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There was a time while Yuuji was asleep that Satoru took the opportunity to take him out of the makeshift nest and find a real spot for the boy to stay. The cave had been okay while he was making sure the little thing hadn’t died in the water, but it wouldn’t suit as a long-term solution, especially since it was right underneath the boy’s homeland.
Satoru was fickle at times, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know of a human’s general needs, such as solid ground and, urgh, air.
He admits that he’d gotten a bit excited when he first saw the little ray of sunshine. He’d wanted to hold it in his hands, pull it to the bottom of the sea and keep it there close to his chest. It had been a selfish thing when he’d pulled Yuuji under the waves. To see his little face terrified had been so cute, especially when he sputtered out of breath.
It was a weird thought that the same seas that had nurtured and housed Satoru since he was a mere sea pup wandering the ocean beds could choke his little sunshine breathless and blue. The same water that graced his lamellae and effortlessly supported him for years also caused his little Yuuji to asphyxiate and drown.
Even though it had been a gift to his sadistic side, the aftermath was a panic-fueled drive to get the water out of his little mammal’s lungs and back into the ocean where it belonged. Don’t get Satoru wrong; he was not a saint in any sense of the word; he has slaughtered many land-walking creatures, including humans, with no mercy. But Yuuji was an outlier, the special difference. Satoru would not let him die.
Which went to his other point about finding a home for him.
About an hour out from any land was an island Satoru had stumbled upon –he he, leg pun–. It was isolated and ignored by most of the human population, which made it an ideal spot to house his little land pup. That is, unless it proved inhospitable, then Satoru might just have to move the boy out even further from humans, which wasn’t ideal. If Yuuji ever needed medical attention that Satoru could not provide, human intervention was unfortunately inevitable.
It was pure fortuitous luck that the island also held a small inland shack right by the water. It was a bit rundown, but Satoru was sure Yuuji had worse. He’d fit it out with the correct materials to keep a human, and then he could spend all his time with the boy. The thought alone brought unfiltered joy to Satoru.
They’d make a perfect little family.
Satoru had been anxious that he’d have to chain Yuuji up with how feisty he was, but he’d reiterated multiple times that it would take Yuuji twice, even three times as long to reach land than it did for Satoru, that the island was desolate, and that there was no point in trying to maul Satoru as the only one capable of bringing him food and water.
Yuuji still tried thrashing him, but Satoru just took that as part of his charm.
It had clearly been quite a surprise to the human when Satoru’s tail split into legs when he breached land. Satoru knew because he’d had sand and sticks thrown at him while Yuuji ran away. That was fine. Satoru enjoyed the chase. Plus, it gave Yuuji a good tour of the island and its various attractions. The tiny cliff on the far side had been a fun one, especially when Yuuji panicked and dove over the side.
Satoru had a mini heart attack, but it was no biggie. The cliff was only two metres in height, and the water was clear below. Yuuji seemed more perturbed at how passive and non-dangerous the island was, instead of the fact that he jumped off a cliff with no hesitation. Satoru would have to smooth that out of the boy somehow.
Regardless, the run had been fun. Satoru hadn’t used his legs in over a decade, so the stretch and the challenge were nice. He was sure Yuuji was faster than most humans. It had been a bit painful to grab him back, but it was such a reward when he got to carry Yuuji back to the shack like a bride.
“Can you get off me?” Yuuji snapped, fiery eyes glaring daggers and hands grasping at Satoru as he pressed an ear to the human’s little chest, trying to hear the breaths underneath. Nothing seemed wrong, but Satoru was no trained professional.
Either way, he cooed at the little man and fuzzed his hair. “Aw, I’m just trying to make sure your tiny lungs don’t develop pneumonia. You don’t want that, do you?” He rhetorically chittered, hands rubbing over the cuts and scrapes that Yuuji had accrued while running manically through the woods.
