Archive of Our Own

The off season in Tasmania is the best time of year, if you ask Chris. It's calm, quiet, and peaceful, all the things he appreciates about living here.

He'd been living in Tasmania now for a solid five years — he settled down at a place near Kingston after taking a job as a park ranger and a part time job as a lifeguard. His reputation for being a good junior lifeguard back at Manly certainly helped, and his days were spent enjoying the great outdoors.

Though right now, more than anything, he wants to stay indoors.

This thing with Felix was new and a bit scary, but scary in the exciting sort of way, not in the way that usually made Chris want to curl up into a ball and disappear. They'd been doing everything backwards thus far — a one night stand turned into sex almost nightly for the last few months, each night spent at either his place or Felix's — and even though it had been going well, it was obvious that they both wanted more. Chris had promised Felix that they would start to do things the proper way.

Maybe not right now, though.

Not when Felix's naked body against his own felt like heaven, with the sun just barely creeping over the horizon, both of them nestled down under the covers. Felix's pink little chubby feet were trapped between his shins, his cheeks smushed against the pillow they somehow ended up sharing in the night, his body covered in clothes borrowed from Chris. As he stares at Felix's pretty sleepy face, he can't help but smile.

It would be the perfect start to doing things properly, Chris thinks, if he could wake Felix up with sweet kisses, maybe breakfast in bed. He doesn't have work as a ranger today, and his shift at Seven Mile doesn't start till a little later in the morning. Felix doesn't have work at the bakery today, either, so maybe they could go for a nice morning swim at Kingston Beach after breakfast, maybe get a late lunch at Robbie Brown's later, too, once he got out of work.

Or, he could call out.

Sam had mentioned to Chris that he wanted more shifts, and Chris felt like today would be a good day to maybe take Felix to the Salty Dog for dinner. Felix had mentioned loving their strawberry ice cream pie, and maybe they could take some to go before they ended up back at Felix's place for the night.

Chris carefully reaches over Felix to grab at his phone on the nightstand. He rests his arm on Felix's body with the goal of multitasking — he can hold Felix like this and keep him close while sending a text to Sam to take his shift — and when he sees that Felix continues to sleep away, he smiles in victory.

me

yo

hyunzales

still want extra shifts?

sam

yo

chan

are kangaroos incapable of moving backwards

me

dude what

sam

sorry

clearly i've been hanging around peter too much

the answer is yes

what time

me

10 to 2

half shift

i can take one of yours if you want

sam

nah

i need all the shifts i can get

and you already have a full time job

ranger rick

i'll take yours

you gonna call kai or should i

me

i'll text him

i'm not calling

he's probably still at jennie's

sam

lololol

defo

good call

have fun on your day off

tell felix i said hi

Chris smiles, shooting a quick text to their boss to make him aware of the shift change. He's extra careful as he puts his phone back on the nightstand, and when he resumes his spot next to Felix, the blonde is wide awake, his big, round, pretty brown eyes blinking at Chris sleepily.

"Time issit?" He croaks. A small shiver runs up his spine at Felix's sleepy tone, rockier than normal due to the early hour.

"Seven," Chris admits with a twinge of regret. "Sorry, was just giving my shift to Sam."

"Shift?" Felix parrots, blinking slowly once more. "You took the day off?"

Chris smiles. "I did, little one. Thought we'd make this the first day of doing things right."

That seems to wake Felix up a bit. He shimmies closer to Chris in bed, rubbing his feet along his shins. "Oh? And do what?"

"Well, if you can stand it, I'd like to make you breakfast in bed. Then maybe we could go on a morning swim at Kingston, if you'd like. Do lunch at Panko Chan's, and maybe dinner tonight at the Salty Dog?"

Felix stares at him. "Mate. You woke up early just so you could plan our whole day?"

"I didn't wake up early on purpose," Chris snorts, squeezing Felix's feet with his legs and trapping them there. "Someone decided to rub their freezing toes all over me."

"S' not my fault you don't turn the heat all the way up. You live near the coast." Felix pouts.

"Oh, is that why you cuddled so close to me all night, then? Cause you were cold?" Chris sighs with faux betrayal. "I thought it was cause you liked me."

"I let you fuck me ten minutes after we met," Felix scoffs, "I think you know I like you plenty."

"Well good," Chris hums, leaning forward and rubbing their noses together. "Cause I like you plenty, too."

"Enough to really make me breakfast in bed?" Hope coats Felix's voice. "Because your bedroom is actually like, fucking freezing, mate, and I can't move until you either turn the temperature up a little more or turn that shit off."

Chris kisses him. "Sure, baby. You stay here."

"Mmmm, baby. I like that." Felix kisses him back once before he pulls away, his eyes falling shut as he curls up further in an attempt to further burrow himself into the mattress. "Kay, you can go now. We have a busy day, and I know how you are about your schedules."

"So considerate," Chris coos teasingly. He untangles himself from Felix's limbs, peppering his face with kisses before he heads into the bathroom to freshen up.

Making breakfast for Felix is a pretty easy task. He loves cut up fresh fruit and he loves anything Chris cooks, so he makes a small fruit salad and a stack of chocolate chip pancakes. Despite his earlier promise of eating in bed, Felix insists they eat at the dining table "like civilized adults," and he joins Chris at the sink to help wash and dry the dishes. They get distracted for about ten minutes putting the dishes away, mostly because Felix hopped his butt up onto the counter and blocked the cabinet in favor of getting Chris to make out with him instead.

"I like this," Felix murmurs when they finally part. "This whole 'doing it properly' thing. Feels nice."

"Least I could do since we started this whole thing a bit backwards." Chris smiles, his eyes on Felix's pouty kiss-swollen mouth.

"I liked that we did it backwards, too, though." Felix muses. "Don't know if I could've waited for you to wine and dine me before ending up in your bed."

Chris shrugs. "It is a very nice bed."

"It's nicer with you in it," Felix smirks at Chris, curling a finger in the waistband of his boxer briefs and tugging him closer. "It's nicer when we're both in it."

"Are you saying we should go back to bed instead of going on a morning swim?"

"I'm saying I'd like to suck your dick before we go on a morning swim, if that's alright with you."

All Chris can hear in the next second is the sound of Felix's laughter as Chris bends and hauls him over his shoulder. He stalks down the hall to his bedroom while Felix plays the drum on his butt, and Chris can't help but smile.

This off season is going to be one he'll never forget.

+

Chris is smiling at his phone when he should be watching the beach.

Felix had sent him a photo himself in Chris's bed, smiling as he lays shirtless among the pillows and sheets, flashing the camera and Chris a kilowatt smile. It had nearly killed Chris to leave him in bed this morning, but he quite liked the idea of Felix waiting in his house for Chris to come home to, Felix surrounded by all of his things.

Sam shoves at his shoulder, nearly tipping the buggy they're in over on its side with the force of it.

"Hey! Watch the water, quit texting your pretty boyfriend."

Chris rolls his eyes but puts his phone down in the cup-holder and picks his pair of binoculars back up, focusing back on the ocean. They're parked toward the edge of Kingston Beach, right before it becomes Tyndall, while the other lifeguards on shift — Eric and Jake — man the lifeguard tower.

Kingston's pretty par for the course this time of year, and other than their usual regulars — Kenneth, the guy who jogs every morning in a brightly colored budgie smuggler, the group of five or six experienced surfers, and the hippie ladies who do 'sunrise' yoga on the beach at different times of the morning — everything is pretty calm.

Still, you can never be too lax when it comes to the off-season.

"You said you can make Felix's gift in time, right?" Chris asks, checking the western side of the beach for any rip currents.

"Yeah," Sam says offhandedly. "I can probably finish it by tomorrow night, actually. Did you have anything you wanted to add to it?"

"I've got some more receipts and stubs in the toolbox in my Jimny. Whatever you can use would be nice."

Sam hums noncommittally. "I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll probably use all of them."

A big brown blur catches his attention, and he directs his binoculars to the rocks at the base of the cliffs near the end of Tyndall. He's quick to put the binoculars down and grabs the field tube and his phone, attaching his phone to the mount and using the field tube to zoom in.

As the image begins to focus, Chris already has an idea of what he's looking at, but under no circumstances did he expect to be right.

"Oh no fucking way," he hisses, putting the field tube down and practically ripping his phone from the mount. He grabs for the work phone on the dashboard, dialing Kai's number. "Not this fucking guy again."

"What is it Chris?" Sam asks, worry coating his tone. He grabs for the field tube as well, mounting his own phone to look near the cliffs. "Is someone in trouble?"

"No, but we're about to be." Chris grumbles. He picks his phone back up, shooting a text to his boss Matthew at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

"What is it?" Sam asks, still trying to get the field tube to focus.

"Fuckin' Neil the Seal!" Chris groans.

If this mammal ruins his plans to have a perfect off-season with Felix, Chris will be this elephant's seal worst nightmare.

"No way!" Sam exclaims.

"Way!" Chris bemoans.

