HIM – I LOVE YOU

As the faint moon’s radiance shimmering through the open curtains fell upon the bed, it revealed two naked figures currently panting in short breaths. Lying next to each other, Aya rested her head on Tyson’s shoulder while the latter had one of his arms wrapped around her back. The two had long since abandoned their slightly youthful dispositions from the day they met, as both were currently twenty-six-years old. Aya’s appearance hasn’t changed much, but her gaze grew deeper, and her face carried air of pure maturity. Tyson’s body – which used to be bone-thin – attained some semblance of muscles, and his face had a full but thin beard.

“… hey.” Tyson mumbled softly as he tried to catch his breath.

“Hm?” Aya raised her head, glancing at him.

“Wanna get married?” Tyson looked down and said with somewhat deadpan expression.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“… khm.” Tyson coughed awkwardly as though to prompt her to answer.

“Eh? It felt that good?” Aya exclaimed, grinning. “Hm, Ty you little beast. Did you finally run out of ways to praise my groins and this was the only thing left?”

“… ugh.” Tyson grunted, rolling his eyes. “Khm, yeah, I mean your pu—hey, don’t change the subject! I’m being serious here!”

“… isn’t that far more depressing?”

“… yeah, it sounded better in my head.”

“How could it possibly sound better in your head?” Aya rolled her eyes at him. “Is your brain made of mush? ‘Uh, I know,” she imitated a gruff voice. “’I’ll bang her and, uh, uh, right after I’ll ask her to marry me! Brilliant!’”

“… you really like shooting down my ideas, huh?”

“Just the moment-spurred ones.” Aya said.

“Heh, you really think this is a moment-spurred one?” Tyson chuckled lightly.

“Humph, do you take me for an idiot? I don’t get you, though,” Aya said softly. “You always clear your history after watching porn – something I couldn’t give two shits about – yet you forgot to clear it when it came to marriage. How do you even do it?”

“… you saw that?”

“Oh, yeah! Romantic ways to propose, weird engagement rings, strange marriage avenues, funny ways to propose… by the way, what was with that ‘naked weddings percentage’ thing?”

“… I have nothing to say.” Tyson mumbled, looking away.

“No, I’m actually interested.” Aya said, grinning wickedly. “I was always interested… with Jared being so tall, was it proportional--”

“HEY!!!”

“Ha ha ha ha…”

“Goddammit woman…” Tyson grumbled, sighing. “I mean, I know it’s not the most romantic way to go about it--”

“Most?”

“I know there’s absolutely nothing romantic about it,” Tyson immediately fixed his mistake. “And I really, really did want to do something spectacular,” his voice suddenly softened as he looked at her. “Something that would not only stun you, but also convey at least five percent of just how much you mean to me. And I’ve been banging this retarded head of mine for almost a year, but I can’t come up with anything! Buy a star and name it after you? Fuck, as we’ll ever get to even know where the bastard is! Take you to the most expensive place in the entire city? Hell, you’d probably knock at my jewels with a high heel the moment I’d even bring taking you there up! Propose to you at the faculty? I’d die of embarrassment!”

“…”

“So, I kept thinking,” Tyson continued, sighing. “But, nothing seemed… worthy of you.”

“And this is?” Aya sneered.

“Shut up! Let me finish!”

“Aye, aye capt’in!”

“Ugh…” Tyson grunted. Will she ever grow up? More importantly… will I?!! “However, at one point, I really just wanted to propose, you know? I kind of stopped giving shit as to how, I just wanted to do it. But I still wanted to impress you! This, really, wasn’t in my original plans… but, I just sort of, you know, blurted out my thoughts at the moment… believe it or not, the whole time we were screwing, I kept screaming in my mind ‘I wanna marry you! I wanna marry you! I wanna marry you!’ over and over again. And, khm, we kind of ended in this situation…”

“… you could have just asked a year ago, you know?” Aya said, rolling her eyes.

“Heh, forget that,” Tyson shook his head. “I’ve decided to marry you a long time ago, but it took me a whole heap of years to muster the courage…”

“Eh?”