Yuuji hummed, feigning a contemplative face just to annoy the non-human. Instead, Satoru just snickered and rubbed a clawed hand over the human’s face, wiping away the expression and replacing it with irritation as the human snapped at his claws. Feisty.
Yuuji glared at him, amber eyes the colour of the sun shining on black ironwood, framed by the cutest face Satoru had ever seen. It made it a bit hard to take him seriously. “And whose fault is that?!” He shrieked, fists clenching over the wooden bench he was perched on.
“Okay, okay. Mine. But that doesn’t mean I can’t take care of you after.” He spoke sincerely. “Remember? I promised.” He pulled out a jar of salve, clicking the container open with some difficulty with his claws, and smoothed a dollop onto his fingers.
“Your promises don’t mean anything!” Yuuji squawked, actually sounding offended that Satoru had assured him at all. Satoru just chuffed and leaned forward to rub it against cherry-kissed skin. The human still didn’t have a shirt, stuck in the damp underpants he’d been wearing when Satoru spirited him away, but Satoru had substituted it with blankets among the supplies he’d brought over. The cuts weren’t deep, but he’d rather avoid any chance of infection, hence what the salve was for.
“Did you ever think your words might hurt?” Satoru blinked his eyes, leaning into the human’s space to give him a kicked puppy-dog look, curling his lip. He wiped his hands of the salve on a nearby towel and struggled to keep the smile off his face.
“Yeah right.” Yuuji groaned, vehemently looking as far away from Gojo as possible, far off into the distant ocean outside of the little shack’s window.
Satoru just sat closer, bringing their faces an inch from each other, getting up close and personal. Because Satoru was the king of pushing boundaries, and there was no way he was going to stop now.
Up this close, Satoru could truly admire every aspect of the human’s face. The rounded cheeks like powdered mochi, the nearly imperceptible freckles lining his nose from days spent in the sun. The strawberry-pink plush lips that were practically asking Satoru to push forward and take a bite out of. Everything about him made Satoru drool, made him want to bury his face close and purr like one of those four-legged, fluffy-tailed animals.
Yuuji’s hair was the colour of sakura blossoms in the spring. It was like seeing the flowers plucked straight from the trees and dappled on the human’s head. He wanted a tuft for himself, wanted to integrate it into his own blaze of white. Maybe that was the problem; something about Yuuji made him want to swallow him whole, safely and gentler than Satoru would with any breathing thing on the planet, and keep him in his guts. He wanted every part of Yuuji to be a part of him.
He leaned closer, watching peach-coloured eyelashes, almost softer than his own, flutter in trepidation. Watching the rose tint spread on his soft-fuzzed cheeks like a tide, swallowing tan skin and leaving behind a blush that even caught the human’s ears. Their breaths mingled, fogging each other. Satoru was almost urgently trying to gulp in the boy’s breath while the human tried to time it so they wouldn’t.
What opposites they were.
“Do you mind?” Yuuji rasped. Satoru could hear it so clearly, being so close. He could hear every note of it that caught in the boy’s throat, every pitch and tone. Being so close, he wanted to swallow that voice whole, catch it down his throat and hear it in his chest. He wanted to see the human squirm. He wanted to pull in every part of him and push it into his every cell. He wanted to see the man grimace in pain, and then he wanted to comfort him for it.
Was that so bad to ask for?
“I do,” Satoru whispered, practically breathing on the man’s neck. He would have stayed there forever, among sakura blossoms and cute noses and cheeks and mahogany eyes, but Yuuji deemed it overbearing and pushed Satoru off of him. A small, sinister part of him revelled in saying the ceremonial words he'd heard about while on land.
He didn’t mind; he only wished it would last longer. Oh well, they have all the time in the world to do what they want now.
Satoru stretched his unused legs and made way for the front of the shack. The door to the front had holes in it, as did some of the walls, minus the window, and it squeaked quietly when he pushed it open. The bright blaze of the sun was the first thing to hit him, warming him immediately from the dark depths of the shack. He’d have to get something to fix the little building up eventually, but for now, Yuuji had a good enough shelter that the weather wouldn’t affect him.
