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Varian had been having a good day. Actually, he had been having a good week. He had been going between planning his proposal to Hugo and pretending like he isn't even thinking about proposals for the past month. Varian doesn't think he's ever had this much trouble keeping a secret before. And apparently none of it mattered, because he was still a huge, unbelievable idiot.
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Hugo had been in the library all week. He had found a new section that had dangerous, too dangerous for anyone else to walk through. So, he spent his days trying to find a way to stop the animals he found from attacking him, and in-turn, the guest who would be interested in this section of the library. The tigers were the hardest to ease, since the blonde had to find a way to keep them from leaving the trees. He ended up spending so much time with those damned tigers that by the end of the week they were so used to him that they were purring and rubbing up against him when he went near them. Hugo supposed that this solved his problem of them being dangerous towards people. He would have bring Varian in to see if they respond similarly to other humans.
Speaking of Varian, apparently he also had a project in the lab. Not that Hugo was actually told anything about this so called "super secret project," but he had heard about it while eavesdropping on Varian and Fitzherbert. Hugo assumed that it was a surprise for him given the fact Varian had told his brother specifically "Hugo cannot find out, under any circumstances." Like he and Fitzherbert ever talked enough for that to be a problem. Though Hugo did know how bad he was at keeping secrets (he would never forgive the older man for spoiling his anniversary surprise for Varian last year).
So, despite not having seen Varian in the past week, Hugo knows they'll be in for some form of a weird interaction. As the blonde walks into their shared room, he sees his boyfriend sitting on their bed, reading a book while Ruddiger and Ulla, their orange cat of about one year, cuddles up around his feet. Olivia quickly jumps off of Hugo's shoulder to join them, with him following behind to sit next to Varian.
"Hey goggles, whatcha reading there?" He asks as he peers over Varian's shoulder. "Oh! Hey Hugh, I'm just doing research onnn… a project I'm working on for Raps! Yeah, you know how excited she gets when giving me new ideas and projects to work on so I figured I'd get ahead on research for. It." Varian quickly cuts off his rambling after he realizes he's doing it.
"…Right." Hugo replies, not seeming convinced Varian is telling the truth. He lets him get away with it anyways, figuring if it was truly important, Varian would tell him about it.
The older boy starts to move closer, wanting to cuddle with his boyfriend while he reads. Maybe have a domestic moment with him for once. Only to be stopped by the absolute iceberg that are his boyfriend's feet. "Oh my moon, Varian why are your feet so cold?" he nearly yells. He doesn't give him a moment to respond before he tells him matter of factly "I'm getting you some socks. I refuse to get close to those snowballs you call feet."
"My feet aren't that cold Hugo." Varian replies after a few moments sputtering. He hears Hugo mutter something about acceptance before remembering what he had hiding in the exact drawer Hugo was opening. He tried getting up, or even saying something but before he could, he saw Hugo freeze in front of the drawer, his hands seemingly finding exactly what Varian didn't want him to.
"Varian. Is.. is this what I think it is?" He says while turning around, voice filled with confusion and something similar to hope. "Hugo wait." Varian tries to say as he opens the box, but it doesn't work as Hugo's hands seem to move on their own.
Varian stands up, going to meet the blonde in the middle of the room as he looks up with tears in his eyes. "Varian. This isn't…" Hugo can't seem to say it aloud. Worried it will all fall apart if he said anything too specific.
"Yeah," Varian says after a moment. "yeah I'm sorry. I thought, well I had a whole plan to ask you. It was supposed to last the day and I had a huge speech planned, that’s actually what I was looking over just now when you came in. I probably should’ve hidden it when you came in but I was really focused on making it perfect. Honestly I was just trying to work up the nerve to actually do it."
"I mean, I could always pretend I never saw it and you could do it anyways." Hugo chokes out. His hands are shaking, though Varian decides against commenting on it, knowing his are shaking too. "Or, I don't know, if you don't want to completely embarrass yourself with the plan you had, you could just say your speech now." he says with a laugh, unable to pass up the opportunity to make fun of Varian.
"Hey, I'll have you know my plan was amazing! And incredibly romantic." He defends, taking the velvet box out of Hugo's hands. "Though, if you really want the speech, I suppose I can do that. I haven't memorized it yet, so try not to make fun of my improv skills too badly." He jokes before getting on one knee, box in hand.
"Hugo Rottewange." He begins before clearing the knot in his throat. "As you know, we've been dating for about two years, and we knew each other two years before that,"
"yes goggles I'm aware." Hugo quips.
"Shut up, idiot. I told you I'm improvising. Anyways. In those four years, I have seen so much change in the both of us, sometimes for the worse, but mostly for the better. Since coming back to Corona with me you've shown me what it feels like to truly be loved and cared for." His voice cracks slightly, and he clears his throat before continuing, tears now freely flowing down his face. "You make sure I take breaks when I forget, make me food when I don't eat. Or you help me through winter by staying with me inside, even when I can tell you'd rather be outside messing with Eugene." They both laugh at the mention of Hugo's usual shenanigans. "Truly, I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me. And I'm sure there are things you feel similarly about with me, but this isn't about that so don't even try." He jokingly chastises, pointing his index finger at Hugo.
"Come on Var, not even a little mention of you helping to get over my thieving lifestyle?" Hugo says jokingly, though there's a layer of truth underneath his smug exterior that only Varian could notice.
