A Whale Shark's Ray (Free!)(SousukexOC)(Boyxboy)

Chapter 16

Sousuke goes back to work tomorrow. I'm not really happy about it. I liked having him all to myself. It made me feel safe, made my anxieties temporarily disappear.

At least I got to see him not exhausted and for more than three hours.

He's still in bed, snoozing away. I got up a while ago and showered. Not like I got much sleep, but it doesn't really matter. Now I'm sitting at the kitchen counter, trying to think of a job I could do out of my home. My hypersomnia could potentially cause me to collapse, so I'd ruled out working in an actual workplace. Not only would it be hard to find someone who hire me, but it would add extra stress onto people I don't even know.

Currently, all I had down were 'potter' and 'florist'. I just don't know... I learned how to make pottery while living in Egypt, since my uncle had picked up the hobby himself. I wasn't able to bring any home with me, but wasn't that bad. It wasn't professionally done, but it still came out nice. My many cousins kept a lot of my work. One said I was "good with my hands", which of course began a bout of laughter.

As for being a florist... I worked at a flower shop that used to be in the city during my late year of middle school and my time in high school here. It ended up closing down a few years ago. I liked working around the flowers. Only thing is that I hate gardening in general. I suppose I could grow things in pots, but that can get to be a chore. No, I think potter is probably a better option.

Aaaaand, my notebook page is filled with bored doodles. Lovely.

Strong arms made their way around my weight, causing me to involuntarily stiffen out of momentary fear. It couldn't be... A light pressure to the side of my head and a still-sleepy voice makes me relax back into the welcome warmth.

"What are you doing? It's early."

"Brainstorming. Well, more like brain-hurting."

"Why? If your head hurts, just come back to bed."

"I can't just lay around in bed all day, that's not healthy."

He sighs, seeing my point. Turning on my stool to face him, I examine his appearance with practiced eye. Though he slept a lot, he didn't seem... well-rested, judging by the light indentations around those eyes of his. It brought a small frown to my face. He didn't seem to like seeing me pinpointing problems, his arms tightening around me so I was pressed against his chest. Thankfully, he'd put a shirt on. He radiated heat, his skin that of asphalt on a sunny day. It made me feel warm. Well, mostly my face. My eyes flickered away habitually.

"You sleep alright? You look tired."

"More or less... You?"

Hah, I barely slept at all.

"Not really. Someone wasn't next to me when I woke up."

"I don't really see how my presence matters, but okay..."

He leans his forehead against mine, the space between us vanishing even more. I can feel my face burning, probably to the point where he can tell. I'm really not used to being held in such an affectionate way... He smells heavenly, like walking by the seaside after a storm had passed.

"You always matter to me. I can't help but want to know everything... Your thoughts, how you're feeling, what's troubling you. All of it matters to me."

The need to protect that which one cares deeply for. I can hear it in his voice, feel it in the way he holds me, see it in the way he stands. Those words are not the words of lies, or deceitful shadows. I know what he's offering, without asking the question itself. My gaze flickers down, to the olive green of his shirt.

Do I deserve this, this pure being in front of me? No.... That isn't the question. Do I want this? I can already feel the truths. If we fail, it will have been me. If I accept this now... there cannot be heavy secrets between us. His world will be forced to see the wreckage of my own. The soot marks left upon what has been from the start, left by things unknowingly welcomed.

I can hear it. The creaking of the gates as they open one last time, slowly, their forms dented and bent.

I abandon everything. Every last tiny scrap of the mask I built. My gaze goes back to his own, my body relaxed to the point of nearly being limp in his arms. Those turquoise fires that take in the cloudy openness of my own.

This is me.
The real me.
We move, me mere milliseconds after him.
Our lips touch for the first time, sealing the silent promise between us. He sees everything of mine, and in turn, I see everything of his own world.

Barren. Dry. Craters filled time and time again. In the pitiful lake that was once an ocean, a whale shark lies, watching. It pains me, but it's a part of him.

No longer is it I or him. It's us.

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A floating city in an ocean. That what his world looks like. The buildings are cracked, soot marks everywhere you turn. The waters begin to flood my own, the cities joining together above the waves. I feel free now, no longer trapped by a tiny puddle. As the water stills, evened out between us, I see it.

The dark form deep beneath the waves, gliding effortlessly in it's current. It's just beyond and  beneath me, and I see it for what it truly is as it comes closer. A giant manta ray, all on its own. It's back scarred from unknown battles.

It joins me in my own current, just beneath me and to my right.

His world was ravaged, and mine empty from giving it all away. But no longer.

Now.... Now, we swim together.

End of Book 1.

(A/N: Book 2 is called 'Oceanic Gift'