Archive of Our Own

Amir had been pacing up and down the halls of the mall for some time now, while his partners were away on a techrot hunt together without him. Of their whole little family, he was the only one here off work on this particular afternoon, and he was restless.

Well. Moreso than usual.

But not about being worried for his partners out on the field, no— something had been on his mind now, off and on, for a while. Pretty much ever since they became like, official official with Flare at their first memorial concert for the Rippers.

Drifter had a wedding ring from Flare, but thus far, that hadn't gone any farther— when it came to physical symbols, anyway, but they were certainly in agreement that they were all just casually married all of a sudden.

Amir's smoking hot, awesome partners, all three of them, insisted on calling him their wife after all, a point which made his heart flutter even just thinking of them calling him that, and got his recently added tail wagging like a damn helicopter— and he was exceedingly proud to refer to Flare and Drifter as his spouses, and Lizzie as his wife..

But no rings aside from the one? Amir wasn't certain what to think of that.

Now— granted. Of the four of them, Amir was the one the most into more.. Traditional relationship stuff.

One of his spouses was a super sheltered person from the future that by their own admission didn't even really know how relationships worked in their time, another was an anarchist 'fight the power' type of rockstar that had been just as if not more casual about the whole 'yeah sure we're married' bit that Drifter had been on pretty much from the moment Amir and them had started dating, what with them nabbing up his last name and then Flare's soon after.

Flare had joined in that as well; they didn't have many people to introduce themself to given that they were famous, but if their surname came up they did in fact call themself 'Flare Varleon-Beckett'—

OhmygodAmirtheytookyourname. It still caught him sometimes that TEMPLE loved him, adored him, even— silly little nerd Amir and a goddamn rockstar.. How'd he get this lucky?

—Back on track and last but certainly never ever least, his wife was one of his other spouses, but a symbiotic parasite in the shape of a guitar.. Who.. Kind of had fingers? sort of? Don't know if they even carry rings that would fit her little claws or if she'd fully understand the sentiment.

So in totality, they're a bunch of (said lovingly) weirdos with unconventional ideas on what marriage meant, so they probably didn't care?? But it was important to him. Not that Amir felt left out, it just.. Didn't feel right that he hadn't at least gotten Drifter a ring to match Flare's, he'd be happy with that as the final mark making this actually official given there was significant complication to having extraneous metal on his zappy ass or Flare and Liz's superheated ones..

Is that a cop out, though? If he only got something for Drifter, would Flare and Liz feel left out?

Aughfsjhgdhjkl.

In response to this pacing about, the rest of the Hex had gathered up slowly one by one in the food court and were amusedly watching him go past, rambling under his breath about his partners.

"..You think we should flag him down and see what's up, or..?" Aoi said quietly, turning to the rest of her squadmates.

"As adorable as this is, that might be wise.. He does seem to have himself in quite a tangle at the moment." Eleanor said with a smirk, gently following the affectionate ball of anxious, zappy technocytes circling past again with her eyes and her senses. "I can practically see the little scribbly cartoon stormcloud following him about."

Lettie rolled her eyes and chimed in, "Catch him next pass before he starts making the civvies nervous. Don't need them thinking something actually serious is going on."

"Seems serious enough to him, whatever it is!" Aoi lightly, mostly playfully glared and pouted to Lettie.

"Oi! Loverboy!" Quincy called out as Amir started making his way towards the food court again. Nope. Didn't notice? Still walking past.. Oh! Right, "..Lovergirl?"

Amir skidded to a stop and turned with a slightly stunned face to Quincy. "Yeah? Huh? Wha? Uuuuuh, why are you all staring at me?" He nervously laughed, "Something on my face?"

That got his attention. Cute. Lovergirl it is.

"Nothing but two cherry red cheeks and a troubled expression.." Eleanor said with a mischievous little smile that flashed her metal fangs, "What has you this wound up?"

