#shoulda been honest and told her you were itchy or at the very least where you were going babe

[babblable]

Mama Knows

[kayr0ss]

A Ring On It

[Diakko Week 2020, Day 7: Free Day, Help Diana, Fluff, Feelings, a bit of humor, Established Relationship, Diana is Trying Her Best (TM)] AO3

Happy to participate in Diakko week 2020! @dianakko-week

---

‘If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it! If you like it then you shoulda—’

With a flick of Diana’s wrist and wand, the music player that sat along a side table in her office fell to silence.

“—put a ring on it.” Hannah hummed, smirking up to Diana. She was sitting on the camelback sofa opposite Diana’s desk, shooting the blonde witch an infuriating look that she urgently wanted to wipe away. “I was listening to that, you know.”

“I didn’t think that sort of music was your type.”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Hannah raised an eyebrow. “Besides, I think it had a very good message to convey.”

“One which I surely don’t need any further reminders on.” Diana replied in a clipped voice, leaning on her arm above the desk. She so rarely let her posture slack, but this was Hannah, and the thoughts weighing on her mind were heavy enough to let her shoulders slump.

“As the wise Beyonce so graciously exclaimed, ‘If you like it, put a—”

“I am working on it.”

“You have been for three months.” Hannah groaned in exasperation, dropping the porcelain cup of tea that matched their dessert plating. The set went remarkably well with her simple hardwood furniture, if Diana could say so herself.

“What’s stopping you?”

The blonde witch rubbed at her temples, wishing that Barbara had joined them this afternoon so that at least one other person would see the logic of biding her time. Then again, even Barbara’s patience was beginning to wear thin. Their initial excitement at the prospect of Diana proposing served to bolster her resolve and the firmness of her decision to do it soon. But then Akko had to fly to Japan within the month, on account of caring for her mother who had fallen ill (and thankfully is fully recovered by now). She thought to maybe follow her—perhaps find a scenic mountain where she would get down on her knee and ask for everything she had ever wanted—but then she supposed it would leave a poor taste in Akko’s mouth, with an ailing mother to worry about at the time being and all that.

The month after that, it was Diana whose affairs had gone awry one way another—her work in Medical Magic hounded her well into the weekends, even late at night at home. There was even an argument about it at some point, with Akko growing tired of Diana barely having a minute to spare for her.

That was the sign that told her to sort out her horrible habit of over working and under-delegating. Akko had always been an understanding partner. She knew that she prioritized her career and never slacked away from her responsibilities, and it would have taken a lot to push her into being upset. So month two was a no, for sure, but she was thankful they took the time sort out issues which would have come up sooner or later. How well they handled that obstacle in their relationship solidified her decision to take the next step towards marriage.

By month three it was all just nerves if she were to be honest with herself. What if she messed it up? What if Akko decided she wasn’t ready yet? What if Diana was misinterpreting the progression of their intimacy and it turns out they weren’t on the same page, thereby making it—

“Diana, I can hear you.” Hannah snapped her out of her thoughts.

It was also by month three that her two best friends started their incessant badgering.

“Really. Relax. Haven’t you two already had a conversation about this?”

“We have, of course. I wasn’t planning on just catching her off-guard without establishing that.”

“So it’s just a matter of when.”

“It is.” Diana sighed. She was thankful for the reminder. Akko was quite clear about it—she was ready now. But no one was in a hurry, and she didn’t want Diana to feel rushed. The latter witch appreciated it, greatly.

But she was ready too.

“I have a tip, with regards to the timing.” Hannah said pointedly, taking a sip of her tea to emphasize her dramatic pause.

Diana leaned forward to listen.

“Soon.”

---

She sat in a booth at her favorite corner café, jotting down the outline of her plan. The coffee was wonderful, and so was the feeling of finally having a place start.

Daunting tasks became surmountable when one broke them down into smaller, more manageable pieces. This line of thinking served her well throughout life.

