Author's Note: I am not a cetacean researcher or a professional in the field. I know nothing about how these things usually go but this is my best assumption. If there are inaccuracies, please don't tell me. This is a simple SatoSugu oneshot where they're both researchers studying different species of cetaceans. I did a bit of research on the Puget Sound pods for this so an honest attempt was made. If I'm wrong about L-Pod's behavior and travel patterns, please don't kill me. I couldn't find jack shit on L-Pod so I ran with it.
Disclaimers: Do NOT interact or play with any wild cetaceans (whales, dolphins, etc.) if you ever get the chance to. While statistics are on your side, it's for the benefit of the animals themselves. Whale hunting is still prevalent in some portions of the world and building positive relationships with wild cetaceans has been proven to contribute to their lack of reaction to hunters or others that intend to do them harm. I mention this one time in this fic since Satoru can be idiotic sometimes but it's a general rule-of-thumb if you ever get the chance to interact with that type of animal. ALSO, please do NOT do the shit these two idiots do to put a camera on a boat. It doesn't actually work in most cases and you will fall off. Practice proper boat safety if you find yourself on a boat.
This oneshot was an honest-to-God accident but it ended up completed so here we are. No beta as usual. I hope you guys enjoy it!
...
Suguru passed over the wad of cash that had been requested by the captain of the boat a few weeks earlier. He'd done business with this captain frequently and they had an easy relationship. Living in a secluded part of Washington had its perks and avoiding the tourist trap Whale Watching boats slightly further North was a nice touch. Everyone wanted to get a look at the Orca pods that frequented the area when they visited the state and researchers either had to fight to get a good spot on one of the tourist trap boats or find a local fisherman that would take them out.
Suguru didn't like people so Nick was his best choice. He didn't have the funding to get his own boat, much less to hire a crew specifically dedicated to watching the pods that came through Puget Sound like some of the other researching crews did. He made it work, though. Nick was a local fisherman with a newer boat that typically knew where to go to find the pods when they traveled to Puget Sound. It wasn't always guaranteed that they would see one of the pods but Suguru always paid a little over Nick's rate, regardless.
"Which pod are you hoping to see today?" Nick asked as he helped Suguru into the boat. He shrugged and adjusted his camera bag.
"Whichever one decides to come out today. I've seen the J pod plenty of times out here so I'm kind of hoping for the L pod. They have some interesting markings that I hope I can get a few pictures of at some point and I've heard they should have some new calves with them this year. I won't get my hopes up about it, though." Suguru mentioned as he took off his camera bag and placed it in the compartment he used when he was on Nick's boat. Any funding he received for his research went into his cameras and he was particularly excited about a drone he had recently bought. He wasn't taking any risks and they would be stored accordingly.
"By the way, I did want to let you know that there will be another passenger today. Said he studies belugas in Alaska and Russia but wanted to test some equipment with the orca pods here before he made his trip to Alaska this year. Sounded pretty excited but if he knows what he's doing he'll know to be quiet." Suguru felt his eyebrow twitch but he nodded, sitting down at one of the seats on the boat. Belugas, huh? That was a very specific species to study.
"When is he supposed to get here?" Suguru found himself asking, already impatient with having to wait for another person. Nick scratched at the back of his head under his trucker's cap.
"I told him the same time I told you, so he should be here any minute. I won't wait longer than ten minutes if he's late, though. Can't burn daylight just because someone's late and I just fueled up for an all-day trip since that's how long you usually like to stay out." Suguru eyed the time on his phone and sighed. He hated waking up so early but it was worth it for the work that he did. It was still chilly since the sun wasn't up yet. He could only hope that the other passenger didn't oversleep.
"Hey! You're Nick, right?" A loud, and oddly familiar voice registered to Suguru from the beginning of the dock.
"That's me! You're Satoru?" Nick shouted back. Suguru's eyes widened. Anyone but him. He would've stayed on the boat for anyone except Satoru Gojo. Whipping his head around to stare at the white-haired idiot nearly running down the dock, he was ready to jump into the frigid waters just to escape.
"Actually, I think I'll reschedule with you, Nick. This is already-" Suguru started as he stood on wobbly legs.
"Suguru? Is that you?" Satoru was nearly panting from his scramble down the dock, bags hanging haphazardly off of his shoulders as he leaned closer to the boat. Suguru's face burned in mortification. It was too late.
