Work Text:
This is what happens:
They were supposed to go to Salt Lake for their unofficial reunion, which is basically just the drama department, making their way back home for the summer.
Which would be great, except E.J. changes their tickets from Salt Lake to Paris.
They’re a year into dating, a year after she moved to New York for school and when she bypassed dorm life altogether and hunkered down in a shitty run-down apartment with E.J.
It’s late, and they just finished their exams and are eating pizza, while E.J. is trying not to panic at the fact that he’s officially done University and Gina just finished her second year, and they’re good. They’re more than good, they’re great. So great in fact that they’re watching a French show on Gina’s laptop, when he hears her sigh for the third time in less than thirty minutes.
“Okay,” E.J. says, pushing away his plate of pizza. “What gives?”
“What?” Gina looks startled, as if not realizing that she was doing anything, and to be fair, it would make sense for her to think that, because only E.J. seems to pay attention to the amount of times Gina Porter sighs, or laughs, or smiles.
“It’s the third time you’ve sighed in thirty minutes, G. What’s wrong?”
She gives him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract –”
He shakes his head, ending her sentence because no. Just no. he’s not going to let her think that anything she does is distracting, except for like…existing because how anyone can concentrate and string words together to make a coherent sentence around Gina, is commendable. Really it is. “You’re not distracting me. I’m worried about you. Is something wrong?”
She lets out a little laugh. “No. No. Nothing’s wrong, it’s just…” she gestures to the screen. “I’ve always wanted to go to Paris, you know? My brother…before he left started to read The Little Prince to me and when he left…I couldn’t bring myself to finish it because that meant he wasn’t coming back, and I just became obsessed with it and France and that’s all. I like watching French shows because it gives me a glimpse into what could be, you know? That’s all. It’s not a big deal or anything.” But it kind of is a big deal, and E.J. knows it’s a big deal because she ducks her face away. And since Beauty and the Beast when Jamie Porter effectively tried to ruin any chances of E.J. and Gina getting together and Gina ripping Jamie a new when she finally got him on the phone, E.J. hasn’t been the biggest fan of Jamie. But Gina loves Jamie. She does.
Except, Jamie only loves Gina when it’s convenient and instead busy turning Nini into a superstar. And it’s not like Gina holds it against Nini, because she doesn’t. Nini doesn’t have a malicious bone in her body but when she goes on and on about how great Jamie is and how everyone loves him, E.J. notices the way Gina shuts down, the way she disassociates herself from the conversation because Jamie is great to everyone but Gina. Everyone loves him, including Gina, yet he can’t be half-assed to pick up a phone and call his sister on her birthday.
And E.J. can forgive a lot of things, but not loving Gina all the way, or only loving her when it’s convenient is not something he can forgive. So no, he’s civil to Jamie when he sees him or the odd time he calls, but E.J. can’t say he’s a fan of him.
Which is hard, because Gina still misses him and still carries the scars and trauma from all the times her brother leaves.
“Did you try applying to a University in France?”
Gina cocks an eyebrow at him. “Do you know how expensive that is? It just…didn’t work out. That’s fine though,” she gives his shoulder a little shove, “New York has it’s advantages.”
There’s a beat of silence between them. “It’s the pizza, isn’t it?” E.J. says, his voice cutting off into a laugh when Gina reaches over and smacks his arm.
“It’s you.” Gina says, after they’re done play wrestling for the last pizza, deciding to split it in half. “The biggest advantage of New York is that you’re in it and I…” she takes a deep breath, “I don’t want to be in a place where you aren’t.”
They say I love you to each other a lot. Of course, they do. E.J. doesn’t miss a chance to remind Gina of how much she is loved and how he would do anything for her. But it’s this, these little sentences that don’t seem like they would mean anything to anyone else but them, that he loves. He loves all the different ways Gina Porter tells him she loves him.
E.J. smiles the rest of the night, tugging her closer to him, hoping that she hears his heart and how it beats steadily for her.
