her to ask him about it.
Frantically, he insisted he was fine; he was just excited to be back home with her.
Nervous, excited.
When she first started putting names to more complex emotions, she noticed the butterflies those two feelings gave her weren't that different, but what she felt in her heart and head were.
Mike had always been a terrible liar and a nervous one at that.
"Please?" He ignored her question, pulling his face into a pout, the exact one that even after almost ten years, she could never bring herself to say no to, "I'll even put your Bangles CD on."
She couldn't fight the smile that formed on her face before she relented, "You're very lucky I love you."
"Tell me about it." Mike winked before ducking into his side of the car.
El laughed and followed suit. Getting into the passenger seat, she tied the old bandana around her eyes.
It was just enough to block off her lines of sight, so if she really wanted to know where they were going, all she had to was focus on the sound of the wheels on the gravel, and then she could slip into the —
"And don't cheat!" Mike's voice broke her thoughts as he shifted gears and started to drive, "No trying to sense where we are."
"Fine," El held her hands up defensively. "And what if someone sees me like this? It looks like you're kidnapping me."
"I don't think they'll get the chance; we're not going very far. Besides, I can't kidnap my own girlfriend."
"That's not what those shows Joyce watches say," she teased, knowing it would be just enough to get a reaction out of him.
She could almost hear the sarcastic eye roll in his tone, "I'm not kidnapping you."
"You're just taking me somewhere, not telling me where, and making sure I don't see how we're getting there."
"Exactly."
"So... you're kidnapping me."
"Well, when you put it that way, I guess I am," he groaned. "You got a problem with that?"
"No," she held out her left hand so he could take it, "I missed you."
"I missed you, too." Mike gently interlocked their fingers, "So much."
It always seemed like something was lurking around the corner, waiting for the chance to pull them apart again. College was one of those things, ever since she stayed close to home and he had gone away. Except unlike everything else that had come between them, it came packaged with a gleaming silver lining. Soon, they'd graduate, and the rest of their lives were theirs to do what they wanted with.
Most importantly, they wouldn't have to be separated ever again.
She squeezed his hand a little tighter.
Wherever they were headed, he meant it when he said they weren't going far. Within five minutes, the car pulled to a stop. Mike's door slammed shut, and hers opened a moment later.
"I'm gonna lead you. Is that okay?" Mike asked, taking her hands and helping her out of the car. She hummed in response.
From the sound of the leaves crunching under her feet and the weird pattern he was gently pushing her in, she knew they were in the woods. Mike directed her to watch her step every so often, his hands wrapped around her shoulders, "Okay, just a little further now."
"Alright, here." She heard Mike take a few steps away, "You can take that thing off now."
She reached up and tugged the bandanna off her head. She was met with the sight of Mike, just a few yards away, standing in a clearing.
"Do you know where we are?"
She hadn't been there in a long time, but if she closed her eyes, she would be twelve again. Cold and wet to the point of shivering, scared out of her mind, but above all, free. Three small boys would be staring back at her with confused gazes, their flashlights shining brightly on her face.
Almost a foot and a half shorter back then, Mike would be the one to reach for her, quickly shrugging off his jacket and placing it around her shoulders. He'd take her to his house, give her warm clothes and a place to stay. Little did she know that in the course of a few years, he'd give her everything.
It was where her life really began.
She looked at him with a smile, "Off Mirkwood. Where you found me."
"I'd argue it's where we found each other."
"You always argue," she countered through a smirk.
"Not the point," he shook his head, letting out a light laugh. "Can you believe that was nine years and eighteen days ago now?"
"That’s a long time."
"Yeah, yeah. It has been." She watched his shoulders rise and fall quickly as he looked away from her, something he always did when he needed to steady himself for whatever came next.
"El, I," Mike closed his eyes and took a deep breath before looking back at her, his eyes open and honest, "I stood here nine years ago, and I didn't know it then, but I shined my flashlight at the rest of my life."
She felt her face soften as her heartbeat picked up its pace in a way only he had ever been able to make it jump.
"I looked at you. I mean, I really looked at you and, I don't know, something just clicked into place. It sounds so cheesy, but it was like I had been waiting for you all that time, and I was relieved you finally showed up. In the middle of all that bullshit, for just a second, I was calm. It didn't make any sense."
"Then, over those next few days and then years, you would show me exactly why it did. It did make sense. Because you're you. You are strength and compassion, and bravery and…" He trailed off for just a second, "Sorry, I had a lot more to say but, I honestly can't even remember right now because I wasn't looking at you when I practiced, and now that I am, all that's running through my head is how completely and totally in love with you I am, but what I wanted to say is that you're everything good in my life. All of it."
