Ah, the sound of the ocean.
Waves lapping at the shore, Wingulls cawing and crying out as they flew over the beach and dove into the cool waters, and boats speckling the distant horizon. The sun beat down and glimmered off of the rippling salt water, glinting like precious stones made liquid.
The cherry on top was the sweet coo of his lover-
"Archie if you do not let me go home right now I swear to god I'm going to gut you—put me down, put me down! I'm leaving!"
The former Aqua leader took in a deep breath and exhaled with a smile on his face, even if the man he currently had thrown over his shoulder was kicking and shrieking like an infuriated toddler.
He certainly had the demeanor of one at the moment.
"Oh come on, Maxie," sighed Archie, patting Maxie's ass, only to receive more enraged shrieking and struggling, though the redhead lacked the amount of strength it would take to wrench himself out of his boyfriend's hold.
"I'm not going on vacation to some stupid volcano. Nobody goes on vacation's there. Besides! I hear Sinnoh has some of the best beaches…"
Well, the local city wasn't named 'Sunyshore' because of constant storms.
"There are people here," Maxie hissed, his face burning when seeing the looks they were getting. It was probably an odd sight—a chiseled, tanned man wearing nothing but swim shorts and a newly bought pair of flip flops with some pale, fully-dressed skinny guy currently struggling around on his shoulder. He didn't think he looked that abnormal—he was wearing sandals, a nice pair of Capri shorts, a white t-shirt—but paired with Archie, it probably looked like something out of a cheesy comic in a newspaper.
"Yeah, and?"
Maxie wanted to scream.
"There are always people at beaches, and I'm sure they've seen crazier—though maybe if you stopped screaming, they wouldn't be staring?"
"Maybe if you SET ME DOWN, they wouldn't be staring!"
Maxie's infuriated shriek was loud enough to send several Wingulls back into the air with distraught caws.
Archie swore he heard a child start crying.
"Alright, alright, sheesh—stop scaring everyone," sighed Archie as if he had not started it all. With ease did he heft Maxie up off his shoulder and back on his feet, the slightly taller, redheaded man sputtering indignantly.
"I'm just going to leave the next time you do that," he hissed, picking at newfound wrinkles in his shirt as he tried to ignore how his face and ears felt like they were on fire. It didn't help that he could still feel eyes burning into the both of them, the oddball couple that almost painfully stood out among the families, teenagers, and young adults running amok throughout the beach.
"I seriously doubt you'd do that," Archie scoffed, Maxie giving him a look that said, 'Try me'.
Turning back away, settling his hands on his hips, Archie sighed in delight, closing his eyes.
"I miss visiting the beach," he remarked, Maxie muttering a low, 'I don't'.
Ignoring his partner's lack of love for the open waters, Archie shivered in delight as the ocean waters lapped up, feeling cool on his feet as it washed over.
Maxie promptly shied away, avoiding getting wet narrowly as the hungry water dove for him.
"How about, while you go for a little swim, I'll go look around town, see what they have available—" Maxie began to suggest, turning around and moving back to flee towards the mainland, only to wince as he was grabbed.
"You're gonna go swimming with me!" Archie hissed with a grin, the color draining from Maxie's face as he was hauled back, struggling and squirming the entire way.
"W-wait, m-maybe we can discuss this—" he sputtered, glancing back as he saw the cold ocean water getting closer and closer as Archie easily pulled him away from freedom.
"Nope, no discussing—you should've worn your swim trunks!"
Maxie threw out his arms, his hands grabbing at nothing as he sought something to seize and clutch onto as he felt himself falling back.
He closed his eyes tight, anticipating his back to hit something hard—which it momentarily felt like, as if a wall had struck him, but then that wall seemingly melted and became chilled, bending around him.
With a loud splash he was entirely submerged, though it only lasted for a few seconds as he resurfaced, sputtering and coughing as Archie laughed alongside him.
"It isn't that bad, Maxie—"
"I'm going to kill you!"
Archie used one arm to keep himself afloat, gently moving through the water next to him, while his other was busy covering his mouth as he snorted and giggled.
Maxie looked positively furious, spitting out water as he shoved his soaked red hair out of his eyes, pushing it back the best he could while trying to get salt water out of his nose.
"You should have worn better clothes for this, though."
Maxie paused in his act of clearing his face of any water residue, looking over at Archie, who seemed quite serious as he stared down his t-shirt.
"Oh no, you are not," he hissed, trying to get away, but Archie remained the superior swimmer, Maxie unable to even escape him in the water as he was grabbed by his hips and pulled back.
"Let me keep something," Maxie moaned, suddenly feeling tempted to let himself just sink into the water and disappear so that Archie couldn't get to him there.
