What Are We Waiting For?

Warning: talks of night terrors. Super sweet. You might die of sweetness... oh, also cursing.

Words 2688

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Night terrors: Episodes of screaming, intense fear, and flailing while still asleep, often paired with sleepwalking.

Tyler definitely had night terrors. Y/n would wake up in the night to feel Tyler's elbow hit her arm, and it isn't a nice feeling. She would also hear his screams, so loud that she was sure it woke the whole city. The whole city but him.

She scooted off the bed quickly, to avoid getting hit any more. One time she had a bruise on her shoulder because of it. Tyler wouldn't look at her for days, he would barely even set foot near her.

She rushed around the bed to his side to maybe stop his flailing arms. She hated when he had these nightmares, it was a living nightmare for her. They scared her to death.

"Tyler..." she started quietly before saying it louder. "Tyler calm down, please."

He seemed to calm down at her touch, but he still wouldn't wake up, and little whimpers escaped his mouth.

"Okay..." she whispered to herself, as she wrapped her arms around his chest, and pulled him out of the bed.

She had to basically drag him to the bathroom. Not something she liked to do often.

Once she got him in the shower, she began to remove his clothing. He was soaked with sweat, and his shirt was stuck to his chest. She also removed her clothes, deciding its best not to leave him to shower by himself.

She didn't mind washing him in the shower, because she has done it before. They've passed the sleeping together point, and now live together. She was slowly getting used to caring for Tyler when he had an episode.

She slowly turned the water on, and right when the water made contact with Tyler's skin his eyes opened wide, as more tears overflowed his vision.

He tried to stand up, but y/n calmed him down. "Hey, baby, it's okay. You can sit."  She soothed. His breathing relaxed slightly once the water began to get warm. He slouched down, covering his face with his hands as he cried.

Y/n wrapped her arms around him. Tyler excepted the embrace, and buried his face into her shoulder, letting out more sobs than before.

"I'm sorry, I- I'm I-" the water was dripping from off his head, down his face, and into his mouth. He soon stopped trying to speak, because he hated the feeling of the water dripping from his mouth.

Y/n ran her hand through his hair, placing small kisses every once and while. "It's okay." She whispered, leaning her head onto his.

"Thank you." He sniffled, finally being able to speak clearly.

"I don't ever want you to feel this way, okay? Know that I am always beside you."

"Never leave me." He mumbled, wrapping his arms  around her tighter as if she'd disappear.

"Never leave you." She muttered back.

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Tyler's knee dug into the carpet below him, because his weight was relying on that one knee.

He balanced himself before pulling out an imaginary ring from his pocket. Before he could get through with the motion he was falling over.

"Oh fuck..." he caught himself just in time with his palm, and decided to just sit down. "I'm screwed Josh. There's no way she's going to say yes, look at me!" He gestured to himself, and Josh only laughed.

"Man, she's been with you for 3 years, where do you think she's going?" Josh shook his head, tapping the base drum with his foot out of boredom. "And you don't have to get on one knee. Like, how the frick can you not balance yourself?"

Tyler sighed, his self esteem lowering. "You're not helping!"

"You didn't ask me to help you asked me to watch." He replied simply. "And yes I am helping you. Don't get on one knee, that's so original and common. I say you do something unique like you always do. Make the proposal your proposal."

Tyler huffed, and rolled his eyes. "It's not that easy Josh what if she doesn't like it?" He picked himself off the floor.

"Dude, it doesn't matter if she doesn't like it she's gonna say yes either way. And that's not even the point, if you like it, then she'll love it."

Tyler let out a long stressful breath. "This is supposed to be her day, Josh."

"No, the wedding is supposed to be her day. The proposal is your day."

Josh was making a good argument and Tyler couldn't seem to find something to complain about. But he felt like he had to complain about something, because he was just so scared to do it. It didn't feel right to be scared to ask his girlfriend to spend the rest of her life with him, only because she basically has already told him she was never going to leave him. So why is it so hard?

"Josh..."

"Hmm?"

"You know how I usually never share my feelings?"

"Mhmm..."

"Well, I'm scared."

Josh got up from his place at his drums and walked over to pat his shoulder. "You're supposed to be scared. That means you're scared to lose her, which ultimately means you're in love with her. Which is the reason you should propose and not chicken out." He said wisely.