"Hey, Satoru…" he muttered weakly, sitting back down. Satoru looked like he'd hardly aged a day yet they hadn't seen each other in ten years. The only difference being an undercut to his hair that looked really good on the other man. Satoru was wearing a hoodie and jeans but Suguru could tell that he'd filled out more. They weren't the same lanky teenagers they had been.
"This is the best day ever! I didn't know you did whale watching!" Satoru shouted as he jumped into the boat, causing it to rock slightly. It was a rather large boat by a solo fisherman's standards but the sudden movement already had Suguru's anxiety on a knife's edge.
"Research, actually. I got accepted into an institution a few years ago." He avoided looking into Satoru's sunglasses-covered eyes. How that man could say this would be the best day ever after what Suguru had done to him after high school was beyond him.
"Me too! I was originally going to go South to research the dolphins down on the Southern coast but I got an offer to look into belugas and, after a bit of research, I fell in love with the idea! It's so ironic that they picked a guy with white hair to follow a bunch of white whales all over Alaska. I blend in with the snow!" Suguru couldn't help but chuckle quietly. That was pretty ironic. "What about you? Do you research orcas around here or did I just happen to catch you by freak chance?" Satoru asked as he plopped down next to Suguru, carefully setting his bags down under the seat. Suguru ran a hand through his hair and glanced out at the open water.
"I research the pods in Puget Sound and have been for a few years. I'm not part of any of the big research groups so I don't get a lot in terms of pay but it's fun. There's a specific pod I'm hoping to see today." The answer was casual but Suguru's heart was hammering in his chest. Finally risking a glance at his highschool ex-boyfriend, he felt the breath freeze in his lungs at the look Satoru was giving him. His sunglasses were pushed on top of his head, his blue eyes bright against the nearly black and white background of their environment. A genuinely happy smile was on his face and his eyes… those damn eyes were half-lidded in a look Suguru had seen so many times before.
"That's awesome. I'm so glad you're doing something that you love. Everything been alright these last few years?" Suguru didn't really know how to respond. Everything had NOT been alright but he wasn't about to spill everything about his trauma-filled last decade to his ex on a boat that they would be trapped together on for an entire day.
"Uh, yeah. Look, we should really get going. We're going to be out all day so we'll talk more when we're out in the water." Suguru gently offered, turning to Nick to give him his best 'help me' look. Nick was already watching the conversation with barely-contained interest before he gave Suguru a thumbs up and started the boat, the motor loud enough to cut off most conversation until they got to their destination.
Their first stop was just South of the San Juan islands. Nick stopped the boat and anchored it, turning off the motor before going below deck. It was a normal routine for Suguru and Nick. Nick didn't have much interest in waiting to see the orcas so he would go downstairs to watch videos on his phone or take a nap until Suguru saw something or called down for them to move to a different location. However, this left Suguru alone with Satoru.
"It's so nice out here compared to Alaska. Even at this time of year, Northern Alaska is cold as hell." Satoru was attempting to make small talk and Suguru could not be more uncomfortable. Taking initiative, he went to the compartment he'd stored his bags in and pulled out a pair of binoculars. He was fully prepared to stare through them the entire day, hoping for a glimpse of water spraying in the air from blow-holes out in the distance.
"Soooo, what's been going on?" Satoru continued to prod as Suguru scanned the distant coastline along with open water.
"Not much. The girls are in college in Virginia. I live here and do my work here." Suguru answered, trying to keep his answers bland in hopes that Satoru would get bored and shut up.
"That's exciting! I bet you're really proud of them! Megumi actually just started college last year." Satoru seemed to take a moment to think as his sentence trailed off. "You're not… you're not still part of that cult, are you?" The question was spoken quietly, completely uncharacteristic of the Satoru that Suguru had once known. The silence between them was long, only the lapping of the waves hitting the side of the boat filling it.
"No. That was very short-lived." Suguru said with a sigh as he finally put the binoculars down. Guilt began to eat at his insides, an unpleasant side effect of admitting his entire reason for leaving Satoru was just… a moment in time that he'd had a lapse of judgment.
He'd known he'd had something great with Satoru, but at the time, he'd been blind. So focused on the 'change he could make in the world' that he'd willingly forced Satoru to either join him or be against him. Looking back, it wasn't fair to Satoru to have pushed him to make that choice. Satoru had been right. It was a cult and he'd gotten severely burned for playing with a fire he'd known nothing about. It hadn't been until he was finding himself nearly committing murder at his leader's beck and call that he'd snapped out of it and reported the entire thing. The cult had turned out to be some Yakuza-wannabe scheme and he'd played right into their hands until the very last second.
