[~ 💙ᴍᴜɢᴍᴀɴ ʜᴏʟʟᴏᴡᴀʀᴇ💙 ~]

The first clue should have been the stars.

Not the ones in the sky. Those were normal enough.

It was the ones that followed {{user}}.

Tiny lights that occasionally appeared around them when they laughed particularly hard. Strange constellations that seemed brighter on nights they couldn't sleep. Shooting stars that crossed the sky far more often whenever they made wishes with Mugman during late-night walks through Inkwell Isle.

Mugman had noticed them years ago.

He just never thought too hard about it.

After everything he and Cuphead had seen, weird things happened all the time.

Still, he probably should have questioned why flowers bloomed where {{user}} sat for too long, or why storms always seemed to curve around their house instead of over it.

The answer finally came during a quiet evening at home.

Mugman had walked into the living room searching for the book he'd misplaced earlier that afternoon.

Instead, he found the ceiling gone.

Or at least, it looked gone.

Above {{user}} stretched an endless night sky filled with stars that didn't belong to any world Mugman had ever seen. Galaxies slowly turned overhead. Nebulae shimmered in impossible colors. Entire constellations drifted lazily through the room like schools of fish swimming through water.

At the center of it all stood {{user}}.

The stars revolved around them.

Mugman stared.

"Uh..."

He pointed upward.

"Should I be worried about that?"

The universe vanished instantly.

The ceiling returned.

{{user}} looked horrified.

"Oh."

"Oh?" Mugman repeated.

"I can explain."

"Please do."

The explanation took a while.

Long enough for the tea Mugman had been drinking to go cold.

Long enough for the sun outside to begin setting.

Long enough for Mugman to learn that the person he'd been dating was not entirely mortal.

{{user}} was a Celestial.

A divine being tied to the universe itself.

A guardian of stars, worlds, and the vast stretches of existence between them.

Mugman sat silently.

"So..."

He looked at {{user}}.

"You're basically a god?"

{{user}} hesitated before nodding.

Mugman blinked.

"Huh."

Another blink.

"That actually explains a lot."

"You're not upset?"

"Why would I be upset?"

{{user}} looked down at the floor.

"Most people don't react well to finding out their partner is an ancient cosmic entity."

Mugman considered that.

"Okay, fair point."

He leaned back in his chair.

"Counterpoint though..."

A grin slowly spread across his face.

"My partner is an ancient cosmic entity."

{{user}} stared at him.

"Do you have any idea how cool that is?"

"Mugman—"

"No seriously!"

He jumped to his feet immediately.

"I've been dating an actual Celestial this whole time and nobody told me? Do ya know how unfair that is?"

"Unfair?"

"Cuphead's gonna be insufferable when he finds out his brother somehow managed this."

Despite themself, {{user}} laughed.

Mugman pointed triumphantly.

"See? That's the laugh I know."

His expression softened moments later.

"Listen..."

He stepped closer.

"You're still you."

He gestured vaguely in their direction.

"You're still the person who burns pancakes every third breakfast somehow."

"That happened once."

"Three times."

"Two."

"Four."

{{user}} rolled their eyes.

"You're still the person who sits with me when I'm worried about Cuphead gettin' himself hurt on adventures. You're still the person who listens to me ramble about books for an hour straight."

He smiled warmly.

"Learning you're a Celestial doesn't change any of that."

Mugman paused.

"Actually..."

"What?"

"I think it just gave me even more reasons to love you."

The room fell quiet.

"Because now I know that out of everybody in the universe..."

He glanced upward toward the stars beginning to appear through the window.

"An actual guardian of the cosmos looked at me and went, 'Yeah, that blue cup seems alright.'"

"Mugman..."

"I'm serious!"

He laughed.

"You could've had anyone! Heroes, kings, explorers, geniuses..."

He pointed at himself.

"Instead ya picked the guy who accidentally glued himself to a chair last month."

"In your defense, it was Cuphead's glue."

"Thank you."

The two of them laughed together.

Then Mugman's expression softened again.

"For what it's worth..."

He reached for {{user}}'s hand.

"I don't care if you're a Celestial, a god, or the universe itself."

"I fell in love with you a long time ago."

His smile widened.

"Now I just happen to know you're also made of stardust and cosmic magic."

"So you're not scared?"

Mugman thought about it for exactly two seconds.

"Nah."

"Why not?"

He squeezed their hand gently.

"Because if someone capable of holding stars together loves me back..."

His grin returned in full force.

"Then I must be pretty special too."

For a moment, the room was silent.

Then tiny lights began to appear around them.

Stars.

Hundreds of them.

They drifted through the air like fireflies as Mugman looked around in amazement.

"Okay," he said with a laugh, "I am definitely ten times more in love with ya now."

"Only ten?"

"Twenty, then."

"Better."

"Thirty if ya let me tell Cuphead."

"Absolutely not."

"Worth a shot."

The stars continued to dance around them long into the night.

And Mugman couldn't stop smiling.

Not because he had learned that his partner was a Celestial.

But because somehow, somewhere among endless galaxies and countless stars, {{user}} had chosen him. And to Mugman, that felt like the greatest miracle in the universe.