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Opening his eyes and blinking slowly, Deuce slowly sits up before stretching and yawning. He smiles, remembering that it’s his birthday, and looks expectantly to his side for Ace’s yearly surprise.
For his first birthday at NRC, Ace had left a box by his pillow. Deuce, expecting it to be a present, had opened it to find that it had actually been a jack-in-the-box, which had been prewound and had sprung open at his face as soon as he finished unwrapping it.
Even after getting in a relationship, Ace continued to gift him jack-in-the-boxes every year. Their second year together, the jack-in-the-box held a figurine for a blastcycle, which alluded to Ace’s additional gift of a jacket that would look really rad on a blastcycle. (It’s still his favorite jacket now.)
Their third year at NRC, there was yet another jack-in-the-box, this time with tickets to a spelldrive competition. It wasn’t a particularly exciting competition, if he was being honest, but it was the best spelldrive competition he had ever watched just because Ace had been by his side.
And then for their final year, the jack-in-the-box had held a set of plastic toy keys. After Deuce had unwrapped the box, Ace had shyly stepped into view, admitting that he planned to live away from the Queendom of Roses, and wanted Deuce to live with him.
Deuce had happily launched himself at Ace, who complained for days about how Deuce had caused him to bump his head when he tackled him to the floor. Despite that, Ace would have a bright smile as he told all their friends about it.
Looking to his side, Deuce is surprised that there is no box there. He checks his other side to see that there was nothing there either. It’s only when he looks away from the pillow and to the floor at the side of his bed that he realizes that there’s a rather large box.
Pulling the covers off of his body, he slowly approaches the box. Normally, he’d dive in immediately to unwrap it, but considering that this was his birthday surprise from Ace, it could be anything.
Deeming it to at least be relatively safe, he goes to unwrap it. So far, the box seemed normal.
It’s only when he opens the box just a crack that the lid launches upward, with Ace popping out of the box and throwing confetti at his face. “SURPRISE!”
Deuce falls backward, thankfully onto the bed, and when he gets over his shock, he starts laughing. “Ace! You really have outdone yourself with the jack-in-the-box, huh?”
Ace smirks at him, tilting his head just a little. “You didn’t think that this was the extent of the gift, did you?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Ace hands him another box, which is a much more familiar size. This had to be another jack-in-the-box.
Unwrapping the box, as expected, it was indeed a jack-in-the-box. This one, though, was holding a small black box in its hands.
“Ace? What is it holding? It’s way too small to be-”
He looks past the jack-in-the-box to see that Ace has left the gift box, and is kneeling with a black box in his hand. “Take a guess, dummy.”
“No way…” Deuce stands up and walks over to Ace, his heart racing.
“So…we’ve known each other for a long time now. And honestly, when I first met you, I thought you were a real dumbass.”
“Ace, I’m not the smartest guy, but I’m pretty sure this is a terrible proposal.”
“Shut up, I’m not done yet.” Ace takes a breath before meeting his eyes, turning as red as the heart on his face. “Anyways, you’re a dumbass, but you’re my dumbass, and I don’t want to be with anyone else but you. So…” He shakily extends his arms, offering the ring to Deuce. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes…yes! Of course I will, Ace!” Deuce launches himself at Ace, and the pain on the back of Ace’s head was very reminiscent of last year’s surprise.
Deuce looks at his new fiancé adoringly, leaning forward to briefly kiss him on the lips. “Hey Ace…I love you.”
Ace leans forward to kiss him chastely once more, smiling brightly at him. “I love you too, Deuce.”
Yeah, Ace definitely outdid himself this year with the jack-in-the-box. Even if he continues to gift him more in the future (which he definitely will), this one will always be his favorite.
“I’ve got to say, Ace-in-the-boxes are much better than jack-in-the-boxes.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, I’m never doing that again.”
“Then should I do it for your birthday this year?”
“How are you going to top the fact that I proposed to you?”
“I dunno, maybe I’ll just not wear clothes.”
“...”
“Hey, Ace? Ace speak to me. Ace?”
“Please do.”
