Chapter 3a
As soon as he was out of Jared’s sight, Jensen ran all the way back to the wooden house, praying for his legs not to disappoint him and make him trip. In the state of mind he was in, he really couldn’t afford a falling on top of every thing else.
Jensen was terrified of Jared and of what he made Jensen feel. He was a royal guard, damnit! He should know how to control himself.
Jensen breathed a relief sigh when he saw the wooden house. He slammed the door closed, scaring Chris and causing him to jump out of the sofa.
“Shit, Jen! You almost gave me a heart attack!”
Jensen ignored Chris’ comment. “I’m in trouble,” he said instead. His breathing was out of control and his hands were shaking.
Chris dropped the pissed off act, replacing it for real concern. “What happened?” he asked getting closer to Jensen, his voice getting a bit softer.
Jensen sat on the sofa dropping his head into his hands. “Chris, I must be the most terrible human in all this earth,” he said sadly.
Chris shook his head. “That’s because you are a merman, Jen, not a human.”
Jensen didn’t agree with Chris. That wasn’t the problem. He knew he could do better. He had spent seven days learning the human ways. “But I’m pretending to be one, Chris! Damnit, it has been almost a week and I…” Jensen stopped. Chris didn’t have to listen to him talking about his personal frustrations. He had too much in his plate already.
Chris sighed. “It’s that boy again, isn’t it?”
Jensen didn’t know if he should confirm or deny. Chris knew Jensen like the back of his hand. He could read Jensen’s mood swings as nobody else ever could. That’s what made lying to Chris so difficult.
Chris made Jensen’s decision easier when he said “Of course it’s the boy!” He started walking in circles in front of Jensen. Jensen envied the way Chris legs could work in his favor. Jensen’s still couldn’t support all his weight for more than an hour an a half. “Since you tripped over him it’s all you can think about! I should have punched his face when I had the chance!”
Jensen knew about the episode at the beach when Chris and Jared’s friend almost fought. Because of it, Blue was still apprehensive about appearing near the seashore. Secretly, Jensen thanked Jared for the intervention.
“It’s more than just him, Chris,” Jensen said. “It’s… I don’t know… I feel attracted to him.”
Chris stopped pacing. “Well, that’s no surprise.”
Jensen’s angriness got the better of him. “I’m serious, Chris!” he said getting up.
Chris snorted and raised his hands in mock defense. Jensen wanted to hit him. “So am I. In fact, I told you that first day that you had liked him more than you should have.”
Jensen closed his eyes trying to control himself. He knew when he was defeated. And there were no one better than Chris in defeating him with only words.
“I know,” Jensen said resigned, sitting back down again. “But I couldn’t help it.”
Chris sat beside Jensen. “Shit, Jen. You know better.”
Jensen laughed. It was a bit desperate, but Chris didn’t comment on it. Jensen loved him a little more.
“It doesn’t seem to make a difference.” Jensen said.
Chris was quiet for a while. Jensen wondered what Chris thought of him. Since the first days of their friendship, when Chris seemed uncontrollable and Jensen was reclusive. Chris always supported whatever decision Jensen made. To that day, Jensen didn’t know what Chris had seen in him.
Then, he had met Steve, Chris’ counterparty. Steve centered Chris in a way Jensen could never do. When Steve was around, Chris’ wilderness quieted, he could let go without fearing his brusqueness would hurt anyone. There presence of Steve warmed Chris.
It was Steve that had let Jensen see Chris without the layers. Jensen was sure Steve knew what he was doing when he had shown Jensen Chris sitting in a rock singing softly to himself with a contented smile in his face. Jensen had never seen Chris so tranquil. And to that Chris, he could relate.
Of course, when Chris had found out what Steve had done he made some colorful promises to Steve about certain and hurtful death. To Jensen’s surprised, Steve had laughed as if it was the most funny joke he had ever heard and told Chris to behave.
“Ok,” Chris suddenly said getting up from the sofa and startling Jensen in the process. “Let’s go swim.”
Jensen took a moment to understand.
“What?” he asked.
Chris chuckled. “Let’s swim, Jen. You get irritated when you don’t get into the water. The sea will make you good.”