Why should a proposal be any different?

She decided to set a small goal as the first step towards achieving ‘The Proposal.’ Of course, the other steps have been vaguely outlined by now, but her focus mustn’t shift away from Step 1: Finding Her Ring Size.

Diana felt good about this.

The ring, of course, would have to fit Akko perfectly—and how hard could it be?

---

It was much harder than she anticipated.

Akko was staying over the night.

At this point in their relationship, it could be said that they practically lived together—but to the surprise of many, it was Akko who insisted that she maintain her own space and a separate apartment. She still considered it as ‘home’ around half the time of each week. Diana could respect this, space was important, and somehow it helped make sure she didn’t take their nights together for granted. It gets cold—a large and empty bed, that is—when you’ve grown used to falling asleep with so much… warmth.

And Akko was so wonderfully warm this evening, slumbering at her side.

She was illuminated in hues of blue by the moonlight streaming in through the window. Diana allowed herself to stop and stare for a minute before carrying on with her plan.

She tucked a strand of brown hair behind a freckled ear.

She couldn’t wait for this to become her life every day.

Her eyes fell towards Akko’s left hand, resting easy above the thick covers she pulled up. Diana moved slowly, methodically, so as not to wake her target. She reached over to her night stand, pulling out a spool of red thread which she would expertly wrap around the finger in question. Smooth. Easy. Couldn’t possibly go wrong.

She licked her lips, careful not to disturb Akko’s slumber, and slowly began to pull lengths of the thread. She lifted her partner’s ring finger gently, keeping it up as she used her other hand to wrap the thread once,  twice, and then thrice—

Akko began to stir. Oh no. Oh no!

She was usually a very heavy sleeper—small actions like this wouldn’t be enough to wake her, for sure! The blonde kept still, holding her breath.

Akko’s fidgeting came to a stop, and she went back to snoring.

Diana sighed in relief.

But then out of nowhere Akko rolled over and—oh by Beatrix she didn’t cut the thread! She hastily reached over for some scissors, but Akko had rolled a full one-eighty-degrees and entangled them both in thread. Diana gulped. Right. The scissors!

Akko decided to roll around one more time, coming full circle and facing at Diana again. Except this time she found herself fully entangled in thread, blankets, and furiously messy brown hair.

“Diana,” she mumbled softly, arms reaching forward in search of a warm body to hold. This effectively pulled on the string even more and—ah. What a mess! Now they were both entangled, but thankfully thread was easy to manage and she could probably just charm it to fix itself.

“Dia?”

But then Akko just had to wake up.

“Hush darling, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Akko blinked her vision back into focus. “What is this?” she looked at her hand, half-awake. Diana swallowed. “Are you pulling some red-string of fate shit at me?”

“I—” She honestly had no idea what she meant by that but she’ll take the out. “—I suppose so, yes?”

“You are so cheesy.”

“I am?”

“It’s cute.” Akko yawned. “But it’s itchy.” She whined, swatting away the thread she was entangled in and haphazardly pulling the knot Diana made along her ring finger. “Now—sleep.”

Akko snaked her arm around her waist, and as much as Diana enjoyed the sensation of being so near, it was also now out of her reach.

Diana sighed.

Perhaps another day.

---

“It’s for medical reasons.”

Diana said with as straight a face as she could muster which, honestly, was quite ironic given her sexual orientation. She would have laughed if she weren’t so nervous.

“You want to examine my hand for medical reasons?” Akko blinked.

“Yes.”

“I mean, sure!” Akko happily held out her left hand, and Diana obliged, taking it into hers and scrutinizing it with dedication. “Well?”

“It’s looking quite handy.”

“I did not just hear you say that.”

She wasn’t exactly sure what she aimed to accomplish with this, and she wanted to flick herself in the forehead. Akko was blinking at her expectantly.

“Do we still have that tape measure?”

