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English
Series:
Part 9 of Home is Where the Heart is
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Published:
2017-08-07
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1,686
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1/1
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55
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Pamplemousse

Summary:

Rey wondered if it was so wrong that she wanted to be in something besides one of his stretched out tee shirts and a pair of boy shorts while being proposed to. She swallowed her mouthful of grapefruit as she carefully chose the right thing to say.

She wanted to marry him. Rey had every intention of marrying him. It felt incredibly selfish to reject him for a superficial reason like his mode of proposal.

 

Yet...

Notes:

I am disgusted by how fluffy and sweet this is. But I haven't written anything for this series in FOREVER. Ben is a giant nerd, as usual.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

It was the Friday before Easter and she had the day off.

Ben had spent the entire night before complaining about having to go to work when she didn’t, to which her only response had been to stand at the dinner table and reach over to press her lips to the smooth, pale plain of his forehead and gently whisper, don’t you dare wake me up early.

He had shivered, staring back at her with a whole different kind of dark look, before snatching her wrist and dragging her to bed. Ben didn’t wake her that morning and when she had wandered into the kitchen, the dishwasher was running. It had made her smile in a silly, enamored way.

He had given himself enough time in the morning to clear away the dishes they had left out overnight and wipe the counters. Even though he hated getting up early. Ben had done it so she wouldn’t have to.

She was sprinkling a grapefruit half with a light coat of sugar as she heard his keys jangling by the front door. Rey glanced up in surprise--he fumbled with them on the other side as if he was in such a rush that he couldn’t determine which was their house key--smirking to herself when he blundered through.

“Playing hooky?” she murmured as he charged towards her with heavy steps.

Ben leveled her with a kiss, a small grunt catching in the back of his throat as his tongue slipped into her mouth. He cradled her face with his large hands, brushing back loose, somewhat greasy hair to curl it behind her ears, his breath a mix of coffee and peppermint gum. Rey hummed against him, chasing that taste with her own tongue, swiping at his mouth with sharp lashes.

All in all, she wasn’t wholly surprised he had decided to ditch work.

He exhaled slowly, dragging his lips away. They were pink and glistening, and Rey beamed up at him.

“No,” he answered quietly, “I took an early lunch.”

Rey glanced around him at the microwave clock. It read 10:17.

“Very early for a nooner,” she teased.

He stood straight, shoulders thrown back. “Actually, this isn’t a nooner.”

She nodded her head, pursing her lips to keep from smiling as she pierced her grapefruit with a spoon. Bringing a pink, pulpy bite up to her mouth she grinned around her spoon.

“No? What is this, then?”

He ran hooked fingers through his dark hair before they formed into fists at his sides. And then he dropped onto one knee.

“Rey, I have to ask you something important.”

Her eyes widened. He wasn’t. He couldn’t be--

Ben continued without preamble. “Will you marry me?”

He was!

How could he spring this on her? She hadn’t even taken a shower yet, the corners of her eyes were probably still crusty from sleep.

Rey wondered if it was so wrong that she wanted to be in something besides one of his stretched out tee shirts and a pair of boy shorts while being proposed to. She swallowed her mouthful of grapefruit as she carefully chose the right thing to say.

She wanted to marry him. Rey had every intention of marrying him. It felt incredibly selfish to reject him for a superficial reason like his mode of proposal.

Yet...

She was only going to do this once in her life. Ben was her end game. And when their children asked how their father proposed to her, this wasn’t the story she wanted to tell them. Rey hadn’t had a chance to ask her own mother how her father had proposed, she had missed out on all the stories she would know by heart if she had been raised by her parents rather than a series of foster families.

“Ben,” she whispered, preparing herself for his disappointment, “no. I love you very much, you know that, but I have to say no.”

He couldn’t form an answer. His head ducked forward, his hair falling into his face. He hadn’t considered the possibility of a rejection.

Rey leaned forward to kiss the crown of his head. “Is there a particular reason you ran home from work in a rush to propose to me?”

Ben huffed. “Mitaka just got back from vacation and was showing everyone pictures of him with his wife in Rome--I didn’t even know he was married--and I don’t know. It pissed me off that he had a wife and I don’t. Mitaka. Of all people.”

Rey snickered, shaking her head. She pushed back her chair to kneel on the floor in front of him. His face was turning red with mortification and Rey wasn’t sure if it was possible to love him more than she did.

She did, however, feel a lot less guilty for turning him down.

