#logic writes

The mysterious, silent ailment was caused by being put under a mermaid’s spell. Supposedly, it was so they could keep their prey subservient and numb until they could return at a later day to reclaim their meal. Although, there was a specific problem with every story about the Trance, no matter how enacting a tale: no one had ever actually laid eyes on a flesh and blood mermaid, or if they had, they certainly hadn’t lived to tell the tale. Trance or not.

It was just stories, adequate entertainment for the young souls, a fright for the superstitious and confusion for the drunk . . .

That is, that’s all the stories were, until a young, promising sailor named Oikawa Tooru wouldn’t leave the beach. He remained there, day and night, weighted like an anchor in the sand. He sat there by his lonesome with an unwavering gaze locked on the rise and fall of the waves, and the only sounds that could reach him was the ceaseless melody of the sea.

Iwaizumi Hajime, his best friend since childhood, assisted by two others, Hanamaki Takahiro and Matsukawa Issei, had tried to carry the man back to his house. And they had succeeded up to a certain point. They had locked him in his room, his windows as well, when they noticed how he immediately tried to escape with a glaze in his eyes but moved like a madman to try and get back outside. With all means of escape cut off, they fell soundly asleep in the main room of Iwaizumi’s little shack, only to wake up and find Oikawa missing from his room the next morning.

Oikawa had picked the damn lock on the window in the dark of the night and wandered back to the shoreline. He sat down so the tips of his toes were often brushed with the cool water as it crawled ashore, a contented smile playing at his lips as he stared at the way the water glistened like shiny jewels with the rising sun. It was as if he was trapped in his own mind, an unbreakable prison, where the only recognizable feature of him was the adoring smile he cast towards the sea. He was charmed, plain and simple. Even the sun couldn’t touch. It cast it’s bright glow on him day in and day out, but he never once was burned or his skin made irritated. He stayed perfect, as he had always been, with his sweeps of sweet maple atop his head and his doe brown eyes so vibrant and alive with desire as the sea promised him untold pleasures.

And even though he was as responsive as a talkative corpse, Iwaizumi never once left Oikawa’s side during the day, and seldom during the night. It might’ve been survivor’s guilt or a best friend’s loyalty, the locals suspected, but it was so much more than that. Iwaizumi loved and adored Oikawa, faults and all. It was why he wanted to be there when Oikawa awoke from the Trance, like Iwaizumi was convinced he would. If he stayed by Oikawa’s side long enough, protecting him like a knight protects his king, then the mermaid would never come back and would give up on Oikawa indefinitely and then . . . And then Oikawa would return to his normal self.

For years Iwaizumi grumbled about how Oikawa never shut his trap, but now Iwaizumi just longed to hear about Oikawa’s dreams of becoming the best captain with the strongest ship on the sea. He wanted to hear about the dozens of treasure maps Oikawa had hidden away under his bed to hide from his merchant father, who didn’t condone treasure hunters or pirates and certainly would’ve struck his son for such fantasies. Iwaizumi wanted to see Oikawa be free on the ocean again, so much so that an anger built up inside him like a furnace. Iwaizumi wanted to kill the mermaid for grounding Oikawa to land like this, possibly traumatizing him so much that Oikawa would never again want to be near the water.

All of Oikawa’s dreams he’d held onto so dearly since childhood dashed away by fear. An easily attainable future for someone as strong and as determined as Oikawa was stolen. The very least Iwaizumi could do now was sit and guard his friend through storm and drought, to frighten away the hungry mermaid that might come for Oikawa.

Iwaizumi was never much of a talker, more of listener than anything else, always lending an ear to Oikawa’s insistent ramblings, but as he was alone with a silent Oikawa for the undetermined future, he found that he talked to Oikawa or to himself regularly, to banish the silence.

“I miss you, Shittykawa,” Iwaizumi said, one day, about six weeks into the ordeal. He placed a crown of woven seashells and the island’s best flowers atop Oikawa’s head. His best friend, despite neither eating or drinking anything for more than a month, hadn’t lost any weight. He was still his perfect self, the one that always took Iwaizumi’s breath away with just a smile or playful wink.