She let the weight of his words sink in, burrowing themselves in the pit of her stomach. They were so real, so Mike, but they were heavier than they usually felt. He had told her he loved her a billion times before; some were close but never like this.
Was he going to...
No, no way.
But he practiced.
So maybe he was.
She tried to quell the excitement she felt rush through her blood before it started to show.
He continued, "You're the best thing that ever happened to me, but the other side to that is you're also the worst thing I've ever lost. I know that because it's happened way too many times. I know neither of us wants to go through that again, and I'm pretty sure I know where we can start."
He was.
The boy she loved with all she had since she was a little girl, the same boy who gave her every last bit of his soul and loved her back unconditionally, was about to propose to her.
It'd be a lie to say she didn't picture it more than a few times in her life, but all those times, all those scenarios, nothing beat the rush of knowing the real thing was about to happen.
He wanted to marry her, and God, she wanted to marry him, too.
She had ever since she learned what it meant.
It would be him and her for eternity, the way it was destined to be.
She felt the tears on her cheeks before she even realized she was crying.
He took a few steps toward her until they were only inches away, slowly reaching to take her shaking hands in his, "El, you're it for me. I mean, obviously. It's always been you, and it will always be you. It doesn't matter if I'm twelve or twelve hundred; that's never gonna change. There's nothing I want more than us for the rest of my life. I promise that I'm going to continue to love you with every single atom in my body for, well, forever, and I'm pretty tall, so that's, like, a lot of atoms."
"It is," she choked out through a laugh.
He shot her a grin, wrinkling the corners of his eyes, "I brought us here because nine years ago, we stood in these woods, and you changed my life. I'm really hoping you'll do it again right now."
Mike took a small step back, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small box. Then, with a shaky breath, he stooped to his knee.
She knew it was coming, and she still couldn't stop the gasp that escaped her.
There were times in her life where she wasn't sure they would even get to that point. She stared death in the face on so many instances that she had been afraid she would meet her end before they would come close. Or even worse, that Mike would meet his, but there they were.
They made it.
They won.
The thought only sent more tears streaming down her face.
Mike opened the box before her, revealing the beautiful ring inside of it. The rounded gem that she would get to wear on her hand as a symbol of their lifelong commitment to each other.
He looked up at her, his eyes a little watery themselves, "El, will you marry me?"
In every universe, the answer would be yes as long as he was the one asking.
She shifted into autopilot as she slowly moved to her knees, reaching up to take his face between her hands, and rushed forward to kiss him.
She remembered a teacher of hers had once said if the world stopped spinning, everything would violently slam into whatever was nearest. Except for a moment, El doubted that was entirely true. The world did stop spinning, and there was nothing but peace.
There, in the woods where they met, they were the only two people on the planet.
When they pulled back, Mike was still holding the ring between them, "Uh, like, I think I have an idea, but that’s a yes, right?"
She let out a giggle, running her thumb across his cheek, "Yes, Mike. Absolutely yes."
He beamed back at her, throwing his head back in a fit of laughter. For a moment, he looked like a twelve-year-old again, "Thank God!"
She laughed with him before he cut her off, pulling her in for another kiss. She drew her head back, resting her forehead on his, "Did you think I would say no?"
"No," Mike shook the ring box between them, "but do you wanna put this on before you change your mind?"
"I won't change my mind. Not ever."
"Promise?"
"Promise." She nodded and held out her left hand. Mike gently grabbed the ring, sliding it delicately onto her finger.
"I knew it would look perfect on you," his voice was almost breathless, his gaze set on her face, "but it looks even better than that. Might have to make it a little smaller, though."
"They'll have to take it off me first." She felt herself blush as she held her hand in front of her. Looking at the ring, Mike's ring on her hand brought all of it to a dazzling reality. She could barely contain her elation, "We're getting married!"
Mike lifted his head high, shouting into the forest, "If anyone or anything is out there, let it be known that this woman agreed to be my wife. We're getting married!"
His echo must have repeated the last word about a dozen times.
She could have listened to it hundreds of times more.
El placed her hands gently on his cheeks, "I love you, you dork."
"I love you, too, but I guess that makes you Mrs. Dork now."
"That's future 'Mrs. Dork' to you."
Mike heaved a melodramatic sigh, "Semantics actually blow."
El arched an eyebrow, "Is that the right word for that?"
"Don't know, don't care," he shrugged from his spot on the ground, "I'm just really happy."
"Me, too."
“Oh yeah?” He gave her a crooked grin, "You ready for the rest of our lives?"
She shook her head with a smile, "I'm ready for forever."