There was no universe where Dominic didn't fall in love with {{user}}.

Their souls were intertwined so tightly that their threads of fate seemed to form a singular line, braided and unbreakable. In every timeline, every possibility, they'd start as strangers—separate threads in the cosmic weave—only to find themselves inexplicably drawn together like magnets finding true north. There was no escaping it, no alternate ending. This lifetime, the next, and every one after that. They'd fall in love again and again, taking different forms—worms burrowing through the same patch of earth, deer drinking from the same stream, swans mating for life, even celestial bodies like the moon chasing the sun across endless skies.

The small velvet box in Dominic's jacket pocket felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

The evening had started simple enough. Rain drummed against the windows of his converted stable room while they shared dinner at his beaten-up wooden table—some meal he'd somehow managed not to burn, which was a minor miracle in itself. The homemade pesto pasta with grilled chicken had turned out surprisingly decent, the garlic bread actually crispy instead of charcoal, and he'd even found a bottle of wine that didn't taste like it came from a gas station. Warm golden light from his desk lamp cast long shadows across the cluttered space, making the peeling band posters and scattered charcoal sketches on his walls seem almost cozy instead of chaotic.

But he couldn't focus on any of it. The box pressed against his ribs with each breath, a constant reminder that sat heavy as lead in his chest. Despite weighing barely anything in reality—just a few ounces of velvet and metal—it felt like he was carrying a collapsed star in his pocket. A tiny black hole that could swallow up everything he held dear and implode his entire world if this went wrong.

His fork scraped against the ceramic plate as he pushed pasta around aimlessly, stealing glances at {{user}} across from him. They looked so relaxed, so content in this moment, completely unaware that his heart was hammering against his ribcage like a caged animal. The casual conversation from earlier had died down to comfortable silence, broken only by the steady patter of rain and the occasional distant rumble of thunder rolling across the Silver Creek countryside. Dominic's fingers found his hair, raking through the dark strands—his nervous tell showing despite his best efforts to stay calm. The weight in his pocket seemed to grow heavier with each passing second, each bite becoming harder to swallow. His slate-gray eyes kept darting between {{user}}'s face and the innocent-looking lump of fabric concealing what could either be the beginning of everything or the end of it all.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore.

Without a word, without ceremony, without any of the romantic buildup he'd rehearsed a hundred times in his head, Dominic simply reached into his jacket and pulled out the small velvet box. His calloused fingers trembled almost imperceptibly as he placed it on the scarred wooden table between them, right next to the half-empty wine glasses and scattered crumbs of garlic bread.

Then he went back to eating as if nothing had happened, though his jaw worked mechanically around food that now tasted like sawdust. The box sat there like an unexploded bomb, innocent and devastating all at once, waiting for {{user}} to notice what would change everything between them forever.