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“Xing.”
He feels a nudge on his tail, then fingers gently poking at his shoulder. But he’s so sleepy after a full day of hunting fish for the festival tomorrow.
The poking stops, like the poker is considering himself, but then it starts again, accompanied by some insistent whines of his name. Yixing squints his eyes open, seeing that the ocean sky is still so dark, concluding that it’s not morning yet. Then a finger pokes softly to his cheek.
“Myeon?” He drawls sleepily, seeing a pout forming on his boyfriend’s lips. He adjusts himself on their hammock, putting his arm on his boyfriend’s waist, hugging him. “What is it?”
His boyfriend hugs him back, laying his head on Yixing’s bare chest. Then he can feel something rolling on his chest. He sighs, cupping Junmyeon’s cheek with his palm, his thumb swiping every pearl forming from Junmyeon’s tears.
Junmyeon’s face is slightly contorted in a frown with a very cute pout. Yixing can tell from his face that whatever is bothering him is not serious, so he couldn’t help but to mimic the pout, which makes Junmyeon pouts harder as a response. Yixing chuckles before giving a peck to that pout.
Junmyeon lays his head back on Yixing’s shoulder, fingers poking at Yixing’s chest.
“A bad dream?” Yixing asks, to which Junmyeon responds with a nod. Yixing asks again, “Want to talk about it?”
Junmyeon takes his time, so Yixing revels in laying in the calm waters with his boyfriend. The current is just right, swaying them slowly. In the distance he can hear cries of their neighbor’s newborn merbaby. He was just about to go to sleep again when Junmyeon said.
“Will you still love me if I’m a bird?”
That question pulls Yixing out of the sleepy state he is in. He looks down to Junmyeon still pouting face, furrowing his eyebrows. Junmyeon looks back at him but stays silent, not taking back his question.
“Did you surface recently?”
Junmyeon answers with a little head shake.
“Read another article about birds at the library?
Another head shake.
“Bird related nightmare?”
Junmyeon sighs, “I just remember that time.”
Then it’s Yixing’s turn to sigh. He pats Junmyeon’s shoulder softly, trying to soothe his boyfriend. That time refers to that date they had when Junmyeon didn’t research properly about the place. They wanted to surface to watch the sunset, but it turns out there’s a flock of birds doing their hunting.
Still new in their relationship, they both were a bit reluctant to change the location since they planned it beforehand. There were lots of birds but it was okay, but at one point a gull faltered and hit Yixing’s head. Yixing remembers how sorry Junmyeon was, it was the first time he saw Junmyeon’s pearls.
Since then, they always avoid going to the surface.
“I mean,” Yixing says, “you can’t exactly turn into a bird, I guess.” He pulls Junmyeon deeper into his chest. He loves his boyfriend more than enough to indulge on some hypothetical questions but he’s really tired.
Junmyeon whines, then glares at Yixing, demanding him to answer.
Yixing then chuckles, then boops his nose onto Junmyeon’s. His boyfriend is just too cute. “Of course I’ll still love you. I will surface everyday to see you even with the threat of more birds pecking my precious scalp.”
Satisfied, Junmyeon smiles a little then snuggles into his boyfriend, getting ready to sleep again. But then he opens his eyes after it dawns to him, and he gets up, leaning on his hands and tail. Yixing just looks at him with sleepy eyes.
“Does that mean that you’ll love me despite whatever would happen?” Junmyeon asks.
Yixing, confused, just nods and says, “Yeah?” Nothing big ever happened in this village where they live anyway.
“Forever?” Junmyeon asks again, which Yixing nods to.
Junmyeon licks his lips, a nervous habit inherited from their human ancestors. He thinks for a full amount of five seconds then blurts out, “Should we get married then?”
Right then Yixing truly wakes up. He scoots back a little so he can sit and see Junmyeon clearly. “Are you– are you proposing right now? Was that a proposal?”
Junmyeon licks his lips again, then he swims to the wardrobe pouch where they store their things and rummage in the lowest one. He retrieves a small pouch, which Yixing knows comes from one of the jewelry stores in town.
“I’ve been collecting my pearls,” Junmyeon says bashfully. “Please accept my offering.” With his two hands opened, he presents the pouch towards Yixing, who is gaping.
“Oh, Junmyeon,” Yixing says in disbelief. His hand trembles just as he reaches for the pouch. He opens it carefully, revealing the string of Junmyeon’s pearls with hooks on both ends. Then he couldn’t help but laugh, happiness bubbling in his heart. “Of course I accept,” he says, before pulling a widely smiling Junmyeon into his embrace, kissing his face repeatedly.
They pull apart and smile at each other. “Help me put this,” Yixing puts his right wrist over the string. Junmyeon smiles then kisses Yixing’s wrist, then he hooks the string, making sure it’s neither too loose nor too tight. He clasps Yixing’s hand, admiring how a part of him adorns Yixing.
That hand goes up to cup Junmyeon’s face, caressing his cheek, then pulling him on a sweet kiss. They both couldn’t stop giggling and laughing between their kisses, and in the middle of it they both start crying tears of joy.
“My darling,” Junmyeon says while swiping Yixing’s pearls. Then Yixing yelps, stopping Junmyeon’s hands and catching his pearls.
“I need to collect these and make one for you too,” He says with a little giggle, still sniffling and smiling brightly.
Junmyeon mirrors that giggle and smile, kissing Yixing again.