He laughs at Hugo's antics before continuing, "Though I know we've been through… some rough times, to say the least. From thievery, to possession, to betrayal. As well as more fights than I can count." He laughs again, almost delirious with joy. "But despite all of that, we've made it through it all, together. And, I hope that after this, we can go through everything else together. We can have more dumb arguments and make new discoveries together in both the lab and the library. I also spend every night with you, making sure you're safe and happy and loved. I want to give you everything you could ever need. So, Hugh, will you make me the happiest man possible, and marry me?" He finally finishes, both of them openly crying at this point.
"Not too bad for an improvised speech, goggles." Hugo jokes through tears, before finally breaking a moment later. "Yes! Yes, I'll marry you, you absolute idiot." He practically yells as he falls into Varian, pulling them both onto the ground. Ruddiger, Ulla, and Liv following them a moment later. They all lay there for a moment, in complete bliss, until Hugo breaks the silence. "I love you Varian. I love you so much, more than I've ever loved anyone." Olivia chirps argumentatively. "Except you, Liv. No one could replace you and you know that."
They fall into silence again, just soaking in each others company. Varian then realizes he has yet to give Hugo the ring. He takes his hand, looking up at him, seemingly looking for approval. He nods down at him, watching as Varian proceeds to slide the ring on his finger. The ring itself was absolutely perfect, in Hugo's humble opinion. It was a silver ring with a vine-like cut to the metal. Leaves and small diamonds surrounding the metal around the main stone. The main stone itself looked to be moss agate, the green seemingly matching the color of his eyes, probably on purpose given the gifts Varian has given him in the past. The gem was cut into a pear shape. Before Hugo could pull his hand away to appreciate it, Varian pulled it off his finger. "What? Sick of me already, want to take all that back?" Hugo joked.
"No. I'm never taking this back for as long as you'll let me." Varian says with a sudden seriousness. "I wanted to show you one more thing about the ring." He lifts it up to Hugo's face and turns it slightly to reveal… "giugiulel♡" engraved on the inside of his ring. Cuddly. A nickname Varian gave him near the beginning of their journey together. It started as a more sarcastic name, but it slowly grew into a term of genuine endearment for the blonde boy, who was crying once again. Varian puts his ring back on, then pulls out another matching ring for himself. A gold ring in the same style as Hugo's. The same vines around the same shaped gem, although his was a gold ring with a blue topaz gem. "I'm assuming your ring has something engraved on it as well?" Varian then wordlessly turns the ring towards Hugo in the same way he did with the first one, showing Hugo the engraving. "my l'ubímyj." My light. An Umbran term of endearment that Hugo started calling him after they started dating when they visited the kingdom together and Hugo was able to learn about his boyfriends culture. Hugo takes the ring and places it on Varian's finger, mirroring what his now fiance—fiance!—did to him a few moments earlier.
“I, um, actually, I made the rings myself. I worked with Xavier to learn the basics then designed and made the rings. So, sorry if it isn’t perfect..” Varian stutters out. He looks down, almost shyly, as if waiting for rejection.
But Hugo thinks the exact opposite. “Var, the fact that you made rings for the two of us doesn’t diminish the value or appreciation of them. If anything, it makes me more happy that you took so much time doing something like this for me. For us. And knowing you, you probably spent at least a week just planning the design of these things.” He adds, having to make a slight dig at Varian. Hugo wouldn’t want his head getting too big after this.
“Actually, it was two weeks for the design.” Varian retorts quietly.
Hugo spent an indiscernible amount of time after that simply looking at his fiance. Eventually, Varian gets up with shaking legs, holding out his hand for Hugo to follow. He leads them to the bed, making them lay down to cuddle. The pets followed them close behind.
"Your feet are still cold, you know." Hugo says with a hoarse voice from all the crying.
"You're gonna have to just deal with it because I refuse to let either of us get up until at least the morning." Varian responds quickly. They fall into a comfortable silence. Hugo petting Ulla and allowing Liv to make herself comfortable on his back. Varian right under him combing through Hugo's soft hair and petting Ruddiger at the same time.
"Soooo, what were the original 'big plans' for this proposal you had?" Hugo says, breaking the silence they had created.
"Oh? I thought you care about my completely embarrassing plan." Varian responds, sarcasm practically dripping from his voice. He eventually concedes, "Well, I was planning on taking you out on the town for the day. Getting breakfast pastries from Atilla, a stop at the apothecary to get some lab supplies for the two of us."
"Wow sweet cheeks, how romantic." Hugo says, already making fun of his plan, like Varian knew he would.
But Varian just rolled his eyes and continued, "after that I made plans for us to have a picnic in the garden for lunch, I was even gonna make sure no guards or castle workers interrupted us. Then we would spend the afternoon on the beach, swimming around and playing in the sand. And eventually we would have a nice dinner on the beach and after that was when I was going to propose, preferably during the sunset to make it extra romantic." He pauses for dramatic effect before continuing, "So, was it as embarrassing and lovey-dovey as you thought?"
"Y'know Var, it was somehow more embarrassing and lovey-dovey than I thought it could've been. It was perfect." He relents with a loving smile.
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Even though Varian may have been an idiot who ruined his entire plan, looking back he couldn't feel upset about it. The more he thinks about it, the more them the whole proposal felt. It was dumb and personal and perfect in everyway, and every time Varian looked at Hugo, thinking about what happened, he can't help but smile the dumbest, most in-love smile he possibly can. And in any case, He could always put his original plan to good use for a future date, maybe their anniversary.