and in the ocean we'll hold hands
Title: and in the ocean we'll hold hands
Pairing(s): Ohno/a mermaid
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1350
Summary: What happens when things become too real, or: Ohno brings a mermaid home.
Notes: Because really, I just needed to write about the sea. This fic, which revolves around That Music Meme I have actually wanted to do for YEARS, comes as an in-between to fundraiser fics and is definitely just one of those things I needed to get out of my system. If you already knew, good for you, but if not--the title comes from The Killers' Bones (LOVETHATSONG). And Lena-the-mermaid is loosely, loosely, very loosely based on one of my favorite Japanese fashion models, but that's just self-indulgence and not important.
1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.
3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it’s over. No lingering afterwards!
4. Do ten of these, then post them.
No Stopping Us Jason Mraz
Ohno fishes her onto the deck one day, pulling her up not with the rod but with his hand, outstretched if a little shaky. He's not so sure what to make of all of this, but she is beautiful, that much he knows.
"You can toss me back," she says, first in some odd gibberish language that sounds like rippling water, like the swish of schools of fish moving this way and that. But she repeats it, this time in Japanese.
He touches her. She is real; skin cool, nails like pearls, hair the color of octopus ink.
And she has a tail. Well-had. When he rests a hand on her knee it's all skin and rounded bone with no trace of scale whatsoever.
"We've adapted, you know," she says, flipping her hair over one shoulder. "If I wanted to I could just walk out of the sea and into a supermarket."
"Have you ever?" Ohno is fascinated, partly by the fact that she's saying all of this and partly because his hand is still on her knee and she hasn't told him to move along. "What would you even buy?"
She thinks about it.
"Cigarettes," she tries, and Ohno decides to reel in and call it a day.
I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You Madonna, Jonathon Pryce
The truth is, Ohno can't bring himself to let her smoke. He takes her to his apartment instead, helping her walk on soles of feet too smooth for the earth, for the rough wood of the dock. He almost wants to carry her, to just sweep her little body into his arms, but it doesn't seem right. He holds her hand instead.
"A car!" Her voice swells. "Is it real?"
"I thought you were used to this place?" Ohno accuses.
She tosses her hair again and doesn't answer.
Say Hello Rosie Thomas
In the foyer, she leaves no shoes behind. Even her toes are strangely enthralling, and Ohno takes her hand again as she steps into his home.
"Wait," she says suddenly, and snatches back her hand. "What are you going to do with me?"
Ohno stares. "I'm not that great of a cook but I thought I'd try," he says.
She laughs. "I'm not even human, but shouldn't we do names first?"
Ohno doesn't really care about names, but he'll go with it. "Satoshi."
"What do you do?" She seems more excited about this question than any regular person would be. "For a living, I mean."
"It doesn't matter," Ohno says, because it doesn't. "And can I just ask--?"
"Lena. I'm Lena."
"Lena," Ohno echoes. "What are you?"
He watches her test the cushions of the couch before lying back on it and stretching.
"Oh, I promise you I'm real," she says, and smiles at him, all sun on sand.
Reason Why Rachael Yamagata
Lena won't give any explanations, and Ohno doesn't press. Each time he has closed his eyes and opened them expecting to see nothing but empty space, she's still been there, flipping through his magazines or leaving fingerprints on the glass coffee table. She even eats his food, though she won't touch the fish.
The sun goes down in one orange sweep and Ohno wonders if she'll disappear at midnight. But they watch television until the late-night shows start running, and when he turns to the other side of the couch she is still there, eyes half-closed but very much thrumming and breathing and alive.
"Maybe I should take you back," Ohno says, as if the ocean has a one o'clock curfew.
"Sure," she says, almost whispering.
But they stay there unmoving, and eventually she falls asleep.
Ohno wonders if mermaids dream.
You Belong to Me Jason Wade
He wants to be with her all the time. This is bad for publicity, he knows, and part of him really does not give a damn, but he has others to think about and so he stays inside. He tells people he has pneumonia; coughs to his manager that he is highly contagious. He buys himself a week at the very least, and then spends it indoors with her.
Lena has a Japanese last name, but Ohno is pretty sure she just stole it from a sign she saw while swimming near the surface. She takes showers, but emerges wide-eyed and scared because the fresh water burns her. She kisses like a storm picking up on the water, fast and intense, and she tastes like salt and kelp. And Ohno still won't let her smoke, but he still holds her hand around the house if only because he feels like she needs the guidance.
He's not really sure what all of this means, but he's learned not to doubt the world.
The Perfect Crime 2 The Decemberists
"You know that stealing a mermaid from the sea is kind of like homicide?"
She poses it like a question, but Ohno doesn't have an answer.
"Because of my tail." Lena points to her wiggling toes. "I won't get it back, you know. You stole it from me. Where I come from, that's murder."