"Nope," he had hummed into his ear, Maxie feeling hands pulling up on the hem of his shirt. Despite the cold water, Archie still felt so warm—how he managed it, he could not fathom. Presently was the redhead absolutely freezing, and now it was to be made worse as he was forced out of his shirt, watching dismally as it was wadded up and chucked back to the beach only a few yards away.
"You have a good arm," Maxie bitterly remarked, Archie beaming.
"I was pretty good at dodgeball back in high school."
Maxie grimaced at the very thought of being struck with whatever Archie managed to get his hands on—he could imagine all of his poor classmates running in terror whenever he managed to get to one of the balls first.
Maxie knew he would've been ducking behind some other classmate, use them as a human meat shield.
"I want to go explore the reefs," Archie suddenly proclaimed, snagging onto Maxie's wrist and tugging, the redhead sighing.
"Alright, alright, just let go—you're going to make me drown if you keep grabbing onto me."
Archie huffed, looking around to try and figure out what direction to go in before leading the way, feeling so much more at ease with the feel of water churning past him.
"I'd be able to save you even if you did end up drowning."
There was just something about water that felt like a second home.
Of course, it was a second home that could surely kill him, but under the warm sun that beat down upon his back, a gentle breeze brushing past, and Maxie actually being tolerant enough to swim alongside him, it seemed like nothing could ever go wrong.
The farther they went, the less land there was to scramble back onto.
Maxie noted this grimly as he watched the beach grow more distant as they went out to where Corsola reefs were known to lurk just outside of Sunyshore. While they were nowhere near as large and awe-inspiring as the reefs back in Hoenn, they were certainly something admirable.
The water became clear as they pressed on, Maxie able to look through the glassy surface and see water pokemon swimming by.
He even froze as a Remoraid brushed by his foot, his skin crawling as he felt its teeth gnawing gently on his toes.
Within a flash it was gone, racing off to catch up with a Mantine that lurked deeper beneath the surface.
Breathing out in relief, Maxie looked up, pausing.
"Archie?"
There was no one around—where Archie had once been bobbing above the surface was just water.
Panic tightened his throat as he looked around, even twisting around where he was floating to try and find him.
"Archie?!"
A loud splash startled him, the spray of water hitting his back as he slowly turned, seeing Archie shaking his head like a Growlithe that had just been soaked.
"God, you scared me," Maxie groaned, pushing back his hair as a few damp strands managed to fall back into his eyes.
"Why're you scared? I'm a pro in the water, we already established this," Archie scoffed, though he seemed fixated on what he was holding rather than Maxie.
"… What do you have?"
Archie looked up as if he hadn't realized he had been staring intently at his palm, swimming back over to Maxie to show him.
"I saw something glittering under the surface, and I found this!"
He opened up his hand to show a large pearl, Maxie gawking. It was about as large as his thumbnail and appeared iridescent in the sunlight.
"And it was just sitting there?"
Archie nodded, grinning.
"Yeah—there's a lot of stuff just sittin' around on the ocean floor. Wait—"
Maxie frowned as he was told to wait, flinching back as Archie dove back under the water, throwing up an arm to shield himself from the splash.
"Christ, Archie," he muttered to himself, peering down into the water to try and see what he was doing. It was difficult, however, with how his depth perception seemed to falter with the constantly moving waters.
Archie wasn't gone long, Maxie wisely moving away before he resurfaced, avoiding the spray of him shaking out his hair as he paddled back over.
He still had the pearl, but now had a long piece of seaweed, swimming back around the redhead as Maxie watched him with suspicion.
"Now just imagine," Archie began, Maxie looking down and seeing the seaweed draped just below his neck, mimicking a necklace. While he held the seaweed snug in place, his other hand hovered the pearl right where it would have sat if it was attached to a necklace, just above the beginning of Maxie's ribcage.
"Maybe with some little accessory attachin' it, but this pearl on a pretty gold chain—"
"When did you suddenly become so interested in having me wear jewelry?"
Maxie looked back at Archie, getting a broad grin as he let the seaweed fall back into the water, taking the pearl and putting it in the pocket of his trunks.
"I think you'd look nice with a necklace," Archie dismissively replied, swimming back around and taking up Maxie's hands, the redhead internally groaning as he was pulled deeper into the water.
He could feel something scrape against the soles of his feet, Maxie glancing down and seeing some of the reef Archie had been seeking out—the collection of Corsola was quite astounding. The reef extended all the way out to a nearby, out-jutting rock covered in Binacles.
Maxie made a note of the rock, since it was low enough and smooth enough to go onto if they ended up being too tired to swim back to the beach.
"Huh?"
Maxie paused in absorption of their environment, looking back to Archie, following his gaze back down into the water.
There was something moving fast, fast, way too fast up to the surface, Maxie's going wide as he jerked away, reaching out to Archie, trying to get him to follow suit—
The Huntail broke the surface faster than Maxie could grab onto Archie, only having the option of flinching back, throwing up his arms in defense.
