a/n: i am so fucking sorry you dont even know.

It was far from beautiful, but for the first time in his life, Rei was swimming. His dive had been off by a bit, but at least he had managed to get in the water without belly flopping. He had begun to panic a bit when he had felt himself sink as he propelled himself under the water, but he had somehow managed to break the surface when he raised his arms for the first stroke. Rei hadn't known it was possible to feel such a large sense of accomplishment from being able to breathe.

When he heard a chorus of voices calling his name behind him, Rei stopped swimming and turned around.

Nagisa barreled into him, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist and lifted him up a little. "Rei-chan! Rei-chan you did it! You were swimming!"

Makoto beamed and patted him on the shoulder. "That was great Rei!"

Haruka gave him a curt nod of approval. "Good job."

Rei knew that grinning like an idiot was not beautiful, but that didn't stop him from doing so. He could swim. The water didn't hate him after all.

Nagisa spun him around a bit. "Oh my gosh Rei-chan, you're amazing! I'm so proud."

Just as Rei was about to return the blonde boy's hug, he heard a loud scoff to his right.

"You call that butterfly?"

Everyone turned. A few feet away, floated an unfamiliar guy, his lip curled in a sneer, showing off a set of impossibly sharp, pointy teeth. Maroon hair hung down to his chin and elegant eyebrows arched over red eyes. His torso was completely out of the water and his arms were crossed. Nagisa let go of Rei so abruptly he plunged into the water like a stone.

"Rin Rin!"

When Rei came back up sputtering, he saw Nagisa hanging off the newcomer's neck.

"Rin Rin, I thought you weren't coming!" cried the blonde.

"I never said I wasn't, and stop calling me that" said Rin, quickly prying away the other merboy. "Yo, Makoto. Haru." He turned to Rei and studied him with a condescending look in his red eyes.

Refusing to let the merboy get to him, Rei straightened up as much as he could and held his arm out. "My name is Rei Ryugazaki. Nice to meet you." He almost added 'Rin-chan-san' at the end, but decided against it when he saw the merboy's red eyes narrow.

Arms still tightly crossed, he glided past Rei, towards the rocks by the shore. "Rin Matsuoka."

Haruka quietly followed after him, gradually rising out of the water. "Where were you?"

Rin held up a wad of black fabric. "I went to go find this. It's been a while since I used it so it took me longer than I expected."

The blue eyed merboy slowed and sunk back down into the water before turning away. When Rin reached the rock, Makoto and Nagisa followed suit, looking off to the side. Before he could ask them why they were doing that, Rei heard a quiet grunt come from the direction of the rocks. The maroon haired boy was facing away from the water, clinging to the rock. His shoulders tensed and his hips spasmed a few times before he slumped a bit and sighed in relief. Letting go with one hand, he fumbled under the water for a bit before pulling himself up onto the rock with ease.

Rin squatted a few times before stretching his arms over his head. "Damn, it's been a while."

Rei gaped at the maroon haired boy. He was standing on the rock, clad in a pair of black swim trunks, experimentally stretching his legs. Legs. Rin had legs.

With one final shake, Rin bent down into a starting position and dove into the water with ease. After a bit, his powerful arms broke the surface and he launched himself into a flawless butterfly stroke. It was so beautiful, Rei completely forgot about the fact that he had just sprouted legs until Rin stopped right in front of him.

With a shake of his hair and a triumphant grin, he looked at the blue haired boy. "That's what butterfly is supposed to look like."

"So cool, Rin-chan!" cried Nagisa.

Makoto smiled. "It sure has been a while since we saw you swim like that, Rin."

"It just makes him slower" said Haruka, looking off to the side.

Rin sent a splash of water his way. "Shut up."

As he watched the exchange between them, the blue haired boy could almost swear that both merboys were blushing a bit.

"Rin-chan, Rin-chan! Are you gonna teach Rei-chan how to swim like that?" asked Nagisa, wiggling impatiently.

The maroon haired boy looked over at Rei and shrugged. "I guess, since he clearly had no idea what he's doing."

"Thank you, Rin-senpai" said the blue hared boy, ignoring the insult.