After a few years of utilizing Japanese witness protection services, he'd learned his lesson. Once the case was over, he'd packed up everything and taken his sisters overseas to live in Washington, a new start. It had been the best choice of his life. Yet, he always felt like he was missing something… or someone.
After their nasty breakup in front of a KFC, he'd never bothered to contact Satoru. It had been years and he didn't know what to say. 'I'm sorry, you were right! Take me back!' just didn't seem right. He'd hoped Satoru had moved on, finding himself a mentally stable partner that wasn't prone to getting indoctrinated into cults on a whim.
Now, he wasn't so sure what he wanted Satoru to say. He didn't have the words to apologize after a decade of avoiding the other man.
A relieved sigh and a tall presence joining him to look out over the water wasn't what he'd expected. He wanted Satoru to yell at him, accusing him of not having his priorities straight. He wanted Satoru to demand why he hadn't tried to contact him, to shake him and tell him that he ruined everything they had over nothing. None of it came.
"Are you happy, Suguru?" Satoru asked after a moment, not taking his eyes off of the distant shoreline. Suguru let himself think about his answer before he spoke.
Was he happy?
He was happy that his sisters were able to go to school. He was happy he could spend his days sitting on a boat, watching his childhood fascination breach in front of him and spray onlookers with playful splashes. He was happy he had a roof over his head and a career. There was always something missing, though. He knew what it was. He was lonely. He was missing his best friend.
"Mostly. With the girls in college, I've been keeping to myself these days. It's been a little quiet lately." He braced himself for a rejection of sorts. That statement was about as forward as he could bring himself to be in offering his hand out to Satoru again. They were getting close to their thirties now, he knew Satoru could read between the lines. The little Suguru would admit, especially to imply that he was lonely, revealed a thousand more feelings behind one admission. He wasn't stupid enough to believe that Satoru couldn't still read him like a book.
"We'll trade numbers before we leave today. I'll be here for a few more days and I might need someone to show me around. I've never stopped in Washington before. What do you think?" That teasing tone was back and Satoru's eyes were on him, waiting for a reaction. Suguru couldn't help but smile softly.
"I'd like that. Now, tell me, Nick had mentioned you were going to test some equipment. What exactly is in that bag?" Suguru couldn't help but focus on the task at-hand, wondering if Satoru had access to interesting equipment if he was better-funded than Suguru was. The way Satoru's eyes lit up had told him he was correct.
"You're going to love this! We finally have a hydrophone! Belugas are well-known for their calls and chirps so my investors put their money together to get a really nice one. We should be able to hear calls up to a few miles away!" Satoru ran to his bag, eagerly unzipping it and pulling out a well-secured waterproof box. "I messed around with it in the hotel room last night so it should be set up already! I just need to test it out here and see if it can pick up some of the pods around here. I heard that there was a pod that was almost guaranteed to be here at this time of year so I figured this would be a perfect place to test it before I tried to find some Beluga pods with it." Satoru explained as he started taking parts out of the box, screwing together a small box and a long cord, attaching several other cords to a speaker. It didn't look like much but Suguru knew how expensive some equipment could be.
He didn't expect a brand new laptop to be pulled out, obviously already set up and charged but still stored in the box it had come in. That would have been most of the expense if it had needed a specific program to operate the hydrophone.
Satoru was chipper as he turned on the laptop, running another cord to the box that looked like it could pass for an oddly shaped microphone. He chattered about the program he'd installed the previous night and the hours of trial-and-error he'd gone through just to get it set up in preparation for a day on the water. It was a complicated piece of equipment but Satoru seemed to have no problems with understanding each component and made sure to tell Suguru about every graph that popped up on the computer once everything was set up.
The hydrophone was picking up Satoru's words, nearly maxing out the graph on the screen with just his voice. It was sensitive, Satoru explained. Pulling out a map of Puget Sound that he'd printed the night before, Satoru started asking about their location and did some minor calculations before drawing a small circle around their current location.
"I should be able to pick up anything within this radius. They may not be anywhere near us right now but just hearing them will tell us quite a bit about how many there are and about how far away they might be." Suguru nodded along, interested in the process. He'd never gotten the chance to use a hydrophone but he'd gone along with other researchers that had used them before. That had been years prior, though. He'd still been in school and he hadn't had a chance to hear orca calls since then unless he looked them up on Youtube.