Tyler stared at the floor, biting the inside of his lip. "You're right... I- I'm doing it tonight."

"Attaboy!" Josh cheered, patting his shoulder one more time before picking up his stuff to leave.

"Wait, where are you going? Aren't we going to practice?"

Josh scoffed. "Yeah, like you can focus on playing music at a time like this. Go plan your proposal, and then tell me how it goes."

"Can't you help me or something?" Tyler asked nervously.

"Nope." He popped the 'p' "this is your day, it has to be your idea. Plus, I have to go to lunch with my mom."

Tyler slouched his shoulders, and Josh turned around to look at him in the eye. "You're scared, and that's okay. Embrace it. She'd rather you be nervous to propose to her than-" he got down on one knee, his face changing into a blank expression. "Dear, y/n, marry me." He said in a bored tone, which Tyler let out a small laugh.

"Okay, I'll embrace it." He grinned, and Josh nodded.

"Good. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye." Soon he was alone in his basement.

Man, he had some ideas to make. It had to be perfect.

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"Why are we here?" Y/n asked, her jacket now half off due to the warm weather.

"Do you remember when we were kids we used to go to my treehouse?" Tyler hinted, and y/n's eyes went wide with realization.

"Oh my gosh! This looks so much different." Y/n took in her surroundings, now finally recognizing the small path that used to be cleared that her and Tyler would walk on to get to the treehouse.

It was now filled with twigs, leaves, weeds and bushes. You couldn't even see the treehouse like they could in their childhood.

"Yeah, It's a little bit messy now since we haven't been here to keep it clean." Tyler said as he stepped over a dead branch, and reached his hand out to help y/n.

Y/n rolled her eyes, pushing his arm away from her. "I don't need your help, Ty, I can make it to the treehouse by myself." She said teasingly, and Tyler chuckled.

"Okay, just be aware of the snakes..." he joked, and y/n rolled her eyes.

"I'll just kill it." She said confidently, as she stepped into the rats nest of branches.

Tyler scoffed playfully. "Okay, Bear Grylls."

After a bit of climbing and walking around branches, they finally made it to the treehouse. Y/n assumed to see it run down and full of leaves and twigs like the pathway, but when she looked up it had lights guiding the staircase up, and the inside was lit up by fairy lights.

Y/n smiled brightly. It was 6:30PM so it was already starting to become dark, and the lights made the treehouse shine in a romantic way.

"Oh my god, Ty!" Y/n squealed, beginning her walk to the steps.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I came up here earlier." Tyler chuckled, as he slid his hand into y/n's, beginning to walk up the stairs.

Once they entered the treehouse, they were faced with the fairy lights strung on the ceiling, and a red and white blanket on the floor. There was a bowl of chocolate covered strawberries in the middle of the blanket, and a small wooden box that had a radio, a wine bottle and two wine glasses on top. "I feel like something is up, Tyler. What's happening?" Y/n asked suspiciously.

Tyler lifted his hands in a defensive way. "What? Nothing! I just want you to feel special because I love you. Is that really that bad?"

Y/n giggled, and shook her head. She set her jacket onto the chair in the corner, and they both sat down on the blanket.

Tyler laid down on his side to where he was facing y/n, and took a strawberry. Y/n helped herself to strawberry as well.

Tyler sat up and got the wine ready, pouring both of them a glass, and setting it in front of them. "So, lets talk about stuff." Tyler suggested, and y/n giggled.

"This is really nice. I thought we were going out to eat." She began, and Tyler gestured towards the chocolate covered strawberries. "That's not food, Tyler!" She laughed, and took a sip of her wine.

"Well, you're putting it inside your mouth. That's considered eating, right?"

Y/n snorted. "You know that's not true. But that's okay, I really like this."

"Good." Tyler nodded, and pressed play on the radio, turning the volume on low.

"Like the legend of the phoenix

All ends with beginnings

What keeps the planet spinning (uh)

The force of love beginning"

Y/n began to laugh at the song he chose. Get Lucky by Daft Punk. "Wow... now I know why you brought me here."

Tyler fake gasped. "What? No..." he smiled and played with the blanket below him. His nerves were urging him to just get it over with, but he had to wait.

Y/n soon relaxed her body, laying herself down onto the blanket. "I have something to ask you." She quietly spoke, and Tyler lifted his eyebrows.