"It's. Nothing you all need to worry about.. I'm sure all of you've got better stuff to do." He bashfully kicked a piece of trash at his feet which was quickly picked up by the mall's cute little friendly cleaning drone, "Really, it's just.. Something silly."

"Something about Drifter, I think we heard?" Arthur said, looking to Quincy for confirmation, who nodded along. "You know we all have heightened senses, yes?"

Riiight he was. Mumbling out loud, wasn't he. "Crap you did hear, then— uuuh.. It's no like.. Trouble in paradise if you're worried, we're good, real good, it's just—" Amir sighed, awkwardly looking around at the Hex who were all staring at him with some degree of amused expressions. "I've been thinking about.. Rings. Um. I mean, the four of us are basically married, as far as those two care about anyway, and I don't think Lizzie knows what marriage is? And that's cool with me! To be clear! But.."

Quincy cut in, hoping to cut this ramble slightly short, "Y'still want them to have rings?"

Amir quickly nodded. "Yeah. Exactly. But like.." He sighed, "Drifter has theirs from Flare, and that's kinda.. Hard to measure up to, meaning wise— Not that it's a competition between us or anything!" He put his hands up in a stopping motion, "It— ugh. It's just.." He gestured vaguely, trying to gather his thoughts into some kind of comprehensible order, "The ring Flare gave them— that was from one of their band mates. A ring they died in. That's. Kind of a hard act to follow up on!" He nervously laughed, "Like, they love me, I know that, but like, c'mon. Also there's not really a. Jeweler or anything like that anymore around here, there's just that fuggin' Blaire's upstairs, what am I gonna do with that, get them a friggin' mood ring?! Love me or not they'd laugh so hard at that—"

"Get them the mood ring." Arthur suddenly, affirmatively said, giving Amir an exceptionally serious look.

"Wh—" Amir frowned a bit at Arthur. "Th-that was a joke. I-I mean I can think more about it, I'll just like. Go somewhere else where I'm not bugging any of yo—"

..Shit that came out dismissive didn't it— "I. I'm being serious, Amir. I didn't mean to sound like I was trying to just, get you to stop." Arthur sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Still gotta work on your tone there, babes." Quincy laughed, gently nudging his boyfriend in the side, "Stupid as it may sound, that would be exceptionally fuckin' on brand for the two of you lil' mall rats."

Amir rolled his eyes, "Thanks, Quincy." He turned to start leaving, but was stopped by a hand on the shoulder from Arthur,

"No, seriously, Amir. It's perfect." Arthur said with. Is that excitement in his voice?? And he's smiling..

Amir's eyebrows practically knit themselves into a scarf with confusion, "..Whyyyy are you so sure??"

Right, should probably explain why— "There's. A conversation we had a very long time ago now, it uh, started about Duviri, I compared the spirals to a mood ring,"

..So it's perfect because it reminds Arthur of Drifter's, reminder, awful horrible traumatic personal hell/childhood storybook dimension?!

"And they got exceptionally excited about the concept. I laughed at the time at how ridiculous it was that a time traveler was so charmed at a piece of childish rubbish like that, but.. What they said has stuck in my mind since then. 'Life is full of miserable things, why not enjoy the fun parts? Why not enjoy the silly things while you can? There might not be another chance.'" Arthur said, a soft smile crossing his serious face as he kept eye contact with the very confused Amir. "I think.. I think that's you, Amir. "

Amir went quiet, eyes glazing over as he started to tear up.

"I mean that with.. Complete sincerity, and as a complement, to be clear; you represent all of that to them. Everything that brought light to their eyes when we were still in true hell around here. It's been clear since the moment they got here, you truly effortlessly bring out a side of them that all of the rest of us struggle to. No matter how close we are to them." Arthur glanced over his shoulder to the rest of the Hex, who were nodding in agreement. "Get them the damn mood ring. It's perfect." He gave Amir a solid pat on the shoulder, backing up back in line with the rest of the squad.

