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The loud buzzing of an alarm clock awoke Jean Kirschtein at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning. A monstrous yawn was released by the boy as he rose from his pillow, stretching his arms above his messy bedhead. On a normal morning, the boy would have swiftly hit snooze and rolled back over to sleep until the last possible second for him to still have time to get to school, but this morning was different. Though the same routine happened every weekend, the passion and feeling never dulled. The feeling of waking early to smell the salty ocean and hear the waves crash on the sandy beach never lost meaning to the golden eyed boy. Jean was a surfer; he loved the relaxation and exhilaration of riding the waves. It provided a meaning to his life, something he enjoyed, and something that made life to him worth living.
After brushing through his light brown hair and rubbing down his dark undercut, the boy headed to the small kitchen of his house and stuck a piece of whole grain bread in the toaster. He then grabbed out a boiled egg that had been prepared the night before and sliced it on a paper plate. When the toast was finished, Jean silently crafted a small sandwich out of the eggs and toast to feed his body before he set out to enjoy the salty water. When he finished, the boy tossed the plate into the garbage bin, his feet padding softly against the wooden floor. Clad in a loose, black tank top and knee length swimming pants, he grabbed his board from its spot beside the front door and slipped his feet into his gritty sandals that were still coated with sand.
There wasn’t much light at this time of the morning, just enough to see the pink and yellow tinted sky filled with puffy clouds and the slow rising sun. The beach was calm with only one other person who was walking the beach and watching the sun lifting up into the early morning sky. As his toes hit the sand, Jean closed his eyes and let the sound of waves softly crash into his ears. There was something so peaceful, so serene about an early morning on a quiet beach; to Jean, there was nothing quite like it in the entire world. These were the sounds and feelings that described every free morning the boy had to be able to go surf. A thin smile came across his face as he opened his eyes again, looking out into the aqua blue ocean and realizing the nice waves he was missing. Ditching his tank top and sandals, he ran to the water’s edge with board in hand and then attached the leash to his ankle. He paddled through the water, feeling the wet, coolness on his fingertips; it brought back memories from the first time he rode these waves, reminding him of how far he and his passion had come since the first time he felt the water in his palm while paddling out to catch a small wave.
Jean submerged in dark water with a loud yelp of fear. He knew he hit the wave right, so why was he going under? Why did it feel as if something had grabbed him by the ankles? He bobbed back to the surface choking up the salty water that was burning his throat. The pressure on his lower legs had been released, but what was it? Still panting in fear and hacking up water, the boy looked around with his light eyes, looking for something that could have grabbed him. Then he saw it. Emerald eyes shined with laughter from a distance; devilishly white teeth flashed in a smirk. Jean knew it the second he laid eyes on the boy that he had found his culprit. But why would a teen looking around his age honestly want to ruin his good wave by pulling him off the board? He studied the boy up and down from where his chest hit the water and up to his head. A small crown of seaweed laid atop his brown hair, bare chest, a natural ease at treading the water; he almost looked as if he belonged in the ocean. “What’s the big idea?” Jean yelled with a bit of anger rising in his scratchy, hurting throat. He coughed a few more times, but kept his eyes on the boy whose smirk was only getting bigger and bigger. That is, until he disappeared. There was barely a splash where he had left, and it happened so fast that Jean could barely see it happening. “Wha-” Before he could finish, he shrieked in a high-pitched voice, straining his already sore throat. The green eyes were staring at him from a significantly smaller distance, humor lit up in them like he was just playing around with Jean.
On the other hand, Jean was immersed in confusion. He could not understand what was going on and how that boy managed to maneuver in the water so quickly and quietly, without the slightest hint he was even there. “Who are you!?” Jean yelled in anger, “Why are you messing with me!?” A thin smirk spread across the other boy’s thin lips. He twirled a thin, long finger in his wet hair and then started moving his hands quickly in front of him. Jean watched with a confused look but suddenly realized the boy was doing sign language. He had been forced to learn the form of communication by his mother since his grandmother was deaf. He missed the sentence, being rusty on his sign language skills, and grunted, “Didn’t catch that, can you repeat it?” The other seemed excitable upon hearing that there was a chance that Jean could actually understand him.
He signed again, «I don’t know, just was bored.» He grinned with humor as if he had giggled and shrugged to add into the goofy response. Jean shook his head in anger, flinging water droplets from his soaked hair.
“Are you kidding me? That’s all? I missed my wave because some little shit was bored!?”
