Night, special night

[bachjones]

Bach was at Essie's, even though it was Friday night and he always spent that at his own place. If he was going to be honest, these days his place was more of a stock room, the small apartment he threatened Isaac to lock up if he was in a particularly foul mood. But to admit that he was practically living at Essie's, living off her ...

He was being grumpy about this because he didn't want to think about talking to her tonight about the tour. It was super tiny, she'd barely notice he'd be gone, but he could have probably told her sooner. And Isaac as well, but Isaac couldn't keep a secret, even though he was growing into that pre-puberty phase that made him try. It wasn't like three weeks was that bad, anyway, right?

The ring in his back pocket was burning a hole in it, but Bach had been long enough with Essie that he knew that tonight wasn't the best timing for it. That distracting her from a fact would only make her angrier about it. 

He inhaled, exhaled and knocked on the door with his wrist, his hands full with groceries. "Here's the food dude! Open up, please!" 

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[wakingwakewood]

Allowing herself a moment of indulgence, Essie dipped her fingers between her legs, easing some of the rising ache as she circled her clit, feeling her lover's eyes on her and knowing how much he enjoyed watching sometimes. She continued to rub against herself as she nodded towards the condom in his hand, "Put it on, I want all of you tonight." He could watch her, bringing herself closer and closer as she waited.

[bachjones]

He wanted a kid with her. The thought was so sudden and so right that Bach's hand halted half way, just hovering over the rubber. Shit. Shit Was that what the ring had been about? Would Essie even care about that, kids without marriage? Why was he thinking this right now?

"Of course, sweetheart." Wrong word, 'sweetheart' was for sweet talking himself into a free coffee, not during sex with Essie. At the very least his body wasn't deserting him as his mind was. "Move up a little, so I can get this thing where it's wanted."

[wakingwakewood]

Leaning forward, Essie nipped at his lips before capturing them with hers, savoring the flavor of him as she reached up to brush his cheek. God, she loved this man, needed him like the air she breathed, even with all their faults and traumas, they made it work.

With a soft sigh, she whispered against against his lips, "Love you, music man, care to make me sing?" With her other hand, she gently gave him another stroke before slowly, so very slowly, lowering herself onto him, groaning as she felt the familiar and desperately needed pressure and friction from his cock.

[bachjones]

That Bach could do, without needing anything. Theirs was maybe a more aggressive than usual, him humming it between clenched teeth, but it helped him out all the same. His pace quickened, trying to move against her for the best friction. It was an easy distraction, and he reminded himself to look at her - he was going to be leaving soon.

"I'm so glad your room is soundproof", he winked.

[wakingwakewood]

"Oh, gods, yes..." Leaning back a bit, Essie moved on him, allowing herself to be carried away by the moment, the warm hard slide of her lover's cock in and out of her body. Her body ached deliciously and she pressed her hands against his chest for a little balance, biting her bottom lip a bit. All she wanted was this, and she knew she was going to miss it, and him, so very much while he was gone.

[bachjones]

Bach was sore and sleepy, but he didn't want to fall asleep just yet. He didn't want to stop looking at Essie, as sticky and satisfied as he was sure he looked right now. He'd always know they were compatible, but tonight had been on another level. Maybe he should tell her he had to leave more often. He didn't want to leave more often.

"Hey", he pulled her against him. "You're not falling asleep on me, are you? I'm sure we have plenty of ti-" His eyes found the alarm clock. "Oh shit, we fucked for four hours? Okay no, you should definitely fall asleep. I'm going to fall asleep, I need the sleep." He yawned. "Who knows how much sleep I'm going to get next month."

[wakingwakewood]

Snuggling deeper into Bach's embrace, she nodded, "Gonna be a long few weeks, you should probably rest up."

It was tempting to do what he suggested, fall asleep, cuddled in Bach's arms, but now that she was capable of functional thought again, Essie found sleep to be a bit elusive. She could blame the final surges of post-coital Adrenalin, but she knew better. Knew it as soon as he mentioned being away again. Because there was that small part of her that really didn't want him to go, had gotten far too used to the strange little family they had and the life that they'd built. And while she knew it was just for a few weeks, it felt like they were turning an odd corner. Who knew how this tour would go? Maybe it would lead to others. She hoped it did. She thought Bach deserved it. But at the same time, it was going to take him away and maybe, the paranoid part of her brain insisted, it would lead him to something he wanted more than her. Not Isaac, never Isaac, but her. Something that called to the siren in him more than she ever could.

"Gods, I'm awful." Muttering under her breath, Essie chided herself for being so fucking selfish. What right did she have to expect him to stay? Despite their more or less regular co-habitation, the only formal arrangement they had were the adoption and custody papers that listed her as his mother and Bach as his father. And that had worked perfectly well... so far.

[bachjones]

"Hmmm?" Bach had caught something grumbled, but his eyes were closing too fast to make sure it was something to catch, or that Essie was just making noises before falling asleep. He loved her noises.

