Moonlight stretched across the water like melted silver, and the waves whispered secrets that only lovers understood.
The beach was empty. Oh, it should be; it was way past midnight. The kind of hour where the world forgets its rules and expectations. Where time softens and sighs. Where even the air feels like it's holding its breath, waiting for something sacred.
No guards. No eyes watching. Just the four of them.
Jack kicked off his shoes first, letting his feet sink into the cool, forgiving sand. He walked barefoot toward the shoreline, slow and thoughtful, like the ocean had summoned him.
Jay followed, quieter . He was always quieter when it was just them. His hand brushed Jack's, light, fleeting, and electric, before he laced their fingers together with quiet certainty, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Behind them, Jeff was less poetic. He tossed a blanket onto the sand with exaggerated flair, like he was claiming territory on a battlefield. Rin watched him with a small, amused smile, one eyebrow raised as he sank down beside him.
The sea smelled of salt and childhood. Of freedom. Of memories that didn't belong to mafia heirs who were used to blood more than laughter. Used to boardrooms filled with veiled threats and hotel rooms bugged with hidden mics. Who carried knives in their boots and ghosts in their hearts.
But tonight… they were just boys. Just them.
Young and free. For once.
Jay tugged Jack into the shallow surf, eyes gleaming mischievously under the moonlight. "Don't just stand there looking like a Greek god. Play."
Jack raised a sculpted brow, amused. "Greek god?"
Jay smirked, water lapping at his ankles. "A smirking one."
Jack gave a breath of laughter, low and warm, and then grabbed a handful of water, flinging it directly at Jay's chest.
Jay shrieked dramatically, staggering back. "Rude!"
Jack didn't reply. He just lunged again, splashing Jay harder, laughter falling from his lips like he hadn't been trained to bury emotion. Like he hadn't been trained to be ice and calculative
Jay lunged back, tackling him with a splash that sent seawater arcing into the air. They fell, limbs entangled, waves rushing up around them as they wrestled and laughed, soaked to the bone but light. So light.
They laughed like it was the only thing keeping them alive.
Maybe it truly was.
From the blanket, Rin watched them with the quiet fondness of someone who'd stopped believing in joy and then been proven wrong.
"Children," he murmured, shaking his head with a grin.
Jeff leaned in beside him, voice low. "Don't worry. I'm more mature."
Rin turned his head slowly. "Are you?"
Jeff's eyes glinted. "Actually," he said, standing up suddenly, "now that I've got your attention—"
Rin's eyes narrowed. "Jeff. Don't."
Jeff, undeterred, dropped to one knee with the elegance of a drama prince in a mafia opera.
Rin froze. "You're kidding."
"I'm not," Jeff replied, deadpan and deadly serious… and dramatic as hell.
Even Jay and Jack paused mid-splash to watch from the water, eyes wide.
Jeff cleared his throat. "Rin—bodyguard, fighter, man of mystery—I have faced death, betrayal, and too many of your sarcastic eye rolls."
Jack burst out laughing in the distance. "He's been rehearsing this!"
Jeff ignored him.
"But I have never, in my dangerous and thrilling life, met someone who could make me want to share snacks. Or guns. Or feelings." He paused. "God help me, especially with feelings."
Rin covered his face with both hands. "Jeff..."
"Let me finish," Jeff said, holding up a hand like a minister of chaos.
He pulled something from his pocket, a small, hand-braided band of black and silver thread. "It's not a ring. That would be a little insane. But it's a promise band. For your wrist. Or ankle. I don't judge."
Rin—stoic, dangerous Rin—laughed. Really laughed. And it sounded like wind cracking open a closed window.
Jeff's voice softened, just enough for Rin to hear. "Be my boyfriend. My bed friend. And my best friend. My bad-decision partner. My person."
Jay, in the background, buried his face in Jack's shoulder, muffling a groan. "He did not just say 'bed friend.'"
Jack grinned, arms folded. "So much for calling us dramatic."
Rin stared at the band in Jeff's outstretched hand.
He took it.
Slipped it on his wrist.
And said quietly, "I've been yours since Phuket. Took you long enough to ask."
Jeff stood up slowly. No more theatrics. Just him. And he kissed Rin, deeply and grinning, like he had the whole damn universe cupped in his hands.
And Rin kissed him back like he'd stopped running for the first time in years.
The night stretched on, warm and wide, wrapping around them like a secret.
Later, after the laughter died down and the moon climbed higher, they all lay on the blanket together. Tangled in arms and salt-kissed skin, the hush of the sea around them like a lullaby.
Jay lay with his head on Jack's chest, fingers tracing lazy circles over his shirt. "Let's never forget this night," he whispered.
Jack pressed a kiss to Jay's temple, slow and reverent. "We'll need it… when the war begins."
Jeff shifted, pulling Rin closer. Rin, who was watching the stars with a furrow in his brow like he was trying to memorize them.
"The proposal," Rin muttered, "was ridiculous."
Jeff leaned in and kissed the inside of Rin's wrist, right where the band now rested. "You loved every second."
Rin rolled his eyes, but there was no heat. "Maybe."
Silence settled again, comfortable now. Familiar.
Waves crashed nearby, steady, eternal. The kind of rhythm that reminded them they were still alive.
Jay breathed in Jack's scent—salt, ocean breeze, something clean and sharp and safe.
Jack's hand tightened around him.
Rin closed his eyes, leaning into Jeff's side.
And Jeff, for once, said nothing at all.
The moon kept rising, carving silver paths across the black water. The stars overhead blinked like they were listening in.
And in that perfect, fragile, fleeting sliver of time…
They weren't heirs.
They weren't soldiers.
They weren't haunted, hunted, hardened boys with targets on their backs.
They were just in love.
And love? real love had always been the most dangerous, most rebellious thing of all