Under the Sea ⇔ Cashton ✓

Send Me Off To Sea

A/N: why does Luke have to look so good all the time

Calum has become aware, with quite pride, that Ashton has warmed up to him in the slightest, teeniest, microscopic bit. Having Ashton warm up to you when he previously hated your human guts is far more difficult than one would fathom. But whenever he joins the mermen and mermaids down in the ocean, he doesn't glare at him anymore. I mean, sure, they haven't spoken since Ashton showed him the good and bad places of the deep sea, but Calum doesn't get the harsh looks anymore, which has to be progress.

The mermaids don't seem to have an idea of time down in the ocean. They characterize time passing based on how the sunlight filtering into the water is positioned. He's learned that when the sunlight is facing almost straight down into the water if you angle yourself right, that it's almost three o'clock in the human world. Which promptly means that it's time for Calum to head back to civilization.

So when the sunlight filters in and Calum angles himself right and, yes, it is about three o'clock, he makes his move to leave. He's been in the water since eight this morning, as per usual, but he has to get back and get dried off before Michael gets to his house. Usually, if he's not there in time, he goes surfing, and then Calum can't leave the ocean because there's always that what-if of if Michael sees his best friend magically walk straight up out of the water as though he were some holy figure.

So, Calum says his goodbye's to his mother and Luke, to which Joy nervously replies, "Calum, the tide is strong today. Shouldn't you just stay here until it clears?"

And Calum says, "I'm getting better at swimming. Really, I'll be fine."

And Joy proceeds to knot her fingers together and look anxious, no doubt thinking about the last time Calum was involved in a thick undercurrent, and opens her mouth to protest again.

Calum quickly rushes to dissuade her. "I promise. If I feel like I can't do it, then I'll just turn around and come back. No worries."

To which Joy finally replies, "Okay, okay. That's fine."

And so Calum left. He swam back towards land a little more alert than usual, given the undercurrent. He had to push his tail a little harder than usual when he swam, so he swam a little closer to the surface in case he needed some more oxygen for strength. His tail continuously begins to grow tired, and he worries that he's going to be too late to get back in time since the tide is slowing him down, but he keeps swimming on anyway.

He's just about made it to the beach when he notices how many people there are today. Calum almost wants to smack himself when he realizes: strong tide means big waves. Big waves means an overload of surfers. Calum wouldn't even be surprised if Michael skipped going to his house and went straight for the water.

Calum hangs back a little, surfacing the water and breathing in some air. He searches the countless number of bodies littering the water to see if he can spot Michael. He gives up trying to pinpoint his face and instead starts to search for pink hair. Nobody has pink hair, apart from Michael.

Calum has just about given up when he sees him. Michael, leaning steadily on his board as he struggles to catch an oncoming wave, but he misses it by less than a second. Calum would have gotten frustrated, but Michael just lifts his head and turns to look out for another one. Calum ducks under the water before he could see his face. Calum curses into the saltwater, realizes he can't go back, especially when so many people are around and when Michael could notice him. He's sure nobody would take a glance if Calum walked out of the ocean because of how many people are doing that exact thing, but Michael would question it. Because according to Michael, Calum hasn't even dipped a foot in water in almost a year.