"I didn't steal anything," Ohno says, frowning. "You caught onto my line and I just pulled you out of the ocean. That's what happens when you fish."
"Oh, honey," Lena says, and shakes her head. "Not in mermaid waters."
You and I Both Jason Mraz
When the week is up, Ohno goes back to work just like usual, comes home just like usual, kicks his shoes off just like usual. He realizes that his apartment now reeks of sea salt and brine, and that there is sand everywhere: in his bathtub, on his carpet, in the kitchen sink, underneath his nails.
This is what they call sealust.
But he knows this is not okay. One day he's going to wake up and she'll be gone-down his drain, literally. Or back to the sea-she knows how to walk there, it's in her blood. Or evaporated, just like the tail she once had.
And Ohno will remain a criminal for fishing in mermaid waters, and he will go back again and again and again. Some lessons can never be learned.
How to Save a Life The Fray
She tells him it won't work because she no longer has a tail for an anchor.
"I'll just float." Her voice is apologetic. "If you throw me back I'll just do the crawl back to shore. I'll follow your boat."
"Does this mean you're human now?" Ohno won't let himself sound hopeful, but he can't help it: a fisherman longs only for the sea.
"I'll never be that," she says, and grins weakly. "You'll just have to watch me sink, that's all. I can't swim down there. It wouldn't be the same."
Ohno props his feet up on the balcony railing, then takes one cigarette from a newly opened packet and hands it to her.
"So you'll grow a new tail," he says, and watches her tiny fist close around the stick of tobacco.
"It's a slow process, but yeah. I will." In the dark, her cheeks glow white like moonlight on the surface of a seashell. "They say if you grow a new tail, it's kind of like being reborn."
Ohno laughs. "So you're a snake."
She slaps him on the shoulder. "Rude," she hisses, but laughs right along with him.
Does He Love You? Rilo Kiley
It happens quickly, like dousing a flame: he helps her over the edge of the boat at the place where he found her, and he holds her hand as far as he can over the railing. Then he lets go, and she's gone in a single splash and a half-smile.
For hours he hears only the water rippling round the sides of the boat. Funny, he thinks before he falls asleep, how mermaids can trick you into thinking their land is special, but their water sounds just like the rest of the ocean does.
The Only Exception Paramore
"Why do you like fishing so much, Leader?"
If it had been anyone else but Aiba, Ohno would have glossed over the answer. But it's Aiba, and there is a bottle of wine split between them, and he's high on leftover concert adrenaline.
"I'm in love with the ocean," he says, and it is simple to everyone else but himself.
Pairing(s): Ohno/a mermaid
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1350
Summary: What happens when things become too real, or: Ohno brings a mermaid home.
Notes: Because really, I just needed to write about the sea. This fic, which revolves around That Music Meme I have actually wanted to do for YEARS, comes as an in-between to fundraiser fics and is definitely just one of those things I needed to get out of my system. If you already knew, good for you, but if not--the title comes from The Killers' Bones (LOVETHATSONG). And Lena-the-mermaid is loosely, loosely, very loosely based on one of my favorite Japanese fashion models, but that's just self-indulgence and not important.
1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.
3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it’s over. No lingering afterwards!
4. Do ten of these, then post them.
No Stopping Us Jason Mraz
Ohno fishes her onto the deck one day, pulling her up not with the rod but with his hand, outstretched if a little shaky. He's not so sure what to make of all of this, but she is beautiful, that much he knows.
"You can toss me back," she says, first in some odd gibberish language that sounds like rippling water, like the swish of schools of fish moving this way and that. But she repeats it, this time in Japanese.
He touches her. She is real; skin cool, nails like pearls, hair the color of octopus ink.
And she has a tail. Well-had. When he rests a hand on her knee it's all skin and rounded bone with no trace of scale whatsoever.
"We've adapted, you know," she says, flipping her hair over one shoulder. "If I wanted to I could just walk out of the sea and into a supermarket."
"Have you ever?" Ohno is fascinated, partly by the fact that she's saying all of this and partly because his hand is still on her knee and she hasn't told him to move along. "What would you even buy?"
She thinks about it.
"Cigarettes," she tries, and Ohno decides to reel in and call it a day.
I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You Madonna, Jonathon Pryce
The truth is, Ohno can't bring himself to let her smoke. He takes her to his apartment instead, helping her walk on soles of feet too smooth for the earth, for the rough wood of the dock. He almost wants to carry her, to just sweep her little body into his arms, but it doesn't seem right. He holds her hand instead.
"A car!" Her voice swells. "Is it real?"
"I thought you were used to this place?" Ohno accuses.
She tosses her hair again and doesn't answer.
Say Hello Rosie Thomas
In the foyer, she leaves no shoes behind. Even her toes are strangely enthralling, and Ohno takes her hand again as she steps into his home.
"Wait," she says suddenly, and snatches back her hand. "What are you going to do with me?"
Ohno stares. "I'm not that great of a cook but I thought I'd try," he says.
