These Oceans That Bind Us

1

𝟷𝟿𝟽𝟸

"Mum?"

"Yes, Rick?"

"I'm out again."

"You'll just have to wait 'till I go to the store again."

"But mooooom. I don't want to wait."

"You will. One more word and you'll be waiting two weeks."

This silenced the eleven-year-old immediately. He wasn't about to go that long without it, when he suddenly had an idea.

He seemed to have control over water, and was curious if he could turn it into his spray.

He'd always been that way, and it had never confused his mother. It did once, but she got over it relatively quickly, and from then on, it didn't affect her.

Almost as if... as if she didn't notice.

Filling a cup with tap water, he imagined a bottle of hairspray in its place.

A mere five seconds later, and the hairspray was there.

"Nevermind, Mum, I don't need the spray anymore."

"Why not?"

"I found an extra bottle in my reserve stash."

"Of course you did."

—

Rick's water-bending powers increased by the day, but his mother never seemed concerned.

Of course, this pleased him greatly, because he could 'acciently' dump a bucket of water on his brother's head and not get in trouble

But getting away with everything drew unwanted attention from the gods. He didn't know they existed, and he definitely didnt know he was rightfully one of them.

His mom didn't either.

***

"What is wrong with that child?" Zeus commented, amused.

"Nothing, brother. He's a regular son of Aphrodite." Poseidon responded nervously.

Aphrodite glared pointedly. Their son, a love child, had bent water. He hand't displayed charmspeak or unnnaturaly wide eyes. He'd spun water around himself in pretty shapes, and then laid it across a frozen lake in the shape of a heart, willing the water not to freeze aong with its brethren.

"This child is displaying your powers, not my daughter's." Zeus exclaimed, perplexed.

"It's a heart, Father. The child is obviously mine. Just look at his hair. His smile. His features. The perfect unhuman beauty. Only a child of mine could look like that."

"If you insist." Zeus relented, struck by Aphrodite's power.

She was obviously trying quite hard to convince her father the child was hers, not Posiedon.

The Twins wondered why.

***

Rick also bonded unnatrually well with horses, and could even speak to them. And, if he thought hard enough about it, he could give them a makeover.

Sometimes, if he really didn't like the horse's look, he would change it. Deep bays became black, white horses with brown patches became snow-white beauties, with only a single thought.

Stranger still, the horses would be grateful for their sudden changes in appearance. Even the ones who adored how the looked, the conceecded bays, the stuck up chestnuts, they were all grateful.

Of course, all this seemed normal to Rick. Of course the horses were happy. I helped them.

~~~

Yet, despite the dominant sea-god in him, he was still, quite distinctly, Aphrodite's son.

He loved music, and always crept to his brother's room to listen to him play. Of course, being a curious ten-year-old, he wanted to learn, too. He knew his brother would never let him try, if only because he'd be afraid of Rick ruining the guitar.

He'd never destroy something so precious, though,

So one day, while his brother was out, he took the guitar from its stand and began to learn. He picked up the instrument naturally and incredibly well, as if he'd been destined to play.

As if he were Apollo rather than Aphrodite.

On one such occasion, Rick's brother caught him. He was about to take it from him and kick him out of his room, but one look into his brother's eyes and he could no longer think straight.

Such was the power of the Goddess of Love.

—

Even at school, his magic eyes were used. He was popular, among the beloved, because one look into his eyes and there was no homework, no tests, no quizzes, for the entire year.

That was the only thing about being abnormal that he liked.

Because he wasn't abnormal, just unaware. He didn''t realize that eyes weren't supposed to faze people, that thoughts weren't supposed to change colors.

He thought this was normal.

—

Until, of course, Sally commented on it, saying it was quite weird.

"You can see it?" He asked, perplexed, swirling water around his head, knowing that the mortals couldn't see it.

But she could.

And that confused him greatly.

"Yeah. It's kinda pretty, actually." She said, eyes widening at the crystal-like water that danced around them.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." His blue eyes widened, their sapphire hues blending, almost moving with the water. They seemed one in the same, a sight so mesmerizing Sally's train of thought rolled off its rails.

"Pretty," she breathed.

—

No, Sav wasn't normal, but he was accepted all the same.