#dbhthedeepdarkblue

Much to Connor’s relief, the rest of the crew took his discovery of being a Siren rather well.

Even Gavin seemed more interested in putting the incident behind them than dwelling on it. Although, he suspected that was mostly due to embarrassment over having been enthralled. Either way, he was glad to put it aside and move on with his life.

“Connor, you coming?” Hank called to him from the shore.

“Coming! ”He grinned, taking in a big lungful of salty air before charging down the gangplank to meet his father.

The man ruffled his hair before wrapping an arm around him while they stepped onto the beach. “Finally gettin a proper shore leave, you excited?” he asked.

“We’ve gone home a few times,” Connor reasoned, unsure why this was supposed to be a particularly interesting trip. “That’s shore leave too, isn’t it?”

Dad shrugged, prodding him forward onto the white sand. “Yeah, technically,” he agreed. “But you haven't been on a proper tropical beach since you were old enough to stand. That’s home, this is vacation.”

Feeling the sensation of his feet being swallowed by the soft ground, Connor began to understand the reasoning. It was warm against his bare skin and sifted pleasantly through his toes. "Ok, so what are we supposed to do on vacation?"

Hank smirked, opened his mouth to say something, then paused. He sent a look Connor’s way that indicated he had thought better of whatever he had intended as his response. “You have fun,” he said instead.

“I can do that at home,” Connor reasoned, ignoring his dad's odd tick. “Or on the ship. Why is this special?”

Chris laughed from behind them. "There are some things you just can't do at home," he answered for him. He was toting two large, oddly shaped, pieces of painted wood down the gangplank. Connor had never seen anything like them before, but knew they had to serve some purpose.

"Can't believe you brought those damn things," Hank teased. He gently pulled Connor out of the way, narrowly keeping him from getting smacked in the head as Chris passed.

"Jealous?" Gavin asked, pushing past the two of them and taking one of the boards from Miller.

Hank rolled his eyes and shook his head, apparently unamused by the whole thing. "If you two wanna break your necks doing stupid shit, be my guest."

"Yeah, he's jealous," Reed deduced.

Chris turned his attention back to Connor. "Why don't you join us," he suggested. He handed out the other board to him. "If that's ok with your dad, of course."

"Alright," Connor agreed tentatively, taking the board and looking to Hank and his nonchalant nod of approval. "But… what are you doing?"

"Surfing!" Gavin shouted before charging into the waves with his board.

"It's fun, I promise," Chris said. He gestured for him to follow him into the shallows.

Connor looked back over at his dad. "Go on," he encouraged. "At the very least, you can get some time in the water. It'll be good for you."

Gavin’s presence with the activity made him doubt that, but Chris would be there too. He always looked out for Connor and he seemed to like teaching him new things. It would probably be ok as long as he was there. Besides, Dad was right. It had been way too long since he’d gone for a swim. “Alright,” he agreed.

As it turned out, it must have been longer than Connor had thought since he’d let his tail out, or had ‘tail time’ as his dad would say. His fins had changed a bit since he had seen them last. They were still the same blue he knew, but they now had a silver, iridescent sheen to them that hadn’t been there before. There were new fins on his arms as well, and translucent webbing between his fingers. He liked it.

It did, however, make this ‘surfing’ activity difficult.

In order to use the surfboard properly, Connor needed to stay out of the water and keep his feet. This proved challenging as the waves crashed over the polished wood, changing flesh into scales and making him lose his balance.

Connor quickly deduced, however, that success wasn’t the point of the activity. It was fun, and that seemed to be the goal. Chris was having a good time helping him and, judging by the laughter coming from the beach, Hank was getting amusement from the watching. Even Gavin was refraining from giving him a hard time which was nice.

Exhausted from the repeated efforts, Connor and Chris both decided that was enough for the time being. He stretched out across the surfboard, staring up at the clear blue sky and letting his fins dangle lazily in the water. He took a deep, relaxing breath, closing his eyes and just listening to the waves as they crashed on the distant shore. He determined then and there that he did, indeed like vacation.

The board dipped on one side, submerging him partially as it fell under a sudden new weight. Reopening his eyes, he could see that his dad had joined him out on the open water. He was leaning on the board, smiling at him. “You have fun?” he asked.

Connor grinned in response, flipping himself over so he could see the man better. “Yeah,” he said enthusiastically.

“Told you you would,” Dad smiled, sparing a hand to ruffle his hair. “Maybe one of these days you’ll realize I’m always right.”

He laughed, then flipped his fins, making a splash that drenched his father in seawater.

“Ah!” Hank complained, surprised by the torrent. “”You little shit!” His grin let Connor know he wasn’t actually upset though despite his response of pushing him off the board.

Connor let himself sink below the water blowing a few bubbles and letting them pop on the surface in sparkling rings. Yeah, he decided, he could get used to this. Shore leave, vacation was nice.

Maybe his dad was always right.