Of Different Waters

Ronan woke with a start, gasping for air. It hurt so much to breathe. What had happened? Felt like he wasn’t getting enough air.

And then he remembered: the aquarium.

He looked around the room. The hotel room. Parents must have brought him back, but he was alone. The probably stepped out of the room to get something to eat. But they probably didn’t go too far because of him being passed out in bed. They were worrywarts after all.

The barest of whispers. Ronan, ceva ow mo…

He shot out of bed. “Fisk?” Ronan called out to his fishy friend uncertainly. It hadn’t sounded like him, but who else could it be? “was that you.”

“Not me Rasha, it was her,” the fish answered cryptically.

“Who?”

”Ruhn Oceana," the fish whispered in a hushed voice.

Ronan, ceva ow mo… It said again.

Suddenly Ronan didn’t want to stay in the room another minute. He had to get to the voice.

He looked around for something to use to write a note on for his parents. He wanted to let them know he was alright and would be back later.

Ronan, ceva ow mo….

He started breathing faster. He needed to get to that voice now. But… he still hadn’t written his note.

Ronan, ceva ow mo….

Fuck it, he’d explain himself when he got back.

He all but flew out of the room and before he knew it he was standing on the sandy beach, watching the undulating waves. A foreign phrase ran through his head, Ruhn Oceana, that’s what Fisk has said was calling to him. And as he looked out over the ocean he knew it was Ruhn Oceana and it had called him.

He really wanted to go in there. And, hey, he guessed he wouldn’t die from touching the salt water if twenty minutes hadn’t done any lasting damage to him. But… It had hurt so much coming back up onto the land. Maybe he’d just watch it for a little bit. The waves looked so peaceful going in and out, in and out…

“You can stare at it all you want, but it’s never gonna do anything different,” a cheeky voice spoke from right in front of Ronan.

He looked around for the person and found them relaxing in the water, a smirk on their face as they watched Ronan watching the waves.

Ronan socked in a breath as he took in this guy’s appearance. He was really tan, sun kissed skin, no doubt from being on the beach all day. His hair was a light, seemingly natural, blonde color. And his eyes, oh God, those eyes. They were a beautiful gold that almost seemed to glow. Ronan had seen his fair share of attractive men, and this guy, he definitely could have cracked Ronan’s top ten.

“Oh no, now you’re staring at me like you were the water,” the man gave Ronan an easy smile that Ronan instantly found himself returning, even as his face heated with embarrassment. He had never been caught ogling a guy before. Usually he was more secretive about his ogling and, he licked his lips, drooling.

“Why don’t you come in the water, beautiful,” the man suggested.

“I don’t have a swim suit,” Ronan regretted rushing to the ocean so quickly. If he would have known there was gonna be a hot guy down there that called him beautiful and invited him to swim and… well, he would have taken the time to change into his trunks. And he could be swimming with that Adonis right now.

“Neither do I,” the guy purred back with absolutely no hint of shame.

Well, when you put it that way, Ronan shrugged. Hell yeah, did he want to go swimming with some naked hot guy he hadn’t even been introduced to properly. There might never be a chance like this again. He shrugged off his shirt and slowly made his way to the water’s edge. He wasn’t quite bold enough to swim naked.

Ronan felt the gentle caress of the water on his feet. It was cold and pleasant. He only realized just how far this guy was from shore when he had to actually swim to reach the guy.

The man gave him a long appreciative look. “You’re even more beautiful up close.” He brushed a hand through Ronan’s hair marveling at the color. He hadn’t thought humans could have color like that in their hair. It was so blue. “What’s your name, beautiful?” the man asked, his voice low with desire.

“Ronan.”

“Mine’s Tiburon.”

There was a flash of lightning overhead followed closely by thunder.

”Neptune’s balls,” Tiburon swore under his breath. Just when things were getting interesting, the skies were not on his side today. He reigned in his disappointment and looked at the beautiful human who had swam out to see him. “It appears it’s time to get out of the water,” he pointed to the rapidly darkening sky. Ronan shook his head in agreement as a particularly loud bolt lit up the sky.

He gave one last glance at Tiburon and started making his way back to shore. “Bye,” Ronan said shyly.

“See you later, Ronan,” Tiburon called after him.

Ronan grabbed his shirt and made his way back up to the hotel room.

He got about half way there when his arm itched. So he scratched it. But, it felt strange. His skin felt coarse, similar to a very severe case of dry skin. He looked down at his arm and almost screamed in surprise.

There were… “Holy shit,” well, there were what looked like scales on his arm, bright blue and glistening, from the outside of his wrist almost up to his elbow.

It was on both arms. He continued to scratch them. They were so itchy. And, fuck, they were blue.

What was happening to him?

First he breathed water.

No, wait. First he started shocking people. Then he started talking to fish. Then, he breathed water and now, now he has scales on his arms.

Geeze, it was like he was turning into a fish.

Oh God, what if he was?

Jesus, these things itch. And then a truly frightening thought crossed his mind. How was he going to explain them to his parents?

He started to worry. There was no way to play of the sudden appearance of bright blue scaled. He was standing outside the room, too afraid to go in and let them see his arms. He just stood in the hallway staring at his strange appendages.

And then, right before his eyes, the scales, in all their freakiness, started to disappear. Ronan’s arms slowly started to return to normal and he sighed in relief before entering the room to explain himself to his parents.

~ODW~

Tiburon glided through the palace like a love struck fool. That boy, Ronan, had been so unlike anyone he’d ever met.

They had barely spent any time together and already he felt abnormally fond of the boy. He was just so beautiful and sweet. And the delectable shade his face changed when Tiburon had teased him reminded Tiburon of the pinkest starfish he had ever seen.

He was off in his own little world, wandering through the halls, when, as luck would have it, he ran into someone. “Shit! Sorry,” Tiburon apologized.

“That’s quite alright, Tiburon,” a regal voice answered. Neptune’s balls, he just had to run into the king.

“Sorry, your majesty,” he muttered adverting his gaze.

“It’s really okay Tiburon. I can see your mind was on someone else.” Tiburon’s face pinkened. Why was the king so damn perceptive?

“Ahh, so it is someone. Who’s the lucky mer that’s managed to catch your eye?” the king asked a twinkle in his dark blue eyes.

“Not a mer,” Tiburon mumbled crossing his arms stubbornly.

“Not a mer?”

“No,” he decided he might as well tell the king. Maybe then he’d continue on with his kingly duties and let Tiburon get back to his fantasies. “A human. A beautiful human with deep blue eyes and stunning blue hair.”

The king gave Tiburon a sharp look, “Blue hair?”

“Yes?”

Tiburon might not think it weird to see a human with blue hair, but the king knew blue haired humans didn’t exist outside of a dye job. He had been to the surface world often enough when he was captain of the guards, but when his father had died he had to take the man’s place as king, giving up the position that allowed him the freedom to go to the strange world above the water. Now Tiburon was captain, and boy did he have a lot to learn.

But this blue haired human. Maybe… Could it be… It was painful to think about it. He had long since given up on finding the boy but… His son would be a few summers younger than Tiburon. Maybe…

He couldn’t bring himself to ask Tiburon how old the boy appeared.

Instead he asked, “What is his name?”

“Ronan,” Tiburon answered a dreamy look on his face.

“I see,” the king replied before swimming away. That had been the name he gave his son. Could it be you, Chromis Rasha?