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The house felt unusually quiet. For the first time in a long while, Sea could hear the sound of his own breathing.
As he stepped out of the bathroom and ruffled the towel through his hair, he looked out the window. The trees on the streets below were gently swaying in the wind, and he saw that there were people still out and about. He sat down in front of the bedside table, staring blankly at his reflection in the mirror as he applied his moisturiser on his face.
Jimmy, who had been laying in bed scrolling through news articles on his phone, noticed Sea's absentmindedness. "Bub."
"Hm?"
"Are you okay? You seem a little down."
"Yeah, I'm okay." Sea gave a tiny smile and nodded his head. "I'm think I'm just tired, from work and from waking up early today to drive our daughter to her school camp this morning, just the usual stuff."
"Hm. You can talk to me if you have something on your mind, you know?"
"I'm really okay, don't worry." Sea laughed softly as he walked over to the bed and sat on the edge. He swept Jimmy's bangs away from his face and gently caressed his cheek with his thumb. Sea noticed the dark circles faintly peeping through the skin under his eyes, which had been flawless before. "In fact, I should be worried about you, hm? You've barely been getting any sleep because of your long hours at the clinic, and you refuse to let me take over homework duty. Weren't you staying up late two days ago just to help with her art project too?"
Jimmy shook his head. "Hey, you stay up late reading through your scripts almost every day, and you always get up early to prepare her lunch boxes. It's only fair that I take charge of checking her homework and helping her out with her projects."
Unable to refute, Sea pretended to be annoyed and got up back to the desk to use the hair dryer. The loud whooshing of the hair dryer gave Jimmy the perfect opportunity to cover the sounds of him getting out of bed and sneaking up behind Sea, and grabbed the hair dryer out of his hand.
"Hey!"
"Let me do it for you. You're only drying half of your head."
Jimmy's long and agile fingers skillfully combed through Sea's damp hair as he swished the hair dryer around. Sea lifted his chin to look up at Jimmy, making funny faces at his husband in an attempt to make him laugh. For a moment, Sea felt like they had gone back to the days when they first got together.
And this gave him an idea.
"Hia."
"Hm?"
"Our kid's out for the next two days."
"Yeah, I'm aware."
"Can we go on a late night drive like we used to? Just you and me?"
Jimmy turned the hair dryer off. He looked down affectionately into Sea's shimmery eyes, and found himself feeling excited for some reason. "Sure, but why the sudden request?"
Sea blinked rapidly, suddenly feeling shy. He lowered his face, choosing to focus his gaze on his hands instead and fiddling with the wedding ring on his finger. "Well…we haven't had time to just be by ourselves in so long. So I wanna go on…a date…"
"What was that last part? I couldn't hear you." Jimmy pushed Sea's chin up with a finger and cupped his face in his hands so that Sea couldn't avoid his gaze. He bent down a little, his face hovering just a few centimetres above Sea's. "I want to hear it again." He said softly.
"Fine, fine. I said, I wanna go on a date. Can we?"
Jimmy chuckled and planted a kiss on Sea's nose. "Of course. Where do you want to go?"
They took a short drive to a market nearby to grab some food first. Although it was not packed, there was still a considerable amount of people. Afraid of losing him in the crowd, Sea held on tightly to the hem of Jimmy's shirt and stuck close to his back while Jimmy led the way. Whenever he spotted something he wanted to buy, Sea tugged twice to let Jimmy know, and they'd stop together.
"I think this is enough, Hia." Sea remarked as looked through the bags of food and two cups of juice they bought.
"Alright, where shall we go next?"
Sea pondered for a bit. "How about the beach? The weather's good tonight."
Jimmy nodded. He took over most of the bags of food and held them in one hand, then handed Sea the drinks instead. He held out his other hand that was free, gesturing for Sea to take it. "Come on, let's go."
They soon arrived at the beach and parked the car in a spot that faced the ocean. As they hadn't thought to bring a picnic mat out, they decided to sit on the hood of the car instead and munched away at the food they bought from the market earlier.
As it was already late, the beach was practically empty. There was nobody else around as far as they could see, and the immediate area was dimly lit by a few street lamps hanging overhead. It was almost as if they had the entire beach to themselves, accompanied only by the waves gently lapping onto the shore and a few faint stars scattered across the night sky.
Not before long, they had finished all the food. Sea's mouth had become a mess as he finished up the last skewer in his hand, with sauce all over his lips. Noticing this, Jimmy laughed and grabbed some tissues from the glove box in the car.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Your face is a mess. Come here, I'll clean it for you." Jimmy gently dabbed the tissue around Sea's mouth and made sure everything was wiped clean. He found himself staring at Sea's lips, and had to stop the overwhelming urge to kiss him right then.
