Icehotel, Christmas morning

[sharp_as_knives]

Christmas hadn't dawned yet; dawn wouldn't come until late morning. Meanwhile, Hannibal had manged to finagle some nice, hot coffee from the restaurant and was enjoying it from a thermos as he contemplated the day before them.



[OOC: For the partner! Open for calls or whatnot.]

Comments

[sharp_as_knives]

"I do hope you aren't planning on leaving me within the next year," Hannibal said. There was possibly a thread of darkness in that, just a touch of seriousness despite the fact he was joking. "Which would make the fact of whose almond it is immaterial."

[furnaceface]

//I can't see the future from where I'm sitting,// Jono replied, lifting his head a little bit in a sort of teasing nod, //but I can assure you, I have no plans to go anywhere any time soon. I'm willing to split the difference and say it's our almond, though. Seems fitting.//

If only because Hannibal was the one who was capable of eating almonds.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Our almond, then." Hannibal ate it, then raised an eyebrow at Jono. "Unless of course we choose to defy the prediction."

[furnaceface]

Jono blinked a few times at that one.

//And... not marry before the next year is through?// And oh, he was reaching up to scratch awkwardly at the back of his neck. //Why? Were you thinking about proposing, Hannibal?//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal thought about it for a moment. "Certainly not consciously." He chuckled. "I've never particularly seen myself as the marrying type." His smile turned pensive. "Then again, until a few years ago, I was certain I would only ever be alone. That nobody could see me and understand."

He'd been proven wrong twice since then. One of those people was still with him.

[furnaceface]

//Life's full of surprises,// Jono noted, nodding a little. //I never really thought of myself as the marrying type. But I've been surprising myself quite a fair bit, even in just this past year.//

Dating anybody else again, let alone a guy. Starting to come to terms with the shadows in his head. Agreeing to go back to teach for Logan. Spending more time at home with his face showing.

Spending any time in public with his face showing...

[sharp_as_knives]

"The glimpses of my future that I had this weekend held no surprises," Hannibal answered. "Myself dead, or in prison. Alone either way." He smirked, and there was a edge of grim determination to it. "That's one prediction I'm of every mind to defy."

[furnaceface]

//Mine weren't much better,// Jono noted, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. He'd seen himself die, more or less, over and over, and never once quite stay that way. And never quite completely come back from it the same, either.

He'd seen a lot of himself alone.

//Seems to me like we're doing a decent job of defying those things, so far. Fandom's futures are... suggestions, at best, I've found. Warnings, maybe.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"Possibilities," Hannibal agreed. "The worst ones, in this case. And ones I have no intention of allowing to become real." He smiled. "I much prefer the almond."

[furnaceface]

//I could handle anything along the lines of the almond,// Jono decided. //I mean, I don't exactly have any plans to go anywhere, you know.//

Slowly taking over Hannibal's house by moving his own things in would have been a somewhat backwards way of going about that, if he did.

[sharp_as_knives]

"I know." Hannibal laughed. "Have we just become engaged? I should have bronzed that almond."

[furnaceface]

//I am not wearing an almond instead of a diamond,// Jono countered, because that seemed easier than processing the first question right up front. //And it's a little late for that now, anyway.//

Okay, right. Back to question number one, then.

//... Have we? Do people usually get engaged without actually realizing it? Or are we just that special?//

Because, ah, if they were, Jono was actually sure he was quite okay with that. But he was still going to need some time to wrap his head around it, because that was also sort of a big deal.

[sharp_as_knives]

"We are unique in many ways," Hannibal said, still smiling, "why not this?" He raised an eyebrow. "Although I'm willing to be wrong, if you prefer."

[furnaceface]

//I... I don't think I want you to be wrong,// Jono replied, after a moment. //But I do think I want to hear you ask.//

Because... because. Because accidentally getting engaged because of a rogue nut was a cute story for later on, but somebody asking, and somebody saying yes, that was something to hold on to.

And, let's face it, Jono was secretly a bit of a shameless romantic, hidden somewhere deep down.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal set his food aside and took up Jono's hand. "It's quite a promise, agreeing to marry. Particularly for us."

[furnaceface]

//Particularly for us,// Jono agreed, looking down at their hands. This was when his heart was supposed to be thumping in his ears, right? Here? Now? He was pretty sure. //But not a bad promise. Not really.//

Hannibal had been Jono's stable ground going back a good while, now. He couldn't imagine life without him.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal, on the other hand, could easily imagine life without Jono. It would be perfectly fine - but rather lonely. Hannibal wasn't in the habit of letting loneliness bother him, but truth be told he'd gotten quite used to having Jono around. He enjoyed his company, his insight, the challenge of him.

Jono saw him, and understood him more than anybody but Will ever had. Perhaps more in some ways, if less in others. More than that, he wanted to.

Hannibal nodded. "Jono Starsmore, would you do me the honor of marrying me?"

And thus coincidentally becoming unable to testify against him in a court of law?

[furnaceface]

Did they have a small audience paying attention to these proceedings because Jono was really just projecting the bare minimum that was necessary to keep people from screaming at his face just then? Absolutely. People hadn't entirely dispersed after the whole almond thing in the first place, and now there was serious talk about marriage? Anyone who could understand the words they were saying was glued to this.

Jono was paying them no attention at all. He was just sitting there with wide eyes, wrapping his head around the fact that this was happening at all.

And then he nodded. Because... because of course he was going to. He nodded and gave Hannibal's hand a squeeze, and said, //Of course I will.//

It felt a little bit like the floor had fallen out from underneath him. But at least the free-fall feeling was distracting him from the waiter raising another cheer. There was that, right?

[sharp_as_knives]

He might be ignoring them as well he could, but Hannibal was smiling and nodding at everyone. And laughingly accepting the waiter's offer of champagne.

"I've never been engaged before." Hannibal smiled. "So many different experiences since coming to Fandom, but this one is new."

[furnaceface]

//For th'both of us,// Jono replied, and... and now there was champagne in front of him. He really had to get better at cutting these things off at the pass. //There had better not be an almond in this, too.//

If an almond in the porridge meant marriage, what the hell would an almond in the champagne even mean?

[sharp_as_knives]

Likely that somebody's hand had slipped. Almonds did not belong in champagne, Jono.

"You would see it if there were," Hannibal pointed out. He held his glass out to Jono's in a toast. "Congratulations to us, then?"

[furnaceface]

Oh, to hell with it. Jono was reaching for his glass and lifting it up.

//Congratulations to us,// he replied, because... hell, they deserved it, didn't they? A little bit of something to look forward to, for the rest of their days?

Okay, more than a little bit. But still.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal sipped his champagne before setting it down. "Shall we adjourn, to the warm room upstairs or our sauna?"

He hadn't eaten much yet, but there would be lunch, and Jono was looking a bit like a deer in headlights.

[furnaceface]

Jono... really mostly just went through the motion of sipping his champagne. He even spilled a little, but the fire had it evaporated before it could make it to his lap. In any case, he was practically jumping at the idea of getting out of the restaurant and back into someplace a little more private, giving Hannibal a grateful nod as he set down his own glass.

//Maybe the waiter would be so kind as to package some of this up to take with us? Let us borrow the dish or something, perhaps?//

Since Hannibal had eaten, what, three spoonfuls of porridge and Jono's almond? And getting engaged in the middle of breakfast with an audience probably warranted more take-away food, at the very least.

[sharp_as_knives]

Fortunately, it did seem to, and within short time they had a stack of covered dishes and a bag to put them in. "Upstairs?" Hannibal asked. "The sauna might be difficult to eat in later."