Timeskip again cuz I want to end the story with proposal.
More notes at the end ^^
Ajax age 28, Lumine age 28
"Ajax, come on! Let's go already", Lumine called for Childe impatiently from the distance.
"Just a moment, Oujo-chan!", he told her as he went back to talk to his phone, "Scara, hurry up! The boat is about to depart."
His friend argued from the other line with a loud honking in the background, "shut up! You try driving from your apartment to the harbor in 5 mins!"
Signora added from his side, "Watch it, we aren't the one who forgets HIS proposal ring on HIS anniversary trip!"
Childe groaned, "I know, I know. Please, guys, be faster."
He hung up his phone when he saw Lumine coming towards him with a frown.
She frowned, "Ajax, I thought you have finished all your work?"
He laughed nervously, "haha, yeah yeah I did. They just wanted to make sure of some files. Nothing to worry about."
She crossed her hands in front of her and glared at his phone, "I know, work is important but it's our time."
He gently held her waist and kissed her forehead to ease her anger, "I'm sorry, Oujo-chan. I will turn off all work calls after this one, ok?"
She snuggled deeper into his embrace and sighed contently, "you'd better be."
He shifted her attention, "so, what do you want to do when we reach there? It has been a while since we have been there. The last time was when we first confessed to each other, right?"
She nodded and giggled, "I can't believe it has been 6 years since then."
He nudged her face with his nose, "hey, what do you mean by 'I can't believe'? Do you think we would not last this long?"
She laughed at his pout. She stood her tiptoes to give him a peck, "I meant it as 'I can't believe it has been 6 years since then'."
His pout turned into a small smirk, "it has only been 6 years. We are going to be together even longer."
As they leaned into each other again, a grumbling voice interrupted them, "oh wow! Look at that. When we were fighting with the time, he was having a moment."
Lumine stepped away with surprise, "Scara and Signora? What are you guys doing here? I didn't know you are coming along."
Scaramouche snorted, "no, we aren't. We are here because someone forgot his-"
Childe rushed and shut him up, "haha, yeah. Thanks for bringing me my keys."
Lumine raised one eyebrow, "keys? Didn't you have it in your backpack?"
When Childe sweated nervously, Signora got closer to distract her, "forget them, how have you been? Didn't you mention you have a surprise in the group chat?"
Lumine's cheeks tinted with blush and looked at Childe if he heard that. Thankfully, Childe was busy talking with Scaramouche about something in a hushed tone.
She looked back to Signora and answer, "l-later. I will talk to you girls later."
Signora was confused about her unusual nervous manner. She has never been nervous like this after she confessed to Childe. If she's behaving like this, it's something concerned with Childe. But, what could make her nervous like this? Then, she got a light bulb moment. She closed her mouth with both hands to silence her excitement.
When Lumine saw Signora's excited eyes, she blushed deeper and waved her goodbye, "a-anyway, I will get you souvenirs. See you Monday, Signora."
She called for Childe, "Ajax, let's go. Thanks for helping, Scara."
Childe waved his friends goodbyes as he ran after his girlfriend.
Scaramouche nodded back at him. He looked to his other friend who had been silent, "you alive? Why are you covering your mouth? Don't worry, I got used to your bad breath by now."
She removed her hands and slapped at him, "fuck you, my breath is fine."
He rubbed where she hit him and snorted, "then, what were you daydreaming?"
She looked back to her two friends and sighed in relief, "it looks like Lumine isn't the only one who is going to be surprised."
He raised one eyebrow, "what do you mean by that?"
She only smirked at him, "like she said 'later'."
~
The boat departed shortly after Childe and Lumine got onto the boat. They got comfortable in their seats and took some photos. After a while, they got bored from the sea view and went to their social media. Childe kept feeling his proposal ring box in his pants every 3 mins as if he was worried that he had dropped it.
Lumine gasped from her place beside Childe, "Venti and Barbara's duet song got into Top 3!"
She showed him the screen of the hit songs list. Indeed, their friends' duet song is in number 2.
He looked down to her phone's screen with a grin, "Really? That's awesome! I knew their talents would boost each other. It is hard to imagine now how they were oblivious of each other's feelings. It took her more than 3 years to notice Venti was her online crush, right?"
She smirked, "not to mention, it took her another 6 months to speak with him normally again. She would blush just from hearing his name and be panicked in a group chat when he just sent her a simple greeting."
