The Unwanted Wendigo [ManxMan]

Chapter Thirty-four: Full of Surprises

~Chapter Thirty-four: Full of Surprises~

"Will you marry me?"

What?

Now, normally, a sentence like this would have some sort of a warning, like the proposer falling down to one knee and holding up a box, but there was no warning, and I do not think I am imagining the guy holding a tattoo gun in the corner of Felix's office, a Mer that is definitely not a ringbearer. There was not even a warning of letting me know that something important was going to be asked today; in fact, I had not even thought I was going to be seeing Felix today at all until he suddenly asked for me.

After all, in the four days following the meeting with the gods, nothing special had happened, as those days mostly just involve me either spending a lot of time reading in my room or following Atasah around the castle like a sarcastic shadow. Cyra had been able to see me for a few minutes during a break in her princess lessons, but it had only been enough time for her to teach me how to use a teacup - like a proper lady, as she called it - before she had been called back to work with her tutors, much to her chagrin.

As for Felix...I had been wanting to check up on him for days and maybe ask him on another date, even if just to make him leave his work for a few minutes, but every time I had gone looking for him, he was either out of the castle doing kingly stuff at odd hours or I had been warned away by Nero, who would tell me that what his brother was busy with stuff that could not actually wait. And while I would actually probably have ignored the prince's warnings under normal circumstances, Felix has been preparing his kingdom for war, and I was not desperate enough to get in the way of that.

At least, not just yet.

What I did not count on, however, was Felix taking the initiative in giving himself a break and seeking me out first. Fifteen minutes ago, Valentin had informed me while I was reading in my room that Felix sent a messenger to request that I meet with him in his office. Of course, due to the timing and how unlikely it is for him to take a break, my first thought had been that he wanted my opinion on something relevant to the conversation with those gods or the war, but when I open the door to his office after swimming to the palace, it is not to find Felix in the middle of some sort of planning committee. Instead, Felix is standing in the middle of the room with his legs slightly apart and his arms crossed, looking like the proud king I often do not think of him as, and the first thing he says to me is:

"Will you marry me?"

So, of course, I just kind of squint at him for a moment in incomprehension, because what kind of greeting is that? "What? No 'hello, honey?'"

Felix grimaces a little in what I can only assume to be regret, and he repeats, albeit with a small alteration, "Hello, honey, will you marry me?"

"You know, I really don't think you're grasping this greeting business," I reply, still not answering the question. Because, I mean...what? "You know what, I think I'll just leave for a couple of minutes and come back so you can try again."

As I turn on my heels, fully prepared to leave the room, half wondering if I somehow stumbled into an alternate dimension where things suddenly don't make sense, I hear Felix move behind me, and a hand quickly but gently grabs my wrist. His breath hitches before he says, "Wait."

Huffing quietly in confused almost-annoyance, I do not move, but I also do not turn to face him. "Springing something like this on someone isn't nice, Fish Man."

"If I had warned you of my intentions, I didn't think you would have come," Felix says, and I mean, he's not wrong. Maybe if he had built up to it, but this is not a relationship we have been in for three or more years where the anticipation has been slowly building in preparation of receiving that question. We have barely even been on two dates yet, as I am still not counting that first one we technically had during that swimming lesson Felix gave me.