Kai finally answers on the fourth ring. "If this is Sam, no I'm not ordering you lunch."

"It's me," Chris sighs, already frustrated. "He's back. I just spotted him near the cliffs at Tyndall."

There's silence from Kai's end of the line for a moment, but eventually he says, "Please tell me you're joking."

"I wish I was." Chris sighs. "I already texted my boss at the department, so they're aware. He hasn't come on land yet, but he's here."

"He's like, two weeks early." Kai groans. Chris can hear shuffling on his side, and he can only imagine he's heading towards the storage locker to pull out the usual signs and cones.

Not that it'll make much difference.

"Do you want Sam and I to close down Tyndall?" Chris asks, turning the buggy on. "We can head back to the tower."

"Yeah, that's probably for the best. I'll load the cones and signs on the truck and meet you there in a few." Kai sighs. "Matteo isn't going to be happy about this."

"I don't think anyone's going to be happy about this," Chris sighs. "Sam and I are coming in. See you in a few."

He hangs up as Sam settles back into his seat, putting the buggy in gear and heading back toward the tower.

"Maybe it won't be as bad this year," Sam reasons, a twinge of hope in his voice.

Knowing Neil, they're going to need all the hope they can get.

+

"After six months at sea, Tasmania's most adored, rambunctious, and sleepy mammal is back."

Chris scoffs, changing the channel.

The six year old elephant seal was anything but adorable, but he certainly was rambunctious and sleepy, choosing to take rest wherever he saw fit and damage whatever he saw fit, too. In the week that Neil's been back alone, he's managed to upend seven bollards, take down three street signs, destroy two fences, dented two car bonnets, and knocked over an entire phone box. That doesn't even begin to cover the damage at the beach, either.

Felix laughs a little, curling into his side. "Why don't we get out of the house?"

"Because Neil's outside wreaking havoc on the island." Chris grumbles, pulling Felix closer and laying backwards on the couch. Felix's couch isn't as big as his own, but it's still plenty comfortable, and Chris closes his eyes, squirming as he gets settled with Felix on top of him. "Besides, I like being here with you."

Felix hums, nuzzling his cheek into his chest. "I like being here with you too, but I would like you even more after I eat. I'm getting a little hungry."

And well, Chris can't turn down the idea of taking Felix on a little lunch date.

They end up at Panko Chan's since Felix has a craving for their scallops and the hojicha creme brûlée. Felix and Chris are huddled close over the menu when his phone vibrates on the table. Chris doesn't even blink when Felix reaches over to check the caller ID before answering, too busy with trying to decide if getting a tonkatsu ramen along with their tempura fish and chips is going to be too much food.

"Ranger Bahng's phone, this is his secretary speaking." Felix says sweetly in a high pitched tone. Chris can only assume it's one of their friends, otherwise Felix would've handed the phone to him to answer himself. There's a pause as Felix laughs, then says, "Yeah okay Kai, I'll ask him, one sec." Felix turns to Chris with a smile. "Kai wants to know if you'd be okay working at Kingston Beach instead of Clifton for your shift on Thursday."

"Sure baby," Chris nods, resting a hand on Felix's thigh. In his mind it's worth it, since Felix will be spending the night on Wednesday, and Kingston's closer to his house than Clifton is, and that's forty less minutes of his day that Chris will have to spend without Felix.

"He said he'll do it," Felix tells Kai, then pauses, giving Kai "uh-huh" and "mhm" answers to whatever he's saying. "Okay, sounds good. Thanks for calling, Kai. Have a good one!"

Felix places his phone face down on the table, then scoots his chair closer to Chris. "Kai said he's probably gonna make more changes to the schedule because of Neil."

Chris scoffs. "No surprise."

"I thought there were more of you this off-season though?" Felix asks, intertwining their fingers.

"There are, but Sam's been asking for full day shifts, so he gets some days off because of it. There's plenty of full time staff to help, but mostly everyone else is part time, and he has to be fair with the distribution."

"Well, Kai did also say he was going to call Matthew to make sure that he didn't schedule you too much around your ranger shifts."

"Fine by me," Chris pats Felix's thigh. "Means I get to stay at home with you more."

"Sappy," Felix teases, but rests his head on Felix's shoulder all the same. "If you want to get married just say that."

Chris snaps his gaze to Felix. He knows his face is probably beet red even as a dopey smile crosses his face. Felix is probably just teasing, but Chris still has to know, "You wanna get married?"

"Would that be so bad? I mean we practically live in each other's pockets, and I answer your phone like, all the time. You reply to the texts I get more than I do. Your mum loves me, my mum loves you, and if I was a girl I'm pretty sure I'd already be at the end of my first trimester."

Chris scans Felix's face and finds no hints of teasing at all. "Okay. Well, can you wait a few months for me to propose?"

Felix frowns. "Why a few months?"

"We have to wait for Neil to leave, honey. I don't want him ruining our special day. Plus, I think a spring wedding would be really nice, and if you haven't noticed, I'm pretty impatient. We'd have to go from proposal, to engagement, to wedding pretty quickly."

"Okay," Felix smiles. "I'm a size 'L' in rings."

"Diamonds?"

"Hmm…not necessary, but I wouldn't say no."

"You'd definitely prefer gold though, right?"

"Obviously."

"And our last name?"

"I can take yours or we can hyphenate." Felix shrugs. "Doesn't matter to me."

"Okay," Chris says with a dopey smile, turning back to the menu. "Tell your mum I'll call her tomorrow."

Felix lets out a happy noise as he rests his head back on his shoulder. "I think this is still doing things backwards."

"Yeah but we're on a date," Chris points out, "So it cancels itself out."

"You've got this all planned out, don't you?" Felix snorts.

And the things is — Chris kind of does. Backwards or not, things are going great with Felix. It's been easy to be with him, they've been on the same page and moving in each other's orbit so well it's crazy that they've only known each other for few months. Felix is it for Chris, even if Chris has yet to express that to Felix in words. He fully intends to tell him the truth of how he feels, and soon.

But he should probably still call Felix's mother, just in case.

+

Chris is sleeping peacefully with Felix wrapped around him like an octopus when his phone vibrates on the nightstand.

He thinks maybe it's Felix's mum calling him back. Felix had said his mother was overseas for a work trip, so the early hour would make sense.

But then Chris squints one eye open, and the second he sees it's Matteo, his stomach twists.

"Hello?" He whispers, trying to keep as quiet as possible as to not disturb Felix's sleep.

"Chris," Matteo sighs, "I'm really sorry. It's Neil."

"What?" Chris groans, knocking his head back into his pillow. "What is it now?"

"Dawn patrol went to pull out the surf rake at Clifton, and —"

"Are you telling me he broke the fucking rake?" Chris says, louder than intended, and immediately shushes Felix from where he begins to stir.

"No no no," Matteo rushes out. "He's in the blade of the tractor and he won't move. Kai's there with Brian, but they can't get him to budge. We were hoping, since he listens to you and all, that maybe —"

"He doesn't listen to me," Chris deadpans, already trying to figure out a way to pry himself from Felix's embrace, even though it's the last thing he wants to do. "He gets fed up with me shouting at him and runs away."

"Well, then we need you to come here and shout at him until he runs away." Matteo's frustration is clear, but he's still polite when he tacks on a, "Please? I'll cover your shift for tonight if you do."

"Fuck me dead." Chris grumbles. "Alright. I'll be there in a bit."

When he hangs up, Felix squeezes at his torso at tightly as he can. "Where are you going to be in a bit?"

"I'm sorry honey," Chris turns, pressing dozens of kisses to Felix's forehead. "Matteo called. They need me at Clifton."

"Neil?" Felix nearly whines, his voice still as rough and as deep as a stormy sea in the early hour.

Chris nods, pressing another kiss to Felix's forehead, then the bridge of his nose, and the spot just below his eye. "Yeah baby, Neil."

"Ugh," Felix groans, trying to stay latched to Chris. "No. You can't go. It's too early."

"I know sunshine, but I promise I'll be back as soon as I'm done. I don't work today, and Matteo's taking my afternoon shift, so I'm all yours once Neil pisses off."

Felix peeks one eye open, the singular iris razor sharp as he stares at Chris. "You'd better come straight home."

Chris has the smarts to be just a little scared. "I will."

"With coffee. And breakfast."

"Duly noted."

"And you'd better take me out to dinner as an apology." Felix sniffs, shutting his eye. "At The Beach House."

Chris shakes his head with a fond smile. "It's a date, baby. I'll make a reservation."

"Kay," Felix yawns, releasing Chris from his tentacles. "Go tell Neil to piss off."

Chris grumbles at the thought of the damn toddler, dropping a kiss to the apple of Felix's cheek. "You bet your pretty little ass I will."

+

"Neil!" Chris groans, jiggling the handle for the blade attached to the tractor. The blade raises just an inch more, the entire tractor shaking when Neil thrashes in the curve of the blade, not allowing it to raise off of the sand any further.

