(fic) two by the unspoiled shore (1)
two by the unspoiled shore (1) | radishface
Watchmen → young Adrian and Dan, summers by the shore. Gen, possibly shippy if you care to read into it that way.
Vignettes from childhood: Dan meets another boy on the sand; promises are only half-made.
A/N, Previously titled An Unspoiled Coast; written for the KM prompt asking for Adrian and Dan and them being froofy preppy New England types with summer homes in Nantucket. 4057 words total.
at six, unknowing.
Nana's wash-worn hands are smooth and brisk against his arms, layering sweet-smelling sunblock over him. Their hands four are swelled; Nana's with fatigue, Danny's with fat and blood. Fresh cut flowers stand in-vase on the windowsill and the ocean waves to them from outside, blue and endless. Framed by the white of an unspoiled coastline, it is soft and inviting around the edges.
"I wanna go," Danny says, almost jumping up and down with excitement. He is six years old and nothing is more important than right now, he just wants to go and tells Nana as much. "Nan', I wanna--"
"Hold still, chamud sheli. I'm going as fast as I'm able," Nana informs him that warm, gravely voice. She finishes, patting him twice on the shoulders. "All right, I'm finished. Now--"
His little legs take him faster than their car ever could, back door banging behind him and swinging on its hinges. His feet slow against the sand and a grain-thick trail flies behind him, Nana's laughter coming to him from far away. When Danny looks back he sees her standing there, feet curling carefully in the sand, a blur of bright blue in the shawl. Her purple hair has turned silver in the sun and she is bathed in a yellowish aura, eyes a shadow under the frame of her hand. Their house looms big and white behind her, with black windows like square eyes.
He carries his toy boat with him. It hangs unsteady in his right hand and yearns for the water as badly as Danny himself. He itches with every breath but before he takes the plunge, decides to inform grandmother of his decision. He is a good boy, after all, and always tells them where he's going.
"Nana, I'm not waiting anymore!"
The boat flies out of his hands, red and yellow moving against a sea of blue, and he is awash in a bath of vivid technicolor and sea-salt. When he surfaces the boat is rocking gently away from him, hobbling on its side in the shallow swirl of the tide. Dan sets it right and takes a seat in the sand, giggling every time the foam passes over his feet.
And far away-- a real boat! A boat setting out to sea, a glorious crown of seabirds floating around it, a line of flags hanging and dangling in the sea-wind. Danny stands up and waves and waves until he can't see it anymore, and then returns to his own toy, looking at it a little sadly and not knowing why. He fists at the sand and water, making little mountain piles, a dock for his ship.
"It's never as impressive as the real thing, is it?"
A boy, hair as shining as the sun stands heedless besides Danny, eyes flicking back and forth between Danny and his toy.The boy looks quite big, much taller than Danny himself.
"That one's my parent's boat." The boy sounds almost sad as he points with his chin out to sea.
"Your mama and papa's boat?" Danny is excited and can't help it but he's asking. Even his papa doesn't have a boat. His papa just told him they had this new house, this is a new house for them too. Danny would love to live here all the time. "Have you sat in it?"
"All the time," the golden-haired boy says, rolling his eyes.
Danny sighs wistfully. "I wanna ride in a real boat."
"It's not that much fun. You ride around and see the ocean and it's not that much fun at all. You can't even see the fish."
Danny feels himself getting mad even though he doesn't know why. "Is too fun." And he repeats something he knows he's heard his mother saying all the time . "Just taking for granned."
Golden eyebrows raise and the other boy takes a step back. "Taking it for granted," he enunciates.
"Hmph." It's not much fun, talking. He'd rather be playing, and he doesn't care what anybody says, his boat is fun and the water is fun and he's going to make a dock for his boat so it has somewhere to be. He's slapping at the sand for a while before the other boy speaks again.
"You're making it too close to the water. It's going to get washed away if you keep doing that."
Danny keeps doing it anyway. A sigh, and the boy comes next to him, crouching down on the beach so he's all knees and white cotton clothes. Danny tries not to look but he does after a bit. The other boy is making an island out of the sand, little lump like a triangle coming out of the grains and some things that look like trees. Despite himself, Danny is curious. "What's that?"
"Karnak," the boy says in a know-it-all voice. "I'm going to move there after I go to college."
Danny knows the word, he's heard his papa talking 'bout college all the time. He doesn't know what Karnak is, though, but the other boy is already explaining. "It's nice there. I'm going to go there and have lots of servants and read all the time."
"I like to read, too," Danny says, splashing his boat near Karnak. "I read a story about Merwin and King Arthur the other day. My Nana helped me."
"You must mean Merlin," the boy says, and then stands up, looking at his little island and Danny's boat, splashing beside it. "Well," he says. "I must go. My tutor's coming soon and I have to finish my equations before he gets here."
"Bye bye," Danny says absently, making two little sand figures by the triangle-building.
Nana comes to scoop him up not much later. She slings him over her shoulder, not minding the sand on her shawl and the toy boat banging against her back, and asks him who his nice friend was. But Danny's eyes are drifting shut, worn out as he is from the day. The ocean waves goodbye to him through the thick of his eyelashes, the last thing he sees before he falls asleep.
> at ten, reading too much