Work Text:
Only a single dwindling lightbulb illuminated their darkened living room, an awful beige lamp she never remembered buying. The sun had set on the winter evening long ago, even the distant hum of creatures (both human and not) had dwindled as Tina padded her way silently towards the case lying shut with the catches undone. A deterrent for a Niffler perhaps but not for her as she felt the magic stir under her fingers while flicking up the catch.
She then gently creaked open the lid and smiled as her picture winked back at her. Even though there had been some form of image on the top corner of the case lid since before Paris she did always get a fuzzy feeling about the fact that Newt made sure he could see her every time he entered his case. That he loved her enough to wait for her smile.
Tina rolled her eyes at her thoughts. She’d promised herself that she wouldn’t get carried away by the romance of her and Newt's relationship. They weren’t even technically in one. When together they shared a table, a life, a bed . They kissed good morning, goodnight and occasionally kissed in between (although those were regularly a bit less chaste) and Tina honestly wanted to spend every day of the rest of her life with him.
But life is complicated so they fell asleep in each other's arms one night then with an ocean between them the next. And Tina was fine with it.
Mostly.
Shaking her head of any lingering thoughts and worries, that could wait to the morning meeting zone out, she descended into the depths of the case with her slippers scuffing the worn rungs. As her feet gingerly touched the ground she pivoted to see that Newt hadn't even looked up at her arrival, his face smudged with ink and pressed against his hand in a usual Newt tiredness tick. So sensing he wasn't aware she was even there she called softly
“Newt… It’s late…”
He still didn’t move but his eyes flickered to her momentarily before settling back on the manuscripts for his latest edition
“I’ll be up shortly”
She watched as he wiped his face with his sleeve, lingering over the creases of his eyes which had deepened in the past few years. Tina lingered for a second then stepped up to his desk and cocked her hip against it. Crossing her arms she murmured with a tired smile
“You said that three hours ago”
“Oh”
She heard him whisper to himself before he finally looked up at her, his eyes rimmed with tiredness, before reaching for his pocket watch. He clicked it open in a practised movement and then sighed
“Merlin's beard…” Before turning back to her “You should be in bed, you have work…”
“Hmm, I tried that but it's cold up there…”
“Oh, are the heating charms acting up again? I had hoped my conversation with Romilda had rectified the overlap” He had begun to mumble at the end of his statement as he began to look at the manuscript again.
“They’re working fine… I was hoping you’d still come up to keep me company though…”
“Ah… I’m almost finished”
“Hmm well then you’ll be almost finished in the morning?”
She asked and when Newt didn’t answer she took what she shouted at her rookies about and took a calculated risk, sliding smoothly into his lap.
He blinked down at her before reaching around to prop her up slightly, his fingers dancing uncertainly over the fabric of her pyjama top.
“Then I guess I’m just gonna have to keep you company until you can join me”
“Tina”
He groaned, and she felt the vibrations of his chest against the hand she had none too subtly placed on his sternum.
“I’m not too much of a distraction… Am I?”
He leaned down to brush his nose against hers and she felt more than heard him murmur
“You know you are”
She waved her free hand, causing the mess of parchment to stack and tidy as his lips met hers, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck.
In reality, she shouldn't have. If nothing else, relationships of any physical matter outside of marriage were still seen as scandalous. And she would have considered this had it not been nearly one in the morning and Newt's hand hadn’t been winding its way into her hair as he hummed against her lips. She was about to pull him down further, deepen it more when he suddenly pulled away with a gasp. They remained breathing heavily facing each other until Newt finally managed to husk out as she raised herself to his neck.
“It’s late”
“Hmmm, I know” She hummed, threading her fingers through his curls, “And I’m cold…”
“Even in your zebra pyjamas?”
The sudden matter-of-fact question brought her back to reality and she pulled away to giggle slightly at the statement.
“I just want you with me Newt” Then her sigh became more pensive, the realisation of never-ending end dates and portkey departures dawning on her once again “That’s all I ever want…”
Newt cleared his throat, the desire in his eyes mellowing into the softer gaze she loved just as much.
“Merlin you know how much I want that as well”
The hand that was perilously low on her back shifted to brush her hair from her eyes before settling on stroking her cheek with his thumb. She was about to get them to actually go to bed when a thought hit her. The words tumbling out of her mouth
“What are we doing?”
“Um” Newt replied eloquently “I believe we were kissing then going to bed- To um sleep of course”
“No- What are we doing with us? Why are we doing this?”
Newt stared blankly at her as she wriggled to sit upright before getting to her feet and beginning to pace.
“Tina?”
“Why are we doing this to ourselves? I love you! I know I love you!”
“I love you too?” He replied getting to his feet himself and taking her gently by the arms. Making it so should Newt choose to meet her eyes they were at eye level. “But Tina what do you mean?”