“Uhh.” Akko looked upwards, squinting in frustration as she tried to remember. They used it some time ago, to help with getting her measurements for all the costumes changes she’d have to do. “Yeah! Let me grab it real quick.”

By the time Akko returned with the measuring tape, Diana had realized just how poorly planned out this whole endeavor was. She figured she couldn’t just go and measure one finger and be done with it, right?

“I’m going to measure the circumference of all your fingers now.”

The more you know, she supposed.

“That is weird.” Akko narrowed her eyes. “But! You’re the magical doctor and shit between the two of us so okay I guess.”

“For health reasons.”

---

She couldn’t believe that actually worked! Diana walked briskly towards the Manor courtyard, eager to fly to the central market district of Blytonbury where Paul could be found. Finally! After all her (very awkward) efforts! She actually had to measure all ten of Akko’s fingers, but after that interesting examination Diana had breezed through the remaining paperwork she had to look-over for the day—if only so that she could give Paul the specifications before evening.

“Could you grab me some of those sweet buns I loved so much back when we were in school?” Akko called from the center of the courtyard. She was practicing another one of her performance routines. Her next show was in Glasgow, and the central theme of this particular run was fire and light magic.

Akko captivated her.

So much so that Diana stopped in her tracks, mesmerized, just watching Akko perform feats of magic that nearly looked like a dance. Fire trailed her fingertips—it matched her eyes, her hair, her spirit. She reached out and caused a spectacle of flames in blue, green, and orange. It looked a little bit like an oriental dragon, and her mastery of it impressed her so.

She was warm, yes, but sometimes Akko could burn and Diana knew this in every sense of the word.

The blonde nearly forgot that she was leaving for a quick trip to the jeweler, especially when Akko caught her gaze. She winked at Diana, and blew her a teasing, flying kiss.

Diana felt her mouth dry up, and suddenly her priority was to move towards her partner, temporarily forgetting about getting on her broom.

But then something… smelled like it was burning?

“Oh, shit!” Akko squealed, and Diana finally began to register that her fingertips were very, very warm. “I’m sorry!”

Akko had somehow set her little piece of paper on fire.

The paper.

Which had her measurements.

Diana felt her stomach sink as though she swallowed lead. She would like to perish. Preferably soon. But it would be quite problematic to perish, because then she wouldn’t be able to follow-through with her plans of eventually marrying this wonderful woman—despite the raging temptation to hex her at this moment.

 ---

 “Her ring size?” Amanda leaned against one of Diana’s bookshelves with a shit-eating grin.

“Yes.” Barbara sighed in unison with Hannah. “And it is taking her ages.”

“I’m right here, you know.” Diana deadpanned.

“You know, why don’t just magically resize it?” Barbara offered.

“Because the ring will be crafted by one of the goblin workers that protested with Akko. Paul—worked in the kitchens? Brought her snacks. He’s a jeweler now. I don’t want to tamper with his craftsmanship, and I’m sure it’s something Akko would appreciate deeply.”

“That’s really thoughtful of you.” Barbara swooned.

“Now if only the thoughts became actions.” Hannah laughed. Diana rolled her eyes.

Barbara piped in, “did you try the thread thing?”

“Ended in disaster.”

“Get a mold of one of her old rings?”

“She doesn’t weary any.”

“Ask her parents?”

“Her… parents?”

“They might know!”

That could be worth a shot, she supposed. She had already asked for their permission anyway. It seemed like as good a lead as any, but her hopefulness was quickly damped by the sound of Amanda snickering.

“Damn, Cavendish!” Amanda looked about ready to burst into laughter. “I would have thought by now you’d know all about how girthy Akko’s fing—”

“Out of my office, O’Neill!’

 ---

She's tried it all and was so very near her wit's end. She asked Lotte and Sucy. She discreetly tried to slip a paper ring onto her while they held hands but Akko was much too excitable to stay still! She even tried sneaking around, like a thief in the night, in case Akko might actually have a few rings hidden somewhere in her portion of the closet. Diana didn't get very far. It was the guilt and fear of seeing something she shouldn't.