She laughs. "I'm not even human, but shouldn't we do names first?"
Ohno doesn't really care about names, but he'll go with it. "Satoshi."
"What do you do?" She seems more excited about this question than any regular person would be. "For a living, I mean."
"It doesn't matter," Ohno says, because it doesn't. "And can I just ask--?"
"Lena. I'm Lena."
"Lena," Ohno echoes. "What are you?"
He watches her test the cushions of the couch before lying back on it and stretching.
"Oh, I promise you I'm real," she says, and smiles at him, all sun on sand.
Reason Why Rachael Yamagata
Lena won't give any explanations, and Ohno doesn't press. Each time he has closed his eyes and opened them expecting to see nothing but empty space, she's still been there, flipping through his magazines or leaving fingerprints on the glass coffee table. She even eats his food, though she won't touch the fish.
The sun goes down in one orange sweep and Ohno wonders if she'll disappear at midnight. But they watch television until the late-night shows start running, and when he turns to the other side of the couch she is still there, eyes half-closed but very much thrumming and breathing and alive.
"Maybe I should take you back," Ohno says, as if the ocean has a one o'clock curfew.
"Sure," she says, almost whispering.
But they stay there unmoving, and eventually she falls asleep.
Ohno wonders if mermaids dream.
You Belong to Me Jason Wade
He wants to be with her all the time. This is bad for publicity, he knows, and part of him really does not give a damn, but he has others to think about and so he stays inside. He tells people he has pneumonia; coughs to his manager that he is highly contagious. He buys himself a week at the very least, and then spends it indoors with her.
Lena has a Japanese last name, but Ohno is pretty sure she just stole it from a sign she saw while swimming near the surface. She takes showers, but emerges wide-eyed and scared because the fresh water burns her. She kisses like a storm picking up on the water, fast and intense, and she tastes like salt and kelp. And Ohno still won't let her smoke, but he still holds her hand around the house if only because he feels like she needs the guidance.
He's not really sure what all of this means, but he's learned not to doubt the world.
The Perfect Crime 2 The Decemberists
"You know that stealing a mermaid from the sea is kind of like homicide?"
She poses it like a question, but Ohno doesn't have an answer.
"Because of my tail." Lena points to her wiggling toes. "I won't get it back, you know. You stole it from me. Where I come from, that's murder."
"I didn't steal anything," Ohno says, frowning. "You caught onto my line and I just pulled you out of the ocean. That's what happens when you fish."
"Oh, honey," Lena says, and shakes her head. "Not in mermaid waters."
You and I Both Jason Mraz
When the week is up, Ohno goes back to work just like usual, comes home just like usual, kicks his shoes off just like usual. He realizes that his apartment now reeks of sea salt and brine, and that there is sand everywhere: in his bathtub, on his carpet, in the kitchen sink, underneath his nails.
This is what they call sealust.
But he knows this is not okay. One day he's going to wake up and she'll be gone-down his drain, literally. Or back to the sea-she knows how to walk there, it's in her blood. Or evaporated, just like the tail she once had.
And Ohno will remain a criminal for fishing in mermaid waters, and he will go back again and again and again. Some lessons can never be learned.
How to Save a Life The Fray
She tells him it won't work because she no longer has a tail for an anchor.
"I'll just float." Her voice is apologetic. "If you throw me back I'll just do the crawl back to shore. I'll follow your boat."
"Does this mean you're human now?" Ohno won't let himself sound hopeful, but he can't help it: a fisherman longs only for the sea.
"I'll never be that," she says, and grins weakly. "You'll just have to watch me sink, that's all. I can't swim down there. It wouldn't be the same."
Ohno props his feet up on the balcony railing, then takes one cigarette from a newly opened packet and hands it to her.
"So you'll grow a new tail," he says, and watches her tiny fist close around the stick of tobacco.
"It's a slow process, but yeah. I will." In the dark, her cheeks glow white like moonlight on the surface of a seashell. "They say if you grow a new tail, it's kind of like being reborn."
Ohno laughs. "So you're a snake."
She slaps him on the shoulder. "Rude," she hisses, but laughs right along with him.
Does He Love You? Rilo Kiley
It happens quickly, like dousing a flame: he helps her over the edge of the boat at the place where he found her, and he holds her hand as far as he can over the railing. Then he lets go, and she's gone in a single splash and a half-smile.
For hours he hears only the water rippling round the sides of the boat. Funny, he thinks before he falls asleep, how mermaids can trick you into thinking their land is special, but their water sounds just like the rest of the ocean does.
The Only Exception Paramore
"Why do you like fishing so much, Leader?"
If it had been anyone else but Aiba, Ohno would have glossed over the answer. But it's Aiba, and there is a bottle of wine split between them, and he's high on leftover concert adrenaline.
"I'm in love with the ocean," he says, and it is simple to everyone else but himself.