"You really do, Amir.. I get their light hearted side too, so do Nellie and Quincy, but like. All you have to do is walk in a room and they light up. Take it as a complement. Silly's a good thing." Aoi giggled, affectionately wrapping an arm around both Lettie and Eleanor's shoulders. "Take it from the other silly person to a pair of drama queens."

Aoi got a bit of a glare at that comment from both of her girlfriends, but said glare was mostly playful, joined by Eleanor and Lettie both rolling their eyes at each other with smiles on their faces. Only proving Aoi's point.

Amir sniffled, pushing his glasses up to wipe tears from his eyes. That was.. So, so sweet?? Of all of them?! "U-uh.. W-well, I would but it's not like I know their ring size—"

Quincy raised a hand with a big grin on his face, "I do!" Receiving a bit of a shocked look from both Arthur and Amir who were aware of some.. Previously lingering feelings between him and Drifter, he clarified, "..Fam, I'm the one who dressed them when they got here. I've got all their measurements." He scoffed. "Not like I was ever gonna propose or anythin', that's ridiculous."

Not that he hadn't daydreamed about that, sometime or another during that agonizingly long 'will they won't they' between Drifter and Amir where he debated making his move on the local time traveler. But he wasn't mentioning that.

"I'll come look with you." Quincy stepped forward from the group, casually draping an arm over Amir's shoulder. "Could look for some ideas for Flare and Liz, too.. They love their demon after all. Or angel to the rockstar, rather."

Amir squirmed a bit in embarrassment as he suddenly realized he probably wasn't getting out of this, what with Quincy about to drag him around for once, "I- I'd love to but like, have you seen their hands? Liz's too? I dunno if anywhere carries rings that would fit over Flare's protoframe claws, let alone Lizzie's.."

"Um, hello! Hi?" Aoi waved the hand of hers that rested over Lettie's shoulder with a bemused smile, "Your bestie here, the girl with metal manipulation powers?! If they don't fit, you can bring Flare and Liz to me and I can do some adjustments. Plus, it's mostly symbolic, yeah? They'd probably wear them something like how Drifter does with Astrin's ring to keep them safe."

Oh. Yeah.. Right.

Okay, Amir's definitely running out of excuses not to do this—

Lettie rolled her eyes, dramatically turning her head to look at Eleanor over Aoi's shoulder. "Eleanor, are you hearing this girl? Is he getting anxious about giving a gift to people he's already married to?"

"Sure is, darlingheart.. As anxious as a schoolgirl slipping a Venusia card into her crush's desk. And he's been married to them for, what, two loops now, I think? Three, for Drifter?"

Very. Gender affirming, as Drifter would put it, teasing, but also deeply fuggin' embarrassing?? Amir buried his face in one of his hands, if only trying to block just how red his face must have been, like everyone couldn't see his tail wagging fast enough that he was smacking Quincy in the legs. "FffffineI'lldoit."

"Alright, that's our girl!" Quincy laughed, giving Amir a solid slap to the shoulder that sent him stumbling forward for a moment. "C'mon, let's go before the sweethearts get home, eh?" Before Amir could respond or protest any further, he headed off upstairs in the direction of said 'Blaire's' store.

Amir stood stunned for a moment, blinking blankly in Quincy's vague direction. Again! Very appreciated! Since when was everyone going out of their way this much to call him stuff like that— fuck it he's not gonna question it, and he's also not going to lose this momentum, lest he put this off just about as long as he put off confessing to the Drifter in the first place— Which. He. Kinda already had, thinking about it.. Oops.

Heading up to the pastel purple-coated shop with Quincy, the sniper was taking the liberty of switching the lights on, revealing row upon row of dusty, abandoned accessories and trinkets. Some of the store's stock Quincy had taken for the younger patrons of his business, and Aoi had taken some for her hair accessories, but for the most part the store was untouched.

