Later
"I am so, so sorry for what Grace did..." Ben mutters as he bows down, using his hand to force Grace to bow down as well. Astra and Caelus can't help but sweatdrop at the comically smoking large bump on Grace's head.
"It's okay..." Caelus mutters. "I...was so caught off guard."
He had every right to be. He knows Grace means to make some new inventions or robots with him, like a certain pink-haired menace from a fictional society where heroes are a job, but it sounded more like a proposal than anything. It didn't help that in his past life, he had no luck getting any bitches.
"I'm not sorry," Grace pouts. "He's a perfect partner for making babies."
"Grace, for the love of gods, please don't say it like that," Ben groans as he runs his paw through his face. If not for his fur, they could see him blushing in embarrassment. "Those words sound so bad when they were taken out of context."
"Why did you guys say that?" Grace asks, genuinely confused. "Both of us are inventors; we both build babies. If we work together, we could create an even greater baby!"
"...I thought our president was being rude when she called you single as hell; it was a complete understatement," Ben mutters quietly, making sure to cover his mouth to muffle his voice even further. Caelus, unfortunately, heard that and bit his lower lip to hold back his laughter.
"Please, can you be my partner and help build some amazing babies with me for our company?" Grace begs. "Or maybe you could spare me your drone and let me study it? I can pay you handsomely."
"Grace, we're already dealing with financial issues with the bidding for the demolition, and we have yet to pay our workers their monthly wages. We can't spend more money on research!" Ben scolds, earning a pout from Grace. "And if what you said is true about the energy source, then it might cost even more!"
"Actually, the energy source is simply converting the Ether Energy into a much more stable energy that I like to call Quantum Energy," Caelus explains, getting their attention. "And for the energy conversion, I simply use scraps from an Ether Energy weapon in my bedroom."
"..." Grace looks like she had met the love of her life before she suddenly appears in front of Caelus in a blink of an eye, holding his hand as she kneels and pulls out a ring made of scrap metal. "Marry me, my love!!!!"
"...this is on me; I should not brag," Caelus says in an 'I'm so done' tone as Astra laughs lightly while Ben facepawed in exasperation.
"Geez, what's with the loud commotion out here? I can hear Grace screaming from a hundred meters away," A short woman with spiky orange pigtails and an eyepatch on her right eye, holding a sledgehammer, approaches them before she blinks owlishly at the bizarre scene.
Grace is kneeling at a man, while holding a ring of all things. Koleda feels like the gears in her head are spinning loudly, trying to process the scene. Only one conclusion comes into her mind.
Grace is proposing to a man. Grace Howard, the supposed single-as-hell woman she had ever known in her life, is proposing to a man.
"..." Ben looks at the woman in concern as he could see smoke coming out of her head before she shakes her head and slowly approaches Caelus, staring at him with a serious expression.
"Brother-in-law, when is the wedding?" Once again, shadows cover the upper part of Caelus' face as he hears her words, while Grace has somehow managed to glow brightly, smiling with pure happiness upon hearing her sister approve the marriage with no hesitation. Meanwhile, Astra simply laughs harder in the background.
"Miss, I think you misunderstand something," Caelus responds nervously.
"Oh, I didn't misunderstand anything," Koleda says as she slams her hammer into her hand. "My sister finally found a love of her life, and I plan to support her till the end. And you'll be going to accept it, right?"
'Did Koleda of all people threaten me to marry her sister!?! What kind of weird anime filler plot is this!??!' Caelus screams in his mind as Ben decides to intervene by grabbing both Grace and Koleda by the back of their collar and lifting them.
"Alright, that's enough," Ben exclaims exasperatedly. "Don't bother the gentleman here with any marriage proposal."
"..." Caelus takes the chance to move away from them as far as possible, standing beside Astra, who is still laughing. All Caelus could do to her is to blankly stare at the superstar in disguise.
"What in the world is going on here? Why is everyone out of the construction site?" They all turn to see Anton walking towards them, rubbing the back of his head in confusion, before he glances at Caelus and he smiles widely. "Oh, Caelus. I wasn't expecting you here!"
"Hi, Anton," Caelus greets as Anton pulls his fist out and Caelus bumps it with his own, albeit with less enthusiasm.
"You know this young gentleman, Anton?" Ben asks curiously.
"Ben, this is Caelus, the hero of the Canvas Street!" Caelus groans as Anton introduces him to his coworkers with that title. "He's the one who beats the Dead-End Butcher and saves the citizens of Canvas Street from Vision. And he's the one who let us get the job!"
