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Being in a relationship with a game engineer has its perks, Arisu thinks. There's the gossip, sure, and Niragi has a lot more insights into what's happening behind the scenes. But it's being a game tester Arisu likes the most.
Not on any of those massively popular games Niragi sometimes works on. The ones with the non-disclosure agreements and the secrecy. But on smaller ones, especially those indie games Niragi particularly enjoys being part of, because he gets to be more creative here, and more involved in a lot of different aspects of the game. Those, Arisu gets to test under the watchful eye of his boyfriend, gets to give his own input on how it looks and how it feels, but especially gets to see Niragi be proud of the things he does, which is the main reason Arisu likes it so much.
They do this from time to time, sitting together on the couch or next to each other in front of Niragi's gaming PC, with Arisu playing and Niragi watching. It's not necessarily a regular occurrence, but it has also happened enough times that it's not something novel anymore, something Niragi has to be anxious about.
Which is why Arisu really doesn't understand why Niragi is all restless and fidgety this time, sitting next to him on their couch with his eyes glued to the screen. Arisu thinks it's not that exciting to be honest, just some dungeon that doesn't even have any real enemies yet. It's more about how it looks, Niragi had explained to him, it's about the atmosphere and how navigating it feels. Which is fine, but nothing to be especially nervous about. The game's far from finished, and Arisu knows this, and even if it was, he wouldn't be harsh in his judgement, never was before, so he really doesn't understand Niragi's current behavior.
He places his controller into his lap before turning to Niragi, who's still staring at the screen, his thumbs against his mouth, and chewing on one of his fingernails. "Are you okay?"
Niragi's eyes flitter over to him, and his cheeks turn red. He nods, but only answers a "Hmmm", before turning back to the TV. Arisu sighs but knows not to question Niragi too much on this, not if the man clearly doesn't want to talk about it.
Instead, he continues investigating the tunnels. Finally, the path turns wider and Arisu enters a big overgrown cavern that has a small opening to the outside world, with soft moonlight shining in on a small lake with a tiny island in the middle.
"Oh, this is pretty", Arisu breathes softly as he takes in the small specks of white flowers dotting the grass that's bordering the shore. When he looks over to Niragi, he sees the corners of his mouth shift slightly into a tiny smile. "Did you do the concept art for this?"
Niragi nods and Arisu takes another minute to just stare at the scene in front of him. He already knows that his boyfriend is incredibly talented, not only when it comes to coding but also in the creative department as well, but knowing and actually seeing it first-hand are two completely different things.
Carefully, he navigates his character closer to the edge of the lake. He almost doesn't enter it, afraid that it will disturb the calm and peaceful scenery, but he's noticed a chest on the small island that he feels he should investigate.
The water doesn't seem to be deep, his character wading through it slowly, so Arisu gets to take in the beauty of the place a little longer until he arrives at the center of the lake. The chest isn't locked, which is a relief because Arisu doesn't have any lockpicks with him. When he opens it, a page of parchment appears on the screen.
Y L E E Y Y
O Y T S E M
R L M I I R
U I E P L R
A H U E M N
S W K P A A
R E M H A D
I I O A A N N
U O H T A E
Arisu squints at it. "Is that a columnar transposition cipher?"
Niragi hums, and Arisu thinks he sounds proud and also a little relieved, but he's too focused on the actual message to pay it any mind. He tries to remember everything he knows about those ciphers: Used by the military; easy to use in Morse Code; frustratingly hard to crack if you don't have the key.
The key.
Arisu tries to open the chest again, but it seems to be empty. Then he looks at the parchment, but finds nothing except the code. He takes a few steps back into the water and turns around slowly. He doesn't think the key would have appeared earlier, the scene in the tunnels too rudimentary and the cave too detailed. The key has to be here somewhere.
After looking around but not finding anything of notice, Arisu considers asking Niragi for help but something tells him not to. That this is the reason Niragi is so nervous. That he wants Arisu to figure this out himself.
He chooses to return to the little island but stops short when his gaze falls onto the soft moonlight falling through the opening, highlighting the chest in the middle of the lake.
Moonlight.
He grins before looking around their living room for a pen and a piece of paper. He finds them conveniently placed on the couch table and suspects that Niragi had stashed them there beforehand.
He grabs the paper and writes down MOONLIGHT before frowning. Each letter of the word corresponds with a number, usually in their order in the Latin alphabet and it takes Arisu less than a minute to write down the corresponding numbers underneath the key.
M O O N L I G H T
5 7 8 6 4 3 1 2 9
He then copies the code from the screen onto the paper and writes the numbers 1 to 9 vertically next to it, ending up with:
1: Y L E E Y Y
2: O Y T S E M
3: R L M I I R
4: U I E P L R
5: A H U E M N
6: S W K P A A
7: R E M H A D
8: I I A A N N
9: U O H T A E
Now he takes those rows and orders them according to the numerical order indicated by the key. Instead of writing the rows horizontally, he places them vertically underneath the corresponding number.
What he ends up with takes his breath away.
5 7 8 6 4 3 1 2 9
A R I S U R Y O U
H E I W I L L Y O
U M A K E M E T H
E H A P P I E S T
M A N A L I V E A
N D M A R R Y M E
He looks up, speechless, and is met with Niragi's expressive dark eyes.
"Oh my god", Arisu breathes. "Are you serious?"
Niragi just nods. He's staring at him, hopeful but also uncertain, and Arisu can't have that. He places the pen and paper onto the table and throws himself into Niragi's arms, burying his face in his shoulder.
Arisu can feel some of the tension leave Niragi's body as he chuckles and wraps his arms around Arisu, holding him tight.
"Oh my god", Arisu says again, his voice caught by the soft fabric of Niragi's shirt. "Oh my god, how did you even do this?"
"Had a little help from some of my colleagues. Took us a few months and a lot of free food, beer, and sake on my part, but yeah ... I wanted it to be perfect for you."
"It is! Oh my god, it's so perfect, you have no idea!"
Niragi laughs softly. "You know you still haven't really given me an answer, right?"
Arisu looks up, smiling and gripping Niragi's shoulders tightly. "Yes! Obviously, it's yes. I mean... oh my god, how could I not marry you? No one's ever done anything like this for me before!"
Niragi chuckles. "I would fucking hope so", he says but his voice is gentle. He raises his hand and swipes along Arisu's cheek. His finger comes away glistening, wet with tears that have started streaming down Arisu’s face.
♡
"This isn't going to be in the actual game, is it?", Arisu asks later when his tears have finally subsided. He's sitting between Niragi's legs now, with his back against his chest and Niragi's arms wrapped tightly around his middle. He can't stop staring at the screen, mesmerized by how much detail they've put into it.
Niragi chuckles and presses a kiss to his neck. "No. This is only for you."
"It's not going to disappear?"
He feels Niragi shake his head. "Think of it as a DLC, but one only you get to have. So that when eventually this game comes out, you'll be able to play it with this little place hidden away in there, and only you get to visit it."
Arisu turns around and kisses him. "Thank you", he finally whispers against Niragi's lips. "It's perfect."
He's sure Niragi knows he isn't only talking about the game.