He asked her, "how long have they been dating? Venti said three years but Barbara would just blush and deny whenever I mentioned that."
She giggled as she remembered how her friends reacted differently, "that's the problem. Venti said they had started dating the moment she noticed him as her online crush. Meanwhile, Barbara said they started dating only after their first date, which took place 8 months after the day Venti recognized."
Both of them gasped again when they saw another post on her timeline.
He howled with laughter, "oh my archon! Already? I am going to give them a call later."
The post was from Thoma. He was holding the camera with one hand, a year-old boy on another arm, and shy Ayaka beside him with a newborn baby in her hands.
While he was commenting his congrats on the post, she was touching the baby on the phone screen tenderly. Her eyes were soft and motherly.
When he noticed her silence, he called her, "Lumi? What's wrong?"
She snapped out of her daze and scrolled down her timeline, "nothing, I just thought there is some dust on the screen."
He took her lie and looked down at his phone, "so, Aether and Amber went to Natlan this year?"
She answered with a nod, "yep, Dain also."
He snorted, "I still can't believe how did he get his wife. We didn't even know when he started dating her. How sneaky. Are you sure they didn't meet each other from some matchmaking event? Hmmm, sus."
She slapped at his arm, "oh, shut up. He just wanted to make sure that she is the right one before introducing her with family. And, she is the perfect person for him."
He pouted when she defended for him, "wow! I'm feeling the love, Lumi."
She teased at his pout and squeezed his cheeks, "and, when will you stop being jelly? Every time I talk about him, you are green with envy. I am yours and he's married already."
He grumbled and placed his face between her neck to lay butterfly kisses. She giggled at his playfulness.
~
After they arrived on the islands, they got to their room, ... or they were supposed to.
"What do you mean you got mixed up?", Childe asked the front desk.
"The booking staff seemed to be mixed up with your suite and another two people", the staff tried to explain while worrying about incoming complaints.
Lumine inquired from the side, "so, they got our suite but the room we get will still have 2 beds, right?"
The staff nodded with a nervous face, "yes, Miss. The only differences would be the bed, bathtub-"
Childe interrupted, "forget it then, we want a new suite."
Noticing his growing anger, Lumine held his hand and squeezed which he replied with a squeeze as well.
The staff gulped and lowered the graze, "I apologize. Since it is holidays, no other suites are available."
Childe's chest puffed with anger. Before he could say anything, Lumine put herself in front of him and spoke with staff, "we will take the room we get, then."
The staff immediately nodded and turned back to get the room key.
Childe spoke to her from behind, "Lumi, why don't we just camp out like we used to?"
She looked back at him and shook her head rapidly, "no!"
He was confused by her strange denial but shrugged off, "fine then, we are moving the two beds together", and talked with the staff about room service.
When his attention on her is gone, she moved her hand to slowly rub her belly unconsciously.
Childe sighed after he had moved two beds together in the center, "there, done."
Lumine teased him from the side, "I think, you are going to fall in between them."
He looked back at the beds and grumbled, "fucking single beds."
She giggled, "at least, those two people are having a fanfic moment by now."
He smirked at her, "we could have our moment, too."
She threw a towel at him, "no, don't even think about it. I want a shower without you."
He complained but she just stuck her tongue out at him and entered the bathroom.
After making sure that she's showering, he called to the front desk to check with his other preparations.
~
"You aren't swimming?", Childe asked again for the third time in a row.
Lumine sighed, "yes, Ajax. I'm fine as I am."
He spoke again, "but, you like swimming, Oujo-chan."
She just shrugged, "I just want to sunbathe sometimes."
He added, "but, you aren't taking off my hoodie. Believe me, I love seeing you in my clothes but sunbathing in a hoodie is not the norm."
She just wrapped herself tighter in his hoodie, "I don't want to take it off."
He was confused at her behavior. She was never shy about her body. She always enjoyed swimming with him. What changed?
Knowing that she wasn't up for questioning, he just lay down beside her.
"Ajax?"
"Yeah?"
"Aren't you going to swim? You said you even wanted to surf", she asked him.
He turned to look into her eyes, "as if I would leave you alone here."
When she turned silent, he just lay back and closed his eyes.
She spoke after a moment of silence, "then, I'm going to apply sunscreen on you."
