y'know I'm a little surprised that the Princess Bride reference didn't win, but then again, this one is also a great choice
Sabine’s face is set in determination. “Okay, I’m gonna ask you a really weird question, and I need you to be honest.”
“Sure.”
“Completely honest.”
Ezra nods. “Of course. What is it?”
“If I asked you to, would you fake-marry me?”
Ezra stares at her.
“…would I fake-marry you?”
“Yes. If I asked, would you? Because—” She sucks in a breath of air, and he can sense her spiking anxiety. “Because, you’re my best friend and if I had to choose someone to spend the rest of my life with it would be you, and my family thinks you’re great, and—and if we were fake-married then when I go back to the Ghost you could have the bottom bunk in my room and you wouldn’t have to share with Zeb anymore, and it would be fun, right? And—when we’re older, maybe we could adopt a kid, or a Padawan, and let’s be honest, it would be hilarious for the Countess of Clan Wren to have a Jedi son-in-law, and you don’t have to say yes, obviously, this is just random and hypothetical and—okay, it’s not hypothetical, but you can say no and I’d understand, but—”
He interrupts her with a touch on the arm.
“Sabine.”
She winces and looks away, but Ezra smiles.
“I would totally fake-marry you.”
Sabine meets his eyes instantly. “Really?”
“Really. We’ve been fake-dating for two years; this is just the logical next step, right?” he jokes, but she stays serious.
“You don’t need time to think about it?”
“No. Honest.”
For a second, their gazes hold, and then Sabine nearly tackles him over in the second enormous hug she’s given him that day.
“Thank you,” she whispers, squeezing him tightly for a second before letting go, and she sounds so relieved that it makes him wonder if there’s some bigger reason she wants to fake-marry him. (Probably complicated Mandalorian politics.) “You’re actually kind of great, Ezra Bridger.”
“And somehow it took you this long to figure it out,” he banters back.
“Very funny.” She punches his arm with a laugh, then clasps his hands and meets his eyes and smiles so warmly that he would think there was something more behind it, if he didn’t know there wasn’t. “So, who are we thinking for wedding guests?”
Ezra thinks for a moment pretending to be solemn, then cracks a grin. “Can we invite all the guys who said you were out of my league and pity-dating me?”
“Only if I can paint Chopper pink and make him our flower droid.”
“Deal.”
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This Year
"Gil?"
"Oh," he looked up from sweeping the floor of the shop, still wearing his suit and everything. He sniffled and swiped at his nose, "h-hey."
Thena came into the shop, letting the door drift closed behind her. She also still had on the dress she had worn to the school formal, with her white coat unbuttoned over it. "We turned around and you were gone. What happened?"
"Uh," he tried to turn around, pretending to sweep more thoroughly. He hunched around the stick of the handle, "well...remember how I was gonna ask that girl?"
"I recall."
Thena didn't really like her, but when he had asked her if he should ask, she had given him her support anyway. Thena was a good friend, like that. All their friends were.
"Well," Gil sighed, finally setting down the broom and toying with the tie that was loosened but still hanging around his neck. He must have looked so stupid, "she never showed."
"She stood you up?"
"Wait!" he rushed out, knowing that if Thena got out the shop door, she was going to run to that girl's house and throttle her with her bare hands. "I-I mean, I dunno, maybe she had something come up. Maybe...maybe she had something more important to do."
Thena walked closer to him by the front counter. She crossed her arms at him, "nothing should be more important, if she's the right person."
Gil sighed again, not done with his pity party. He still had the stupid flower he was going to give her, too. "Guess she wasn't."
Thena softened, losing the hard edges to her severe expression. Everyone always said Thena was so scary looking, and maybe he could see it if she was pissed off. But he never thought of Thena like that; she was actually really sweet and considerate.
"Then she's not worth your tears."
He sniffled again, but Thena reached up and brushed some off his cheek for him. It wasn't like he had any reason to act like a tough guy around Thena, anyway. After spending all their lives together, it wasn't like she didn't know he cried at sappy movies and videos of puppies walking for the first time.
"And if I ever see her-"
"Hey," he chuckled, grasping her hands in his before she could start naming the litany of things she would do to his failed date. "Look, it doesn't matter, okay?"
She still had a face that made it seem like it very much did.
"I mean," he shrugged, "just 'cause she talks to me in math doesn't mean she wanted to go out with me. Guess I could have thought of that before asking her, but whatever."
"Gil," Thena started and then paused. She liked to choose her words carefully. She looked at him, tilting her head because after hitting middle school he was finally taller than her. "You don't need her."
He chuckled, "thanks."
"I'm not just saying that as your friend," Thena continued. It was more words than he was used to, from her. "You are kind, and sweet, and as far as I'm concerned you are the only boy I have ever known to have any sense."
He snorted, "c'mon, what about Kingo?--or Druig? Or your own brother?"
"Certainly not," she rolled her eyes before paving over his interruption. "You are the best person I know and...and I would hate to think that you wouldn't believe me."
He did feel like the best, when she put it that way. He sighed, just staring at her under the hum of the fluorescent lights of the shop. He always thought they were kinda depressing, like in apocalypse movies, giving a weird tint to people's skin at night.