Chris can hear Kai laughing.

"Chris," Brian tries, and even he's fighting the giggles. "Maybe we should just concede this one to Neil. We'll just have the morning shift rake the beach once Neil fucks off."

The thing about it is that Chris is stubborn. He wants to be able to go home to Felix with coffee and breakfast and their dinner reservation and a tale of victory.

And he's not going to let a six year old elephant seal boss him around.

"C'mon mate!" Chris shouts again, his voice echoing in the early morning air. "Will you just get up and move?!"

He jiggles the handle once more, meaning to just say 'fuck it' and lift Neil into the air and drive the tractor to the sea so he can dump the brat into the ocean, when miraculously, Neil gives a big bellow and just…

…rolls right on out of the blade and onto the sand.

Chris watches in amazement as Neil scoots away on his belly, not quite heading for the ocean, but certainly heading away from the surf rake and away from Chris.

"Huh." Chris gapes a bit. "That actually worked."

"We knew he'd listen to you," Kai sounds far too smug for Chris right now.

"Thanks man," Brian says once Chris has shut off the tractor and has his feet back on the sand. "We owe you one."

"I'll cash in on that now," Chris flashes a toothy grin. "Felix wants coffee and breakfast."

Kai rolls his eyes, but shoos Brian and Chris away as he climbs onto the tractor.

When they climb into Brian's beat up Land Cruiser, Chris pulls out his phone and makes their reservation at The Beach House, then shoots a text to Felix to let him know he'll be coming home shortly with all of Felix's spoils.

And if his chest is puffed out just a bit at his success when he gets home, Felix doesn't seem to mind.

+

By the time they stumble through Felix's door later than night, nearly tripping over their feet as they remain embraced and Chris is kissing Felix like he's trying to breathe him in, Chris finally understands what it means to feel like someone's floating on cloud nine. The entire day had been perfect — minus Neil disrupting their morning — and now he and Felix were at Felix's place.

Felix laughs at Chris a little as his hands skate up Felix's sides, pushing his shirt up and over his head and tossing it onto Felix's couch as they move towards his bedroom. "Aren't you sick of sleeping with me yet?"

"Not a fucking chance," Chris seizes his mouth to prove his point, fingertips pressing into Felix's hips. He steers Felix towards his bed, laying him back against the covers gently. "I could never get sick of you."

"Never?" Felix makes a noise of surprise as Chris props his body above him, bending his head to attach his mouth to the pretty expanse of skin at Felix's neck. "That's an awfully long time."

"Forever's longer," Chris nips at the skin of his shoulder, next. "Eternity, even."

"You're really hellbent on this spring wedding, huh?" Felix laughs, gasping when Chris shuffles down his body so he can lay between Felix's legs. His tongue licks at Felix's nipple, his thumb coming up to rub at the other.

"Course I am," Chris kisses his sternum. "You'd look beautiful in a spring wedding. Why? Feel like eloping?"

"Slow down, tiger," Felix giggles, high pitched and bell like, his fingers tangling in Chris's hair and tugging gently. His eyes flick up, taking in Felix's pretty flushed face. "We're still skipping a few steps."

"I'll get us there," Chris slips his hands into the waistband of Felix's sweatpants and pushes them down, taking his cute little briefs along until they're bunched around Felix's thighs.

"After tonight, right?"

"After," Chris nods, then bends his head and takes Felix's cute cock into his mouth.

The way that Felix sighs sends a pleasant shiver up his spine. It takes no time for Felix to hit the back of his throat, and instead of gagging, Chris swallows around it, hollowing his cheeks and sucking, squeezing at Felix's thighs where they bracket his head. He's sure to keep his teeth out of the way as he uses his tongue to massage the underside of Felix's cock.

"Chris," Felix moans, upper body thrashing as he tries to keep his lower half still as to not dislodge Chris. "Please."

He can tell Felix is particularly sensitive by the way punched out moans begin to fall from his lips, so Chris withdraws just enough to give him some relief. He nearly goes cross-eyed when he can taste Felix's arousal as it drips along his tongue in the next second, and resists the urge to take him back down his throat for more, keeping his focus on Felix.

He looks up at him from under his lashes, sees the way Felix's eyes are scrunched shut, his pretty mouth parted and his freckled cheeks tinted pink. Chris squeezes at his thighs to capture Felix's attention. It takes him a second, but Felix eventually opens his eyes, his expression blissed out when their gazes finally meet.

Chris blinks slowly, confirming Felix is watching as he takes him back down his throat, fluttering his lashes once his lips are flush with Felix's pelvis, breaking eye contact to press his nose into the neatly trimmed hair and swallow once more.

"Fuck!" Felix practically squeals, his fingers pulling tight at his hair. "God, I love it when you do that."

Chris does it again, massaging the underside of Felix with his tongue once more, hollowing his cheeks as he begins to bob his head up and down in short motions. He wants Felix to come, wants to taste him and get him nice and relaxed so he can be wonderfully floaty and empty-headed by the time Chris gets inside of him.

"Close," Felix pants, legs twitching in his hold. "Can I —"

Chris hums his affirmation, and a deep, beautiful laugh echoes from Felix's chest, evening out into huffed breaths as his body tenses. When he comes, Chris is ready, burying his face into Felix's pelvis and taking his cock down his throat. He doesn't pull up until Felix is pushing at his head for reprieve, and Chris is slow to pull off, swallowing and taking a gasping breath of his own.

Felix reaches for him, pulling Chris up his body until Felix can kiss him, shoving his tongue in his mouth to chase after the taste of himself. Chris makes a small noise of surprise but melts into Felix anyhow, bracketing him with his body and holding Felix close.

"You're so good at that," Felix says between kisses. "I love it when you get eager."

"Love it?" Chris asks, "Or love me?"

Felix pulls back, round eyes blinking at Chris for a moment before he narrows his gaze. "Nice try, Ranger Rick. You're gonna have to do better than a post-blowjob confession."

"Oh I will," Chris smirks. "Just testing the waters."

"They're tested." Felix rolls his eyes, shoving at his shoulders. "You can make your confession whenever your big romance plans are meant to happen. Now take your clothes off. I'm naked and you're still fully clothed."

"Yes darling," Chris obeys sweetly, kissing Felix square on the mouth.

As he shucks off his shirt and takes in the dazed look on Felix's face, he has a pretty good idea of what his 'big romance' plans are going to be.

+

At this point, Chris knows for certain that Felix loves three things very, very much.

Ice cream, video games, and his family.

He figures for their first "official" date for the sake of doing things the right way round, a nice ice cream date isn't a bad idea.

He's just gotten out of the shower after work in Wellington Park when his phone rings. It's not on silent, so when he hears the familiar Animal Crossing background music, he answers the call with a smile on his face.

"Hi, pretty boy." Chris can't help the excitement that seeps into his tone. "I just got out of the shower and I'll meet you there soon."

Normally, Chris would pick Felix up, but Felix had said he was getting out of work, so they agreed to meet at Zen Gelato instead.

Felix sounded excited earlier, but he sounds distressed when he says, "Chris."

"Yeah?" Chris is immediately worried. "What is it, sunshine? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah? Well, no. Actually." Felix sighs. "Neil's sleeping in front of my door."

Chris blinks. He'd just undone the towel around his waist, and he drops it to the floor in shock. "You — what?"

"Neil," Felix repeats a bit frantically. "Neil the Seal. He's asleep in front of my front door."

Chris can't help his own distress when he exclaims, "He's what?!"

"Yeah, I can't leave." Felix is growing more upset by the second. "I tried pushing, but he's like a thousand kilos! He won't even wake up!"

"Show me," Chris demands. He switches to a FaceTime call — the sight of Felix's face fills his belly with happy butterflies, but the frown on his pretty mouth quickly shoos those butterflies away — and tries his best to give Felix a reassuring smile. "Hi Lixie."

"Hi," Felix sighs, "Here, look."

Felix flips his camera around. His front door opens inward, but he has a glass storm door that opens outward, and it's there that Chris recognizes the sight of the elephant seal who is quickly becoming his mortal enemy.

"I'm quite literally being held hostage by an elephant seal." Felix's tone is flat but dejected all the same.

"Don't worry about it, honey," Chris insists. He pastes the smile back on his face when Felix flips the camera back. "I'll be right there, okay?"

"But Neil —"

"Don't worry about it," Chris repeats. "I'll take care of it."

+

Chris may or may not have broken a few traffic laws, but he gets to Felix's house in record time. He parks at the bottom of his driveway and lets out an exasperated sigh at the sight of his nemesis lounging right in front of Felix's storm door. Felix's mailbox is upright, but tilted precariously to the side, so Chris makes sure to right it and confirm it's sturdy before he marches to the house.

Felix is watching from behind the glass storm door, a frown on his face that morphs into something panicked the closer Chris gets to Neil. He bangs on the glass, shaking his head rapidly, but Chris gives him a reassuring grin.

