#eventually Inej just takes the remote from him

[jazzkrebber]

Kaz: 'skips all the way through a movie'

Inej: Kaz, you can't just skip to the happy ending

Kaz: I don't have time for their problems

[lafiametta]

Helnik One Word Prompt: Pregnant, please?

Modern AU, Euro 2020-style!

She had barely made it in the front door and set her keys down on the entryway table before she heard Matthias's voice calling out to her from the living room.

"Nina, is that you? The match is supposed to start in a few minutes."

"No, it's your mistress," she yelled back, kicking her sandals off as she headed down the hallway. "And I'm here to have my way with you."

In the living room, Matthias looked like he had been busy: the coffee table was well-stocked with snacks and beer, and he had changed into the Norway jersey that Nina had gotten him last Christmas. (He actually owned more than one Norway jersey, a fact that she would often tease him about when he got on her case about having so many pairs of sunglasses.)

Instead of joining him on the couch, she stopped and leaned against the doorframe, not wanting to wait any longer to share the news.

"So..." she said, drawing out the word for effect.

"What?" He actually looked a little nervous, which was adorable.

"Inej is pregnant."

His eyes widened in surprise. "Wow. She just told you that, at brunch?"

Nina nodded, walking over to the couch and dropping down next to him. "Due around New Year's."

"I assume it was planned...?"

"She and Kaz had been trying for a couple months," she said, as she tucked her legs up onto the cushions and leaned back against the arm. "Guess they didn't have to wait all that long."

Matthias turned towards her, placing a large warm hand on her knee.

"And how are you feeling?"

"How am I feeling?" she asked in partial confusion. "About Inej being pregnant?"

He shrugged. "She's your best friend. It's going to be a big change. And sometimes things like that make you think about what you want out of your own life." He paused, his gaze softening. "We had never talked about it, whether or not that's something either of us want."

He had a point. They had been together almost a year—although at times it had felt like a whirlwind—and they had never really discussed what they imagined when they thought about the future. Even living together had been more of a practical decision than anything else, as Nina's lease had been ending and she practically spent all her time at his place anyway. But as she looked at Matthias, those blue eyes steadily fixed on hers, she was finding herself becoming more and open to the possibilities.

"I mean, I do want kids... eventually," she said, biting against her lip. "And it's silly, but I guess I always thought I would do it the old-fashioned way: meet someone, travel the world together and commit high-end art heists, then settle down and get married, and after that think about having kids."

He was smiling at her, lips curling in amusement, but still, there was something in his gaze she couldn't quite read. There was little time to decipher it before he reached out and wrapped a hand around hers.

"So why don't we do it? Just, you know, not the art heist part."

"What, get married?" Nina asked, still not fully comprehending what he was saying.

He nodded, his eyes warm and bright and ridiculously hopeful.

"Yes."

"You're asking me to marry you?" She glanced around, incredulous. "We're surrounded by junk food and Heineken and you're wearing that jersey and you're asking me to marry you?"

His face took on an expression she knew well, that little puffed-up mixture of irritation and adoration.

"I was planning on waiting until your birthday. I had this whole idea of going out to a nice restaurant and getting the most expensive bottle of wine, and then we would take a long romantic walk under the stars and I would get on one knee and ask you to marry me." He leaned closer, his big hand clasped tight around hers. "But here I am in this jersey and I'm asking you, Nina Zenik: will you please marry me?"

For once, she was speechless. It was the worst proposal she could have ever imagined—and also the most perfect. But that was Matthias: he was her opposite in almost every way, from his terrible fashion sense to his near-fetishization of punctuality to his insistence that there was only one correct way to fold a fitted sheet. But in the same breath, he was also her missing half, the one place that truly felt like home. And all she wanted in this moment—and forever, really—was to make him as impossibly happy as he made her.

"Yes," she said, unable to repress a grin. "Of course I will, you big idiot."

In one swift move, she reached out and curled her arms around his neck, bringing her lips to his with all the subtlety of a fireworks show. Matthias pulled her in close, the smile on his face a mirror image of her own, and then proceeded to kiss her senseless.

"I can't believe it," she said, once they eventually came up for air. "Inej gets knocked up and I'm the one being proposed to."

"It's a strange world."

"But definitely the best one, I think." Nina kissed him once more, just to be thorough, and then reached over to grab the remote. She switched the TV on before wriggling back into a comfortable spot on Matthias's lap. "C'mon, I bet we still can catch the kickoff..."

[send me a one-word Helnik prompt]