Pairing : Sosuke/Ponyo
Rating : T for mentions of activities
Disclaimer : Characters and story is based on Studio Ghibli's Gaki no Ue no Ponyo ( Ponyo on the Cliff by The Sea)
YEARS GONE BY
Too many things happen to Sosuke when he was just five years old. He met a talking,ham-eating goldfish on the sea which he named Ponyo. By a day he lost Ponyo, only to found her as a little girl the next day running on sea waves, trying to catch up with his car which was driven madly by Risa. He met Ponyo's parents later, who were far from the definition of normal. Her mother was the sea goddess and her father was a sea wizard. And since he really liked Ponyo at that time, he somehow vowed to her parents that he will always like Ponyo no matter what she is and promised to cherish her in front of Risa and the grannies from the old home care center as eyewitnesses.
Sosuke was technically engaged when he was only five.
Looking back though, he didn't regret any of his youthful decisions. He grew up with Ponyo after that, sharing a bed at night and spending the day together, sticking to each other like they were glued. Of course their life wasn't running smoothly, because Ponyo is Ponyo and there is always something happening with her.
In kindergarten, Sosuke was always the popular boy, and Ponyo's sudden appearance annoyed other girls. Especially Kumiko-chan. When the two girls properly met each other, Ponyo remembered Kumiko as the girl who mocked her when she was but a goldfish and then wanted to ride Sosuke's boat. As for Kumiko, she noted that Ponyo was the girl who got a ride on Sosuke's boat before her, and that alone was an insult to a five year-old girl. They bicker constantly and left Sosuke flabbergasted. But he was also a bit happy that Ponyo can interact normally to other kids than him, even if the interaction usually ended with Kumiko crying or Ponyo fuming on their way home from kindergarten.
Elementary school was a bit of everything, because Ponyo started to understand human world more with their system and behavior. There was a period of two weeks' time in fifth grade when Ponyo started acting very calm and collected. She didn't shout or squeal or jump or calling Sosuke's name repeatedly like she used to. She talked properly, walked properly, ate properly, and pretty much acted like a normal human being, not a post magical goldfish like she was. That got Sosuke and Risa very worried because Ponyo is anything but proper. The weather seemed to be synchronized with Ponyo's feeling because the sea level rose and the sky were always dark and Koichi couldn't get home for two weeks. Sosuke finally caught her later sitting quietly by the sea, not merrily swimming with her clothes on like she always does. He tempted her with Risa's fresh made sandwich, with extra slice of ham and melted cheese. When Ponyo didn't even budge, Sosuke finally ran out of patience and resort to pushing her to the sea. That got him a reaction.
"Stupid Sosuke!" Ponyo dashed towards him and grab his shirt. She pulled as hard as she can and with a splash, they brawled under the water.
"Ponyo stop!"
Splash.
"Sosuke started it first, Sosuke just don't understand!"
Splash.
"I've left you to your thoughts for two weeks, and I can't have you not being you! I promised to love you whether you're a fish or a human, but as long as the inside is still Ponyo okay? So please just tell me what's wrong!"
So Ponyo stopped and started to cry. Within hiccups she repeatedly begged to Sosuke.
"Ponyo will behave like Sosuke's normal friends now so please don't throw Ponyo away."
Then it hit Sosuke. And it hit hard. He swallowed a couple of times, trying to calm himself while searching for the right words that a fifth grader can manage to think of. Ponyo hid her eyes behind her bangs, her shoulder shook and her nose sniffled.
"Ponyo, did anyone tell you that you that you're different?"
She refused to talk, and the question made her posture slouched even more. Sosuke felt bad for her. Ponyo's true identity is hidden from the villagers, only the people from care center and his family knew about her. Other people only recognized her as Risa's distant relative's daughter from aboard. Her natural red hair is considered pretty by elders, but in children's eyes, it was strange and unfitting in their world. Her manner didn't help because she was too unaccustomed and energized that some of their friends just didn't understand her.
"Ponyo, look at me in the eye and listen to what I have to say. Please?"
So Ponyo tentatively looked, because she was afraid of what she might see. Sosuke might be this mad because Ponyo failed to act as a normal kid and what if he deciced that he got bored of her? Ponyo remembered the story of the little mermaid that got turned to sea bubbles because the man she loved didn't love her back. The thought of it was excruciating and she felt a sharp pain in her heart. But she was surprised to realize that what she saw was a smiling face of Sosuke, warm and kind and his eyes sparkled in the way that Ponyo liked the most.
"Am I different to you, or am I the same as anybody else?"
"What's with that question? Of course Sosuke is different, because Ponyo likes Sosuke the most."
"Then our feelings are the same. I think Ponyo differs from the others too because I like Ponyo best."
"So different is a good thing? Ponyo doesn't need to be like anybody else?"
"I like Ponyo the way you are, as you like me the way I am. So its fine isn't it? Now come on, it's getting dark. Risa cooked full course today because Koichi's going home. I bet she made hamburger steak since it's his favorite."
Ponyo's huge smile suddenly appeared amongst her tear-shed face," It's my favorite too!"
Their fight ended with them walking hand-in-hand towards their house, and the waves suddenly went calm. The sky cleared up and they can see the stars shone brightly on their way back home. Koichi didn't disappoint to show up that night and they joked about how it was thank to Sosuke's manly gesture to talk Ponyo out of her thoughts.
In junior high school, Ponyo was a bit taller than Sosuke, and her red hair had reached her shoulders. She was as high-spirited as always, and she was getting better at making friends. Even though Sosuke was happy for her, he was a bit upset because of his lack of height and how she would sometimes chose to go home with her girlfriends. He started being obsessed with drinking milk, in which he could drank a liter a day, and he set up a rule that Ponyo can only go home with her friends at most for two times a week.
