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Trott breathed in the salty air, his eyes closed, a gentle breeze disturbing his hair and making it fall over his eyes. At this time of year the beach was noisy and full of crying children and noisy ice cream vendors; out of tune speakers playing old nursery rhymes and classical music. However, living with three of the noisiest people to ever walk the earth meant that it was easy for Trott to tune out the mummer of the people nearby and focus on the water lapping around his ankles. The water, of course, was cold but he hardly cared. Even after such a long time the chill of the sea seemed so familiar and natural, he barely noticed the cold shock of water as it splashed against dry skin . It really had been a long time since he had returned to the shores that he had once called home. So long since he had tasted sea air on his tongue and the caress and pull of the waves around him. If he was truthful, some long dormant part of him yearned to swim far and deep into the frigid dangerous waters and lose himself in the tide. The pull was definitely strong but not strong enough. For now he was content to paddle, to feel, to smell and taste and lose himself in the proximity of it all, teetering on the edge of his past but not submerging himself. Besides, the ocean and its dark recesses held very little for the Selkie now, nothing except somewhat romanticized nostalgia and bitter memories. Dry land now held more far more value to him then the sea could ever give him.
There was series of slashes getting closer, Trott’s basic survival instincts kicking in and snapping him out of his revelry. Opening one eye he glanced over his shoulder, a small smirk gracing his face when he saw a slightly sunburnt Kelpie ambling towards him, a stupid and mischievous grin plastering his face as he carefully avoided slippery seaweed and sharp stones.
“What have you done?” Trott asked lazily.
“Nothing!” Smith protested trying to look innocent and hurt at the accusation, despite his grin still trying to break through.
“Smith”
“I may have buried Sips while he dozed off.”
“For fucks sake Smith, he’s going to be so pissed, and he’s going to get sand everywhere.”
“So” The grinning Kelpie smirked, shrugging off Trott’s mild irritation, knowing there was little real force behind it “It’s my car that’s going to get all sandy, and I’m dumping it tomorrow night so it doesn't really matter.”
Trott hummed a noise of mild aggravation, not really caring that much about sand and an irritated Sips, their King could deal with a rambunctious Kelpie quite well on his own, and no doubt Smith would receive some form of light punishment. He sighed and turned back to the sea, closing his eyes again and relaxing back into the gentle continues rhythm of the waves.
“What are you up to anyway?”
“hmmm?”
“You've been standing out here, completely still for about an hour. I think Ross’ gargoyle-esque behaviours are rubbing off on you.”
“An hour?”
“Yep” Smith wrapped his arms around Trotts waist and rested his head on top of the his, his breath disturbing his already messed up hair.
“Oh… I'm listening”
“For what?”
“Nothing, just… listening” he sighed and leaned back a little into Smith’s bare chest, despite the sea air he still smelt of river water and magic. “Remember that time you disappeared at 2 am just to go and sit by the river?”
“Yeah?”
“...and when I asked you the next morning, half panicked thinking you had been bewitched and had marched off to your death, you said that you didn't know why but you just needed to go. ”
“It felt right”
“Well, it’s pretty much the same thing. We’re water fae that live and breathe and love on land, of course we feel the call of a more primal home every now and then.”
Smith was quiet for a moment, Trott could feel the gentle rise and fall of his chest against his back. He went as if to say something and then stopped himself.
“What is it sunshine?” Trott placed his hands over Smith's running the tips of his fingers over his knuckles, tracing nonsensical patterns onto them.
“You’re my home” He finally said barely above a murmur. “You and Ross and Sips, you guys are my home, not the River”
“I know”
Smith shifted against his back, taking a deeper breath before continuing “But I understand, I understand the… pull” Smith stopped and they slipped back into silence, swaying gently in the breeze, the rush of the water around them.
“Do you think Ross misses the church?” Smith asked suddenly.
“At times, Definitely” He felt smith tense up against his back “But, I don’t think he would go back even if he could. He loves us and he knows that we adore him just as much.” He paused for a moment to lace his fingers with Smith’s, watching a fishing boat in the distance bob on the horizon. “No one can understand the passage of time and the non-permanence of everything as much as someone who has stood sentry and watched it pass” he continued “...and Ross has seen his fair share of time pass. Watched as trends shift, faces come and go and the walls crumble under the weight of time. He understands that things change.”
A particularly large wave lapped at their ankles and Smith was mildly aware of the water level rising around them, mind briefly drifting to a buried slumbering Sips. “Tides coming in” He stated for no real reason.
“It always does” Trott smiled and wiggled his toes in the shifting sand.
“Would you go back?”
Trott smiled sadly, despite all his bravado and ridiculous confidence, Smith could be so insecure sometimes. He figured it was because, for some reason, the Kelpie couldn't understand why anyone would want to stay with him. It broke Trott’s heart to think that there had to be some reason as to why he thought like this, somewhere buried in his history there was a dark patch that made Smith doubt. Trott wouldn't ever ask or press the subject, he know too well that some things are best left buried and unasked.
He could sense Smith’s unease as he waited for an answer. “No. no, I wouldn't. There’s nothing but darkness in the ocean for me” a small smile graced his lips “I would rather stay up where the sun shines”
He felt smith grin against his hair at his cheesy-ness “That sounds like something from a fucking Disney movie, you cheesy twat”
Laughing he turned around in Smiths arms, finally turning his back on the sea, leaning up to place a gentle kiss against his sun chapped lips. Pulling back and resting their foreheads against each other. Trott licked his lips and hummed happily, grinning.
“Taste’s like home.”