hhhhhhh i couldn’t resist so i wrote something for your aquariumstuck uwu i really hope you like it!!
- suddenlygamtav
Your name is Tavros Nitram and everything is better in the water.
It’s always just a little cold when you first get your feet beneath the surface, and the first moments of full submersion always manage to take your breath away. But as the weight of the oxygen tank disappears when the water holds it for you, you can’t help but think that it is like a flowergirl holding a bride’s dress, and that this is such a beautiful moment where you can suspend in nothingness for just a second and be responsible only for yourself.
It doesn’t take long to become accustomed to the different in water temperature in this tank. Even though it’s one of the larger tanks, it’s also kept at a warmer temperature because of the tropical fish it holds. It’s part of the reason why you love swimming in this one in particular, though the way the colors bend and refract in the glistening water with each shimmering inch you gain towards the bottom certainly is a jewel of an experience as well. By the time the fish recognize that you’re here, that you’re the one with the bag of chum and that it’s time to eat, you’re hovering a bit above the coral and studying their color to determine their health.
The bag opens easily beneath your practiced touch, and though your sudden release of bubble waste when you exhale startles some of the fish away, they’re quick to come back for a tasty meal. Reaching your hand out, you let the greedy ones feed first from afar by releasing the food from your hand and letting them pick it out of the current. You’d learned not to hold onto the food for too long, as these early comers were always a bit more rude and eager to chomp down on the hand that was feeding them. But it isn’t too long until they’re gone, and soon you’re left with the fish that aren’t so pushy.
Their lips tickle even though your gloves when they take the food from your hands, and you can feel your eyes crinkle as you smile around your mouthpiece. You love this, you love your job, love feeding the fish and the other creatures and knowing that someone depends on you like this to come and be a bringer of goodness into their lives. It always feels just a little silly, that such a thing could make you feel so good about yourself, but somehow, when you’re down here where shapes are distorted and you’re all alone and yet surrounded by so much live and vitality, the opinions of those above the surface don’t matter. It’s just you, and the fish.
Except…. it isn’t, not really. You break your eyes away from the schools of fish surrounding you eagerly in their attempt to get the last bits of food and nibbling them away, scanning the far depths of the tank surrounding you. By now, you would have gotten a glimpse of him swimming around. He stays longer and longer every time, and you like to think that he practices holding his breath if it means he can stay where you are longer each time. It seems silly, almost, but at the same time, you can’t exactly say you aren’t the same. You’ve gotten to where you linger longer in the tank yourself, feeding the fish smaller bites and stuffing the bag a little more if it meant just a fraction of a longer glance you’d have of him. Whatever he is, he’s enchanting, and hauntingly beautiful.
The first time you’d seen him, you’d wondered if it was just one of the sharks, a manipulation of light due to the playful streams of water flirting with beams of light. It had just been a glimpse out of the corner of your eyes, between the bodies of the fish. But as you saw him again and again, you came to realize that he was no figment of your imagination. He was as real as the goosebumps he inspired on the back of your neck when he stared at you from afar, when you could feel his gaze as solidly as a gentle caress on your chilled skin. It wasn’t very fair that he had studied you so thoroughly and you had only a faint idea of his own appearance, though each time you tried to get a more solid glance, he’d flicker out behind a rock or into a school of fish, disappearing before you could even whisper a thought in your mind beyond his smile.
He isn’t here, today. Despite the fact that it isn’t the first time this has happened, that there have been many days where you haven’t seen him, where he’s been other places doing other things, or when your timing has been off enough that you don’t see him, you’re disappointed. Stomach clenching just a bit as you feel your heart sink and shoulders droop, you turn the chum bag inside out to get the last particles of food out into the water for the fish to munch on before you ascend to the surface and get to the other tanks to continue your job. There are other fish that are getting hungry, after all, and you can’t be so selfish to see your friend that you let them suffer even a little bit.
Just when you’re about to kick your legs and push towards the surface of the water, the tube connecting your mouthpiece to your oxygen tank catches on something and your mouthpiece jerks out of your mouth. You jerk your hand down to snatch at it, but as you turn, there’s a flash of purple bioluminescence and a gentle pressure on your lips. It’s not warm at contact, but somehow, the temperature of your body spikes as your fingers lift and curl around billowing hair. You can’t get close with your mask in the way, stomach soaring somewhere in your chest as you feel a slight chill of fingers tracing gentle affection down your throat.
You can only hold your breath for so long, and even though it’s an impressive length of time, somehow you’re left breathless and you have to break the kiss far sooner than what you’d like. There’s a pressure in your hand, and you look down to see that he’s pushed your mouthpiece against your palm. When you look back up to get a look at him, finally, to know just what sort of magical creature had snared your heart to effectively in his exquisite trap without even knowing what he looked like, without never having talked to him with words, he’s gone. The fish, ever his allies, have masked his great escape, and all you can do is slip the mouthpiece past trembling lips and hover for just a moment longer in the weightless void of water where color and space are a world of their own. And yet, as you slowly drift to the surface again, your lips curl into a smile and your heart never really quite slows down for the rest of the day.
Everything is better in the water.