He nodded at her with a smile, "please do."
~
After having dinner that night, Ajax took her out in the garden where he had arranged several balloons, candles, flowers, etc.
But, the sky was rumbling with thunders above them.
"Ajax, are you sure that we can walk here? No one is here beside us", she asked him as she followed his lead.
He chuckled at her, "why? Scared that we might get in trouble? Where did my troublemaker Oujo-chan go?"
She glared at him, "she is still here but I don't want to get in trouble when we are adults!"
He looked back at her with a smile, "relax, we are almost there."
She was about to ask where but she noticed flower petals lane and fairy lights leading to somewhere deeper the garden.
She was gasped as she took in the lights and flowers, "wow, ... this is so beautiful."
Then, she turned back to him, "Ajax, I think we are on someone's event. We should leave now!"
He stopped her and was about to talk but a drop of rain fell on his nose. They looked up and several drops of rain fell.
"Ajax, let's just go back already", she told him with a worried tone.
Noticing that her mood had changed, he discarded his plan and led her back to their room. They got showered and changed clothes. While watching a movie, he heard her soft sleeping sound so he turned off the TV and kissed her forehead softly before getting up.
He was disappointed that his proposal plan was failed. He re-arranged with hotel staff for his proposal tomorrow. Then, he glared at the rain and cursed inwardly.
~
Childe was awakened from his sleep when he heard a vomiting sound. When he didn't see Lumine anywhere, he stood up from the bed and rushed to the bathroom. He found her vomiting uncomfortably.
"Lumi?", he called out to her as he gently rubbed her back. She only gave him a small look before she vomited again. He noticed that her eyes were teary and she looks so tired.
After she's done, he helped her washing her mouth and face. When he led her back to bed, she snuggled into him and grabbed his shirt tightly, "Ajax, I feel dizzy."
He worriedly rubbed her head, "what happened? Did you eat something different? We ate the same dinner and lunch yesterday."
She shook her head on his chest, "nothing. Just keeping rubbing my head."
He followed her instruction and before long, she went back to sleep again. He silently grabbed his phone to change his plan to propose during the boat ride at sunrise.
Since she didn't want to go out, they just cuddled in bed all day. When it's noon, she insisted that they would have dinner in the cafeteria, "I'm fine, Ajax. I just had a bad headache."
He spoke while holding her in his embrace, "I'm just worried. We had the same meals so you weren't food poisoned. Was it because of rain?"
She slapped his back lightly, "jeez, stop being a worrywart. I feel better now."
He rubbed his nose into her hair and sighed, "fine, we will go."
She smiled and pecked his lips before getting up to change. He quietly texted in his phone to prepare the hotel's instrumentalists to perform a song when he proposes.
~
It's going well. The instrumentalists were playing songs that Lumine likes. She was smiling and laughing with him. She seemed to be in a better mood than in the morning. She was also enjoying her ... fruit dinner? For some reason, she wanted to eat fruits rather than exquisite hotel meals. He slowly took out the ring box from his pants. As he was about to stand up, they heard a loud commotion near their table.
"Leave then! I don't want to spend another night with you on the same bed!", the woman shouted.
"Happily! As if I wanted to sleep with someone who took up all the space. Oh, and news flash! You snored in sleep, too", the man retorted.
The woman turned red with embarrassment and anger.
Lumine whispered, "I think we found who got our room." They chuckled.
Then, the woman started throwing food at the man and the man threw back some. The staff tried to control the situation but the romantic atmosphere from earlier is gone.
Childe groaned and glared at the couple. Lumine saw his growing anger so she took his hand to go for a walk.
"Ajax? Come on, I want to get out", she called him softly.
His attention turned to her. When he saw her pleading expression, he nodded and held her hand, "yeah, let's just go."
~
Childe was getting frustrated. His proposal plans were kept getting interrupted. The time is running out, too.
He was shaken out of his mind when Lumine ran back to him with some fireworks in her hands, "Ajax, let's light these up."
As their sparklers lighted up, a smile appeared on her face. He just silently stood there as he adored her all over again. A small yellow light of sparkler reflected in her golden eyes. Their background was dark, only her shape's lighting up solely. He recalled how they first met, how she looked adorable, how they would cover for each other, how she looked stunning that day when they confessed to each other, how she was possessive of him whenever someone hits up on him and how his family loves her.
