Manhattan Newsies

The Ring and the Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 22nd, 2012, 8:30 AM

Sniper inspected the ring in his hand. It was small. Fit for a person with small fingers.

A person like Smalls.

Not smiling while simply thinking of her was a difficult, near impossible task for Sniper. She had saved his life, and changed it too, in so many ways. The first time he met her, she immediately changed his life. He remembered how he'd known right that she was the one. That was of course nothing eleven-year-old Sniper had realized then and there. Looking back at it, it was obvious that was how he felt. Eleven years later, it was even more obvious. They were both 23 now, and they'd been dating since they were 16. It was, since a long time back, time for a big next step.

Smalls would love this ring. It was silver, rather than gold or rose. Smalls had always prefered silver. The ring hadn't been particularly expensive, considering the budget and earnings Sniper had. This certainly wasn't something Smalls would be bothered by. She had even told Sniper once that once engagement was relevant, she wouldn't even need a ring. Sniper wanted to give her one anyway. It just felt right.

He had chosen today, Thanksgiving, to be the day. Why, he wasn't entirely sure. He just wanted it to be special, and what day was more special than Thanksgiving? All he had to do was wait and find the right moment to take Smalls aside, and pop the quesiton. They were all going to gather in Katherine, Jack and Crutchie's apartment, which was a pretty big place in a nice area. Taking Smalls outside for a quick walk, and proposing at the end of that would surely be magical. Then they could celebrate it together with everyone. The plan was waterproof.

It was well enough time for the two to get engaged. Why they hadn't already was a mystery in Sniper's mind. He guessed he just wanted it to be perfect. The perfect opportunities for the other couples in their group had already happened. For everyone except Spot and Race at least, but if Sniper was being honest, he wasn't sure if marriage really was Spot's thing, no matter how much he loved Race.

Blink and Mush had gotten engaged pretty much as soon as gay marriage was legalized. The plan had been for them to get married only a couple of months later. Now it had been over a year, and so many obstacles had been thrown at the couple, and the whole group, that the wedding had still not happened.

Jack and Katherine were the only ones who had actually gotten married. A week after Katherine's 23rd birthday, Jack had proposed, and a week after Jack's 22nd birthday, their big party of a wedding had taken place.

No one knew exactly when Tommy Boy and Sarah had gotten engaged. Neither did anyone know how it happened, or who asked who. The extent of their knowledge was that one day, both Tommy Boy and Sarah had showed up wearing rings.

It was kind of like everyone was waiting for Smalls and Sniper to get engaged. The pressure was on.

Sniper lifted the ring up to eye level in the bathroom mirror. Practising for the big moment felt like a very awkward thing to do, so he kept telling himself that was not what he was doing. He was just... pepping himself up.

"Hey, what's that?"

Finch's voice startled Sniper, and he could only thank the heavens that he hadn't dropped the ring into the sink. Instead he quickly closed his hand around it.

"It's nothin'," he lied, quite unsmoothly. "Nothin' special..."

"Yeah, 'cause everyone examines nothin' in da bathroom mirror," Finch responded in a sarcastic way that only annoyed Sniper a little.

"Alright, then it's none a' yer business." Sniper squeezed the ring tighter.

"Come on, man," Finch prompted curiously, walking into the bathroom.