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Stephen quickly checked Tony’s text again as he headed down the path to the herd’s bathing bay.
Meet me at the beach at sunset.
Stephen smiled. Tony’d been keeping secrets the last few weeks.
He wasn’t very good at it, if Stephen was honest. Not that Stephen planned on telling Tony that.
It had Stephen near-to-bursting with excitement. He conceptually understood that secrets could be a bad thing, but he just couldn’t reconcile those possibilities with Tony. And given Stephen had spent three months not-so-subtly hinting (demanding) what it was he wanted, he hoped that Tony’s secret—he suspected a proposal—was a step closer to his goal to finally marry Tony.
He didn’t really see the point of a proposal—he’d already done that, hadn’t he? Even if not by human standards—but he would gladly accept one if Tony really did feel like they needed to go along with that social more.
It would at least be an undeniable sign Tony really would marry him. Stephen wanted it so desperately, he thought it would drive him out of his skin. He closed his eyes at the thought, remembering the first and last time Tony had held his coat. He’d felt Tony’s soul in those moments, almost cradling Stephen. Could anyone blame Stephen for wanting that?
Common knowledge said the safest place for a selkie’s coat was in their own possession—Stephen had certainly never planned to give his away, who could he trust that much?—but a deeper truth was that the safest place for a selkie’s coat was in the hands of a beloved. And Tony… well, Stephen had no doubt Tony would keep Stephen’s coat safe until the day they died.
He’d give Tony his coat now, but he knew Tony would feel better about it if they were married first. It was a human thing, Stephen was pretty sure. He didn’t entirely understand it, but for some reason their names scribbled on paper and their union considered ‘legal’ made people feel more secure in their relationships.
And, well, Stephen might want it too. Meeting Tony had forced Stephen to acknowledge that he was, somehow, a romantic.
He turned the corner of the outcropping that protected the herd’s bay and froze.
The herd was gathered, split on either side of an aisle.
There, at the other end of the aisle, was Tony. Waiting for him.
Finally.