sciencesaggressively | [insert diamond pun here]

He has no idea what he's doing.

He's standing in the middle of this store, hands stuffed in the pockets of his leather jacket, and nobody's offered to help him yet probably because he looks awfully shady. He feels kind of shady, actually; he keeps glancing over his shoulder to make sure nobody he knows is around, which is a tough task when he's in a busy shopping mall but maybe the hustle and bustle of the weekend crowd will make it that much easier for him to blend in without getting caught in this shop. He keeps telling himself he's only here because he's curious, he has no intention of actually buying anything, he's just here to browse and get an idea of what he should look for in the future.

Then there's that really big, much louder part of him that's laughing at that bullshit because he's almost definitely going to walk out of this place with a shiny new engagement ring, assuming he finds one that's right. Yeah, he's going to do it. He's going to propose because even though it had been on his birthday that he'd really admitted to himself that Kate's the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with, he's pretty sure he's known longer than that. They've been together for only a few months but he's never been more sure about anything in his life--well, it might be on level with how much he'd wanted to join the PPDC and work with kaiju guts but whatever, whatever, that's business and this is personal.

That's why he doesn't want anyone to see him here, he doesn't want any of his friends or her friends or anyone to try to talk him out of this--not that they could--when he doesn't even have a single doubt himself, not even a doubt of her saying yes. Even if he does walk out of here with a ring, it's not like he's going to propose right away anyway; but he'd really like to be prepared. Just in case.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Medical school," Newt mutters, rolling his eyes before shooting her a playful smile. "You're so fancy. I, on the other hand, have absolutely no self-control so maybe I should have followed your lead. Where were you when I was in school?"

She wants him to tell her everything, and he's willing to but there's not all that much to tell. He wonders if that's bad, if there should be more than just saying, "Well, I'm trying to figure out which ring to get for Kate because I realized up on the roof the other night when we were celebrating my birthday that I will never love anyone as much I love her and she's the one and, y'know, all that cheesy shit so then marriage, right?" And hell, he's already said it anyway so whatever, cat's out of the bag, but it's not much of a cat because he doesn't think any of it sounds very surprising.

"I mean, I know getting married isn't like, a requirement and I never really thought I would ever do it but..." He shrugs halfheartedly, leaning down to more closely examine the row of diamond rings. "Now that I feel like I have someone to do the thing with, I'm thinking doing the thing isn't such a bad idea. She's the one. She just is."

"Oh my god. You disgust me. In, like, the best possible way. Ugh, you're so sweet. It's kind of ridiculous," Mindy said, positively beaming. Even she could put aside her own envy long enough to see that two people absolutely belonged together like Newt and Kate. Almost seamlessly, they'd become two of her best friends in Darrow, providing humour in what might otherwise be an entirely humourless situation. "Oooh, look at that one."

"I should be put down," he laments, tugging his glasses off to rub at the bridge of his nose. He's starting to think he should have watched more of those Tom-and-Meg-esque movies Mindy likes so much because maybe then he'd have a better idea of what he's supposed to even do here. This isn't a thing he's spent much time thinking about, other than to wrinkle his nose at people he knows who have done it themselves. It had just never sounded particularly appealing, maybe because before he'd met Kate, all he'd really cared about committing to was his work.

"You promise not to tell anyone about this," he reminds her, a small smile playing at his lips as he puts his glasses back out to peer at the ring Mindy points out. "That includes all the sappy stuff I'm saying because seriously, the only person who's supposed to hear any of this is Kate. That is a nice one, though." He sighs, crossing his arms over his chest so that he's practically hugging himself. "What about you? If you were going to choose one of these rings, which one would you want?"

"Which one would I want?" Mindy asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow at Newt. "I intend to marry so rich that the ring is designed for me, my friend. But that one's pretty nice. See? Simple. But not, like, cheap simple. Sophisticated simple. The best kind of simple."

It was a white gold ring with a diamond, timeless. Truth be told she probably didn't know Kate as well as she'd like to (yet, at least), but she could only hope she could help him decide on something not truly heinous.

