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Throughout his life, Tatsuya had felt moments of aimlessness. Even as a child it seemed like his friends always knew what they wanted. Eikichi always wanted to draw together or play band. Lisa loved playing house and even knew what roles she wanted everyone to be. Maya often talked about her dad doing his cool news job and how she wanted to be a great journalist like him someday. Then, of course, there was his brother. Katsuya was already dead set on being a pastry chef. Every week Tatsuya would find him in their kitchen working on a new recipe. On many occasions where Katsuya managed to rope in the younger brother for kitchen help, he'd ask Tatsuya about school, his interests, what he wanted to be when he grew up. He would shrug for most of the replies, especially since Katsuya said joining Feathermen didn't count as an answer (he so could be a great featherman like Red Eagle one day), and let Katsuya lecture him about doing well at school so he could have choices later on or whatever. (He tended to tune his older brother out when he started sounding like dad).
Hearing his friends and older brother talk about their dreams mostly made him feel happy. Tatsuya couldn't help it especially when they got super excited, but there were times where it felt like he was missing something. What did he want? What does he dream about? It was like everyone else had a light that guided them while Tatsuya was just a feather in the air. He was empty, insubstantial. Just as likely to float away upon a breeze as he was to drift into a sewer drain depending on the passing wind.
When that empty feeling had its grasp on him, Tatsuya often found himself at the beach, staring out at the ocean for long periods of time. He'd sit along the shore watching as the waves drew closer and closer until the water line managed to reach his spot in the sand. Combined with the cool breeze and beautiful colors of the sky as the sun sank into the ocean, Tatsuya could distract himself until the emptiness went away. The scene probably did too good of a job at that given the number of times he arrived home late to a worried Dad and Katsuya. It became enough of a problem that his dad gave him a watch so he could be more aware of the time. It helped a little, when he actually remembered to check it.
One fateful evening, as Tatsuya distracted himself by watching the shimmering orange light dance across the surface of the water, movement on the edge of his vision caught his attention. There was a large rock a fair distance off the shoreline it's edges were worn smooth on one side thanks to waves passing around it. Just behind the rock, he could see a head of dark hair bobbing slightly with the water. Tatsuya looked around the beach to see if anyone else saw it but there were no other kids or adults around. He glanced at his watch. 7:46… he lost track of time again… he really should be heading home but his curiosity kept pulling his eyes back to the person(?) by the rock. Are they okay? What if they need help? Tatsuya looked around again before taking a deep breath.
"Hello?" He yelled out to the sea. "Are you okay?" No response. He was starting to get worried and there was no one else on the beach to ask for help. What should he do? If Red Eagle were here he would go out there and make sure the person was okay but… Tatsuya had never tried swimming out that far before… The nervous energy started working its way through his body culminating in his little hands wringing themselves into uncomfortable fists. However, it couldn't overtake his quickly growing curiosity and concern for the figure who continued to bob steadily in the water. A new feeling of purpose and determination burst forth as he started running into the water.
"Don't worry! I'll come help you!" He called out as the cool ocean took him in. Tatsuya considered himself a good swimmer, Lisa had told him so before, although Eikichi and Katsuya had separately complained about him splashing way too much. He propelled himself forwards, slapping his arms through the water. Slowly but surely he was making his way to the rock. Tatsuya had already surpassed the furthest he’d been from the shore, but he didn’t allow himself the time to feel proud of his achievement, still focused on saving that person. He could make out the top of their head peaking just behind the stupid rock that was still too far away. His arms were starting to ache both from the strain on his muscles and from the sting each time they broke past the surface of the water, but he pressed onwards.
“I’ll rescue you!” He yelled, mostly to assure himself as exhaustion began to spread through his limbs. Tatsuya quickly realized that was a bad idea as he reflexively attempted to cough out the water that rushed in only to let more into his mouth in the process. The saltwater burned his throat as his limbs flailed out looking for something solid to hold onto. The sun was starting to dip past the horizon, setting the sky aflame in bright orange bleeding into the purple and dark blue of night. That was the last thing he saw before passing out.