For all that he came off as arrogant and condescending; Rin Matsuoka was a damn good teacher. He was clear and concise in his explanations, and much more patient than Rei thought he could be. Rin's praise was laced with criticisms, but the blue haired boy didn't mind; he preferred teachers that let him know how he could improve to those that just offered compliments and flattery.

Rin pulled himself up and sat on the rock. "I'm starving. Let's stop here for today."

Rei nodded, too out of breath to respond. The maroon haired boy, seeing his struggle, deftly pulled him up next to him.

"-nk you" said Rei, in between pants.

When his breathing finally returned to normal and he had switched his goggles for his glasses, Rei turned his attention over to a new problem: lunch. He had only packed enough for himself and Nagisa since he hadn't known everyone else was coming beforehand. As he was debating whether he had enough energy to run to the nearest convenience store, Makoto appeared holding an odd, woven brown bag.

"I hope you don't mind, but I packed us all lunch. I wasn't sure what you liked, so I brought a little bit of everything." The brunette opened the bag and held it out to Rei. Peering inside, the blue haired boy caught a strong aroma of fish. Raw fish.

"Oh come on Makoto" chided Rin, reaching into the bag and rifling through it. "You can't expect Speedo Glasses to eat any of this stuff with those stubby little human teeth of his."

"Ah! I hadn't even thought of that. I'm sorry Rei."

"No, its fine Makoto-senpai" assured the blue haired boy. "Thank you for the offer, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline."

"Humans 'cook' their food before eating it" explained Rin, pulling out what looked like a tuna.

The brunette cocked his head. "Cook?"

"Heat it up until it's not raw anymore. Kind of like how we sometimes toss an octopus or some clams into one of those thermal vents until they get firm and chewy" said Nagisa, poking around the bag a bit before pulling out a sardine.

"It's easier for them to eat it that way" said Rin, biting into his fish.

Rei watched in fascination as the maroon haired boy tore off a large piece and began chewing. A scale stuck to a smear of blood on his chin, which he promptly wiped away before biting into the fish again.

When he caught the blue haired boy watching him, Rin stopped chewing. "What?"

"N-nothing!" said Rei, pushing up his glasses and turning away.

Nagisa, having finished his sardine, began tugging on his leg. "Rei-chan, did you bring me a sandwich?"

The blue haired boy pulled his bag over and pulled out a plastic container.

"Yay!" Nagisa eagerly tore it open and pulled out the sandwich.

It was the same thing he brought him every day, but the blonde always had the same reaction to it. Rei didn't understand how the merboy could stand to eat the mess of strawberry jam and chocolate sauce on bread—just making the thing in the morning made him feel like he was getting cavities—but he always packed it for him all the same.

"Looks gross" commented Rin, curling his lip up in distaste.

Rei had to resist the urge to laugh. Calling a gooey sandwich gross kind of lost its sting when you were picking fish guts out from between your teeth.

"Rin, don't be rude" said Haruka, flicking a mackerel scale at him.

Before Rin could retaliate, the blue eyed boy disappeared into the water. The rest of their break passed without incident. Makoto seemed curious about Rei's melon bread, and the blue haired boy was all too eager to regale the group with the story of how his family had been pairing melon bread with barley tea since the time of his grandfather.

After they had all finished eating, Nagisa yelled "Shark!" before tapping Makoto on the shoulder and disappearing into the water. Haruka followed suit, with the brunette not far behind.

Rei turned to Rin. "Shark?"

"It's a game" explained the maroon haired boy as he slid into the water. "One person is the 'shark' and everyone else is 'fish'. The 'shark' chases the 'fish', and if they manage to catch one, then that person becomes 'shark'. Last person to become 'shark' wins."

Before the blue haired boy could respond, he was hit in the face with wet fabric and Rin disappeared under the water. He peeled the maroon haired boy's swim trunks off his head and set them aside with a sigh. As curious as Rei was about what seemed to be the merpeople's version of tag, he would have to wait at least half an hour before he could join them back in the water.

Rei stretched out on the rock and draped his arm across his eyes. His muscles were starting to ache and his skin felt a little stiff from the drying seawater, but that didn't take away from the overwhelming sense of accomplishment that kept washing over him. He could swim. He had done the conceptually impossible and learned how to swim in two weeks.