«Guess so,» he signed back and ducked down under the water. Jean looked around for his reappearance, but did not see the boy resurface. Instead, he felt something scaly rub against his legs, followed by a smooth slickness that brushed against him before disappearing. He grabbed his leg where the object had hit, seeing if anything was on him, but forgetting his surroundings a wave crashed over his head, sending him into another moment of panic and a coughing fit.
Back on the beach, the sun was high above the sky, warming the grains of sand that Jean laid in next to his board. After the disappearance of the boy, who hadn’t returned after the incident, and the wave that pulled him under, he had decided to return to the safety of the sand and reflect on the events of the morning. It was unbelievable that someone not only had the audacity, but also utter disregard for safety to get so close to him while riding his board, Jean thought. He believed it to be common sense to stay away from surfers, as surfboards did not show mercy for anything or anyone in their path. Then there was the issue of whatever marine life he had encountered right after the other teen had left. It felt like a fish, but far bigger, too large to be any species of fish he knew, and the skin didn’t feel like that of a shark either. He dropped it with and angry grunt and let himself fall back into the sand, his head resting on the tank top he had put on that morning. He spent the rest of the day dozing off under the warm sun, not returning to the waves and then headed home.
Jean’s early start to Sunday followed the same routine as it did the day before. He had a small twinge of nervousness wash over him as he stepped on the beach with his board tucked under his arm. “I hope that dude isn’t here today…” he muttered to himself as he removed his top and sandals. Jean looked around for signs of anyone on the beach and today. He was by himself; no annoying teenager with a death wish just to mess with surfboarders. He wondered briefly why the boy was even out on his own if he could only communicate through sign language, which Jean only happened to know by a stroke of luck. He continued pondering as he once again stood by the water, strapping the leash onto his ankle.
The waves were fun for Jean to ride, and he had completely forgotten about the incident of the day before. He had not a care in the world as he surfed on the large waves, not having any problems or fears as he enjoyed his time on the board. The sun had risen high into the sky and Jean was starting to grow weary when he decided to do his last wave before going back to the beach. He turned his board facing the shore and got onto the board as the wave rolled through.
Before he even knew what was going on, Jean had wiped out. He was under the water and quickly swimming back to the surface to breathe. Something was off and he knew it, there was no way he could have wiped out, his balance had been fine and he was pretty sure the wave hadn’t thrown any weird surprises at him. It almost felt as if he had been pushed out of the water by something below his board. Had he ran over something… someone? He started to panic, thinking about that brown haired teen who knew nothing of being safe around surfboards; had Jean ran him over?
Wet arms wrapped tightly around Jean’s neck while he was deep in thought. He yelped, unsure what was going on and then screamed, “What the HELL!?” A body lined his back and he could feel puffs of humid air being blown into his ear.
One of the arms moved and started motioning to him; sign language. «H-E-L-L-O,» was signed out letter by letter.
Jean groaned loudly, “Are you KIDDING ME!?”
«H-A-H-A.»
“Get off of me dude! What are you doing!?” He kicked backwards at the teen, but what he hit was far from a leg; his foot hit a scaly mass, thick like a tail of some sort. He froze up for a second and then in a rush of motion he slammed his arm backwards, shoving the boy off of him with all his force and then grabbed his board, getting behind it defensively. “What… the… hell…” Involuntarily, Jean’s arms were shaking, unsure what to do. He had never encountered such fear in all his life; just what was this boy? Voice shaky, Jean spoke, “What are you…?” He stared with wide eyes, looking the brown haired kid up and down; over and over. On the other hand, the boy stared back, straight forward; straight into Jean’s eyes. The emerald eyes showed pain. He held a hand on his chest where Jean had struck him and just stared frozen with a look of complete rejection. They held the stare until emerald eyes darted to the ocean just barely below as if planning to escape. Picking up on the plan by following his eyes, Jean bit his lip and then whispered, “Don’t you dare.” The boy sighed and cast away his eyes. “What are you?” Jean repeated, this time stronger and with more confidence, having gotten over the initial shock, but still scared to be near the boy.
«Mermaid.» He signed with long thin fingers moving gracefully.
“You’re…. kidding… right?”
He shook his head and began swimming slowly towards Jean. In return, he started backing away from him, unable to believe what the teen had just said. Then he stopped, looking slightly disgruntled and still hurt, «Stop moving.» Jean did as told despite still wanting to back away. He swam close to Jean, the surfboard being the only thing floating between the two, and then turned himself around, hands pushing down on the board to lift himself up. A scaly, teal tail revealed itself from the deep water as it came up onto the board.