Jensen appreciated Chris efforts to make him feel better. He wouldn’t know what to do if it were only him in dry water with no one to run to. He thanked Steve for suggesting that Chris came with him.
Jensen got up and followed Chris to the back door of the house revealing the secluded part of the beach that was just for both of them.
“How long have you been out of water?” he asked when he saw the raw need in his friend’s eyes.
“Two hours and fifteen minutes,” Chris answered. “Seriously, I don’t know how they do it, being dry all the time…”
Jensen laughed. He could always count on Chris to not change. No matter how many times you explained to him that humans were different, he just didn’t accept it.
When the first part of the meeting with the king had ended, Steve had stayed with Jensen and Chris explaining how it would be possible for them to live among humans. He explained that Jensen and Chris were going to stay at a small house so close to the ocean that there was no division between the door and the sand. He also told them there was a small part of the beach only accessible by the house. He had stopped at that point to smile softly at them. He was as worried about their trip as them both.
Jensen and Chris had exchanged glances and, as Jensen knew Chris wouldn’t talk to Steve, he had asked how the king and his counselors had acquired a human house. Steve had smiled secretly and casually told them the house had always belonged to the merpeople.
Jensen had wondered if there ever were merpeople that had used the house. If there were, then they could track them for some advice. Steve told them that long ago, when the house was nothing but a shack, a couple of merpeople had live in it. But nowadays no sane merman would venture out of water.
Chris couldn’t control the snort that had escaped. Jensen refrained to tell him to behave. Steve shot him another of his icy glares that Jensen had only known after the fight between he and Chris.
Steve, as resourceful as he always, had given Jensen and Chris a list of the most human used furniture and electronics with drawing to illustrate every one. He told them it was going to help them adapt into the new environment. The list had twenty pages. Chris wanted to throw each page at Steve’s head. Jensen had to admit that even he had wanted to strangle his friend. To his credit, Steve did seem sorry.
The first time Jensen and Chris had seen the house Chris threatened to go back. In itself, the small residence wasn’t scary. But the knowledge that this would be their home for the next month was frightening enough. Blue had refrained Chris from swimming back to their underwater city. Jensen resigned himself with his fate.
Inside, the house was spartan. There were a sofa, a table, two chairs, a television Jensen had no idea how Steve had manage to put there - because he was sure that was Steve’s doing, it was his way of apologizing for the mission he had given them.
There was one only bedroom with two beds and a wardrobe filled with men’s clothes. Jensen wished he could learn how to wear jeans without feeling as if he was being restricted. He figured it was a matter of habit.
The kitchen was also small. There was a refrigerator, a stove, a microwave and a sink. It wasn’t as if any of them were cooking any time soon, so Jensen didn’t mind venture much into that room.
But the greatest shock for them both was the bathroom. They could understand the usefulness of the bath and the sink, but the toilet was a mystery until Jensen had realized they couldn’t do their necessities as they had always done. As merepeople, their digestive system processed the food turning it into liquid only and expelled the debris through their skin. It was quite a surprise when Jensen felt the need to push something out of his body. When the need became unbearable, he resorted to Steve’s list trying to figure out what was happening with him. Chris had laughed himself sick when he saw Jensen’s devastated expression.
So, Jensen was the first to debut the toilet. But Chris was the first to forget he had to sit on the bath floor before turning on the water. And for that, Jensen had spent the next day cracking up randomly whenever he remembered Chris’ fall. It was monumental.
And, of course, the best part of the house was its private beach. In the first week they had been there, Jensen lost count of how many times he thanked that small piece of paradise. The only time they could actually be themselves was when they were on the sea water.
Just to taunt Jensen, even though he knew he couldn’t be that unlucky, on the same day he and Jared had met at Mike’s, Jensen and Chris heard the song again. And it was so close Jensen could feel the presence of its owner.
Chris became so restless that he decided to go out and start looking for the person then and there. He grabbed Jensen’s arm and bragged him out of the house.
As soon as Chris put his feet outside, the song suddenly stopped.
Jensen was so startled by it absence that he nearly collided with Chris in his rush to go out.
Chris waited a few more minutes to make to sure the music wasn’t returning. He was certain; he left out a series of curses calling the singer names he would never dare to call anyone else. And Jensen knew there weren’t many words Chris wouldn’t use. He had the title of Dirtiest Mouth of the City.
