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Love and peace. Vash thought, ducking behind an outcropping as a bullet whizzed by. How was it so hard for some people to understand love and peace?
Meryl, Roberto, Wolfwood and him had been traveling together when the car had died—truly an oversight on Meryls part for forgetting to charge it, totally not because they had been run out of yet another town before it could finish charging—the group had been forced to attempt to set up camp while they waited for the solar panels to collect energy.
It really wasn’t Vash’s fault, okay? Unfortunately, he had no luck in convincing Meryl of this.
And then, because his luck was absolutely fantastic, within an hour of sitting around, they had been tracked down and surrounded by yet another group of bounty hunters dead set on killing Vash for the $$60 million reward.
Which lead to this rather unfortunate state of affairs; Meryl and Roberto ducked behind a cliffside, Wolfwood on his way back from wherever he had wandered off to in the past hour, and Vash frantically dodging bullets and trying to draw them away from his makeshift little family.
Finally, finally, Wolfwood must have come close enough to the commotion to figure out what was going on, because one second he was a blob on the horizon, and the next he is charging towards Vash at full speed, his cross slipping from its wrappings. Sprinting across the makeshift battlefield, Wolfwood planted the Punisher in the ground in front of Vash, barely avoiding the hail of bullets by sliding behind the rocky outcropping that the humanoid typhoon was barely hidden behind.
“Nico please be careful!”
“Relax Spikey, keep acting like that and I might think you want to marry me.”
Vash stumbled, eyes going wide as he barely dodged the bullet wizzing towards his face.
“I WHAT?” He shrieked, jumping around a fallen boulder and aiming his colt at the unstable cliffside that the leader of whichever band of outlaws were hunting him down this time.
Amidst the commotion and gunfire, Wolfwood must have not heard him, the makeshift undertaker muttering various profanities under his breath as he returned fire with one of his pistols from where he was crouched behind the Punisher, using it as a shield again the hellfire raining down around them.
With a single bullet, Vash brought down the cliffside on top of most of the minor goons who were shooting at them.
I hope they’re okay, he thought absently, scanning the area to make sure Meryl and Roberto were alright.
He was still reeling from what Wolfwood had said moments ago, so distracted that he nearly didn’t notice the leader pulling himself out of the rubble, his gun raised and his face full of rage. Vash yelped as one of the outlaws lobbed a grenade in his direction, the explosion decimating yet another nearby cliffside, effectively snapping him back to the present.
Just as things began to calm, everything descended into chaos once more. The outlaw gang was re-grouping behind a boulder that had fallen when Vash had shot down the cliffside, and the leader was returning fire with Wolfwood.
Aiming for his gun hand, Vash let a bullet fly, effectively stopping the hail of bullets, at least temporarily. Without a second thought, he ran back to Wolfwood, searching for any injuries.
“Good job, needle-noggin,” Wolfwood greeted with a smirk. Scooping up a grenade—how the hell had he gotten his hands on one of them?—he held it out to Vash.
“I know you’ve got the no killing thing going for you,” he smirked, “so how about you just pull the pin and I throw it? The sooner we deal with this mess, the sooner we can get a bed and have the night to ourselves.”
“I—”
Without letting Vash get a word in, Wolfwood pulled him in to a searing kiss, and before Vash realized what was happening, he had pulled the pin and Wolfwood was lobbing the grenade toward the boulder that hid the majority of their enemies.
Moments later, everything erupted into a shower of orange, yellow, and rubble, and there were screams all around them.
All Vash could focus on was Wolfwood and how downright angelic he looked haloed by the explosion, and his mouth was already moving before he could form a coherent thought.
“Marry me.”
Wolfwood’s eyes widened, jaw dropping. “What?”
Pulling him down behind the Punisher and their mostly-destroyed shelter to avoid another round of gunfire, Vash noticed his hands beginning to shake. Glancing up over the edge, he saw the leader of the gang stalking towards them. Not allowing himself to second guess himself, he had up the grenade pin with shaky fingers.
“Marry me, Nic.”
He watched as Wolfwood’s mouth closed, opened, then closed again, no words coming out. Vash’s world was currently narrowed in completely on the man in front of him, nearly forgetting about the remaining gang members who were undoubtedly rallying behind their leader.
Reaching up to gently caress his lovers jaw, Vash smiled.
“Will you do me the honor of becoming mine, Nicholas D. Wolfwood?”
“Stupid,” Wolfwood choked out, resting his hand over Vash’s. “I’m already yours.”
If possible, Vash’s grin became even wider as he gently slipped the grenade pin onto Wolfwood’s ring finger. Giggling, he pressed a kiss against the cool metal and leaned in to capture his fiancee (his fiancee!) in a deep kiss.
When they finally parted, Vash half expected to see the gang leader standing over them, ready to blow his brains out, but instead he was greeted by an exasperated Meryl and a smirking Roberto.
Crossing her arms, Meryl did her best to his her grin behind a stern expression.
“You’re both idiots, they all would have shot you both while you were busy sucking each others faces off if we hadn’t taken care of them.”
Vash just giggled once more, burying his face into Wolfwood’s neck. He felt more than heard Wolfwood’s responding laugh, the vibrations tingling against his nose. Turning his head to face their companions, he smiles.
I don’t think I’m capable of not smiling right now.
“You can’t be mean to me, little miss, I just got engaged,” Wolfwood replied smugly, holding out his hand to show off the grenade pin.
Meryl turned her incredulous stare to Vash. “That’s what you used to propose to him? You’re so un-romantic!”
“Fuck off, I’m gonna treasure it forever,” Wolfwood shot back, pulling Vash tighter against himself.
He could understand why Meryl might not think it was romantic, but it was them and it was perfect.
If it was enough for Wolfwood, then it was enough for Vash. Maybe one day he would get him the beautiful ring he deserves, but for now, a grenade pin would do.