Jean was in utter disbelief. Having someone say they were a merman was a far different experience than seeing it. His honey eyes stared for what felt like hours. The sun reflected of the tail in a beautiful way, but almost terrifying when Jean remembered what was actually happening. “Seriously…?” He whispered softly and the merman nodded to him, flicking up the end of his tail to hit Jean softly on the cheek. Startled, Jean looked up and caught the boy’s thin smile.
«I never caught your name.» Jean snapped back to earth by the simple, topic changing question and realized this was not a crazy dream he was having; it was something real.
“J-Jean Kirschtein,” he stammered, trying to regain composure, “Yourself?”
` «Eren Jaeger,» he signed back quickly. Jean let out the breath he had been holding and started laughing.
Eren huffed angrily and bonked Jean on the head with his fist, «What are you laughing at?» he signed hastily with an irritated look in his emerald eyes.
“It’s just…”
«J-U-S-T?» He spelled each letter irritably.
“Less… Majestic than I was expecting.” Eren slid into the water without another sign.
It was long enough for Jean to think the teen had left and for him to start feeling a little guilty. That is, until he was suddenly dragged under water by his ankle, screaming, then released to bob up again above the surface of the water. A wet hand then slapped him on the back, not hard enough to sting, but hard enough to feel the impact solidly. Jean turned to see the flick of a teal tail swimming away from him, his eyes staring in remorse as he yelled out, “Wait, come back!” He waited a while in hopes that Eren would come back in an attempt to scare him, but the waiting was a loss and he began swimming back to the far off shore.
Jean stared at his board when he returned home. A mermaid –or merman- had sat on that board. The more he thought about it, the crazier he was starting to think he was. Had he just been hallucinating? Had he completely lost his sanity? Surely there was no way mermaids could actually exist, or that’s what he wanted to believe; life would have been easier for Jean to understand that way. An entire new realm had been opened. He had met a real life merman and he couldn’t even deny it anymore. There was no way that it could have been imaginary; everything was all too real for that. His thin fingertips slid up the top side of the board as he walked away while shaking his head.
Despite desperately trying to find the merman every day for the rest of the week by surfing right as he got home until later in the day, he did not see him again. Jean felt empty and upset, knowing that he had hurt the boy’s feelings and never knew if he would see the being ever again. The concept of a mermaid being real still made Jean question himself, even more each day he could not find him, but he knew what he saw was real; nothing could convince him otherwise. The constant thoughts were tearing him apart. He could barely surf anymore, only sit and look for a sign that Eren would ever come back.
It was Saturday morning; the first day he was actually able to surf in the morning at his normal time since getting introduced with Eren. Jean went out to sea to surf, except, he didn’t exactly surf that morning, rather floated. With an empty, hopeless expression, he just sat there and watched the waves ripple under him and his board. Waiting, waiting, waiting… Until pressure pushed down on one end of his board causing Jean to be tossed into the water. Choking out the swallowed water, Jean looked around in hope and jumped back when the boy popped up right in front of him. Jean yelped, Eren responding with an angry huff out of his nose. «Where were you!?» The malice and haste in Eren’s signs and expressions pierced through Jean’s heart.
“I was in school,” Jean spoke back softly, trying to keep his voice from cracking or any anger to come out. “I came every day in the afternoon and you were not here.”
«What the hell are you even talking about? What is that?» Jean had forgotten of this boy’s mystic origins and the fact that he probably knew little of human society.
“Its… Hell I don’t know how to explain it to someone like you!”
«Someone like ME?» Eren signed, giving Jean a look.
“You wouldn’t be able to understand!” Eren rolled his eyes and stirred the water irritably with his index finger.
“It’s an institution where most human children go to learn subjects like math, English, science, and history. There are many different levels of schooling starting with-”
«Stop, » He signed and watched as a thin smirk spread on Jean’s face. «Fine, fine so maybe I don’t understand.» He crossed his arms, not wanting to admit defeat.
“Told ya,” Jean grinned and chuckled softly. Eren couldn’t help but smile and shake his head.
«You win this round, Kirschtein. »
Jean reached forward, patting Eren’s hair which was drying in the warmth of the sun. He gasped and then whispered, “It’s so soft…” while continuing to pet the merman’s brown hair.
The boy gave him a weird look and then hit his arm off with a forearm before signing, «Hands off, Jean.»
