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It was Bo's mission in life to make Serenade more outdoorsy. Don't get him wrong -- he loved listening to her play piano, loved sitting through concerts with her, loved hanging around watching TV. But it got to a point where he just wanted to get out into the sunshine, and he wanted Serenade to come with him. If it was up to Bo, he would never be without Serenade by his side. It had been that way since long before this life, longer than his memories would even allow him to recall.

After a picnic in the mountains, Bo had packed up their stuff, stashed it by a couple of rocks, and pushed his canoe out into Lake Obegong. It was one of the smaller lakes in the mountains outside of of Destiny City proper, but Bo preferred it for its seclusion. He kept one leg in the canoe to hold it on the shore. One hand extended to Serenade. "Your chariot, m'lady," he said, grinning widely.

Bo was dressed in a pair of cargo shorts and flip-flops with a plain white t-shirt and a blue bandana tied around his neck. He topped it off with a khaki fishing hat, complete with a few dangling lures that he would flick every so often. It wasn't the most attractive outfit, but Bo was hardly image conscious. Either way, it made for a comic picture when he bowed slightly to help his favorite person in the world onto the bright green canoe.

The boat tipped back and forth as Serenade climbed inside. Two wooden benches spanned the width of the vessel, allowing for semi-comfortable sitting. It could still make a person a little sore after awhile, but Bo didn't think they'd be out to sea for too long. It was getting later in the afternoon, after all, and Serenade had a curfew to worry about.

As if on cue, Bo pulled four wooden rods out from his bag. "Do you want to fish?" He went about assembling the rod, putting one end into the other until it was recognizable as a fishing pole. "I only have the one, but you can use it. I'll just set it up for you." The pole was nowhere near the fancy kind that you might see in a store, but it served its purpose.

Bo pulled a tangled ball of line from his backpack and stuffed it into his pocket. He tossed a baggie with two pieces of bread into the boat, and then a much smaller box that appeared to be some sort of mini-tackle. Passing the rod to Serenade, Bo shifted his weight into the canoe, and then used his other leg to push off of the shore.

He took a seat across from Serenade, fished a paddle from the base of the canoe, and slowly began to paddle them toward the center of the lake. "I'll set the pole up for you in a second," he said, beaming over at her. "By the end of this canoe ride, you will be a pro-fisher. I can feel it. We will eat like kings tonight on the bounty of your catch." Bo laughed at his own joke. He did that a lot.

Bo contorted his face into an over-the-top expression of shock. "Too much faith?" He eased back into a smile. "Impossible, Sere. Totally impossible." The wind was light that day, but still enough to create ripples across the water. They slapped into the side of the canoe, turning their smooth passage into a tempered rock.

"The ocean is wild today," he said, narrowing his eyes and holding a hand up to his forehead like a captain surveying the water off the hull of a grand ship. The facade faded into laughter, always did. "You look lovely on the water, Sere. Like you were born to get chauffeured around in boats. I bet you'd like Venice. In Venice, their streets are canals and people just row down them, like a whole city of boats. Can you imagine? I bet you'd love that. We should go."

His rambling was punctuated by satisfactory nods and smiles as he paddled. When they got to the center of the lake, Bo took the fishing rod from her and started to set it up.

It was absolutely Bo's mission in life to be the bright beam of optimistic light that illuminated the lives of those around him. He should probably get that printed and slap it up on a t-shirt just so everyone could know, if it wasn't already painfully obvious. The person who got that sunshine full-force was sitting across from him in a rowboat.

How convenient.

The fishing line was a jumbled mess, and Bo went about straightening it out, tugging her and pushing there. It looked like it might take awhile. The light in his eyes didn't dim when Serenade answered his light-hearted question seriously. He simply attempted to redirect it. "You look pretty today," he said, trying to catch her eye. And then, with no pause, "If you could be any kind of fish, which kind do you think you'd be?"

Yes, this was Bo trying to get her mind off of serious things.

Bo was used to playing this game. He had spent many lifetimes finding ways to bring a smile to this girl's face. There were different tactics he could use, the last resort being a good old tickle fight. She had always possessed a certain delicacy, a sweetness. It was no surprise that one of her closest confidants was in fact that senshi of innocence.

