A/n: Before I get into the theme of this update, I just want to say I'm so surprised everyone liked the previous oneshot! I came up with the idea so randomly and there's no background to it, but still now that I know everyone enjoyed reading it I might try to build on that AU a little bit, so thank you for your reviews!
Now this one, is not a Valentine's proposal, but a proposal nonetheless and is set a few years after Tale 11, aka the one where Tyson buys an engagement ring on a whim. Cutetyhil suggested a failed proposal in front of their friends, but writing scenes with anyone except Tyson and Hilary is so creatively challenging for me, that I decided to go with a much milder version of that idea.
Honestly I'm not too happy with this, because I had a major writer's block for almost all of February and I had to drag my fingers across the keyboard to just write a full sentence, but I'll let you be the judge of that!
Tale 18
- x -
Tyson's eyes followed a lone snowflake as it managed to settle in the centre of his car's windshield despite the wipers running at full speed. There was a word that he knew could describe the scene in front of him perfectly but his memory was failing him currently. In fact, there wasn't much he could think about except how his plan had been an utter failure and he was pretty much doomed for now. Not that his predicament seemed to matter to the forces that controlled the weather, he mused, since the snow fall kept getting worse by every minute he spent contemplating about the said predicament.
"Ugh, the scene outside looks so bleak."
Bleak.
That's the word he had been looking for.
He turned his eyes away from the windshield and nodded at the remark made by his girlfriend next to him, he could always trust Hilary to find the right word for every situation. But it was one of those rare moments when he was in agreement with her, the snowstorm had started halfway through their journey and while Tyson had very boisterously trusted his speedy driving skills to get them to their destination before it got worse, he hadn't managed to live up to his statements. Now the two were stranded on a highway in the middle of nowhere with a fairly violent storm surrounding both - the route towards their original destination, and the one that could take them back home.
Things were looking bleak indeed.
But he couldn't admit out loud to Hilary, the reason why he was agreeing with her, instead of looking for a silver lining that would keep both their spirits up and get them out of this tricky situation, which is usually how things played out between the two of them. Hilary assuming the worst and Tyson almost breaking his back to prove her wrong. Not today however, today he had to borrow from her defeatist nature because the real reason for this trip was still unknown to Hilary. She was still under the assumption that they were heading to their destination so that Tyson could participate in an exhibition match being hosted by the National Kendo Association, a lie that he still couldn't believe he had managed to come up with on his own.
Planning surprises had never been his forte. He'd either get too excited and spill the beans to everyone too early, or simply forget about the surprise by keeping quiet about it. So when it came to planning birthday parties and such for their close friends, it was usually Hilary who took care of it. She would give him direct instructions and he'd follow them to the t and it would usually end up in a success, one of the reasons why they made such a great team. However, Hilary could manage to throw surprises for him by herself, which Tyson was a little envious of since he had never managed to do something like that. He'd always end up needing a little help from Max or Rei, or one of her girlfriends to pull it off. Not this time though, and from the moment that he'd come up with the plan and up until they left the cityscape behind a little while ago, Tyson had been very proud of himself for managing everything by himself.
How was he supposed to know that the weather would be out to steamroll him just when he was sure that everything was under control?
He found his eyes wandering towards Hilary, who was busy tapping away on her phone, and wondered if they would've gotten stuck in a blizzard had this trip been planned by her instead. Probably not, his conscience told him, she would've kept a tab on the weather forecast for this date from a month ago, while Tyson hadn't even bothered to check it even as they left their home a few hours ago.
"I don't think it's safe for us to turn back, the map's showing that road is snowed in too." Hilary looked up at him, brows furrowing slightly when she realised he had been watching her.
Tyson could only exhale heavily in response, his mind was currently too preoccupied with how he was going to salvage the big thing he had planned for them and he couldn't risk a slip up under the brunette's watchful gaze, she could sniff secrets out of him like a trained police hound.