The honey eyed boy looked away, a faint amount of heat in his face, “Sorry… Eren.” They were both looking opposite directions, warmth in their cheeks as the water lapped against their bodies.
“So uh… Yeah so that’s why I’m not around some mornings… School… Yeah.” He spoke in a flustered manner, stumbling on his words. “I come around in the afternoon on those days,” he continued, “and school is about to end for the summer so I’ll be able to come here almost every morning!”
Eren’s face lit up with a twinge of joy he would have been embarrassed to admit. He felt something for this boy, not only that he was the first human he ever could talk to like Jean without feeling like he was some experiment or lesser being, but he felt something closer. Something inside him was happy at the thought of getting to see the boy every morning; something he had never felt before. They held awkward conversation for a while, and then ended their time together with Jean mentioning that he would be back in the morning of the next day.
The teenage boy laid in bed, staring at the empty ceiling, the fan whirring above him. He was in deep thought; thinking about Eren. “What a nerd!” He yelled out, covering his face with a pillow.
“Jean honey, are you ok?” His mom’s voice chimed in from the room over. He didn’t respond, rather turned bright red and buried his face deeper into the pillow. After a shower, the boy pulled on some clothes to sleep in and slept until the next morning.
Jean felt drained of energy by Sunday morning. He had not gotten much sleep due to the fact that he was unable to take his mind off the merman. His sandy brown hair was in a mess atop his head, crust in his soft golden eyes. For most of that night, his mind was on the boy; Eren. The teal tail that shimmered and reflected light still fascinated him. He so desperately wanted to see it again and have the privilege of running his fingers across the scales, but felt as if though he would be too forward or rude by asking. Jean loved the captivating stare of those emerald eyes and how he could read the emotion out of them. The light laughter, burning anger, the mischievous gleam after pulling a prank on Jean; it was all shown through his striking green eyes.
He slowly rose from bed, shuffling to the bathroom to comb out his hair and brush his teeth. After washing his face with cold water, he finally woke up a bit more and changed into his bathing suit and a tank top printed with a surfboarder on the front. Taking a piece of buttered toast in his mouth, and the board under his arm, Jean left the house towards the beach.
The beach was somewhere Jean always loved to be in the morning. The chirping of seagulls, the sound of waves breaking against the shore; it was all so peaceful. The boy looked at the board under his arm, making a mental note on how he needed to actually surf more but with Eren taking up most of his attention, he barely had time. With a small, relaxed sigh, Jean approached the water and leashed the board to his leg.
It had been his plan to get in some surfing time before Eren appeared, but by the time he got out to the good waves, he saw the brown headed boy. “Jaeger!” Jean shouted excitably, punching the water with his fist to make a little splash. Eren flashed his white teeth in a smile.
«I got you something!» He seemed elated as he pulled up his left hand from the ocean to reveal a crown forged of sea vegetation, matching his own. Jean chuckled, leaning his head down so that the other could adorn him with the little circlet of greenery. The merman’s long thin fingers placed it on Jean’s head, hands lingering near his head as he felt the sandy brown hair. Jean’s cheeks heated up as Eren withdrew his hands. «We match now!» Eren signed with joy flashing in his green eyes. How cute it was to see Eren so happy, Jean thought, angling his eyes down as he felt more heat flare in his face.
“Eren…” His head looked up attentively, hearing his name roll smoothly out of Jean’s lips. “C-could I see your tail?”
Eren shrugged, «Sure.» He pulled himself on the board next to Jean and felt as it sunk a little below the water under both their weight. Eren watched Jean’s face as he stared in a fascinated way at the shimmering of the scales in the sunlight. Watching the shades of teal and green dance with the water below, he couldn’t hold himself back anymore as he drifted his fingertips gently across the scales. Eren’s face went bright red as he shoved Jean’s shoulder with his palm and looked away, covering his face with one hand.
“I’m sorry…” Jean’s face was red with embarrassment but he did not completely regret what he had done. Eren didn’t respond. “Eren,” Still no response, “Ereeennnnn,” Jean whined unhappily.
«Shut up, Kirschtein.» Eren signed with a little glare and a puff of air out his nose. The truth was that Eren had actually enjoyed the feeling of Jean’s fingers tickling his scales, but without warning it shocked him and made him feel like Jean had taken advantage of him showing his tail.
“I’m sorry,” Jean muttered in a low, embarrassed voice.