Maybe he could buy a house close to the sea and settle down with Yuuji there. Someplace close enough to the water that Satoru could still be in his element while dipping his ‘toes’ in Yuuji’s. He still had funds last time he checked, although his account may have been run dry by now.
The day was bright, the white sand reflecting enough of the sun to hurt the eyes. It would be a good day to swim, but whether Yuuji would want to do that with him or not was a toss-up.
Just as the young man exited the shelter behind him, Satoru received an idea clearly sent from the gods.
Oh, that would do very nicely.
He turned, finding the man already peering at him, the open door of the shack behind him. Yuuji stepped out from the shadows of the trees, glowing amber eyes focused all on Satoru. Then the man caught Satoru’s expression, and his open look turned immediately into suspicion.
“What’s that face?” Yuuji murmured. “Stop making that face. You’re planning something.” The man croaked. Satoru giggled like a water spirit and dug his gangly legs in the sand, leaning down to the boy’s height. Yuuji’s eyes squinted at him. “Whatever you’re planning, I’m not involved.”
“Oh, but Yuuji! You are so very much involved.” Gojo chimed, smiling brighter than a sun, beaming with delight when the human’s face only paled.
They are gonna have some fun.
It took about an hour to get back to the mainland, although Satoru had practically been tearing apart the water to get there. With the human awake in his arms, it made it much easier to move, considering he didn’t have to worry about the man drowning. Now, though, Yuuji clung to his back, weary of the spine that split it down the middle, and gripped on for dear life as Satoru gleefully swam them back to Japan’s coastline.
He’d have to keep a tight leash on the man lest he slip through Satoru’s fingers. So as soon as they hit land, Gojo kept at least one hand on the boy at all times. He could tell it was irking Yuuji, but he honestly didn’t care; he got to keep his little prize close to himself, and he got to make sure he wouldn’t run away. Win-win for him, but clearly not for Yuuji.
It was the same little cove that they left not that long ago. He didn’t know where Yuuji lived, so he just hoped it was somewhere near the bay, and they weren’t going to need to steal a car and drive for an hour.
Satoru’s eyes barely left the boy, seeing more than the boy under their gaze would ever comprehend. Which was why he caught the expression he made just as they made it to the beach of the cove before it was smothered down. It looked like hope, so Satoru made sure his grip was tight, and his attention was split.
Their trek through the woods was brief. Yuuji kept grunting every time a tree branch hit him, so Satoru practically caged him against his body. Yuuji should have been grateful, but instead, he just elbowed Satoru in the stomach and sidestepped him.
The pain hurt, but the rejection hurt slightly more. Whatever, he’d win him over eventually. It had only been three days, to be fair. He’d get them there.
When they stepped out of the enclosure of the woods, he was greeted by a little scrappy car sitting on an undermanaged road. It had a single small dent on the side of the cream plating and a chip on the back of the bumper. The poor thing had been well-lived.
Yuuji had gotten his clothes back, left forgotten on the shore of the sand, and with that came the keys. It beeped when Satoru giddily strode up to the driver's side, first depositing his little human in the passenger's seat.
The car started with a sputter, and they were off. Satoru had a vague sense of where they were going, mostly just following the roads with the better quality until they came to a small-ish beach town just ten minutes away. He internally high-fived himself, while Yuuji seemed to somehow get even grumpier. It wouldn’t surprise him if the human was reading his thoughts from his expression.
He parked the car on a curb in a quaint shopping area, opening the door and immediately clicking the car locked just as Yuuji’s hand tried for the latch of his car door. He snickered while the boy groaned.
