Chapter Text
It wasn’t uncommon for Ace to show up at Snake’s apartment unannounced. They had known each other for over a decade now, and had been inseparable since they first met. What was unusual, however, was for Ace to open his mouth as if to say something, fail to do so, and immediately beeline to the bathroom to throw up, which is just what he did when Snake answered the door. Now, leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom, they watched as their best friend lost his lunch, pausing to take in some unsteady breaths once he was finished.
“Hello to you, too, Mr. Copular.”
“Shut your mouth.”
They rolled their eyes as he blessed himself, mumbling something under his breath as if prayer.
“You’re religiousss now?”
“Fuck no, I’m just Italian.”
With his heart rate back to normal and his stomach empty, Ace leaned back against the wall, turning to blink up at Snake.
“I’m gonna ask Stu to marry me.”
Somewhere deep down, Ace knew that the idea had been lurking in his mind. They had been together for nearly three years now, sharing an apartment for half that time. He knew that he wanted to be with Stuart for a long time, but something had shifted that morning over breakfast. They had been eating in silence, still exhausted and fighting back sleep, when Stuart looked up from their food and simply smiled. It shouldn’t have affected him the way it did- it seemed like they were always smiling, especially at Ace; and yet as soon as they did, a single thought filled his mind.
‘God, I wanna marry them.’
He had to cover his startled expression at his own thoughts behind his mug of coffee, taking a longer sip than usual.
Ace’s mind was a constantly running machine, something he should admittedly be on adderall for, but didn’t care enough to do so. That being said, it was jarring for everything to go silent, especially when only one thought remained in place. This wasn’t something he could sweep aside, not when he was sitting right across from the person it was about. So, as soon as Stuart left to go get lunch with Russell, Ace headed out to see the only other person that seemed to understand even his most outlandish ideas.
Once they were certain he wouldn’t puke all over their living room, Snake sat Ace down on the couch with a bottle of water, listening to him ramble on in an attempt to organize his feelings, which seemed to oscillate between excitement and pure terror at the thought of proposing.
“-and what if they say no? I mean, I know they won’t, but what if they do? Like, what if- I don’t know, man, ya know? God, I’m gonna pass out, I think I’m gonna pass out.”
“You’re not going to passs out, relax.”
“I think I’m gonna pass out, Snake.”
“Ace, you’re fine. Breathe.”
They demonstrated, taking a deep breath in and holding it before exhaling, doing so until Ace joined in. The color slowly returned to his face after a moment. Running a hand through his hair, Ace slumped back against the couch cushions, shaking his head.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
“You’re ok,” replied Snake, taking the now empty bottle from his hands and setting it aside. “It’sss alright.”
“...I just…fuck, I never thought I’d actually wanna get married, I guess? Never really saw the appeal.”
“Until now?”
“Yeah…”
He turned to them, eyes full of concern. Maybe he was getting too in over his head.
“Do ya think it’s a good idea? Askin’ them?”
Snake nodded, reaching out to take one of Ace’s hands in theirs, giving it a gentle squeeze. They smiled.
“I do.”
“Really?”
“Of courssse I do. Why wouldn’t I?”
Ace shrugged.
“I don’t know, I guess I’m just worried.”
“What about?”
“Not sure, really- it’s more so just a general worry.”
“That’sss fair. I mean, I don’t think there’sss a posssibility of them sssaying ‘no’ at all, but it’sss still ssscary asssking.”
“Exactly.”
“Have you guysss talked about marriage before?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, fidgeting with a loose string on his jeans as he thought about their question.
“Kinda? I mean, we’ve both said we wanna stay together for a long time. I don’t think we’ve ever explicitly brought up marriage, but…sometimes I’ll catch myself sayin’ somethin’ like ‘oh, when we’re older,’ or they'll say somethin’ like ‘you’re stuck with me forever,’ ya know? Stuff like that.”
Snake hummed, pursing their lips.
“But thisss isss the firssst time you actually really thought about it, right?"
“I think so.”
“Alright, ssso it’sss not like you have to do anything right thisss inssstant. You have time to figure out what you want to do.”
“No, I know that. Obviously, I’m not gonna just go back home and say ‘hey, how was lunch? That’s nice, wanna get hitched?’”
“Ssso what’sss freaking you out ssso bad?”
“The fact that I’m not just gonna do that,” cried Ace, throwing his arms in the air for emphasis. “Now I gotta go about like everythin’s normal! Snake, I suck at pretendin’! They’re gonna figure out somethin’s up, and if they ask me, I don’t think I can lie to them!”
He covered his face with his hands, grumbling about how bad he was at acting, that Stuart would see right through him no matter how hard he tried. Snake bit their lip, not wanting to share their own thought that they probably wouldn’t put the pieces together, seeing that things flew over their sweet head quite easily. Instead, they crossed their arms, waiting for Ace to quit his pouting before speaking again.
“Asss much asss I’d love to tell you otherwissse,” they started, “that’sss really your only option here. Either you fake it, or you go and do it right now, which I know you don’t want to do. There’sss not a whole lot of optionsss here, Ace. It’sss a do or don't ssscenario.”
“...I hate those scenarios.”
“Yeah, I know you do. Tough ssshit.”
Defeatedly, Ace turned his gaze up to the ceiling, watching the fan spin around lazily. He always felt childish going to Snake for things like this, but he wasn’t sure what else to do. They were his best friend, and they never had an issue forcing him to face reality, even when he really didn’t want to. Now was one of those moments.
“I will sssay though,” purred Snake, drawing Ace’s attention back to them, “I better be the firssst perssson you tell once you decide you are ready.”
Ace smirked, bumping his shoulder against theirs, not bothering to pull away once they connected.
“Yeah, I know…don’t worry.”
He could wait. He didn’t want to, but he could. He would. Stuart deserved a perfect and thoughtful proposal, not just him springing the idea on them because it floated through his head.
So, he would give them just that.