Hazel's eyes widened before she hugged Will. "Got it."
He hoped she did this time. But they had gotten off topic. She was only asking so many questions because she didn't believe he truly wanted to be with her forever.
"You'll marry me, then?" he asked desperately.
"Yes."
Relief flooded through Will. Hazel said yes. He would never have to be without her again.
"Thank you."
That felt so insufficient. But how did you thank someone for changing the course of your life forever? There weren't words for that sort of thing, even if he could be completely honest with her about how they met.
"You don't need to thank me for that, Will," Hazel insisted.
"I do though. I love you so much."
Will's entire heart had belonged to her since he was seven years old. It always would.
"I love you too."
He had a hard time letting go of her to order dinner after that. But he needed to keep his hands to himself for a few more days so he wouldn't upset her.
They went out to get a marriage license first thing in the morning, then went ring shopping. She got a ring shaped like a crescent moon filled with little diamonds rather than a traditional engagement ring, which made him incredibly sentimental.
Then Hazel insisted on going wedding dress shopping by herself. She didn't want Will to see it early and he wasn't about to argue with her.
Those three days of waiting passed incredibly slowly. He just wanted to be married already! No one would be able to take her away from him then. She would be his forever.
His heart was fit to burst when he saw her in her wedding dress. She had never looked more like an angel.
"Do I look okay?" Hazel asked when she noticed Will staring.
"You look like an angel," he said fervently, making her smile brightly at the compliment.
"You really are too over the top."
"I'm just honest."
They drove to the courthouse to get things taken care of. The ceremony itself was surprisingly short. The best part was when Will was allowed to kiss the bride.
They got a clerk to take a picture of them all dressed up. That one would definitely be going in his office!
Their flight to Washington D.C. wasn't until tomorrow morning, so they headed home. There was nothing stopping him from going further now. She said she wanted to wait until marriage and they were married.
Will was in perfect bliss the whole time and afterward. Hazel truly was perfection itself. He couldn't bring himself to let her out of bed for most of the day. They only went downstairs to eat lunch and dinner. They were on their honeymoon. This sort of thing was normal, wasn't it?
This was as normal as he would ever get. She was what made him more normal than anything else ever had.
Normal men thoroughly enjoyed their honeymoons. Which was exactly what he did, both before and after they made it to D.C. He loved watching her go as she got so excited about everything they saw at the Smithsonian.
They were there for a whole week before going home and checking out more of the tourist sites around Boston. They spent a good chunk of the summer doing that. Playing tourist and trying various restaurants.
Though they did take one more trip before school started for both of them at the end of the summer. They went to the Everglades and the Keys in Florida. They weren't too far apart to drive to.
Then it was back to business, though Will couldn't say it was as usual. This was far superior because after dealing with people all morning, he could go home and see the love of his life rather than having to deal with more people.
The homework load didn't bother him. Just the group projects.
She never gave him a hard time for complaining about them. She understood and accepted him better than anyone else ever had. Though he knew she wouldn't be able to accept all of him. He had to keep the darkest parts of himself hidden to keep her love.
That much was fine. Will accepted it when he was still a child. Hazel never would have been his friend if she knew his connection to the monster who haunted her nightmares.
She had still seen more of his darkness than most people and loved him anyway. She knew he couldn't care less about anyone but her and was easily annoyed. That never bothered her. She loved him all the same.
As long as he had that, he could deal with anything. His past was behind him. He had a lot of wonderful things to look forward to in the future.
Will had already planned a trip to Paris as a birthday/Christmas present for Hazel since her passport came through. She said more than once that looking forward to it was helping her get through the semester. He could relate to that. He was the same way.
It would be their first trip out of the country together. He had been waiting for that since they were kids.
He needed that light at the end of the tunnel because the people he had to do a group project with were driving him nuts during midterms. He couldn't do a thing about them either. He needed to maintain his reputation at this school, since he was stuck in Boston with this identity.
When Will got home after a particularly frustrating meeting with them, he flopped into Hazel's arms. "Save me. I hate people."
"What did they do this time?" she asked sympathetically as she led him to the couch, so he could lie down next to her and bury his face in her hair.
"Two of them didn't even bother to show up. One had a legitimate reason, the other didn't so much as text us. Then the other two were unfocused the whole time, chatting about football. Football! They can do that on their own time. Why did they have to waste mine?"
Hazel gently rubbed Will's back. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I've got you. Just relax."
He did under her soothing touch. But he was much more relaxed when she kissed him a little later on. That was exactly the distraction he needed to feel better.
How had he ever survived without this for ten years? Looking back, he had no idea.
At least Will would always have it moving forward. No matter what he had to deal with, he would be okay because he had Hazel.