First, he dug around in the boot, cheering his luck when he pulled out a pastel-green cap with a cat eating ramen on it. Adorable. It fit Yuuji so well, Satoru wanted to burst into happy giggles. The trunk closed with a thunk, and he made his way around to the passenger's side, dragging the human onto the sidepath.
Yuuji barely got a second to refuse before Gojo slipped it over his pink locks. It was a shame to see them hidden, but he’d rather not get caught with a missing person. It made things much harder in general if he wanted to purchase a property.
Second, Satoru stopped Yuuji from taking another step away from the car by caging him against the open door. Yuuji squeaked quietly, red swarming his cheeks, probably from embarrassment. Satoru made sure Yuuji was paying attention before speaking, “Make a single noise, and you’ll regret it, human.”
The look on Yuuji’s face was priceless. Reminding him of their disparities species-wise was the easiest and fastest way to scare him into not calling for help and getting some nuisance human to interfere. Yuuji just didn’t know he was in safe hands yet; Satoru needed time to convince him.
Quicker than the shift of tides, Satoru’s serious face dropped and was replaced by his cheery one. “Now let's go!”
Stalled by whiplash, Yuuji took a second longer to follow after him as Satoru moved away from the car.
He’d parked right by a phone, so he corralled Yuuji against the side, where he could see him, and made a call to a good old friend.
When the answer tone rang, Satoru spoke. “Heeeyy, Suguru!” Satoru paused, feeling a little lame when the end tone cut him off. “He hung up.”
Satoru saw Yuuji cough down a snicker from his side. The boy was facing away from him, but he could see a portion of his face, and he was struggling to keep a smile off his lips. Satoru grinned unhindered and went to punch in the numbers once again.
“Don’t hang up!” He heard an annoyed sigh on the other end. Satoru was starting to wonder when his best friend got so dramatic. “Hey, I’m stuck in town with no money. Could you do me a favour?”
“That was your friend?” Yuuji pried, one hand busy with an ice cream rapidly melting in his hand, and the other fiddling with a blue and purple fidget toy, both bought by Satoru on their way to whatever store was in the man-creature's mind.
He’d pretty much given up trying to figure it out when the man grew legs, sprouted out of the ocean butt-naked, and scared the shit out of him. He couldn't tell if he was doing it on purpose or not.
“Yeah, we’re super close.” Satoru absentmindedly declared, mind clearly busy looking for whatever shop piqued his interest while he worked on finishing his red bean ice cream.
Yuuji hummed, aiming to sound sceptical. “He seemed to hate your guts.”
At this, Satoru leered down at him, a gem iris peaking out from behind dark-tinted sunglasses. He’d been wearing a soaked t-shirt and pants to town, not caring about his appearance, until his ‘friend’ showed up with some for him, as well as a phone and some money.
Now, instead of a loose-fitting tank top and shorts, the man wore black, expensive-looking dress pants and a white button-up that outlined the muscles underneath. Yuuji looked away before his eyes could wander and before his cheeks could grow to an uncomfortable red.
“Nah, that’s just how he is. He’s like a prickly little sea-cucumber. But he knows how to look after his friends, eh?” Satoru looked completely down at Yuuji and wiggled his eyebrows up and down, acting like a goof in public. Thank the gods Yuuji didn’t get embarrassed easily. The man-thing was mentioning the clothes and the money, and Yuuji supposed he was right. If the ‘Suguru’ guy really hated him, he wouldn’t have smiled ever-so-slightly when Satoru cracked a joke at Yuuji’s expense.
He’d met the man when he’d pulled up next to them in a much more expensive car than Yuuji’s, detailed to the finest speck. He’d smiled at Yuuji with a calm demeanour, the hair overlapping his face shifting when he tilted his head. He seemed nice, but if he was friends with Yuuji’s kidnapper, then clearly there was more to him.
It took twenty minutes to find the store, whatever one Satoru had been aiming for, and as soon as they got in, Yuuji sighed in relief at the cold draft that blew over his sweaty forehead. The overhang above the walkways helped with the sun, but the heat was still festering. Yuuji had almost forgotten about it in his little shack, cooled by the ocean breeze.
