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It was practically a running gag at that point, one that started a few weeks after they went official and Deimos discovered that he was madly, irrevocably in love with Sanford, and vice versa for the big guy. The joke was that they would take any ring shaped object and propose to the other, and boy they did it with everything.
He remembered the very first instance, Sanford tossing a grenade before immediately turning around to get on a knee, the ring pin clutched in both hands. “Marry me!” Sanford had shouted over the sound of the resulting kaboom, and Deimos had, of course, squealed with joy.
“Yes, yes a thousand times yes!” He accepted the ring onto his finger, and was rewarded with a frontside tackle hug. Sanford had picked him up and ran, because the building was collapsing, but Deimos remembered absently fingering at the ring on his right hand. The explosions all seemed so far away right then. It was a joke of course, and a darn funny one at that. It made his heart soar and his mind race, but neither of them were ready for that commitment juuuust yet.
Then it was the two of them foraging in a wrecked convenience store. Deimos dug around a pile of loose receipts, pausing when his hand caught on something interesting. Almost unable to believe his luck, he withdrew a full, still-wrapped ring pop from the drawer. So of course he vaulted over the counter to sprint right at his partner. “SANFORD!” Deimos hollered, peeling open the wrapper as he transitioned his lunge into a power slide. Sanford turned, alert and responsive, before catching sight of his kneeling position and the gaudily jeweled candy ring he was presenting. “Marry me?” He asked coyly, watching his partner’s expression melt into that of utter delight.
“Yes! Oh god yes!” Sanford dropped to his knees as well, and Deimos very carefully slipped the ring onto his finger. He remembered just how exhilarated he felt watching the guy he adored give the candy gem one good lick before stealing his lips in an open mouthed kiss. Sugar sweet and heady, they’d kissed for what felt like hours in that little shop.
Sometimes it was innocuous, cheese rings that he ate off Sanford’s fingers, and sometimes it was ridiculous, hefting a whole tire over his head and yelling those two words. Marry me! Deimos would shout with abandon, heart aflame with the crazy love Sanford ignited in him. And it would always be met with the same enthusiastic consent, sturdy hands clasped around his own, a crinkled pair of warm, brown eyes. Yes, yes, yes! He was nearing the point where he was a little obsessed with finding those rings. Anything would do, a severed ear, a hysterically large steel nut, a motherfucking bagel, he’d jump at the chance to propose to Sanford on the spot, and have the favour returned just as fervently.
“Deimos,” Sanford had caught his attention once, and then used every ounce of strength in those beefy arms to bend the barrel of a shotgun into an o shape. Sweaty and smiling, he’d offered the mangled thing to him,”Marry me?” How could he say no to that?
So yeah, they’d probably been engaged about fifty times at this point, not to brag or anything. Bear with him, this context was important, because today was the day of their anniversary, and Deimos was going to propose to him for real. He’d spent the better part of the past month working on his little pet project, doing shady shit like getting Sanford blackout drunk so he could sneakily take measurements, heading down to the garage to blowtorch, mould, polish and engrave the perfect little ring. Granted he’d stolen the golden band off a dead man’s finger, big rip, but he needed it to be perfect god damnit! No guesswork, no half-assing, just a hundred percent effort for his boyfriend bestie.
There had been a lot of blood involved in the making of that thing, he just wasn’t suited for delicate work. Deimos had nearly died trying to get the little setting sun right, so having to carve words on the underside of the ring was a fresh kind of hell for him. He despaired when the words were too big to fit, then again when they were too small, but eventually he did it and he was proud of it and Sanford had better love the thing or else he’d cry his goddamn eyes out. Right now the little golden ring felt like it was burning a hole in his back pocket, he was just so gosh darn excited. Deimos swung his hand in Sanford’s while they strolled by the shore, occasionally kicking aside clumps of seaweed and chasing seagulls.
“What the hell is that?” Sanford said quite suddenly, letting go of his hand to point at the horizon. The disconnection snapped him out of his reverie and Deimos pursed his lips, staring at the place he was instructed to look.
“What the hell is what?” He squinted, and at Sanford’s behest to ‘keep looking’ he scoffed. “Bro, I don’t see shit.”
“Must’ve missed it,” his partner hummed, and Deimos rounded on him to give him a piece of his mind. Then his jaw fell open. Sanford was down on one knee, presenting to him a silver ring in a box.
