Chapter Text
Sailing is slightly less fun than Blue anticipated.
His ambitious mind had imagined choppy seas, beautiful sunsets, and exhilarating encounters with strange fish of all sizes. So far, he’s only bore witness to calm blue that stretches in all directions.
The sunsets and sunrises are quite beautiful, but Blue is bored.
And he only has a week before he has to return to his regular job back on land: Blue works as a nurse for a small human-monster hospital.
It’s fairly ideal work for him; Blue doesn't sleep much and loves helping people. But even ideal jobs can have their downsides. Nurses are surprisingly cliquish and Blue's always had trouble fitting in - he's either "too loud" or "too smiley" for most.
He gets paid fairly well though. His proficiency in healing magic makes him an asset and earns him enough to live comfortably. Especially since Blue shares a house with his younger brother - Stretch.
Stretch is an IT tech for a big company. He’s almost just as busy as Blue most days, but he works from home when he’s not needed at the office. It means that he gets to plan out just where he’ll leave his sock this time to jape Blue when he gets home.
Nonetheless, despite how antagonist Stretch can be, he’s still Blue’s dear younger brother.
And… he's surprisingly thoughtful at times.
Like when he rented a small yacht for he and Blue to sail on for the week. It’s always been Blue’s dream to set sail - er, engine - on open water. He’d even gotten a boating license two months or so ago, which made the surprise quite timely!
The two brothers had packed some belongings, gone shopping for enough groceries to last them, and set up the little boat. It’s got one bedroom under the deck with a small kitchen that has a little table and couch.
Stretch offered to take the couch, leaving the bedroom for Blue. He’d feel bad for it if Stretch hadn’t admitted it’s because he needs easy access to the deck for late-night smoke breaks.
And it’s not as if the boat hasn’t been amazing! Blue enjoys waking up later in the day (although he’d never admit it) just to see the big blue deep when he steps outside. Eating on the deck, with the sun on his bones and the scent of salt all around is invigorating.
It’s just that Blue fears the week will pass quickly, and he’ll have nothing to remember the ocean bye except his memory of salt on his conjured tongue and a few photos on his phone.
…
… It’s the third morning of their week-long vacation that Blue notices something slightly off.
He spends his time one the boat looking over the ocean, cooking, or reading. It’s a rare opportunity to catch up on some of the, er, manga Blue’s good friend Alphys lent him. Blue’s not quite fond of gratuitous boobage but he might as well try and figure out what “sue-goi” and “moe” mean. Maybe then he’ll feel less left out when Alphys brings her fishy girlfriend, Undyne, along on their outings.
On one such occasion, Blue is looking over a graphic novel of the Mew-Mew variety and catches the tail end of something vibrant and red over the side of the boat out of the corner of his sight. Immediately, Blue sets down the book and sits up in his lawn chair.
… But there’s nothing. Only the blue blanket of the ocean.
He writes it off as the sea playing tricks on his eye lights.
…
Except it happens again. This time, the boat is floating along with the waves, and Blue is slightly dozing off in his seat, the manga protecting his face as he drifts between wakefulness and sleep…
And Blue hears a splat sound.
It jolts him out of his half-sleep and his eye lights dart to the end of the deck, where the edge of the boat connects with the water. There’s no barrier there, likely for diving or fishing.
But there is a giant puddle, like something had tried to jump onto the deck before sliding off…
It’s too suspicious for Blue to write off a second time, so he goes to his brother.
Stretch is on the couch, on his phone. He lifts a brow bone when his brother enters the cabin.
“get tired of mew-mew’s adventures in the lollipop forest, nyeh?” Stretch drones. The lanky skeleton sets his phone down on the nearby table leisurely.
“QUITE A FEW HOURS AGO.” Blue replies dryly, following up with his question. “STRETCH…”
Said skeleton perks up at Blue’s tone. “wassup, bro?”
“HAVE YOU SEEN ANYTHING… STRANGE… AROUND THE BOAT?” Blue elaborates, “A REDDISH FISH, MAYBE?”
Stretch settles back in his seat and shrugs. “nah, fish are scared of the boat. you see something?”
Blue rubs at his eye sockets and sighs, “I THOUGHT SO… BUT PERHAPS MY MAGNIFICENT EYES ARE PLAYING TRICKS ON ME…”
The comment makes Stretch frown. He sits up and gestures for Blue to take a seat by him. “no way, bro.” He assures Blue, “you’re the coolest monster around. if you think you saw something, i believe you.”
Blue rolls his eye lights, knowing that Stretch is only indulging his ego.
“IT’S NOTHING, BROTHER. EVEN ONE AS TERRIFIC AS I CAN MAKE MISTAKES.” Blue thinks that will be the end of it, that he can go back to Alphys' odd, backwards-reading books in peace, when there’s a very familiar splat coming from the deck.
It’s audible inside the cabin, due to Blue leaving the door open…
When initial shock passes, Blue and Stretch exchange curious looks. From the deck comes the sound of wet flopping and the dull screech of furniture being pushed.
By the time Blue and Stretch scramble out, there's nothing but a disorganized deck and a trail of sea water to indicate that anything had been there at all.
“well, this seems a little fishy to me, nyeh.”
“BY THE STARS, BROTHER.”