Blinded by the spray of water, he could feel the pokemon hitting the water again, though between his arms he could see Archie jerking back away, trying to avoid the pokemon.
All Maxie could think of was how Huntail normally kept far beneath the ocean surface, normally deep, deep down where no light could reach—though that thought faded from his mind as the end of the pokemon's tail cracked against Archie's head, throwing him back into the water.
"Archie!"
The Huntail slipped back beneath the surface hastily, Maxie catching a glimpse of distraught on the water-type's face before it vanished from his view.
Archie, too, was now gone from his sights, the redhead panicking as he swam forward, hunting about the glassy surface.
"Oh god I knew this was a bad idea," he moaned to himself before taking in a deep breath, plunging beneath the surface.
Sea water stung his eyes as he squinted, trying desperately to see through the sudden murkiness churned up the Huntail.
It must have dredged up whatever sand had been laying stagnant on the ocean floor, leaving it to slowly sink back down to the bottom.
Very helpful.
Kicking his feet to push himself deeper, his head snapped to the side as he saw a hand—a hand that was attached to a slowly sinking Archie.
Bubbles surged from his mouth as he opened it to call his name, Maxie snapping it back close as water flooded it.
Bad idea.
Shaking his head, trying to focus, he swam deeper down, feeling his ears pop with how deep they were already.
His chest felt tight, lungs aching as he reached out, his arms encircling Archie's waist.
For once, he was happy for the water—at least, partially, for it made Archie far lighter than he actually was, and even with his energy rapidly depleting Maxie was able to pull him back to the surface.
His legs burned as he heaved them both up, gasping and wheezing as they broke the water's surface.
He let one of his arms fall away from Archie so that he could better swim towards the out-jutting rock he had spotted before, silently pleading that he had been able to get to him in time as he swam.
They weren't too far and despite exhaustion nigh upon claiming him, Maxie got both of them onto the rock, shuddering and shaking from the exertion as he tried to catch his breath.
"Archie," he huffed, looking desperately to the other man, who didn't even seem to be breathing.
"Oh, fuck."
How hard had that Huntail hit him?
Was he dead?
Did he witness the murder of his boyfriend, barely a day into their vacation?
Maxie tried to steady his rapidly accelerating breathing as he grew panicked, knowing that he needed to try and actually save him rather than just stare with wide, frightened eyes.
Moving closer, he lowered his head, pressing his ear against where he thought Archie's heart to be.
A low thump greeted him, the steady, albeit quiet rhythm of his heart beating reassuring him that despite everything, he was still very much alive.
Archie was far too stubborn to just die, he was sure.
Immediately he sat back up straight, carefully putting one hand on top of the other man's sternum, the other settling on top of the first as he began compressions, hard and fast as he remembered a high school CPR class had taught.
No breaths, just compressions—one, two, three, four, five, six…
He counted every single one, trying to find some rhythm that would calm his rapidly beating heart and his panicked mind, try to make breathing easier than it currently was.
Nothing was happening, Archie was going to die, this was it-
"Breathe, damn you!" Maxie screamed, his voice tremulous and breaking, pushing down another time, harder than the last.
Archie came alive beneath him, his body jerking as he coughed violently, buckling forward as water surged out of his throat.
Maxie pulled back as Archie rolled over, coughing and gagging as the sea water contents of his lungs forced their way out of him.
Shuddering, Archie wiped off his mouth as he breathed in as much as he could fill his lungs with, giving one last, watery cough.
"M-Maxie," he managed to get out, looking over to check on his partner.
Arms flung around him in a tight hug, Archie startled when he felt Maxie's bury into his neck, feeling him weep against him.
"I… I thought that damn Huntail managed to kill you," Maxie whimpered, his voice small as Archie turned somewhat, enveloping him in his arms.
"I would be dead if you hadn't gotten me out of there. But I'm here now, aren't I?"
Archie's voice was gravelly and weak, sounding almost painful from all the sea water that had assailed his throat, only making Maxie clutch onto him tighter.
Letting silence take over, Archie just ran his fingers through Maxie's wet hair, gently picking out tangles as he let the other man compose himself, feeling him occasionally shudder and hold onto him tighter.
"… Are you feeling well enough to walk?" Maxie mumbled, finally, after some time of sitting there on the warm, sun-baked rock. He pulled away partly to try and judge how far they were from Sunyshore's beach, feeling Archie's hand rub in between his shoulder blades—even after that incident, it still was so warm.
"Yeah."
Entirely withdrawing himself from Archie's arms, Maxie got back to his feet, offering a hand to Archie, helping him up.
The other man grimaced, clutching at his head with his other hand.
"Damn, that Huntail got me good…" he hissed, Maxie rubbing his shoulder sympathetically, frowning.
"When we get back to the hotel, we can get you some aspirin."