“Don’t ‘eh’ me! What if you said no?!” Tyson exclaimed. “No, wait, shit, what if you do say no?! Now I can’t even profess my thoughts because I might coerce you with my absolute desperation into pity! Fuck!”

“… pfft, ha ha ha,” Aya laughed out as she gently slapped his chest a few times. “I guess I’m flattered in a way… of course I’ll marry you, you idiot, but you gotta do better than this. I mean, come on, we’ve just had sex, we’re sweaty, we stink, we’re tired… we were supposed to be sleeping by now, yet you suddenly pop the big question! To be fair, though, you really did surprise me. Although I’ve been trying to predict how you’re going to propose for over half a year, I still never thought you’d do it like this…”

“… back up, back up, back up! You just said yes, right?!”

“… ugh,” Aya rolled her eyes again. “Who else will marry the wench like me?”

“You do know I absolutely low it when you self-deprecate yourself, but now’s not the time! Will you marry me?!”

“Yeah, why not.”

“What do you mean ‘why not’?! What’s with that ‘I may as well’ response?!”

“He he.”

“Tsk.”

“It’ll be our four-year anniversary soon,” Aya said softly. “I really thought you were gonna do it then.”

“I was planning to,” Tyson said, chuckling lightly. “I didn’t want to do anything complicated like last year and end up in prison, but I really wanted to make it special. You’re more important to me than anything else in the world, and I wanted to show you at least a little bit of just how much you’ve changed my life… hah, but this is fine too. You at least said yes.”

“… you said you decided you’ll marry me long ago,” Aya suddenly mumbled. “When was it?”

“… oh, that?” Tyson thought back to that dinner, and the conversation he had with the guys on the porch. “The very first time someone asked me what was my intention… I just blurted out to marry you, and I knew that was it.”

“I asked when! As in a date!”

“He he, a secret. A guy’s gotta have his secrets.”

“… I practically know your every fetish,” Aya said. “But you want to keep that from me?”

“Eh, fetishes are one thing,” Tyson said, suddenly stroking his chin. “It’s my subtle way of proposing kinky stuff I’m too embarrassed to mention to you. But this… it was my moment of enlightenment. Probably the only one I’ll ever have. Don’t probe further.”

“Alright, alright, I won’t mention it ever again.” Aya said. “Aah, this definitely wasn’t the way I imagined I’d be shipped off to someone… aah, my childhood dreams, the fairy tales, all those images and moments I conjured up in my head as a confused little girl… you’ve broken them all…”

“Hey, you don’t see me slashing a dragon’s throat while holding you in my arms and boldly proclaiming ‘Don’t you dare put your filthy claws on the woman I’ll marry, you over-sized lizard!’!”

“… you really do have a vivid imagination,” Aya said. “Wouldn’t it be the other way around, though? Me defeating the dragon while holding you in my arms and proclaiming ‘Don’t you dare have filthy thoughts about the rod of my dreams!’ or such.”

“…….. what do you mean rod?!! Where did the rest of my existence go?!! Is my dick the only thing of value to you?!”

“It’s amazing you still aren’t tired playing along with my antics.” Aya exclaimed softly.

“It’s more amazing that you still have sex with me at least three times a week after four years.” Tyson said. “That really takes something else.”

“… nah,” Aya said, snuggling deeper into his arms. “It only takes love.”

“…..”

“Wow, that thump was sure loud! Are you sure your heart isn’t having some sort of a problem, fiancé~~”

“… cough, cough,” Tyson coughed out the gulp of saliva he was about to swallow. “Khm, no, no, all is fine.”

“… you won’t feel awkward about exploiting the marriage system in the game anymore, right? Because I’m really tired of you whining all the time.”

“Awkward?! Fuck, I’ll buy the damn megaphone tomorrow and announce on the global chat that I’ll be marrying your perfect ass! Now we’ll see if those bastards will dare laugh at me any longer!”

“… they still think that I’m a guy and that you’re gay, though.”

“… it looks like I’ll have to send developers a suggestion,” Tyson mumbled. “To implement sending pictures through global chat. Then the two of us can take a half-naked selfie while you’re licking my ear and stun the whole world!”

“Watch out, your vanity is seeping out!”

