Chapter Text
Clouds dot the sky like artwork, puffy and white like expensive cotton candy. A soft breeze pushes them forward, dancing over your warm skin. You take a deep breath, taste the salt in the air before you breathe out again, sinking a little deeper into your boyfriend's hold. This is nice.
“You like boats?” Shouyou asks, tired out by the champagne breakfast and the late night, still for once.
“Yeah,” you say, quietly, the words not quite wanting to come out. “I needed this. Just… peace and quiet. The warm sun on my skin and you to cuddle with.”
He pulls you closer. Drops a kiss on the top of your head. “Kinda romantic, too.”
“Mhm,” you close your eyes. “Just think what it would be like in the moonlight.”
-
The coast is barely visible in the dark, safe for the torches lit, highlighting the terrace of your hotel front.
“Uh, Shouyou?” You ask, watching as you get further and further away from the safety of the beach. “Where are we going?”
“Don’t know,” he admits, rowing. “But I wanted a good spot in the moonlight.”
“Why?”
He pauses. “Cause it’s romantic?”
“Not that romantic when we don’t find our way back and drown,” you mumble, a little scared in the dark, nothing but the ocean beneath you and the sky above.
Shouyou laughs, though he can’t quite hide the fact that he’s no longer sure of himself, dropping the oars back into the boat.
“Remember?” He asks, scooting over. “Our first vacation? When you said being on a boat in the moonlight would be the most romantic?”
“Well, I take it back,” you admit, slipping into his warmth. “I am a little bit spooked, to be honest.”
“Aww, no,” he leans back until he’s flat on his back, you pressed against his chest. “Look up, can you see the stars?”
And you can, twinkling above you. His heartbeat is strong in your ear, steadfast and steady. It calms you down further.
His shirt isn’t buttoned up all the way, making it easy to slip a hand in, to feel his warmth, to be closer. “Next time, we’ll take the boat during the day, yeah?”
“Yeah,” he breathes, wiggling a little. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing, I-” He falls quiet, his heartbeat spiking under you. “What? Shouyou? What is it.”
“I think I dropped it,” he hisses, panic loud even as he whispers. “I can’t have dropped it. Do you have your phone with you?”
“Yeah, why? What did you drop?”
“Can't tell you,” he scoots to the other end of the boat, fast enough to upset it’s balance and you squeak in shock at the sudden move. “Sorry!”
He’s breathless, panicked, rushed. You light up your phone and turn it in a circle, not sure how to help. Something shiny reflects back the light, and Shouyou lurches forward, miscalculating - he drops like a stone into the inky water.
Spluttering, he comes up, wincing when he finds you in the spot he occupied just moments ago. “I can explain.”
“Is that a ring?” You ask, picking up the object sparkling in the light cast by your phone.
“Yeah.” He accepts your hand, climbing back in. He’s cool to the touch. “Can you sit down? I don’t want you to fall in too when I get on one knee.”
“Get on one- SHOUYOU!” You gasp, stumbling a little. “What on earth made you think-?”
“You said it’s romantic,” he defends himself, picking the ring up from the floor and going down, drenched, hair sticking to his face. “Will you marry me?”
There is only one answer to his question, though you would have preferred to give it on land, him dry, his lips less salty.
But you love him, in sickness and in health, dry and wet.