"The map is showing a rest stop a few metres ahead," She raised her phone for him to see, her voice surprisingly gentle considering the situation they were in, he noticed concern flashing through her eyes, but couldn't figure out if it was meant for him, "why don't we head there for now? Get something to snack on while we think about what to do."
"Sounds like a plan." Tyson nodded at her, proud of how he managed to sound like his energetic self and a little relived to see her smile in response, as long as Hilary's spirits would be up, he'd be safe from being found out.
Immediately turning the key in the engine and starting the car, he was glad to have something to do and concentrate on apart from mulling over his failed surprise, plus the thought of getting his hands on a hot cup of instant noodles was an equal parts motivator. The snow made it difficult to drive and he had to go slower than usual, which was frustrating, but after some time the rest stop came into view and brought with it a flicker of hope within Tyson. Maybe they could just wait the storm out in there and go ahead with the trip as soon as it was over, he thought, of course he'd need to check if Hilary would be okay with this, but the idea in itself was enough to lift Tyson's mood up a little bit.
The couple wasn't surprised to find the rest stop completely empty save for one disinterested employee at the cash register. The two picked out everything they wanted to eat quickly but the cashier took their sweet time in ringing them up, which annoyed Tyson and Hilary equally but since neither wanted to play the part of the angry customer, they quietly accepted their fate. Once the food was paid for, they wasted no time in settling on one of the corner tables and digging into it, Hilary happily munching on a croquette sandwich while Tyson practically inhaled two cups of instant noodles. Both of them had their eyes fixed on the news broadcast that was playing on the store's small television, hoping to see some useful information about the weather in the area, only to turn away disgruntled after realising that the channel on air didn't seem to think the blizzard outside was worth covering.
"You should contact the Association and let them know about this." Hilary sighed, folding her arms across her chest with a subdued expression on her face she added, "Maybe they can reschedule the match."
That's when Tyson understood why she was being so calm about the whole goof up, she was worried that he'd end up missing an important work related event. Had she known that the match was all just a lie and they were currently stuck here because he hadn't bothered to check the weather before picking their destination, he would've been receiving a wholly different kind of treatment from her. It was relieving to some extent, calm and collected Hilary was much easier to lie too than one who was out to get to the bottom of things.
"Yeah, they might be able to work something out." Tyson replied, hoping that she won't take this conversation any further than this, since he didn't trust himself to come up with concrete lies while being so directly under the spotlight.
"Well?" Hilary looked at him pointedly, as if he hadn't been listening to her and had missed something she said.
"Well what?" Tyson frowned at her, he was sure that he'd given her the reply she had wanted and couldn't think of anything else he could add to his statement.
"Go and call them Tyson!" She sighed exasperatedly, a hint of her perpetual annoyance with him seeped into her voice, making him slightly jump in his seat.
"Right. Of course, I should go do that." He spit out almost automatically, slowly getting up from his seat, of course that's what she meant by contacting the Association. He came so close to slapping himself in the face for being so spaced out that his brain hadn't even registered the suggestion he had so promptly agreed to. Although, had his match been a real thing that's definitely the step he would've taken to solve the problem too. But since the match wasn't real and there was no official he could contact to get them out of here, only one thought circulated in Tyson's head as he avoided Hilary's gaze.
Who was he supposed to call?
Given the size of the rest stop, Tyson couldn't really hide in a corner and reappear after a while claiming that he'd made the call. Knowing Hilary, even if she pretended to give him some privacy, her ears would be on alert to catch any hint of his conversation. More so, she would expect him to have a solution to their problem by the time he was done with the phone call, which was even more nerve-racking because so far all Tyson had thought of was that they could wait the blizzard out in this dingy place, but that would definitely not sound like the response of an Association official.
She watched him like a hawk, as he slid his hand inside his pants pocket and pulled out his phone and he swallowed a nervous gulp. Tyson pretended to search through his directory and used that moment to put some distance between himself and the table they had chosen to sit down on, he looked around the store as discreetly as he could, for an area that would allow him to be a little out of Hilary's sight, finally deciding on standing behind an aisle of racks filled with chips and other snacks.