Newt doesn't even know why he'd asked but he can't bring himself to pretend like he's mad about it. He rolls his eyes playfully and gives her a just-sharp-enough nudge with his elbow. "Suddenly so glad I'm not marrying you," he teases. He's torn, though, between thinking the ring isn't a huge deal and thinking it's a major, colossal, absolutely fucking enormous deal. He's pretty sure that ultimately, Kate would be satisfied with anything he gives her; but he doesn't want her to just be satisfied. He wants to be able to exceed expectations, it's just in his nature; he's always been a fan of being the best. He's definitely found the best girlfriend, after all.

He considers the one Mindy points out, nodding slowly. "It's nice. But it's like... so... I don't know." He points at the ring next to it then looks to her. "Like, what's the difference?" He's sure Mindy will be able to give him an extensive list of the many differences but his point remains the same--he doesn't want a ring that's nearly indistinguishable from the rest. "I want something with some serious character."

Somehow Mindy managed not to yell at Newt for his marriage comment, secure in the knowledge she'd one day make an awesome wife. Maybe. She hoped. She was about to point out the glaring differences in the cut and clarity of the diamonds embedded in the rings he'd pointed out when she realised it probably wasn't the kind of advice he was looking for. "Then... maybe this isn't the place? I mean, I don't know Kate all that well, but these are a little Generics R Us, y'know?"

She flashed a grin at the scathing glance she was met with from the attendant across the room. "Beautiful collection!"

He shoves his hands in his pockets, trying not to pout because Mindy might be right about that and he's terribly impatient and wants to find a ring now. "I didn't think it would be a hard thing to do," he admits, though that may sound a bit naive. But seriously, right now, finding the right ring almost seems like more daunting task than figuring out how to defeat the kaiju had been. Chuck might slap him in the back of the head for even suggesting that but whatever, Chuck isn't trying to take the first step to asking someone to marry him.

He ducks his head to hide his laughter when Mindy snarks at the attendant. As far as he's concerned, she totally deserves it and so do her co-workers because they haven't even been remotely helpful. "I think I need a coffee or something," he says, running a hand through his hair before giving a pinky-wave to the still seething attendant. "Care to join me?"

"Oh, totally," Mindy said, grinning in response to the offer, a little relieved that Newt wasn't put off by her advice. It wasn't like she was one that could claim to know how effective relationships worked, but she had seen her fair share of romcoms and that totally counted, right? "I need caffeine after all of this and I'm not even the one, you know, proposing."

"You swear you can keep this a secret, right?" Newt asks as they walk, shoving his hands in his pockets so he can avoid wringing them like he really wants to right now. It's not like he thinks Mindy's going to run off and spill every detail of this encounter to Kate but hey, Mindy might run off and spill every detail of this encounter to Kate. "And I'm not proposing yet, I don't know when it's going to happen. Just that it's, y'know, a thing I will do in the future."

He sighs, shaking his head because even thinking about that M word--marriage--is incredibly daunting even for someone who's totally done rock star monster beating. He stops in front of the coffee shop that's just a few stores down and turns to her, his expression entirely sincere. "Be straight with me, okay? I know she loves me, I do, it's not like I'm wishy-washy on that subject. And I know this question is like, totally not even answerable, but do you think she'd say yes? I mean, am I a yes-able kind of guy?"

"My god, just how little faith do you have in me, Newt?" Mindy asked, slightly frustrated but too delighted over the whole engagement thing to really dwell on that fact. And his worries weren't entirely unfounded. "I swear on my life, okay? I will tell Kate nothing. I will tell no one anything without your explicit consent. Okay? Okay."

Following him down the street, she was torn between rolling her eyes and hugging the guy. Because, oh my god, so much adorable insecurity but also oh my god if those two couldn't make it, what hope did she have? "You are a yes-able guy, Newt. And if Kate says no she's crazy because you are meant to be."

[insert diamond pun here]

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