--
The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes again was a boy who looked about his age with black hair that nearly covered half his face. He looked worried, the one eye that could be seen was shiny with unspilled tears. Tatsuya’s first thought was, “wow, you’re pretty.”
“Wha-?” followed by the realization that he actually said that out loud making the other boy’s eyes widen and face flush. Wait! This must be the person by the rock! He sat up a little too quickly, nearly headbutting the dark haired boy.
“I mean, are you okay?!” Surprise quickly reverted back to worry on the other boy’s face.
“I should be the one asking you that! I had to drag you here and your eyes weren’t opening so I thought-” The boy’s tears spilled over. Tatsuya immediately felt bad for somehow making him cry. He didn’t have much experience with taking care of sad friends, Maya or Katsuya handled those sorts of situations more often, so he tried to remember what they had done for him and his friends. He gently wrapped his arms around the crying boy.
“It’s okay… I’m okay now thanks to you… m’sorry...” The boy froze a bit at first, making Tatsuya worry he had done something wrong, before relaxing into the touch and leaning his head onto Tatsuya’s shoulder. The strange, pretty boy felt slightly smaller than himself and his other friends. While the boy calmed down Tatsuya took in his surroundings. The sky was still glowing orange with about half the sun still showing above the horizon. He was sitting on hard stone rather than the sand of the beach so the boy must have brought him out to the dumb rock. Speaking of the raven haired boy, instead of sitting on the rock beside him, he was still in the water using his arms to anchor him to the rock. “I was supposed to be the one doing the saving… I thought I saw someone out here and when I called and didn’t hear anything back I got scared that something bad happened so I just started swimming.” The boy leaned away and Tatsuya let go.
“That was kind of a dumb thing to do, very kind and brave of you, but still pretty dumb.” The boy chided but his light tone and smile let Tatsuya know he was mostly teasing. Tatsuya fidgeted with his hands slightly embarrassed and returned a small smile.
“Thanks for saving me, my name is Tatsuya by the way. What’s yours?”
“Oh uhh-” The boy looked a bit nervous and paused as if to think over his response. “My name’s Jun.” He looked away shyly. Cute. Tatsuya felt a soft, nervous stirring in his chest. All he wanted at that moment was to spend time with Jun. Wait… want! Tatsuya’s smile spread into a toothy grin. For the first time, he really felt a pull towards something.
“I’m glad I met you Jun! Let’s be friends!” A look of wonder followed by happiness bloomed on the other boy’s face.
“Okay!”
The boy’s arms trembled slightly from the effort of holding himself somewhat face to face with Tatsuya. Jun lowered himself further into the water and laid his crossed arms on the rock. He must be tired sitting in the water like that all this time. Tatsuya scooted over on the rock and patted the new space.
"Aren't you tired of swimming this whole time? Here, come sit next to me." Jun looked at Tatsuya, his face scrunched up in thought, before taking a deep breath.
"Tatsuya, I'm gonna show you a secret, but you have to promise not to tell anyone or else I'll get in trouble with my mama." Jun looked so serious, it reminded him of Katsuya when he was working on a new recipe. He didn't want to get his new friend in trouble. Tatsuya nodded his head and held out his pinky.
"I promise!" The boy in the water tilted his head slightly confused.
"What are you doing?"
"It's a pinky promise. Whenever I make an important promise I make a pinky promise cuz you can never break those. Here, hold your pinky out like mine." Jun mimicked the auburn haired boy's hand. Tatsuya linked his pinky with the other boy's and shook on it once before smiling at Jun and letting go. Jun smiled nervously before taking a few deep breaths.
"Help me up?" Tatsuya grabbed onto the boy's offered arm with both hands, careful not to pull too hard lest he hurt Jun by accident. It took more effort than expected. He’d helped all his friends up before and the boy looked smaller than them. His train of thought stopped in its tracks once Jun managed to lift himself out of the water.
