Work Text:
“I can’t believe you just did that.”
“What?”
Marcelo held on to Nicholas’ arm as they weaved through the crowded entrance. He looked around, taking in the overwhelming sights and sounds of the atrium. Despite their best efforts to arrive early, the traffic on the highway had decided to become a tourist attraction in itself. Closer to midday now rather than their anticipated early-ish arrival, the pair were grateful to finally stretch their legs.
“Not only did you make me pay for you, but you called me your uncle?”
“I dunno why you’re complaining dude. I saved us…what…like fifteen dollars?” Marcelo tried to keep up with his friend’s large strides.
“Your uncle?” Nicholas echoed his earlier statement.
“Yeah bro. It would have been way weirder if I said you were anything else, don’t you think?”
“Your brother?”
“Too obvious,” Marcelo stated matter-of-factly. “In what world would it make sense for me to be seventeen and have a brother who is in his thirties?”
“If you’re seventeen, I’m twenty-something,” Nicholas grumbled. “And what difference does fifteen dollars make if your ticket is still fifty bucks?”
“Yeesh man, I’ll Venmo it back to you or something if you’re that butthurt over it.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Nicholas stepped off to the side, looking up at a digital map display of the aquarium. “Man…” He squinted at the floor plans. “It hasn’t changed much since I last visited…”
“Sea otters?!” Marcelo squeaked, staring just past the map and at an exhibit off in the distance.
“Huh?” Nicholas followed Marcelo’s gaze. “Oh. Yeah. You’ve never seen ‘em before?”
“No!” Marcelo looked up at Nicholas, his eyes aglow. “We should go there first.”
“Alright. I’ll let you lead the way.” Nicholas picked up a brochure and tucked it under his arm. “They’ve got touch tanks and-”
Marcelo was already headed towards the glass, a sense of urgency in his footsteps. Nicholas chuckled to himself, leisurely following behind. The younger man waited for a moment, lingering behind a family before stepping in to fill the space as they walked away. His face was practically pressed against the glass, a goofy smile big across it while he watched the sea otters dart around.
Nicholas stood several paces back, half reading the plaques framing the glass and half filtering out the sounds around him. Sunlight poured through the glass panels to the left of him, the light tinted a deep blue thanks to the open water just beyond the outdoor observation deck. He felt something in the pit of his stomach. Memories of standing against the railing, staring out into the vastness of the world with eyes full of wonder, much smaller than he was now. How ironic that he still felt just as small, the world just as much of a mystery to him now as it was back then.
“Veja!”
Nicholas was pulled from his thoughts, an over-excited Marcelo back at his side. He held his phone up, the image of a sea otter mid-swim on the screen.
“I didn’t know they were that big!”
“It’s a cruel world out there. Your cuteness has to be functional to an extent if you want to make it.”
“Você está me dizendo. Like I don’t know that.” Marcelo held the phone back in front of himself and swiped through the photos.
“Sometimes they hang out under the deck outside, if I remember correctly.” Nicholas glanced outside again. “We can go out there later if you want.”
“Are you kidding?! I want to see everything!” Marcelo looked up from his phone. “You said there’s a touch tank?”
“Yeah, they should be just over that way.” Nicholas nodded his head in the direction they had just come from.
“Can we go now?”
“Whatever you want bud.” Nicholas smiled. “Just lead the way.”
***
The sound of waves crashing over rocks just beyond the observation deck offered a welcome moment of peace away from the crowded interior of the aquarium. Nicholas leaned over the railing, his hands clasped together and hair slicked back by wind. Marcelo’s hands grabbed the railing beneath them, his feet slotted between the gaps of each metal bar. He leaned his shoulders over the railing, but what exactly he was trying to do was unclear to Nicholas.
“I really wish you wouldn’t do that.” Nicholas looked over his shoulder at the smaller man. “The metal is already slippery. One strong gust of wind and you’re slipping through the railing.”
“Tch. You wish.” Marcelo rolled his eyes and unstuck both feet, jumping down from the metal and standing flat on the concrete. “My ass is too fat to fit through the opening.”
“Pfft…” Nicholas turned his gaze back towards the ocean. “You mean your big ass head?”
“Cale-se!” Marcelo punched the other man’s shoulder lightly, a smile tugging at his lips.
The two stared out over the deep blue water, small sailboats speckling the horizon. Marcelo sighed, resting his elbows against the railing and cradling his chin in his hands.
“It’s crazy how much different the ocean is over here.” Marcelo thought out loud. “We don’t have kelp forests and sea otters back home.”
“Water’s probably a lot warmer than out here too, I’m assuming,” Nicholas added.”There’s a reason all the surfers wear wetsuits.”
“Mmh…” Marcelo was silent, his eyes deep in contemplation. “Do you ever miss home?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your moms…your favorite stores…the ocean…” Marcelo stared ahead, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Being away from it all…”
“Hm…I guess so yeah. I’ve been doing this for so long that I have to really think.” Nicholas nodded slowly. “You never get less homesick, just learn to deal with it. I remember my first few nights away…” He laughed softly, reminiscing on the memory. “It makes it all the more worth it to come back.”