"Oh, my!" Ben widened his eyes in surprise before glancing at Caelus. "To think you're that Caelus. Thank you; you have no idea how grateful we are for what you've done."
"Don't be; Anton already thanked me." Caelus waves it off.
"So, what's going on? And why are President and Grace being hanged up again?" Anton asks curiously.
"Caelus, marry me!" Grace begs, causing Anton to freeze before looking at Caelus with a weirded-out expression.
"Don't ask me," Caelus mutters, while Astra just laughs. "You done?"
"I-I'm sorry..." Astra tries to stop herself, but a chuckle escapes from her lips, causing Caelus to sigh.
"We should take our leave," Caelus says as he walks away, before gently holding Astra's hand and pulling her away. Koleda froze at the scene while Grace continuously begged Caelus to marry her. Ben lets out a sigh, feeling glad that he prevented Caelus from getting into trouble with his date, or worse, causing a break-up.
As for Anton, he is proud that Caelus manages to get a girl and chooses to stay loyal to her by rejecting Grace's proposal. Still, he needs to get used to the fact that Grace, of all people, proposed to someone. He had thought hell needed to freeze over for that to happen, and yet she did it.
It seems Koleda may have put too little faith in her sister.
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With Caelus
"Are you gonna stop laughing anytime soon?" Caelus mutters in exasperation, looking at Astra.
"I'm sorry, but you have to admit, it was funny," Astra chuckles as they slowly walk in the street, both of them ignoring people who are staring at them.
"Not for me. I'm not ready to be anyone's husband, nor to have a child," Caelus grimaces.
"You know she didn't mean that, right?" Astra chuckles.
"With how she treats my drone, it will feel like that," Caelus deadpans, earning another chuckle from Astra. "...So, do you have any plan for today?"
"Oh, my," Astra says as she places her hand on her chest (A/N: the accursed Hoyo character model pose). "Are you asking for a date, mister? After rejecting someone's proposal?"
"Not a date, think of this as hanging out with a friend," Caelus explains. "Asking for a date is a step too quick, especially for both of us."
"You sound like you plan on asking me for a date," Astra smiles a bit, which Caelus simply returns.
"Not too soon, but maybe in the future. W-well, if you wanted to do it in the future..." Caelus mutters nervously.
"Hmm, it seems that I'll have to check my future schedule to prepare for our future date," Astra says, causing Caelus' brain to short-circuit.
"Ah, uh....huh!?!" Caelus asks in disbelief.
"But, for now, we'll stick with hanging out as friends as you suggest," Astra says with a wink before she grabs Caelus' hand and starts rushing off. "Come on, I have a place in mind."
"W-what do you mean by what you said earlier!?" Caelus asks in shock as they rush off, but Astra simply ignores the blushing man.
Meanwhile, from a distance, two unknown extras can be seen spying on the duo in the alleyway, wearing a cap and a facemask to disguise their face. Watching Caelus and Astra being together caused the duo nothing but jealousy.
This duo is a paparazzi who are secretly Astranauts. They overheard from the studio where Astra was working that she had taken a break, and decided to tail her. They have been looking around the square for hours, and only recently did they manage to find her. So, imagine their shock that Astra is hanging out with the Hero of the Canvas Street, Caelus, of all people. The amount of jealousy, combined with the inferiority complex, is immeasurable.
To make it worse, this didn't just happen once. They were caught together with her bodyguard and a random bunny Thiren not long ago. Seeing the two of them here only confirms their worst fear.
"Damn it, to think he would do something so scandalous!!" One of the Astranauts curses, comically crying while biting a handkerchief.
"This can't go on. My heart can't handle more of this..." The other whines pitifully before pulling out his phone. "We need to do something to separate those two. How about getting the Yuri lovers to rip him a new one?"
"...you can't handle him getting close to our star, but you don't mind the possible yuri?" His fellow Astranauts asks incredulously.
"Hey, sue me! Girl with girl are hot!" Before he could do anything, his phone malfunctioned. "What!? Hey! Why is my phone not working!?!"
"Did you even charge your phone last night?" He could only shake his head in dismay at his fellow Astranaut before pulling out his phone, and much to his surprise, his phone didn't work either. "What!?! Mine as well!?!"
Unknown to them, an invisible drone is hovering from above, emitting Ether energy waves to disrupt their phones, but not enough to corrupt anyone. Caelus watches the two idiots through his eyes connected to the drone's camera before turning it off and buying two cups of boba milk tea for Astra and him. All those two idiots could do was cry in despair, watching their idol 'get her heart taken away by a random dude.'
To be continued