Satoru scanned the shelves, clearly on a mission for something, while Yuuji was left to dutifully follow after him. He didn’t want to find out what he meant when he threatened Yuuji earlier. He’d already drowned him once; he clearly held no scruples.
The shop tender sat at the counter, eyeing them with a nervous look in his eye. Yuuji winced in sympathy; their duo wasn’t exactly a conventional one, an obscenely tall man leading along an uncomfortable-looking teen. Looking up, he could see Satoru held no such care and breezed past him as if he were made of nothing but air.
It was at the back of the store that Satoru finally found what he was looking for.
“Snorkels?” Yuuji deadpanned, staring at the set held aloft by Satoru’s overeager hand.
“Yeah!” Satoru chirped, too close to Yuuji’s face, and way too bright for ten thirty in the morning.
Yuuji leaned back slightly, away from the fish-creature up in his face. “That was what that manic look was for this morning? I was expecting more… I don’t know, another round of drowning.” Huh. It was much more mundane than what he was imagining. Only, he could still be drowned; he’d just be able to see the man really well while he was doing it this time.
“I want to swim with you.” The man said as if he were deprived of something vital; the bit of his face Yuuji could see around the glasses was set in a stone-cold, serious lilt. Yuuji’s shoulders bunched up close to his chin at the proximity of their faces.
“Um…” He muttered, sweating bullets not just because of the heat. “Okay…?”
“Great!” Satoru cheered. Yuuji could only follow along while Satoru bought the set with a wad of cash that made Yuuji sweat.
He didn’t try gesturing for help; the threat sat in the back of his mind all the way back to his car.
They were back at the cove, the sun high in the sky. It was another perfect day to go swimming, and not a single person ventured into the cove. Yuuji was starting to think he was the only one who knew not to come here. Or you’d get kidnapped by a fishman and never be able to go back home.
Satoru had no trepidations; he simply stripped bare and immediately pushed Yuuji into the water.
“Asshole!” Yuuji shouted as he sputtered on seawater. He hadn’t even gotten any of it on yet; all of it was bundled and squeezed for dear life in his right hand. Satoru merely cackled and dived in right after him.
Yuuji choked on the splash, trying to hold the goggles between his teeth while he adjusted the flippers to his feet. The water nearly knocked him sideways, but a familiar, now scaly-white, hand slipped up his side and kept him steady. A grin was placed next to Yuuji’s shoulder, but he opted to ignore it and finish his task.
The goggles slipped on easily, his vision skewed by glass and plastic, no longer able to breathe through his nose. Satoru had gotten him a yellow-lined pair, and he could see it in the corner of his eyes.
The water was cold. It slithered up his spine, as if it were mirroring Satoru, and curled around his shoulders. It was a welcome sensation on his coiled muscles. He let his feet down, the flippers catching the current more than his soles ever would.
Yuuji took a second just to experience the waves, the air, and the sensation of water on his overheated skin. It was like a mirror of the day he got kidnapped those three days ago. Somehow, everything had changed in such a short amount of time.
Satoru gave him what was probably supposed to be a reassuring smile, breezing up next to Yuuji’s floating body and snuggling up next to it. In a lot of ways, Satoru acted like a cat. A really fishy, white-haired cat. Yuuji was sure he was actually purring the other day, or whatever version of purring you’d call the weird, rapid clicking sound he’d made.
Yuuji ignored it and dipped below crystalline, turquoise waters. Immediately, the experience was multiplied by the fact that he could actually see everything now. The goggles worked as a second eyelid, showing him the world in its full glory. Yuuji gaped under the water, watching a school of rainbow fish pass by unbothered by their presence.
