Work Text:
Each time he is summoned, Napoleon always falls in love with a different person. When he was summoned in the Scandinavian Lostbelt, he fell in love with Ophelia, and now that he is in Chaldea, he fell in love with you.
You still remember when he finally confessed his feelings for you; both of you had already talked at length about how, even if they were the same servant, the Napoleon in Chaldea isn't the same as the one in the Lostbelt since their experiences are different. Still, it was hard for you to accept his love at first after you had seen a version of him loving another person so fervently. However, Napoleon had always proven that his love for you was as genuine and as pure as it could be, and little by little all the doubts that clouded your mind went away.
Both of you were happy with your relationship, until one day Napoleon decided that ‘dating’ wasn't enough, he wanted to go one step further, to spend the rest of your life (or his materialization) together.
It was no easy task to find a proper ring to propose, he had to ask other servants for help before succeeding in his search for the ideal ring for you. All that was left was to wait for the perfect moment, which he thought wouldn't be as difficult as all the previous work.
How wrong he was.
The first opportunity to propose came after one of your usual training sessions in the simulator, set in one of the ample hills you once saw during the First Singularity in Orleans. You were both alone (if you didn't count Mash and Da Vinci, who were monitoring your actions from the command room) waiting for the simulation to finish. The weather was nice and there were no signs of the fight that took place moments ago.
The archer thought that perhaps during this moment of peace after combat was the perfect moment to take action. Nothing could ruin it.
“Maître, can I have a word?”
He put his hand on his left pocket, making sure he had the ring with him. Once his fingers touched the small box, he took a deep breath and tried to relax his shoulders.
“Everything ok?”
“With you by my side? Nothing could be better.” your gentle chuckle made him smile a little
“Are you sure about that? Lately you seem like you are, well, preoccupied with something. And now you suddenly start acting polite around me? Is something going on?”
“Hahaha, guess nothing gets past through you”
He winks at you, soon his flirty behavior ceases, a serious yet determined look in his eyes.
“You know I’m not a man that dwells on the past, I would rather look towards the future. And, as you are well aware, we servants don’t know when our time will come… I believe we’ve both learned a lot from each other during our relationship, we went through so many things together and… I was wondering if you-”
“MASTER!” Da Vinci suddenly screamed via the communicator, a loud alarm echoed in the background as she spoke “There’s been some error within the simulator! Not only we can’t get you out, but also it suddenly spawned a bunch of EX level enemies. I’m afraid you and Napoleon will have to keep them at bay while we try to fix it.”
You exchanged an apologetic look, your servant was trying to tell you something important, you could feel it, but unfortunately it would have to wait. This kind of things always occurred in the worst moments possible. Without further ado, Napoleon and you prepared for the upcoming fight, crossing your fingers so Da Vinci could repair things as fast as possible.
When you could finally return to Chaldea, Napoleon saw you so exhausted he insisted that you should rest for the day, claiming that his announcement could wait until you felt better. With a goodbye kiss you went to your room, leaving him in the command room.
“Well, it is what it is.” he thought to himself. That was but a little mishap, he had plenty of time to give you the ring. “Surely tomorrow, Maître will be free.”
The next day he patiently waited for you in the cafeteria. His plan was to enjoy breakfast with you, then take you to a private place (perhaps he could try the simulator again). You spotted him sitting in your favorite spot, yet before you could even approach him, you were surrounded by Nursery, Voyager and Abigail. You had forgotten that you promised to spend the day with them, so with an apologetic smile you waved Napoleon goodbye. He knew you wouldn’t let the kids down; a promise is a promise after all. He can wait another day after all.
That’s why the day after, he woke up extra early, that way no one could snatch you away. Unless of course that person woke up earlier than him and that person was Scathach. He found you being victim of one of her ultra-intensive training sessions; luckily you’re not a servant or she would be even harder with you. When you noticed him, you briefly stopped your training to give him a quick peck on the cheek, then returned to your work out session.
He kept trying to find some alone time with you, but whenever he found you, you were either training, having tea with Mash or helping one of the other servants. Of course “impossible” isn’t part of his dictionary, yet he couldn’t deny this whole “proposal” thing was quite the challenge.
