The air in Ted and Marshall's apartment smelled of the future—or so they wanted to believe. It was New Year's Eve 1998, just hours away from 1999. The smell of stale eggs, beer, and the persistent notes of festive songs on the radio marked the classic party. Like most of their parties, it had started with ambition and ended in a familiar, sticky chaos.
"I can't believe Lily threw up in my favorite ice skating boot!" exclaimed Marshall, swaying slightly as he held the dirty boot as if it were a wounded animal. "It was a basketball... well, a limited edition boot, and it has the signature of... my cousin."
Lily, though pale from her recent bodily expulsion of food—now recovered—sank into the sofa with a blanket. "In my defense, your weird cocktail... plus the food... so much we ate, it was a very bad combination. And don't sign your sports stuff, Marshall; it's kind of sad."
"It's nostalgic," he corrected, carefully placing the boot on the floor. "Like our love," he finished dreamily.
"I threw up on your nostalgia," murmured Lily, but a small, guilty smile appeared on her lips.
In a corner, Alyx watched the scene while quietly and efficiently collecting plastic cups. Her relationship with them at that time was just over a year old. She had come into their lives after meeting Lily at a strange art exhibition when Alyx had sneaked away from her school's field trip to the National Museum. Upon meeting her, she pretended to be older, not lost, and they became friends. Later, Alyx decided after graduating—shortly after meeting Lily—to go to the same university, which led her to share an apartment with the four of them and become the "sensible one" who organized their schedules and pointed out when they were being idiots.
But at some point, without anyone planning it, she had become something more—the glue, like a third leg on a table that never wobbled. This led to Marshall adoring her with the devotion of a big puppy, and Lily... Lily had adopted her as the younger sister she never had, in the context of Lily trying to help her remove red wine stains (though Alyx knew Lily's method might leave bigger stains than the original wine spots).
However, that night, Alyx felt a restlessness she couldn't shake. This ending year had been good, but with the weight of knowledge she shouldn't have, she knew that stability was an illusion. She didn't remember exactly when—it wasn't like in fanfics where people remembered everything in minute detail and could even dominate the world and manipulate people at will. She only remembered fragments of a future where this apartment, this messy happiness, could crumble. She didn't know how or when exactly, but the feeling was a knot in her stomach. Every laugh from Marshall, every affectionate gesture from Lily seemed like a fragile treasure that time would snatch away. And that night, on the eve of a new year, she felt a desperate need for a pause, to stay in that moment a little longer, or to create an anchor that would always bring her back here.
"Alyx? Everything okay?" Ted's voice pulled her from her thoughts.
"Yeah, just... cleaning the turkey aura," said Alyx with a forced smile that Ted didn't question. No one questioned her when she put on that face; since they'd known her, they understood that when her thoughts wandered, they likely didn't lead to possibilities she liked.
Her gaze settled on Lily, who was now resting her head in Marshall's lap as he clumsily but lovingly stroked her hair. She saw the picture of unity there, and against all odds or logic, she wanted to be inside that frame—not just as a visitor or an extra in the shot, but as a fundamental part of the landscape.
"Hey," she said, and her voice sounded firmer than she expected as she approached them, speaking only to the two of them, not seeing what Ted was doing in the kitchen.
She pulled from her pocket a small blue velvet box that she had bought weeks ago, saving it for a moment that never seemed to arrive. Though nervous, her hands remained steady.
"Lily," she said, getting closer to the sofa. "This is for you."
Lily sat up, confused. "For me? But... it's not my birthday."
"It's better," said Alyx, and this time her smile was genuine, though her eyes shone with an intensity only she understood. "It's a promise."
Lily straightened on the sofa and, taking the box in her hands, opened it. Inside, on a small silk cushion, rested a pair of silver earrings. They weren't large or flashy but elegant and simple, with a shape that resembled a teardrop or a leaf, depending on how the light hit them. They were perfect for her.
"Alyx, they're beautiful," whispered Lily, touching the cold silver with her fingertip.
"They're a promise," Alyx repeated, now looking at both Marshall and Lily. "A promise that... no matter what happens, no matter how disastrous, ridiculous, or scary things get... we three are a unit. A ridiculously cheesy and indestructible family." She paused, feeling the words came from a deep and true place, one mixed with her current love and the future pain she intuited.
"These earrings are like an oath... If you ever doubt, ever get lost, or believe this is breaking... look at them. And when you see them, you'll remember that you have us, that you have a home with us, always."
The silence that followed was the most eloquent the apartment had experienced all night. Marshall's eyes were wide and a bit teary; he was visibly moved. "Alyx, that's... that's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard," he said, pausing while his emotions settled to continue, "Apart from the time Lily told me my calves were sculpted by the gods."
Lily didn't say anything. She just got up from the sofa, with the earrings still in the box, and wrapped Alyx in a hug so tight it knocked the breath out of her. "I'm never taking them off," she murmured against Alyx's shoulder, and Alyx could feel the moisture of tears that she hoped weren't from sadness.
When Lily pulled away, she put the earrings on right there. The silver shone softly against her skin.
"What time is it?" she asked, smiling through the tears.
"One minute to go!" shouted Ted, checking the time on the clock, still shaken by the most emotional display he had ever seen in his life—and more surprisingly, that it came from Alyx, seemingly out of nowhere.
So, with this, they all gathered by the window overlooking the street, waiting for the fireworks to burst. Marshall put one arm around Lily and the other around Alyx, pulling them both against his warm side. Ted was excited, already on his phone calling his current crush, the love of his life at that moment.
And when the clock struck midnight and the sky exploded in light, the three—Marshall, Lily, and Alyx—remained there, embraced. For Marshall, it was a perfect moment of expanded friendship and love. For Lily, it was confirmation that she had found something bigger than a couple.
As for Alyx, it was a spell—a desperate and beautiful attempt to use a small piece of silver to hold back time, to solder her bond with the couple tightly, and to try to prevent the painful future she remembered with the reminder of this promise.
Marshall, more cheerful from the new year and the night's alcohol, didn't quite grasp the weight of those earrings. He only had a vague memory of Alyx's emotional words that day, not the promise made. For him, it was a precious gift, a symbol of Alyx's big heart. But he couldn't see the fear, the premonition, and the plea that Alyx had fused into the silver. He only saw the love, which, though present, wasn't the main thing. And in that moment, with his arms around his two girls and the sky lit by many fireworks, it was enough.
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