The coral, now magnified by a hundred under the detailed lens of the glass, shone bright yellow and pink. He looked onward, where the water grew murkier the further it went, to see larger fish darting in and out of compact seaweed, shells glimmering on the seabed and rocks breezily tumbling down sandy slopes. Yuuji was transfixed, watching the world from under a layer he’d never seen before.
Then, a goofy smile crossed his vision, and the wonder filling his chest snapped into irritation so quickly it gave him whiplash.
He scowled at the fish floating airily in front of him, practically inseparable from the water in his synchrony. Satoru’s snow hair sat up in the water, twisting spires of bright pewter that reflected subtle rainbows back at him. Somehow, under the water, Satoru’s pale complexion made a bit more sense. He blended in with dead coral if nothing else, Yuuji wondered how that was good for survival, but he figured he wasn’t nearly educated enough to guess.
By chance, Yuuji looked downward and was struck by the man’s tail. Following a valley of water-shaped muscles led to scales that shone like the silver of the moon, flashing the sun back at Yuuji with every twist and turn the man made in the water. It was almost uncanny how perfectly both bodies fit so well together, scales drifting up Satoru’s hips to line his back, spines flickering lazily along the upper sides of his tail. The fin at the bottom was a curved grey-tipped caudal fin shaped like a shark’s, multiple blade-like fins sat along his tail, clearly made for cutting the water like rudders.
Yuuji gaped all over again, this time for a completely different reason. Satoru looked like some form of a weird, albino, spiny shark. Yuuji would need a second to process. He pushed to the surface, getting there much easier with the flippers that paled in comparison to Satoru’s.
He gasped for air, barely aware of the fact that he’d tunnel-visioned and was on the verge of drowning. He shuddered and continued taking gulps of air.
Satoru surfaced to the side of him, grinning from ear to ear with a too-sharp smile. “Like watcha see?”
Yuuji hacked up water that flew into his throat.
He coughed again, screeching at the man, “No! Get away from me, you slimy bastard!” Satoru merely cackled and circled him in the water, truly living up to his nature.
Yuuji desperately tried to quell the fire eating at his face, desperately tried to still his fast-beating heart. There was no way he was attracted to a gods-damned fish.
He knew he was attracted to the man before, when he’d had the common decency of not being kidnapped by him, although he may have denied it. But, to not only to be attracted to his kidnapper, but his kidnapper, who is a flipping fish?
Yuuji must be losing it. All that time near Satoru was finally starting to drive him insane.
Yuuji ducked below the water as a way of avoiding the conceited look on the man’s face. That was until he realised the shark was below the water too. With a spew of bubbles, he kicked away, starting a one-sided chase that left him breathless and left Satoru practically shining in glee.
Their swim settled after a while of what could have been called play-fighting from Satoru’s perspective or a desperate bid not to die from Yuuji’s. Satoru’s over-the-top energy seemed to dissolve into something more content with just existing in the water with him.
Yuuji unfogged his goggles and then began tredding overtop the crystal clear waters. Satoru swam beneath him, closer to the seagrass and wandering fish, looking as much a part of the environment as the fearful schools of squid darting away from their approaching party.
The sun’s rays filtered through the water into soft beams of light; this way, Yuuji could truly appreciate the streamlined glide of Satoru’s body, a parallel to the lazy stride of a full shark through warm waters. With the sunlight streaming down on them, Yuuji could separate the barely-there patterns of glimmering scales, thick sprawling bands of a slightly darker shade of sparkling white, barely perceptible if you didn’t look close enough. Like a tiger’s stripes, barely-there, twisting like storms down the man’s tail, till it reached the spikey end, where a darker grey strip ran up the caudal fin.
Satoru twisted his neck to peer up at Yuuji, bright blue eyes eclipsing the sun or the skies. Yuuji noticed subtle strips in his neck, fluttering a small rainbow back at him like most of Satoru’s scales did. Gills, he thought. They ran along the man’s ribs too, sharp cuts in the skin that looked painful if it were on any human Yuuji knew.