“I told you not to go swimming at night, didn’t I? I always did tell you that . . . right? Oikawa, please tell me that I always did my best to look out for you.” He reached out, cupping his best friend’s face with care like Oikawa might break if he held him with too much strength. The brown eyes blinked owlishly at him, with no signs of recognition or care.  He turned back to the water just a second later and Iwaizumi was left devastated by his side, guilt crushing his chest and making it difficult to breath.

Oikawa hadn’t even heard Iwaizumi, not over the whisper of the wind in his hears or the roaring lullaby of the crashing waves on the bank of the shore, so cold yet so welcoming. The sea called to him like a mother calling for her lost child, begging him to dive in and die to become with the water. He couldn’t join the waves yet, though, not quite yet. He had to wait for the merman to return. His mind was consumed with thoughts of the dark, smooth, iridescent skin that started at the midriff and continued to the tip of the shark-like tail, and tree bark brown eyes that also shined with a kaleidoscope of sunlight reflect off water. The very image hypnotized him into a pleased, catatonic state. All he needed was to remember the soft, warm lips against his and the gentle murmur of promised return and he was content to sit and wait until he died, if need be.

The waiting was a lonely and arduous task, but Oikawa waited with a smile until the merman would grace him his presence. And the merman did, on a cold, night where eat wind was whipping up a storm and clouds hid the shine of the full moon from view, blanketing the beach in an unforgiving darkness. Wrapped in a blanket and under a makeshift tent, Iwaizumi had fallen asleep after trying for hours to keep awake and watch Oikawa, but unconsciousness had taken over.

Through the wind came a song, fluttering like a butterfly against the loud noise of nature and into Oikawa’s ear, ripping him out of the Trance he’d been trapped in. He was left to double over, gasping for air like he was suffocating, having forgotten how to breathe on his own for so long. His eyes felt dried out and raw, skin was tough and sandy. He was out of place, he knew, and the the rain falling around him provided some semblance of comfort from the grueling torture of being land.

Oikawa coughed loudly when a sudden pour of harshly salt water was poured over him and he swore he’d never felt more alive. Sputtering, but finally feeling right in his own skin, Oikawa looked up to see the merman that had been all he could think about for weeks standing in front of him, draped in a blanket of dark grey silk.

“Koushi,” Oikawa murmured breathlessly, holding his arms out as is to be held. “I missed you!”

“Needy Tooru,” Koushi teased with a sly smile. He kneeled down, cupping Oikawa’s cheek, and pressed a sweet kiss against his lips. “But I missed you too.”

“You abandoned me,” Oikawa pouted, giving Koushi his best attempt at puppy eyes.

“You’re so dramatic,” Koushi chided playfully, taking Oikawa’s hands in his own and lifting him up and onto his own two feet.

“Shush, you know you love me.”

Koushi stuck his tongue out at Oikawa and chuckled, glancing to the side to make sure that Oikawa’s loyal guard dog hadn’t awoken yet. It seems they still had time.

“I do love you, Tooru, and I hate that I kept you waiting. I’m sorry for that. Are you ready?” Koushi asked, walking backwards and slowly leading Oikawa into the water. As the merman put one foot into the water, the raging sea and storm halted as if by magic.

Oikawa watched in as clouds floated away like a bad dream and let the moonlight shine down on Koushi. A merman or mermaid cannot step foot on land without angering the nature of sea and land, but all was calm as the merman returned to his place in the waters. Koushi’s scales shined in the light, glistening like no gems you could find on any piece of jewelry. They were more precious than gold. His hair, though dark and damp, was fine, silver threads that Oikawa longed to run his fingers through.

“It might hurt,” Koushi warned Oikawa, raising an eyebrow. “Can you handle it?”

“I’m the strongest on this island,” Oikawa boasted with a grin, “I can handle anything your magic throws at me. I want to roam my sea forever.”

“Your sea?” Koushi laughed. “Quite a statement, there.” Oikawa took his first steps into the water, still lost in the colors around Koushi, in his scales, in hair and in his eyes. At the contact of the cold sea, Oikawa suddenly lost his balance, gritting his teeth and clenching his eyes shut in pain. “Aww, need me to hold your hand, Tooru?”

“You’re worried about me.”

“I would never.”

“You are, though. You do want me to make it through this. You want me.”

Koushi bit his lip. “No human born has ever made it through the transformation, and the last time—”

“I’m not him,” Oikawa promised, raising himself back to his feet. His eyes swirled with nothing less than indomitable determination. “I’m stronger than your typical stupid pirates or “scrupulous” merchants. You know that don’t you, beautiful?”