And, when she looked up at him with a grin, he would forget his breath. He raised his hand to hold her cheek softly and leaned in. Her eyes closed for him and their lips met. He feels refreshed whenever she's near him. He let go of his sparkler onto the sand and hugged her waist tightly. She also shifted her hands to hug him back. Their kiss wasn't aggressive or light but it was full of affection and love.
He slowly leaned back and gazed into her passionate eyes. He recited his proposal lines multiple times but now, he couldn't recall anything. The only first thing he could recall was, "be mine, Lumine."
Her eyes widened slightly. His serious yet affectionate expression reflecting in her eyes. He continued, "from the moment you entered my life, I have found a new purpose. To keep you happy and smile by my side."
He got down on his one knee, "I love you, Lumine. So much that my heart feels full whenever you are near me. I never wish to be parted from you, from this day on. Be mine through the thick and thin of life."
Then, he presented her the ring, "will you conquer life challenges with me?"
Her golden eyes shone with joy. Her delighted smile was priceless for him. She too got down on her knees and held out her hand, "I'd love to, Ajax."
As glee and affection filled the two of them, he put on the ring on her finger. Before he could lean in to seal the deal with a kiss, she stopped him with a giggle, "wait, I have something for you, too."
He raised his eyebrows when he saw her took a small rectangular box. She gave it to him with a shy blush as he took it with confusion.
When he opened it, he felt like his heart stopped there. His mouth agape with incredulity. Inside it was a positive pregnancy kit and a simple postcard saying 'will you start a family with me?'.
His shaking hand slowly picked the test as if he's worried that all of this might run away. After checking it was positive, tears welled up in his eyes as he looked up to her. She was covering her mouth as her eyes were teary, too.
When she gave him an affirmative nod, he picked her up and stood up with fulfillment. He yelled out a big "Yess!" with a wide grin. He wrapped her tightly and swung her body as laughter filled the atmosphere. With her arms around his neck, she tried to tell him to be careful but his infectious laughs made her laughed along with him in no time.
He carefully put her down on her feet and pecked her lips before getting down on his knees again to caress her belly tenderly. He spoke with a grin, "hey there, baby. I'm your daddy. How are you today?"
She laughed at him as her fingers ran through his hair, "Ajax, he or she can't hear you yet."
He didn't reply to anything. He's just feeling her belly as if he could see the baby if he stared hard enough.
He looked up at her with a smile, "how far are you?"
She touched his cheek affectionately and answered, "just 7 weeks. Don't worry, you didn't miss much."
He switched his eyes to her belly and leaned into her touch, "I'm going to spoil both of you so much."
She giggled at her fiancé, "happy anniversary, Ajax."
He lay a gentle kiss on her belly and stood up to hold her face in both hands, "you filled my life in every aspect. Thank you, Lumine."
She just smiled at him tenderly before standing on her toes to let their lips meet each other. His lips were gentle but full of care and passion. His fingers stroke her cheeks with much endearment. When they broke their kiss, smiles took on their lips.
He whispered to her excitedly, "I'm going to be a father."
She snorted playfully, "and, I'm going to be a mother."
They chuckled at each other's statements. He asked her softly, "is that why you vomited this morning?"
She nodded, "yeah, that was my first-morning sickness."
He nuzzled his nose with hers, "I will be with you every step."
She playfully kissed his chin, "you'd better be."
After a moment, he sighed, "I should have prepared a more romantic proposal to the mother of my child."
"What do you mean-", she stopped to think, "wait, those balloons in the garden, the instrumentalists- you did that?"
He nodded with a pout, "they would have been more romantic than proposing while playing with fireworks."
She pecked his pout, "no, as long as it's you proposing, it's romantic to me."
His smile returned, "you always know what to say."
She buried her face into his chest, "of course, I'm your partner after all."
He pulled her closer and kissed her head, "and you will be my wife soon."
~
Thanks for reading to the end!
I wanted the story to be just fluff and fun so if it was short for u, I'm sorrryy TvT
Also, should I do oneshot of how Barbara found out about Venti was her online crush? I will do one extra chapter for side ships if anyone wants it. Plz let me know in comments or I am active on Twitter, @lilychan176 (LilyChanリリ)
I will be working on for another story 'We weren't supposed to be main characters' now.
Give it a try if u have time. Main ship is still Chilumi.