"Oi!" Chris shouts as he get closer. He maintains a decent distance, about a meter away, suddenly aware of Felix's neighbors who are outside and watching with amused smiles.

Neil doesn't stir, but Chris shouts again, and Neil wakes with a start and an obnoxious snort.

"Yeah! Wake up!" Chris insists. He waves his arms like a maniac to get Neil's attention, and once the elephant seal spots Chris, he lets out a trumpet-like noise through his newly developed baby trunk.

"Don't shout at me!" Chris huffs. "What the heck do you think you're doing mate? You can't sleep here!"

Neil lifts his tail and thumps it back down, nearly smashing Felix's camellia shrub.

Chris lowers his voice to a quiet growl when he notices Felix's elderly neighbor, Mrs. Choi, watching with rapt attention. "Listen here you fuckin' cunt. You may not give a shit about this date, but I do, and I'm not going to let your little vacation here ruin it."

Neil seems to understand Chris perfectly, because the next bellow he lets out is loud and indignant, akin to a lion's roar instead of an elephant's.

Chris scowls. "Don't you gripe at me! You wanna destroy another fence at the beach? Be my guest! But you're going to move from this fucking door. Someone I really care about is inside, and I need him outside. Like, now."

Another loud bellow of protest.

"Neil!" Chris hisses. He cannot believe he's arguing with an elephant seal. "I'm not bailing on this, so you have to fuckin' am-scray, alright?"

The elephant seal's nostrils flare and he opens his mouth wide as if yawning, bored by Chris and his demands.

"Pull your fuckin' head in!" Chris nearly shouts. "You don't own the entire coast! Now get up and move your big ass!"

Neil trumpets, loud and long and obnoxious.

"Yeah mate I know but this is dire!" Chris is close to begging at this point. "If you just piss off, I promise that I won't shout at you the next time you break a bollard. Deal?!"

Neil thrashes and grumbles at Chris, but surprisingly, he actually gets up, rising up on his belly and galumphing away, growling all the while. Felix's neighbors echo sentiments of amazement, but Chris isn't paying them any mind — he doesn't take his eyes off of the damn creature until he's at the end of Felix's driveway and nowhere near the Jimny as he turns down the street.

Felix's neighbors all disperse, some clapping and giving their thanks to Chris, and when he turns back to Felix, he finds his pretty date for the day standing there with a flabbergasted expression. Chris opens the glass door and plants a kiss at the corner of his parted mouth.

"See darling? Told you I'd take care of it."

Felix blinks. "Neil the Seal listens to you?"

"Yeah," Chris scratches the back of his head. "It's uh, bit of a long story, but we have a bit of an understanding after the last time he was here."

"How the fuck is that even possible?" Felix shakes himself out of his daze.

"Doesn't matter," Chris takes his hand, squeezing gently. "What matters is we can go get ice cream now, yeah?"

"Yeah," Felix complies. He's still a bit dazed when he climbs into the Jimny, but when they head out of Felix's neighborhood and confirm Neil is nowhere to be seen, Chris relaxes into the seat, taking Felix's hand in his own with a shy smile.

+

Chris pulls up to the address listed on his GPS and immediately sighs, throwing the work truck in park. He reaches for the bright orange vest, staring at the 'Marine Conservation' label on the back and reminding himself of his job. Dealing with Neil as a life guard is one thing, but dealing with him as a park ranger is a little different.

He's here to help Neil, to ensure he's not disturbed and doesn't add to his running bill of damages so he can continue to rest before he goes back out to sea and they have to do this all over again in six more months.

He shrugs on the neon vest and hops out of the truck, well aware of all the cameras recording Neil as he engages in a one sided fight against a stop sign, using his full weight as he shoves his belly against the post. Chris grabs the target extension pole from the bed of the truck with a sigh. He ignores the comments from onlookers and the disappointed noises from the kids when they realize Chris is here to put an end to the free entertainment.

He watches from the truck for a second, eyes scanning the area around Neil. There's a couple of crushed cones and a parked car with a questionable dent on the boot — questionable because from this distance, Chris can't tell if the dent is from Neil or poor driving — but otherwise, Neil's next victim appears to be the offending stop sign.

His attention is diverted when he hears a siren 'whoop' once, and he turns, spotting two police cars approaching. One parks next to the truck while the other parks on the opposite side of the road, both blocking traffic in either direction. Two policeman exit on the other side to manage the crowd, while a familiar face exits on the one closest to him.

"Figured they'd send you to corral the beast," San smirks, and they bump their fists together in greeting.

Chris shakes his head. "Everyone seems to think he listens to me, and I don't have a single clue as to why."

"Because he does," San snorts. "He tolerates the rest of us, but he listens to you the most."

Chris still wholeheartedly disagrees. He sighs, gripping the target extension pole as he heads toward Neil and the stop sign that's now at a seventy degree angle.

The crowd murmurs in amusement as the two other officers — Hunter and Sumin — shout for them to keep it down and keep their distance so Chris can work.

Chris raises the target so the ball end is in Neil's line of sight, cutting off Neil's trumpeting noises. Neil looks at Chris and opens his trunk to honk at him, jaw dropping wide.

"Yeah yeah," Chris shakes his head, guiding the target down to the side. They've been doing this with him since he was a seal pup, so he knows what the target ball means and that he has to follow along, and he does, lowering himself back to the ground with a grunt.

Chris isn't slow in his steps as he walks Neil to the side and up the road. The neighborhood he ended up in isn't far from the beach — Chris just has to lead him out of this street, down to the left a bit, and then Neil's back near the ocean and far enough from the residential area — and Neil seems to know that, so he follows along pretty easily.

"Are you listening because I promised you a chance at destruction?" Chris teases, keeping his voice down so only the elephant seal can hear as they walk. "Because mate, that was like, three days ago now, and you've destroyed more than just a bollard."

Neil says nothing, just huffs as he galumphs alongside Chris, following the target ball as they turn toward the beach.

"You know, you've been here nearly three weeks now," Chris says, steering them wide so Neil doesn't pick a fight with a fire hydrant. "It'd be nice if for the rest of your time here, you did a bit more resting and less fighting with our infrastructure. Considering this is supposed to be your off-season, too."

Neil seems to scoff, which makes Chris scoff, too.

He's talking to an elephant seal. A six year old elephant seal.

"Just stay away from Felix and you and I will be alright," Chris says once they arrive at the beach and Neil flops himself onto the sand. "I'm not allowing any more broken things though, so chill out."

Neil dismisses Chris with a flop of his tail, sand puffing up in a cloud to serve as punctuation for how he feels about that.

Chris can only shake his head as he makes his way back to his work truck — it's as close to a promise as they're going to get.

+

"What about here?" Chris asks, thumb circling the left toggle.

"Yeah, that gives you enough room to move around." Felix nods his head in approval. Chris presses 'A' and can't help but smile when Felix's small hands wrap around his bicep and shake them. "You did it! It's easier this way — with your house and your starter villagers' homes on the beach, it lets you have free reign with designing your island and gives you time to imagine what you want it to look like. I usually do it this way so I can map out my islands better."

"Then I'll do it the way you do," Chris nods, running around on screen. "What next?"

"Go back to Tom Nook and do what he says." Felix smiles, guiding Chris' hands on the controllers.

Chris knows Felix likes playing video games like League, Genshin, Valorant, and Overwatch, but he also knows Felix enjoys playing cozy games like Animal Crossing and Pokopia a lot more. Chris already had a Switch hooked up to his television, but he paid for Animal Crossing: New Horizons just so he had the excuse to ask Felix to teach him what to do.

Under the guise of romance, of course. Creating an Animal Crossing island took a lot of time, according to his sister Hannah, so it felt like a good part of his romance plans and his overall long term goals.

And a nice distraction from the hectic antics going on outdoors, thanks to Neil.

He's in the middle of dialogue with Tom Nook on screen when he tells Felix, "I talked to your mum, by the way."

Felix tenses just the slightest bit beside him. "Oh?"

"Yeah," Chris says, aiming for nonchalant. "Like…three times now, I think? She's been texting me, too."

"Chris," Felix laughs in disbelief. "And just exactly what have you been discussing in these calls and texts to my mother?"

"What do you think?" Chris focuses on running to get tree branches. "I told her that I'm quite serious about her son and that she and I may need to have a serious conversation soon."

"A serious conversation," Felix repeats. "That entails?"

"It depends," Chris turns to Felix, suddenly a bit shy under his scrutiny. "How do you feel about a nice date? A proper one this time. You, me, reservations at a nice place in Hobart. We get all dressed up, I pick you up and bring you home on time. Maybe we'll even kiss at the end of the night — on the cheek this time, or maybe a respectful peck."

Felix blinks, his pretty lips stretching into an even prettier smile, a beautiful pink shade spreading across his cheeks and behind his freckles. "A proper date, huh?"

"If you'd like to," Chris feels his ears heat up. "I'll be a gentleman, I swear."