Once the lights flickered to life fully, Quincy bee-lined right for the mood ring display near the front counter, waving Amir over. "Looks like there's one in just about every style this place had for Drifter's size," Quincy tapped one of the rings in the row in Drifter's size range, "And Aoi can probably custom-adjust any of these ones that've got a 'stone' on a bare band, if you want 'em to all match." He figured Amir would, seems like just the kind of thing he'd do for those three..

Whooooo boy, putting Amir in the room with choices. He fidgeted with a spark, looking over the display. Any of these would look cute on them— is he looking for cute though, or the classiest option? That would be the bands with the line of color-shifting material, or maybe the plain round 'stones', but that seems basic for them.. There's some cute little animal ones but that seems a bit far into the silly.. Then sun and moon ones that caught Amir's eye, especially the moons.

Amir vaguely remembered overhearing some particularly religious folk got really mad that Blaire's— or the company that actually makes these— would be selling such a tacky thing with religious iconography on it, that always confused the hell out of him, just about as much as the people who thought F&F of all things was some kind of devil worship. Like you don't fight devils and monsters in it—

Anyway, Drifter's not exactly a religious person, but.. They were a night owl, and they always looked so pretty in the moonlight.. And if they referred to any god at all it was usually Lua, though that might have just been them picking up on his constant use of 'oh, sweet Lua!'? So.. Amir picked up a silver band which was set with a color-changing crescent moon and a couple of little silver stars, turning it in his fingers to watch how the light played off of it. "I think.. This one for Future?" He mumbled bashfully, showing it to Quincy.

Quincy grinned. "Yeah, that fits 'em real well.. A Sol one for Flare, then, to match?" He pointed at a similar sun design, round stone set into a wavy sunburst. "Your sun to your moon? They're definitely a lot hotter than Drifter— temperature wise." Not that Quincy didn't agree Flare was incredibly attractive..

That was perfect but— He'd hate to insinuate something in particular here with that; "Iiiii mean Sol's kind of a masculine thing but not everywhere I guess? ..And I'm actually not sure where Flare's from, other than vaguely 'Libertatia', or if they even have a religious background at all to give a shit but um.." By that reasoning, Lua's a bit feminine for Drifter, but they definitely didn't have a frame of reference for that aside from bits and pieces from talking to Elle and Lettie mostly— Amir sighed, anxiously tapping his foot, "It is fitting for them, though, you're right." 

Quincy nodded. "And like Aoi said, she can adjust the band size, or make it into something they can wear some other way if they'd prefer. Had a custom jeweler in the house the whole damn time, all you had to do was ask." He laughed lightly at Amir, ruffling the tech's hair. "Seriously— you were actin' like we wouldn't help you out with this, especially me, who the hell do you think I am?! We could've been talkin' this over ages ago."

Amir flushed even further than he already was. He appreciated that Quincy seemingly fell into the 'big brother' role he'd looked up to the sniper as for a long time after all but gods it was still kinda weird. "..Oh, and this is perfect for Liz!" This one he was confident about— Amir picked out the Sol ring that Quincy had pointed out for Flare, then one that depicted a pair of interlocked hearts for Liz. Knowing her, she might just make Flare wear both.. Or try and eat it, but Flare could probably explain this whole thing to her.

"And there ya go!" Quincy grinned proudly. "One set of belated engagement rings, perfect for your nerdy ass. Now— I can't walk you through the rest of this, but try not to put it off for too long, yeah?"

Amir nodded excitedly with a big goofy nervous grin plastered on his face. "Oh, trust me, I'm not, there's no way I could hide these for long for several reasons—"

Amir cut himself off as his ears pricked up, hearing Drifter's laughter echoing from downstairs, and then Flare's. With little hesitation he went flying out of the store and down to the hall where his partners were, leaving Quincy in the dust with nothing but a lightning fast "THERETHEYAREOKAYBYETHANKS,MAN!"

Amir skidded to a stop right in front of Drifter and Flare in the hallway between the garage and the rest of the mall, immediately dramatically dropping to one knee and then just kinda.. Freezing up a little.