Basking in the warm feeling of fulfillment, Rei slowly started drifting off, lulled to sleep by the soothing sound of waves buffeting the shore.

It was warm. Like sunshine on a particularly nice summer day, except the heat was concentrated on the left side of his chest, right over his heart. Flashes of bright pink danced along the edges of his vision and his chest grew warmer, like a teapot starting to boil. A sweet taste lingered on his lips—like strawberries and chocolate—and the steady boil turned into a flame, flickering anxiously. A quiet whisper brushed past his ear and the flame spread, consuming him. He felt like the sun incarnate. The voice said—

"Rei-chan!"

The blue haired boy was jolted awake by the feeling of wet hands pressing against his chest. They weren't especially cold, but when placed on his sun-warmed skin, the feeling was particularly jarring.

"Nagisa-kun!" Rei swatted the hands away and adjusted his glasses.

"Come play with us!" cried the blonde, holding one of his legs and tugging him towards the water.

Rei gently pried the merboy's hands off. "I think I'm done for the day, Nagisa-kun. The tide is starting to come in and I'm rather tired."

The blonde loosened his grip, but still kept the blue haired boy's calf cradled in his hands. "Aw, okay then."

"Oi, Nagisa!" Rin waved at the pair from a little ways off. "It's getting late so we're heading back. You coming?"

Nagisa lifted himself up to the rock and sat next to Rei. "I'll stay a little longer."

"Alright then. Don't stay too late."

Makoto surfaced, followed by Haruka. The brunette turned to Rin. "Is he staying?"

The maroon haired boy nodded before looking over to Rei with a smirk. "See you around, Speedo Glasses."

"Likewise, Rin-chan-san" said the blue haired boy, returning the smirk.

"Goodbye Rei! It was nice meeting you" said Makoto with a smile. He nudged Haruka with his elbow.

"Bye" said the black haired boy, a faint smile curling up the corners of his mouth.

"Goodbye Makoto-senpai, Haruka-senpai. Thank you for everything!" called out the blue haired boy.

With a final wave, the three merboys disappeared into the waves, leaving Rei and Nagisa with only each other for company.

The blonde broke the comfortable silence first. "So, what did you think of my friends?"

"They're all very kind, albeit a bit peculiar."

Nagisa giggled. "Rin-chan said you were weird too."

"Speaking of Rin-senpai" said Rei, shifting where he sat. He had forgotten about it for a while, but now that the subject of the maroon haired boy was brought up…

"What about him?" asked the blonde.

"Um…so I know you said that merpeople could shift from tail to legs during your mating season" said Rei, adjusting his glasses. "And that there are circumstances where the mating season isn't necessary for the switch. So, um…is Rin-senpai, I mean, has he already…"

"Ohh, you want to know why Rin-chan was able to switch to legs so easily?"

Rei stared down at his hands in his lap. "If it's not too much trouble."

"Hmm." Nagisa faced forward, crossing his arms and tilting his head to the side thoughtfully. "Well. It's kind of a long story and I guess it's pretty personal—"

"N-never mind then!" The blue haired boy felt himself start to flush in shame. "If that's the case then don't worry about it. I didn't mean to pry."

"Oh you're not prying Rei-chan" assured the blonde. "I was just saying that because you usually start heading home around this time so I didn't wanna hold you up."

Rei looked out over the water where the sun was beginning to dip under the horizon. It was rather late, but if he went home now, then his curiosity would just eat away at him all night. "It's fine. I have the house to myself this weekend so I won't get in trouble if I get home late."

"Okay! Hmm, where should I start?"

The blue haired boy adjusted his glasses. "Are you sure this is okay with Rin-senpai?"

"What? Yeah it's fine." Nagisa waved him off dismissively. "Rin-chan knows that you're kind of a nerd and he figured you would ask about his legs so he went ahead and gave me permission before he left."

Rei's shoulders relaxed. The thought of learning something private about Rin without his consent had made the blue haired boy more uncomfortable than he thought. "Alright then."

"Okay, so first things first." The merboy leaned back on his hands. "Before I tell you about Rin-chan, I have to tell you about his parents."

