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“Bear?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you ever think we could get away from this at some point?”
“From… Base? From O.V.E.R? From this comforter you’re snuggled under with your boy?”
Edgar lightly smacks his hand, smiling. “From all of this. I try not to think about it too much because there is work to be done, but it’s hard to put it entirely out of mind.”
Mike lets out a soft sigh. “I know what you mean. The trip to Glacier was wonderful, but all it did was give me a taste of what living with you could be like. What our life could be like.” He stretches luxuriously, before folding his hands behind his head. “Was… there anything in particular that brought this up, babe?”
"OVEdgar and O.V.E.R Mikey. I was furious when you came back - not at you, of course,” Edgar amends, turning to press a kiss against Mike’s arm. “Furious at Edgar. At myself. Both of my selves. For not considering what could have happened. For making you - " he breaks off, swallowing hard.
Mike shifts slightly, pressing his side against Edgar's. A wordless acceptance, an understanding.
“Edgar, you can’t think of everything that could happen. I didn’t think of it, either. We just expected them to be like us, because… well, they are us, you told me that earlier. They haven’t been through the same things that we have, and they have an actual idea of what living together would be like. I don’t… I can’t blame them for not wanting to jeopardise that.”
“I know. But I’m - ” Edgar pauses, searching for words. “I’m so angry that he - that I - did that to you. You’ve already been hurt so much. I don’t…” he trails off. “I did not want to see you hurt, Bear. And I hate that I did that to you, regardless of what I had been feeling. I'm sorry.”
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Mike soothes, ignoring his slight confusion as he props himself up on an arm and turns on his side to look at him. Edgar was refusing to look at him, jaw clenched and mouth in an unhappy tilt.
“Panther, look at me. Please?”
Edgar drags his gaze from the foot of the bed to meet him, lingering over the long-healed scar on his ear along the way. His gentle features were furrowed, eyes full of emotion that Mike struggles to place.
“I don't know exactly what you're sorry for, but I forgive you,” he says simply, and then kisses his forehead lightly, smiling when he sees Edgar's face scrunch as he fights off a sneeze.
“To answer your question, I… think about it often, Edgar. I’ve wondered how it'd be, just me and you, in a home to ourselves. Well, just us and like four dogs, I've had dreams of us raising golden retrievers - God, we really are that irritatingly sappy couple of the friend group, aren't we? But also a couple of cats, I think they'd get along really well if they were all raised together. Wide windows in the living room, but maybe just one in the bedroom? I think I'd prefer a sunlamp there. I also think it’d be great to have a vegetable and a fruit garden, I know you like them fresh. I’m not sure how long it’d take to grow mango trees - actually, did you know that a really good variety of mangoes is banned here? I think we could totally sneak a seed through customs, though - ”
Edgar is grinning now, the creases on his forehead softening into crow’s feet around his eyes as he props himself up, mirroring Mike.
“- we’d probably just have to make sure we don’t cause an ecological disaster, but one tree can’t hurt, right? We’ll be careful. I was also looking up how to best grow herbs- ”
“Do you want to get married?” Edgar interrupts.
“- say that spirals are a very efficient use of - huh?” Mike splutters.
“I want a life with you. I want to build one with you. So. Do you want to get married?”
Mike sits up and stares at Edgar, mouth slightly agape. Edgar is staring right back at him, eyes sparkling with affection, the beginnings of a blush working its way up his cheeks.
“I - I - yes! Of course! Yes! Yeah, I want to - like, right now?”
Edgar laughs out loud at that, head tilting fondly as he pushes himself to sit up as well. "We'll work out the specifics later, but I was thinking we could get engagement rings at some point? I've already had… "
He stops as Mike leans forward and kisses him gently, and presses their foreheads together after they break apart. Mike sniffles, trying and failing to hold back the wetness in his eyes, smile bright as Edgar wipes away the tears with a hand that trembles as he does so.
Edgar. His Edgar. Beautiful and warm and fierce, like his callsign.
Mike envelopes him in a hug, arms encompassing his smaller frame, who in turn wraps his arms around Mike with hands oh-so gentle as they rest on his scars. They stay like that for a while and if either of them feel a dampness on their shoulders, they do not comment.
As they finally separate, unable to hold back grins, Edgar nudges him. “Tell me more about the garden?” he says, eyes slightly reddened, but clear and elated.
Mike’s grin grows wider, heart thrumming with joy and warmth. He lies back down, and motions for Edgar to join him. Edgar obliges, resting his head on Mike's arm, and curls up against him before wrapping an arm around his stomach, searching for Mike's free hand. He presses another kiss to Edgar’s forehead before interlocking their fingers, and continues.
“I saw people on one of the popular gardening subreddits - I know, I know, but it’s one of the few places left that’s still a public forum with a large userbase. Anyway, there were suggestions on what to plant on the lower areas of the spiral versus the upper areas, depending on the amount of moisture and sunlight needed…”
Mikey is talking, voice rumbling low in his chest. Edgar closes his eyes and relaxes into him, into the safety and warmth he radiates. As fatigue begins to claim him, he feels rather than hears his soft chuckle. “Goodnight, Panther,” he hears as though from a great distance and smiling, surrenders to sleep.