Shit. Fuck. Didn't think of how to. Word this. Um.. How do you propose to someone you're already married to basically..

Drifter chuckled, "Whoah there, Amir.. You okay? What's up?" They said with their head tilted to the side in confusion, presuming Amir's position was just because he lost balance weirdly coming down the hall at speed and not anything more..

Flare caught on, though, smirking down at his brightly flushed face. "Something you wanna ask us, Lightning?"

Amir nodded rapidly, tightly clasping onto the rings in his hands to very quickly make a little mock ring box with one palm for the box and the other and his fingers for the lid, "So, um, I know it's been a while and we're kindaalreadymarriedandallbutitfeelsweirdnotsayingthiswhenI'mdownheredoingthis— Iguessheregoesnothing? Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh.." Short circuiting. Crashing. Both of them are staring at you, Amir. Liz is, too, you can feel her presence through Flare's eyes, and she's giggling up a storm on their back— "WhatI'mtryingtoaskiswillyoumarryme? Again?" He finally fumbled the words out of his mouth, opening his hands and letting off a couple of little celebratory sparks to show the collection of rings in his palm.

Both Drifter and Flare just about melted at how cute he was as their brains caught up on what he was saying there at high speed, and the both of them and Lizzie cracked up giggling.

..This is really silly, isn't it— "L-Like I said, I know we're already together and have been, but like.." Amir's tail slowed as he suddenly felt very embarrassed, his eyes tracing down to the ring on a chain around Drifter's neck, "Iiiiii— It's not like I felt left out, I— I never feel left out around you, but—"

"No, no, sweetie, you're alright! I'm so, so sorry, we're not laughing at you, um." Drifter's cheeks went a bit pink, both from laughing and from flushing at just how cute Amir was, there. "I didn't mean to take the wind out of your sails, just.. Gods, you're cute, and um.. One moment." They held a finger up for Amir to wait before he said any more and pulled their backpack off their shoulders, rooting around in the internal pockets for a slightly beat up blue ring box they'd found somewhere in the city. "I.. Kinda just finished this for you, I was gonna give it to you when we got back.."

"We were just talking about it when you came down, that's why we started laughing." Flare said, grinning as they wrapped an arm around Drifter's waist.

Amir's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped, "Really?!" They made him one too?! His tail sped up again, thwacking hard against the scuffed linoleum beneath him. Him and Drifter do finish each others thoughts a lot but this is just ridiculous. Or some kind of destiny, his dreamy brain settled on.

Flare and Drifter both nodded and Flare continued, "Our Angel was asking me about this kind of thing a while back, they were wondering why everyone around here thinks we got married real fast and real strangely.. I explained the whole concept, and they've been working on what's in that box for you whenever you were out and they weren't.. I won't lie, it's been very tricky given how often you zip back in at the speed of sound, Amir.." They laughed, remembering a couple times where Drifter had to very quickly tuck their project away or throw a shop rag over it, "You've probably caught an eyeful of it a couple of times without realizing— no offense to your observational skills."

"N-none taken! I know I'm real spacey, so I probably have missed them working on that with me just right there, holy shit.." Amir bashfully chuckled, "So..?" He lifted his palms a bit higher, eyes glittering behind his glasses asking wordlessly this time if they'd take his offer which now felt very not thought through in comparison to whatever custom thing Drifter made for him but oh well we're here now, no takebacksies!

"Of course we'll have them, my heart— wait. Are those mood rings?!" Drifter suddenly sounded very excited, leaning down a bit to get a closer look after noticing that each of the false stones in the designs had shifted colors a bit ever since they were exposed to the open air outside of Amir's warm palms.

Amir nodded, "U-um. It was.. Well it was my idea kinda, I joked that my only option was getting you mood rings since we don't really have a fancy jewelry store around, and um.. A-Arthur convinced me. Something about something you said one time to him about mood rings, Future? About appreciating.. Silly things?" Probably should have let it just be a nice moment and not blurted all that out but his heart rate was currently 'yes' which meant his ability to filter his speech was currently 'no'. "And since I'm a silly person, and you appreciate me, uh.. Man, this sounded a lot smoother then he said it—."