Yuuji was eclipsed. Yuuji was in a trance, digesting the information before him. Whatever Satoru was, existed in the oceans, unless he was the only one of his kind. That in itself was a whole discovery. He’d be more excited if it hadn’t meant Satoru would kidnap him like a poorly earned trophy.
Satoru tilted more, pelvic and dorsal fins lazily turning with the water, and then waved. A grin full of sharp teeth flashed up at Yuuji from the base of the cove. He sputtered underwater and drove up to refill his aching lungs.
Fresh air spilled into his lungs, and so did realisation into his mind. He didn’t truly hate the man, not for kidnapping him, not even for dragging him away from his grandfather. It had only been three days, and Yuuji could still run off if he really put his mind to it, just to make sure the old man wasn’t immediately dying.
Would he come back? Yuuji wasn’t entirely sure. He felt like he was supposed to say absolutely not, yet the want in him made him hesitate. Would it realy be that bad?
Satoru rose up in front of him, water spilling down his snow-blossom hair. Hands grabbed his arms without permission and spun him closer to the man’s chest. Yuuji wriggled like a beached fish, but over the past few days, he’d learnt it wasn’t really worth it to fight the man over how intimately close he got to Yuuji.
“Little pearl?” Satoru murmured, voice sweet and imploring. The same tail Yuuji had been admiring wrapped around his legs like a vice. Yuuji used to think it was for restraining him, but he’d learned the man just liked being as physically close to him as possible without actually fusing their bodies into one.
“Something on your mind? You keep looking at me with those eyes, and I don’t quite know what they mean.” Satoru purred quietly, his smile temporarily dropped from his face in a moment of caring sincerity. Yuuji could not stand Satoru’s face; he wanted to push it back under the water and watch his snow hair spread out under the waves.
He wanted to kiss it. The thought alone made him both repulsed and erratic with dread.
“No.” Yuuji grumbled instead, letting the man pull him close to his well-toned chest, letting him push their foreheads together and their hands to mingle. His eyes flashed to the left, looking at his hand involuntarily curl around Satorus, grip already tight. Their hands go together surprisingly well; the white and rainbow of Satoru’s scales mixing with Yuuji’s tan and pink-toned skin.
He looked back to the man almost underneath him, wondering why they fit so well together for a human and a shark-man.
Satoru still had that imploring look on his face, the glowing azure eyes buried beneath soft white lashes practically digging into his skin, vivisecting him right then and there. “What are you thinking about?”
“Punching you in the face.” Yuuji’s snap-back response only seemed to delight the man. Not the reaction he’d been hoping for. It would be easier to hate someone who treated him like shit, and didn’t invite him to swim in a secluded, scenic cove with them.
“Why are you so perfect?” The man rumbled, a sickly sweet glint in his eye, the smile curling on his pale cheeks like a predator’s.
Yuuji turned away, letting the moment last without a rebuttal for once. He’d let the man have a few more seconds of quiet intimacy before struggling again. Satoru just laughed it off like he did for most of Yuuji’s antics, and let go of the deathgrip he’d had on Yuuji’s torso.
The man still leisurely circled him, sweeping a hand over his shoulders to sneak into his hair while pulling Yuuji’s body close to his back. A soft rumble breezed past his left ear, sending caustic shivers down his spine and making his skin burn. “But really, what’s on your mind, Yuuji?”
Yuuji still hadn’t found out how Satoru knew his name, and he honestly was starting to think that he’d never find out. He debated over his answer for a solid moment before sighing a breath that shook his ribs. “What would you do if I ran?” He asked the sky, resigned to the possibility of dying there, of being drowned once again for saying something that could offend his kidnapper.
Satoru was still on his back, clawed fingers poised in all the correct places to shed blood. Yuuji wouldn’t be happy to see such pristine waters sullied by red, but he accepted the punishment.
