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Jason has been staring at the edge of the river for the past fifteen minutes, but the girl is still there.
Wide hazel eyes stare at him with fascination, dark skin caressed by the warm sunlight of the afternoon and the leaves falling on her brown curly hair make her look like a princess pulled out of a fairy tale. But she’s real, and she’s looking at him.
“Hi?” She says and her hand moves, reaching out to him.
But he doesn’t need help to get out of the water, more importantly, he shouldn’t be out of the water, it’s vital that he stays in the water. But she’s beautiful, and Jason had never seen a girl as lovely as her. Swimming closer, Jason grabs her hand, his fins and scales brushing against her soft skin; she has freckles, and they cover her whole body.
“You’re pretty!” Giggling, she leans closer to him, and then Jason notices the small thing left forgotten on the grass, he knows what that is. Without a second of hesitation, he takes the bag and throws it away in the river. The girl yelps as she registers the movement, but she doesn’t have time to complain as Jason pulls himself out of the water to sit alongside her, his eyes seeming to glow as he croons at her. “You didn’t have to do that, y’know?” She huffs and then falls silent, nervously glancing at Jason’s tail.
Jason hiss as quietly as he can before leaning closer to her, searching for any hint of intoxication but there’s nothing, so he purrs happily.
She looks at him, curious, and then she reaches for his arm, her fingers carefully tracing over the scales on his forearm, her pupils seem to expand as she relishes in it’s glow under the sunlight. Jason doesn’t complain, the blush on her face looks beautiful and makes his heart quicken.
“I’m Rena, do you have a name?” She doesn’t drop his arm, shyly glancing up at him as she caresses his fins, too soft to even be felt.
Looking at the dirt between them, Jason started spelling his name with his nail. It was very dry even when it was at the edge of the river but he managed to finish it.
“J-A-S-O-N, oh, Jason! That’s cute.” Rena smiled at him, she didn’t show her teeth and Jason liked to think that she knew that it was a bad idea, especially to a siren. “What type of… Fish are you?” Rena asked unsure, even her ears turned red as she tried not to laugh at her own question. Jason didn’t hold back, it was the first time someone called him fish in such a cute way.
Jason chuckled and tried not to be loud, but his dad always laughed loudly and stupidly funny, he couldn’t contain, he started cackling as Rena tried to justify herself, only stuttering and pouting.
‘LIONFISH’
“... You’re pretty, and somehow, your name fits you.” Huffing and pouting, Rena eyed the membrane and spines on his back, the wonder reflecting on her face as she held back her hands from touching.
For a while, they didn’t say anything as they stared at each other, Rena couldn’t take her eyes away from Jason’s scales and fins, and Jason couldn’t stop looking at her face, the small freckled that would be imperceptible for human eyes but that he could appreciate without effort, the warmth of the sun residing on her skin, the tidal waves that made her eyes and that were calling him with every blink.
Jason had met many girls, but he had never adored looking at someone as much as he did when his eyes fixed on Rena. It was easy to be enchanted by her beauty, and he didn’t want to take his eyes away.
So much, that he didn’t realize the moment the sun hid and the moon shone in the sky.
It was just when the shadows touched her face that Rena realized how late it was.
“Shit, my mom is going to kill me.” She cursed under her breath, staring at the sky as if it was going to be evening again as she stood quickly, ready to run back home. Jason felt uneasy letting her walk back alone, but he just didn’t have a way to accompany Rena.
(Sometimes he wanted to have legs, to walk among the people of Gotham, to go to school, to visit those beautiful places that humans have made, to explore everything in the world and not just where water was enough for him to move.)
“I will come back tomorrow, okay?!” Rena shouted as she sprinted away, only turning back to see Jason nodding excitedly before he slid back into the water.
After a few minutes everything fell in silence, Jason stared at the direction to where Rena had run, he felt stupidly enamored as he sighed, so dreamy as he felt the impatience for the next evening to come.
That’s how his dad found him, laying his head on his arms as he sighed, saddening at the empty forest.
“Jay?” Bruce crooned as he moved to hold his little guppie from behind, caressing the wet curls of his son. “Are you okay?” He purred as he lowered both of them into the water until they were fully covered, turning Jason to face him.
“I think I finally understand what love at first sight means.”