Sailor Proof (Shore Leave 1)

“We’ll hang extra hooks.” Laughing, he lightly tickled my ribs. “And here’s the bathroom.”

“A tub!” I beamed at him like he’d tiled the damn thing himself.

“I knew you’d love that detail.”

“I do. Tell me you told her yes.” I knew full well how fast good base housing options could go.

“I did. But there’s a tiny catch.”

“Oh?” I frowned. This couldn’t be good.

“I said we were engaged.” His voice was soft but even, not joking.

“Derrick.” I scooted away from his arm. “We’re not doing a fake engagement to get better housing.”

“Not a fake engagement. A real one.”

“Is this...” I trailed off because Derrick was sinking to his knees like this was a movie. My eyes went so wide, the stretch hurt. “You’re serious. Like this is actually happening?”

He nodded. “Arthur, will you marry me?”

“So we can get a sweet housing upgrade?” Even my jokes were shaky, but it was that or cry my way through a yes.

“No. So I can get a life upgrade.” He pulled out a little box. “I actually got these two weeks ago. I was going to ask you transfer or no transfer. You can see the receipts.”

“I trust you.” My eyes smarted anyway, the teasing not enough to keep my emotions at bay.

“Good. I wanted to marry you even if they sent me back out on a sub. I was only dithering over how to ask. Flash mob? Going viral?”

“We definitely don’t need to go viral.” I leaned down to kiss him. “I don’t need an audience. Or a sweet house. Or a transfer. Only you. This is perfect.”

“So...” he prompted.

“Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.” Words tumbling out, one after the other, I put us both out of our misery.

“You sure you don’t need to see the rings first?” His eyes were shining and his mouth wobbled as he flipped open the box to reveal two silver-colored rings that, knowing Derrick, were probably some special indestructible metal. Simple, but elegant. Probably more elegant than my nerdy self could pull off.

I carefully picked up the slightly smaller band, slid it on. Yup, instant class upgrade. “Wow.”

“Looks great.” Derrick slid his on, then placed his hand next to mine.

“We match.” My voice was giddy.

“We do. We can get them engraved if you want before we do this for real.” He put his hand over mine, making the rings touch.

“What do you mean real? You said this wasn’t fake. This is real and I’m never taking mine off.”

“Okay.” He gave me an indulgent kiss. “Sounds like a plan. And it is real, but maybe we can make it official soon?”

“I love that idea. I mean my mom and the aunts are gonna have kittens if we elope, but yeah, let’s do it soon. I don’t want to wait.” We’d both waited long enough. Rushing on this felt good. Right.

“Me either. And they can come. I’m not depriving your mom of an excuse for another Euler family gathering.”

“You’re so much nicer than me.” Tired of leaning down to kiss, I hauled him up next to me.

“I am.” He kissed my temple. “She’s going to freak out tomorrow, right? Moving and an engagement?”

“Tom—oh! The breakfast. Oh my God. Calder’s gonna have a fit, us upstaging his birthday.”

“Eh. He won’t mind the distraction. And he knows.” Derrick added that like it was no big deal when I knew it was. “I told him I was going to ask you.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about that. Like asking Calder permission would be weird, but I also understood that they’d been friends over a decade now and not telling him would have probably also been weird. “What did he say?”

“That he’s happy for me. And you. For all of us. And that it wasn’t his plan, but maybe it should have been.” Derrick squeezed my side.

“Ha. Of course he wants to take credit.”

“He also welcomed me to the family.” Derrick’s eyes sparkled as if he already knew my reaction, so I played into it with a horrified expression and loud groan.

“Oh God. You’re a Euler now.”

“This calls for cake,” he deadpanned, and I bopped him with a pillow.

“At least there’s no contest involved. Wait. Should I be worried about whether there was a betting pool on us getting engaged?”

“Everyone wins here.” He found my mouth for another kiss. “Especially me.”

“And me. I win too.” I grinned at him, joining our hands again simply to feel the rings brush. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you, Derrick Fox.”

“I love you, Arthur. I can’t wait to come home to you.”

“You already did,” I said right before I kissed him. Wherever he was, there would be home and the one place where I truly belonged.

* * *