King of the Seas 2: Viking!DenmarkXStowaway!Reader

As you gazed out at the sea, your curiosity blew away with the mild winds that circled you. You felt your worries slip away and the empty emotional hole was filled with happiness that you could witness such a beautiful sight. Sunset was always your favorite time of the day. The water would sparkling in mystifying blues, reds and violets as the sun dipped below sight and visited other parts of the world. Perhaps someday you would see those other ports. You smiled to yourself as you thought about visiting the different places the world had to offer with a certain Dane. Since you had been found on his ship, you had been staying in quarters near his. He gave up his office, as it turned out, so you would have a room away from the men.

He caught one of his men harassing you once and then punished him for doing so. You were a guest, Mathais had said, and you were to be treated like one. However, you had taken over duties to help because you didn't want to be seen as a freeloader. You began preparing meals, cleaning and mending torn clothes. The men appreciated it. It gave them more time on their moments off duty to do whatever it was they wanted to. For them, it was nice to be taken care of you. For you, it was nice to be needed.

Before you had stowed away, you had nothing. You had no friends. Your family had long since past. You had no food. You had no shelter. Now you had close friends, who would die for you, fight for you and bleed for you. You had been semi-adopted by all of the crewmates as a family member of sorts. You could eat until your heart's content and you weren't judged when you ate an entire turkey or drank more ale than the captain. The men laughed about it! They thought it was funny. You had shelter in form of the ship. What more did you need? What more did you possibly want? Oh, that was right…

You had fallen for Mathias.

He was too good to you. It was a rather quick occurrence too. You were sure nothing good would come of it, so you never told the captain these feelings of yours. Feelings were useless on the battlefield. You were there to take care of the small things and in return the crew made you feel like you belonged for the first time in your life. Asking for anything more would be no worse than being greedy. It would lead to your demise. So you hid your selfish whims and acted as is nothing was wrong. You sighed to yourself, once more taken back by the sights in front of you. Life was good.  There was no need to make it any better.

"Gorgeous, isn't it?"

You didn't bother looking at the man who stared caringly at you. At first you had felt uncomfortable being on a ship full of strangers, but you knew you were safe. Mathais made sure to make you feel safe. He protected you, guided you and gave you anything your heart desired. You were without wants now. He taught you to read and write. He taught you to defend yourself. He told you stories from his homeland. Needless to say, the two of you had grown close.

"Yes, it is…"

You could hear him take a step towards you. As Mathais watched you, he felt he was staring at the only one that would ever catch his eyes. He shook his head of such thoughts, startled at the fact that he would become so nonsensical in such a situation. And yet… he glanced down at her for a split second and couldn't help but think that the possibility of him confessing this thought was almost at a hundred percent. He could feel a ring burning against the pocket against his heart. He intended to propose. After all, you had been on his ship for months. Every time they made port, he offered you the chance to leave. Every time he offered, you declined. You had nowhere else to go. The Vikings had become your family. Leaving them was like leaving a part of yourself.

It wasn't going to happen.

"I got something for you…"

You looked up at the Dane in surprise. He reached into the pocket. It was now or never. He had to do this while he still had the courage to do it. He had even taken a few spirits to help him garner the courage to do it. He wasn't drunk, just buzzed. And if this went badly, he would get wasted. Slowly he opened the box, revealing an oval diamond with a crimson round jewel on one side and an amethyst round jewel on the other side. A hand went to your mouth to cover the 'o' shape your mouth had taken from shock.

"Marry me?" he requested.

Should you? Shouldn't you? It would be tying you down to a single – aw, hell, who did you think you were kidding? Who were you trying to fool? Of course you would marry him. You had hoped something like this would happen for ages. You would be stupid not to say yes when he had just made your dream come true. This was perfect for you and now, you had everything you could ever want in your entire life. Just as the smile on his face started to fall, you leapt into his arms, nearly knocking him off his feet as you squealed in delight. You hugged him close.

"Yes! Yes! I do!"

And to think, all of this happened because you stowed away.