“Sanford,” he squeaked, unable to get out any more.
“Let me finish,” his beautiful partner who he loved so much shushed him, the goofiest smile on his face. “I know it seems redundant, considering we’ve been doing this for ages, but I do wanna marry you for real, dum dum.”
“San,” he repeated, voice strangled.
“I love you, Deimos,” Sanford confessed, nothing new but it still lit him up like a pyre to hear,”And I want to spend the rest of my life with you why are you laughing?”
He couldn’t speak at this point, couldn’t see with his eyes screwed shut this tightly. Deimos shook his head, squeezing tears of hazardous laughter from his eyes as he reached behind him. Sanford, bless his soul, was trying his best not to look hurt but still managed to bear a remarkable similarity to a kicked dog. “I-I’m sahhhry-! H-hang on..!” He stuttered, unable to tell the love of his life anything and so decided to show him instead by dropping to one knee. Deimos pulled the ring out, the one he’d been nursing all this while, and presented it to Sanford. He couldn’t stop the stray giggle or two from bursting forth when his partner gawked.
“Deimos,” his voice cracked under the weight of sheer emotion, and then Sanford was laughing too.
“I love you, San,” he sobbed, nearly delirious with joy. “I love you so much, I wanna marry you.”
“Let’s do it,” Sanford warbled, shuffling forward on his knees. Deimos lifted his head, eyes closed, and felt Sanford press their lips together. He wouldn’t trade the closeness for the world, feeling Sanford’s body against his own, his lips, his hands, his hair that spilled free from the bandanna when he slipped his fingers beneath it. The sand against his back got into his clothes but Deimos didn’t care about that, unable to stop laughing giddily when Sanford slipped the silver ring onto his hand, obsessed with the coarseness of his fingers when he allowed Deimos to do the same with the golden band. They dove right back into kissing, hands on necks and shoulders and hair, feeling lips against his cheeks and nose and overcome with the kind of delight that only Sanford could fill him with. He felt like a dripping sponge, if someone were to wring him out right then, the only thing they’d collect was love, pure and distilled love.
“I love you, more than anything,” he kissed at an exposed stretch of shoulder, whining happily when he felt hands on his cheeks. Sanford kissed him smack between the eyes, then pressed their foreheads close.
“I love ya too, baby boy,” he said softly, his dark brown eyes positively oozing with affection. He couldn’t hide anything from those eyes, Deimos loved him madly. It was a hot few minutes before either of them had the presence of mind to be separated, and even then Deimos made sure he had his head tucked into Sanford’s shoulder as he admired the ring. Hysterically enough, Sanford had decided to carve a moon onto his ring, meaning they’d accidentally matched.
“Aww, mine has a sunrise on it,” Sanford cooed, spreading his fingers out to admire the ring.
“It’s a sunset,” he corrected, then gasped. “Sanfoord! You put our stars on this thing,” he was now gazing at the other side of it, chest burning up. “It’s so tiny, how’d you do it?” The little Taurus and Leo were settled beside each other and he held his hand to his chest. “I love this, I love you.”
“Funny, I was jus’ boutta say the same thing,” Sanford blinked coyly at him.
“Take the ring off,” Deimos ordered, and Sanford raised a brow. “Just do it!”
He reluctantly slid the thing off (Deimos was very glad to note that his measurements had been perfect) and checked the underside. “I want all of you, forever,” Sanford read the painstakingly engraved lettering, and the look on his face melted into something soft,”you and me, every day. Oh, Deimos…”
“Yes, I know,” he couldn’t keep the smugness out of his voice,”that hole was pretty tight but I made it all fit.” Sanford laughed, nuzzling his cheek into the top of his head.
“I thought you hated that movie,” his partner, his betrothed now, sighed happily and put the ring back on. It was a treat in itself to watch that hand clench and flex, deft fingers curling against the air.
“Nah, can’t hate something you love,” Deimos said, unable to stop fiddling at his ring, running the pad of his thumb over the carefully spaced constellations that’d been set in the silver. It was neither Braille nor Morse but the message in those dots was clear nonetheless; he was loved. “Not when it makes me think of you, ya goof.”
Sanford just made that high, happy noise again, wrapping an arm around his shoulders to tug him even closer. “Wanna get tacos later?”
“Hell yeah!” He crowed without hesitation.
Best. Anniversary. Ever.