Capítulo 39: 39. Dreams come true (Lumax and Mileven)
A/N: Hey, guys! I'm sorry for not updating sooner, but I honest to God think I won't be able to post that often anymore. I hope you guys can understand and still be loyal readers to this story. Anyway, this is for iAmCC who wanted some double proposals lol. I added some Disney in, because duh California! Also for Lumax033 who wanted Max visiting her dad in Cali with the whole Party in tow. Enjoy, because this is a long one!
PROMPT: Mileven proposal makes Max want Lucas to propose too, but after much waiting, she decides to take matters into her own hands and instead, she proposes to him, not counting with him doing the same thing.
Max thought the universe was out to get her.
How else could anyone explain all the things she had been through since she was 11 and her mother decided to remarry, bringing in the monster that was Billy to her life? Then came goodbye Dad, Hawkins and the headache that was 1984 for her and her friends.
Good things came out of it, of course. Like Will being alive, the Party including her, El not hating her and actually becoming her almost-sister, and most of all, Lucas.
Lucas who was her whole heart, even though he infuriated her on a weekly basis, only because he thought she looked beautiful when she got angry. The boy was a masochist, for sure.
But, holy fuck, did God have a good laugh at her? He must have, given all the things that happened to her.
It all started when she decided to visit her Dad in Cali, Party in tow.
"Holy shit, please tell me we're going to Disney!" 25-year-old Dustin exclaimed excitedly when she told them her plans.
"Disney?!" El perked up, her brown eyes wide and sharp on Max as if demanding her to say yes.
And of course she wouldn't say anything else but yes.
They bought the plane tickets (because once Lucas and her had made the mistake of saying 'fuck it, let's take the car' and had ended with very sore bodies and pains that didn't go away even when they massaged each other through the whole week when they were back home; "There's no way I'm losing my ass crack again," Lucas had exclaimed as they discussed the transportation. "I already had to paint it back with a marker. We're flying there and anyone who disagrees can fucking fight me") and they were off.
Her dad lived in a modest home with only one room for him and his girlfriend, so they had to book rooms in a near hotel.
The excitement of being in California together for the first time had the whole group vibrating with energy, throwing them back to their early teens and the times they would spend the whole day adventuring out in the woods.
The day they left for Disney, they woke up at ass-crack of dawn, and piled their backpacks into the rented SUV. Mike had to drag a sleepy El to the back, where the girl spent the whole ride with her legs thrown over his lap and her face buried on his neck while she slept. Will, who was supposed to be sitting in the middle row, kept tickling her nose with a finger, and Mike kept trying to push him away when the brunette would wake up with a whine.
With energy that wouldn't go away no matter how old he got, Dustin was the one in charge of driving, eyes sharp and focused with Max in the passenger seat, passing him his coffee cup, because there was no way in hell she was letting him kill them if he dared to fall asleep. Lucas dozed off the entire way there, much like El, but with one single sharp shove to the boy's side when he tried to mess with him, he was unperturbed by Will, unlike the other female in their group.
After the five hours from San Jose to Anaheim, the group was noticeably perkier after some more rest and chatter.
The first one out of the car was El, who ran out of the car with an excited scream.
"Oh my god, we're in Disney!" She jumped in the air, her arms stretched out in the middle of the parking lot while the rest climbed out of the car.
"Yep," Max said as she breathed in the fresh morning air, letting the boys pull their things from the trunk. "Ready to fall in love with Prince Eric?"
"I know I'm ready." Will snorted as he stood next to them, backpack already slung over his shoulders.
"This is so exciting!" El exclaimed again, reaching out to hug her brother tightly while jumping up and down excitedly against him.
Max smiled fondly at the brunette, and then took her water bottle from Lucas, who had their backpack on his back and was yawning widely.
"You tired?" She asked as she pressed a sloppy kiss to his cheek.
"Yeah, but I'll manage." He answered, hugging her to himself and then pressing a kiss to her mouth.
"Alright kids," Mike clapped his hands. "Stop the PDA and let's engage!"
Hours later, many hours later, they were waiting for the Sleeping Beauty Castle show to start. They had ridden every ride possible, passing the ones that were bursting with people (except for the ones that they really wanted to get on) and laughing their asses off at Mike's faces in the after-ride photos.
"Leave him alone." El told them as Mike hid his face in her neck, but she was still laughing even when he squeezed her sides in vengeance.
El had nearly creamed her pants when they ran into Minnie at Snow White's Scary Adventures, and the whole Party had exploited Will's camera after they spotted the Princesses walking through Mickey's Toontown.
