#huh

Deciding to get ahead on your review, you flip open your own study materials. Animal linguistics, potionology, magic history…there was a lot of material to cover. You were just thankful that your boyfriend happened to be a part of one of the smartest dorms on campus. Taking advantage of this fact, you took a peek at the notebook Jade had left open in hopes of seeing some tips for your studies. 

You were expecting to see notes on mice vocabulary, or comments about the Sea Witch’s magic. Instead, your eyes were met with a shocking sight. The first page of the notebook read: Jade Leech’s 10 Year Plan. 

Why would he leave this information laid out on the desk for anyone to see?! Well, you weren’t really just “anyone”, but still. Between respecting Jade’s privacy and your blooming curiosity for what he had written down (especially since the pages were filled to the brim!) you decide that it was his fault for leaving his things out in the open and ultimately distracting you from your studies. So this would be considered…payback? If he didn’t agree with your logic, then you decided to pull out your signature move: girlfriend pout and girlfriend googly eyes to beg for his forgiveness. 

Flipping past the title page, you see the first header of his plan: 

Graduate from Night Raven College, & corner Azul into a business partnership

Hm. Fair enough. It’s inevitable that he’d want to eventually get a bigger share of the business. You snicker at the thought of Azul cowering beneath Jade, though. 

Skipping ahead, you see quite a few pages describing his supposed internship, how much shares he would get from his future company, and even how often he would visit the Coral Sea after graduation. 

After reading through relatively normal Jade stuff, your eyes land on a peculiar point next. 

Procure 10000 transformation potions. 

Okaaaaay, that seems a bit extreme… and also, after all this time, Jade still wants to live on land? You didn’t know he liked it up here so much (what you also didn’t know is that you were mainly the reason why).

Moving on, you read another flustering point. On year 5, he beautifully wrote:

Purchase the ring. 

You choke on the air and immediately put a hand to your mouth in case Jade hears you and rushes to the room. You didn’t (totally did) mean to read that, but now you’re a little disappointed that it was written without your name in sight. To be fair, he could’ve just written it as a general thought for whoever he would be dating during that time (and you desperately hope that it’s still you). 

As if to assure you that he has no other eyes for any other person, fish or not, you feel your face heat up as you flip to the next page. 

Be a good husband to the Prefect.

You feel your heart stop on this one, and restrain yourself from shrieking in joy or exploding into a thousand pieces of Jade-shaped confetti, not wanting to mess up his room. Your efforts are at a loss, however, because the man of the hour comes back knocking at the door, tea tray at hand. 

First, the both of you lock eyes. Your guilty look meeting his amused smirk. Second, both of your eyes trail off to the notebook, then back at each other. 

“I’m studying?” you pathetically say, your hand stuck to the notebook working as incriminating evidence that you’ve just peeked at his life’s goals you. 

Smile still intact, he chuckles behind his glove, "Are you sure you yourself know that?" Jade gracefully sets the tray down at his desk and hands you a cup, taking the seat next to you. 

You clumsily try to close the notebook, but his eyes land on the page you’ve stopped at. 

After a beat, he finally speaks, “My dear?” 

“Y-yes, Jade? I’m really so–” 

“Have you looked through page 67? I wish to fine tune the details of our wedding. While marrying near our anniversary may seem ideal, I fear you might catch a cold during our eternity float, considering that it’s close to the cold season.” 

How is he so composed?! You can’t tell if he’s upset or not. 

“Hmm, I’m not sure. I don’t think I reached that part yet…I stopped reading when you said you would catapult Azul back into the Coral Sea if he refused a partnership with you.” Feigning indifference, you finally close the notebook and push it further to his side of the desk, leaning a hand on your cheek to exaggerate your nonchalance. 

“What is with all this talk of Azul?” He gives you his best attempt at a hurt look with a small pout, “I believe we both saw that you had landed on ‘Be a good husband to the Prefect’ instead of ‘Be a good husband to Azul’.” With a little shudder, you see hear his voice straining a bit, and a fraction of his eyebrows twitch for a second. “Is it safe for me to assume that you are rejecting the idea of our marriage, my dear?” 

Though he jests, you can sense a hint of nervousness in his tone. Even though he appears to be completely composed, you know better than to believe what you see. His microexpressions tell you otherwise, and you’ve spent enough time with him to know that he is uneasy. Your eel was so adorable.

“What?! Of course I do! I mean, I just thought that you’d get upset at me for snooping through your things...it was very tempting, you know,” You ignore the fact that he had strategically opened the notebook near your position and looked at him in the eyes, “I’d want nothing more with you.” 

Jade himself feels his little eel heart skip a beat, and lets out a little huff to ease his nerves. At the sound of your confirmation, he puts his hand to his chest yet again and gives you a small bow, “Then I shall look forward to it, my dear Prefect.” 

With a grin and an amused expression etched onto his handsome features, he looks up at you from his bow, “Are you still in the mood for studying? Or perhaps you’d like to flesh out some of the plans with me?” 

Smiling back at him, you reach out to give him a small pinch to his cheek, “Now first, tell me, how in the world are you going to collect 10000 transformation potions?!” 

Extra:

 A few spaces after the marriage plan, Jade jots down a short and sweet list you completely missed: 

He has compiled a detailed list of baby names. Possible choices if your child were to be a boy or a girl, the meanings behind them, and backup options if you were to have your own twins. 

It seems that he has accounted for and is thrilled to have you in his future more than you anticipated.