But Thena always looked so beautiful.
Thena raised on her toes, in the low heels she was wearing to match her dress. For having said that she was only going because their mother said that she had to if Ikaris went - which was a very Ajak thing to say - she certainly hadn't been lazy about her outfit.
Gil closed his eyes, smelling her perfume as she pressed her lips to his. He forgot about the broom, his arms looping around her back as she slid hers around his neck. He had never kissed a girl. He had - secretly - been hoping that tonight would be his opportunity.
This was far, far better than he could have expected.
Thena pulled away, her eyes darting around, looking at him and wondering what he was thinking. She must've let Sersi and Makkari do her makeup because her eyelashes looked darker and longer than usual. "Gil?"
He blinked, still just staring at her. He felt like he was king of the world, though! Man, kissing was way better than everyone made it seem. He had thought surely it had been overhyped, but no, definitely not.
"Gil!"
The rest of their friends also piled into the shop, also looking haphazard with ruffled hair and half buttoned coats. Sersi came charging in first, her hair bouncing around her. Ikaris slid in right behind her, looking the most frustrated. Makkari and Druig followed in after.
"Are you okay?" Sersi asked, "last I checked you were waiting for your date. Next time I go for some punch no one has seen you and Thena's gone too."
"Uh," Gil blinked, as if time had paused and now he was no longer holding - and kissing - Thena, but now Sersi was talking to him and Thena had slid three feet away. "Y-Yeah."
"Yeah?" Ikaris repeated, obviously not the one most enthused to have left the party. He looked over at his sister, though. Despite the rule that if Ikaris went, she had to go, Ikaris was still her brother (annoying and somewhat overprotective). "What?"
"What?" she asked back, even more defensively.
"What's wrong?" he asked more directly, walking closer to her as if he could smell someone expressing interest in her.
"Gil, are you okay?" Sersi asked him much more sweetly (what she saw in Ikaris, none of them would ever know).
"I'm okay," he smiled, nodding at her. The sting that had him dragging his feet all the way home and in here had faded. It almost felt totally healed, actually. "I, uh, got stood up."
"What?!"
That bitch. Makkari shook her head, although Druig was clearly in agreement with her, even if he was too much of an old soul to ever call a girl a bitch.
"Look, it's okay guys, really," Gil again tried to dissuade his much more bloodthirsty friends (Thena, Druig and Kari). "I think it might have been a misunderstanding, actually."
"You're making excuses for her," Thena pursed her lips. Although, given what just happened, maybe her distaste of his date wasn't just disapproval. He raised his eyebrows at her and she rushed to look away from him.
"I drive you all and no one can close a single car door?" Kingo huffed at them as he finally joined their little pity-party. He looked at Gil over everyone else's heads, "you good, big guy?"
Gil snuck another look at Thena, who blushed faintly. He chuckled, "yeah, I'm a lot better, now."
"Good," Kingo let it suffice. He had his moments of deep emotional understanding, always peppered in between his usual need for attention. "So, what's the plan?"
Everyone looked at everyone else, standing around in Gil's uncle's shop attached to their home.
"Uh, hey!" Gil smiled, finally tugging his tie off completely. "Gramps only ran out to get some pizza and stuff. I was just gonna lock this place up anyway. You guys can come in and...hang out, if you want."
"Party at Gil's!"
He smiled, relieved that he hadn't spoiled the night for anyone. Makkari and Druig happily linked hands and went to the fridges to pick out drinks for everyone. And he knew they would have no problem ditching the formal dance, dates or not.
Ikaris gave his sister another glare, but they were equally stubborn, so there was no way he was going to get any answers from her here and now. He let Sersi drag him away by the arm to pick out sweets.
Sersi did lean back to whisper to Thena, "I assume you went through with it."
Thena swatted her away, as well as Kingo, who gave her a look that seemed between Sersi and Ikaris' levels of knowledge. She ducked her head.
Gil swayed in her direction as their friends helped themselves to the family shop. He felt pretty confident for a guy who had been stood up on his first official date a mere hour earlier.
"You didn't have to invite us to stay," she advised him, also swaying in her hesitation to choose a direction.
He shrugged, pulling just one hand out of his suit pants pocket. "Hey, we should have some fun tonight, right?"
Maybe surprised by his optimism, she smiled. "I suppose you're right."
"Uh," he started and looked around, losing some of that confidence again. Thena just looked so pretty, it was hard to think straight. "I-I guess this is kinda lame, but..."
She stared as he pulled out the flower he had gotten from behind the front counter. "You got her a rose?"
"Well, I wanted to get something," he shrugged, snapping off the long stem like it was nothing. He chuckled, "i actually picked the white one because...it reminded me of you."
Thena let him slip the budding rose into the bun binding her hair together. She stared up at him.
"Sorry," he blushed, slipping his hands into his pockets again. "I'll pick you something more special, next time."
She smiled, visibly resisting the urge to touch it now that it was settled in her hair. She looked towards their friends, already heading towards the back door that would lead through his garage and to the house. She tugged at his sleeve faintly, "it'll be perfect."
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