This is how it happens:
After Gina and the rest of the group are done University, they go to Europe in the winter because that’s the only time all of them can make it. They go to Portugal, Spain, and Rome, where Gina spends hours falling even more in love with art and E.J. spends hours falling more in love with Gina. They go to Amsterdam where they lose Big Red and find him terrified in the Red-Light District and Ash can’t stop chortling at him. They go to Ireland where they drink too much beer and fall in love with the people.
And their last stop is London, where they split off from the group one day.
Gina and E.J. have just come out of watching The Lion King and Gina is humming Shadowland. She’s wrapping herself around an old looking streetlamp, twirling around, trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue, when she stops and looks at him, her cheeks rosy and red, hat perched on her head and grin so wide that it’s contagious. “We should get married.”
He chokes on air, and she laughs, stops twirling and bounds up to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing the tip of her cold nose to his. His arms are instantly around her waist.
“ I mean it.” She continues softly, and they’re swaying underneath the light of the streetlamp on a cobblestone road that houses so much history, it makes his head spin. “We should just get married now, no fuss, no big wedding, just the crew as witnesses.” She gives him another smile and he can feel the way she vibrates with excitement, and he almost wants to cry because the thought of marrying him makes her so fucking happy that it makes him so fucking happy. “And us, for the rest of our lives.” She gives him a soft grin, pressing her lips softly to his. “Sounds like the ultimate love story, huh?
He nods and makes a choked noise in the back of his throat because his brain apparently can’t function, but Gina just laughs and doesn’t take it as anything other than surprise because she knows him better than to think that he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life with her. Because they work on communication and always have since that miscommunication in their senior year. Even though it only lasted a couple of hours, they were the worst of his life and he promised himself and her that they would always talk.
“One day.” She says.
“One day.” He promises her.
“I don’t like you.” Jamie tells him over the phone one day.
E.J. isn’t surprised and honestly, doesn’t really care. He already spoke to Gina’s mom the other day and the woman broke down crying with happiness. What he was surprised about was when he got a message from Jamie a couple of days later, saying how he wanted to chat and E.J. knows that Gina’s mom told him.
“I don’t care.” E.J. tells him and it’s the truth. He really doesn’t care what Jamie thinks about him.
“My sister can do better.”
“I’m not going to argue with you about that Jamie.” E.J. answers truthfully. “Gina deserves the world. But I’m not going anywhere. So yeah, we don’t like each other, but I’m going to be civil to you whenever I see you because Gina loves you.” He leans against the kitchen counter, gripping his cellphone tighter. “But let’s get one thing clear, you make Gina cry ever again, or try some stupid shit like you did when we were in high school, that’ll be the last time you ever hurt her again, got it?”
Jamie is silent on the other end of the line. “Just…love my sister, okay?”
" Honestly, I think it’s the only thing I know how to do.”
So, yeah. Paris.
“Are you nervous?” Ash asks him when they’re at the airport.
He stares down at his screen, cocking an eyebrow at his cousin. “I wouldn’t be if you stopped asking that question.”
Ash snorts. “Does she seriously not know yet?”
“I’ve been holding the tickets hostage and check-in was through my email, so no, she doesn’t know yet.”
Ash gives him a huge grin. “I’m so happy for you two, you know that?”
He smiles back. “Thanks, Ash. Give everyone our love, okay?”
“Celebration at Slices when you guys come back. We’re planning a huge party for you guys.” There’s a pause and then Ash winces. “Shit, I think that was supposed to be a surprise. Act surprised.”
“Love you.” E.J. laughs.
“Love you guys too!”
“Hey,” Gina says, a bag of goodies in one of her hands. “Was that Ash? Is she meeting us at the airport?”
E.J. clears his throat and rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “Right, so about that.” He takes a deep breath and gives her a ticket. He sees the moment it clicks in her head when she reads the destination. Her breath catches, the bag full of goodies dropping to the floor in shock. She looks up at him and then at the ticket and then at him again.
“Is this a joke?” She asks in a quiet voice.
“No.” He says quickly. “It’s not a joke. I would never joke like that.”
She blinks rapidly. “We’re going to Paris?” At his nod, she shrieks, jumping up and down and then jumping into his arms.
