If You Keep Swimming it Don't Seem Far
On the cusp of twelve years old, with the first trickle of adolescence building inside her, Meiru Sakurai had stumbled into her first real crush.
She was surrounded by peers and classmates who'd become what was known in common parlance as 'boy crazy'. Everywhere she turned were wistful conversations about all the usual suspects: handsome young actors and musicians with soulful eyes and soft lips and floppy bangs. Their pictures decorated bedroom walls and digital dashes, and haunted many of their daydreams. But Meiru? She wasn't impressed.
The object of her affections, it so happened, was not actually a boy. Or even a human, for that matter.
Or organic.
That didn't stop the feelings, equal parts exciting and painful.
She knew enough to know that romance for mernavi was different than it was for humans, but here she was at a disadvantage. Roll had shown her some navi movies and games, but it was hard to find anything translated. It was much easier for a navi to download a language pack and consume human entertainment, which meant Roll had a pretty good grasp of human romance— or at least, the glamorized fictional version of it— flowers and chocolates and fancy dates and kissing and terribly, terribly written love triangles.
(Roll was so relieved mernavi didn't have that sense of exclusivity. "Why don't they all just form a pod together and have children?" she'd asked Meiru, who was equally confused for completely different reasons. It was a good thing, because deep down inside she was pretty sure that barring an unexpected break in bonds or tragic death, that she was going to end up having to share Rock with Forte. While Hollywood rules dictated that she would win that 'love triangle', Roll lived in the real world.)
(It would take the better part of a century, but she was right.)
Meiru, on the other hand, didn't know much about how navis courted each other, much less express intimate affection.
"Do you guys kiss?"
"What?"
"Do— you know. Do mernavis kiss each other."
Roll gave her a concerned look. "Why do you ask?"
"I was just wondering. Sheesh."
But she was blushing furiously.
The discovery of their tenuous relationship— Meiru was friends with Roll and Netto and by extension Rock and Blues and Enzan and kinda sorta Forte, and Kalinka was Forte's stepsister and friends with Rock and Netto and by extension Roll (and Meiru) and Blues (and Enzan)— was genuinely the worst thing that ever happened to Forte.
(Okay, that was a gross exaggeration. Still, the effects were shockingly deep and far-reaching.)
Kalinka was two years older than Meiru and Enzan, so they didn't share any classes. Were it not for their mutual mernavi friends, they may never have interacted. Except now they did, and between Kalinka and Rockman, Forte found himself unwittingly involved in 'fun activities' with 'friends'. These activities were neither fun (in his opinion), nor were the people he was surrounded by anyone he would consider a friend (which was what he kept telling himself).
In addition to getting to roped into some of Rockman's stupid misadventures, he now also got suckered into Kalinka's misadventures— which involved her human buddies, at best…
…at worst, the entire miserable crew of incompetent morons, both the air-breathers and the wastes of fuel alike.
He was proud to be a part of the Cossack pod, but some days… some days he wondered if it was really worth it. (All the while pretending as if he didn't enjoy being included, thought of, and cared about, in spite of his being an obnoxious bully.)
At least with Rock there was a chance something exciting might happen. Rockman fancied himself a budding gladiator and sea monster hunter, and occasionally found himself in dangerous situations, with Netto (who wasn't even equipped for combat!) and Blues (who was a competent warrior for his age, even if he lacked Rock or Forte's natural power.) As a group, they could take on cybernetic creatures that none of them could handle on their own… and sure, sometimes they got in over their heads, but as far as Forte was concerned that just made it all the more fun.
And when they were up to more mundane things, then it usually wasn't too hard to goad Rock into some 'friendly' sparring.
Kalinka, on the other hand…
They'd decided to put on a talent show of sorts. Her and Meiru and Roll. Enzan was somehow involved. As was Blues. As was Netto. As was Rock.
Being the one with a good sized saltwater swimming pool in the backyard, Dr. Cossack had generously offered to host because of course he did.
He knew better than to ask Forte to participate, but he did insist that he attend the show.
It was tacky. It was pathetic. It was embarrassing. Meiru was not as good of a musician as she thought she was, and neither Roll nor Kalinka were particularly accomplished singers. Blues' sword-fighting demonstration was clumsy and he was so wracked with stage fright that he dropped the sword, not once, but twice. Netto had cajoled his brother into doing some sort of synchronized swimming dance thing, but they'd practiced in the ocean so the pool wasn't large enough, and the last minute changes to the routine were nothing short of a disaster.