Archie nodded slightly, leaning up against Maxie as they began their slow journey from the rock all the way back to the beach.
It took a good hour before they even made it back to the hotel, Maxie hustling Archie off to go take a hot shower after taking some medication.
The sun was dipping beneath the horizon, Maxie having not even realized how much time had managed to pass between the time it had taken to get to the beach and then back to their room.
Getting dry and changing into something that didn't stick to his skin, Maxie sighed to himself as he towel-dried his hair, listening to the shower running in the bathroom connecting to their master suite.
Fishing out a hair tie, he pulled his hair back, tired of it falling back into his face without any hair gel on hand.
"I hate water," he grumbled, draping the towel about his shoulders as he went back, going to the small kitchen attached to the small living room.
Putting on a kettle to boil for tea, he paused as he heard the water stop, resuming promptly as he fished out some of the tea packets he had bought from the store down the street from the hotel.
Flicking on the television, unable to just stand the silence, Maxie hummed as he moved around, checking the kettle one last time before he went to go see what was showing on TV.
The door to the master suite opened, Maxie turning around.
Dressed in his most casual clothing—being sweats and a t-shirt—Archie still looked simply tired, running a hand through his damp hair as he looked over at Maxie.
"Thanks for the aspirin, I'm feeling a little better now."
Maxie nodded, promptly going to Archie, pulling him away from where he was standing and herding him to the couch.
"Sit, I don't want you standing around at all," firmly Maxie ordered, Archie plopping down obediently, his eyes following Maxie as he went back to the small connecting kitchen as the kettle began to whistle.
Archie looked to the television, grimacing when it was showing some beautiful, sunny beach and promptly changing it to some drama involving police uncovering crimes against pokemon.
Much happier with this option, he settled back against the couch, he checked back to see Maxie still working on tea.
Rifling around in his pocket, he focused on his own personal task as he listened to Maxie looking through the cabinets.
"They really don't have any good cups," he complained, rolling his eyes as he got a 'Mhm' in simple response.
Figuring Archie was just absorbed in whatever was happening on the television, he managed to find some decent cups, carefully pouring tea into each.
Picking up both cups, Maxie rejoined Archie, carefully setting one down on the coaster sitting atop the coffee table in front of the couch before offering the second to Archie.
"Just a sec," was his grumbled response to the cup, Maxie sighing.
"Fine, fine."
He set it down next to his cup—they needed to cool off anyways—and looked over, frowning. Archie had his legs dragged up to his chest, looking quite fixated on whatever was hidden behind them.
"What are you doing…?"
"You'll see."
Pursing his lips, Maxie wanted to complain, but after all the chaos they had both endured today, he figured he could be patient and wait.
Turning back to the television, he invested himself in the trying story of a lone cop seeking the end of pokemon misuse, presently on the case of Slowpokes being exploited for their tails.
Reaching out and picking up his tea, gently blowing on it before taking a sip, Maxie felt the time drag by as he waited for Archie to reveal whatever it was he was doing.
Eventually, he let the show absorb him, his tea drained from his cup as he sat with eyes intently glued to the screen.
The protagonist was about to bust down a door leading to the supposed headquarters of the crime organization that was behind the thieving of Slowpoke tails, Maxie leaning a bit forward, tensing as he broke down the door-
"Ack!"
He nearly dropped his cup when feeling some cold drape itself around his neck, though thankfully his hold was tight enough for it not to slip through.
He would have gone and set it down, but instead, he looked down, seeing that pearl Archie had found earlier currently resting against his chest, feeling the other man clipping the necklace together behind his neck.
"Archie…?"
He looked at him, baffled, unable to quite grasp how he had managed to fulfill what he had spoken of—the pearl was attached to a thin gold chain, the pearl itself held by slender tendrils of sliver that connected to the necklace.
"While you went and got that aspirin at the store, I, uh, managed to get a quick job done on that. I'm surprised they managed to do it so quickly."
Archie was grinning sheepishly, Maxie still not quite able to fathom how a necklace could be made in what, only thirty minutes?
How long had he taken to get aspirin?
Sighing and letting go of the thought, he shook his head, reaching out and wrapping his arms around Archie's shoulders, letting his head rest against his collarbone.
"You're going to kill me one day with all these stupid attempts at romance," grumbled Maxie.
"… All I care is that you don't end up nearly drowning again."
Warm hands pushed into his hair and Maxie sighed, closing his eyes.
"I'm not going to be leaving you anytime soon, Maxie."
Archie felt the grip on him tighten somewhat, Maxie nudging himself closer.
"Is that a promise?"
His voice was suddenly so soft, Archie was surprised he was even able to hear him, but his arms soon wrapped around Maxie tight, pulling him snug.
Archie buried his face in Maxie's hair, closing his eyes.
"It's a promise."