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[blap_blap]

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[justbeingknife]

I thought you'd say yes, but ya never know for sure. I mean... what if ya didn't want to get too attached, right? People disappear around here sometimes.

[ And Majima wouldn't have begrudged Tim the urge to protect himself. He set the picnic basket down, took a blanket from inside, and smoothed it down over the spring grass. Checkered blue-and-white fabric, like he imagined a picnic blanket ought to look. Truthfully, before he'd spent the day out with Tim? He'd never been.

A lot of things were like that with Tim. New, even unfamiliar -- and yet impossible to resist. ]

I liked ya before then, but I think that's when I fell for you.

[ The pink of the cherry blossoms, the quiet susurration of wind through the trees, the warm hands in his fur. One might say it had been the perfect stage on which to grow to love someone. ]

C'mere and sit down, huh? I'd like to give you something.

[blap_blap]

[Tim didn't really like to think about how people sometimes disappeared, because that could still technically happen to either one of them at any time, whether or not Tim fell in love or got married or whatever. Even if he and Majima did tie the knot, there was no guarantee that one of them wouldn't wake up one morning to an empty bed and a broken heart.]

[Tim didn't know how he'd handle that, if he was being honest. Probably badly.]

I don't know if I could pinpoint the moment I fell in love with you. [Since they were being honest about that sort of thing.] It was... a process, I guess. But I think it started when you took me home.

[See, that was why you don't take a stray home, Majima. The little bastard would never leave.]

[Tim sat down next to him on the blanket, folding his bovine legs up underneath him while his heart rate kicked up a few notches. Anticipation and all that. The what of what was going to happen during this picnic wasn't a surprise, but the when was.]

Okay. What is it?

[justbeingknife]

[ Majima was helpless against the foolish, happy smile that crept up on him. ]

Really?

[ Even if pressed, he had no way of explaining exactly why he'd taken Tim home that first night. He was lonely, sure, but he'd been that way for years. Tim had been upset, but there were a million people out there dealing with some kind of personal disaster. And surely there were other men out there with broad shoulders and big muscles, but...

Maybe something in those blue-and-green eyes. Or the way his fingers through Majima's fur had been gentle, admiring even though he'd barely gotten himself through the reliving of some awful trauma.

For now, Majima reached into the basket and retrieved another bit of fabric. ]

Two things, actually. I was tryin' to take a page from your book and make somethin' by hand. Didn't turn out quite like yours, but...

[ Gently, he draped the wine-colored scarf around Tim's muscled neck. It was obviously hand-knitted, with beginner's mistakes woven in -- as if the needles used to make it had been held in slightly clumsy claws. Not a sleek infinity scarf like Tim had managed, but still carefully counted on each row.

Once that was unfurled, the small dark box it had been wrapped over was in Majima's palm; he knelt with it. ]

Tim, I've been waitin' my whole life to ask you.

[ Even if he hadn't known it at the time. Because that was what twenty-five years had been leading to, apparently. Not rising to the upper echelons of the Tojo Clan with his brother, but getting sidetracked beyond conceivable measure. Meeting a man from so far in the future they never could have met, let alone married.

He slipped open the box, and there it was -- a platinum band, glinting in the morning sun. But Tim had seen the design before, of course; that part was no surprise ]

I love you more than anythin'. And I promise to make sure you know just how much -- every day, from now till the very end.

Whatever happens, wherever we are, I'll always love you. I'll always be with you, even when I'm not.

[ This was what he wanted, more than anything else he'd ever wanted for himself: a life by the side of a man Majima would no longer imagine his life without. ]

Will you marry me?

[blap_blap]

I love it. It's perfect.

[Tim looked delighted when Majima unfurled a handmade scarf, made out of soft yarn in that particular dark red color that he liked to wear so much, the one that he and Majima seemed to have unanimously decided looked good on him. If he noticed the mistakes in the knit, he didn't make any outward appearance of it, just wrapped it around his neck and pressed his face into the fabric.]

[Then Majima's down on one knee, and even though Tim had been expecting this, the sight of it still hit him like a kick to the chest. He was talking and Tim was listening, he really was, and everything that Majima was saying to him was wonderful and sweet and lovely, but he'd told himself that he was, under no circumstances, to start crying like a jackass in the middle of his proposal. For one thing, it was probably very rude, and for another, it would interrupt him and Tim didn't want him to have to stop just because he couldn't keep it together. But also, god, his whole face felt hot and his chest felt tight and he might just actually burst before his boyfriend-- fiancé?-- finished speaking.]

[He managed, barely, holding onto the knit scarf like it was a lifeline, fingers digging into the soft yarn. Hold it together, Tim, you absolute goober.]

