*alarm sounds*
Ekko awoke with a jolt, his hand reaching naturally towards his left to touch his girlfriend's shoulder. Only, she wasn't there. In the spot where her head usually laid was a folded piece of paper.
Shutting off the alarm and sitting up in the bed, Ekko grabbed the note and flipped it open to read:
"Happy Anniversary sleepyhead,
I know we said we'd get up at 10 to head to the museum, but I had to go out early to pick up stuff for your surprise 😝. I will meet you there.
-Jinx 🐵"
Of course she left early. He wasn't surprised at this point of course, she was a wild child and he knew he couldn't control her even if he wanted to.
Resigned to just meet her at the museum, Ekko got up out of bed and got ready. Brushing his teeth he gazed at all the graffiti marks Jinx drew on the mirror with permanent marker (he knew It was pointless to try and clean it off). She had come a long way from her exhibits in high school, she was opening an exhibit at an actual museum after all. Ekko took his time painting the hourglass on his face, wouldn't do to look like an amateur in front of the press.
He threw on a plain gray t-shirt, his black skinny jeans, and the bomber jacket Jinx had designed for him featuring a giant gold threaded owl on the back.
As he headed toward the front door he made sure he had his key, phones, wallet, his stopwatch (A sentimental item from back when he and Jinx would time each other how fast they could get a spot tagged back when they were street artists), and lastly a small black box, no bigger than the palm of his hands, containing his anniversary gift to Jinx.
On the elevator ride down Ekko put headphones in his ears and started up his morning playlist.
As he crossed street after street, the morning bustle of the city grew more tumultuous and cramped. Lines formed on the sidewalks outside the bodegas. Food trucks opened their windows. The city began to breathe as he went, and soon he found himself at the entrance to the park that the museum was smacked right in the middle of.
He slowly made his way under the morning sunlight, interrupted by the blanket of leaves above. How many times had he walked these paths with Jinx? Back when they had first started at the university, they would walk along and talk about new pieces of equipment, sharing a pretzel or some sort of snack they had bought from one of vendors. They would stop at a large landmark, an obsidian monolith.
The monolith had to be at least 2 stories, with a seemingly smooth finish, but when you ran your hand across the surface you could feel the coarseness of the small holes that peppered it's surface. They would stop at this landmark and talk until the sun was beginning to set. And in those dappled twilight hours, he remembered how the orange and pinks of the sunset sky would reflect in her cool blue eyes. Those perfect blue eyes.
*Bike ring*
"Coming through!" Shouted a biker as they swerved around Ekko, who had been lost in a daydream staring at the monolith. He stepped out of the middle of the path and decided it was best to just head to the museum and wait for his girlfriend there.
Arriving outside the museum, a building of concrete and glass, with banners hanging out front that read "NEW EXHIBIT: MISFITS by Jinx", Ekko decided to wait on a nearby bench. He found himself staring at the banners, wondering how a couple street urchins could've ended up here. He pulled out his stop watch and started it. He wanted to see how long it would take for her to completely subvert her note from earlier, because he knew better. When his girlfriend said she had a surprise he knew there was more than she was letting on.
And so he waited, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 50 minutes, when the stop watch hit 1 hour Ekko decided to try and give her a call.
*Dial noise*
*Answering click*
"Hey babe! Sorry I'm late! I'm allllllllmost done with your surprise!" -J
"What is the surprise? It's not something dangerous again is it?" -E
"I use live animals one year and you get worried about it every year. But no it's not (inherently) dangerous. In fact, I'm putting the finishing touch offfff, now!"
-J
As soon as she said now, a loud thundering boom came from across the park, and suddenly the sky is alight with fireworks, dancing against the midday sky like dragons.
"C'MON SLOWPOKE, YOU KNOW WHERE TO FIND ME!"
-J
*hang up sound*
Ekko promptly flew to his feet and hit the ground running. He knew exactly where she was.
As he sprinted under the eratic sparks of the fireworks, Ekko couldn't help think about what the surprise is and why it needed such a bombastic entrance.
As the obelisk came into view, Ekko slowly picked up speed, and as he approached, he saw what he immediately recognized as Jinx' graffiti. The obelisk had been covered top to bottom in graffiti. As Ekko approached the base of the Obelisk he saw his girlfriend, who was wearing her oversized monkey hoodie, standing on the opposite side of the Obelisk grinning from ear to ear.
He approached her, her face still on that same ridiculously cute grin, eyebrows raised.
"You know we could get caught for this." Ekko said, stepping ever so slowly closer
"Yeah, so? This'll be worth it." She responded, patiently waiting for him to step closer.
As he finally reached her, he towered over her. She grabbed him by both hands, and turned him around to face the obelisk. She gestured up and Ekko saw, in bright green and blue spray paint, the words
"WILL YOU MARRY ME?"
By the time Ekko looked down Jinx was on one knee, with a ring in her hand. It was the ring he had picked out for her. He scrambled in his pocket to pull out the box, to reveal it was empty.
"How long did you know?" Ekko said, kneeling down with her.
"Since you stashed it in the same place I stash a knife." She said as if he knew all her hiding places. "But I mean it"
"So do I."
"Well? Are you gonna ask?" She said, waiting, giving a little shit eating grin at the same time.
Ekko smiled, took the ring from her, and said "Jinx, will you do me the honor, of being my partner in crime forever?"
"Well duh doof-" she was interrupted by Ekko pulling her in and drawing her into a deep kiss. She felt in her pocket for a remote and pushed the button on it. Ekko placed his arms around her and drew her in closer, embracing her. Another set of fireworks goes off. Green and blue sparks cascading around the newly betrothed. Today was the first day of the rest of their lives.