And so she finally gave in to Barbara's suggestion and phoned in for some help.

“H—Hello?”

Diana flinched. She never stuttered anymore these days, much less on the phone, but this wasn’t an ordinary phone call, no, it was one of utmost importance.

[“Diana!”] A deep, excited voice greeted her at the opposite end of the line. There was familiarity in the way he spoke, as though she had received this particular warmth before. It immediately put her at ease. Akko, it seems, took after her father.

“Mister Kagari.”

[“Call me dad!”]

She swallowed, feeling herself grow flustered at the thought of doing such a thing. “I—I need your advice on a matter, sir.”

[“Sir?”] He almost sounded aghast. [“Didn’t I just say it’s ‘dad’ now?”]

She sighed. This was going to be a long phone call.

 ---

 It was snowing.

They were sitting on a bench in Blytonbury, huddled together in the evening while flakes of frost floated down from the sky. Akko’s seen snow so many times before—both back home in Japan and here in her new home—but it amazed her every time. Diana cherished it. She wished that her childlike wonder would never dull or fade away.

She loved her a lot.

And as these feelings once again made themselves known to her, she couldn’t help but feel the frustrated at her foiled attempts at furthering their relationship.

“Whatcha thinking?” Akko asked.

“Nothing much.”

“I hate to break it to you, but that’s pretty much impossible for Diana Cavendish.”

The blonde huffed in laughter, coming up in puffs of mist through the crisp and cold air. Akko wasn’t exactly wrong.

She’s decided to drop all the secrecy and plotting and simply just ask. It was just a ring size. It wasn’t anything too much, given where they already were in this relationship.

“Could I get a look at her your hands again?”

This time, Akko looked suspicious albeit teasing. “Is it for ‘health reasons’ again?”

Diana smiled. “Definitely.”

Akko reached over, settling her hand facing up on Diana’s lap where she held it reverently.

She had such lovely hands. They were tan, because Akko loved the outdoors, but they were so much softer than people expected. Akko was a tactile individual; she liked to reach, hold, touch and feel the sensations that the world had to give. But for all the brashness of her voice and personality—her hands were soft.

Diana turned it over, tracing her fingertips along the indentations of her veins. How lovely it would be, to see two rings glistening on one of those fingers. The thought of it made her giddy a little. She couldn’t wait to wear her own wedding band as well.

She heard Akko giggle.

“Medical reasons, huh.”

Akko leaned forward, soft and teasing, and kissed her at the nose. She felt Akko’s fingers thread along with her own, and her stomach fluttered along with her heartbeat.

“If you wanted to hold my hand—” Akko grinned.  “—you could have just said so!”

The brunette’s father had more or less given her the same answer. Akko was straightforward and beating around the bush would do her no good. She may as well just ask—that was apparently what he did to get her mother’s ring size before he proposed himself. So far, it seems it worked. So why the hell not?

Diana was tired of stalling, and this was a sure-fire way to get it right.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, Akko.”

“Mhmm?”

As she turned her head to meet her partner’s gaze, Diana’s breath hitched.

Akko looked so beautiful under the lamplight and snow.

“Diana?”

Right. Ring size.

“I—”

—am so in love with you.

“You good, Dia?”

“I just wanted to ask, since we’ve talked about it already, we should begin looking and shopping around for—”

Akko blinked, her eyelashes batting with flakes of snow caught at their tips. Diana’s mouth dried up.

I—

She wanted to marry her.

“You look wonderful,” Diana blurted out.

The brunette flushed red, beautifully, and it took her breath away.

“I just meant to say, that, I—”

“Diana?” Akko asked softly, concerned, because Diana’s speech was broken and rambling by now. “What is it you’re trying to say?”

She loved her so much.

“Will you marry me?”

 -

fin

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