“Ben, that’s a shit reason to ask someone to spend the rest of your life with them.”

He shrugged, though Rey could tell he recognized she was speaking the truth.

“Next time,” she added, “maybe try to be a little more romantic? Less impulsive? Write poetry about my eyes, or something.”

Ben looked up, genuinely shocked. “You mean--”

“Yes, you silly man,” she laughed. “I don’t want to be proposed to out of spite. I feel like I shouldn’t have to say that.”

When she wrapped her arms around him, he relaxed into her embrace, chuckling with her.

 

 

A month later, he sent her to a spa for the day. He made reservations at an expensive restaurant--the sort that people wore thousand-dollar suits to--and ordered champagne. There was live music and warm candle light. When he stepped away to “go to the bathroom,” she saw him stop their waiter.

Rey felt like she was in a nineties romance film. Clearly he was trying to be more romantic. There was nothing impulsive about this proposal, it was obvious he had done his research. She almost wanted to ask him how many Julia Roberts movies he had watched to plan for this.

He sat back in his chair, shooting their waiter a subtle nod, when she told him, “Ben, if there’s a ring sitting in my champagne glass when he brings it to the table, I’m going to have to say no again.”

His eyes blew open with panic and instantly he turned to make a slashing motion at his throat.

Ben sighed as the waiter promptly scurried off with their drinks, placing his hand palm-up on the table. “No good?”

She laced her fingers with his. “It was a nice try.”

He offered a self-depreciating smile. “Kind of cheesy, though, huh?”

Rey brought his hand up to her lips to brush them over each of his knuckles. “A bit. Though I guess this means you actually bought a ring this time.”

“Do you want to see it?”

She set their linked hands back on the table. “Not yet.”

 

 

Rey was passing back a practice exam to her fourth period class when a student at lab station one lifted her hand.

“Miss Rey, I think you have a visitor!”

She walked back to the front of the class to look through the door. Ben was standing in the hall, hands stuffed into his pants pockets. One hand popped up for him to wiggle his fingers at her. She smiled before she could stop herself.

Clearing her throat, mildly embarrassed to look like such a goon in front of her students, she said, “Jaime, please finish passing these back.”

Ben had only visited her classroom once in the past, and that had been during lunch hour. That wouldn’t be for another forty-five minutes, which he surely knew. Rey frequently sent him a lunchtime text to ask if he had anything planned for dinner. Hoping his reason for being outside her classroom wasn’t an emergency, she stepped out into the hall.

“Is everything okay?” she asked in a low voice.

His voice was just as hushed when he responded. “Yeah, I just wanted to see you.”

Rey rolled her eyes at him. “That couldn’t wait for another few hours? I’m in the middle of class.”

He nodded. “I know. Do you mind if I watch? You’re so cute when you lecture.”

She pecked his cheek. “Fine, but no showing me up in front of my students. Keep your big mouth shut.”

Rey turned back to her classroom, flustered by Ben’s presence. She faced her students, abruptly freezing. Propped up at each lab station was a poster board and all together, they read:

 

REY, WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST MARRY ME ALREADY?

 

Stunned, she glanced back at Ben to find--damn him for taking her by surprise like this--he was kneeling in the doorway, a velvet box open in his hand. She had no idea how he had made this happen, Rey wasn’t sure she should know.

What she did know was that this was the man she’d spend her happily-ever-after with. Well, she’d always known.

She was silent for too long, and Ben’s grin faltered slightly. “Was this too cheesy again? I don’t think I have any ideas left in me.”

“Yes,” she breathed.

“Yes?” he repeated. “Oh, thank God.”

Instantly he was on his feet and barreling at her. She squealed as he dipped her, kissing her like it was his sole purpose and predictably enough, the room of sixteen-year-olds whistled and whooped. Her cheeks on fire, Rey slapped his chest with little force, reminding him that they were in a school and a teacher kissing her--she nearly laughed, he was her fiance--was completely inappropriate.

“I feel vaguely like I was just asked to prom,” she mumbled, sniffling as she watched him slip the ring over her finger. It was no more than a simple, silver band with an oval cut diamond fixed on top, but he knew she wasn’t interested in him wasting his money on something obnoxious or pricy.

Ben snorted. “Now you’re just nitpicking. This is a high school, so it’s fitting.”

Rey agreed. Not that she was going to tell him that.

Notes:

Thanks for reading this ridiculous, self-indulgent garbage! :') <3 Feedback is appreciated.

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