The blue haired boy's brow furrowed slightly. Rin's parents?

"You see, his mom is a mermaid, just like you'd expect. But his dad was human."

Rei's violet eyes widened. "Human?"

Nagisa nodded. "Yup. Rin-chan's dad was training to become an Olympic swimmer—whatever that means—so he would often practice in the ocean. That's how he and Rin-chan's mom met. It's terribly romantic."

The blue haired boy adjusted his glasses and tried not to think about how similar that situation was to how he had met Nagisa.

"It was love at first sight of course" continued the blonde with a small, wistful smile. "It wasn't long before the figured out that they were enduring mates, if you know what I mean."

Rei blushed at the suggestive eyebrow wiggle Nagisa sent his way.

"Now, human and merperson seasonal mating isn't unheard of, but cases are few and far between these days. However, human and merperson enduring mate pairs are pretty much only the stuff of myth, so Rin-chan's parents had no idea what to do. They knew that them being together the way they were was practically impossible, but they loved each other too much to even consider trying to live apart. Rin-chan's mom eventually decided to just keep her legs and live with Rin-chan's dad on land."

"Wait, it's possible to do that?" asked Rei.

Nagisa nodded. "Enduring mates will sometimes go on land for fun, but they can't stay in that form for any longer than a day. I guess since her mate was a human, Rin-chan's mom could make the change semi-permanent."

"I see…" Rei ignored the hopeful little voice nagging at the back of his mind. No, that didn't imply anything. Rin's parents were the exception to the rule. Just because it worked for them didn't mean it would work for others.

Nagisa, seemingly unaware of the blue haired boy's internal conflict, continued. "They lived pretty happily on land for a while and they even had one of your human marriage ceremonies. Soon after that, Rin-chan's mom found out she was pregnant and…well, this is where it starts to get a little complicated. You see, even though Rin-chan's mom had legs and the overall appearance of a human, her insides were still very much those of a mermaid."

Rei's eyes widened in realization. "So that meant—"

The blonde nodded. "Rin-chan was going to be hatched. When his mom realized this, she told his dad that she had to go back to the ocean because there was no way to know if the baby would survive on land fresh from the egg. Rin-chan's dad understood, but he wanted to be there for the baby, so he stopped training to become an Olympic swimmer and became a fisherman instead. That way, he would be able to stay close to them. It was hard, but it worked out for a time. Rin-chan was born a perfectly happy and healthy baby the same year as Haru-chan and Mako-chan, so the three of them are the same age. A year later, Rin-chan's little sister, Gou-chan, was born, making her the same age as me. Anyway, since the five of us were all raised around the same time, we became pretty close, and we even got to meet Rin-chan's dad a few times. He would always swim with us and bring us treats and tell us what it was like on land."

"He seems like a very kind man" said Rei, smiling at the way Nagisa's eyes had lit up as he reminisced.

"Yeah, he was." The blonde became quiet for a moment, almost as if working up the courage to say something. When he finally spoke again, his voice had turned somber. "One night, when we were still kids, there was a really bad storm and Rin-chan's dad's boat got caught in it. Rin-chan's mom did everything she could…but she didn't get to him in time."

A cool breeze blew through their hair and Rei looked up to see the first few couple of stars appearing in the sky.

"Rin-chan's dad wasn't the only fisherman caught in that storm, so the humans had a big memorial service for them on land. Rin-chan's mom was determined to go, but she didn't wanna leave Rin-chan and Gou-chan alone. However, Rin-chan and his sister were just as determined to go, so somehow, they were able to change their tails into legs even though they were still children—it was so miraculous that merpeople that weren't there still refuse to believe it happened. In the end, all three of them were able to attend the memorial together.

"After that, they came back to the ocean, but it became increasingly hard for them to try and move past Rin-chan's dad's death. Deciding that this place held too many painful memories, Rin-chan's mom took him and his sister, and they moved to Australia.

"When they came back here after a few years, Rin-chan told us about how they had basically lived as humans the entire time. It was in Australia that Rin-chan and Gou-chan perfected their ability to change between tail and legs. Today was the first time in a while that he switched to legs, but I'm glad he did. Thanks to Rin-chan, you and I can swim together now."

