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Chris’s mother had once said that the ocean was in his blood.
Even now, as he sank deeper into the ocean’s depths, he felt his heartbeat level out, slowing to a beat of contentment as he was pulled further and further down. Though the skin of his pressurized suit and sleek domed helmet separated him from the waters itself, he could feel it envelop him, like the embrace of a mother, or the cradle of a lover. The suit regulated his body temperature, preventing him from freezing in the depths, but he kept the settings on the lower side, almost welcoming the bone-deep chill as the waters pressed around him.
Berry warbled happily as she continued her dive and he knocked against the keratin plating of her carapace to remind her that he was still riding along. Playfully, she twisted into a barrel roll – something he’d learned to expect from her and he flattened against her shell, sticking like a remora until she leveled back out and warbled again, craning her long neck around to eye him expectantly. She was too reptilian for visible expression, but Chris had been with her since birth and knew the impish snort she sent his way.
In response, he lifted the Otachi strapped to his wrist and fired off a burst of lights in a pattern they both knew by instinct: good job. Even while being cheeky, a successful maneuver deserved praise.
She was growing fast – not so much as to put her ahead of her projected growth, but rapidly enough that he was going to have to stop playing with her like this for risk of fatal accidents sooner rather than later. It was one thing when she was still the size of a tank and not the size of a football field, and he wanted to make the most of it while he could.
With another burst of lights from him (keep going), Berry turned her head back and continued on, not diving quite so steeply, content with a more gentle pace.
There was the slight hiss of static in Chris’s headset. “Her muscle tone is looking good,” a voice said, soft and low and thrumming gently in Chris’s ear, much like the ocean surrounding him. “She’s doing better than I expected, given her last check up.”
“We’ve been working hard,” Chris told the other as he rapped his knuckles against Berry’s carapace again before falling back closer to her rear, still allowing her to pull him deeper into the ocean’s depths. “You were quite harsh last time, Felix.”
“You know how it is with Park Industries,” Felix said, walking a careful line between teasing and impassive. “It’s very important that Reckoners we ally with the fleet be more than just good, they have to be the best.”
“Berry is the best,” Chris said firmly. He’d been working with her personally since birth, something he hadn’t done for several years – as head trainer for Jeju’s Reckoner program, he usually acted as a bridge between the research division and the training pool, guiding first time handlers as they prepared their Reckoners for life at sea, protecting the ships they bonded with against raiders and smugglers.
Berry had been a contrary pup, but she’d had the type of adaptable intelligence that would aid Park Industries across the seas and while it would soon be time for Chris to select her long-term handler, he’d poured hours upon hours to ensure she had the best training to prepare her for joining the naval fleet.
And yet Felix had nearly marked her ineligible during their last assessment.
Chris was still smarting about it, just a little, and so he lifted his wrist again, firing off a new set of commands. Speed, he said first, and then, attack.
Without hesitation, Berry lunged forward, Chris having to brace himself against one of the spikes on her shell as she went full speed into the depths. She didn’t have anything specific to attack – no dummy ships or submarines – but she still obeyed, neck striking forward so her horned snout would slam and gore into an imaginary opponent.
“Showing off, Chris?”
“Just wanting you to understand that she’s capable,” Chris said, trying to keep any smugness out of his voice as he praised Berry yet again. He was head trainer and while that spoke to his accomplishments and his skills in the field, it also came with expectations. Mouthing off to Park Industries’ best and brightest probably wasn’t the smartest idea, even if it was Felix.
“She is looking great,” Felix admitted, humming in Chris’s ear, and it was like a siren’s call, lulling Chris deeper and deeper into the depths. “Her vitals are excellent, her growth patterns are steady. Her reflexes are impressive.”
It was gloomy down in the water’s embrace, but Chris felt something glow in his chest at the praise, turning to eye Berry over.
She was magnificent. Even barely out of puphood, she was strong, powerful, and intelligent as hell. While she most closely resembled a snapping turtle, her coloring of dark green mottled with fiery reds and mints hinted at the marine iguana in her DNA along with something else much, much older, all of it tinkered with to make a Reckoner worth, well, reckoning with.