Drifter nodded with a big smile on their face. "I do kinda remember talking to him about that, yeah.. Void, that feels like such a long time ago now, that's so sweet that he remembered.. Which one's mine?"

Amir adjusted his hands a bit to separate out the Lua design and hand it up to them, to which they held out their hand, playfully wiggling their fingers— holyshitthisisreallyhappening— After a giddy moment and a return to the big, goofy grin he'd arrived with, Amir slipped the ring onto their ring finger. It was a perfect fit, and the stone started shifting colors to a bright, joyful pink..

Wait. The Duviri thing. Do mood rings actually WORK ON THEM?! That is so fuggin' cute OML.

Drifter brought their hand up to their face, admiring the, for now, blindingly bright pink spot on their eternally fashionably dreary style of dress with a huge grin on their face. "Oh, Amir, I love it.." They leaned in to kiss Amir on the forehead, leaving a dark kiss mark from their lipstick. "Thank you so much, babe.."

Amir let out what could only be described as a squeal, and then turned to Flare and Lizzie. "Um. I— Okay one I hope YOU TWO don't mind the mood ring thing??" He just now realized that he didn't really, consider a special adjustment for them, oh gods. They probably thought it was tacky as hell—

"Not at all, sugar." Flare said with a smile, their own cheeks a bit pink under their makeup, "It's perfect for your whole vibe, I agree with Drifter and Arthur, apparently, on that point. Though, mine's gonna be pretty much one color forever, huh? Given I run eternally hot, now."

"Red hot like the blood pumping hard through Our veins— We would Adore more chances to show the color of Our desires, sugar pup.." Lizzie chimed in in agreement, ditching her guitar facade to melt out over Flare's shoulders and reach a flailing claw out for her own. Amir was right— she didn't understand marriage in a classical sense, but she was processing a lot of concepts in her minds through Flare's thoughts she really enjoyed— the idea of an eternal union between souls, which this adorable little trinket represented.. Sounded just like her style!

Oh thank Lua. Amir let out a little sigh of relief, "Um, two, I realize that these will need some adjustments to fit.. Given.." He wiggled his own mutated fingers, "Protoframe stuff. And. Well, extension of protoframe stuff?" He lightly chuckled, looking up at Lizzie's claws. "B-but Aoi offered to help resize, if you wanna really actually wear them. This one's yours, Flare.." He held the Sol ring up to Flare, who took it in their enameled claws to examine— their ambient body temperature immediately shifting the stone bright pinkish red as expected as it started to warm in their fingers. "And this is yours, Liz!" He held the one with the hearts up to Lizzie and was delighted to immediately hear her letting off that feedback purr of hers, as she looped an unhooked string through it to examine it in Flare's range of vision. "I hope you like them.. Th-the moon reminded me of Drifter, with their night-owlness and kinda.."

"Broody nature?" Flare said with a smirk, which widened as they saw Drifter flush a bit deeper. Always so sensitive to being teased. Adorable.

"I wasn't gonna say it, but.. Kinda." Amir chuckled, "A-and then, if they're the moon, then you with your heat would be my sun to their moon.."

Hehehehehehe, Our pup is SO poetic! ..Sol is nothing but a star in the end, Lover— one among millions, just like Us..

Flare's smile softened, glancing from the ring in their hand to the one Lizzie was admiring in her own grasp. "And then Lizzie's hearts— did that remind you of Our symbiosis, or am I looking too deep into that?" It's adorable, either way, and they could hear her chittering away in the back of their head figuring out how she'd wear it. And a couple little tempted thoughts about eating it which they knocked away, but those are a good sign honestly— that means she really loves it, enough she had the urge to make it a part of her in a very literal way.

