He couldn't keep from staring at her.

She had her back to him though, her thoughts seemingly cast over the edge of the Parotto Parotto and focused on the Isabella that stretched far and wide before her. He watched her as her unrelenting gaze shifted to the moon in all of its glorious luminescence. It peaked from behind wispy clouds in the swimming purple and indigo night, seemingly too shy to reveal all of itself. Something akin to childish wonder spread across her features as she lifted her face up closer to the sky, as if she longed to be closer to that moon. His heart contracted fondly at her expression. The moon had no restraint as it seemingly fled from its cover of clouds, as if it had been commanded, to fully bathe her in a glowing aquamarine. Moonbeams splashed onto the creaking deck like shining water, and added an extra twinkle to Candy's eye. Mischief briefly experienced a bit of nostalgia as he studied her illuminated form, remembering the day that he had met her.

He felt a pleasant and warm, but unexpected, sensation that settled in from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes. The moment his deviant eyes had met her mismatched ones, he knew he had just stumbled upon someone extremely special. When he had first caught sight of her, he did not hear her speak like most would have. She'd let out a small yelp of alarm when their eyes first connected, but what Mischief didn't expect was what would come after that. Instead of inquiring, she had begun to laugh; a sweet, musical sound that was absolutely charming to him. An uncharacteristic fondness began to pool somewhere inside of him after he had discovered just how wild she seemed to be. Along with the fondness came a strange sense of protectiveness for the girl just a few short minutes after they had conversed. That sudden protectiveness proved to be a formidable opponent for Mischief that day. When she was trapped in that damnable, rickety lighthouse that he had doomed her to with Mendelson Shape hot on her tail, he almost found a way to barge up there himself to rescue her somehow. The only reason he had contained himself was because of Candy insisting that he should stay where he was. Mischief also distinctly remembered tackling a sea-skipper in the middle of the Isabella, because the damn sea creature claimed that he was going to eat his lady if Mischief didn't do something about it. He figured out after a minute or so of wrestling the skipper and thrashing around in the water that Candy was in no real danger. He actually felt his cheeks heat up slightly at that memory.

"What are you staring at her for?" John Pluckitt suddenly interjected.

"What's she doing that's so special?" This outburst came from John Drowse. Although his siblings had disrupted his quiet contemplation, Mischief only grinned to himself, deciding to ignore his brothers. If they had any sense, they would understand eventually. But common knowledge seemed to elude them all at this time.

"Are you going to answer, or what?"

"Does she have something on her shirt?"

"Are you even looking at Candy?"

"Did you see something in the water?"

All of the voices rose to a peak at once, fighting for dominance with one another as they tried to gain Mischief's attention. The head brother suddenly realized that all this chatter would probably catch Candy's attention, so he quickly tried to shush them all.

"What? What's going on, Mischief, why are you shushing us?" Slop inquired. Several of the brothers mumbled in accordance.

"Just please, be quiet for a little bit, okay?" Mischief said, addressing all of his brothers. Echoes of "why?" were the response from the heads. But before Mischief had a chance to say anything, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He glanced up to see that Candy had spotted him from across the boat, and decided to join his company. He only had a few moments before she arrived next to him, and he felt oddly vulnerable and unprepared to speak to her quite yet.

"Brothers, I have a quick request to make of you." There was a brief pause of silence.

"I need you all to be quiet for the next couple of minutes." There was an immediate uproar of seven irritated voices and numbers of questions that he didn't have time to answer.

"Just please, you can talk all you want to after Candy leaves, just please-"

"Oh, Caaaandy is it?" he hears Serpent interrupt, with slight humor and sarcasm in his voice. All of the brothers were suddenly silenced as they took in the meaning of the situation. Looks were exchanged around the heads; some with mock, some with a knowing smile, some with just pure irritation. Mischief's teeth clenched in slight annoyance, but before he could reprimand any of them, he felt Candy's hand lightly touch his shoulder. He whirled around suddenly, his thoughts successfully scattered.

"Hey," he spurted out nervously.

"Hi," she responded warmly, despite Mischief's slightly noticeable discomfort. "Did I hear you and your brothers talking about me-?"

"No! I mean yes! But no! But yes! But not in a bad way, we were just, umm, discussing the- the…" As Mischief fumbled for words, the brothers were having a difficult time keeping their laughter at bay. The sight of Mischief trying to form a decent sentence made Candy giggle.

"Mischief, don't worry about it," Candy finally said, the hint of a smile still fresh in her features. "Even if you were talking about me, I'm sure it was nothing of great importance."

John wanted to tell her that everything about her was of extreme importance, but he decidedly held his tongue. Instead, he responded with a grin that Candy readily returned. Strangely enough, they were left staring at each other after the grin had subtly faded, and Mischief felt slightly taken aback by what he was looking at.