«No, I’m sorry for freaking out,» he signed, pressing the top of his head into Jean’s neck, above his shoulder. The light eyed boy smiled, feeling the brown hair tickle his neck and then wrapping his arm around Eren’s shoulder. The merman rested his arm across Jean’s lower back, and they both sat there letting the sun warm their backs in silence.
It was peaceful to soak in the sun with the waves lapping at their lower bodies. They were too far from shore for anyone to bother them and the ocean was calm. “Eren…” Jean whispered softly, he looked up from the other’s shoulder in response to his name. “There is a concert Friday... Five sunrises from now, on the beach. One of my favorite bands, want to come? It’s near the sunset of that day.”
Eren did not much know what Jean was talking about, but he was curious enough and wanted to spend more time with the other. «Sure,» he signed with a slow, lazy hand.
“Great!” He replied with a soft voice, smiling with white teeth at the boy.
The week had passed by slowly, it had been the last week of school before summer break, and by the time Friday rolled by and Jean couldn’t wait for the concert. He hoped that Eren would actually show up. He put on some swimming trunks along with a band tee from the one he was going to see that night. They were a small rock band that he knew of, not very popular, but they were doing a small free concert on the beach he lived by in hopes of gaining some popularity. They were local so they had done a concert at the same beach before and that was the time that he had purchased the shirt that he was wearing to the concert that night. He ate a quick dinner and then headed out to the beach.
The sun had not quite set and the concert was going to be starting soon by the time Jean got to the shore. He looked out into the ocean, soon spotting Eren, who he had told to meet closer to the shore this day. Since it was dark, Jean was hoping it would be easier for Eren to hide his tail from the others without having to be too far out in the ocean. Eren waved excitedly at Jean and then swam closer to him. The sandy blond teen smiled, waving back. He waded through the water, this time leaving his shirt on so he could support the band even in the ocean. He moved in the water until he was beside Eren. “What’s up Jaeger?” He said excitedly and Eren smiled at him.
Not many people were there despite the concert about to start within the next minute. Once they started, Jean lost himself in the music and atmosphere for a while, almost forgetting Eren. When he looked over to him with a smile, hoping that the other was enjoying the music as well, the grin instantly turned into a frown. “Hey Eren, you ok?” He spoke over the music so the other could hear. Eren looked uncomfortable and was holding hands over his ears.
«I’m sorry, my ears are really sensitive. This is so loud.» Immediately after he finished signing, he went right back to holding his ears, looking a little embarrassed and ashamed that he couldn’t enjoy the music with Jean.
The honey eyed boy looked crushed inside. He felt his throat close up. “I-I’m sorry I wish I would have known,” he whispered, his voice cracked as he spoke. He felt like he was falling apart that he had accidentally forced Eren into a situation that was not comfortable for him.
«I am not used to hearing things above water… I’m sorry…»
“I’m so sorry,” he repeated, “You don’t have to stay.” After he spoke, the other boy nodded and waved his goodbyes, then slipped under the water. Jean stayed to the end of the concert and bought himself another shirt, but he did not enjoy it as he had before and he felt sick to his stomach like he was going to double over with every step he took on the way back home.
A lit up building caught his eye on the way home. It was a beach shop that had the essentials, usually intended for tourists, but useful for anyone who planned on going out to the beach. Since it was so close by, he had been there many times and remembered something that he had wanted to buy for himself since he saw it on the shelf, but was always afraid he wouldn’t use it to make the money worth it. His sandals scraped on the pavement as he ran to the store, going straight to the aisle with electronics. There he found the underwater iPod, along with a pair of waterproof headphones. The music player looked like a simple iPod shuffle, and could hold a decent amount of songs, but also had waterproof capabilities to allow listening to music underwater possible. It took almost all the money Jean had saved in his wallet, but he took the cash to the counter and bought it. The pit in his stomach felt a little lighter as he carried it home in a small bag.
After filling the small musical device with some of his favorite songs, Jean left it hooked up to charge and then took a rushed shower before heading off to bed.
The next morning, Jean shot out of bed and grabbed the iPod off the charger. He found a little wrist strap to add onto it and then placed it on back down on the table as he brushed his teeth and dressed himself. He didn’t even take the time to eat, too excited to fix his mistake from the other night, Jean grabbed the iPod off the table and ran to the beach.