He sat up. This was the absolute perfect moment. "Wait, don't fall asleep. I'm right back." It was a challenge to get his legs underneath him, and he came closer to the wall then planned, but he managed to get upright and stay upright after a few wobbly steps. Shit, where had he put the ring again? Stairs? Why could he never think ahead? Why hadn't he thought about asking her while they were in bed together, one of his favorite places to share with her?

Bach walked into the stair rails and had to grab them to not go down the stair case, but he had his target in sight: pants. The boxed ring had to be there, and then he was going to go back to bed and ask Essie the question. Should he use Essie, or her full name?

[wakingwakewood]

"Wha-huh?" Blinking, Essie watched her lover dash out of bed with the strange request to now... not fall asleep? She had no idea what thought had suddenly possessed him to the point of needing to leave, but she was a bit dismayed and more than a little confused. But she stayed, cuddling deeper into the covers as she called out as silently as she could, "Bach, sweetie, can I help you? What's up?"

She has mostly hoping that he said no, although she was worried. He wasn't the sort to just bounce after sex, not unless he was leaving to go back to his place. And he surely wasn't going to do that... was he? Lord this night was weird.

[bachjones]

"Don't help!", he hissed in return, having found his pants and the box underneath. The box it was all about. Bach opened it carefully, checking if the ring was there even though it couldn't be anywhere else.

He exhaled. He was going to do this, wasn't he? Shouldn't there be a speech? Honestly, he just wanted to ask her to marry him. To stick around forever long the both of them could handle. For Isaac, for the party, for letting the world know that she was his, damn it.

The box was in his hand, and it felt weird to put his pants back on the stairs, so he brought that back to the bedroom as well. If he wasn't wrong, he felt something like stage fright creep into his throat. She wouldn't say no, right?

"Something came up", Bach said in the doorway, winking before he could help himself.

[wakingwakewood]

The drowsiness Essie had been feeling disappeared when Bach's voice came back with the brusque don't help. What on earth was he doing out there? Naked. Rushing around. When he was usually the one being very careful that Isaac never caught either of them wandering about the house in anything less than appropriate beachwear. What had posessed that man.

Oh, Gods, she hoped nothing had possessed that man. "Are you... what's going-"

Sitting up in the bed, she rubbed her eyes and tried, mostly in vain, to wrap her head around the strange whatever was happening when he appeared back in the doorway holding his pants and making a silly joke.

Suppressing a yawn, she pointed at his hands, "Were you afraid those were gonna walk away on their own all of a sudden? Pretty sure that still only happens in movies."

[bachjones]

"We live in Siren Cove, you're a witch. It could happen." Bach didn't want to talk about his pants. Maybe he should drop his pants.

He did, only to pick them up again and drape them over the clothing boy. He wasn't a teenager. Would - would Essie mind, would she even wanted to marry with a man so much older? Would she even wanted to marry? Had they ever discussed that. "Oh, fuck."

Bach turned around to close the door behind him and made his way over to the bed, kneeling besides her. "Don't worry."

[wakingwakewood]

As tired as she was, Essie's mind immediately began to wander, mentally going through her craft books to see if she remembered a spell or working that would actually do something like that. Her power had never really tended towards locomotion, but maybe in one of Grandy's older books... Her mind continued on that track for a few moments until she heard Bach curse from the doorway, again, something he was always careful not to do, even when Isaac was asleep.

When he knelt beside the bed, she rubbed her eyes again, looking around. "Did you drop something?"

[bachjones]

"No, no. I've got everything I need right here." It was super corny, Bach heard it as soon as it had left his mouth, but it wasn't wrong. Maybe some things were corny for a reason. His hands were sweaty on the small box, but he didn't dare wipe them. When he glanced at them, he saw a tiny row of scales. Good sign? Did that mean the ones t his neck were shining as well?

"Essie. It's - I've been - There's something else I need to tell you, something I've been walking around with for ages. Well, not ages, but like - a while. Shit, and I thought I was good at saying things smoothly, am I right?" He met her eyes. "I love you so much, and I'm pretty sure you know that, but I'm just going to say it anyway. I love you, I love us, I love our family, I love our life together." Now things were getting serious, and his hands weren't the only things sweating anymore.

Bach showed her the box, opened it for her. "There's a thousand ways to ask it, but I'm just going to go with the one that's the clearest, I think. Es, will you marry me?"

[wakingwakewood]

Part of her mind didn't quite comprehend what what was going on. It was distracted. By her exhaustion, by the strangeness of his movements in the room, by the slight glimmer of the scales he so rarely let her see. But the rest of it was immediately and acutely aware of the small box in his hands and the words that were coming out of his mouth.

They had never talked about this. It was something she'd never dared bring up because the last thing she ever wanted to do was anything that might make him feel trapped, or manipulated, or pushed - he'd had enough of that in his life. But here he was, with a ring and all, offering to bind him life to hers of his own free will. All those fears she'd just had about him deciding that this life wasn't what he wanted, confronted, dismissed, and outright banished.

And all Essie could manage was a dry mouth, a shocked expression, and a probably incomprehensible string of nonsense, "Are you... is this... I... when did you...?"