Felix's cute little button nose scrunches up when he giggles. "You're always a gentleman, Chris. You've been a gentleman to me since the day we met."

Chris isn't too sure about that — he did some pretty ungentlemanly things to Felix that night, pretty much the whole night, and for the next several nights — but Felix isn't the kind of person to make up something like that just to make Chris feel better.

"Well, I'd like to be a better gentleman, then."

"Chris," Felix's voice is so soft when he says his name. He's heard Felix say it like that more than once — first thing in the morning when everything's still quiet, when Felix is in the throes of pleasure, Felix's lips pressed to the shell of his ear as he holds Felix close, when Chris calls him on the phone during the day just to hear his voice — but something about the way he says it this time sends shivers up his spine. "You really do like me, don't you?"

Chris laughs. He laughs because 'like' barely even begins to cover it, doesn't even touch on the way Felix had wrapped himself around Chris and his soul and his heart and squeezed. "Baby, I think 'like' is underestimating things."

"Is it?"

"It is." Chris abandons the controller and turns so his entire body faces Felix. He reaches out, taking Felix's hands in his own. "Do you want me to say it now? I can, I will, if you don't mind. But if you want it to be special, I can wait and we can —"

"Say it now, please," Felix squeezes his hand. "Just — if you're about to say what I think you're about to say, then — now would be nice, is all. I don't think I could wait through a 'proper' date."

"I love you, Felix," Chris smiles. Felix's eyes are warm and a little shiny as he speaks. "I've loved you probably this entire time. It's been easy, to love you and fall in love with you. I know we've done a lot of this backwards, and I meant it when I said I'd fix it. I really do love you, and —"

Chris lets out a muffled noise of surprise as he's suddenly pushed onto his back against the couch cushions, and then Felix is kissing him, his arms looped around his neck and tangled in his hair. Chris settles his hands on Felix's waist, pushing his sweater — Chris's sweater — up just enough so that his fingertips can press into Felix's warm skin.

Kissing Felix has always felt natural, the kind of 'right' that tells Chris that miracles do exist and sometimes people find them in other human beings. It feels like a little bit more than that right now — like a cloudy sky parting to make way for the bright sunlight, the relief that comes when a storm finally passes, all the puzzle pieces of his life sliding into place and forming the beautiful picture that is Felix.

Chris presses a hand at the small of his back, brings another to Felix's face to thumb at his cheekbone, cup his jaw and press his fingers into the hinge out of habit. It coaxes Felix to open his mouth, and Chris pulls back, forcing himself out of his stupor.

"Wait," he pants. "I didn't mean for it to lead to this. I do love you, and I do want to do this properly and the right way round, and —"

"No," Felix cranes his head up to nip at his lower lip. "That's enough propriety. I'd like to move backwards again, please."

Felix yanks Chris down by his shoulders, immediately opening up beneath Chris and slipping his little pink tongue between his lips. It changes the atmosphere, takes it from something soft to something fiery, and Chris is quick to flip them, parting from Felix for the few seconds it takes for him to rise up on his knees and shuck off his hoodie. Felix's eyes glaze over, always seemingly entranced whenever Chris is shirtless, and he reaches for Chris, beckoning him with greedy hands that Chris falls right into, blanketing Felix with his body as he seals their mouths together once more.

Felix manages to shimmy out of his jeans and briefs, and Chris can only get a hand between them to open his jeans and lower them and his boxers down just enough to get his cock out. It doesn't dawn on Chris till he rolls his hips against Felix's that he realizes he doesn't have lube out here, and while his bedroom is down the hall, it's a lot farther than he'd like to move right now.

From below him, Felix seems to understand, because he looks up at Chris and his skin flushes a deeper shade of pink. "You um, you don't have to go get it."

Chris exhales a heavy breath. "Do you want to stop?"

"No no, it's not that. I uh, um." Felix holds a hand out, and Chris places his own in Felix's awaiting palm. Felix guides that hand between their bodies, passing his own cock and reaching lower. When Chris touches warm metal, his throat goes dry.

"You —" He can't help but touch it again, feeling the rough surface of the jeweled base. He sits back on his haunches, using his other hand to grab at Felix's ankles and lift them to expose his ass. "When did you put this in? This morning?"

Felix nods shyly. "I didn't know if we were going to. I mean, I assumed, since we seem to almost every day, and I didn't feel like waiting to be ready." He pauses, blinking up at Chris. "Do you…do you like it?"

"It doesn't matter what I like, little one." Chris counters instead of answering, pressing two fingers to the base and pushing at it a little. "Do you like it?"

"I do," Felix nods again, a bit frantic. "I like it."

"How big is it?" Chris asks, absentminded as he grabs at the base, gently pulling just once — not enough to dislodge the plug, but enough that Felix moans.

"Uh," Felix squirms, "B-Big. Big enough."

"Big enough? For?" Chris asks, pulling so the stem of the plug is just the slightest bit visible. Felix's hole begins to stretch just the slightest bit, and Chris looks at his face, waiting for an answer.

"You could take it out and fuck me right away," Felix confesses.

Chris nearly faints.

He pulls at the plug again, slower this time, watching intently as Felix's hole stretches around the metal. The girth of the plug is bigger than what Chris expected, but he understands what Felix meant once it finally slips out.

It's the same thickness as Chris's cock.

His cock that he presses inside of Felix in the next second, unwilling to figure out if he can handle the sight of Felix's pretty pink hole winking as it gapes around nothing.

Felix cries out with relief, making grabby hands at Chris, but he doesn't move. His eyes are stuck on where he's pushing inside of Felix inch by inch, and Felix is just taking him so beautifully, so easily.

Chris doesn't fall into Felix's embrace until his cock is sheathed within the warmth of his body, and then he buries his face into Felix's neck and groans.

"Fuck you feel so good," he says, scraping his teeth against the skin below his lips. "Why do you always feel so good?"

"For you," Felix sighs out, clinging tightly to Chris. "S'all for you."

"Yeah?" Chris laughs, punching his hips forward. "All for me? Cause you love me?"

"Yes!" Felix cries. "I love you, love you so much, love you —"

Chris steals the rest of Felix's words with a kiss, slips his tongue down his throat and hoards every letter for himself.

"I love you more," Chris practically gasps out when they part, "I love you more than anything, Felix. You have no idea."

Felix giggles deliriously. "I think I do. You — ah, ah — you said we were getting married before you even asked me, Chris, and oh fuck, right there, before you even said anything about love."

"You asked first," Chris points out, slowing his hips to a dirty grind. "You asked first and you agreed. You agreed to the spring wedding."

"I did," Felix huffs even as a smile breaks out on his face. "Was hard not to. You looked so happy when you said it."

"I'm happy because of you," The confession feels heavier than the moment they're in, but neither of them seem to mind. Chris has completely stopped, his cock buried deep, but Felix doesn't seem to mind. "And I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it."

"I know," Felix reaches out and Chris automatically leans into his touch. "That's why I said yes."

Chris raises a brow, withdrawing his hips the slightest bit. "I don't remember you explicitly saying yes."

"I said 'okay," Felix counters, whining a little when Chris nearly withdraws all the way.

"'Okay' isn't 'yes,' baby," Chris keeps himself there, just the head of him inside. "Clear consent is important."

Felix squirms beneath Chris, tries to fuck himself onto his cock, but Chris puts a firm hand on his hip, keeping him in place.

"Please," he whines, staring up at Chris with wide, teary eyes. "Please Chris."

"I need an answer, baby." Chris says softly, brushing stray hairs out of Felix's face.

The corner of Felix's mouth twitches, betraying the desperation on his face. "You didn't ask a question, Daddy."

Chris nearly growls as he pulls out the last bit and flips Felix over onto his front. He hauls Felix up just enough that when he pushes back inside, the angle hits Felix's prostate head on and he wails, limbs trembling as Chris traps him between his body and the couch.

"Where did all this attitude come from?" Chris grits out, nipping at Felix's shoulder. "I tell you that I'm in love with you and that I want to be your husband, and you get sassy?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Felix cries. Chris can see the smile on his face though, and he laughs, just a little, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Marry me," Chris says. It's not a question, at least not right now. It will be soon though — he still has to pick up Felix's now finished gift from Sam at some point before that happens — and he will ask. He'll probably ask tonight, too, just to poke at Felix a little more, but it won't be the real question.

That's the third and final step to his romance plans.

"Marry me," Chris repeats, his hips thrusting hard and slow. "Marry me, Felix."

Felix tenses suddenly, his whole body seizing as he comes with a shout, and Chris shoves a hand between him and the couch cushion, curling his fingers around Felix's cock and stroking, lets his hand get sticky with Felix's spend.

Felix is gripping Chris so tight that it doesn't take much for him to follow, and he shoves his cock all the way in as his orgasm crests, filling Felix to the brim as Chris bites down onto his shoulder to fight through the fog in his brain.

It's quiet for a moment, save for their heaving breathing and the background music of Animal Crossing.