When he arrived, the boy realized he had forgotten to even grab his board on the way out. He sighed at himself and waded out into the water, swimming out to where he usually met Eren. He was there waiting and they both apologized at the same time; Eren for not being able to handle the music, and Jean for making him go out and listen to it. “Eren, I got you something to make up for last night!” He held out the iPod for Eren to take.
«What is it?» He signed sheepishly, feeling ashamed for not knowing the present that he was being given.
“It’s an underwater iPod!” He said excitedly, and then realized that the words ‘iPod’ probably meant nothing to him. “It will allow you to listen to music underwater,” Jean continued so that he could help the merman understand.
Eren’s face lit up with excitement, «Really!?» he signed with a smile on his lips that matched his green eyes.
“Yeah!” the other responded, “Only problem is that it runs on batteries, so once it stops playing music you have to bring it back to me so I can charge it up.” Eren didn’t understand the terminology, but grasped the concept that he needed to take it back to Jean if it stopped working and nodded. After showing the merman how to use the device he smiled again, putting the headphones in and dipping under the water to listen to the songs that Jean had loaded it with. He listened to a whole song, closing his eyes and soaking it in. It was the first time that Eren had ever enjoyed human music, and the harmonious tunes were almost bringing tears to his eyes as he listened.
They did not talk for much longer after that. Jean was starting to struggle while treading the water and Eren wanted to experience more of the music. Feeling accomplished for the day, the sandy haired boy went home to enjoy the rest of his time relaxing and thinking about how excited he to get to start enjoying his summer on the beach every day as opposed to just the weekends. Though Jean wasn’t the best artist, he couldn’t keep his mind off Eren and doodled on paper as he listened to some of his favorite songs. Looking at his finished drawing, he chuckled and then shook his head at how terrible it was. He then proceeded to crumple it up and throw the drawing in his waste bin.
The next morning, Jean once again headed out to the beach. Though he had actually remembered to eat breakfast that morning, a blueberry muffin and milk, he left his surfboard behind simply because he knew that he wasn’t going to have any time to surf with Eren around. After reaching the beach and paddling out to sea, he remembered why having a surfboard was easier, even if it did get in his way sometimes. Eren was starting to get more and more consistent on the times that he was showing up, almost always there waiting by the time Jean got to him.
It always gave him a small tingle of joy seeing the smiling boy with his striking emerald eyes waiting on him out at sea. This morning, the boy seemed even more excited than normal. The iPod was strapped onto his wrist with the headphones tied on with it as he signed with excitement, «I want to show you something today!» After that, he grabbed Jean by the waist and pulled him below the water without him being able to get a good breath.
Jean didn’t even remember if he ever got to see what Eren wanted to show him. Before he knew it, he was trying to scream and ended up water into his lungs. After a few minutes Jean was no longer conscious. The struggling had stop and Eren was left confused, finally picking up on what was happening when he felt dead weight in his arms. He did not know what to do and just stared at Jean in fear. Studying the body he realized that the boy had ceased breathing and started to freak out, not knowing what to do. He tried to reach the beach, leaving Jean underwater as he dragged him along as fast as he could go; even then, it took a few minutes to reach the shore and emerald eyes darted around unsure of what he needed to do to help him.
Other people stood on the beach, unaware of the lifeless body lying on shore with water lapping at its sides; Eren had to get their attention somehow. He cried out in what sounded like desperate and terrified dolphin-esque noises. The people who had originally been looking for the origin of the noise now saw the limp body and all came running over as the merman slid himself back into the water, swimming away to hide from the people. He knew there was nothing more that he could do to help Jean now and he just hoped that the humans he had drawn to him knew what to do in the situation. Tears mixed in with the rest of the water as he plugged the ear buds of the music player into his ears, knowing that if Jean didn’t return it would be last time he could ever listen to the music; once the charge was out, it was over. Eren cranked up the volume in an attempt to drown out his thoughts.
On the beach, one person was trying to perform CPR as another dialed an ambulance on his cellphone. The scene was total chaos, everyone was frantic and running about until the ambulance pulled up and carried the boy away after equipping him with an oxygen mask. Upon arrival to the hospital, the boy’s lungs were pumped of the salt water that filled them and then he was moved to a room and put on life support. Tubes surrounded body; it looked like a mess with needles and wires running up his arms, held on with small strips of surgical tape. A thick tube ran down his throat and up his nostrils, delivering needed oxygen to the boy. Tests were run on Jean, desperately looking for a response or a way to arouse him from assumed comatose. Eye exams; both pupils dilated, a sign of severe anoxia, no response to light. Voice tests were run, a lack of any response to vocal stimuli. After the testing of pain stimuli, as expected, there was no response.
