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After the incident involving twenty popping balloon dogs and the similar yet unrelated oven fire situation, it would be more than fair to say that Sandy was not a fan of surprises. Leon was doing his best, of course, but after the first few disastrous ones, it was reasonable to be skeptical of any text from him that said Sandy was going to be surprised within the next few hours. He'd toned down his surprises, thankfully – where he once would have jumped from a three-story building and survived, he now took Sandy to a new restaurant or on a hike – and thus Sandy was a little more relaxed about it now.
Still, whenever Leon sent them a message that read something more like, I've got a big plan , they prepared for the worst. Either he meant that he was going to buy them something nice after a long day of exploring the woods or the city, or he meant he was going to parachute off the tallest building in the country.
Both had happened within the last year. Maybe moving out of Tara's house and into Leon's apartment – where he lived without Bo for adult supervision and Nita for someone who would remind him to think twice – had been a minor mistake in the long run. Sandy loved the independence of it, but seeing as Leon appeared to be determined to cause them all the panic attacks followed by angry outbursts that came from a place of kindness, there was one big drawback to it.
This time, when he got back from his foraging in the afternoon, he took a shower (strange), smoothed out his hair (even stranger), and weirdly enough, pulled the one fancy outfit Bo had bought for him – a tuxedo – out of the closet and wore it. Sandy had never seen Leon care about his appearance in the slightest – had something gone wrong? Was his 'big plan' a funeral? A wedding? How on Earth had anyone managed to convince Leon to wear formal attire?
Just in case something that would motivate him to wear nice clothes had happened, Sandy went and changed into their own formal things – keeping the colours neither too dark nor too bright. If they needed to change, they'd change; but this would do for now. A light blue shirt and a soft green tie with black pants... was it good enough?
Leon seemed to be happy with it. Sandy took a deep breath to center themself.
"No one died," was the first thing he said. "But I can't tell you what's going on." He was acting more nervous than usual. What- what could possibly...
Sandy let themself be led out the door and down the street towards an insanely fancy restaurant. "You're serious about paying for this?"
"Only the best for you," Leon responded, as if he was trying to get them to blush. He held the door for them and kissed their hand when they arrived at their table – a little secluded thing in the back, in view of the waiters but unnoticed by anyone else.
Sandy hoped everything was fine. They didn't want whatever this was – whatever messy relationship they had with him – to dissipate right here and right now. But surely Leon wouldn't take them to an expensive restaurant for the purpose of dumping them, right? He wasn't the sort to cause a scene with his emotional drama. He had nothing against causing a scene by doing dumb things in public – dumb things that could only hurt himself.
Dinner was excellent, much better than Sandy's standard fare of cup ramen, instant mashed potatoes, store-bought pasta salad, tomato soup, and three-minute curry. Not that there was anything they disliked about that diet, but it could get a little tedious sometimes. Seven courses of international cuisine, though... that was difficult to beat.
Nothing strange happened during dinner; they talked about everything and nothing the way they always did, and Leon insisted on paying though the meal easily cost over three hundred dollars.
Late that night, Sandy found themself walking hand in hand with Leon along the river, the city lights sparkling in its depths. The park they were in did an excellent job of muffling the traffic; if they closed their eyes, they could almost imagine they were in the forest with him instead. Away from all these people and all this noise.
Leon placed one hand over Sandy's eyes. "It's nothing bad," he whispered. "I just- can you close your eyes for a minute?"
"Sure," they muttered. The world was dark now; they could hear all the words being said but see none of it. Leon led them a few hundred feet down the path and they wondered if they were being foolish to trust him this way.
"You can open your eyes now," Leon said, quiet though there was no one around.
Sandy blinked a few times to adjust to the slight light. In it stood Leon, holding a bouquet of flowers. After a few seconds of deliberation, he lowered one knee to the ground.
This couldn't be happening. This- they'd only been together for a year and it wasn't like Sandy didn't think about it quite a bit, but for him to be so forward... it was endearing. And just like him, when they thought about it. Leon was indeed the person to rush into the right decision though everyone would doubt his judgement.
"Will you marry me?" he asked.
So, what could they say but yes ?
This was the best surprise Leon had ever plotted for them.