Now the only obstacle remaining was making a call to someone who'd be disinterested enough in him to play along by keeping completely silent on the other end and allow him to have a fake one-sided conversation at 3AM in the morning.
Luckily for him, Tyson knew just the person for that role.
Pulling up the contact on his phone, Tyson leaned back once, just to check how keenly Hilary was paying attention to him. And as he had guessed, while she was still seated, she was craning her neck in an attempt to get a glimpse of him, but as soon as she saw him looking at her, she stopped and turned away, embarrassed over being caught. He took this chance of not being under her surveillance to make the call, hoping that he'd be able to quickly explain the reason behind the call to the person on the other end and start the charades of his fake conversation while Hilary was distracted and not straining her ears to catch every word he was saying.
As was the usual case with calling this friend, Tyson had to listen to the call ring for an excruciating long of amount time before he bothered to pick up, it could also be because he was calling at such an odd hour, but he preferred to ignore that fact.
"What?"
It was strange for the two to have a decent conversation under normal circumstances, but with the added stress of this debacle, Tyson could only anticipate just how much his patience would be tested over the next few minutes or so.
"Hey, Kai." Tyson mumbled as quietly as he could, already regretting making the call. On any other day, he would've argued for Kai to stop answering calls with his usual aggressively questioning tone, and say 'hello' like any other normal person would, but today Tyson had to bite his tongue and hold back all his constructive criticism.
"...What?"
Of course, the long pauses and repetitive monosyllabic responses were just some other added perks of a conversation with Kai.
"Listen, I need your help," One thing Tyson was grateful for though, was that with Kai he could always get to the point without having to beat around the bush for pleasantries, "I need Hilary to think I'm talking to some match official, so just play along with me for a minute."
"…"
"Why do you need to lie to her?"
There were a few things that struck as odd to Tyson, like why didn't his friend sound drowsy like someone who had just been woken up in the middle of the night or that he had willingly asked for an explanation when his motto was 'the lesser I know, the better' when it came to other people's lives.
"Why does it matter to you?" Tyson felt his voice get louder, and he bit his tongue yet again, in an attempt to remind himself to keep his cool. The odds were definitely not in his favour today, since his only options were tolerating Kai being his usual pesky self or getting found out by Hilary, but still he needed to persist, "Just bear with me for a few minutes."He muttered though gritted teeth almost desperately, hoping his tone would make his friend understand the urgency of the situation.
"…"
"…"
For a moment the long pause at the other end made Tyson wonder if Kai had fallen asleep, he was just about to hang up and make the call again when the latter replied in his usual, flat tone.
"Are you cheating on her?"
"NO I'M NOT-"
The words were out of his mouth before he could take a second to reel himself in, and Tyson cursed under his breath, there was no way that his furious outburst, however short, hadn't reached Hilary's ears. He removed the phone from his ear and glared at the screen, hoping that it would somehow travel through the waves and reach his so-called friend who had so casually questioned his loyalty towards his girlfriend of over ten years.
Remembering, that the whole reason he was suffering through this phone call was to make sure that Hilary doesn't find out the truth, he took a deep breath and leaned back again to check if she had heard him shouting or not and surprisingly found that she was missing from the table. A flicker of hope that she hadn't heard him and his cover hadn't been blown just yet rose within him, so he shuffled his feet silently across the rest stop to check where she had gone, when he couldn't find her anywhere, his eyes fell on the sign that was pointing towards the restrooms in the back and a huge wave of relief washed over him.
Tyson took another deep breath and counted from 10 to 1 in an attempt to calm his fast heartbeat and rid his mind of any rage that he had felt at Kai's words. The window was short, but he could quickly finish explaining everything to his ex-teammate before Hilary was back from the restroom, and then raise his voice as if he was arguing with an official to close his performance, at least now he had a genuine reason to sound mad too. He took his place behind the rack of chips and placed his phone near his ear again, and tried to restart the conversation with a calm mind.