When the music started, all the lights were killed and the people started cheering, Mike stood up from his place on the ground. He went to stand next to El, who was looking around in anxious waiting, and took her hand. He smiled down at her in reassurance, and even though they were engulfed by the dark, he still saw the gleam in her eyes when she smiled back.
The moment the lights exploded, the people clapped around them, and El cheered, her eyes wide and her lips smiling widely as Will took his camera out again.
Lucas slung an arm around Max's shoulders, sighing against her temple as she watched the show. When he felt Dustin nudge him, he turned his head to see the curly haired boy jerk his head towards Mike, who was staring at El with an expression that couldn't be described as anything else but besotted and utterly in love.
If there was any time he doubted, and he was sure there had been none, this moment, the way the purple lights highlighted the soft side of her face, the way her eyes glimmered with emotion while watching the castle she dreamed of visiting ever since she saw it on TV when she was younger, the way her lips parted in awe, and the way she smiled at him when she caught him looking, killed any doubts he might have been feeling.
He was sure of his love for her, and he was sure she loved him back just as fiercely.
And it was time.
"What?" El laughed while she squeezed their laced fingers, looking away from the show for a moment.
"I love you," he breathed out, his unoccupied hand clutching the box in his pocket, and he saw Will lift the camera in the background while Dustin started grinning. He untangled his hand from hers and lifted it to caress her cheek gently, her eyes staring at him with love but also with confusion. "I can't imagine my life without you, El."
"What's gotten into you?" She asked softly, the lights dancing around her face, and damnit he loved her so, so much.
With shaky hands, he squeezed her hips, and then lowered himself onto one knee.
Her face broke in shock, her eyes wider than ever and her mouth open while Max squealed next to him. Some people noticed and started 'awwing' and gasping around them, but he paid them no mind.
"Now that you've accomplished your dream of being in Disney," he took the box out, his fingers shaking crazily while Dustin shook Lucas around in excitement and Will clicked his camera away. "Will you help me make my dream of spending the rest of our lives together come true? El," she was crying, her hands on her mouth while she stared down at him. His throat was tight with emotion and his eyes began to blur with tears too, but through it all, he smiled, opening the lid of the velvety box to reveal a sparkly ring that shined with the lights around them. "Will you marry me?"
She squeezed her eyes shut, tears streaming down her face steadily, and for a minute he panicked over the thought of them being tears of regret, but then she was nodding.
"Of course, you mouth breather," she laughed wetly, opening her arms to welcome him while people screamed and clapped. "Get up and kiss me."
He laughed, overjoyed and full with happiness, and then she was taking his face in her hands, kissing him with all her might while their friends cheered.
"I love you," she mumbled between kisses. "I love you so much, Mike."
"God, I love you more." He sniffled, laughing, and kissing her again, because, Jesus, they were getting married. They separated so he could put the ring on her finger, her eyes leaking tears again when she had the diamond on her skin, and then she was in his arms again, her nose pressed to his chest and his lips against her hair, the Mickey ears against his eyes.
"God, I love you all so bad!" Dustin cried out, running to engulf the engaged couple in his arms.
"GROUP HUG!" Will screamed, taking Lucas' hand and yanking him over to their friends.
Over El's shoulder, Max met Lucas's eyes, and in that moment, she knew she wanted that too. She didn't want the applauses or the cheers, but the happiness and the moment, the love. In that very moment, Max knew she had to marry Lucas Sinclair.
After their California trip, and some weeks of wedding talk with El, the redhead wondered if Lucas was on the same page as her.
Sure, they lived together and had talked about their future, and she knew they would get married eventually, but they hadn't actually set a date or even talked about when they would get married. What if she was getting way ahead of them and he wanted to wait another few years or longer? She would die! She didn't know if Mike proposing to El was an unconscious pressure on her, but she had the need of getting married right there and then. When was Lucas going to propose?
She started dropping hints, like a wedding dresses magazine on their bed, a talk in the car about El wanting pink and silver as the main colors of the wedding ("The colors for our wedding have to be blue and whatever else you want." She had said in the most innocent voice she could muster, sneaking a look at him from the corner of her eyes, but she only saw him nod while his focus was still on the road), what kind of ring she thought looked prettier, were would she want their wedding to be, etc. But she only received noncommittal responses in return, and she was beginning to get frustrated.
She needed a word of advice, so she drove over to Mike and El's house, made use of her given key, barged in— "Max, what the hell?!" Mike exclaimed as he covered himself with the covers while El frowned sleepily and startled, sitting up on the bed and fishing Mike's T-shirt from the bed frame to cover her bare body— and demanded the brunette to get ready because they were having breakfast.
"I don't know why he's taking so long!" She exclaimed as she buttered a piece of bread. "I don't know how much more blunt I need to be so he gets it!"