[Will you marry me?]

Yes!

[It came out of him in a burst, like the word had been barely contained and was finally breaking free. He dropped down to his knees with Majima and threw his arms around him, pulling him into a hug and oh, okay, his face definitely felt wet, that was fine. Cue the stupid, dumbass waterworks, Tim was being Emotional again.]

Yes, yes, yes, of course, I'll marry you.

[He just had to be careful not to squeeze too hard, or else he might have a squished fiancé.]

Oh, my god. Gorō, I love you.

[justbeingknife]

[ He knew what they were here for, Tim knew what they were here for, nothing about the proposal was a surprise. And yet the butterflies in Majima's stomach were almost unbearable -- what if Tim said no? What if he had cold hooves? But he heard yes, and then more yes, and Majima was savoring that sound. Committing to memory every second of it, the warmth of Tim's arms and the tears against his skin.

Majima's eyes were watering and he had no idea why; he was happy, he'd never been this ecstatic in his goddamn life. And he wanted to kiss Tim. The press of his mouth was brief against Tim's lips, because he couldn't quite decide if he wanted to smooch the man some more or tell him -- ]

I love you, too.

[ One thing, though, didn't require Majima to decide a damn thing, and that was returning the embrace. And hey, even if Tim did squeeze a little too enthusiastically? He'd die as he lived, with his face in a Grade-A rack. Long fingers ran through the bullman's hair as Majima drew his fiancé close -- as if Tim was the most precious treasure in the whole damn world.

(He was.) ]

I can't wait.

[ He was delirious, but still it occurred to Majima that he was almost forgetting something, and so he took the ring from its housing and with uncharacteristic clumsiness, managed to slip it over the first knuckle of Tim's fourth finger. There was the hard part; maybe he'd be less useless if he could just stop talking. ]

We'll get hitched under those cherry blossoms, huh? Have a nice, big place with a yard, and then we can wake up every mornin' together.

[blap_blap]

[They clung to each other for a few moments like assholes, or, probably, like two idiots in love who couldn't bear to be apart. And, well, technically they wouldn't have to be, they were going to get goddamned married and do the whole 'til death do us part' thing. So Majima better be prepared, Tim was going to be hanging around for the rest of his natural life and he wasn't going to be able to get rid of him.]

[The ring was cool when Majima slid it onto his finger, lacking all of his usual dexterity, and something about his always calm and poised fiancé turning into as much of a mess as Tim was terribly endearing. Good acting could fake a lot of things, but you couldn't fake turning into a clumsy disaster due to overwhelming happiness. And, sure, this was technically a wedding band, not an engagement ring, but that was fine-- Tim was going to be wearing it for the rest of his life, so what did it matter if he started a few weeks early?]

That sounds great. Perfect. We can do that, right?

[It seemed right, like completing a full circle. Get married under the same trees that they'd started their relationship, nearly a full year apart. Like something out of some sappy romance novel.]

[Then reality intruded slightly on Tim's happy bubble; he placed his newly ringed hand on Majima's chest, leaning back slightly so he could actually look him in the face.]

Wait, can we do that? That's, like, a month to plan a whole wedding, it's a really fast turnover.

[justbeingknife]

Why not?

[ That ring looked great on Tim, just like he knew it would. Had made double sure it would, in fact, because his beau had big old hands that could have been tough to fit otherwise. Right at present, however, those fingers felt just right up against his chest; Majima wrapped his own hand around Tim's, beaming like a fool. ]

We've got suits, rings, and I know exactly who we can ask to do the cake.

[ He drew Tim's hand in a little closer, over towards where his heart still sort of felt like it might beat out of his chest. And then he pressed his lips to the back of his fiancé's knuckles. ]

Besides, I don't wanna wait. Not any more.

[ In fact, he wanted to be married to Tim now, and only a sense of romanticism and a vague feeling like he should probably at least wait a year before popping the question and making the whole thing look like a total shotgun wedding had stopped him. Being reasonable? Thinking twice? Sounded fake. Majima had never been great about thinking things over before getting himself thoroughly entangled with someone he loved -- and he loved Tim most of all.

Sign him up for a lifetime subscription to nerdy beef. ]

[blap_blap]

[They did have some of the essentials already, but there was also catering and invitations and the reception to plan, and they hadn't even discussed what they might want to do for a honeymoon afterward. Because it wasn't a wedding without a honeymoon, right, someplace nice that they could go to canoodle until they could canoodle no more. Really consummate that marriage.]

'Any more'? [That made it sound like Majima had been thinking about it for ages, not just a few weeks.] How long were you thinking about popping the question? I didn't think it was even, like, on your radar 'til I brought it up a few months ago.