He’s become fairly used at catching Gina Porter mid-air and so he’s incredibly thankful for his fast reflexes when she jumps on him, wrapping her legs around his waist and planting a kiss on his lips. “We’re going to Paris!”
Clearly, not everyone in the airport is as excited as they are, especially not when security tells them that they’re causing a scene and they need to cut it out.
Paris is everything E.J. thought it would be. Busy, touristy, very French.
It’s a culture shock for him but not for Gina who looks like she belongs here, among the buildings that are hundreds of years old and on the sidewalks where she gazes up in awe at the beauty around them, and in the cafés, where she sips fancy coffee and eats sweets almost daily.
They spend days in the Louvre, because Gina, surprising absolutely everyone, takes Art History as her major and wants to be a curator. And E.J. has always appreciated art but when Gina tells him about paintings and the history of it, the history of the artists, E.J. finds that he could spend days just listening to her talk, and the way she gets the crease in the middle of her brows, especially when something is tragic. He gets lost in her words as she examines how the art piece has been preserved and techniques.
And he can see her here. In a museum, curating and carefully picking pieces to make an exhibition touching and real.
He can see her in Paris, or London, or Rome or back in New York, challenging everyone and everything and succeeding because that’s Gina Porter. She succeeds at everything she does.
Paris is overwhelming to E.J. at times, but looking at her and the happiness in her eyes, he thinks he would suffer Paris a thousand times over if she keeps that look in her eyes.
“Where are we going?” Gina laughs as he pulls her through the train station, pulling her onto the train, and grabbing her by the waist, kissing her deeply. He swallows her laugh and feels the way she cradles his face in her hands, so delicate, so loving.
“It’s a surprise.” He tells her. “Trust me.”
“Always.”
They get off at their stop and E.J. grabs a taxi, throwing a street address to the driver.
Gina is leaning her head against the window, the early start to the day finally getting to her, but her eyes are taking everything in.
The amusement park looms in the distance as they get closer and signs announcing it. He can tell when it finally clicks in her head where she’s at. She goes shock still in the back seat of the taxi, her breath catching, a hand flicking to the window, tracing imaginary figures on the glass, face pressed up against it. Without looking back, she reaches for his hand across the backseat, gripping his fingers tightly and then interlacing their hands. He pays the taxi driver and they both get out of the car.
Gina is still staring up at the amusement park in shock, her body trembling, her hand still encased in his.
They can hear laughter and happy screams from where they’re standing and E.J. glances at Gina, heart aching at the tears streaming down her face. “But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you.” She turns her head to look at him and gives him a watery smile. “The Little Prince. It’s a quote from the book.”
“Yeah.” E.J. says, his voice caught. “I…I read it.”
Gina frowns. “When?”
“That night after we were done exams and we were watching that French show and you told me…you told me you never finished it and I wanted…I wanted to love it as much as you do.”
“You brought me to Paris just for this didn’t you?”
He shrugs. “Gina, I’d give you the universe if I could. I just want you to be happy.”
She curls an arm around his waist, pressing her ear to his chest. “I’m happiest with you. Always with you.” She tilts her head up and smiles at him. “Come on, let’s go in.”
She holds out her hand and without hesitation, he slips his hand in hers, interlacing their fingers as they walk into Le Parc du Petit Prince.
It catches up to Gina in the middle of their day, when she sees a family with two children and the older boy is teasing his sister, speaking rapidly in French and the girl shrieks back at him, chasing him with her stuffed animal, as the little boy laughs and jumps away from her.
She bends at the waist and starts crying, body heaving with the force of her cries.
E.J. doesn’t say anything, instead, he holds her tightly and lets her cry for the childhood and relationship with her brother she never had.
He rented an AirBnB near the amusement park so they wouldn’t have to catch the late-night train out of there, but as he’s brushing his teeth, Gina stands in the doorway, leaning against it, her hands curled around a thin little book. He knows what it is without having to look at it. He rinses out his mouth and leans against the sink, looking at her.
“Do you…” she holds the book out to him. “Do you think you could read to me?”