[bachjones]

"What?" Okay, maybe they've had had too much sex for her to be awake enough to jump for joy or at the very least scream a little until they both remembered Isaac, but this was like very ..lackluster considering those things. Had Bach done something wrong? Should he have been singing, dancing, bringing her strawberries and whipped cream?

"Did I do it wrong? Don't you - Aren't y-" Fuck, shit, shit fuck. Was Essie going to say no? Hadn't the question been clear enough? Had he talked too much around it? Had he? "Essie?"

His hand spasmed, making the box snap closed. If Bach would believe in that kind of things, he'd believe that to be a sign.

[wakingwakewood]

"No! You didn't do anything wrong, it's just... I really wasn't expecting this. At all and I - " She knew she was floundering and she knew it was making him second-guess himself. They'd done the exact same things to each other over and over again for her not to see the signs. But trying to capture a coherent thought in her scattered mind was like trying to catch a single raindrop in a downpour.

So she did the best thing she could think of, which was not to think at all, lean over, and kiss him as hard as she could, whispering a soft, "I love you," as she did so.

[bachjones]

"Love you too", Bach returned, trying to come up with what should be done next. Maybe he should just give Essie a moment, maybe it hadn't been the perfect moment at all. Maybe - again - had he been thinking with his dick instead of his head, but dicks didn't propose, right?

"Take a minute. Or a few. I just - it was just - I've been walking around with that thing for a while." He opened the box again, put it into her line of sight. "I know it's your size, but do you like it? Just say the first thing that comes into your head. Bonus points if it's something nice." Bach was starting to feel a bit lightheaded. Maybe he should have waited with this until breakfast. What would they tell Isaac?

[wakingwakewood]

"You've been... how long is awhile?" How had she not noticed? Well, she supposed she knew, it hadn't even been something she'd been thinking about and she'd assumed the same for Bach. But wow, had she been wrong. So wrong. So... she should really say something else.

"I love it, it's perfect, but I didn't even know you wanted to get married, I thought... you didn't want to be tied up in all of... this." Whatever this was, although it seemed they were certainly trying to define it tonight.

[bachjones]

Essie was stalling. Bach saw it now, the same thing that happened when Isaac didn't want to admit to something he knew he was going to get in trouble with.

It was like a punch in the chest, and he sat back. "I don't know. Some months, but there was never a right time. It's a weird thing to plan. I just - it felt like - " It had felt good, but why the hell had he thought that this time he should have followed his feelings? Essie had never ever hinted at a ring or marriage or anything future related except for things about Isaac. Isaacs' Spring Breaks yes, where Bach and Essie would be in ten years, no. Fuck.

"We should probably try to get some sleep in before the alarm goes." Good thing he was leaving soon.

[wakingwakewood]

"No, don't, Bach, please don't pull away. I'm just so surprised and I'm not saying no, love." And she wasn't, she didn't even intend to because deep down, she wanted this so badly, to make their family solid. Official. Which sounded so silly when she thought about it, but it was true. Just a little seal of... finality. That this was really it and would be forever.

[bachjones]

"I know that. I wasn't kidding about that alarm." He just seriously ached for her, like his entire body itching and only her touch, her approval being the balm to calm that. It made him feel way too weak, and Bach knew that he didn't make the best decisions when he felt like that. So he bit his tongue.

Bach turned to his side of the bed and pulled one of the old shirts he slept in from underneath it. Anything to do something instead of having to think. Her words were slowly sinking in, but there was no excitement about them. Maybe it was better if he wasn't looking for excitement right now. With the shirt over his head, so it made his voice muffled just the right way, he added: "Not saying no is nice."

[wakingwakewood]

Essie slid over to Bach's side of the bed, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on the back of his shoulder. She didn't have to be psychic to tell he was agitated, that she'd upset him with her confusion and hesitation. "You are the most wonderful and confounding thing that has ever happened to me, Bach Jones. And if you're really serious about wanting to get married, I'd be happy to be your wife. I just never thought you wanted to."

She hoped it was enough, it was honest and true and considering the odd circumstances, probably what she should have led with.

[bachjones]

It wasn't tears and I love yous, but Bach wasn't too hurt to not recognize that Essie was being real here. They had never talked about it, he had never thought about it until now, until the comments and glances at her hand had become impossible to ignore. That almost felt like he was doing it for others, but Bach would never do anything for others, unless he wanted to do it first. And it didn't matter, this time. He just wanted Essie to be okay with it. Happy with it.

He felt himself relax. "You sure? I know you don't not say things to save my feelings, but this would kinda - I think we really have to be sure about this one."

[wakingwakewood]

"I love you. I love our family." Essie kissed him behind the ear. "And when you think about it, we've already been married once, I'm pretty sure we can manage it again." Chuckling, she allowed her memory to recede to that weird spell that had taken the town, and how happy they'd been in that little cottage in the woods. "At least this time we won't be struggling to make ends meet. And you won't be looking over your shoulder for my disapproving family." At least not any more than they already did.

Using a hand to gently turn his face towards hers, she fixed him with a gaze, trying to put everything she felt into her eyes and her smile. "We don't have to do this right away, or maybe we do, but whenever we do it, I'll be right there at your side."