"Here is your winner, and new United States Champion: Luke Burnside!"

The crowd exploded around me as I watched a battered-looking but ultimately victorious rabbit lift the title belt over his head. Sweat was dripping off his nose and there was a nasty cut on his shoulder, but the look in his eyes was one of pure triumphant jubilation. I could tell because he was looking right at me, and giving me a smile that I've come to know all too well.

Of all the rabbits in the world, why did I have to fall in love with the one who's a pro wrestler?

Luke lead one last cheer before exiting the ring --his theme music still blasting throughout the arena-- and I got up out of my seat to go after him. A random passer-by looked at me and asked, "Going somewhere, foxy? There's still two more matches tonight." but I didn't respond. I just made my way to the backstage area, flashed my VIP badge, and tried to remember where the med station was. By the time I found it Luke was already inside, getting his shoulder stitched up.

"Hey champ." he said, a big smile on his face despite the obvious pain he was in.

"You're the champ now." I retorted, pointing at the belt sitting next to him. It was his first title here, and I could see that he was honestly getting a little emotional. I've never known Luke to cry, but his green eyes had a faraway look on them that I’ve only seen a handful of times. I sat down beside him (politely sidestepping the EMT working on his shoulder) and put my hand on top of his.

"Yeah, s'pose I am now. You enjoy the show?"

I kept up my smile as best I could, but my concerns couldn't help but sneak onto my face as I replied, "You know I hate it when you do ladder matches. You always get hurt in those."

Indeed Luke had managed to find the one sharp edge on that damn ladder and gotten himself cut. The medic had now finished stitching, and was cleaning the wound when suddenly she spoke up.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I need to make sure: did this happen during the match as well?" She pointed to what looked like an ugly, pale bruise a few inches from the cut. None of Luke's usual black fur covered it, and it was awfully close to the shoulder joint. Luckily, he and I both knew better than to be worried.

"It's just some old scar tissue, nothing to be worried about." he replied magnanimously. "But thanks for the concern."

The medic smiled and nodded, then proceeded to bandage the wound. The two of us killed the intervening time by discussing the highlights of the match: I love to watch Luke work in the ring, but I hate seeing him get hurt, so the matches tend to be a rollercoaster of emotion.

When she had finished, the medic waved us goodbye, leaving us all alone. Almost as soon as she was out the door Luke turned to me with a far more serious look in his eyes.

"Clay? Be honest with me: do you really hate me doing these ladder matches?" he asked, and the tone of his voice matched the look on his face. I squirmed a bit as I considered how best to phrase my feelings.

"I certainly don't hate you for doing them, if that's what you're asking." I began. "It's just… They're so much more brutal than the usual stuff, y'know? I know you train your ass off --I've seen you do it for years, for cripes sake-- but out of everything you do here, the ladders just look like they're the most dangerous." I looked up into his eyes, those rich green eyes that I fell for all those years ago. "I just don't want to see you get hurt."

Luke smiled and pulled me into a silent hug; he was still pouring with sweat, but I didn't mind whatsoever. All that mattered was that my arms were tightly wrapped around him, and his arms gently held me. A full minute passed without either of us saying a word, as we just embraced and felt each other's heartbeats. Finally he spoke, never breaking the hug while he did.

"I love that you're so concerned about me, and I love that you can be honest about these things. And most of all, I love you. You know that, don't you?"

I nodded, as little pinpricks of tears formed in my eyes and I quickly hid them by burying my head in his chest.

"I can't promise I'll never have another ladder match: they're a part of the business, and I'm not nearly famous enough to get some sort of exemption… yet. But I'll see if I can talk to the people up top, and explain that my wonderful, lovely fiancé is concerned about me whenever I'm in one. That at least oughta ensure I'm not one of their go-to ladder guys. Sound good?"

I nodded again, until I realized what exactly he had just said, and my eyes flew open. I slowly pulled out of the hug and hesitantly, almost breathlessly, asked Luke if he could repeat that last bit. He smiled and replied, "Yeah, the thing is, I told myself I'd do this whenever I won my first title, but I hadn't counted on a detour to the med station. So... the ring is actually still in my locker."

My mind was going a mile a minute, trying to process what Luke was saying, when he slid off the bench and knelt in front of me.

"But ring or no ring, there is something I would like to ask you. And it is very important."

My breath caught in my throat when he gently took my right hand and placed it in his.

"Clay Mitchells, will you marry me?"

I don't think I ever actually said yes. But only because I was too busy kissing him.

---

Apologies that this got delayed by a few hours, but this was one of the more amorphous stories I've done over the years. My original plans for this were completely different, but somehow as I was writing it this just seemed like the right way to go. Upside of that is I think the end-result is much better for it. Downside is that the rewrites took far longer than I would have liked.

Long-time watchers may remember Luke & Clay from waaaayyyyy back in the day when I wrote Hard To Get (link).

I've teased a continuation of that story several times over the past two years, and I did at one point have part 2 finished, but I ultimately decided to have their story reflect their writing, and do an in-universe time-skip of a few years. Nonetheless, this story is in canon with Hard To Get: we just didn't get to see the intervening years.

I'm glad these two are back on active duty as characters of mine: they don't really have any of the baggage that a lot of my other characters do, and they're an easy way for me to tap into my sappy side. Hope you guys didn't mind
The idea of Luke becoming a pro wrestler since last we saw him is one that I had relatively recently, but I think it fits his character and allows for some interesting dynamics with Clay.

Next submission on Wednesday. Y'all be good til then.

This story and your soul belong to me.