Felix laughs when he hears it, and then Chris laughs, too, and then they're both laughing, bodies shaking on the couch as Chris finally collapses on top of him, turning them onto their sides to get comfortable.

"No," Felix winces. "I'm in a puddle."

"It's your puddle," Chris snorts.

Felix pats around the couch cushions. "Where'd you put it?"

"Put what, baby?"

"My plug — Christopher Junior."

Chris pauses, blinking in confusion, then lightly smacks Felix's flank. "You do not call it that."

Felix cackles. "No, but I may start to."

Chris finds it beneath his thigh, but he keeps it out of Felix's reach. "It's covered in couch lint and sweat. Why don't we shower instead? We can clean this, too, while we're at it. Maybe let your little couch puddle dry."

"Okay," Felix sighs. "Be gentle."

"Always, baby." Chris murmurs, pressing a kiss to the spot below Felix's ear. He puts a hand on Felix's waist, meaning to move, but then Felix rests his hand on top of his own.

"Yes, by the way."

Chris looks up, blinking at the side of Felix's face with a victorious grin. "What was that?"

"You heard me," Felix teases. "That's all you're getting for now. Now c'mon," he taps Chris's hand. "Let's go shower, Daddy."

+

Chris doesn't even move as he watches Neil, relaxing into the driver's seat of the buggy and stuffing his hands into the pocket of his windbreaker.

Sam shakes his head. "We should stop him, shouldn't we? He basically just belly flopped onto that fence and snapped it in half."

"That's exactly why we're not stopping him," Chris gives Sam a look. "You want him to snap your arms in half?"

"You get close to him all the time and he doesn't snap your limbs in half." Sam scoffs.

"Because I have experience dealing with wildlife, and that's exactly what he is. He's a wild animal, not a pet, Sam."

"You're still mad about him barricading Felix into his house, aren't you?"

Chris scowls. "No."

Sam cackles, shoving at his shoulder. "Relax man. That was what, two weeks ago now? He's been sticking to the beaches and other neighborhoods. Granted he's still fucking shit up, but he hasn't been near Felix's lately, so I think he got the message."

"This isn't just about Felix," Chris sighs. "I think Neil's just as adorable as everyone else does, and I think he's funny when he's being chaotic while I'm off duty. But the two months or so that he's here, twice a year, they get pretty stressful."

"I forgot," Sam frowns a bit. "You see him almost every day, don't you? In both jobs."

"Almost every day," Chris shakes his head with a reassuring smile. "I saw a few wallabies yesterday, and an echidna."

Sam gives a flat look to where Neil is quickly approaching a parked car in the lot of Seven Mile, both him and Chris getting out of the buggy. "They break anything?"

"A few hearts when I escorted them to the wildlife hospital, but other than that, no." Chris wishes he had the target extension with him right now. "Nothing like Neil."

Neil, who raises up onto his tail in front of the parked car like he's a bear, growing bigger to intimidate the inanimate and stationary object in front of him.

"Bet you're glad you're off the next few days," Sam teases. "Felix will be happy."

"He'll be happy because of the gift you helped me make for him," Chris says, banging a cone on the ground to get Neil's attention.

"Pretty sure he'll be happier about the ring you're putting on his finger, but sure, we'll say it's because of my gift," Sam rolls his eyes playfully, grabbing another cone to bang on the ground too. "Oi! Neil!"

"Let's go buddy!" Chris shouts. "Flop away from the car!"

+

Chris is nervous.

Reasonably so, obviously.

Between dealing with Neil and the wake of destruction he leaves behind his fins both on the beach and…everywhere else, Felix is the only reprieve Chris has.

And today, he's about to make that permanent.

They have reservations at Restaurant Maria on the waterfront tonight. Felix thinks it's a normal reservation, but Chris booked a private dining room so that when their friends and family arrive, they can accommodate everyone. Usually reservations need to be made ninety days in advance, but Kai happens to be friends with the head chef, and he was all too happy to make an exception for Chris when he learned it was for a proposal.

Chris had picked up his family and Felix's family from the airport yesterday. It had been slightly short notice for them to fly in from Sydney, but he was eternally grateful that they managed to do it. They were waiting at their hotel near the restaurant, and all Chris had to do was get him and Felix there in one piece.

They're at Felix's place, and Chris is pacing his bedroom while Felix finishes getting ready in the bathroom.

He pats his jeans again, confirming the ring box is in the left pocket and his phone is in the right. He checks the mirror in the bedroom one more time, confirming his jacket covers the pockets will enough that Felix won't be able to see them, even sits down on the bed to check that the box doesn't protrude and give itself away.

Chris bolts upright when Felix shuts the lights off and exits the bathroom, securing the little gold hoop earring on his left lobe. He smiles when he sees Chris, walking over to press a kiss to his lips.

"Hi handsome," Felix sounds happy. "Hope you weren't waiting long."

"No way," Chris grins easily. "Could wait forever for you."

"Alright, you big sap." Felix pats his chest, smoothing the panels of his jacket. "We're good on time, right?"

"Yeah, no traffic so we should be fine. It's barely a twenty minute drive, anyway."

"Okay," Felix mouths softly, leaning in for another kiss. "Lead the way then."

Chris walks Felix out to his car — he traded the Jimny in for his BMW — and makes a show of escorting him to the passenger side, making sure he's tucked in before shutting the door and rounding the car to get into the driver's side.

The ride to Restaurant Maria is mostly quiet, save the soft sounds of the radio and the buzz of excitement ringing in his ear. Chris keeps looking at Felix and smiling to himself, unable to hide his joy. Felix probably knows exactly what this night is for — Chris did tell him this would happen, just not when — especially if the smile on his own face is any indication, but he says nothing, content to let Chris see his romantic plans through to the end.

Chris parks in the lot next to the restaurant and tells Felix to stay put. It's not so much of a show anymore when he opens Felix's door for him, and he locks the car behind them as they head inside.

Kai's friend and the head chef, Key, greets them at the host stand and escorts them upstairs and to the private dining area. The northern wall of the dining area is basically a floor to ceiling glass window that overlooks the waterfront and has a clear view of Elizabeth Street Pier to the left, and Murray Street Pier on the right.

There's already water and champagne in flutes on their table set up near the window, along with a bottle of red wine tucked in an ice bucket, and a plate of appetizers in the middle.

"Well I'll let you two get settled for a moment," Key says with a smile. "I'll be back in a bit to go over the menu for this evening and confirm your dessert choices."

Key leaves in a quiet flourish, and once he's gone, Chris holds an arm out. Felix immediately tucks himself into his side, sighing happily when Chris drops a kiss to the crown of his head.

"What do you think, honey?" Chris murmurs, staring out at the water tinted a pretty orange by the sunset. "Pretty romantic, eh?"

"Very," Felix nods, squeezing at his waist. "Thank you for this."

"The pleasure is all mine," Chris insists, pulling back to look at him. "Told you we were going to do things the right way around."

"You did," Felix grins at him, then steps out of his embrace and gestures his head to the door. He takes his jacket off and hangs it on the back of a chair. "I'll be right back, okay? I'm just gonna go to the bathroom before Key comes back."

"Take your time baby," Chris nods. "I'll be right here."

He watches Felix go until the door shuts behind him, and then Chris turns his attention back to the glass window, staring at what he can make of his reflection.

Chris pats his jeans again. Ring box, left pocket. Phone, right pocket. His clothes are unwrinkled, but his palms are starting to sweat.

He pats his jeans once more.

Ring box, left pocket.

Phone, right pocket.

He looks back out at the water, taking in the beautiful sights of the piers on either side, of the people milling about despite the winter chill, Neil taking a stroll, the beautiful sunset, and —

Oh no.

No.

No.

No fucking way.

Chris blinks, staring at the large brown blob and praying it's something else, anything else. He nearly presses his entire face to the glass as if it's going to either confirm his fear or make it worse.

There's no way Neil could be here, though. Not when he and Chris had agreed that Neil would stay away from Felix. Neil gave Chris his word, didn't he?

His phone buzzes with a call.

Chris answers quickly, thinking maybe it's Felix's mum or maybe his own mum calling to confirm they made it to the restaurant, and his heart plummets to his feet when he realizes it's not, that if Neil is here, there's only one kind of call he could be getting.

"Chris! Thank god you answered." Matteo exhales in relief. Chris can hear the engine of his truck fighting for its life as he drives. "I'm really sorry. I know what tonight is, obviously, since Kai, Brian, and I are on the way there, but I just got a call from your boss Matthew. It's Neil. He's at —"

"Elizabeth Street Pier?" Chris deadpans. "Yeah, I know."

There's a pause, and then Brian's voice, "How do you know?"

"Because I'm looking right at the fuckin' cunt." Chris says through gritted teeth, staring at where Neil galumphs along the cement like he's out for a night on the town.

"Where is he?" Kai asks.

"Literally right next to the pier building."

"How did he get there?" Matteo asks, incredulous.