Satoru hummed. Yuuji felt the air blow past his ear. “I’d chase you.” He said, like it was the most normal thing in the universe. As if Yuuji was crazy for considering otherwise.
“And if I came back? On my own?” Yuuji didn’t know why he was asking; he didn’t know why he was even tempting along the line of fate by bringing it up.
Satoru simply cooed in his ear like a doting parent, not the instant drowning he was tensed for. “Awww, Yuuji, you romantic!” Yuuji’s brows furrowed at that particular word. “I’d gladly have you back, no questions asked.”
Yuuji huffed and then wondered how he ended up with a psycho. Satoru plainly pulled Yuuji until he was facing him again. Prysmatic blue to sealed amber.
Something seemed to swim in the man’s eyes for a brief moment before he let out in a happy rumble, “Did you enjoy your date?”
Yuuji nearly choked on spit.
“Date?!” He shrieked, hacking up his lungs and desperately looking to the giant fish for an explanation. Fuck being drowned, he was about to drown this godsdamned fish. He didn’t know how yet, but he’d figure it out.
“Yes.” Satoru snickered, making the face of the innocent while being blatantly guilty.
“I didn’t agree to that!” Yuuji smacked Satoru’s forearms, gripping them in his hands to ground himself.
“You did!”
“No?!”
“You said,” Satoru pulled his hands together and blinked open his eyes while fluttering his eyelashes, clearly trying and failing to make a cutesy look paired with a cutesy accent. “‘Yes, Satoru! I’d want nothing more than to go on the best date in history with the world’s hottest fish in the sea!’ “ He then dropped his hands and chuffed in his normal voice. “See? That was you.”
Yuuji just had to stare at the man for a couple of seconds to comprehend what he was hearing. And when he did, he turned around and swam away without another word.
Satoru cackled behind him, catching up to him faster than Yuuji could make any ground. “Wait! Wait! I was joking! C’mooon Yuuji, don’t be like that!”
Yuuji simply growled at him. “You’re crazy!”
The next second, he was caught in a pile of limbs, brought close to another warm body with a hand carding through his hair and a sharp, soft nose brushing against his. “Nooo, Yuuji. You’re so mean to me.” The man whined like a dog, holding Yuuji close as if he could escape the prison he was trapped in.
“You deserve it.” He huffed, muscles tensed and fighting back a blush as the man kept rubbing against his face. Maybe a cat would be a better descriptor there. It was kind of hard to stay mad at him when he did this. Every time Yuuji ended up relenting.
Maybe that’s why he kept doing it.
“You’d do such a thing to your favourite boyfriend?” Satoru whined, giving him the sad googly eyes. But Yuuji immediately caught the words with a reignited anger. He thrashed in the tightening grip, trying to get at least an arm free just to maybe pry the man’s face away from his.
“You cannot just claim that, Satoru! I have to agree to it!” Yuuji seethed, slumping when his efforts were once again in vain.
Satoru gasped, somehow his googly eyes tenfold. “That’s the first time you’ve called me by name.”
Yuuji groaned, especially when the man started smashing their noses together again in earnest. Was it a fish thing? Maybe.
“You didn’t say no...” Satoru mumbled, face paused and deadly still against Yuuji’s rose-coloured cheek; he must have been feeling the raging blush scorching Yuuji’s face. Yuuji was very aware of the proximity of too-sharp teeth right next to his flesh as Satoru’s eyes stared straight into Yuuji’s soul with an intensity that bore his spirit bare and stripped it of any falsities.
Yuuji just spluttered, unable to even answer the question for himself. Wasn’t that peer pressure? No wait, what was he saying? This man kidnapped him, a little peer pressure meant absolutely nothing.
And brought to the mercy of a black hole of capri blue in the man’s begging eyes, Yuuji felt every wall he had crumble into fine dust. Did it even matter anymore? Considering?
“Fine.”
He was not prepared for Satoru to take on the personification of the sun with how he lit up.