Candy was blushing.

It was highly amusing to him, and he wished to study that lovely shade of pink that stained her cheeks for a little bit longer, but she turned her face away from him; surprisingly, somewhat shyly.

"Hey, you're blushing," he accused, pointing at her face, his smile unable to hide any longer.

"No, I'm not," Candy argued with the shadow of her earlier grin still on her lips.

"Yes you are, my lady, I can see it on your face." Candy resulted to covering her cheeks with her palms.

"Now, you can't," she teased. Before Mischief could gain control of his muscles, his fingers were already softly wrapped around her wrists, capturing them, and gingerly moving them away from her face. Candy watched him silently, subtly taken aback by the sudden change of events.

"Now, I can." Mischief's voice was almost a whisper as he lightly squeezed Candy's wrists in his hands. She swallowed when she realized how close they were. She didn't remember gravitating toward him so quickly in such a short span of time.

A silly grin spread across John Mischief's face as he noticed the hue of her cheeks turning brighter. Candy's lips twisted up sheepishly in return, her cheeks turning an even brighter shade of pink. Mischief found her embarrassment to be alarmingly charming, and he couldn't bring himself to leave her eyes. He waited a few moments for her to pull herself away from him, but it never happened. She only stared at him, wearing the same expression that he did: wonder. It reminded Mischief of how Candy looked at the moon; with childlike wonder.

After realizing this, he automatically leaned toward her, and stopped a few inches from her face. Candy took a quick intake of breath at the sudden action, but never shied away from him. Unable to deny the natural gravitation he felt toward her, he completed the minor inches between their mouths, and graced her with a single, soft kiss. The gentle sound that their lips made as he pulled away sent Mischief's heart into a fluttering frenzy. His eyes darted up to examine her face, his heart seemingly unable to return to its former rhythm. Her warm breath brushed his face gently, and almost whispered for him to kiss her again.

Which he did.

Because when Candy's bright smile dawned on her face like the rising sun, Mischief barely had time to return the gesture before he was inexplicably drawn into her again. His mouth found hers with a little more determination this time, their eyes only fluttering closed after their lips shyly moved together for the first time. Mischief finally released one of Candy's wrists to barely ghost over her cheek. His fingers settled deftly on her jawbone and tilted her face lightly to side. Mischief's nose tickled as it brushed against Candy's cheek. She began to smile under his mouth, and he had no choice but to smile back, his heart overtaken with happiness. They broke their kiss to smile unabashedly at each other, a brand new sense of wonder spilling across their features.

The Isabella took this opportunity to pitch the boat forward, throwing Candy directly at Mischief. This only hurled their merriment into pure laughter as John clumsily caught the girl from the Hereafter before she could tumble elsewhere. Mischief reveled in the feeling of her against his chest, and decided silently that he would never let her go anywhere else. The Isabella countered his decision as quickly as he had made it and tossed the both of them onto the deck. A myriad of thumps and laughter echoed across the sea, even catching the ears of sailors some miles away. Candy rolled onto her back, laughing as she stared up at the stars. The iridescent moon still bathed the deck in shimmering, pale light, and Candy was right in the middle of it. Mischief turned his head to stare at her, wondering how her presence alone had the ability to enchant the entire night. His eyes fell to her cheeks, and he couldn't hold back his smile.

"You're still blushing, my lady." The color turned into a deep hue of pink, but she did not turn her face away from him this time. Candy was content to let him study the brilliant show of color on her cheeks until the moon snuck behind the sea, and the sun rose triumphantly to take its place.

But unfortunately, Mischief would not get so long of a chance. After Candy and John had lain together in comfortable and beautiful silence for a few minutes, the quiet was shattered by a familiar voice coming from somewhere behind them.

"Hey, you two! Better get inside! You'll catch a cold!" The two turned their heads around to see Malingo peaking out from the cabin. He closed the door after a second, and Mischief sighed. He rose, offering his hand to Candy. She took it carefully, gratefully. As he helped her up, she allowed herself to be pulled a little closer to him than necessary. He blinked once at their sudden proximity then grinned sheepishly. Candy pecked him on the cheek before trotting childishly off to the cabin. Mischief's half-lidded eyes followed her fondly, but he was stuck in his place at the moment. After she had closed the door, he heard a familiar voice, or voices, coming from above him.

"Awww!" cooed all of his brothers at once, elongating and dramatizing the sound. Mischief shook his head violently, startling the heads. He chuckled to himself before popping John Serpent with his hand, just for good measure. He barely heard the annoyed response as he made his way to the cabin, grinning like a child, taken by the girl from the Hereafter.

~Fin~