It wasn’t long before Jean’s mom frantically burst into the room, looking for her child. After being inform that her son had suffered near-drowning and brain hypoxia, she cancelled all her plans and rushed to the hospital as fast as she could get there. Seeing her child covered in tubes and wires instantly turned her stomach as she realized the severity of the situation. There were breathing tubes, feeding tubes, IVs, heart monitors, finger clamps to measure the level of oxygen in the blood, and even wires to monitor brain activity. Tears she had held back until the moment rolled down her face as she fell to her knees, sobbing by the bedside. A nurse came in the room, informing the weeping mother that her son was in a coma. The lady informed the mother that she could not provide any assumptions as to how long it would take for her son to wake up, if he woke up at all. Jean’s mother’s whole frame shook as she sobbed by his bedside. “Jean, I thought we went thought all that ocean safety training so this wouldn’t happen!” She choked out, feeling sick and desperately needing a response from her son, but there was none.
It had been a rough week for the mother. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were blackened and puffy due to her lack of sleep and constant flow of tears. She had stressed herself to sickness multiple times over the course of the week as she watched her son’s motionless body receive medication from the various life support equipment. There was no relief or rest for the mother until Monday morning of the next week she jumped as her son jolted out of bed, screaming “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T HAVE A GOD DAMN BASEMENT, JAEGER!?” It was hard to quite make out what he was saying as he was choking on the tubes, but he was still audible enough for his mother to let out a river of tears. Now fully conscious of his breathing, Jean choked on the tubes and struggled to understand what was going on as he looked around, eyes full of fear and confusion. Looking over he saw a woman crying out his name, smiling through her tears. “Mother…?” he whispered, trying to grasp what had happened.
The last thing he remembered was Eren holding a key before his face, muttering about how he suddenly realized he didn’t even recall ever having a basement, but now he was lying in a white room hooked up to so many devices that he could not even comprehend. Then it hit him that he had been dreaming the whole time, and the horrifying realism of his graphic dream caused him to be sent into panic and nausea. Jean vomited gastric acid against the will of the tubes in his throat and then was sent into a screaming and crying panic until nurses rushed in, quickly knocking him out with light anesthesia so the boy wouldn’t be able to hurt himself while he recovered.
He was unconscious for another day while recovering, but his body was functioning and out of the comatose state it had been in just the day before. He woke up groggy and lethargic, this time much calmer than his previous awakening. His mother was still waiting patiently by his bed, awaiting his awakening, but accidentally ended up falling asleep during the duration of time it took for him to reawaken. He rolled his head just enough to see her resting and smiled softly. The breathing and feeding tubes had been removed, and a few IVs still remained just to make sure he stayed in a stable condition. The movement of him waking had notified a nurse to come to his room and check on him. When the nurse was about to wake up his mother, Jean rolled over and whispered, “Let her sleep, she needs it.” The nurse smiled at him, appreciating that he cared and was glad that he was conscious and clear minded enough to be able to say something like that.
She asked him some general questions in a soft whisper, “How are you?”, “Do you know where you are?”, “What do you remember?” Jean answered truthfully except for the last one where he lied that he did not know. He did not remember much, but he did know that Eren had pulled him under. The nurse sighed, saying something about how it was understandable and that he may have more memory loss due to brain trauma from lack of oxygen to the brain. Jean gritted his teeth a bit, not liking the sound of what she was saying. She mentioned that it was lucky he survived and for a while they were thinking he wouldn’t have even recovered from the coma. His stomach was churning more and more as she spoke.
“Stop,” He whispered, holding both hands over his mouth as he sunk back into his bed.
The nurse had left him alone and his mother awoke soon after. The mom was so happy to see her son that she sat on the edge of his bed, stroking his hair and telling him how glad she was that he was still alive. She then mentioned how he had awoken from his coma, appearing to be coming out of a nightmare, but Jean couldn’t even remember what she was talking about. It was probably for the best, he thought, if the dream had disturbed him that bad, it probably wasn’t something he wanted to remember. After a few more tests and medication to make sure his brain stayed constant and functioned right, Jean was discharged from the hospital late in the afternoon. He was forced into a one week bed rest.