"Has he said anything about the wedding?" El asked as she swallowed a bite of her pancakes.
"Nothing new besides of what I know. Mike's needing him too much, though."
"Yeah, he wants Lucas opinion for his outfit." El laughed weirdly while she sipped her milkshake.
"Whatever," Max rolled her eyes, biting into her bread viciously as she eyed El's nails. "That's a pretty French."
"Thanks," The brunette said happily, wiggling her fingers and making the ring on her fourth finger sparkle. "Mike thought so too."
Max smiled softly, actually happy for her best friend and other best friend (yes, they were all best friends), but her mouth still pursed in sadness. Was Lucas really not going to propose?
"Here," El said, slipping her ring off and pressing it to the redhead's palm. "Try it on. It might make you feel better."
She sighed, throwing the brunette a look, before she slipped the ring on with light struggle. "It's a bit tight, but your fingers are thinner than mine," she shrugged, admiring the way the diamond looked on her pale hand. "I'd probably be a size larger than you."
El hummed around her fork, licking syrup from the metal as Max returned the piece of jewelry to her.
"Maybe I should just propose to him." The redhead thought out loud as she stabbed her half-eaten omelet. Her eyes widened and she looked up at El with her mouth parted open to see her friend looking smug.
"Something inside of me knew you would eventually think of that." The brunette laughed.
"No, really," Max sat up straighter, already thinking of the millions of possibilities. "I should propose to him. I mean, it's 1996! If Julia Roberts can run away with her ex, then I can propose to my own boyfriend!"
She laughed, her brain already forming a plan, leaning back on the IHOP seat as El stared at her with increasing worry while shoving more pancakes in her mouth.
What's Lucas ring size?
A week later, after tricking him into tying a rubber bad around his finger ("It's for an experiment." She told him idly as he tied the band with a weirded out face), she had the silver band in her purse and was on her way home when he called her on the phone.
"Hey, babe."
"Hey," She pulled up to their driveway. "What's up?"
"I was just calling to let you know I'm waiting for you in our dining room with a huge glass of wine and a perfectly done stake."
"Oh," she exclaimed with surprise as she got out of the car. "What's the occasion?"
He appeared on the window, a hand moving the curtain aside. "Come inside and find out." With a smirk, he let the curtains fall back into place.
She stood outside for a minute, wondering what in earth had gotten into him, but if there was something Lucas knew what to do (and he knew how to do lots of things) was how to cook a steak to perfection, so she hurried up and got inside their home, the cool air hitting her and relaxing her in an instant.
"Honey, I'm home!" She yelled over the slam of the door, the phrase stuck on her thanks to Mike's words to El every time he arrived at their house.
She slipped her shoes off and left them by the doorway, walking further into the house with her purse still on the crook of her elbow. "Lucas?"
"Come closer, my dear!"
"Stop, you sappy idiot!" She exclaimed, peering into the kitchen to find it deserted. "Where are you?!"
She screamed when she felt him press behind her, his arms wrapping around her middle strongly and his lips pressing to her neck. "Lucas, Jesus Christ, I think I pissed myself!"
"Hot," He wrinkled his nose, turning her around to kiss her in greeting. "Hey, carrot."
She hummed against his lips. "Hey, stalker." She pressed one last kiss to his lips, and then they broke apart.
"You hungry?" He took her hand, guiding her to the kitchen island. "Dinner's ready."
"Oh, wow," she admired the whole meal he had prepared, complete with her favorite recipe (his mother's) of salted asparagus and mashed potatoes. "Look at that stake!" Her mouth watered at the sight of the still-sizzling T-bone, the meat's juice dripping on the pure whiteness of the plate.
"All for you," he kissed her temple. "C'mon, I've been trying to keep myself from eating it all."
They had a nice dinner, chatting about each other's day and whatever came to their minds, and Max relished in the fact of them being, well, just them. They were simple, they knew what each other liked, and they enjoyed just spending time together. There was no other man she would rather spend her dinners with. She'd give him all her mornings, afternoons and nights, her ups and downs, her laughs and tears, her soft words and shouted arguments, all because he was really it for her. He was the Prince Eric to her Ariel, obviously without the royalty and mermaid thing.
If she thought it hard enough, she could see them standing in an altar. Yes, she wanted the white dress and the flowy veil, the bouquet of blue cornflowers (he thought they contrasted beautifully with her hair, and that's why they were her favorite), the borrowed item and the old one; she wanted to see him all handsome and polished, standing at the end of the altar, waiting for her so they could join their lives forever. She wanted all with him. She wanted beautiful dark-skinned babies with her eyes and his nose, soft feet paddling on the floors in the mornings while they were still waking up. She was all in with him, and she really wished he was too, because the ring in her purse was burning a hole already.
