A/N: Written for Writer's Month 2021 Day 10 - word: sunshine/setting: deaged/aged up.
This is so short that I am surprised I am even capable of being so concise anymore. Still managed to make myself tear up, though.
A thread of gold wrapped around Brandon's finger pulling him forward through numerous cycles of moonlight flashing around him in a rapid stream. Sunshine spilled from the thread to bathe his surroundings in light and reveal them.
He was back in the bedroom he shared with Stella in the Solarian palace but the walls were covered with designs in bold colors. There was barely a whisper of the pink the room was painted in between the collection of Stella's artwork on display. Only the mirror of her vanity was showing a different picture – a photo of the two of them next to the reflection of himself in the present.
The golden threat around his finger was a lock of her hair covering his skin like a wedding band. Following its length landed his eyes on Stella.
She was sketching another design, teeth gently holding her bottom lip in a hug of steady passion. Her hands were confident and deliberate over the sheet scratching beauty into existence. Her hair spilled freely over her slackened frame in unbrushed waves. She must have grabbed the pencil right out of bed and drawn the sparks in her irises. The lines around her eyes and the corners of her mouth were a testament to her creative skills. So much happiness sealed in the strokes of time over her face. She'd immortalized it there for everyone to see her rise like the sun every day and shine more light. He hadn't thought he could fall deeper in love without burning in the heat until he'd seen the history of her growth sculpted in her future self.
Stella looked up at the sound of his gasp, no startling alarm brushing over her skin, only warmth radiating around her like an aura. "Hey, schnookums." The corners of her lips lifted up like a curtain to reveal a smile that fit on her face like the engagement ring fit around her finger. A six-rayed star appeared in the yellow moonstone when the sunlight touched it as if multiplied by Stella's smile. Her light was so strong it could create.
Tears rolled down Brandon's cheeks in awe of her way of making everything shine. Even the tear drops shed in their bedroom reflected inspiration for the future whether the water was shaped by sadness or joy.
"Brandon."
The vision was sliced in half when his eyes snapped open to the darkness of the night. Stella's hair was sun-kissed gold even in the moonlight reflected in her eyes, wet with worry.
"Did I upset you?" Her fingers slipped on the water separating her touch from his cheek. Or maybe it was the tremble in her hand that was barely there to mock him with his almost success to rid her of her self-doubt.
"No. No, you didn't." He kissed her palm before pulling her in, her head fitting in the crook of his neck like she'd designed it so. Her creativity was so beautiful it could never be overshadowed by everyday grievances. Even when it was chaos she created to leave him nowhere to rest his tiredness. "You are perfect the way you are."
She was already the woman from his dream, years earlier. It was her true self and in his dreams he'd been with her long enough to see it as easily as the outfit she was wearing. It had been his doubt that she'd want to age with him that had been stripped. She had been perfect from the moment he'd met her and he was getting a fuller picture of it with each passing day.
Stella looked into his eyes, palm resting over his heart. "Will you marry me, Brandon?"
The answer spilled faster from his mouth than the tears did from his eyes. "Yes." He nuzzled his face in her hair, in the light of the life she was creating for them.