Instead of legs, Jun lifted a long fish-like tail out of the water. The tail was sleek and mainly charcoal in color. Feather-like fins flared out along its length gradually transitioning from coal to a bright translucent aqua that almost seemed to glow in the right light. The edges of these fins as well as the scales shimmered an iridescent gold that rivaled the surface of the water at sunset.
“You’re a mermaid!?” Tatsuya blurted out. Jun looked around briefly, calming down after seeing there was no one nearby, before adamantly shushing the boy in front of him.
“Uhh, maybe? If that’s what your people call us… Mama always said that we were oceanids”
“O-she-a-nids?” Tatsuya tried out the word slowly and smiled when Jun nodded. “Does that mean you can breathe underwater then?” Jun nodded again. “That’s so cool!” He couldn’t help staring at the boy’s tail which didn’t go unnoticed as Jun began nervously lowering it back into the water. “It looks beautiful…”
The words startled Jun. His new friend looked embarrassed but also a bit sad. “You really think so…?” Tatsuya nodded aggressively to reassure the boy.
“You’re the prettiest person I’ve ever met.” The boy’s face flushed heavily at that.
“You’re too kind…” Tatsuya was about to try to cheer up the boy again when a breeze sent shivers over his body, an unpleasant reminder that his clothes were drenched. His dad was going to yell at him fo-
“I’m late!!!” He then proceeded to groan into his hands. “I’m sorry Jun, I have to go home.” Tatsuya scrambled to his feet, intending to just jump off the rock when a firm grip held him back.
“Are you stupid? You almost drowned trying to swim here” He looked from the hand on his arm, to Jun, then to the distant shore finally realizing what a disastrous idea it was. He looked back at Jun with an embarrassed smile. His free hand twitched, wishing to twine it with his other hand. The other boy’s expression softened feeling a bit of guilt at his words. “Sorry... what I meant to say was, ‘let me help you back to shore.’”
“Okay.” Jun lowered himself back into the water motioning for Tatsuya to follow. Just being back in the water made him feel tired. He was going to sleep like a rock once he reached his bed.
“Here,” Jun leaned forward in the water so his back was facing Tatsuya. “Just hold on to me okay?” The tired boy wrapped his arms around the other’s waist. He felt warm to the touch and made Tatsuya want to hold on a bit tighter. “Ready?”
“Mmhm.” With that, Jun began their journey towards the shore, gradually picking up to moderate speed once he was sure Tatsuya could hold on. Said boy marveled at the force of Jun’s tail propelling them through the water with ease. Before he knew it he was back in shallow waters again, his toes barely brushing the sandy floor.
“Uh, you can let go now.” Jun’s shy face peeked over his shoulder at Tatsuya.
“Right! Sorry…” He let go and went towards the beach, just enough for him to be standing rather than floating in the water, and looked back at Jun. He held himself as if holding in unsure words looking at the surface of the water just in front of him. “Jun…” The boy looked up, surprised out of his thoughts. “Can I see you again? We can swim or I could bring some of my toys, I can tell you about Feathermen or or-” The words came out frantically. He was nervous, scared even, that Jun would say no. That fuzzy feeling he felt earlier, he wanted to chase it but if Jun didn’t want to hang out with him… Tatsuya never wanted to make someone do something they didn’t want to. Jun smiled at him and he felt that feeling again. It was fuzzy and... warm like a small fire.
“Of course! We’re friends now aren’t we?” Jun seemed in awe at his own words.
“Yes! I’ll come back here tomorrow around the same time! Good night Jun, see you tomorrow.” Tatsuya waved happily with both hands as he backed away from the sea, not wanting to look away. The oceanid tried to hide his laughter with his hands but it was no use. Eventually, Tatsuya turned around and began his sprint back home. He was going to get an earful from both dad and Katsuya when he arrived but nothing could extinguish the spark of happiness he felt at the thought of seeing Jun again tomorrow.