"No, I'm not cheating on her. What the fuck is wrong with you? Why would you even say that?"
Well Tyson tried his best to be as calm as he could.
"Why are you lying to her then?"
It was a valid question, Tyson couldn't deny that as much as it annoyed him. He thought it was kind of sweet too, that Kai was this concerned on Hilary's behalf, reinstating his belief in the fact that their mostly distant and disinterested friend had a soft spot for each of them somewhere in his heart. But he was still irritated, that Kai would choose the moment when Tyson was running against the clock to show this lesser known side. In fact, there had always been kind of an unspoken pact among the whole team that Tyson and Hilary wouldn't involve the rest of them in their relationship problems since back when they first started dating in high school. It would be unfair for the two to put the others in a position where they would feel the need to pick sides, so Tyson couldn't help but pout over how Kai was quick to assume that he was somehow in the wrong and not Hilary.
Tyson knew however that there was currently no point in trying to argue his case to Kai, what he needed to do was make the most of the few minutes of privacy from Hilary.
"If you must know, I kind of messed up a surprise I planned for her."
Tyson muttered as a defeated sigh escaped through his lips, but somehow, admitting his fault out loud made him feel a lot better. His usual confidence returned to his posture as his body felt lighter, he straightened his back and took a deep breath before coming clean with the whole truth, "I was going to take her to the hot springs she'd been wanting to go to for a long time, I rented a whole inn just for the two of us. And then at the end of it all, I was planning to propose."
His hand reached for the tiny box that was snugly settled inside his jacket's pocket on its own, feeling the box's soft velvety texture against his fingers made the giddy feeling from when he had first purchased this ring return to his mind. His lips curved upwards as he thought, that when Hilary finds out the truth, she'd definitely scold him for a while but at the end of it all, she would appreciate how he had managed to keep the ring safe and sound for all these years. He curled his palm into a tight fist around the box, hoping to borrow from it the energy he required to see this whole thing through, without the thought of giving up ever coming to his mind again.
"…"
Kai's radio silence on the other end after he'd made the statement was a bit concerning though. It was true that for the past few years, he had been messing with Hilary on numerous occasions where he'd make her think that he was going to propose, but end it in a prank, and eventually everyone around them had gotten involved in his silly jokes. But that didn't mean that Tyson wasn't ever planning to propose to her seriously, he just enjoyed getting on her nerves like no one else could and didn't want to lose the golden ticket that allowed him to do that so quickly, surely the people close to him had understood that?
"Propose as in ask her to marry me." Not being able to take the silence, Tyson attempted to clarify himself.
"I know what the word propose means, Tyson."
"I was just making sure you did, I don't know what they teach you at the robot school of no emotions," Tyson shot back, annoyed once again that the first person to find out about the huge step he was about to take had greeted the statements with dull silence and no encouragement. Under normal circumstances, Max would've been the first person he would tell and he was sure that the blond would've squealed in joy and wished him well. Knowing that he had no choice but to accept the fact that he'd dug his own grave with his failed secret mission and Kai's acknowledgment of understanding what propose meant was the best he was going to get, Tyson hastily continued "Anyway, long story short, we got stuck in the middle of a snowstorm on our way there."
"How could you not check the weather for such an important day?"
"You're awfully chatty today aren't you?"
A snippy accusation was all he could respond with since the answer to Kai's question was obvious and while Tyson had humbled himself sufficiently for the day, he wasn't going to go that far and admit to his dumb mistake, especially not out loud to Kai. In a surprising turn of events, he heard his friend sigh defeatedly, just like he had some minutes ago, piquing his interest once again in knowing just what Kai had been doing before he had answered his call.
"If you must know, I'm kind of in the middle of something too."