Ponyo didn't mind at all, because she was happier with Sosuke anyway, but Sosuke got playfully leered and snickered as an overprotective possible-future-lover-with-a-touch-of-incest of Ponyo by her friends. Sosuke snickered back in his mind, thinking of how they would react if they know that they were actually engaged since five and they were not related at all but yet they live under the same roof. Of course they no longer shared the same bed at this point of their life, because even if Sosuke's parents were pretty cool by letting him call them by their name, they were still parents that understood how it was like being teenagers.
Trying to make Ponyo to sleep on different room from Sosuke was chaotic though. Sosuke still remembered how Ponyo would finally agree after being bribed with two pounds of ham sausages, yet silently tiptoed to his room at night to sleep with him. Before dawn she would wake up and left his room, tiptoeing back to hers. After a week Risa found out and intervene Ponyo in a heart-to-heart girls talk in which Sosuke was not allowed to hear. Ponyo came to him afterwards and solemnly said that she was only a teenager now and Sosuke was only a teenager too and even though she was very sorry, she couldn't reciprocate Sosuke's feelings and intentions. Not before they were married and Sosuke already got a decent job, anyway. Sosuke's face heated up and reddened and wondered what exactly did his mother told Ponyo and how far does she know about THOSE activities.
Apparently his mother didn't tell her all the way, because she was still clueless and pure-hearted as ever in their high school years. Ponyo seemed to be a late bloomer because a week after they were accepted into the same high school, she got her first period. Sosuke woke up in six in the morning with an ear-splitting scream. In a second his bedroom door got smashed open and Ponyo showed her red-stained underwear right upon his nose. She cried and howled and begged Sosuke to help her because it hurt and she felt like dying and when she went to the bathroom to check what was happening, she found that on her panties so she must be dying after all.
Sosuke's face paled while listening to Ponyo's rambling, watching Ponyo's crying and at the same time eyeing Ponyo's whatever it was, and he started to scream his lungs out calling his mom. Then he ran away from his room to god knows where in his pajamas. That startled Ponyo more than anything because Sosuke was the most mature and independent boy she ever met her entire life as a human being, so she really didn't get what got into him. Risa scrambled to the bedroom upon hearing Sosuke's inhuman scream only to find a quiet, bulged-eyed Ponyo with her stained underwear gripped firmly by both of her hands.
That night after the kids are asleep, Risa spent a long time on the flashing light, telling the story as detailed as possible to Koichi. Koichi almost broke Koganeimaru's flashing light, pressing the button too fast and too hard. Boy, he really needs to be home more often.
When Sosuke graduated from high school, he decided that he wanted to be able to help Fujimoto's mission to save the sea, so he continued to an undergraduate program on ocean studies from the neighboring town's university. It took him more than an hour to commute, so he decided that he would stay on the university's dorm and went home once or twice a week. Ponyo on the other hand, was not really good at studying so she helped at the care center with Risa while attaining courses to earn certificate for kindergarten teacher.
Sosuke couldn't keep an eye at her as frequently, so he tried to call her every night after his part-time job at a local store. He really didn't see it coming when one night Ponyo said that she made an after-marrying-Sosuke-list.
"Is sleeping together like when we were little on the list too?" Sosuke amusedly asked.
"Yeah, it's on number one! It's the first rule Ponyo learned from Risa after all," she sighed in a nostalgic tone. Even though Sosuke was really intrigued to know more about the list, he really didn't dare to ask. With Ponyo, everything is possible so he played the golden rule of do not ask questions you don't want to know the answers to.
"Number one, huh. How many more numbers are there?" then again, they said that curiosity killed the cat.
"Um, Ponyo don't think Ponyo should say the exact number, but there's a lot. The list has been ongoing since we were freshmen in high school after all. Every bit of interesting info Ponyo got from my friends and other source goes on the list."
That made Sosuke's heart skipped. A lot of beats. "What do you mean from high school? You just mentioned it to me now."
"Sorry Sosuke, Ponyo kind of promised Risa to tell you after your mother thinks you're wise enough to handle the list. This deal was made after the bloody incident." She didn't mean to curse; she just named the incident literally.
"Wow, okay. So can I know the list's content now?"
"Teehee. Ponyo love Sosuke the best!"
Click.
Ponyo just hung up on him.
So he called her again, demanding his answers. No way could he just let this go, so he pestered Ponyo to answer.
"Oh Sosuke, fine," Ponyo huffed," ..Number two, petting. Number three, intercourse. Number four, BDSM. Number five…"
Click.
It was Sosuke who hung up this time.
Sosuke thanked Gran Mamare for delivering a pure-hearted Ponyo to this world, because even if she created such a vulgar list, it turned out she really didn't know what the words meant. She was planning to ask Risa when her lover's mother said Ponyo would be better off listing them and asked them to Sosuke when they got married.
"She also said that Sosuke can do some of the lists to Ponyo, and Ponyo to you."
Sosuke had always loved her mother's sense of humor, but that was plain cruel.
Remembering all those times, Sosuke smiled lovingly to the figure walking down the blue carpet, Fujimoto by her side. He stood straight and proud, and the sight of Ponyo in a white flowing satin dress with silk crochet veil covering her wavy amber hair left him felt like he was washed away by happiness. He smiled crookedly at guests who were wondering why the groom wore a hakama while the bride wore western wedding gown.
It was due to Ponyo's thought that Sosuke looked more dashing in Japanese traditional wedding clothes and Sosuke's preference of seeing Ponyo in a white dress. They finally resort to the decision that their wedding should go with mutual consent and proposed this solution for both of their best interest.
As Gran Mamare wed them on Koganeimaru, Sosuke ponders on how many years have gone by, most of them filled with the memories of being together with Ponyo.
And there will be many more years to come.
.FIN.