"My best guess? The marina. It's next door, and some of those boats are coming in for dinner so the gate was probably open."

"Chris," Matteo sounds pained. "I'm sorry, but…you know he only listens to you."

"What? No fuckin' way!" Chris whisper-shouts into the phone. He glances up toward the door in a panic — Felix could come back from the bathroom at any second. "Are you joking?! I'm trying to get engaged here?! You're on your way anyway, you deal with it!"

"We only just left the lifeguard station in Kingston," Brian explains. "Matteo's going as fast as he can in this piece of crap, but —"

"Hey!"

"—But it's still twenty minutes, and who knows what Neil could get up to in those twenty minutes! Matthew doesn't have any Rangers nearby, either, and the cops don't know how to deal with him."

Chris wants to call bullshit. Neil's been pulling his stunts for years now, everyone knows how to deal with him.

"Matteo," Chris starts slowly, taking in a deep breath. "No. Literally no."

"Chris," Kai pleads. "You have to."

"No I don't!" Chris scoffs. "I quit!"

"I reject your quitting!" Matteo insists. "Now go tell Neil to get back in the water!"

The call ends before Chris can get another word in, and he groans, banging his head against the glass.

"Whoa there," Felix's voice has a teasing lilt to it, but Chris hears his concern all the same. "Everything okay?"

"No," Chris sighs in defeat. He lifts a weak finger toward the glass as he backs away and into Felix's orbit.

Felix's gaze follows where Chris is pointing. When he inevitably spots Neil, he gasps. "No. How did he get here?!"

"I don't know," Chris does not whine.

Felix turns to Chris with a frown. "You have to go deal with him, don't you? That's what the call was about."

"I'm so sorry Lix," Chris says instead of answering the question. He doesn't want to admit it, still too pissed about being asked in the first place. "I swear I'll be five minutes, and —"

"I'll come with you."

Chris blinks. "You — you will?"

"Of course I will! I'm not going to let you deal with him on your own, and this is supposed to be our night, so where you go, I go."

"Baby," Chris breathes, "You really should stay here."

"I'm going with you," Felix insists, turning from Chris and grabbing his jacket. "C'mon Chris. The sooner we get Neil out of here, the better."

+

The second Neil spots Chris, he lets out a loud trumpet like greeting.

Chris sighs. "Yeah mate, it's me. What the fuck are you doing here?!"

If Chris didn't know any better, he'd think the elephant seal was happy to see him. His trunk twitches and Neil flops a little closer on his belly. The small crowd that had gathered seems to gasp a little, and Chris can hear Felix politely telling everyone to move back and give Chris space.

"He's a park ranger," Felix tells them in a loud, authoritative voice, "With Marine Conservation, so let's let him work, alright?"

Neil's nostrils flare when he detects Felix's voice.

"It's him," Chris confirms. "You know, the one person I asked you to stay away from."

Neil stares at Chris, his mouth opened wide as if to say 'How was I supposed to know you'd be here?!'

Chris shakes his head, waving his hands. "Doesn't matter mate. You can't be here. There's too many people, too many boats on the water, and these buildings aren't great for you either."

The loud groaning noise that comes from the elephant seal nearly gives Chris a headache, his jaw flexing to pop his ears.

"Neil mate, c'mon. Please don't make this difficult, not tonight. I know I said it was dire before, but this is actually dire. You need to head back to the beach, please."

Chris remembers somewhere in his training being told to not let the wildlife they encounter sense that you're afraid or distressed, because there was a general superstition that they could sense these things. He never believed in it before, but it seems to hold some weight now, as Neil responds in kind to the desperation in Chris's voice and bellows, loud, upset, and clearly advocating that his right to roam Tasmania freely is also very dire.

Neil bellows — it almost sounds like a burp — and Chris cringes.

"Ah for fucks sake mate, please. Don't make this difficult. I thought you and I were cool? Is this because I didn't let you beat up that car?"

The animal huffs, shaking his upper body back and forth.

"No?! Then what's this all about? Just go back home!"

Neil does not like that idea. He roars, more elephant than elephant seal, nostrils flaring wide as his call starts to echo around them. Chris opens his mouth to urge the toddler to not start flopping toward the pier building, but he's cut off when a familiar blonde blur storms past him.

"Felix!"

Chris watches in horror as Felix marches straight past him toward the animal himself, pure determination in his stride. Chris follows him, only paces behind when Felix stops dangerously close to Neil and bends just the slightest bit to meet the elephant seal's gaze head on.

The elephant seal, to his credit, doesn't move, but Chris swears he can see the way Neil's eyes get bigger and rounder in fear.

"Listen here you little shit," Chris hears Felix hiss. He's grateful the crowd behind them maintains their distance so they can't hear the venom in Felix's voice. "I think you and I can agree that I've been very gracious and patient with you thus far. You've pulled my boyfriend out of bed and away from me more than once, nearly disrupted our ice cream date by trying to barricade me in my own house, and now you're taking us away from an extremely important night!"

Neil opens his mouth and begins to growl, his baby trunk twitching in distaste, but Felix simply shouts the animal's name, and his jaw shuts with a clack.

Felix points a finger right in Neil's face. "I will not be putting up with this for the rest of the time that you're here, but especially not tonight. So either you get your ass back to the beach right now or so help me, you're going to wish you were dealing with a great white shark instead!"

Everyone, including Chris, is stunned into silence when Neil seems to stare at Felix for too many tense seconds. He reaches out, ready to grab Felix and get him out of the way, but his hand falls to his side when Neil raises up a little on his belly —

— And turns around.

They get nothing more than a flop of Neil's tail as he galumphs down the pier and back towards the entrance to the marina, and Chris doesn't exhale until he sees Neil flop into the water.

Felix turns to Chris with a smile, seizing his hand as he passes him and all but dragging Chris back toward the restaurant.

"What did you say to get him to move?" A spectator asks as they pass the crowd.

Felix simply shrugs as they continue walking, saying over his shoulder, "I just asked him to leave very nicely."

+

Chris is still a little stunned by the time they make it back to the private dining room.

Felix's head is held high, clearly very pleased with himself as he shucks off his jacket and places it back on the chair. When Chris doesn't manage to make it past the closed door, Felix turns to him with a frown.

"Chris? You okay?" Felix reaches for his hands, taking them in his own and squeezing.

"Are you?" Chris manages to ask, aware of how panicked he sounds. "That was…actually really dangerous, you getting that close to him."

"I'm alright," Felix swears softly. "It's not the first time Neil and I have exchanged words."

Chris blinks. "You mean — you're talking about the day he showed up at your house?"

"No," Felix giggles. "I see Neil almost as much as you do, you know. He hangs around the bakery sometimes."

"He does?!" Chris is panicked now. "Why didn't you tell me?! I never got called to —"

Felix frowns. "Because he doesn't really disturb us, so we just don't call. Plus, it's not like he's there for food or anything. He usually just comes to the bakery so he can take a nap against the dumpsters out back. He'll make noise and bang on them when he wakes up, but usually I just shout at him and he pisses off."

It's relieving to hear, but while Chris still feels jarred by the news, he also feels like he's discovered a completely different side to Felix. Felix, who guides Chris towards the table, encouraging him to sit, but Chris can't move — he's too busy staring at Felix.

Felix misinterprets Chris's reaction as he steps closer. "Hey," his voice is soft, "I'm really sorry if I scared you. I didn't mean to — it just didn't seem like he was going to listen to you and you got us a reservation here and everything, so I…you're smiling. Why are you smiling?"

"Because," Chris knows his cheeks are going to hurt with how much more smiling he's about to be doing. "You're really incredible, do you know that?"

A pink flush takes over Felix's cheeks as he averts his gaze, shaking his head a little. "I didn't do anything, though."

"You do plenty." Chris says softly, rubbing the back of Felix's hand with his thumb. "For one, it seems like you surprise me every day."

"Chris…"

"What? You do. Every day I feel like you say or do something that just emphasizes how amazing you are and it just…makes me melt inside, really. Since the day we met."

Felix looks up at Chris from under his lashes. "Really?"

"Really," Chris bends his head and brings their faces closer together. Their lips aren't quite touching, noses rubbing together, and he brings his other hand to cup Felix's cheek. "It's one of the reasons I love you."

Felix makes a small noise, hesitating. Chris waits him out, nods a little in encouragement. Felix takes in a nervous breath. "Enough to…ask me a really important question?"

Chris laughs, resting their foreheads together. "Figured me out, did you?"

"The reservation here gave me a bit of a clue," Felix admits. "And my sister turned off her location, which she never does, so I had a feeling."

"Clever baby," Chris teases, tilting his head up just the slightest bit, their lips brushing.

"Clever baby who's still waiting for a question," Felix reminds him. It's like he can't resist when he pushes forward to press their lips together, melting into Chris and his touch, and Chris takes a selfish second to enjoy Felix's mouth, the softness of the moment.

The last shred of peace before the inevitable chaos that is the Bahng family and Lee family joining forces.