"Without further ado, let's get this concert started!" Satoru declared as he gently dropped the hydrophone over the side of the boat, keeping a tight hold on the cord that kept it secured to his laptop. The cord was long enough that he was able to lower it several feet before tying it to the rail on the boat, running to his laptop. The external speaker that Suguru had seen earlier sat next to the laptop, ready to play what the hydrophone heard once it caught something. After a moment of silence, Satoru started toying with the settings.
"It's not quite calibrated for this just yet so I'm going to mess with it a little bit. I know for a fact that there was a pod spotted just West of here yesterday so we should get some calls even if they're a little distant." Satoru typed on his laptop, moving several dials and adjusting settings until there was a small squeak from the speaker. Pausing his movements, they both leaned closer to the speaker to listen. That squeak was followed by a click, then a series of clicks. Suguru couldn't help but smile.
"That's the pod. Must be J Pod if they're so close and were here yesterday. They love this place." Suguru mentioned, leaning to the side slightly. It was always thrilling to hear the calls as they happened as opposed to through a video. There was a long whistle through the speaker followed by a few clicks, increasing in frequency as more of the pod started to interact.
"They actually might be pretty close. I didn't adjust the range much for the hydrophone to start picking them up. The hydrophone has two sides to it so I'm not sure what direction they would be coming from but you might be able to get a visual." Satoru offered, looking around as if he would be able to see them right next to the boat. Suguru chuckled and took out his binoculars, scanning the open water first. He scanned around the boat until he was facing West, where the sounds were most likely to be coming from. Sure enough, the telltale splash from a blowhole made itself known off in the distance.
"I see them. Not sure which direction they're heading but I can see them." Suguru said as he felt the boat rock slightly. Satoru had gotten up, laptop forgotten for a moment, to stand next to Suguru.
"Can I see?! I forgot my binoculars in my room in my rush to get here and-" Suguru cut him off, smiling as he handed his binoculars to Satoru.
"Knock yourself out. They should be straight ahead." Satoru gave him a beaming smile before starting his search to find the pod, making a small whoop of excitement when he saw them.
"I've never actually gotten to see orcas before! We trained with humpback whales further North so this is awesome!" Satoru was practically vibrating with excitement and Suguru felt a rush of warmth from the tips of his ears to his toes. He wanted to stomp on the feeling to remind himself that Satoru wasn't his to love anymore, but he couldn't ruin the moment for himself. He'd spent too many years beating himself up for the love lost between them, he wanted to be greedy and enjoy it just for a moment. Seeing Satoru excited about things hadn't been uncommon and the familiarity of the situation was getting to him.
He looked out in the direction Satoru was looking and squinted. He hadn't been able to see the pod with just his eyes before but now he could see the dorsal fins of about a dozen or so orcas bobbing in and out of the water.
"I think they're actually headed in this direction." Suguru muttered, looking back at the laptop sitting in the seat of the boat. The sounds from before were increasing in volume, clicks and whistles more frequent and definitely more clear. Satoru put the binoculars down and ran back to his laptop, checking some of the graphs. He'd mentioned that he was recording the calls and there was an obvious uphill line on the graphs that took several factors into account.
"They are! Wow! I wonder if they'll get close enough for you to be able to see what pod they're from!" Satoru tweaked a few more settings and several more calls filled the speaker. From the calls that Suguru had studied over the years, he was able to hear at least one calf.
"They have a calf with them. This may actually be a main branch of one of the pods. I'll get my camera." Rushing to his bag, he fumbled with putting a high definition lens on the camera, getting it put together in record time and securing the strap behind his neck. Satoru was still on his laptop, his eyebrows scrunched together, completely focused as Suguru passed him to focus his camera in the distance.
Snapping a few pictures of dorsal fins in the distance, he looked at the pictures and could see that the fins were pointed directly at them. Whether the pod was going to make a last minute turn to avoid the boat or not was still up in the air. The calls from the speaker were now being kept at a certain volume, likely Satoru's doing to prevent the hydrophone from getting overwhelmed with the calls' volume as the pod got closer.
Making a last minute decision, Suguru went back to his bag and pulled out his old Go-Pro. He'd kept it with him for years on a whim, never really close enough to a pod to use it the way he wanted to. They took great pictures and videos but the camera provided by the institution he worked for was overall better. He pulled out the necessary equipment and eyed Satoru from where he was still hunched over his laptop. It was odd for the other man to be so quiet and focused.
"I need your help with something." Suguru walked over to Satoru who looked up, almost startled.