“Yeah…” Marcelo sounded forlorn, his lips twisted into a pucker. “I just…the world is so big. I know that’s obvious, but…I dunno…I’ve never given it much thought until today.” he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I was probably a kid swimming in the ocean a whole continent over while you were doing the same here. Neither of us would have known.”
“Crazy, right?”
“It…uh…” Marcelo looked around nervously. “It puts everything into perspective, you know? It’s hard not to think about everything…now.” his eyes remained fixated on the rolling waves, their deep turquoise marbled with frothy seafoam. “The uncertainty of it all…”
“Marcelo…” Nicholas tutted. “I thought you said not to worry about work?”
“I know.” Marcelo lingered on the thought. “I just can’t seem to stop.”
There was another moment of silence, the sounds of the ocean a gentle lull in the background. Marcelo tapped his fingers against the metal, drawing patterns in the fine layer of salt misted across the railing.
“I don’t know. It’s hard not to feel like I’m in the wrong line of work.” He added suddenly. “I’ve put the two of us in danger twice now…you almost died because-”
“Bud, I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else by my side.” Nicholas cut him off. “And to be quite honest, I can’t exactly picture you thriving in an office job.”
“I can’t imagine doing anything else…but at the same time…” Marcelo took a breath. “I miss home…I don’t even know what there is to go back to…but…” the corner of his lip twitched. “And after meeting your moms…god…if something happened to you…”
“But it didn’t. And I have you to thank for that.”
“But what if something did happen? Or in the future?” Marcelo turned his head towards his friend beside him. “What if it’s my fault again?”
“You need to stop blaming yourself for that.” Nicholas sighed. “My moms understand the risks associated with my career.” He could feel Marcelo’s eyes staring into him. “I’m sure they're prepared for the worst-case scenario. I have my things in order so all they would have to do is-”
“Nick,” Marcelo’s voice wavered. “I wish you could see how much you are loved.”
Nicholas paused, thinking about the other man’s statement. He turned to face Marcelo. There were no tears on the younger man’s face, but he exuded an overwhelming sense of melancholy. Nicholas smiled gently, putting a hand atop Marcelo’s shoulder.
“Trust me, I can feel it. Even on hard days.”
“Well,” Marcelo pouted, quickly turning back towards the water. “You should practice being more grateful.” Nicholas could see through the facade of his words, a defense mechanism against the vulnerable emotions of their conversation.
“Yeah…” Nicholas picked his words carefully. “I don’t mean to upset you.”
“You don’t. You should listen to mamá, though. Take care of yourself.” Marcelo picked at his jacket sleeve. “And if you need help, I’m always here for you. You know that, right?”
“I do.” Nicholas couldn’t help but notice the casual way Marcelo had referenced his mamá. “You know they love you, right?”
“That’s because they don’t know me.”
“Shut up man. If you weren’t such an old fart, they’d have you signing adoption papers already.”
“I thought they were joking.” Marcelo laughed, embarrassed.
“I don’t think they were.” Nicholas snorted. “They didn’t think you were twenty-four. Maybe you do pass for seventeen.”
“Yeah. I’m a grateful person. It keeps me youthful.” Marcelo cleared his throat. “And you’re just decrepit enough to be my uncle. You should work on that.”
“Dude.”
“I don’t wanna hear it. You have a serious gratitude problem.” Marcelo glared at Nicholas from the corner of his eye. “When we get back, I’d better see you give both moms the biggest hug and a kiss on the cheek.” Nicholas opened his mouth to say something. Marcelo swiftly butted in. “No complaints either or I’ll kick your ass. You can be weird and timid all you want, but your family should never make you feel that way. Especially when they love you as much as they do.”
“I guess.” Nicholas hesitated before wrapping an arm around Marcelo’s shoulder and squeezing him into an awkward side hug. “You’re just as much part of my family as you say I’m part of yours, you know?” He felt Marcelo’s shoulders tense up at the statement. “Momma says you’re like a little brother. I’m assuming this is what it’s all about…right?”
Marcelo turned into the hug, wrapping both arms around Nicholas. Nicholas let both hands hover in the air before patting them both against Marcelo’s back. They stayed like that for a moment, the sounds of life going on felt deafened around them.
“Thank you for everything.” Marcelo pulled away, his eyes down. “I can get us dinner or something to make up for the ticket.”
“I don’t care about that. Really. What’s the point in putting ourselves through hell if we can’t have fun every once in a while?”
“Yeah.” Marcelo laughed. “This has been nice so far…”
“Good. Tío Nicholas has a full itinerary planned for the rest of our stay so-”
“Tío Nicholas?!” Marcelo belly laughed.
“You said it first!”
“Yeah yeah I know. But don’t be saying that, man, I’m not ready for that kind of responsibility.”
“What? I thought you were supposed to be my shitty little nephew?”
“Nah. Néon and I are far from ready to provide you with official tío status so you’ll have to be patient.” Marcelo looked over his shoulder at the entrance back into the aquarium, then back towards Nicholas. “I promised I’d get them something from the gift shop.”
“Uh…” Nicholas felt something in his chest as he lingered on Marcelo’s statement. “If you want to spend your money on overpriced souvenirs…” He smiled. “That’s your decision.”
“That’s like, the best part of going somewhere new.”
“Not spending time with me?”
“Well duh,” Marcelo smiled back. “But I thought that was obvious.”