Michael Afton x Reader ~ We'll Be Ok

9/11 Events

 I just remembered that the next day, we had gone to the 9/11 memorial. It was crazy to see how many people died there. All of the names engraved were of people that died in that incident on that day. It's honestly just really sad to think about. I've always been amazed by the story about the man in the red bandana. How he risked his life to save a bunch of others. And the Survivor's Stairs. I think that it's all just crazy.

My dad used to tell me about when he heard about what had happened. My mom was on a business trip in New York on that day, so she unfortunately got to witness that.. He was just chilling listening to the radio in the office of the diner, when they had interrupted whatever radio station that he was listening to. The news reporter had said, "We've just got news that a plane crashed into the World Trade Center." That was enough to make him practically jump out of his seat and sprint to grab his phone. It was one of those tiny flip phones, so he was trying to type in my mom's work phone number, yet his hands were shaking, making it difficult. My mom, on the other hand, was sitting at Central Perk Coffee Shop ((See what I did there for you Friends fans)) sipping on some coffee, when she'd just heard this loud noise outside and some woman yell, "OH MY GOD!!!!!" She was really confused by this, but as soon as she looked outside, she was at a loss of words. She covered her mouth and her eyes widened. She started getting a bunch of calls from my dad and as soon as she answered, my dad was so relieved. I barely even remember it. It's 2021, so I was really little when these events went down.

After we'd left there, and it just felt really... off I guess-. We went to Times Square and there were already so many people there. I personally love it here. It's just a really amazing city, even though some people don't actually agree with me. That night, we'd gone back to our apartment and took some time to rest. Tomorrow was going to be New Year's Eve, so there were a lot of people out buying Champagne and whatnot.

We went down to this one semi - fancy restaurant and had dinner. It was really nice to be able to go out and eat. Just the two of us. I smiled as I gazed into Michael's beautiful ocean blue eyes. I love him so much.

{Michael's POV}

I'm so glad to be here with her. I just want the best for her. I smiled as we stared into each other's eyes. After we finished eating and paid for everything, we went back outside. There was a small breeze, causing her beautiful [H/C] hair to slightly flow in the wind.

We got back to the apartment and were already beat. We went to bed not too long after and by the time we woke up, I was already feeling nervous. It's just a question, I thought to myself. Well, one that'll determine the entire rest of our lives, but still, you don't have to ask her until midnight. It's harder than it sounds. I mean, I'm sure that she's going to say 'yes', but what if she doesn't? What if she actually loves someone else? I mean, c'mon, she deserves better. Like, what do I have? An endoskeleton named Ennard replacing my innards? That's no good! No one wants to deal with someone like that!

We spent the day just walking around Central Park. We were going to be going to the roof of the apartment building to watch the ball drop, just because we both hate to be in crazy large crowds.

We were just walking around, when I felt someone gently grab my hand. I looked down and saw [Y/N]'s hand holding mine. I smiled slightly and intertwined our fingers. "So, what do you wanna do, you know, since we have a few hours before midnight?" I asked.

"I mean, we could go and find- wait, we could totally see if Central Perk is still open!" she exclaimed. "My mom used to love going there whenever she visited New York!"

"Alright, let's go and find it," I said in response .

We had made our way over to Central Perk, which, sure enough, was still open for business. I saw her face immediately light up when she saw the sign. "Oh my Gosh, it's still here!" she said happily. We walked inside and could smell coffee. One of the workers saw [Y/N] and did a small wave. "Hey Kate," he said. "Haven't seen you in a while. How's the family doing?" [Y/N] gave him a confused look and then looked behind her.

"Who are you talking to?" she asked.

"You. You are Kate, aren't you?" he asked.

"Uh, I'm [Y/N], but Kate was my mother's nickname," she responded.

"Ohhhh, now I can see the resemblance," he replied. "What even happened to your mom?"

"She went missing when I was about 7," she stated. "None of us have seen her since."

"Oh, wow... God, I hope that she's ok," he said. "We went to high school together and whenever she'd visit here, she was a Central Perk regular." They had started talking a bunch and I kinda just went off to the side. At least there was someone that she could talk to about her family.

After about 30 minutes, we'd left and since it was about 11 at night, we went back over to Central Park. There were already so many freaking people in Times Square ready for the ball drop. It was Meghan Trainor who was performing, so we got to listen to some of the live versions of her songs. I'd much rather listen to Adele, but hey, Meghan Trainor is pretty a good singer too!

We walked around Central Park until around 11:30 P.M.. We started heading back to the apartments and made it after about 10 minutes. We took the subway, since it was a lot faster and we had passes. We went back into our room before going up to the roof. There was surprisingly no one else up there. It was already about 5 minutes to midnight. We spent some time just talking about random things. Even though I seemed to play it cool, the truth is, I was a nervous wreck on the inside. It reached 11:59 and by this time, my heart was pumping into my throat.

When we started the countdown, I pulled out the ring box. We could hear the crowds counting down the time. They did it starting at 30 seconds this year for some reason. 25... 24... 23... I took a deep breath and turned to [Y/N]. I have no idea what she's gonna say or how she's gonna react. But, I just hope that the answer is a yes.

{[Y/N]'s POV}

Michael had turned towards me and just gazed into my eyes. 22... 21... 20...

"[Y/N], you are the most important person in my life right now and I want to be with you forever," Michael spoke. "I love you so much and I just need to do this now." He got onto one knee and pulled out a small velvet ring box, or at least that's what I think that it is. My eyes widened and my mind started flooding with thoughts that were just bouncing around my mind. Oh my god, is this really happening? Is this just a dream and all in my head?! Woah! What happened!? He opened up the ring box, revealing a beautiful diamond ring. "[F/N] [M/N] Emily, will you do me the honor of being my wife?" I was at a loss of words. Speechless. I just stared into his eyes for a little while.

"[Y/N]?" he asked after about 9 seconds. I stared into his eyes for a little while longer before snapping out of it and saying, "Oh, sorry, this is normally where I wake up, but... YES!" He smiled and looked so relieved. He got up, dipped me and kissed me.

He pulled away after a few seconds and brought me back up. I held out my hand and he slipped the ring onto my ring finger. I smiled as he did this. I love him so much.

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