"Sure! I'm setting this up to record these calls at the maximum quality so you can bring this back to your institution. I'll keep a copy for myself but this is kind of an amazing opportunity! They're sounding so clear and the water is really calm. What are you doing?" Satoru glanced at the waterproof case on the Go-Pro and the mount in Suguru's other hand.
"I'm sticking this to the side of the boat under the water. Hold my legs so I don't fall in." Satoru grinned at that and set his laptop down.
"Oh, the things we do for work! You sure it'll hold?" Satoru looked all too happy to engage in what could be considered 'dangerous behavior' in their line of work. Suguru sighed and pulled a spool of fishing line from his pocket. At the same time, he took off his camera and set it in the seat next to Satoru.
"If the suction cup gives, it'll be tied to this. Now let's get this done before we lose the opportunity." Suguru marched to the back of the boat where the edge was closer to the water, leaning over the side that the pod was approaching from. Eyeing the side of the boat, he found a flat, clean part that would easily hold the mount for the Go Pro. Tying the fishing line in several loops and knots around the mount and into the loop on the case itself, he looked back at Satoru.
"Just hold my legs. I'm going to put it as far down into the water as I can. And don't-"
"I'd never drop you, babe." Satoru finished with a wink. Suguru ignored the blush that was making the tips of his ears burn as he shed his hoodie, knowing getting any of his clothes wet in the frigid water would be a horrible idea. The air was warming up with the now-risen sun so it wasn't uncomfortable. He leaned over the side again, waiting until he felt Satoru at his back. Ignoring the warmth against him, he started leaning further towards the water.
The second he felt his center of gravity tip towards the water, he held his breath. Strong hands gripped his thighs and he instinctively crossed his ankles behind Satoru's upper back as he tipped forward. The blush on his face wasn't going away with how Satoru pulled him flush against his hips in a tight grip. He knew that Satoru knew this was not the safest way of doing this. With the way their crotches were pressed together though, he couldn't complain. He had to remind himself that this was innocent and not at all what his head wanted it to be. Satoru was just helping him not fall off the boat.
All thoughts related to his proximity with Satoru fled his mind as he stuck his hands into the water, wincing at how cold it was despite being in the warmer months for this part of the world. Running a hand along the hull of the boat, he rubbed his fingers at the spot he wanted the camera to stick to, hopefully ridding it of any debris. It was only about a foot under the water but that was the deepest he knew he could put it given the current situation. Sticking the mount to that spot, he held it there for several seconds, holding the fishing line in his other hand just in case. When he let go, it stayed put. He hit the Record button and waved at Satoru to pull him up.
He was careful not to tug on the fishing line as he was brought back over the railing and he made sure to tie it to the railing with several knots. As soon as he moved to step away from the railing, he found his back pressed against a solid warmth he didn't dare pull away from. Arms wound around his midsection and a chin settled on his shoulder, making him shiver.
"Since when were you such a rule-breaker? You were always so prim and proper in school…" Satoru's voice dropped and Suguru swallowed, not sure how to handle the situation.
"S-Sometimes you have to break a few rules to get results. What are you doing, Satoru?" He didn't bother to cover up the waver in his voice, completely caught off guard with how familiar yet unfamiliar the situation they were in was. A breath ghosted across his ear and he shivered again.
"Just holding you. It's been way too long and I've missed you. I never stopped looking for you." Satoru buried his face in Suguru's shoulder and Suguru couldn't help how he relaxed into the hold, leaning into Satoru.
"I missed you too," he mumbled, covering one of Satoru's hands with his own still-wet hand. Satoru's grip tightened on him and he let out a long sigh.
"You're cold," Satoru murmured, yet didn't seem willing to let Suguru go to put on his hoodie. Suguru shrugged. Just then, a particularly loud call played on the speaker at the front of the boat and Suguru's eyes widened.
"The pod!" He pulled himself from Satoru and rushed to retrieve his camera. Getting the strap back around his neck, he rushed to the side of the boat. Taking in the details of the markings that were now starting to become visible, he was shocked to see how close the pod had gotten to the boat. They were only a couple hundred feet from the boat and had only slightly changed their angle of approach, moving towards the back of the boat. Taking out his camera, he started getting pictures as the backs of the cetaceans broke from the water. The zooming lens on his camera was able to easily focus on the orcas and he was able to start seeing the marks on them.