“Yeah,” E.J. says, grabbing the book gently from her hands and leading her towards the bed. They’re underneath the covers, Gina curled into his side, as E.J. opens the book to the first page. “Once,” E.J. starts, “when I was six years old, I saw a magnificent picture in a book…”
And so, just after midnight somewhere in France, Gina finishes The Little Prince.
He had a plan. They were going to picnic on their last day in front of the Eiffel Tower and he was going to get down on one knee, his speech already planned.
But as they walk through Gare du Nord, Gina’s laugh echoing in his mind, her hand in his, her mouth split open in a large smile, her body relaxed, he finds that he can’t wait.
“Gina.” He says, pulling at her hand, pulling her towards him, pressing her against him, leaning down so their noses are touching. They’re in yesterday’s clothes, tired and exhilarated and he can feel his heart slam inside his chest. “Let’s get married.”
She chokes on air and laughs, pulling away slightly to look at him. She stares into his eyes, and they drop down as he takes a deep breath and bends on one knee, pulling the ring box from his pocket that has been burning a hole for nearly two years, because yeah, E.J. knew for a long time that he would marry her.
“I mean it.” He continues, and people are staring at them, but he doesn’t care and neither does Gina, who has a hand covering her mouth, eyes alight with so much joy it almost makes him cry. And here they are in the City of Love and all he wants to do is marry her. All he wants to do is paint their names in a city that will forever be painted in their hears. “We should just get married now, no fuss, no big wedding, just some strangers as our witnesses.” She laughs and so does he, as he repeats what she said to him in London. “But mostly, just us, for the rest of our lives.” She gives him a soft grin, pressing her lips softly to his. “Sounds like the ultimate love story, huh? So, what do you say? Marry me?”
She lets out a squeal that turns into a sob, nods her head, and collides into him.
“Forever is going to be fun with you.” She tells him when she stops crying.
“So long as it’s with you.” He tells her.
It turns out that they can’t actually get married in Paris without paperwork from the States but there’s a little chapel next to the Eiffel tower and after some persuasion from the priest, he conducts a small ceremony for the American couple with a few locals as witnesses who cheer when it’s said and done and E.J. and Gina kiss.
Later that night, they get to the top of the Eiffel Tower and watch as the lights glimmer beneath them.
She looks beautiful here. She looks so happy here, staring at Paris laid out before them, the lights from the Tower and city enveloping her in an ethereal beauty that no one else can touch. And he thinks he gets it, how all those artists have their muses and spend years and decades trying to immortalize them in paintings that hang in museums, longing etched in every stroke of the brush.
“What are you thinking about?” She calls out to him, hand outstretched behind her.
E.J. steps up, interlacing their fingers and pulling her back against his chest, resting his head on the crown of her head. “I’m thinking about how beautiful you are. How happy you look. How happy I feel. How much I love you.” He takes a deep breath. “I’m thinking how we should move here.”
Gina turns her head around and looks at him in shock. “What?”
E.J. shrugs a shoulder. “Gina, I write for a living. I can do that remotely from anywhere. But you…you look like you were born to be here. So, let’s do it. Lets’ leave Salt Lake, and New York behind and make Paris or somewhere in France or Europe, anywhere, home.”
“E.J.” she says, her voice catching. “Don’t you know by now?” At his confused look, she turns around, arms wrapping around his neck, pressing the tip of her nose to his. “Home is you.”
She tells him a hundred different ways that she loves him, but he thinks he loves this one the most.
Three months later they get married in Salt Lake, in a small ceremony with their friends and family present. They go to Slices for their Reception.
Nine months after that, they pack up their New York apartment and move to Paris.
Their apartment in Paris is smaller than their one in New York but Gina opens the windows wide open the first day they get there, and she leans out, smelling the air, poking her head back in, smiling widely at him.
“Welcome home.” He says, opening his arms.
She falls into them like she has a thousand times before and like she will a thousand times after. “I’ve always been home with you.” She reminds him.
Together they stand like that, in their small Paris apartment, the window wide open, letting the hustle and bustle of the city envelope their apartment, the sun setting on the first day of the rest of their lives.