She took a momentous breath
“Let’s get married”
There was a beat of ear-splitting silence where Newt looked simply stunned before he stammered in his prim British vowels
“Excuse me?”
However, she just grabbed his hands off her arms and clutched them tightly, her lips drawing wide in an excitable grin as she repeated.
“Let’s get married”
“Tina… We-We-”
“I know! I know but Newt I don’t think I care anymore. I’m sick of being miserable saying goodbye to you just because I’m scared to lose you when in reality it would hurt so bad either way-“She took another minute step forward, so they were almost nose to nose “I wanna marry you Newt… I want a family. Even if it’s just you and me”
Newt's smile had become blinding
“Even if it means you become Mrs Scamander?”
“Even if It means I become related to Theseus”
“Hmmm…” Newt hummed, clearly attempting to appear pensive yet his growing grin giving him away “That is quite a commitment”
She searched his gaze eagerly before deflating slightly, doubt crawling uneasily back up her spine
“So, are we engaged?”
She watched Newt watch her for a moment before he nodded, his voice soft
“I suppose we are” She remained stood there, unmoving, her brain sluggish when he clearly noticed her change in attitude “Are you alright with that?”
She giggled but it seemed almost far off
“Yeah…” She paused momentarily then continued “I dunno it just feels-“
“Odd?”
“Yeah, I guess everyone always makes it out to be this big thing-“
At the end of her sentence, Newt suddenly launched himself to his desk drawer and reached deep into the extended cabinet.
“Uh, Newt?”
He made some sort of reply but it was muffled against the wooden frame so she remained awkwardly barefoot beside him as he searched for what seemed like hours until he pulled out a small wooden box.
“Newt?”
She pried again and he span around on his socked feet before lowering himself gently onto one knee.
“This might help a smidge”
He murmured, more to himself it seemed, before he cracked open the box to reveal a simple gold ring with a single diamond set in it. It wasn’t flashy like she knew some rings to be, it was simple and beautiful yet all Tina could find it in her to do is blink at him. Her voice failed her as tears blurred her vision. Newt didn’t seem to mind though as he took her hand in his.
“I love you, Tina.” He murmured, her name bringing a rare type of smile to his face despite the fact he was crying too “I love you so much.”
She reached down with her one free hand and wiped some of the fresh tears with her thumb, a wet laugh bubbling out of her.
“I love you too” He sniffed then heaved a deep breath, his hand shaking slightly in hers so she squeezed it gently then murmured, “I think you gotta question for me, Mr Scamander”
He smiled up at her and then asked, clear in the silence of the case
“Porpentina Goldstein, will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
They stared at one another for a beat then they dissolved into shocked laughter, tears staining both their cheeks, as she hurled him up for a kiss. She gripped him tightly as they pulled away from their kiss to rest their cheeks together, their tears mingling on both their faces, as she mouthed ‘I love you’ over and over again.
It took a few minutes for either of them to feel grounded enough to let go of the other meaning it was only when Newt absently wondered what was stopping him from stroking her hip in the way she liked that he remembered the little box. So gently he peeled himself away and pulled the ring out with shaking hands. Looking over he saw that Tina was watching him so cocking his head she offered her hand, allowing him to slip it onto its designated finger.
“It fits”
Tina murmured, moving her hand to admire the unfamiliar feeling.
“I’d taken a rather calculated guess on the size- I know it’s usually the done thing to have an ancestral ring but I didn’t know if you had inherited anything and frankly I felt you deserved something of your own right-“
“Newt I love it, it’s beautiful” She interrupted his rambling and he offered her an apologetic smile as she continued, her fingers still playing with the ring “And my parents were buried with their rings-“ she looked at him sadly “They never left each other, even if it might have saved my mother, it didn’t seem right for them to be truly alone”
At seeing her expression, still happy but her brow weighed down by concerns, he pulled her into a hug so that his cheek rested on her hair as she buried her face in his chest.
“I don’t think anyone’s meant to cry this much the night they get engaged”
He heard her mumble and he let out a damp chuckle
“I don’t think either of us are innocent of that, Love”
She gave a small noise of amusement so gently he guided her into the long-since-used bedroom that he had constructed when the potential of Tina travelling with him had come about. She was warm and pliant against him with spent excitement so she easily followed him and then slid under the covers on her side of the bed, watching him expectantly as he performed a quick clothes-swapping spell and joined her.
“We’re gettin’ married…”
She whispered to him once she had extinguished the lights and even in the pitch black he could sense her expression
“We are”
“You’re gonna be my husband”
“For as long as you’ll let me, Mrs Scamander”
He felt her settle in his arms as she let out a quiet yawn
“Mmm Mrs Scamander. I like the sound of that”
“So do I”