"Holy shit…" Suguru muttered as he took several pictures of one of the larger individuals in the pod. The saddle patches and pigment markings were spot-on for L Pod. "I think this is L Pod! Get Nick!" Suguru kept himself from shouting but Satoru seemed to understand the urgency as he opened the door to the steep stairs leading below deck, sticking his head in and calling for Nick. Suguru continued to get pictures, quickly moving his camera to keep up with the pod as they broke through the water in seemingly random patterns. Their calls played from the speaker in the background and he couldn't help but feel excited at how amazing the trip had already turned out to be this early in the morning.
"What's going on?" Nick asked as he rushed out from below deck, carefully walking to the side of the boat Suguru was standing at.
"I think this is L Pod. Do you recognize any of them?" Suguru passed over the binoculars that had been left on the seat. Nick took a moment to watch the pod as they drew closer to the boat.
"I think that's L77 with the really obvious saddle patch and the black line separating it from her pigmentation. That nick at the top of her dorsal is pretty telling even if it's small. They call her 'Matia.'" Nick paused as Suguru used his camera to find Matia, snapping a few pictures when she came up again. "I see there's a hydrophone now. Yours?" Nick turned to Satoru who smiled and waved a little.
"Yeah! That's the new equipment I was talking about. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?" Nick nodded with his own smile.
"I hope you're recording. L Pod doesn't come out very often so this is actually going to be pretty rare stuff for you two. If they get much closer, you might end up with some of the best recent pictures of the pod in the field, Suguru." Suguru didn't look away from where he was taking pictures but he knew Nick was smiling at his good luck.
"We'll see. It's still pretty hard to get pictures with them moving around like this and they don't usually approach boats so they could turn the other direction." Suguru didn't want to get his hopes up but he couldn't stifle the bubbling excitement in his chest. A hand on his shoulder almost startled him.
"Just keep getting pictures, Suguru. Some of them have to be perfect even from this angle." Satoru told him, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Suguru nodded and continued to take pictures as the pod got closer.
After a few minutes, the pod made a gradual turn towards the back of the boat and Suguru decided to relocate. Satoru left his laptop in the front but followed Suguru. The boat was facing South so the pod had chosen to go between the boat and the most Southern island of the San Juan Islands.
When the pod started passing by, Suguru couldn't help but gasp at being able to watch the pod pass only one or two hundred feet away. They were extremely close to the boat and he snapped pictures as fast as possible, trying to get photos of every individual that came up. In the center of the twenty or so orcas, a calf was breaking for air and he took pictures of every half-second it was exposed to air.
"Uh, Suguru? We have a visitor." Satoru's voice almost sounded nervous as Suguru pulled his face away from the camera to look in the direction Satoru was pointing. One of the orcas had broken away from the pod and was about to go under the boat, directly in front of and under the Go Pro he'd placed.
"Matia might just be checking us out. L Pod likes to move through here quickly so she may just be curious." Nick helpfully mentioned. Suguru snapped several pictures of Matia as she turned to curve around the back of the boat, getting at least one clear picture of her markings. She came back around, her full body in view under the water, right in front of the Go Pro. Suguru was going to do unspeakable things to that camera if it had stopped recording or given out prior to this moment. He continued taking pictures until she appeared to grow bored, swimming back to the pod that was still passing by.
Suguru took as many pictures as he could, praying he got enough to identify who was in the pod. That was the most important aspect of his research - identification. Updating the charts for who was in which pod was important to track what remained of the orca population and getting an identification on a new calf would be just as important. Satoru and Nick let him work in silence, ignoring his mumblings as he tried to keep track of who he had gotten pictures of and who he hadn't.
As the pod started getting too far away for his camera, he sighed and let the camera hang from the strap on his neck. The calls from the speaker at the front of the boat were getting quieter, no longer picking up as easily with the decreased sensitivity settings Satoru had adjusted earlier. Depending on what pictures he'd gotten, he already knew he was done working for the day. The excitement from earlier had waned and he was feeling tired already.
"That was awesome!" Satoru finally yelled, jumping slightly and making the boat rock. Suguru smiled at him and gestured for them to retrieve the Go Pro.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Nick nearly shouted as Suguru set his camera down and Satoru moved to hold his legs.
"Suguru put a camera down there before the pod got here! That entire thing with Ms. Matia might be on video!" Satoru cheered, holding Suguru's thighs as he tipped over the side of the boat in the exact same way as last time.
"You can't just lean over the boat! If you fall in, that's my ass! Dude, seriously?!" Nick's protests went ignored as Suguru retrieved the Go Pro, happy to find that it had stayed in position and the red light to indicate it was recording was still blinking. The water was still cold but he was too excited to care. He stopped the camera from recording so it wouldn't overwrite anything important before he waved at Satoru to pull him up again. Satoru was not sly with how handsy he was in pulling Suguru over the railing.