A pause, and another deep breath later,"I would appreciate it if you could stretch this call for about.. ten minutes more?"
"Now you're talking."
Tyson would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about what Kai had said, and he knew too, that there was a chance he'd never find out the truth either, since he couldn't see himself or Kai ever bringing up this phone conversation again. So as much as it pained him, Tyson decided to prioritise his attempt to keep Hilary out of the loop over his urge to pester Kai into coming clean about what was happening at his end. He decided to make sure first, that Hilary was back from the restroom, and sure enough when he took a peek, she was back at their table and looked engrossed in her phone, but he knew that her ears were on alert. Snagging the perfect chance, Tyson raised his voice just the right amount and began a one-sided argument with himself as Kai obediently stayed silent on the other end.
As Kai had requested, Tyson went on for about ten minutes, taking a few moments every now and then to check if Hilary was listening, and he was assured that she was by the way the frown on her face deepened after every peek he took. He did go a little overboard with his acting, as he had expected Kai's callous remark from earlier was still gnawing at him but once he had started, it was difficult to reel himself back in, and he could only hope that he'd manage to keep the lie afloat once the supposed phone call was over and Hilary would be at his throat about it.
"Thanks for this Kai, I owe you one." Tyson lowered his voice once he ran out of lines to come up with,"I'll see you later, I guess."
"Tyson!"
He had meant to end the call, but Kai's unusually urgent tone made him pause, and of course his sudden change of behaviour was followed by the usual long silence, before his friend managed to surprise him for the nth time that night.
"Good luck."
Even as the call was disconnected Tyson stood rooted to his spot, his mouth slightly ajar as he stared at his phone screen, wondering whether he had imagined what had just happened. After all, when was the last time he had heard Kai say those words to him? He couldn't remember, in fact he wondered if in all the time that the two had known each other, had Kai ever wished him good luck for anything? No, this was definitely the first time Kai had done this, which could only mean that today was his lucky day and he still had it in him to turn this whole failure around on it's head into something worthwhile.
Tyson bit his lip in order to suppress a grin as he reached for the velvet box in his pocket once again, he had never been the kind of person who'd give up until it was over, even if he hadn't really managed to think of a plan, he knew he could still keep going and pull off his surprise based purely on how lucky he felt in the moment. Which one would say wasn't necessarily a smart decision, but then they clearly didn't know Tyson very well.
Managing to somehow tone down his excitement and put on a weary expression to show how much the call with the match official had exhausted him, Tyson emerged from between the aisles with slouched shoulders as he walked back slowly to their table and slumped down in his seat. But before Tyson could even begin to form a sentence he was interrupted, he should've known better than to leave it all to his luck, considering that he was dealing with Hilary.
"I take it the conversation didn't go well with the official?" She asked as soon as he sat down.
"Oh, yeah it didn't." Tyson replied, and then mentally kicked himself, he couldn't allow himself to get caught up in her flow, he needed to create an opening for himself fast.
"I knew this would happen," Of course she did, "these event organisers, they're never practical when it comes to these things." She continued and Tyson found himself nodding along to her, "But don't you worry, I have it all figured out." Hilary smiled at him and reached for his hand across the table with her own and holding onto it with a reassuring squeeze.
And of course she had it all figured out, while Tyson had left it all to lady luck.
"I called the local police station and they informed me that the route back home is already being cleared, so we only have to tough it out for a few kilometres and then we will be able to get back home!"
"Get back home?" Tyson repeated her words emptily as his heart sank down to his stomach.
"Yes, I think it's best we go back." Hilary nodded, her eyes dropped to her phone screen again but she looked back up at him within a minute, "I'm looking at flights you can take that will help you get to the venue before the match starts, so we should be on our way as soon as possible."
"What about you?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"I don't think we can afford two last minute plane tickets, so I'm sorry but I'll have to miss this match." She spoke softly, as if sensing the dread that was creeping up on him, but was also committed to getting them back on the road so she squeezed his hand again as she stood up, "Let's get going then."