"It's time for desert." He said excitedly, wiping his mouth with a napkin while she drained the last drops of her wine.
When he didn't make a move, she raised an eyebrow. "Well?" She questioned. "Are you getting the dessert or not?"
"Oh, excuse me, princess," he scoffed teasingly, leaning back on his chair to rest his arms comfortably on the arm-rests. "Who was the one who cooked today? The least you can do is get the cheesecake."
"Ugh, fine." She groaned, standing up from the chair and walking to the kitchen while he chuckled in the background.
She took the dessert out of the fridge (also his mother's recipe, her absolute favorite; he was so getting some tonight), cutting two triangles and plating them along with a fork. She walked back with a plate on each hand, giving him a sarcastic smile when he grinned at the sight of her. "There you go, your highness."
But when she took her place in front of him, instead of eating his own, he rose from his seat, walking over to sit on the chair next to her.
"What?" She asked with furrowed eyebrows. He was staring at her with an intense look in his eyes, his dark orbs penetrating her very soul, and she felt the air shift around them. The room suddenly got darker, the sound quieter, and the only thing she could focus on was him.
He reached out to cut the tip of her cheesecake with the fork, a sly smile curling his lips when he lifted the dessert to her lips. "Open up." He murmured.
With her throat suddenly drier, she took the soft concoction from him, her taste buds exploding from the richness of the flavor, and she hummed with a contented smile as she swallowed her first bite. "I love you mother."
"I love you more." He retorted in a heartbeat.
"Uh," she chuckled, taking the fork from him and cutting another bite. "Wait until Daphne hears—"
Something was clanking. The fork was met with an unknown object inside the soft creaminess of the dessert, and when she pulled the silverware out of the cheesecake, her heart stopped when she saw the unmistakable shape of a ring stuck inside the metal teeth of the fork.
"Lucas?" She questioned breathlessly, her fingers messy from the sticky dessert around the ring as she pulled it from the fork, and she could barely feel the ridges of the tiny jewels incrusted on the silver band, before he was taking it from her.
"Baby," he started, getting down from the chair to kneel before her, one hand taking hers while the other held the ring. "I know you thought I wouldn't be doing this soon, but if there's something I've always known how to do is read you. I know what you want before you even voice it, and I hope you know this is everything I've ever wanted ever since you nearly killed us all in Billy's car. You're super cool in everything you do; you're the sunlight in my dark days, you're the stars in my sky, the blood in my veins, the breath in my lungs; you're the woman of my dreams, the princess of my fairytale, and it would make me the happiest, the most luckiest man in the world… if you take this ring as a sign of my love and loyalty for the years to come…"
He had to pause to swallow, because the thick emotion in his voice was nearly choking him, just like her tears were doing to her. "…I guess what I'm trying to say is: Max, Maxine, my MadMax, my carrot-" he cut himself off with a smile when she laughed, her face wet with tears and her nose shining with snot, but she was still the most beautiful thing his eyes had ever seen. "Will you marry me?"
"Of course I will," She nodded quickly, wiping her nose on the back of her hand and reaching down to kiss him sloppily. "I love you," she kept on kissing him. "I love you so much, Lucas, you have no idea."
"If you love me as much as I love you, then I do have an idea." He said against her lips, kissing her senseless until his knees started to throb. He stood up, pulling her up with him, and took her soft hand in his. "I should probably clean this first though," he licked the ring, gathering the bits of cheesecake form it as Max exclaimed her disgust. "There." He slipped the ring on her finger, the band fitting perfectly on her thanks to El, and he smiled lovingly when she placed her hand on his chest.
"I swear fate has something on me," She laughed against him, shaking her head once her tears had simmered down to sticky splotches on her cheeks. "I have something for you too."
She reached out for her purse, which was resting on the backrest of one of the chairs, and fished around for the box inside. She pulled the velvet thing out and chuckled when Lucas let a bark of laughter out.
"Seriously?" He grinned.
"I didn't know if you were going to do it!" She defended herself, opening the box and taking the silver band out. "Lucas," she took his left hand. "My love, my chocolate daddy, my lovely stalker… will you take this ring and promise to say 'I do' somewhere along this year with me?"
"I'll think about it." He said teasingly even though she was already slipping the ring on his fourth finger.
They kissed again, tongues and hands and all soft and beautiful and hot, because that's what they were. They were beautiful together.
"My impatient little ginger locks." He mumbled fondly against her hair, hugging her tightly while she buried her nose on his chest, inhaling his scent.
"I love you, stalker."
"I love you too, zoomer."
They were getting married. Her dreams were about to come true.
(And he totally got some that night.)
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