Sheraton Academy

Marry Me

Rating: G. Warnings: none

"Ronan, where are we going?" Angie asked. She clutched her handbag to her chest a little nervously – while she trusted Ronan with her life, being led around in public wearing a blindfold was unnerving no matter who you asked.

"You'll see." Though Angie couldn't see his face, she could hear the smile in Ronan's voice, even feel it in the hand he held so lovingly. He pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles. "Almost there – okay, two steps ..." he carefully helped her up the stairs–concrete, she guessed, by the way her heels clicked against them–and she heard the slow creak of door hinges, a soft coolness of air conditioning against her face, quiet, subdued chatter and the light through the blindfold got just a bit dimmer.

"We're here," Ronan whispered. She shivered a little at the warm air against her ear and the light tickle of fabric against her cheek as he slipped off the blindfold.

"Oh!" She brought her hands to her mouth, a bright smile stretching across her face as she took in the restaurant. It was small and intimate with soft orange light, tables for two covered with cream tablecloths with little blue and purple flowers embroidered on the edges. "It's lovely!" she grinned, turning to take Ronan's hands in hers.

Ronan grinned at Angie's not only approval, but excitement. "I know you like nice places and things, and I wanted to do something special for you since ..." he trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence and ruin Angie's happy mood. While he knew that Angie had mostly gotten over the fact that her parents stopped talking to her, it did still upset her when he brought it up. Sometimes he thought it hurt him almost as much as it hurt her – but some people just couldn't look past the fact that Angie was transgender, even though it was as natural as the changing of the seasons.

Angie's grin faded into a smile, but it didn't lose its bright beam. "Thank you," she whispered, pulling Ronan into a very soft, thankful kiss. "Happy First Anniversary."

"Happy First Anniversary. You're welcome."

They pulled apart at the sound of a man's throat clearing.

"Do you have a reservation ...?" the waiter asked.

"Under Hearst," Ronan said. "For two."

"Right this way."

Once they were seated with their menus, Ronan took Angie's hand across the table and said, "They don't use dairy in any of their recipes here, so there's no risk of contamination. I researched a bunch of different places and chose this one so you wouldn't have to worry about reading ingredients lists or special orders or anything like that."

Another big, bright smile beamed across her face. "Thank you!"

"There's also a vegan restaurant down the street that has nondairy chocolate ice cream. They make it there from scratch."

"Really?" Angie exclaimed. A person at the table beside them jumped and she brought one hand to her mouth, slumping down a little. "Really?" she repeated, much quieter.

"Mm-hm," Ronan grinned.

"If it wouldn't cause a scene, I'd jump across the table to hug you right now," Angie giggled, clapping her hands in excitement. "That's so exciting! I haven't had chocolate ice cream in years!"

Ronan's smile turned even brighter. He'd been looking for chocolate in some form that Angie could eat for months – he still remembered what she'd said about her allergy the day they met;

"The main reason it bothers me is because it's so hard to find chocolate without any dairy in it. The rest I can deal with ...cheese, ice cream, milk, I don't mind not having things like that. But I hate not having chocolate."