[Majima had seemed so surprised when he'd brought it up that one time, when they'd been talking about the cheating yakuza boss. Like he had never thought about getting married before, or at least had dismissed it as impossible already.]

[Which was kind of sad, if it was the case? When he wasn't going ham, Majima was kind and affectionate and attentive; good husband material. Good father material, too, but that was a different thing entirely. It would be a shame if he just wrote that off entirely, something that he'd never have as a part of his life, even if he wanted it. Collateral damage in the pursuit of his ambitions as a crime man.]

[justbeingknife]

I... [ What was this idiot getting embarrassed for? He was getting married in a month, and he was still flushed like Tim had asked him to space prom. ] It's why I asked if you'd come back with me. I knew I wanted to take ya home.

But it's a lot to ask someone, y'know? A whole other country, another planet, way in the past... and I ain't a nice, respectable doctor.

[ Which was probably what Tim deserved, right? A happy, stable life with someone who wouldn't worry him by getting into shirtless knife fights. Not that Majima would give him up now, not for anyone. ]

Had it in the back of my mind for a while, but I thought... uh, a lot of things, I guess.

[ Mostly, when someone hinted at the subject, Majima got flustered or gave it the brush-off. Never really took things as seriously as he could have, not even bothering to examine what he wanted, which always seemed so far-off and impossible. Sure, some cute gal might look at him with stars in her eyes, but was she really seeing him? Or was she too dazzled by the smile and the sense of danger? The way he filled out a sleek suit and listened to what she said, instead of forgetting her birthday or that daffodils made her sneeze?

For most, it was better to move on to a man who wouldn't come home soaked in seawater, sporting a gunshot wound to the abdomen. But -- ]

I thought I could make you happy.

[ And that was all he really wanted. Stupid little things, like holding Tim's hand and going for walks and seeing the bullman smile up at him like Majima mattered, like it was a good thing he was alive beyond how useful he was or how many bodies he could leave in his wake. ]

[blap_blap]

Hey, lucky for you, I don't want a nice, respectable doctor.

[He had more of an affinity for dangerous people who could kick his ass, anyway. Moxxi and, sometime in the future, Ember-- one was a ruthless businesswoman who ran the gamut of enterprises from bars to slaughterdomes, the other, a pyromaniac performance artist with a flair for combining arson and uncivil disobedience. Not the kind of people that you had a happy, stable home life with, so, hey, handsome stab-happy yakuza man wasn't exactly out of place on that list.]

[Tim would still worry, of course. He'd still be upset when Majima came home soaked to the bone with a bullet in his gut, but at least bullets were something that he knew how to deal with.]

You do make me happy. I've, this is the happiest I've ever been.

[Because he was stupid in love and dating someone who reciprocated his affections and was kind and affectionate and treated him well, someone that he liked to be with and who somehow, inexplicably, was equally as goddamn absurdly thirsty as he was. What were the odds?]

You're more than enough for me.

[Tim kissed him again, like a liplock could somehow prove it to him-- that he was enough, that all Tim wanted was him as he was.]

[justbeingknife]

Yeah? That's good to hear. Because I'm not goin' anywhere.

[ And when Tim kissed him again, maybe he'd be able to read ahead in the disorganized, looping patterns Majima was tracing along the back of one beefy shoulder. What they said, and what Majima had to wait to say once their lips parted again: ]

You're the only one for me.

[ That was conviction, all right. What were the odds? They had to be long ones. Because there surely weren't many souls out there who could handle Majima loving them the way he did Tim -- lavishly, in not only gentler, traditional affection but the willingness to step on his lover and tell them how good they looked in some nice rope and a couple of well-placed lashes. ]

[ Another couple of smooches, as scattershot as the speckles over Tim's cheeks. Majima felt giddy, as if he was about to overflow with feeling, and maybe that was exactly where he was. But two could play at this dumb, flirty game. Hopefully Tim wasn't expecting it to stop once the proposal was out, that was just silly. ]

So tell me, huh? How long were you thinkin' about it?

Would you've said yes last year?

[ Yeah, Tim. Spill those juicy deets. ]

[blap_blap]

[Clearly they were going to be that couple-- the kind that still flirted and were sickeningly romantic with each other, even years and years into the marriage. Which wasn't a bad thing for them, it just meant that everyone around them was going to have the bar raised for them. The romantic equivalent of a curve-breaker on your tough exam.]

Oh, uh. Well. [Tim went a little red, which was hardly uncommon around Majima.] I mean, y'know, I thought about it a regular amount. As much as a normal person would think about it. Normally.