He wasn’t happy about his bad start to summer vacation. A week and a half in the hospital, then in the bed for another week didn’t sound like much of a vacation to him. He still was unsure of quite what happened or why Eren had taken him under. After a few days in the bed, Jean felt like he had watched all the movies he owned and listened to most of his music. His medicine made him groggy, causing him to take numerous naps, and then other times he just sat and stared at the ceiling, unsure of what to do anymore. His mother checked on him frequently out of fear, but was slowly accepting that her son was ok and didn’t need constant monitoring.
The final day of rest had finally come and Jean was unsure of what he was going to do when allowed to walk around. Part of him wanted to return to the ocean and catch up on all the waves he had been missing, but at the same time he was afraid of running into Eren; he was flat out scared of the boy. Jean remained in silence; he was thinking about the teen who had drowned him, but rather than bad things he was thinking of the soft brown hair, the cute little seaweed crown, the striking emerald eyes, and of course the breathtaking shimmering, teal tail that made him far different than any other boy he knew. Frustrated and confused, Jean grabbed an extra pillow off his bed and slung it at his door with all his might. Out of use, the teen grabbed his arm and cursed feeling as if he had thrown his arm out. The honey eyes looked up as he noticed something fall off his doorknob. He instantly knew what it was. On the floor was the seaweed crown Eren had created for him. Jean cried out in frustration and confusion, burying his face into the pillow and pretended he was taking a nap as opposed to crying.
The next morning he was finally allowed to walk around and was only on a light amount of medication that did not make him as lethargic as the heavy doses he had been taking before. The doctors had advised against going near water any time soon and his mom had forbade it, but Jean had to go out to the ocean; he couldn’t hold himself back anymore. Grabbing his board and sneaking out the house, Jean began sprinting for the beach but soon found himself out of breath and his arm tired from carrying the heavy board. With a groan, he shook his head at how much a few days did to his strength and continued walking to the beach, switching the arm he was carrying the board under. He knew his mom would be frantic and furious by the time, but he did not care; Eren was all that mattered to him. He had to see him before it was too late; If it wasn’t too late already.
Jean collapsed into the sand under the warm sun by the time he reached the beach. He shuffled off his sandals and pulled off his tank top, continuing to take a small breather in the sand before getting back up and heading closer to the water. He looked down at his arms which still had a multitude of bandages and hospital bands that he had forgotten to take off after returning home. Just the sight of them made him grit his teeth and get a pit in his stomach, remembering that all this was not only from the ocean, but also from the boy he was going out to see. He still did not know what had happened or if it was on purpose. Jean thought about the boy and even though he could be a mischievous little shit at times, he wanted to believe that drowning him was not something that happened on purpose, rather a misunderstanding between the two of them. Did Eren not realize humans needed to breathe air? Had he just forgotten? Though he did not know the answer, Jean was trying to convince himself there was no way something like that could have happened out of pure malice.
It took him a while after his respite, but after getting out into the water, he started to feel relief. The boy put the leash on his ankle and started swimming out to the ocean on his surfboard. He was too tired to even attempt surfing despite wanting to try, but decided it would be something to do at a later date when he was off the medicine. Once he got out to the spot they usually met up, Jean stopped and sighed, sitting on the edge of his board and looking around at his surroundings. He did not see the merman, but decided that he needed to give him some time; he couldn’t just give up because he didn’t see him out there.
Before long, wet arms wrapped around his torso and a head buried itself into his abdomen. Jean yelped, but looking down instantly recognized the wet, brown hair. “Eren,” He gasped out. He had honestly not expected the boy to show up, but what he did not know was that Eren hadn’t moved far from the area where Jean and he usually were ever since the incident. The boy had been constantly looking for the other in hopes that he was ok, but each day he was more and more afraid he would never see his two legged friend again. The charge on his music player had run out in less than a day of constant use and Eren felt empty and afraid ever since. He thought that not only would he never see Jean, but also would never listen to the music ever again; he would only have an empty shell of a memory of a friend he once had.
Jean felt teardrops falling against his belly, and then Eren’s hand reached up and signed, «I’m sorry, Jean, I’m so sorry.» He signed letter by letter, the dead iPod dangling off his wrist. The merman’s grip on the other grew tighter, as his tears increased.
“It’s ok,” Jean’s voice cracked as he felt his eyes growing wet. He pressed his lips to the top of the green eyed teen’s head and stroked his fingers up and down the merman’s warm back.
Eren pulled away suddenly, looking down at his right wrist and removing the music player with the headphones. «Please charge it for me.» He signed, his green eyes still fuzzy. A soft grin spread on Jean’s face.
“Of course.”