Still, Bo had a hard time when she got like this. It was hard for him to get serious, even harder to embrace that the world was not a perfect world of sparkles. Blue eyes lowered to the floor of the canoe. Bo stopped unraveling the fishing line.

"I know," he said at last. His fingers resumed their work. "Your Crystal is much more beautiful." A wide grin crossed his lips. "We will find it again." Bo really did believe this. The honesty of it sang through in his words.

Bo noticed everything about Serenade. He just also happened to love all of it, even the changes. His rose-colored glasses were thicker than the foundation of Crystal Academy and showed no signs of lifting any time soon. Nimble fingers had found their way back to the line and began unraveling it. He had managed to free about half the length when Serenade piped up again.

Warm blue eyes raised to her. "Of course, Princess," he said simply. "To the ends of the universe." It was an answer to everything, both the things she had asked of him and those she hadn't. Bo was entirely at her disposal, and always had been. That showed no sign of changing, not ever.

The line was laid straight in his hands. He laid it across his lap and took up the pieces of the pole, fitting them into each other one piece at a time. "It'll be nice to have everybody back together again," he said. Of course, it wouldn't be everybody, but Bo didn't let himself linger on that thought. He chose only to see the good.

With the pole intact, Bo began to slowly thread the untangled line through the round metal holes spaced up the length of it. He worked slowly, stopping every so often to grin at Serenade as if he had forgotten what he was doing with his hands. It was even harder to concentrate when she brought up the dating rumors.

Bo laid the pole across his lap and grinned wider. "Highest of compliments," he said, "for me." The senshi of summer laughed warmly, but then stopped at the hint of seriousness in Serenade's voice. "The girls giggle at me, but lots of girls giggle at me, I don't know." Bo was honored for anyone to think that he was with Serenade, but she could understand why she might be embarrassed for people to think they were together. Serenade was way out of his league, a perfect ten -- the perfect girl. He was just some guy. He never stood a chance, hadn't for any of their lifetimes.

"If you want, I can tell them we're not. Or maybe, you know... come around less." His tone reeked with regret, though he tried to smother it with a smile. Bo tried to visited Serenade every day, if possible, or to at least text her (when he actually knew where his phone was). Still, if the princess needed space, then he would do his damnedest to give it to her.

A warm smile spread across Bo's face when Serenade rested her hand on his. He flipped his palm up and stroked at the back of her hand with his thumb. Sometimes Bo had a hard time not being comforting to his princess. It probably didn't help those rumors.

When the conversation veered to Serenade's living situation, Bo followed it. "I think you should do what you want to do," he said, tugging the fishing line straight. Bo was not comfortable telling Serenade to do anything. She was the princess. She called the shots, and he was the one who obeyed. Still, there was a note in his voice that seemed to suggest he thought moving out would be a good idea. "I mean, if you did, I think we should all get a clubhouse. We could just rent a big place and we could all live together again -- you, me, Immie, Evie, and Noles." Yes, Bo had, in fact, given all of the handmaidens their own unasked-for nicknames. "I already live with Noles, though our place is definitely not fit for you girls. If we all pooled our money, we could get something really classy. Maybe a condo or something. I make really good eggs, Serenade. I'm just saying -- really good eggs. I'm totally not trying to persuade you, but -- my eggs? They're delicious." Bo laughed at his own words like it was all a joke, but he had never been good at hiding what he wanted from Serenade.

Well, except for this one thing...

The fishing pole looked like it was almost ready. Bo fussed with a hook on the end, hissing once when he caught his finger, and then he popped a piece of bread onto the metal, smushing it with his fingers. "I'm sure some of the soldiers would be in on it too. We could make our place super secure and, like, keep watch over you -- like we used to do, remember?" Truth be told, he didn't fully remember himself, but the vague pictures of his memory had shown him glimmers of it.

Bo dropped all the relationship talk. Or at least conveniently avoided it. He didn't like talking about it with Serenade. Hell, she didn't even know about Adira, not really. She probably had noticed him texting a little bit more than usual (or potentially heard about the same girl visiting Bo repeatedly from Noel), but it was simply not a subject that Bo ever wanted to discuss with his princess. So he avoided it like the plague.

Gently, Bo passed the fishing pole to Serenade. "You know how to do this?"