[Which means that sometimes he would lay on his bed, sighing like the lead in a Regency-era drama and thinking about 'til death do he part with his favorite wolfman. So only a normal amount if Pride and Prejudice was your metric for normal consideration of marriage.]

But, I, uh. If you asked me last year, it would've been really sudden? I would've had to think about it, for, like... I dunno, a minute? Then I probably would've said yes.

[Because when it came to love, Tim was, ultimately, an idiot.]

[justbeingknife]

[ Maybe Tim wasn't getting into all the juicy details at the moment, but Majima had gotten to know him well enough that he could read between the lines. Well, that and the bullman was blushing like a schoolboy, something that always melted his stony, crime man heart.

Majima went in for another liplock, the palm of his hand pressed up against the center of his fiancé's chest. Did he want to reassure himself that Tim was really there? Or reassure Tim that Majima wasn't just some dream concocted by a fatigued brain hopped up on paperback romances?

Maybe both. ]

I'm so glad.

[ About everything. But especially about the yes. ]

I was real nervous, y'know? Thought I'd forget what I wanted to say. But when ya said you'd come back with me, I was so happy.

[ A little stem of cherry blossoms was spiraling its way down towards the grass; Majima caught it and tucked it behind Tim's ear, because of course, right? Why wouldn't Tim look even more gorgeous with some dumb flowers in his hair, where all that product would probably keep it right where it was? All hail hair gel. ]

You're perfect.

<kyouken>

[justbeingknife]

Hey, uh, darlin'?

I might need ya to come pick me up.

[blap_blap]

coming

[There's the sound of feet coming down the hall; then the door opening, and Tim pokes his head into the bathroom. He is greeted by the sight of a plethora of tentacles.]

Still haven't got the hang of those?

[justbeingknife]

[ There was Majima, looking rueful with one inked arm hooked over the edge of the tub. ]

About half of 'em listen to me now?

[ Which meant that half of them didn't, at any one time. Once he spotted Tim, though, the recalcitrant minority paused in their exploring of the bathtub rim. One of them was reduced to drawing dumb little looping heart-shapes against the wood. ]

Hi.

[blap_blap]

Hi.

[Despite the fact that his husband is now half calamari, Tim looks at him like he's one hundred perfect perfect. Because he is, heart doodling tentacles and all.]

[He isn't two hundred pounds of beef anymore, but his monster strength should still be enough to lift one octo-husband, even as a catfishman. Man, that's pretty on-the-nose, even for the Fog God.]

Hey, that's progress, right? [Time to lift the sexy calamari.] Maybe you'll get control over all of 'em just in time to get turned into something else.

[BECAUSE THAT'S THEIR LUCK AROUND HERE.]

[justbeingknife]

About that.

[ Maybe Tim wasn't his beefy beau any more, but that apparently made no difference to the merman reaching out for his husband's shoulders, face flushed and not only from the steam of the water. His arms were dry and warm, but his long black hair was damp with wet. ]

I was thinkin' of a way to speed the process along? I mean, maybe if I practiced with 'em more, I'd get the hang of this faster.

[ One of those tentacles snagged the top off of the little pile of towels stacked up, dipping into it like a cat tucking itself in. Several of the others simply curled loosely about Tim's waist and hips, nudging a little gap between shirt and the upper rise of his pants.

Gosh, it was the weirdest thing. Like Tim had a way of charming them right out of their mischief. Or maybe into it? ]

Have anywhere ya need to be today?

[blap_blap]

I mean, the logic's sound, I guess. Practice makes perfect.

[So theoretically, practicing with your weird tentacles should make you better at controlling them.]

[Quite a few of those tentacles had focused their attention on Tim, and he only paid them a minor amount of attention as they wiggled their way around his torso. They rucked up his shirt a little, but otherwise seemed to be making relatively little mischief.]

Mm, I don't think so. A few errands later, maybe, we're out of milk.

[Domestic things. The day-to-day of living together. Tim brought his cephalopod beau into the bedroom, to deposit him on the bed and help him get dried off.]

Want me to help?

[justbeingknife]

[ Majima gave his husband a kiss, all smiles. If someone had told him a year ago that he'd be into this? Cuddling and talking about milk runs with a freckly space American? He would have thought they were barking up the wrong tree, maybe in the throes of some fever dream.

Now it felt like his dumb criminal heart was fuller than it had ever been. He loved the little intimacies -- coffee in the mornings, walks framed by curtains of spring green leaves. ]

Yeah. I'll leave my hair damp; I think that should be enough.

[ 'Enough'? Wow, it sounded like someone had given this some thought. Like maybe Majima had been wondering how best to get his tentacles all over Tim for a little while.

