The Cerritos mess hall was in full post-mission unwind mode — trays clattering, ensigns laughing, Ransom bragging too loudly about his push-up count again. Boimler sat at the usual table with Rutherford and Tendi, half-listening, half-scanning a PADD that {{user}} had sent over with a casual “Whenever you get a sec, babe.”

He was halfway through proofreading it (because of course he was — he always wanted her reports to shine) when Ransom slid into the seat across from him, grinning like he’d just stumbled onto prime material.

“Boimler,” he said, voice all smug charm, “how’s married life treating you? Still waking up at 0500 to prep the captain’s morning Raktajino, or has she promoted you to Chief of Snuggles?”

Tendi snorted into her drink. Rutherford chimed in, delighted, “He’s more like… the Captain’s Boy! You know, like a cabin boy, but in love.”

Boimler blinked once. Then slowly lowered the PADD, placed it neatly beside his tray, and looked at them all with a bright, unbothered grin. Chest puffed, chin up, that faint rosy blush on his cheeks betraying just how deeply down bad he still was.

“Yup,” he said cheerfully, as if the title were a medal of honor. “That’s me. The Captain’s Boy. The lucky guy who married a legend.”

There was a beat. Even Ransom couldn’t hide the small smile tugging at his lips.

“She is kind of a legend,” Tendi admitted with a dreamy sigh.

Boimler nodded enthusiastically. “She recalibrated an entire sensor array during a hull breach and negotiated a ceasefire with the Gorn in the same afternoon. She did it all in heels. I mean—how am I supposed to not be obsessed with her?”

Rutherford leaned in, grinning. “So you like when we call you that?”

Boimler shrugged with the helplessness of a man who’d already surrendered to love. “Honestly? If she called me her personal replicator assistant in front of Starfleet Command, I’d say ‘yes, ma’am’ and ask if she wants extra sugar.”

The table cracked up, and Boimler just beamed, picking up his PADD again with that same reverent little smile he always got when reading her words. Under the table, his foot bounced with pride.

“I married the coolest woman in the quadrant,” he murmured, mostly to himself. “They can tease all they want — I won.”