In summation, it was exactly the sort of production you could expect from a group of eager but inexperienced ten-to-thirteen year olds (and the navi equivalent thereof).
Parents were there. The Hikaris, including the pod leader Tadashi. Roll's parents, of course. The Sakurais. Blues' Secondary, and his weapon martial arts instructor. Only Enzan was solo, his chauffeur opting to stay in the car.
They milled around afterwards. Socializing. Eating. Joking. Humans dipped in the pool for a swim. Mernavis scurried across the lawn. A card game broke out, followed charades. This went on for hours.
Forte wished for death and then wondered if he could make the journey back to the shore by himself. Probably not. Dr. Cossack's house was close to the ocean, but not close enough. (He was still overheating a little too quickly, since the accident. Something he should have checked out, but wouldn't, not until Dr. Cossack found out about it and had a conniption.)
After spending what she felt was an appropriate amount of time with the girls, Meiru broke away and joined Netto, Rock, and Blues. She made an honest effort to be slick about it, fooling absolutely no one— except for the clueless Hikari brothers, that was. Sitting at the poolside, legs tucked to the side in a contorted position that made the adults both wince and jealous of a time their joints weren't so stiff, she proceeded to chat up Netto for the next hour or so.
She giggled a little too much and blushed a little too hard, but damned if Netto clued in at any point.
The evening wore on, and as things wrapped up, the ride services came by to pick up the various mernavi families. As the Hikari crew prepared to leave, Meiru said goodbye to Rock, then to Netto, then leaned over and planted a quick, nervous kiss on his cheek.
Bewildered, Netto cast a questioning look at his parents, unsure how to react. They weren't much help. Both Yuuichiro and Haruka could only laugh.
Thankfully, Meiru's own parents made no comment.
After the Hikaris left, but before Meiru's family was ready to go, Kalinka pulled Enzan to the side. "They're soooo cute together, aren't they?"
Enzan looked confused and didn't reply. After thinking it over for a minute, he approached Meiru.
"A relationship with Netto would not be in your best interest," he said softly. It was a well-intended, if clumsy and misguided, attempt to save his friend from heartbreak. "It could not possibly work out in the long run. Simply put, there is an issue of compatibility. Physically, they—" …and then he began giving a rather candid breakdown of the anatomical differences between humans and mernavi.
It was hard to say who exactly was more horrified: poor, innocent Meiru, Mr. and Mrs. Sakurai, or the long-suffering Dr. Cossack. "Er, Enzan," he intervened. "There is a time and a place, and I'm afraid this is neither."
"Why would that be, Dr. Cossack?"
"Ah, well, this is not an appropriate conversation for children, or mixed company…"
"My sincere apologies," Enzan replied, although it was clear he didn't find the topic embarrassing (or amusing, for that matter). He was only stating facts, after all.
Kalinka, meanwhile, was doubled over in uncontrollable laughter, clutching her sides as she started to cramp, and Blues chuckled softly to himself.
Although Forte couldn't pretend to give a damn about Meiru and Netto's love life, he was quietly amused by the strangely dramatic reaction Enzan had gotten. Mernavi didn't shelter their young from the facts of life, so the details of their reproduction was hardly a secret, and anyone who spent more than five minutes around dolphins, walruses, and other deviants, knew all about mammals' disgusting spawning methods.
Meiru was quite flustered. "I… I just…" she said, stammering before she turned away. "I don't need to explain myself."
Unfortunately Enzan was right, although not so much because of physical incompatibility… but because she would be pushing forty by the time Netto and his brother started their version of puberty.
For now, though, it was a harmless childhood crush, and there was no reason to poke holes in it.
It would lead to some terribly awkward conversations with her mother over the next few years, however. If nothing else, it was an incident that she and Enzan could look back on as adults and laugh at, before quickly changing the subject.
A/N: "(It would take the better part of a century, but she was right.)"
Um. Would, er, would anyone want to... read this? Update: Finished and posted 'Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea' but unlike the rest of this series, it's rated M and is not an all-ages gen fic.