He took the towel from the nearest arm, using it to daub warm water off another, more cooperative limb. And yet at no time were less than three tentacles touching his husband at all times. It was like, a rule? ]

[blap_blap]

[Tim doesn't mind the movement of Majima's tentacles on his body, either wandering over his clothes or dipping underneath his shirt. The texture of them was odd, soft but strong and with little suckers all along their length, especially now that Tim didn't have normal skin, either. Catfish, god. The Fog God has a sense of humor and Tim's not sure if he appreciates it.]

[While Majima got to work dabbing at his various limbs, Tim pushed some of the stray strands of his husband's wet hair out of his face. It was still lovely and sleek, even when it was wet, and it was absolutely unfair.]

You've been thinking about this?

[i wONDER WHY]

What do you want me to do?

[justbeingknife]

About what I've been wanting to do to you?

[ Majima might have been half-cephalopod, but there was nothing cold-blooded about the flush in his cheeks as a tentacle slid wholesale under his husband's shirt, pulling it upward to expose an expanse of scars and stomach. ]

Maybe a little.

[ Yeah. Right. Just a little. ]

We could start with you joinin' me on the sheets. And then maybe we could do a little... exploring. Didn't have a lot of time the last round, ya know?

[ A little deep-sea exploration, one might say. But did Tim really want to risk getting tangled in these tentacles? ]

[blap_blap]

[That tentacle decided to take things from a surface-level expedition to some deep spelunking underneath Tim's shirt. Since Tim's such an accommodating husband, he figured that he would just help that tentacle out and take the whole shirt off, and then it wouldn't even have to go spelunking. There's just all that dorito chest available to it, though, unfortunately, not quite as beefy a dorito as he used to be.]

[He climbed onto the bed with his octo-husband, tucking his legs underneath him in a manner that had been completely unavailable to him when he'd been half-cow. And he had feet! Toes, even! He could wiggle them, and, in fact, did so. Sure, there were more fins and webbing on his legs than usual, but that was fine.]

Yeah, not as much as I would've liked, y'know? [He pet one of the tentacles as it made its way around his torso, like he'd idly pet a cat.] It's also kinda nice that I'm not eight feet tall with three faces, too. It's just a personal preference.

[justbeingknife]

[ So Tim had also been thinking about the last time his husband had been part calamari? An intriguing thought. Majima moved a little closer, bent in to plant a single kiss on his husband's left clavicle. ]

Yeah. I kinda like bein' able to kiss ya whenever I want.

[ But lbr, Majima would freely make out with Tim even if he had another case of eyeball hand. And even if he wasn't quite as beefy now -- ]

Hey. Ya know what? You never did take your shirt off for me. Not before that time I took ya home.

[ So in a way, wasn't this the first time he'd been exposed to twunk Tim? Hard to tell what a guy really looked like under his clothes, after all. And Majima seemed pretty enamored by what he found -- letting his hands move over Tim's shoulders and down over his pecs. ]

You've got a broad frame.

[ Majima's tone was admiring; it looked good on his lover, who had apparently always been a Dorito. Even when he was a freckly ginger nerd. The tentacle that Tim was stroking wavered in its exploration, looping a part of itself gently around the man's wrist. Not constricting, exactly, but the feel of suckers along the underside contacting and then releasing the surface of Tim's skin came in little swooning waves.

Another was sliding over Tim's thigh, wrapping all the way around to slip its way over those brand-new toes. A thought occurred to Majima, and with some concentration, the touch turned into a sort of kneading. An attempt to mimic with a slightly unfamiliar organ the way that Tim had worked his fingers over Majima's feet some months ago. ]

It looks good on you.

[blap_blap]

Well, it was kind of December when we met? And then you took me home in January, so.

[Not a whole lot of time for him to be taking his shirt off for Majima. Or, really, an appropriate time, because unlike some people in their later years, Tim didn't make a habit of walking around in winter with his tits out.]

Oh, wow, I was kinda really easy, wasn't I?

[Less than a month between meeting Majima and ending up in his bed. It all worked out in the end, though, now they're married. They just did the whole dating thing a little bit backwards.]

Thanks. I guess I've always been built sort of like this.

[Even before the surgery, he'd always this same sort of shape, just on a smaller, narrower scale. It's nice that Majima likes it, likes how he is even without the whole minotaur beefiness thing going on. His tentacles sure seem to like him, kneading at his feet and wrapping around his wrist. Tim kisses the one at his wrist, then snorts a laugh.]

Oh, hey, I'm kinda ticklish. [His foot flexed at the wiggle of a smooth tentacle against its sole.] I forgot I'm ticklish.