His last resort was to wait the whole day in your room. At some point you’ll need to rest right? So he sat outside of your room and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
He stood up once it started getting late, perhaps you were on a mission he didn’t know about. But when he was about to leave, he heard your voice at the end of the corridor, saying goodbye to Mash. As you spotted Napoleon your face suddenly lightened up, instinctively making him smile.
“How long have you been here?”
“Me? Oh, I’ve just come here!”
“Suuure…” you opened the door, inviting him in. “Did you really miss me that much?”
“To be completely honest, I did.”
His confession caught you with your guard down, it made you flush a bit. Napoleon noticed but said nothing, he just sat on the bed, next to you.
“If you were waiting here for so long that means you need to tell me something important right?”
“Hahaha, guess it was quite obvious, wasn’t it? Truth is I’ve wanted to talk with you for a couple of days now… But I suppose being mankind’s last master makes you pretty popular.”
“If it makes you feel better… I really wanted to spend some time with you. Just the two of us.”
“Oh, really? Well, it doesn’t surprise me much, I have that effect on people after all.” He winked at you. You just rolled your eyes, pretending to be annoyed.
“You’re lucky you’re my favorite servant”
“Indeed I am, I never felt so lucky to be with someone as wonderful as you.” you felt something shift slightly on his way of speaking, he sounded more serious this time “I told you this before, but I’m a man that likes to stay in the present, to look at what tomorrow will bring and not look back to the past. I know this relationship had a bit of a rough start since… Well, since it took you some time to see me as “myself” and not as the “other me” in Scandinavia. But our relationship has brought me nothing but joy and happiness, and I believe you feel the same. That’s why I wanted to tell you that I want to be with you for as long as my spirit core can handle.”
Napoleon searched in his right pocket… Yet found nothing. He reached in his left pocket without success. In the end, when he could finally confess he had forgotten to bring the ring with him.
“... I’m sorry, Maître. I told you all of this hoping to give you something. Looks like luck is not on my side today.”
“Hey, cheer up. I bet you can give me whatever it was on another occasion. Besides I… I feel the same way; you make me really happy.”
“I've wanted to tell you how you make me feel for a long time now. I prefer to let my actions speak for themselves but I felt that wasn't enough.”
You cupped his cheeks to kiss him tenderly. It was brief, sweet and yet it was enough to make his frustration for the failed proposal disappear. You were right, he had plenty of time to try again. Both of you spent some time together telling each other how your day was or sharing some funny anecdotes until late in the night. Napoleon was ready to leave and let you rest.
“Oh, wait, is this what you said you forgot?”
Just when he was about to leave through the door, as if fate was trying to play a prank on him, he turned around to find you with a tiny black box between your hands. He panicked at the thought of missing his last chance.
“WAIT-”
You opened it too quickly.
“Ugh! I was too late!” scratching his head in frustration, he momentarily avoided your gaze “Well, you see, the reason of all that speech was that I wanted to ask you to marry me. I know it's a bit sudden! It's just…”
When he looked back at you he noticed your hands shaking. Your mouth opened and closed, finding it difficult to speak and your eyes started to become watery.
“Yes” you failed in your attempt to hold your tears, once you started crying there was no way to make them stop. It took Napoleon some time to understand what you had just said.
“You mean…?” you nodded.
“Of course I want to marry you!”
You hugged him tightly, face buried on his chest. Napoleon caressed your cheek before gently wiping your tears with his thumb, reaching for a kiss.
He took the box from your hands, then, delicately holding the ring, he kneeled before you.
“May I?”
Nodding, you extended your hand to let him put you the ring. You kissed and hugged him again while tons of thoughts flooded your head. Should you tell Mash and the rest? How will you arrange a ceremony in Novum Chaldea? You were too emotional to think at that moment. Eventually, Napoleon took his leave; after so much crying, your whole body started to feel heavy and needed to rest for the day. However, it took you some time to fall asleep since you kept looking at the ring on your finger every now and then.