Berry came to the ocean floor and switched to walking along, her footfalls heavy and inelegant, but she seemed to enjoy herself and Chris swam down to rest against her shell again.
“Have you thought about who you’re appointing her handler?” Felix asked. He sounded softened, distant, and Chris knew he was working through the various data needed to be filed with Berry’s assessment.
It made him less corporate, more young, and Chris found himself smiling as he floated along, the water swirling gently in his wake as he imagined Felix’s spectacles falling off his little button nose as he compared charts and readouts. “Yeah, actually. Since Lucas is graduating top of his class, I think he and Berry would suit each other well.”
“Lucas?” There was surprise in Felix’s voice. “I thought he was aiming for commercial class vessels.”
“Nah, he’s certifying for both,” Chris hummed. He was near boneless, only barely keeping his grasp on Berry’s keratin plating as the water swayed his body to and fro. It felt as if he could lose himself like this, tied only to the bulk of Berry’s body and Felix’s voice in his ear. “Just that the commercial courses end sooner. He’s waiting to see if the navy is offering.”
“Hmm… they haven't shared the candidate pool with us yet so I guess we’ll see. Please don’t let her eat garbage, Chris,” Felix reprimanded quietly, and Chris guiltily opened his eyes, realizing he’d shut them, allowing Berry to take him along as he listened to Felix. He twisted around to see Berry nosing at something in the silt – looked to be a long abandoned metal buoy. He was quick to send off a new command (stop), and she snorted but shifted away without much fuss.
“I’ll let that slide since she’s so young,” Felix said, but Chris can hear how hard he’s holding back a giggle.
“How benevolent of you,” Chris said, dryly, before telling Berry it was time to resurface. She’d have time to explore that afternoon, but for now, he just needed to give Felix what he wanted.
“What about plans for this weekend?” he asked as Berry launched herself towards the surface, sweeping him along for the ride.
There was a long pause as Felix scribbled something down. “Mm, this weekend is empty,” he finally answered. “But next weekend might be, uh… busy. My parents are coming into town. Want to meet them?”
Felix might as well have turned the respirator system of his suit off as Chris choked on air. “What?”
“No pressure,” Felix said, clearly frazzled. “They just said… they’d be interested in meeting you.”
The problem with a closed suit system was that it was impossible to get the fresh air that Chris felt he needed, coughing in surprise and greatly relieved when Berry broke the ocean’s surface so he could tug his helmet off. He sat there for a moment, absorbing the bomb Felix had just dropped on him as the winds whipped his hair into a frenzy as Berry headed back to her bay, the ocean spray misting over him..
He’d never met Felix’s parents, but anyone who worked with Reckoners knew them as the dream team who’d made the breakthrough in engineering Reckoner DNA. They’d literally been the foundation of the entire industry, pioneering a new approach to navel travel post-Flooding.
“Sorry, I should have….” Felix began and then trailed off, and Chris couldn’t see, but he could absolutely imagine him, sitting in front of the monitors with his trim lab coat, cute and dainty and absolutely trying to gnaw off the end of his pen with nerves.
“I think that’d be nice,” Chris finally managed, having to cup his hand over his mouth so sea breezes wouldn’t steal his voice away.
“Yeah?” Felix’s voice was tentative and warm in his ear.
“Yeah.”
***
Settling Berry into her pen was a simple affair, even if Chris had to pause and remind her to be nice as she barked in annoyance at the pen next to her – Berry had never gotten along with Kkami, seeing him as the thief that had stolen Hyunjin away from her, despite Hyunjin having never taking part in any of Berry’s training.
Though Kkami and Berry were both Reckoners, they looked completely alien to each other – this was due to the fact that unlike Berry, Kkami’s DNA was a mammalian concoction, sourced primarily from the blue whale – though the average blue whale certainly didn’t have armor plating or several rows of jagged teeth. While Kkami would end up smaller than Berry by nearly twenty meters, he would certainly be intimidating once released to the fleet.
But for now, they were both more overgrown pup than nautical threat and Kkami clicked back in annoyance, smacking a fin against the water to splash some water over the pen walls, catching Chris in the crossfire.