"Yeah! Reminded me of the two of you, since you're so inseparable." Amir nodded, finally realizing that he can. Probably stand up now.. He brushed himself off a bit, rocking back and forth on his feet with all the built up excited energy he was brimming with. "I hope you like them? It— fitting for my dumb ass, this was kinda uh.. Somehow something I've been thinking about for a really long time and kinda really spur of the moment??" He looked over his shoulder towards the rest of the mall— oh gods he shouldn't have done that, literally THE REST OF THE HEX IS WATCHING?! They're trying to be slick about it but he can see them all, poking their heads out of doorways and around corners to get a look in on his ramblingly long 'proposal.'

"We don't like them, We adore them, Amir." Flare took a step forward to kiss Amir on the forehead, leaving a little triangle of their own lip makeup right by Drifter's kiss mark. "And heh— That is fitting for you, hon, and I say that with all the love in my heart. As always your impulsiveness is charming, if chaotic as hell." Flare laughed, "Drifter, love, our wife's about to overload here— he just noticed everyone's been watching this whole time.. Your turn before he crashes?"

Drifter nodded, glancing to the rest of the Hex for a moment. Void, how far they'd come— all of them. When they first got here, Amir was convinced that no one cared about him, but here's proof he was wrong all along, in the end, and in the best way possible. All five of them were smiling and whispering to one another, excited to see this finally happen.

Drifter dropped to one knee focused their gaze up on Amir, who looked very much like he was about to dash off at any moment in excitement.. Better make this quick-ish so he can go run a few laps, "So, um.. Minor preface, same situation as you with Flare and Liz, I was trying to figure out the logistics of you wearing a ring, given the metal-on-metal is a bit of a problem?"

Amir nodded in agreement, "Y-yeah, I um.. That— You didn't— ohmyLua— you didn't have to do this, I'm fine just knowing how much you love me but like yeah that's kinda why I didn't press about this before.." He nervously rambled, deeply flushed and glancing away for a moment as Lizzie lovingly twirled a long wavy lock of hair from the back of his head, giggling at him.

"So.. I.. I've been brainstorming for a while how to make this work and um.. I hope you don't mind if it can't come off?" Drifter grinned, somehow between bashful and that devilish smirk of theirs that always made Amir bluescreen a little, and then snapped the box open.

For a moment, Amir didn't recognize what he was looking at. And then another moment. And another. And then it clicked. His eyes went wide as he looked at his own right hand, then what was in the box. Oh. Holy shit. THAT'Swhattheymeanby'notbeingabletotakeitoff'ohLUA..

In the little jewelry box was a replicated copy of a Volt Prime's right ring finger— well, a single joint of one, the proximal section, and it had been lovingly inlaid and custom engraved to look like there was a ring of fake circuit-board with a little bright blue heart where the stone on a ring might sit.

"This way you don't have to worry about losing it or about it getting hurt. Since I did this, with Lizzie's very fervent approval, and thus Helminth's—"

"It'llhealifitgetscratchedorbangedup,won'tit." Amir said at warp speed, covering his thoroughly flushed face with both his hands.

"Yeah.. Um. I hope you're alright with that? Kinda like a warframe tattoo, I guess?" Drifter chuckled.

Amir uncovered his face to reveal he was very much crying, though the speed at which he was currently thwacking his tail against Flare at his side immediately gave away that those were very happy tears. "I'm so alright with that?! That's so fuggin' sweet oh my god?!"

Drifter snapped the box shut and stood, wrapping Amir into a hug with Flare and giving him several kisses alongside them across the sides of his face. "We can get that changed out as soon as we get into my workship, I don't exactly have the tools to pop your finger off on hand right now.. You wanna do that first or go run a couple laps?"

Amir whined for a moment, jumping up and down in place and shaking out his hands to try and let off any energy. He really, really needed to go run but— "IwantitonmeRGIHTNOWpleaseletsgo!"

