everyonetakes | (no subject)

It's still sort of hard to believe.

There are only a few people Kate has gone out of her way to tell about the fact that she and Newt are actually, seriously, for real engaged and it's not because she doesn't want to tell people, but just that she sort of wants to hold onto it on her own for a little while. She wants it just to be hers. She'd never really imagined herself getting married, but then, she'd never really imagined there was someone like Newt out there for her, so she knows plans change.

She knows things about her life, her family, she knows about the things she's done since coming to the island. The same sort of thing has happened to other people, too, and she's always been a little nervous, but it had turned out to be a good thing. She feels better for it. It's proof that her family, while irrevocably fucked up, is also still hers, no matter what happens to them. And even if she's not there with them, they love her, and she's okay. She's not as terrible at being an adult as she thinks.

So she's going to marry him even though her family isn't here to be with her, because she has other family now. People she loves, people she needs, people who are just as important and people she needs to tell about this whole thing.

So she sends a text asking them to meet her that evening at the really awesome diner not far from her apartment building. And she's nervous when she gets there, but she smiles in greeting and waves, and the ring flashes on her hand in a way she's still not used to.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Chris is already there when Kate turns up, and he's stacking sugar packets on the diner table in front of him. He's only been able to mange to get about seven to stack before the whole little pile topples over, but he's convinced that he's gonna get all the ones in the little ceramic holder in one neat stack before he leaves.

He's crouched down in the booth so he can see his little stack at eye level when Kate walks in and he notices her waving just there in his line of sight. He sits up a bit and waves back, but in the process bumps the table and the packets go sliding onto the table.

"Bollocks," he says, under his breath.

"How many have you gotten piled up?" she asks as she slides into the booth across from Chris, because yeah, she has some pretty big news, but it can wait. That's sort of the beauty of her friendship with Chris; they can talk about the most random shit and it just feels right.

Of course, there's the part of her that's a little nervous about telling people, too. She's sure everyone will be happy for them, but at the same time she knows she's young and she knows what some people might think and she's just kind of nervous.

"Seven," Chris admits, and he's disappointed, 'cause it's not enough, compared to how many he's got on the table, "They've got to make them so they can't be stacked on purpose or something. This is shit."

He can't think of why they might do that, though, so maybe he's just coming up with excuses for why he can't manage more.

"They're probably made that way just to fuck with you," she agrees with a bright smile before she wets her lips with the tip of her tongue after realizing just how dry they are. Her whole mouth feels kind of dry, actually, and she doesn't know why she's nervous, just that she sort of is.

"So, I kinda... I have a thing I have to tell you and... oh, fuck it," she says, then just lays her hands on the top of the table, showing Chris the ring. She's not usually so bad with words, but she figures the ring is a pretty clear indication of what she's trying to tell him.

"Yeah?" Chris asks, not sure what she's on about at first, even when she lays her hand on the table. He thinks at first that maybe she's gonna help him with his stack of packets, but she called him to come down the diner in the first place, and didn't know he'd be doing that when she turned up.

He looks down at her hand though, puzzled for a moment before it hits him.

"Holy shit."

"Yeah," she says with a breathless sort of laugh, looking down at the ring herself. It's gorgeous and it's perfect because it's not usual. The stone is blue and yeah, okay, so there's a lot of diamonds around it and it sparkles when it catches the light, but it doesn't look like a typical engagement ring and that's part of why she loves it so much. Newt obviously put a lot of thought into it and went out of his way to find something he knew she would like and the fact that he does that, that he cares enough to work so hard for her, it's only one of the reasons she'd said yes.

"Yeah," she says again. "I'm getting married."

"Shit," Chris says, his eyes a bit wide, still a little amazed before he finally snaps out of it, "Congratulations, mate," he finally says, breaking into a grin. It's fuckin' great, really, mostly 'cause Kate seems so happy about it.

"So are you gonna bring your boyfriend's walker to help him down the aisle or is there just gonna be a chair for him?"

"Quit it," she says with a laugh, reaching across the table to smack Chris on the arm. "You totally can't make a bunch of jokes about how he's old at the wedding. That shit is off limits for that day." But she likes that she can count on Chris to make jokes like that and she likes it, she knows he's only doing it because he loves her.

"And you have to wear a tie and everything," she adds with a grin. "There's totally going to be a dress code for this awesome wedding." There won't be, she doesn't care if everyone shows up super casual. She just wants people to have fun.

He doesn't think she's serious, and decides then and there that he'll probably do it anyway. Chris doesn't think she'll get too angry at him for it.

"Don't think I've got a tie, actually," Chris replies, realizing. He hasn't had much reason to wear one in Darrow, come to think of it. Most of the parties he's gone to have been either fancy dress or proper blow-outs, and you can wear just about anything to those.

"We can totally buy you one. Or not," she says. "I don't actually think I'm going with the whole traditional thing. I found this super amazing dress, but it's black and a bunch of other colours, but none of it is white." And she knows Mindy is going to give her a hard time about it, but totally doesn't care.

"So you can probably wear whatever you want," she decides. "I mostly just want people to have fun."

"Who says you've got to wear a white dress anyway?" Chris asks, and he doesn't know a lot about weddings, but it seems fucking mad that you can't wear whatever you want when it's your own wedding. If Chris ever gets married, he thinks he might wear a top hat, though.

"Wear fuckin'... I dunno, a poncho if you want to."

"Exactly," Kate says with an empathic gesture. "And the whole tradition is so stupid, too, like your worth as a human being and a potential wife is based on whether or not there's been a dick in you." Before Natasha and the self-defense class, she wouldn't have given much thought to stuff like that, but that woman had totally changed the way Kate looked at the world.

"It is? Who says?" he asks, frowning. He would've thought that having dicks in you'd be a good thing. Unless they're dicks you don't want in you, 'cause that's shit. People have always got to have a say in what dicks they've got in them, definitely.