Tyson silently followed suit, he had no choice but to admit defeat and be awed by how Hilary had even managed to find a solution to an imaginary problem at such short notice. He couldn't argue with her, there was no loophole for errors in her plan, there never were, so he kept his mouth sealed shut as he followed her out of the rest stop and into the snow.
It was one thing that he had to accept the fact that today was indeed not his lucky day, but knowing that once they got into the car he would eventually have to come clean with everything before Hilary rushed onto purchase expensive flight tickets for an event that didn't exist, was worse. Why didn't he think of buying plane tickets for them in the first place, maybe they would've avoided the bad weather altogether if he'd just decided to fly them out early in the morning. But no, Tyson had been obsessed with the idea of a road trip ever since he had bought his car and thus, here they were.
While the snowfall had definitely slowed down since they'd last been on the road, there were remnants still falling lightly from the sky.
Stepping out from the warmth of the rest stop, Tyson surprisingly wasn't affected by the chilly air outside, having not being able to come up with a decent excuse or how he was going to break the truth to Hilary was enough to keep his insides burning with anticipation. Hilary, unbeknownst to all of this and feeling proud of herself for coming up with the perfect solution to their problem, had already happily skipped ahead to where their car was parked. Tyson halted for a moment and watched her, hoping that staring at her would be enough for him to borrow some of her quick thinking and come up with an explanation that wouldn't make her unleash wrath upon him in the middle of this eerily empty parking lot.
The sky was still clouded and the stars and the moon were nowhere in sight, making the few, dim streetlights around them the only source of light and yet, his eyes didn't have any trouble in following her as she walked through the dark and empty parking lot. He surprised himself by how clearly he could make out her figure when she stopped next to their car probably waiting for him to unlock the door, despite the distance between them he could still distinguish the sheen on her stockings as her legs shook from the cold or how quickly her cheeks had succumbed to the chill and tuned red even as she pressed her glove clad hands against them in an attempt to keep them warm.
He willed himself to move, so that she could get inside the car and warm herself up, but Tyson was oddly awestruck by the picture she painted, standing alone with just the right amount of light illuminating only her, as the snowflakes fluttered down around her slowly and settled across her hair like pearls coming undone from a necklace, it all looked too perfect to be true almost as if it was a scene from a movie.
In that moment an alarm went off in his head.
What the hell had he been waiting for?
It was now or never.
His feet moved on their own and before he knew it, he was grabbing Hilary's arm to turn her around so that they faced each other. When her face came into view, he had to pause again. Her cheeks were flushed red, the tip of her nose was a light pink and her lips were parted slightly in surprise, a lone eyebrow wrinkled in confusion as surprise filled her face, her curious eyes searching his for an explanation, and unthinkingly his grip around her arm tightened.
"Hilary, I lied." The words were quick to leave his mouth and only confused Hilary further, so Tyson took a deep breath and spoke again, a little calmer this time, "I lied about the match. There is no match happening tomorrow."
"I don't understand…" She looked a bit dazed and her gaze shifted to his hold on her arm, Tyson realising that he had been squeezing her too tightly immediately let go of her.
Instinctively his hand reached for the box resting inside his pocket, but before he pulled it out he decided to look at Hilary again, even with her face all muddled up over his sudden declaration she still looked as beautiful as ever and he hoped that this moment would remain etched in his mind forever. He wrapped his fingers around the box, clutching onto it with all his strength he pulled it out, making sure that his eyes never broke contact with Hilary's as he got down on one knee.
"Oh!"
He opened the box and her eyes immediately fell on the ring resting inside it, she let out a gasp of surprise but before she could react any further, Tyson shifted the box in one hand and used his other one to take her hand in his, gently pulling off the glove she was wearing so that he could feel the warmth of her skin as he held her hand, hoping that her touch would fill him with enough courage to keep going.