Allowing him a moment of relief, Koushi continued leading Oikawa out to sea until they were waist deep in the water. They paused there, letting the human adjust to the temperature and the idea that he felt more right in water than he did on land. It was an unsettling change, but it felt right. When Oikawa nodded that he was ready, though, Koushi didn’t hesitate. He surged forward, grasping Oikawa by his cheeks and pressed devouring kiss after kiss against the human’s rough, chapped lips. Koushi hummed with hunger as he devoured what little was left of Oikawa’s human soul after being in the Trance for so long. It wouldn’t take much, but Koushi was determined to enjoy the meal for as long as he could.

Oikawa kissed him back with fervor, to keep his mind off the pain that bloomed in his legs, the sting wounds on his legs opened up like he was slashed with a sword. Koushi’s warm lips gave him a sense of sanctuary as he cried through the excruciating fires of pain coursing through his muscles and leaving him almost limp. Shushing him gently, Koushi lowered him to float on his back on the water, peppering more kisses down Oikawa’s neck and onto his bare chest, moaning as he licked the sweet humanity away from him.

“OIKAWA!”

Snarling, Koushi lifted his head away from his meal as he saw Iwaizumi barreling from the shore and into the water. Oikawa was close to passing out now, as he lay lifeless in Koushi’s arms, but he managed to lift his head to whisper an almost inaudible, “Iwa-chan.” At the sound of the name, a raw selfishness consumed Koushi and he wrapped an arm around Oikawa, willing his his tail out and dived down under the surface, taking Oikawa with him swimming with all his strength into deeper, darker, colder waters.

“Tooru,” Koushi sang, holding Oikawa’s face in his hands again, with more care than when hunger had overcame him previously. “Wake up, Tooru. Breathe for me.”

Oikawa opened his eyes and smiled with more strength than Koushi had expected of him. That was a good sign, though. Oikawa actually stood a chance of surviving the torturous transformation of human to merman. He took a deep breath and squealed with joy when he discovered that he wasn’t drowning, and Koushi let out a laugh more of relief than amusement at the sound of Oikawa. He was alive. Oikawa was very much alive.

Now renewed with excitement, the merman and the former human stared down at Oikawa’s legs as the gashes healed as his tail started to grow out. First came a wide, cerulean blue fin that formed where Oikawa’s feet used to be, and then came a soft rayed dorsal fin along his spine. Then a burst of colors bloomed like a garden all over the tail, luscious, rosy pinks, and seaweed green and sunny yellows. Oikawa was beautiful, as he took Koushi’s hand in his and began learning how to operate this new extension of his body. He bit his lip down and learned within a few minutes.

“You’re learning fast,” Koushi commended with a smile. “You show off.”

“I can’t help it if I’m a natural,” Oikawa tittered, swimming circles around Koushi.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re a genius Oikawa Tooru. Now, come long.” Koushi took Oikawa’s hand and started pulling him further into the sea. Thrill swam through him when he thought about how everyone would be so impressed when he brought back a fully transformed human. “I’m dying for you to meet the others! You’ll love Shigeru and Yachi. Daichi might be a tad jealous, though, but never mind him. He had his chance.”

Oikawa hesitated, glancing back towards the shore.

Koushi swam to his side. “Your friend? You miss him already.”

“It’s funny,” Oikawa murmured. “I remember him. I know him—He’s Iwa-chan, but . . . He feels so far away.”

“Want to see him one last time?” Koushi offered kindly. “As long as we don’t get too close, we should be safe.”

“No,” Oikawa replied, as if he were still in the Trance. “I think it would hurt too much. I doubt he would understand that I’ve always wanted this, but maybe someday I’ll visit him.”

Koushi huffed, scrunching his face up in distaste as he swam up so he was floating right in Oikawa’s face. “Just don’t go thinking you can replace me.”

“Same goes for you,” Oikawa countered with a grin. “Don’t go around looking for more humans, because I promise you that I really am the most gorgeous one you’ll get. I’ll get jealous, easily, and I’ve been told I’m a bit of brat when I’m jealous.”

“Deal,” Koushi hummed, pleased with Oikawa’s confidence and his sincerity. “Are you ready to go home?”