Chris lets go of Felix's hand to reach into his pocket, pulling out the ring box. He presses smaller kisses to Felix's lips as he pulls away, eventually dropping down to one knee.

"Felix Yongbok Lee," Chris smiles. He will not cry. "Will you —"

"Yes!"

Chris laughs. "Baby, I didn't even finish the question."

"Oh," Felix smiles, biting his lower lip.

He's so stinking cute.

"Will you marry me, baby?" Chris opens the box, "For real, this time."

"Yes!" Felix is bouncing on the balls of his feet, and Chris reaches in, taking out the ring. It's gold, like Felix wanted, beveled in a way that makes it looks like the scales on a dragon's tail — his zodiac sign — with small little diamonds in every other scale, set in an engraved four pointed star. The designs and jewels are tiny, and within the inner band of the ring, Chris had asked them to engrave an infinity symbol, just because.

It fits Felix's finger perfectly, and Chris smiles once it's on, surging up and kissing Felix properly this time, his hands cupping Felix's jaw while his new fiancé melts into his embrace.

The kiss is interrupted with a knock on the door, and they part just in time for Key to poke his head in with a smile. "Ready for the appetizers?"

"Yes," Felix is positively beaming. "I think we are."

"Great! I'll be right back."

Once Key leaves, Chris means to go back to kissing Felix, but instead, Felix reaches into his other pocket and takes out his phone.

"Uh, baby?" Chris asks. "What are you doing?"

"I'm texting your mum," Felix explains as he types, thumbs flying across the screen. "Letting her know they can come to the restaurant. Now smile!"

Chris shakes his head with a fond smile, dropping a kiss to Felix's nose as he starts snapping photos.

me

hi!

this is felix

chris just proposed!

you guys can head on over now

[image attached]

[image attached]

jessica (mum)

oh hello felix!

how wonderful, we are on our way

the ring is stunning

and you two look so absolutely adorable!

+

Chris can't stop pressing kisses to every inch of Felix's face as they lay in bed together.

They're at Chris's house, Felix's back to his front, and Felix's attention is straight ahead of him, unable to stop staring at the gift Sam helped to make.

Since the night they met, Chris had saved every receipt, every movie stub, every little note Felix had hand written on the mornings back then where he'd leave before Chris woke up — anything and everything on paper that left a trail of the story of the two of them. He had planned on maybe putting them in a shadow box to give to Felix at some point, but the second Felix had brought up marriage, Chris shifted gears.

Sam's a pretty creative person, and he's friendly enough with Felix, so when Chris had asked for his opinion, Sam had offered his services. The materials were all Chris, but the execution and design was all Sam.

It was an aster — Felix's birth flower.

Sam had utilized everything — tore and dyed the pieces of paper for the petals a beautiful pink that looked purple in the right light, the center almost a golden honey instead of a pollen yellow — and Chris certainly loved it, but Felix had nearly cried when Chris had revealed it to him once they got home.

Felix shifts a little in his hold, his gaze now cast downward to his ring. "I feel like I'm dreaming."

"You're not dreaming, little one," Chris murmurs into his hair. "It's real."

"I thought it wasn't, for a second," Felix admits. "When Neil showed up, I thought it was a nightmare. I really hoped you were joking."

"I wish I had been," Chris reaches out to run a finger over the diamonds. "Unfortunately, he just has awful timing."

Felix snorts. "I guess it was a good thing, in the end. I think we know he listens to both of us now."

"I don't know about that," Chris sighs, thunking his head back against his headboard. "He promised me he'd stay away from you and he clearly lied about that."

Felix turns in his hold to give Chris an incredulous stare. "Neil made a promise to you that he'd stay away from me? And then lied. Neil the seal?"

"Yeah," Chris won't be ashamed of it. He knows Neil understood what he said. "I told him if he stayed away from you he and I wouldn't have any issues. Come to find out, he's been around you anyway this entire time."

"He's an elephant seal, Chris," Felix cackles. "And you're the dude kicking him off the beach and out of neighborhoods. His obedience has a hard limit."

Chris wraps his arms around Felix's waist. "Yeah well, he let us have tonight to ourselves, so as far as I'm concerned, we're even."

Felix shakes his head, "You say that now. Just wait till he breaks something else."

"He can break whatever he wants — he's going to break whatever he wants, anyway. As long as he learns to leave you and I alone when we're off the clock, I don't care."

"Is that the engagement talking?" Felix teases, clearly amused. "Or are you still sensitive from when we got home and I did that thing with my tongue —"

Chris tickles Felix, pressing his clenched teeth to his cheek as he growls playfully. Felix giggled wildly, thrashing in his hold, crying for mercy.

Maybe it is the engagement — and the thing Felix did with his tongue for sure — but Chris is feeling pretty merciful. He carefully lays Felix on his back, content to kiss and touch the hectic buzz of the day away.

+

Kai and Brian sigh, shaking their heads.

"That's the third bin this week."

"He's just rocking it back and forth cause his belly is itchy. Let him do his thing." Chris says, barely looks up from his phone, leaning backward into the driver's seat of the buggy. They're on the beach, half of them watching Neil as he uses one of the bins on the sand as a belly scratcher, the other half watching the water. Chris isn't working today, but he came over when Sam called after Neil managed to break one of the rescue boards that had been accidentally left out overnight.

Chris only looks up when his observation is met with silence. He raises a brow, shrugging at the others. "What? It's true. It's the only reason he goes for the bins."

"You're disgusting," Sam deadpans. "You get engaged and suddenly you and Neil are best friends?"

"After he nearly ruined your proposal, mind you." Matteo points out.

"You nearly ruined my proposal." Chris reminds him. "By demanding I work. While on the way to my proposal."

"It's not like Felix was going to say no," Sam says, "We all know how crazy in love with you he is."

"You better not have just called me 'crazy' Samuel Hyunjin Hwang."

The group of them turn, leaving Neil to his scratching in favor of greeting Felix. He's dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie he probably stole from Chris, carrying a white paper bag that Chris knows is stuffed to the brim with pastries in one hand and a coffee tray in the other. He places it on the little platform at the back of the buggy, coming around to greet Chris. Felix tucks himself into his side and lets Chris press a dozen kisses to his temple, going easily when Chris pulls him into his lap.

"How was work this morning baby?" Chris asks him softly, both of them content to ignore the gluttonous heathens Chris works with.

Felix smiles. "Nice. Missed you though."

"Aw honey," Chris presses his face close to Felix's, lips brushing against his cheek when he says, "I missed you too."

Retching noises pull them out of their little bubble.

Chris scowls, turning to his so-called friends, but they're not paying him or Felix any mind. They've all got their cheeks stuffed, a pastry in one hand and coffee in the other, poured in cups Felix likely brought with him in the bag of pastries.

He frowns in confusion, turning back to Felix when they hear more retching noises.

Felix snorts, and Chris snaps his gaze back to the pathway.

Neil's on the beach now, his gaze on the group of them, but specifically on Chris and Felix, and when he sees that he has their attention, he makes more retching noises, his jaw open wide and his belly moving with the force of his mockery.

It's Felix who scowls now. "Hey! Knock that shit off. Great white shark — remember?!"

Neil's noises are abruptly cut off. He huffs, opting to lay down and roll around in the sand.

Kai wolf whistles. "Well, now there's two of you he listens to, huh?"

"For now," Chris sighs, watching Neil use one of his fins to scratch his belly. "We'll see how he feels when he comes back in six months."

"It'll be worse then," Sam bemoans around a bite of a lamington. "It'll be summer, and he'll be moulting."

"That's too bad," Felix sighs. "We'll be on our honeymoon by then."

"Oh yeah?" Brian asks after a sip of coffee. "You guys honeymooning in Sydney?"

"Nope," Chris smiles. "Somewhere else."

Felix wants to spend Christmas in Seoul, since neither him nor Chris have been in nearly a decade. He doesn't want to tell the others, and he especially doesn't want to tell Neil.

Chris doesn't trust the toddler one bit. Knowing him, he'd show up in Busan or something just to piss him off.

"Aw mate," Matteo says to Neil, "Looks like you won't see your best friends till next year's off-season!"

Neil sighs, heavy and loud, lifting his tail in the air and flopping it back down to the sand as if in protest of the news. Felix laughs at his dramatics, turning to press his face into Chris's neck.

"I hate to admit it," Felix whispers, "But I think I might actually miss Neil when he leaves. Won't you?"

"No," Chris lies, "I'll miss the off-season though."

Felix peeks out from his little hiding spot, narrowing his gaze at Chris. "You're bad at lying, you know."

"I'm not lying, little one. The off-season's my favorite time of year, you know that. Even more so, because of you."

"And Neil the seal," Felix says knowingly. "You can admit it."

Chris stares at Neil, covered in sand and looking longingly out at sea. He sighs, shaking his head. "Yeah, alright. Neil, too."

Felix presses a kiss to his cheek. "Neil and I feel the same about you."