With a sudden speed boost for all four of them, Amir led the charge past the rest of the Hex and up to the backroom, where Drifter was thankfully able to get him to hold his hands still for just long enough to properly remove his finger and replace that section of his finger out for the one with his wedding ring engraved on it.

"There you go, my handsome girl!" Drifter grinned, giving the new section of Amir's finger a big kiss and then letting his hand go so he could admire it better, "Can't deny anyone that you're our wife any longer!"

It was so nerdy. And a little weird, having it permanently engraved on him, knowing they were doing so without it actually on him, but like, good weird. AndohmyLuathelittleheartthatssocuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute—

Amir descended into a gigglefit that honestly made it kind of obvious how the odd couple between him and Lizzie worked out, hopping up and down in place happily between his partners. "It's perfect ohmygodOKAYILOVEYOUBOTHSOMUCHKISSESSMOOCHES—" Amir gave Flare and Drifter and Lizzie's knuckles all a series of quick, static-charged kisses, "INEEDTOGORUNLIKESEVENLAPSOKAYBYEI'LLBEBACKINLIKEANHOUR!"

And there he goes, with a bonus ride-along buddy from Lizzie who had pre-emptively deposited her ring into Flare's hand for safe keeping to prepare for just this; she hopped onto his shoulders, giggling along with him as the two of them went running off through the mall and into the city, gone past giddy into pure loving ecstasy, at least as Lizzie would put it.

It was real. THIS WAS REAL. Like. It was real ALREADY but now it's like, REAL REAL! HE'S MARRIED! TO FUTURE AND FLARE AND LIZZIE AND AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—

Drifter softly laughed from their perch on a windowsill of the backroom, watching Amir take laps around the mall courtyard before running off into the surrounding streets. "Void, our wives are so cute."

Flare laughed with them, nodding, "They really are.." They looked down at the rings in their palm, both still thoroughly heated up just by their ambient body heat. Considering something just to themself— do they take these with them someday, or.. Leave them here, for safe keeping, as a promise they'd be back for them?

Drifter looked over at Flare, noting the fact that their face had gone.. Almost a bit melancholy? They were certainly still smiling, but.. "..I am also working on something for you, by the way, I just uh.. I mean you've got a very particular aesthetic and I don't wanna mess that up. Not that I'm putting it off or anything I just—"

Flare shut Drifter's nervous ramblings up with a kiss to the lips. "It's alright, angel." They smiled wider, which was.. Mildly forced, they couldn't lie at least to Liz about that. "You take as long as you need, I know you're a little bit of a perfectionist." They laughed, remembering the several attempts at Amir's ring they'd melted down— or fed back to Helly, rather— to re-try when they were unsatisfied with their own hand-working skills. "But whatever it is, whenever you get it done? I'm sure I'll love it. It's from you, that's all that matters to me."

Drifter bashfully smiled, gently resting their forehead against Flare's. "Thanks.."

After an evening of some very excited cuddles once Amir got back, (and a near restless night as Flare and Drifter desperately tried to help calm him down enough to sleep) Flare and Lizzie met up with Aoi the next day to refit their rings from Amir. With Aoi's ingenuity, they were both adjusted to be larger and with a bit of a flexible/adjustable nature to them to more clip on than slide onto both of their hard-backed fingers, while being able to also be worn more commonly on a chain around Flare's neck for safe keeping..

They're coming with Us, Lover— We promise to leave them intact.. Just like We promise to leave a bit of You~ <3 Safely tucked away into Our pretty bone and enamel..

Heh. I'll just have to trust you with that, Liz.. Worst case scenario we can replace them when we get back home.

Meanwhile, most times, Amir's ring for Drifter joined the chain on their neck right beside Astrin's, from Flare.. Two very different aesthetics, from their very different spouses, but no less loved, no less meaningful to them.. And even there on the chain, that colorful little moon shifted colors to suit their mood, through the six colors of Duviri and even beyond.

It was a good thing they were usually the type to wear their heart on their sleeve anyway.