"I know that this," Tyson gestured to their dingy surroundings with a nod of his head and a nervous chuckle escaped his lips, "isn't exactly close to your ideal. And I know, better than anyone else, that you deserve so much more," he paused to swallow the lump in his throat as he noticed the familiar shine in Hilary's eyes, "that you deserve someone perfect, someone who makes you truly happy."
A single tear rolled down her cheek leaving behind with it a frosty stain and she sniffed, he could tell from the way she pressed her lips together tightly that she wanted to say something but forced herself to stay quiet.
As he said those words, he felt as if a huge burden had been taken away for him, a burden that he had carried silently over the years as the differences between him and Hilary had continued to grow. Although he had never doubted how much she loved him, Tyson had his moments of weakness where he'd wonder if he would ever be able to match up to her or provide her with the kind of life that she had dreamed about as a kid. She might be better off without him, if he really loved her then she should let her go, he'd be lying if he said that these thoughts wouldn't cloud his mind every now and then. But he never acted on it, because he couldn't imagine his life without her. He knew that her life could become better without him in it, but his was better because she was in it. He would rather bear the weight of being the most self-serving person alive then give up his chance to wake up to next to Hilary every morning for the rest of his life.
He looked into her eyes and took a deep breath to calm his nerves, as he had remembered earlier, it was now or never.
"But I'm a selfish guy and I want you all to myself, forever. So, will you marry me?"
"Yes!"
Tyson was taken aback by how quickly the word left her mouth, not that he had been expecting her to say no, but given how he hadn't managed to pull off the dream proposal that she'd always hoped for, he had anticipated a moment of hesitation. But Hilary could barely keep her excitement contained as he pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger and the second it was fitted, she grabbed his hand and using all her strength pulled him up into a hug, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest, half laughing and half crying.
He was a bit slow to react, as the fact that he'd succeeded in his proposal and was now engaged to Hilary hadn't sunk in yet, but eventually his body moved on it's own and he returned the hug by putting his arms around her waist which elicited a content sigh from her.
"Don't you ever, not even for a second," Suddenly she pulled her head away from his chest and looked up at him, with her tear stained cheeks and bright eyes flashing fiercely, "ever think that anyone else except you could make me truly happy. I love you, Tyson." And without hesitation she leaned up and kissed him, his own response of a 'love you too' was reduced to a moan as she passionately deepened the kiss and took his breath away, quiet literally.
Something felt different about this kiss, maybe it was the shiver that went down his spine when Hilary ran her hand across his cheek to his neck and he felt the cold metal of the ring leave a tingling trail on his skin, or maybe it was the fact that Hilary just wouldn't stop smiling against his lips, or it could be the first rays of dawn that cut through the cloudy sky to shine down upon them as if to congratulate them. He couldn't put a finger on it and yet, as Tyson found himself getting lost in the kiss, he could still feel that something had changed in the satisfaction that rushed through his veins, he could feel that his body and mind actually felt satiated. The tiny flame of fear and self doubt that had plagued his heart had now been distinguished and there was nothing holding him back.
After a while, when the need to breathe finally made the two pull away from each other, Hilary disentangled her arms from around him and raised her hand against the sky where the sun was just beginning to rise, admiring the shining ring with awestruck eyes.
"You really managed to keep it safe and sound for all these years," she said with a smile, "I'm so proud of you, Tyson."
A wide grin spread across Tyson's face as he leaned forward to plant a kiss on her forehead, sure he couldn't be trusted with predicting the weather, but at least he had Hilary all figured out.
- x -
A/n: The real question isn't whether Tyson is able to successfully drive Hilary to that in but what was Kai doing up at that time and who was he with? Lol I don't know myself I just thought he'd be perfect person to make matters worse for and thought it would be funny if he was in a compromising position.
Let me know whether you enjoyed this, because I'm gonna be focusing on Digimon writing over the next two months so sadly I can't guarantee an update at least until May. I'll try my best to, but it seems unlikely.
Thank you for reading!