That night, neither Jensen nor Chris slept. By morning, they both were grumpy and stressed. Chris cursed a few more times and Jensen didn’t have the heart to reproach him.
The problem with trying to find a divinity is that no one had ever tried it before. Jensen thought that, given enough time, he could even enjoy the human life, as an escape from all the turbulence beneath the water. But the fact was that they weren’t with the human to enjoy themselves. They were there looking for someone who supposedly had extraordinary abilities. They didn’t know what to look for, nor did they know what that person looked like.
Steve, as the great counselor he was, had given them all the information he could gather about the supposed divinity. They had arrived at their new house with a chest full of documents and research compiled by Steve. Chris cursed him to his third generation.
Jensen had scanned through the papers. He had to admit Steve had done an impressive job. He had managed to sort through myths and legends dividing what could be real from the possible imaginary tales. He had also gathered all the registered facts he found about humans with special abilities, in it, there were so many documents Jensen wondered if Steve hadn’t been collecting them longer than a week. Knowing his friend, Jensen would say the answer was obvious.
But what was really important to their mission was a relatively small file Steve had prepared with what he thought Jensen and Chris should be looking after when they were hunting their special human. In Steve’s opinion, based in every paper he had studied, if there were a beach divinity, this person should be connected directly with it. That meant that either the beach was reflective of its emotional state or their emotional state was reflective of the beach condition. Given that the beach was a calm one, Steve was guessing they should be looking for a calm person.
Based on their mythology, Steve had also told them that the person should probably be someone native. The merpeople believed in a sea goddess called Iana, the guardian of the marine world. She not only watched for them, but they believed each merperson had a small part of her within themselves.
Most of the merpeople believed Iana remained single for all eternity. But Steve found some stories that contradicted this general belief. In then the legend say Iana fell in love with the earth god, Gan when she saw him walking through a forest in his young dark skinned man form. Trying to call his attention, Iana took a mermaid form with long black hair and blue eyes. It worked. Gan became fascinated with Iana. But his explosive temperament made the relationship almost impossible. Iana used to say he often was as unpredictable as volcano. One could never know when it was going to explode.
To prove his love to Iana, Gan designed a place where the lovers could meet whenever they wanted. He separated a small part of his territory, asked for the help of the forest goddess, Frey, and filled the most part of the territory with trees and flowers, because Iana loved flowers almost as much as she loved the sea. He milled his precious stones and mixed them with the earth. Then, he took seashells arranged them around the territory. Finally, he put it in the middle of the ocean only to be appreciated by Iana.
Iana was so pleased with the gift she threw herself into Gan’s arms and did not let go of him for an entire month. When they finally separated again, Iana was pregnant. The child was born in the island, exactly where the water met the earth.
Jensen knew Chris would never believe in this myth, so he refrained to mention he thought the story was beautiful. He had always wondered what it would feel to be that desperately in love with someone, to feel the need to not let go for a month.
When he had officially become a royal guard, the king had told him not to let his mind wander when his was on duty. But he added that, when he was off duty, he should try to imagine other possibilities for his life, because he was too talented to remain just a guard. Jensen never knew what to do with compliments, so he stored the king’s advice in a far away corner of his brain, forgetting all about it.
Until Steve told them about Iana and Gan.
Jensen wondered what a child of gods would look like. He wondered if he could befriend such a person. Jensen believed a child born of so much love could not be bad. He figured the child would be larger than life, intense and full of passion.
If this divinity really existed, Jensen would want to meet it.
It was on their second day at the house that Jensen discovered the joys of bathing. Steve’s notes mentioned the human love for it, but Jensen didn’t give much credit to them. But, as he was in charge of experimenting of objects related to the bathroom, he decided to give it a try. He figured he should be luck. Chris was responsible for the kitchen. As it were, Jensen fell in love with taking a bath.
So, as soon as Chris was out of the house, Jensen dived into the bath letting his legs be replaced for his emerald green tail. With the white of the bath as background, his tails seemed greener than ever. With a content sigh, Jensen felt the small waves massaging his body and sank deeper, daydreaming about the ocean and its inhabitants.