"What is it?" He asked, scooting himself closer so he could look at her from above.

"Do you ever feel lost? Like, you don't want to do anything but you feel like you have to do something but you don't know what?" She looked up at the ceiling.

Tyler thought for a moment before nodding. She continued. "I feel like our life is repetitive, you know? Like, we've done everything in our life and that theres nothing else to do. Like, I don't know, like our relationship needs more or something." She sighed.

Tyler furrowed his eyebrows, the nervous butterflies coming alive in his stomach. "Wait, so you mean you think we've lost our spark?" He asked anxiously, and y/n immediately shook her head.

"No! No, the spark is still there, I promise. I just..." she took a deep breath, now looking Tyler in the eye. "What are we waiting for, you know?"

Tyler smiled softly, positioning himself on his back. "We've been together for 3 years, Y/n/n. The first year of that consisted of sneaking around the parents, and the second year consisted of going over to each others houses and having late nights. And the third year consisted of living together and waking up next to each other. The happiest 3 years of my life. Almost 4 in 2 months too."

Y/n turned her head to look at Tyler. "Then what are we waiting for? We already live together, and we've already slept together. What else is there?"

Tyler sighed, and set himself up. He walked over to the radio and turned it up. A new song was playing. Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran

"When your legs don't work like they used to before

And I can't sweep you off of your feet

Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love

Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks"

Tyler turned himself to face y/n, who was looking at him questionably. "Let's dance, love."

Y/n smiled, and got off of the blanket, walking over and wrapping her arms around his neck.

He held her close to him, his eyes closed, and his feet going with the beat. "There's fun nights like these." He answered her question. "There's talking late at night, and waking up next to each other. There's loving each other with everything we have. There's holding each other until we can't anymore. Theres giving each other everything we need. There's staying with each other forever."

Y/n rested her head on his shoulder as he named every single thing that made their relationship. "There's growing old together, and watching our children grow. There sharing each other's secrets, and promising to never tell a soul." Tyler continued. Y/n smiled. "Can I tell you secret?" He whispered into her ear, and y/n nodded. His voice was so soothing it made her feel tired and relaxed. "I want to marry you." He said softly, so softly that it was almost unheard. He carefully pulled out a box from his pocket, releasing y/n, and slowly opening the box.

"I want to marry you so hard." He whispered, smiling at y/n's shocked face.

Y/n took a deep breath, her body suddenly feeling weak, as she lifted her hand up over her mouth. "Oh my god..." she managed to say, stepping back and shaking her head in disbelief. A big smile took over her face as her eyes squinted making one happy tear escape her eye. "I didn't expect that." She laughed shakily as she took another deep breath.

"What do you say?" He asked, himself feeling a little bit breathless.

"Oh my god..." she laughed. "Yes! Tyler, why would you even need to ask? Oh my god!"

She lunged herself forward giving him a long tight hug. "Here, lets put it on. It might not be the right size. We can get it sized for you." He said as he took the ring out of the velvet brown box.

Y/n was still shocked, and she wiped her eyes. "Oh my god..."

Tyler gently grabbed her hand and slid the ring on her finger. Y/n let out a sigh of admiration, and she let out another shaky laugh as another tear fell from her eye.

"Tyler, I love you so much." She sighed, going in for a kiss.

He kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her waist, and deepening the kiss. "I love you too." He said once they released.

She pressed her forehead to his. "When did you think of doing this?"

"The first time you helped me during a night terror." He whispered, pecking her lips again.

"Ty, that was before we were even dating!" She chuckled, and he shrugged, stealing yet another kiss from her lips.

"Yes, but I knew you were the one. You dealt with me better than my mother did, and that had to be a sign." He smiled.

Y/n rolled her bright happy eyes, before Tyler pressed his lips to hers again, this time more passionately. He then pulled away a playful smirk on his face.

"Hmmm... now what should we do first as fiancés?" He amused, and y/n slapped his chest.

"I know what you're thinking. I can see it on your face."

"And?" He lifted his eyebrows.

Y/n didn't answer, she just pressed her lips to his. He smiled into the kiss.

He loved her so much.

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I'm super surprised I've never done a proposal one. I mean, I've had one lead up to one but I didn't write it for some reason...