"Thank you." Sea smiled sheepishly. He got up from the hood of the car and grabbed on to Jimmy's hand, pulling him up. "Come, walk with me on the shore."
The wind wafted by occasionally, carrying the salty scent of the ocean with it. Remembering that Jimmy wasn't a fan of the cold, Sea took his hand and interlocked their fingers, then tucked their hands into the pocket of his pants. They had walked for quite a while when Sea asked to stop for a bit, and fished out his phone to take a photo of their footsteps in the sand. He proudly showed the photo to Jimmy, who then came up with another idea.
He found a small stick nearby and scribbled something in the sand with it. "Tadah, how's this?"
Sea tilted his head in all directions, trying to figure out what Jimmy had written. It looked like a group of symbols, and wondered if there was some kind of hidden message he was supposed to decipher. "I can't decode it. What does it say?"
"Decode? It's in Thai, bub."
"Really?"
"It's my name and yours in a heart. You really can't tell?"
Sea squinted, trying his best to make out the letters but still failing to do so. Even after all these years, his husband's terrible handwriting had hardly improved, and that made him burst out laughing. Observing his reaction, Jimmy began sulking and threw the stick away, walking ahead and leaving Sea behind.
Sea was still giggling as he ran to catch up to Jimmy, trying his best to stifle his laughter as he grabbed onto Jimmy's hand and stopped him.
"Hmph."
"I'm sorry, I laughed because it was so cute! I even posted it on Instagram, see?"
"I worked hard on that."
"I know, thank you for your effort." Sea smiled radiantly as he kissed Jimmy's cheek. "Will you stop being mad at me now?"
"I'll consider it."
Sea chuckled. This was the first time in a long time that he saw this side of Jimmy, and he realised how much he had missed just having playful little arguments and laughing at nonsense like this. A wave of emotions rushed into his chest as he took a good look at the man standing before him that he called his husband, and realised how much their relationship had changed over the years.
He circled his arms around Jimmy's neck and gently pulled him closer. "Baby."
Jimmy's eyes widened. Although he wasn't new to that word, Sea hadn't called him by that in forever, and hearing it now somehow made his heart race even faster than it ever did before. He blinked slowly, not knowing how to react.
"Why do you look so stunned?" Sea giggled in amusement.
"I just…haven't heard that in ages."
"Oh. Did you want me to call you that again from now on?"
Jimmy shook his head as he wrapped his arms around Sea's waist under his cardigan, gently pulling him in for a hug. The smell of their laundry detergent on his clothes and a powdery scent on his skin filled Jimmy with a sense of much needed comfort. "Did you buy a new cologne again?"
"No, why?" Sea answered, a puzzled look on his face as he smelled his own clothes. "I didn't even spray anything on before we went out."
"Hm." He said as he lightly kissed Sea's neck and buried his face into his shoulder.
"That tickles, Hia!"
"Can you blame me? You always smell so good." Jimmy sighed in contentment as he pulled away slightly. He held Sea's face in his hands and left little kisses all over his face, which made Sea break out in little fits of giggles. They continued walking along the shore for a little longer after with their hands tucked into Sea's pocket, and enjoying the peace and quietness of an empty beach at night accompanied by the sounds of sand crunching under their shoes and the wind blowing in their hair.
By the time they got back home, they were completely worn out from their full tummies and aching feet, and quickly washed up and got ready for bed. Sea tucked himself in first, while Jimmy checked around to make sure the appliances and lights in the rest of the house were switched off before returning to their shared bedroom.
Just as Jimmy turned off the bedside lamp and settled into bed, Sea held his arms out. "Ba~by."
"Yes?"
"It's so cute that you're responding to that, hehe." He chuckled, speaking in a cute tone that he only used when they were alone. "I want to hug you to sleep."
Although it was dark, Jimmy could tell that Sea had his signature cheeky grin on his face. Conceding to his request, Jimmy draped the covers over himself and scooted closer to Sea. He was about to lie down when he felt Sea's strong hands slide up the sides of his face and pulled him in.
As Sea's soft and sweet lips intertwined with his, it sent ripples through Jimmy's heart. He sank right into Sea's embrace, allowing himself to be enveloped by the warmth radiating from his body like a blanket. There were no sparks or fireworks, but rather a shared feeling between them of safety, belonging, and the unshakable promise of 'forever'.
"I love you." Sea mumbled breathily against his lips.
Jimmy cheeks puffed up as he smiled, leaning in as he pecked Sea's lips one more time. "I love you more."
As Jimmy lay down, he moved closer to Sea so that he could lie comfortably in his arms. Between the gravity of fatigue reeling him in and the soothing sensation of Sea's fingers combing through his hair, all he could hear as he drifted off to sleep was the sound of Sea's voice from the top of his head saying, "I love you most."