Chris grimaced, spitting out salt water before switching his Otachi over to Kkami’s signal set. Behave, he ordered, and Kkami still looked disgruntled but settled down, swimming away with a rumble of discontent.
“You’d think they’d have gotten over it by now,” Hyunjin said with a rueful smile, turning to Chris from where he was standing, in his own wetsuit, helmet tucked under one arm. “How’d it go?”
“She passed,” Chris said, grinning broadly and high fiving Hyunjin with a laugh. “Felix said he’d be recommending her to one of the new aircraft carriers and she’ll start ship-bonding as soon as her handler’s picked out.”
“Hell yeah!” Hyunjin whooped. “I really hope he signs off on Kkami. Jeongin and Beomgyu have been working so hard with him.”
“Is he next up?” Chris asked.
Hyunjin shook his head and jerked a thumb across the way. “No, we’ve got to wait until they’re done with Bambi.”
As if on cue, there was a small tidal wave from the pen opposite Berry’s as Bambi rose from the depths, a full-grown Reckoner that had been taken off active duty when she’d sustained heavy injuries while protecting the cruise ship she was bonded with from Atlantic raiders. Bambi was the spitting image of what Berry would look like one day, and Chris could see Chungha crouched above one of Bambi’s eye ridges, so insignificantly tiny as water continued to slosh down from the giant beast. Chris was once again left drenched, though at least this time Hyunjin had also been in the splash zone.
“Eugh,” Hyunjin grimaced, though even a sopping wet Hyunjin was a wildly handsome Hyunjin.
“It’ll good to have Bambi back out at sea, she’s missed it,” Chris commented with a nod, before he and Hyunjin parted ways – Hyunjin to Kkami’s pen and Chris down into the domed main hub to prepare for his next lecture with the training pod.
He wanted to check in on Felix before his class started, but as he stuck his head into the observatory, he could see Felix, just as he envisioned, all cutely nerdy with his round-lens spectacles and lab coat with a chibi Reckoner pin stuck to the pocket – and also surrounded by a slew of military officials and Park Industries bigwigs. Chris became painfully aware that he smelled of seaweed and salt and that his wetsuit was dripping water everywhere.
With a tinge of regret, he stepped back, the door swishing shut in front of him. He’d touch base with Felix later.
***
It was dark by the time Chris got home, the lights dimmed as he toed his shoes off in the entryway. He should have been back nearly an hour earlier, but had stayed behind when Changbin had caught him, wanting to consult on the Reckoner shark-pup that was going to birth within the next few weeks – Changbin would be overseeing its infancy, but was looking for handlers to take over after the pup passed the early stages, having originally planned for Jeongin and Beomgyu before Hyunjin had snatched them both up.
(“If it weren’t for the fact that they’re so good with Kkami, I’d accuse him of sabotage,” Changbin said, but it was with a ludicrously fond sigh, and Chris had laughed at him.)
But training picks and new pups could wait, as Chris padded into the house proper. The ocean was in his blood and it showed even now, soft lights illuminating the aquarium that was built into one wall of the main room – though technically these fish were all freshwater, ones he was fostering as a favor to the Endangered Aquatics conservation group affiliated with the Reckoner program. The aquarium was nearly the size of the house itself, and Chris couldn’t help but smile as a school of neon tetra swarmed past the glass panel beside him, contentment sinking deep in his bones now that he was home.
Felix was dozing on the couch, lit by the soft blue lights of the aquarium, curled up under a blanket and still in his lab coat. Chris sank to the edge of the couch, fondness squeezing his heart tight when he noticed Felix drooling in his sleep.
“Hey there, love,” Chris whispered, brushing Felix’s fringe from his eyes. “Time to wake up.”
It took a little more nudging for Felix to actually stir, but he did, hiding his face in his arms as he stretched, all feline-limbed and liquid fluidity. He was the most beautiful thing Chris had ever laid eyes on and that warmth in his chest threatened to drown him as he watched.
“Chris?” Felix mumbled, muzzy with sleep as he finally cracked his eyes open, still half hidden amongst his sleeves and blanket.
“Mmhm,” Chris hummed, still stroking his fingers through Felix’s hair, petting ever so gently. “Sorry for making you wait, Changbin needed to talk.”