Three strong knocks at the door pulled him from his reverie. Cursing, Jensen let the water drain and took a towel, drying his tail.
“Wait a minute!”
Wrapping a towel around his waist, he opened the door.
“What?” he asked and found himself face to face with Jared. A very handsome Jared, even if he was dressed in a brown trunks and a pink shirt. Jensen thought it couldn’t be possible for someone to be more beautiful than the human right in front of him.
Jared, though, seemed a bit shocked by Jensen’s appearance.
“Oh.” He scratched his head “I was wondering if you wanted to go to Mike’s with me.” Jensen saw Jared’s eyes traveling through his body. “Nice towel”
Immediately Jensen flushed grabbing the towel securely.
Jared must have realized what he had said.
“I mean- what I can see of it- no! I mean it seems like you were taking a bath-“
Jensen flushed even more. He didn’t know what it was about Jared that turned him into a shy mute. He briefly entertained the idea that Jared was, in fact the divinity they were after and that his powers were to make Jensen speechless with his handsomeness.
Jared smiled apologetically and lowered his eyes.
“Sorry. Sometimes I talk too much.”
Jensen dismissed the apology; his attention was focused on Jared’s smile. He wondered if Jared knew the effect it had on people. He bet Jared knew.
Jensen sighed. Clearly, he was doomed.
Before Jensen worked himself into a panic attack, Jared rescued him.
“So… you want go to Mike’s with me?” Jared asked again.
“I-”
“I promise it won’t take long!” Jared said eagerly, his bangs moving with his head. Jensen got the impression Jared wasn’t used to taking ‘no’ for an answer.
Knowing he wouldn’t be able to refuse Jared, Jensen agreed.
“I can go.”
Jensen saw Jared opening his month and then closing it again.
“You can?” he asked suspiciously. “But you can never go!”
Jensen didn’t know what to do with the commentary.
“But you want me to go?”
Jared nodded. “Yes! If you’re free now we can go.”
Jensen smiled. Jared made him want to keep showing his teeth all the time. It was a bit strange, he wasn’t used to it. “Ok, then. Let me just put some clothes on and we can go,”
Jensen turned around closing the door on Jared’s face and ran to his room trying to find something suitable for wear. He was zipping his pants when suddenly he thought it wasn’t polite to slam a door in one’s potential crush. He ran all the way back tripped in the middle of the room and hit his shoulder against the door, making a strong noise.
“Oh, shit.”
“Jensen!” Jared exclaimed before opening the door in a rush and hitting him again.
“Fuck!”
Jared turned around and saw Jensen sprawled on the floor.
“Jesus, Jen! Are you all right?”
Jensen wanted to disappear. He was indeed the most terrible human in the entire island. Instead, he hid his face against the wall and prayed Jared wouldn’t think any less of him because of his proneness to fall.
“Jen?” Jared asked again.
Jensen’s plan didn’t survive the nickname being said twice. He turned his red face to Jared, his month forming a small smile.
“I tripped” he offered.
Jared grinned back, his smile impossibly big.
“Why am I not surprised?”
Jensen shook his head.
“I don’t know. I never trip when you are around.”
Jared chuckled.
“Of course not,” his grin turned into a soft smile “But you should learn to stay upright, Jensen.”
Jensen refrained to tell him he had had only three days to learn how to walk. It was a miracle he could stand up.
“Are you hurt?” Jared asked crouching down beside Jensen. “Can you stand up?”
Jensen opened and closed his month evaluating if he could get up without help.
“I think I can.”
“Ok.”
Jared backed away, giving Jensen space.
Jensen put his hand against the floor and prayed for his legs not to disappoint him. With a push, he got up.
Jared smiled. Jensen felt irrationally proud of it.
“Let just grab a shirt and we can go,” and cautiously made his way back to the room putting the first shirt he found.
Jared was exactly where he had left him, eying the room with curiosity.
“I always wondered how this house was from the inside,” he said. “I can see it from my window. When I was a kid, I fell in love with it.”
Jensen frowned.
“Why?”
Jared shrugged.
“I don’t know. It always called to me. I liked to pretend it guarded an amazing secret.”
