"Kankri, are yo+u ready yet?" your moirail calls from just outside your room.
"Alm9st" you shout back as you finish putting on your red swimming shorts on.
Your friend, Meenah, has invited everyone to a beach party. You were reluctant to go but Porrim had insisted, and you know there is no point in arguing with her once she had her mind set on something. You feel a little indecent with just your shorts and some sandals on, so you decide to put on a plain t-shirt, and you walk out your bedroom door.
Porrim is waiting right outside, wearing a green string bikini.
"P-P9rrim! That is highly indecent and very triggering!" you stammer, a bit flustered by her nearly naked appearance.
"Kanny, it's a beach party, what were yo+u expecting?" She retorts
"Well y9u c9uld at least c9ver up until we get there" You suggest.
She sighs and goes into her room and comes out wearing a light beach dress. Satisfied, you thank her. She grabs some towels and you two walk outside and towards the beach.
Once you get there, it seems that you are the last to arrive, everyone else is already there.
")(E-Y! Look who FINally s)(owed up!" Meenah remarks as she waves at you two from the water.
"So+rry, we're late, Kanny was taking a while" Porrim apologizes, chuckling.
She put her towel down on the beach near everyone else's. She then shed her beach dress to reveal the same green bikini she was wearing earlier. She put it down next to her towel and ran into the water to greet the others. You put down your towel just as she had, reluctantly take off your t-shirt, set it down next to your towel and walk towards the water.
You slowly walk in up to your waist, adjusting to the temperature of the water as you go. It's surprisingly cold for such a hot day. You look around to see the rest of your friends splashing each other and having fun in the water. You see Meulin sitting atop Kurloz's shoulders, and Kurloz actually looks somewhat normal due to the fact that he doesn't have his usual make-up on because the water would ruin it. You suddenly hear Rufioh shout "BANGARANG" as he jumps into the water from a nearby dock, splashing everyone within a 5-foot radius.
You chuckle to yourself as you slowly walk deeper into the water, you've gotten used to the temperature by now and you are now up to your shoulders.
Suddenly, you are blasted by a jet of water in the back of your head. You quickly turn around to see Cronus, a very good friend of yours who, to be honest, you're quite a bit flushed for.
"Hell9 Cr9nus…" you sigh. You expected as much from him.
"Hey, chief! Howv's it goin?" His usual greeting to you, you wonder why he keeps calling you that.
"I am d9ing well, 6ut did y9u really find it necessary to spray me with water?" you scold.
"Awv, come on, I was just tryin to get your attention…" he responds with a smug grin.
The two of you spend a while swimming around and chatting about whatever comes up. You tense up slightly as he mentions something that makes you blush.
"So...howv're your quadrants nowvadays?" He asks with that shit-eating grin that makes your blood-pumper skip a beat.
"...fine, P9rrim and I are still g99d m9irails..." You answer finally after a few moments of silence as you try to pull yourself together.
"that's cool...nowv...can I ask you a kinda...personal question?" He asks shyly as he looks away, scratching the back of his head.
"I supp9se...what is y9ur questi9n?" You're almost afraid to hear his response.
"wvell...wvaht do you think of me?..." His face is almost pure purple as he is surprisingly reluctant to ask the question.
You panic internally. Is your flush crush confessing that he has red feelings for you too? Or is he wanting a different route to another quadrant? Or maybe he's just trying to mess with your head. Your logically-minded brain wants to scold him for asking such a personal and loaded question. But something else inside you kept you quiet, saying that you should tell the truth and confess your feelings, that opportunity was knocking. Finally you found the confidence to speak.
"T9 6e perfectly h9nest, Cr9nus...I..." You start, your entire face flushed as pure red as the sweater you always wear.
But before you can continue on with what you were saying, Meenah jumps into the water with a loud splash, suddenly, you're dragged down under the surface. Meenah's braid has gotten tangled around your ankle and dragged you down with her, and to make matters worse, her other braid has caught on a rock at the bottom of the ocean. This has happened before, but never when she had something wrapped around her other braid. She is helpless, stuck in between the rock and you furiously trying to swim up to the surface for breath.
"Kankri!" Cronus shouts as he dives under the water. He briefly analyzes the situation, he knows Meenah will be fine because she's a sea dweller, but you are not.
He swims over toward you as you're flailing around unsuccessfully. He tries to untangle the braid from your ankle, but your feet, nearly kicking him in the face, tell him that he doesn't have time for that. He swims back up to your face.
"Kankri! Kankri. I'm gonna need you to calm dowvn, ok? This is gonna be wveird, i knowv. But you gotta trust me here, ok? I need you to breathe in wvhen I put my mouth on yours." He tries to calm you down, putting his hands on your shoulders.
Before you can get a chance to respond, he takes a deep breath through his gills and slams his mouth onto yours, practically forcing your mouth open with his tongue. Under any normal circumstances, you would very strongly object to this kind of highly triggering behavior. But these were far from normal circumstances. You take a deep breath from his mouth. It isn't much but it gives you a little bit more time. Time in which Cronus can swim down and untangle Meenah's braid from your ankle, allowing you to swim up to the surface, gasping for breath. Cronus soon follows. Meenah then is able to untangle her other braid from the rock, and swim up to the surface as well.