“Oh no, better catch it!”

“I’m too pure!”

“If you’re too pure then every other woman is a fucking Saint!” Tyson exclaimed.

“You better canonize me as well so I don’t stand out like a whore!”

“If you call yourself a whore one more time I’ll really staple your mouth! Ugh, enough. I’m too tired for this shit…”

“Ah, me too…”

“… although I can’t offer you sun, moon and stars,” Tyson suddenly said as he sat up and lifted Aya into his arms, hugging her tightly as he pressed his forehead against hers. “Or even a hint of all the things you deserve, I’ll promise from the depths of my heart to do the best I can to make you the happiest person in the world.”

“I know.” Aya said, smiling; Tyson’s gaze landed on that smile and his heart stirred. Even after four years, that smile still managed to land him in the place of dreams. Although Aya was definitely pretty, nobody would call her a poster girl, or even a model-like beauty. However, Tyson was certain that even if an angel were to fall from the sky and smile at him, it wouldn’t be able to move his heart. Throughout four years, that smile held him up when sky pressed down. “You’ve been doing it all along, after all…”

Her hazelnut eyes, seemingly holding the vastness of stars within them and truth of the universe… her tender, playful voice, one he’d be able to recognize even if he was thrown into a mass of ten billion… her warm touch, hands which would prop him up whenever he was about to fall… he had seen many women who were deemed to be unparalleled beauties, capable of shaking and stirring even the coldest of hearts… he’d read stories about women over whom kingdoms fought and kings died and even gods fell from the sky just to see them… but, he’d long since realized that Aya was far more beautiful than all of them combined. Her smile exposed her white teeth as she tilted her head slightly, and he felt flame inside his heart that hadn’t waned since the day he’d first seen it. Encapsulated within that smile was love… love she’d given him unconditionally. Within it was trust, one through which she exposed her soul to him, and let him see all of her. Her strengths, weaknesses, flaws… her whole fabric of existence. She never once held anything back. Perhaps it was only his foolish thought, but Tyson truly believed there was no other person like her. With her around, no day was boring, no night was lonely, no winter was too cold, no fall too rainy… she who at first seemed so distant, aloof and void of emotion turned out to be someone who could encapsulate winds and rains of them within a single smile of hers. Thinking back to the day he met her, if he had refused to follow her, perhaps none of this would have happened. And it would have been the greatest mistake in his life. He always knew he was weak. When faced with something beyond him, he’d always run away, hide, bury whatever he felt deep down inside. But, she gave him strength to fly. She gave him unconditional love, trust and strength, supporting him no matter what. Tyson felt that even an entire lifetime wouldn’t be enough to pay back the happiness he received from her… but he swore he’d never stop trying.

“… I love you.” he said softly with hazy eyes as they grew slightly moist.

“… d-don’t tell me you’re going to cry. Humph, w-what a crybaby you are…” Aya mumbled, lowering her head as her voice cracked slightly.

“… I love you.” he simply repeated his words as he pulled her in, grabbing her tightly, afraid to let go.

“… I love you too.” she replied softly, her voice ringing by his ear like an angelic choir. His whole body stirred and tears of joy trickled down his cheeks, falling onto her soft, slender, exposed back. Not a moment later, he felt warm droplets fall onto his back as well, and his embrace tightened. Her arms wrapped around his back; two small arms, two smaller hands with interwoven fingers… Tyson knew, the pair of hands pressing against his back… held his entire world in their seemingly fragile, yet profoundly strong, palms. In the deep quiet of the night, beneath the shining rays of the beautiful, silver moon, the two locked together, neither uttering a word. Their heartbeats grew faster and louder, like a symphony accompanied by a perfect voice and words of a simple, yet strange, almost intangible, emotion.

Night fell deep, and the city slowly grew silent. In an apartment hanging six stories above the street, in a room seemingly simple and slightly stuffy, on a simple, wooden bed, two slept while tightly wrapped into each other’s embrace. The scene of tranquility was one no one would ever witness but the innumerable stars hanging in the vast expanse of the sky, and the solitary moon singing its rhapsody. All was quiet. All was serene.