“S’okay,” Felix said with a soft little snuffly yawn before he curled himself into a donut around Chris, legs tucked up on one side while he smushed his face into Chris’s lap on the other. “You should have invited him over for dinner.”
“You know I would have, except…” Chris looked down at where Felix was pretzeled around him like a catboy. “Kinda wanted to talk to you about that whole bomb you dropped on me this morning.”
Felix whined, throwing an arm back over his face to hide again. “I’m soooo sorry,” he said, voice muffled. “I should have waited, they just texted me as I was getting in and I panicked.”
Chris knew this boy was going to be the death of him, smiling despite the enormity of the situation, and he paused to soak up the moment, fingertips tracing over Felix’s cheek, jaw, neck, shoulder, committing the shape of him to memory. “So… they really want to meet me?”
Felix peeked out, blinking owlishly at him, clearly confused. “Of course they do.”
“Well…” Chris fought to keep a flush off his face, knowing his ears were turning red despite his efforts. “I just… you know…” He trailed off, feeling the fluster settle where the warmth in his chest had been a moment before.
In an instant, Felix was upright, scooting so he could crawl into Chris’s lap, gently cupping his face with both hands. “Chris, they know you’re amazing,” he said, eyes wide and round and so full of sincerity that Chris felt he could fall into them and sink forever. “They think the work you’ve done here is so impressive.”
He paused, frowning lightly, and then leaned forward to press a soft kiss to Chris’s cheek. “You’ve been so good to me, please.”
And Chris knew the fluster was rising up his throat, clouding his vision, and he was not as easy to move to tears as Felix but it was hard to fight back when Felix knew him so well, knew the feeling of inadequacy he could usually quell but never quite vanquish. It didn’t matter that Felix’s parents were eminent geneticists or that Felix was their genius off-spring. It didn’t matter that Chris was a powerhouse in his own right, having innovated Reckoner training back when he’d been a rookie, still wet behind the ears.
What mattered was that Felix was their beloved child and Chris was so goddamn in love with him that sometimes it was hard to breath.
But Felix was there in his arms, pressing the sweetest kiss to his lips. “They’re going to love you so much,” Felix whispered. “I love you so much, Chris.”
Chris squeezed Felix gently, eyes closing as he just held him there, the two of them wrapped up and cast tender by the soft lights of the aquarium.
“Love you too,” he managed, voice thick with every emotion he could pour into those words, his heart as vast as the ocean that pumped through his veins, and all of it meant for Felix. Every day he drowned for love, and every day Felix drew him in deeper, deeper, deeper – deeper than Berry could carry him, deeper than his own body could handle.
They stayed like that for a long, long time, before Chris finally feels pieced himself together enough to lean back against the couch and grin fondly up at his cute little genius boyfriend. “Delivery?”
“Mmmm, burgers or chicken?” Felix asked, settling down more comfortably on Chris’s chest like a cat, fumbling for his phone.
Smiling, Chris pressed a kiss to the top of Felix’s head, going limp under the weight of him. “Pizza,” he decided, because Felix would spend twenty minutes waffling over it if left to his own devices. “All meat, extra cheese, half mushroom.”
“Just the way we like it,” Felix said, satisfied, and that satisfaction seeped into Chris’s bones. It was the ideal scenario, curling up for the night with Felix, pizza and sodas shared between them, accompanied by a school of neon tetra darting to and fro in the aquarium. “You know, I bet I could expedite Lucas’s vetting. I really do think he’d be a good fit for Berry.”
Chris groaned, but just like Changbin, it was with unerring fondness. “Work can wait until tomorrow,” he reminded Felix, tugging him up for a kiss – his unsubtle attempt at distraction.
It worked like a charm, though it meant that even without Felix’s indecisiveness, it was another twenty minutes before they had pizza on the way, Chris having to take Felix’s phone and place the order because Felix had gone dozy while pressing kisses down Chris’s neck.
Chris doesn’t think he’d have it any other way, allowing Felix to draw him back in once their food was on the way, allowing Felix to once more pull him into the depths of bliss.
Chris’s mother had once said that the ocean was in his blood, and sometimes that ocean was Felix.