Jensen laughed nervously.
“Yeah… Me and Chris rented it and I can guarantee it has nothing extraordinary about it.”
Jensen couldn’t believe it. He was lying through his teeth. He had never been into any human house. Even though Steve had told them the house was as human as he could make it, Jensen couldn’t know if his house was like any other.
But Jared didn’t seem to notice anything wrong. His eyes were running through the furniture curiously. When they found Jensen, Jared grinned.
“Ready to go?”
Jensen nodded.
“Ready.”
Pleased, Jared led Jensen out and closed the door.
“You will allow me to introduce you to the joys of Mike’s sandwich.” Jared said.
Jensen eyed him.
“I will not eat that monstrosity.”
Jared laughed.
“Oh, please! It’s good, I promise you!”
Jensen managed to control a smile. He enjoyed Jared’s company a lot.
“There’s no way I’m eating that thing!”
Self-consciously, Jensen explained to Jared he had never eaten a sandwich in his life. Jared had taken upon himself to show Jensen all the joys of combining meat and bread with any food imaginable. He recruited Mike for the visual help. Then Jensen told him he had never eaten any kind of meat except fish. Mike dropped his head muttering about lost causes. Claming he couldn’t work with people who had no appreciation for his art, Mike left.
Jared turned to Jensen.
“What? Is it some religious taboo?”
Jensen took his moment to answer the question.
“I’ve never had the opportunity,” he answered sincerely.
That’s when Jared decided to tell him all the joys of the hamburgers. Jensen was having such a good time talking about different subjects and different ways of life that he didn’t even notice the time passing. Jared made him want to learn more about the human world.
Jared got carried away when he started talking about beach volleyball. Jensen didn’t understand much about the sport, but Jared’s enthusiasm was contagious. He wondered what it would be like to play side by side with him.
Jared seemed thrilled with the idea.
“Man, we should play sometime! You aren’t as tall as me, but I’m sure you would kick ass!” Jared said his eyes studying Jensen’s body.
Jensen flushed. He wasn’t used to someone staring so intently at him. Almost in reflex, he said:
“I hope this isn’t an excuse for ogling me.”
Jared smiled sheepishly.
“Damn. There goes my brilliant plan.”
Jensen laughed.
“Oh, shit!” Jared suddenly exclaimed startling Jensen.
“What? What happened?”
Jared got up fishing twos bills from his pocket and throwing them at the table.
“I completely forgot I had to meet Chad! Dude, we’ve been here for more than an hour and a half!”
Jensen paled.
“What?” he asked pulling Jared’s arms closer to him so he could look at the watch. “When did we leave my house?” There was no way they had been there for that long.
“At four o’clock. It’s almost six,” Jared answered and, turning to Mike, he shouted, “I’m leaving the money here. See you later Mike!”
Jensen couldn’t believe he had been out for almost two hours. Scared, he realized if Jared hadn’t looked at his watch Jensen would have stayed longer. And only Iana knew what would happened when his three hours ended.
“Chris is going to kill me.”
Jared turned to him again.
“Why?”
Jensen stared at Jared’s hazel eyes. They were beautiful. Jensen was sure he could let himself get lost inside them. And its color; he was certain he had seen them somewhere else.
“Jensen?” Jared asked, bringing him back.
Jensen shook his head. He needed to take control of the situation again. He wasn’t an adolescence easily infatuated with the first merman he met.
“Nothing. Go meet your friend, Jay.”
Jared eyed him suspiciously.
“Is everything ok, Jen?”
The problem was that Jared wasn’t a merman but he wasn’t an ordinary human either. One look at him and Jensen was gone. Jared had too much life inside of him to contain it all. He had to share it with every person. And Jensen felt inebriated with Jared’s happiness. And wasn’t that the most impropriate time to feel this way?
“Everything’s fine,” he said, smiling sadly to Jared. Jensen started walking back to his house. Jared had no idea how easily he could destroy Jensen’s life. And Jensen knew that given enough time, he would fall for the young human, whether he wanted it or not.
“I’ll see you later, ok?” Jensen heard Jared shouting to him. “There’s a place I want to take you.”
Jensen didn’t reply. He was too busy trying not to run back to his house and to Chris.