The sudden influx of information combined with Nagisa's last comment had Rei's thoughts in a mess. Now that he knew about Rin's complicated past, the blue haired boy's already vast respect for the maroon haired merboy only grew.

"Rin-senpai is really remarkable" said Rei.

Nagisa swished his tail thoughtfully. "Yeah, Rin-chan's great, but you're pretty remarkable yourself Rei-chan."

The blue haired boy blushed. "N-no, not at all."

"Shh." Nagisa pressed a finger to Rei's lips, preventing him from sating anything else. Determined dark pink eyes stared into startled violet ones. "Rei-chan, if you ever say anything like that again I'm not going to forgive you. I have no idea where you got the idea that you're anything other than absolutely amazing, but if it was someone else that told you that, please give me their name so I can personally go and slap some sense into them. You're definitely the smartest person I know and you always keep your promises and you're honest and you learned how to swim in just two weeks and if that isn't considered 'remarkable' then I don't know what is."

Rei fidgeted, trying not to think about how soft the merboy's finger felt, or how hid skin smelled like sea salt—and probably tasted like it too.

"Also, you make really good sandwiches" added the blonde, almost as an afterthought. He glanced off to the side and slowly retracted his hand from Rei's mouth, his cheeks just the slightest bit pink. "And you have a really beautiful smile."

The blue haired boy forgot how to breathe for a moment as his already dark blush spread to his ears and down his neck.

Nagisa pulled on his blonde forelock and smiled bashfully. "Um, it's gotten pretty late so I should probably head home."

Rei snapped out of his daze and quickly reached up and adjusted his glasses. "Y-yes, it's rather dark now. Will you be alright on your way back?"

"I'll be fine. Merpeople can see really well in the dark since there isn't much sunlight underwater in the first place" explained Nagisa.

"Oh, okay" said Rei, still a little concerned about the blonde going home on his own at such a late hour.

"Stop being such a worry wart, Rei-chan" said Nagisa, pressing his index finger on the furrow that had appeared between the blue haired boy's eyebrows. "I'm a big boy, I'll be fine."

"I'm not a worry wart" mumbled Rei, swatting away the merboy's hand.

"Yes you are, but it's cute so it's okay."

Before the blue haired boy could reply that no, he was most definitely not cute, Nagisa slid into the water and swam up in front of Rei.

"I'm gonna go home now. See you tomorrow?"

The blue haired boy nodded. "Of course.'

Nagisa smiled. "K, bye Rei-chan!" Planting his hands on either side of Rei's legs, the merboy pushed himself up so they were face to face, much like on the first day they had met. However, unlike that day, the blonde leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Rei's cheek.

With a shy giggle and a final wave, Nagisa disappeared under the water's surface, leaving a very surprised, embarrassed, and incredibly happy blue haired boy behind.

i finally finished this piece of shit chapter that took me nearly a fucking year to figure out. i am so sorry it took so long and i know that this is no where near good enough to earn your forgiveness, but at the very least please dont hate me too much.
anyway, yeah, kind of a filler chapter, but it was necessary. funny story about rin though, i had the whole teaching sequence already written out wayyyy before eternal summer was a thing so i was a little proud of myself for calling that. also, yes, those hints of rinharu were definitely intentional, but if thats not your bag then please just ignore them and focus on the reigisa (cause im assuming thats the main reason you're all here).
speaking of reigisa, the smut is coming next chapter, i promise. now i cant promise it'll be done any time soon, but you can rest assured that it will happen and there will be gratuitous amounts of boy on boy action.
finally, i was actually planning on having a completely different ending to this chapter (that included a rather intense cliffhanger), but my dear friend and fellow writer sgt. cool whip strongly advised me against it because she convinced me that it would be a really dick move to do that to you guys after that hella long hiatus. (and also because she still hasnt completely forgiven me for that 'jk not smut' moment at the beginning of chapter 3. heh.) so yeah, thank her for that (and also check out her fics cause she's pretty fucking rad).

anyway, sorry again. as always, i hope you enjoyed reading, or at least didnt deem this a complete waste of your time. any and all reviews are greatly appreciated and encouraged! (but pls dont kill me)