Work Text:
"Cornelius!" Lucille yelled down the hall, brandishing a loaf of bread vaguely, "Breakfast time!"
"I'm coming," he mumbled, staggering into the kitchen and rubbing his face.
"Caffeine patch?" She nodded towards the box at the end of the counter.
"Uh… no, thanks." Cornelius backed away a little and sat at the kitchen island.
Just as he was about to slump over and fall back asleep he heard music interspersed with croaks.
Suddenly becoming fully alert, he glanced towards Lucille, who was feeding slices of bread into a clicking machine on the counter.
"Is Franny here?!"
"Oh, yes, she came over almost two hours ago. She had a great new idea during the night and rushed right over."
"Well, that means-…" Cornelius squinted at the kitchen clock, "…she came over at four?"
"Indeedy she did. She's just like you, you know," Lucille added after a little pause, throwing a glance at him over her shoulder, "Always getting up at odd hours of the night to work. You two make a perfect pair."
A gentle blush crept up his cheeks and into his ears. He had bought the ring almost four weeks ago, but he still hadn't found the right time to ask her. He'd even asked Bud for advice on how to go about it, but the only thing his father had suggested was that he ask Lucille.
"You really ought to ask her," Lucille continued, making him turn even redder.
"Ask who what?" Franny asked, wandering into the kitchen. Cornelius would have fallen out of his seat had he been more than half-awake, but as it was he just jumped a little and looked towards her, his cheeks flaming. It was then that he realized that he must look a mess; his hair was sticking out every which way and all he was wearing was slightly small stripy pajamas. But if she noticed, she didn't show it: whisking past him, she pecked him on the cheek and sat down next to him.
"Good morning! " she said cheerily, grinning at him. For someone who had been up before four in the morning she was pretty perky. Or maybe he was just very sleepy. Lucille threw him a pointed gaze, but he very carefully avoided it and turned his attention to his fidgeting fingers.
"Good morning, Franny," he mumbled, pausing for a moment before looking up and adding, "I heard a bit of your music. Sounds nice."
"Well thank you!" Franny grinned at him, straightening her back a bit. She was definitely perky. At least she had forgotten about asking who had to ask who what.
"Want some toast, Franny?" Lucille asked, waving a slice of bread in case Franny forgot what the ingredients of toast were.
"Oh! Yes please, thank you!" Cornelius wondered if his mother had given Franny a caffeine patch.
After pressing a few buttons on the toast machine Cornelius had come up with, Lucille sighed. "Cornelius, would you please come fix this? I just can't seem to get it to work."
"Hmm, that's odd," he murmured, rising from his seat and going round the island to reach her. She was just as good at figuring out machines as he was, and it wasn't particularly hard to use. When he reached the display screen, though, he stopped dead in his tracks and blushed again.
At Bud's suggestion, he had added a text feature to the toast maker. Usually it was just used to say things like 'Good morning' and 'The patent office called again'. But those were a far cry from what Lucille had suggested: 'Will you marry me?' When he turned to gape at his mother, though, he found her deep in a very animated conversation with Franny.
"Er… excuse me for a moment. I have to… er… fetch something!" Cornelius fled from the room before anyone could say anything.
Striding down the hall he pressed his hand to his head. Who in their right mind proposed with breakfast foods? This was insanity! …of course, Franny did teach frogs to sing, Bud wore his clothes backwards, and Lucille… well, his friends and relations were certainly not the sanest of individuals. Perhaps it was a good idea after all: after all, it was hard to mess up a question when it's burned onto a piece of white bread.
…What was he saying? Proposing with toast? That had to be the least-romantic way to propose. Cornelius had always planned to ask her after finishing a wonderful picnic next to a pretty lake, when the moon was full and the night clear. Not on a piece of bread at six in the morning.
Suddenly he realized he was walking right past his room. Taking a quivering breath, he swung open the door and went in search of the little box that held the very special piece of jewelry.
When his brain finally caught up with his body, he paused for a moment. Why was he looking for the ring? Was he seriously considering proposing to her today? He was wearing stripy pajamas. For some reason he thought that was a very good excuse. Maybe he really did need more sleep.
His fingers brushed something small and hard, and he pulled the small black box from his lab coat pocket with a little flourish of triumph. Staring at it for a few minutes he tried to force himself to decide on a course of action. Pass up another chance? Ask her out for a romantic dinner soon? Or give her a slightly burnt bit of toast? After taking a few deep breaths and squaring his shoulders, he stuffed the box into his pocket and dashed out of his room.
Suddenly realizing that Franny might just give up on the toast and make something herself, Cornelius sped up and reached the kitchen in record time. Skidding to a halt in front of the door, he tried desperately to smooth his hair and straighten his pajama shirt. Deep breaths, in, out, in, out… won't do to go in panting like a dog.
Cornelius swung open the door and strode in with what he hoped seemed to be a calm demeanor. Luckily for him, Franny and Lucille were still busy talking about frog genetics and didn't notice him come in. Taking a deep breath, he crept over to the toast machine and pressed a few buttons.
A minute later he slid two plates onto the island. The toast on Lucille's plate said 'You're crazy', and she smirked at him before taking a big bite out of the 'crazy'. Franny, however, almost didn't notice that her toast said 'Would you please marry me?". It barely fit on the bread, so Cornelius was rather surprised she didn't see it, but she was very engrossed in frogs at the moment. The toast was saved at the last minute by Lucille, who reminded her young companion of Cornelius's latest invention.
Franny glanced down obligingly at the toast, probably expecting something like 'Test toast' or 'I'm going back to sleep now'. She was, reasonably, surprised when she read her bread. For a moment she simply stared at it, apparently trying to decide if it was some sort of bizarre, sleep-deprived joke. But when she finally decided to look up at the maker of the toast to see what it was all about, she found he had disappeared. Or at least, most of him had: a little bit of his blonde hair stuck up over the counter top. Leaning over the counter, Franny found her beau kneeling, holding a little box with a little ring in it. Cornelius was grinning a little sheepishly, not only at his position, but at the whole ridiculous thing.
Franny threw one last glance at the toast clutched in her hand before launching herself over the counter at Cornelius. Lucille silently removed her plate from the counter and backed away a bit. Half of Franny was hanging off the edge, but the other half was still on the counter, her legs flailing a little bit as she squealed something at Cornelius. Her head was right next to his and her arms were wrapped around his neck, which looked terribly uncomfortable but must not have been: Cornelius was grinning from ear to ear. Sliding his arms around Franny, he rose and slipped her off of the counter, only to hold her up off the floor and spin her round.
Lucille smirked and snuck out of the room with her toast. She had always thought that breakfast was the most important meal of the day.