"It's fine! This will be so worth it!" Satoru told Nick in that tone that usually got him in trouble. Suguru couldn't help but smile as he held up his prize.
"Still in position and it was still recording. I think we have a video!" Suguru laughed as Satoru gave him a one-armed hug. Nick seemed to pick up on the odd relationship between the two as he crossed his arms but let the matter go.
"So, Suguru, Satoru, are you done for the day or should we move to a different spot? This would usually be enough for anyone else to go enjoy the rest of their day and celebrate but I know how you are, Suguru." Nick gave him a pointed look, tilting his head slightly in Satoru's direction. Suguru's face heated but he got the message.
"I think we're done for the day. Thank you, Nick. I'll let you know what we found when I get a chance to go over the pictures and the video." Nick seemed relieved at not having to stay out all day as he gestured for them to pack up their things and get in their seats. Satoru chattered endlessly about how much fun it was to see an orca pod for the first time as he put away his hydrophone closed his laptop. He was careful with his equipment, treating it like precious cargo after the importance of what he'd recorded was stressed.
Locking everything away in the watertight compartment in the floor, they made their way back to shore.
...
Once they were safely tied to the docks, an awkward silence hung between Satoru and Suguru as they got off the boat. Sure, they had promised to trade numbers, but they had an entire day ahead of them now. Satoru was not subtle in whining about how he didn't want to go back to his hotel room and Suguru was itching to get home to go through what he'd collected from their trip.
"Why don't you come back to my place? I still need a copy of that recording and I'm sure you want to see what Matia left us." It had slipped out of his mouth before he'd thought any better of it, not wanting Satoru to leave him just yet. Their moment on the boat hadn't left his mind and he knew having Satoru alone with him in his home wasn't the greatest idea. At least, not with the tension that had built up from seeing each other after a decade of radio silence.
"That would be awesome! Do you have a car or should I get an Uber?" Satoru's enthusiasm was contagious and Suguru smiled, waving him off.
"I can drive. Do you have anywhere to be for the day?" he asked. Satoru started walking down the dock to get back onto dry land as he shook his head.
"Nope! I'm here for a few days until I get picked up for the Alaska trip. The only thing I had planned was exploring the area and now I have a guide!" Suguru shook his head, only slightly exasperated with Satoru's usual nonchalant attitude. He'd missed it.
"Let's go, then. Once we get this out of the way then I'll show you a nice lunch spot near my place."
"Do they have dessert?"
"Of course they do."
Nick watched the two researchers disappear behind the treeline that blocked his view of the parking lot, shaking his head. Suguru never smiled so that Satoru guy had to mean something to him. They were cute, though. Now he could spend the entire day below deck eating Cheetos and watching videos without Suguru directing him to a new location every hour.
...
"Wow, these actually came out great! I didn't realize you'd taken over a thousand pictures in like, fifteen minutes but these are nice!" Satoru was leaning over Suguru's shoulder, watching as he scrolled through the pictures in his SD card from his camera. He'd taken several rapid-shot pictures to make sure he had every angle of each individual they had seen that day so, of course, the pictures had racked up. There were a couple that were near duplicates but he wouldn't delete a single one of them. He copied a few of his favorites over to his personal portfolio before digging the SD card from his Go Pro.
"I took as many pictures as physically possible. The institute will want all of them so they can ID the members of that pod and add the pictures to the database. I'll keep a few of them but I did my job pretty well if I got over a thousand pictures." Satoru had already made a copy of the recordings and that would be sent to the institute as well since Satoru didn't really need the recordings he'd gotten other than for personal reasons.
"I've taken some pictures but belugas are kind of hard to ID if you don't see their entire body. We mostly just track their migration patterns and overall population for preservation purposes. Their main thing is their calls. They're loud and some people call them the 'canaries of the sea' which was why I requested the hydrophone. I didn't realize that so much went into tracking orcas around here." Satoru leaned back in his chair, tilting it back so it was on two legs.
They were in Suguru's kitchen with coffee that Suguru claimed he couldn't function without. Satoru had taken in the small apartment with obvious interest, eyeing the pictures of orcas on the walls that Suguru had reluctantly admitted were all his own pictures. He'd downgraded to a smaller apartment after the girls had left for college, leaving him in a nice two bedroom, one bathroom apartment just outside of Seattle.