"Kan...I am so vwerry sorry for that, it wvas the only option, I..." His words trailed off.
"Just...get me 9ut 9f the water..." You plead, almost in tears.
He takes you in his arms and swims toward the shore, making sure to keep your head above the water. When the water gets shallow enough that he can stand up, he carries you, bridal-style out of the water and sets you down on your towel. Then he quickly retrieves his and wraps it around you in an attempt to comfort you.
"Y-you alright, chief?" He settles down in front of you with a genuinely concerned look on his face.
You are in tears and unable to respond, absolutely traumatized by the events that just occurred to you. He waits patiently for a response. Finally you manage to speak.
"Y-yeah...I guess..." You say, clutching his towel.
Suddenly, you reach out and hug him, in need of more comfort than the towel can provide. You wrap your arms around his chest. He is surprised by this at first but soon returns the favor, wrapping his arms around your waist. You feel secure and safe in his wet but surprisingly warm and pleasant embrace. You rest your head on his shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably. He sits there and let's you cry it out. Finally, you take a break from your sobs to speak.
"I...I alm9st DIED, Cr9nus..." You manage in between sobs.
"Uh, you do realize that you're kinda already dead, right chief?" He grins slightly, patting your back gently.
"Yes, I d9 realize that, 6ut, I d9n't fully kn9w h9w dream 6u66les w9rk...f9r all I kn9w, I c9uld've died again and never c9me 6ack!" You try to give a rational explanation for your worry. Then something slips out that you didn't quite expect.
"I w9uld've never 6een a6le t9 tell y9u that I l9ve y9u..." You immediately pull apart from the hug. Covering your mouth, you sit there, face as red as the towel you sit upon, absolutely mortified.
"C-come again?" Cronus stammered, almost as flustered as you were.
"N-n9thing! It's n9thing, h9nest!" You turn away from him, hoping to conceal your embarrassment.
You sit there, hiding in the towel, hoping that he'll go away. He doesn't. You curl the towel around you further, it smells like him, which only helps you become more flustered. You cannot even begin to believe what you've just done, you've made an absolute fool of yourself and he's probably going to tell everyone now and you'll never hear the end of it and-
"I uh...t-to be honest, chief, I like you a lot too..." His sudden confession interrupts your thoughts.
"Y9u...y9u what?" You turn back around to face his, he's blushing even more than you are, if that was even possible.
"I like you, Kankri...hell, I LOVWE you! Ok?" He suddenly becomes fascinated by something in the distance.
That is the first time In a very long time that he's actually addressed you by your real name. Pleasantly startled by this, you practically launch yourself onto him into another hug, jerking Cronus out of his daze. He then returns your hug full force. It's not quite the same type of hug he had given you before, this one was stronger, more passionate. He held you like a precious treasure he never wanted to let go of.
"I...I l9ve y9u t99, Cr9nus" you sigh. You rest your chin comfortably on his shoulder, as he does the same.
As you finally part from your hug, he lays a quick kiss on your cheek.
"Oh...oh god, I'm so sorry kan, I..." He quickly apologizes for it, as he knows you are easily upset by non-consensual romantic maneuvers. But to be honest, you don't mind it at all.
"Y...y9u missed..." You whisper in a voice that is barely audible.
"Wv...wvhat wvas that I couldn't hear ya..." He leans in a but closer in order to hear you.
"I said..." You start. You hesitate momentarily to think. Oh god oh god oh god here it comes this is really happening. These words rattle around in your think pan until you finally get the courage to finish your sentence, "...y9u missed".
You know that everyone else's eyes are on you two, concerned with if you were ok and what exactly Cronus was going to do with you. But you didn't care. Right now the only thing you cared about was him. Who cares what the others thought. You were doing this, man. You are going to make this happen.
Cronus sat confused, trying to make sense of what you had said. but it all makes sense to him as you grab his shoulders, pulling them close to you as your lips connect with his.
You do not usually instigate these kinds of things, but today feels much different than usual.
Your instigation gives him the confidence of knowing that you were ok with this, and he happily complied to return the favor, kissing you back, wrapping his arms around you once more and running his fingers through your hair. You do the same, your fingers intertwine with his thick, greasy hair. It's a little bit disgusting, but right now, you don't mind all that much.
This continues for a few moments more, then, all too soon as far as you're concerned Cronus pulls away. Then, after staring into your eyes for what seemed like an eternity, he spoke.
"So, uh...does this make us officially matesprits nowv?" Cronus asked stupidly.
You laugh and respond with a simple and sincere "yes".
Then the two of you go back into the water, hand in hand, ready for the inevitable onslaught of questions, comments, and weird looks. And for the rest of the duration of Meenah's party, everything goes smoothly without incident, aside from a long scolding from Porrim on the way back. But you don't care, this has easily been the best day of your life, you can deal with Porrim later.