"Belugas are a bit more friendly, aren't they? Orcas can be friendly but I haven't personally gotten too close to any." Suguru asked, switching the SD card in his computer for the one that was in the Go Pro.
"Oh yeah! I've played some games with a few when they've gotten close to the boat. They'll fetch things for fish but we don't give them any treats for the sake of not encouraging them to get close to the boats. It's the civilians that have them trained like that and it's kind of sad. A lot of them get hunted using tactics that prey on that behavior. They'll still do it for fun, though." Satoru set his chair back on all four of its legs, watching Suguru as he opened up the file with the video in it.
Things were blurry for several minutes of the video, the dark background of the water not giving them anything to really look at. At least, until a flash of white was picked up. Matia had cautiously approached the boat straight on and the black-on-black was difficult to pick up. It was as she turned to start investigating the boat that Suguru's breath caught in his throat. Her stark white markings were perfectly visible as she turned to start circling the boat. Only one or two passes showed her entire body as she passed, the saddle patch and pigmentation on her back more clear but the nick on her dorsal fin impossible to see with the dark background.
The video ended with Suguru's hands closing around the camera and pulling it up, turning it around to reveal his smiling face and Satoru holding him up by his legs in the background, smiling down at the camera as well. Suguru couldn't help the small laugh that bubbled out of him at the image the video stopped on.
"We looked ridiculous!" Satoru said with a laugh of his own. Suguru couldn't help but screenshot the image on his screen, knowing it would automatically save to his computer for him to crop later.
"We really did. That was fun, though. I couldn't have gotten that video without your help." Suguru stopped laughing, smiling at the screen. A hand wrapped around his waist, pulling him halfway out of his seat and halfway into Satoru's lap. "Sato-"
"Hush. I want to say a few things. If you disappear forever after this, then so be it. But I need you to know." Satoru started, adjusting his grip on Suguru while bringing his other hand up to tuck Suguru's bangs behind his ear. "I never stopped looking for you after we broke up. I was heartbroken and couldn't understand why you wanted to join that cult rather than stay with me. I was confused and didn't know what to do without you in my life. I wanted to find you after I'd heard that the cult was arrested for some murders and another attempted murder but it was like you'd disappeared off the face of the Earth. I moved on but I never really moved on, you know? I started doing this because you were so passionate about it when we were in school and I hoped that one day I'd run into you. I never did but I kept looking. God, Suguru, I won't let go of you again. I still love you. Please, please tell me you feel the same way." Satoru had pressed his face against the back of Suguru's neck and he could feel how his hair was getting damp. He'd never seen Satoru cry, yet here he was.
Getting up from Satoru's loose grip, he turned around to sit down in Satoru's lap, brushing the hair away from the other man's eyes. He cupped Satoru's cheek and forced him to look up at him.
"Satoru, I've always loved you. I'm so sorry for all of the trouble I put you through. I was the one that turned in that cult for the murders. They tried to make me kill someone and I couldn't do it. I was put into a witness protection service in Japan and I took the girls and ran here as soon as that case was resolved. I'm sorry I never tried to reach out to you. I was scared of what you would say. Will you forgive me?" Suguru held his breath as the air between the two of them seemed to freeze. Satoru's eyes had widened as he'd listened, tears still trailing down his cheeks. Suguru hadn't expected to have this chance and he prayed he hadn't ruined it.
"Yes. A thousand times yes." Suguru found himself engulfed in a hug so tight he almost couldn't breath. Pulling back slightly, Satoru eyed his mouth before seeming to throw all caution to the wind, pressing his lips against Suguru's in a hungry kiss. Suguru clutched at the other man's shirt, holding him impossibly close as he struggled to keep up with Satoru. When they broke away, Satoru huffed out a small laugh.
"I'm never letting you go again, you hear me? We're in this together from now on." Suguru felt his own eyes start to itch with tears he didn't want to let go.
"I wouldn't ask you to. We're in it together." Satoru hugged him close again, resting his chin on Suguru's shoulder.
"Should I cancel that trip to Alaska?"
"What, no! That's your job!"
"You know I don't actually need the money, right? I inherited my family's money and that could literally support us, the girls, Megumi, and like a hundred other people until the day we die."
"Well then I thought you enjoyed it!"
"I think I enjoy this more."
...
Author's Note: Another oneshot was written after this one providing the backstory behind Suguru's disappearance from Japan. It's published on my profile titled as "Finding Something Broken."