Aquarius - Chapter One
Jan. 11th, 2011 09:19 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
draconica-nova.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
wl_fanfiction
Title: Aquarius - 1/11
Chapter Rating: PG
Story Rating: R
Pairings: Colin/Ryan friendship, plus some fleeting Chip/Brad. And if you squint, there might be some Drew/Kathy in there.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, just the premise of the story. Darn. xD
Summary: Colin is a man of aquatic science, but is he ready to believe in the impossible? This is a story of mystery, suspense and greed but above all, friendship. And water. Lots of water.
Author's Notes: I bring forth another multi-chapter story. Incidentally, we’re running on the coat tails of Wrath and Emeralds a little as I once again dive into the supernatural/fantasy genre. Listen to the song of the same name by Within Temptation – and you’ll see why I wrote this.
Story tag please, dearest mods? Merci! ^__^
Welcome to Southern California. Or, more precisely, welcome to the Magenta Reef Aquarium in Dana Point. Hundreds of species of marine life all under one roof, expert staff with enough knowledge to make your brain hurt and all topped off with a delightful view of the marina, sitting pretty next to the ocean like a azure-tinted diamond.
Well, that’s what the brochures said, anyway,
“You’re doing it again.”
Colin blinked; shaking his head out of the daydream he had gotten lost into momentarily. He turned to the man sitting opposite him at their table and gave a dopey smile. “Hmm? Doing what?”
“Staring out of the window at the ocean like a forlorn fish,” Brad remarked as he scooped up some of the scrambled eggs on his plate and shoved them inelegantly into his mouth. “You’re worse than my grandma.”
“Thank you,” Colin replied, “but I wasn’t staring out to sea, I was thinking.”
Brad smirked teasingly around his breakfast. “About?”
“Nothing important,” Colin replied though kept his eyes on the mug of coffee in front of him, steaming and dark.
“I doubt that, you seemed to be pretty darn distracted. So what’s on your mind? Is there a cute guy you have your eye on? It’d better not be Chip ‘cos he’s already taken,” Brad said proudly, unable to avoid the blush from dominating his cheeks.
Colin smiled – Brad had always been very protective and proud of his boyfriend. Along with Brad, Chip was one of the public faces of Magenta Reef, touring guests around the exhibits, explaining and introducing all the different creatures and, most importantly, wearing the token magenta-coloured polo shirts. Colin’s job wasn’t quite as glamorous as that. But still, it was his dream career – marine biologist. “You guys are getting pretty serious now, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” Brad grinned, showing off some half chewed egg between his teeth in the process. “I’m thinking of asking him to move in with me. D’you think it’s too soon?”
Colin had little experience in that department. His list of boyfriends wouldn’t even fill a post-it note. “Erm… I don’t know. I mean, it’s only been, what… three months?”
“Seven,” corrected Brad, “and two weeks, five days.”
The older man blinked at him before lifting his mug for another sip. “Time flies.”
“It really does.” The conversation could’ve been described as deep and thoughtful if Brad hadn’t been licking his plate free of egg and ketchup residue. Colin simply watched him and shook his head – sometimes, that man in his mid-thirties was such a child.
“Are your eyes on that pretty young apprentice of yours?” Brad inquired, raising an eyebrow as he set down his plate.
Colin snorted. “Jeff? Nah, he’s not really my type.”
“How is he not your type?” Brad held up his hand and turned points into fingers. “He’s young, smooth-skinned and, let’s face it, about as sexy as they come.”
“You’d better not let Chip hear you say that,” Colin pointed out and finished the last of his beverage.
“Oh, no one holds a candle to Chip. Believe me, I know.” He wriggled his brow suggestively and Colin mock-grimaced.
“Let’s leave it there, shall we? Before you find the need to grab Chip and go off in search of a closet.”
“I’m way beyond the closet, dude.”
Just then, the aquarium PA system bing-bonged its way into their attention. It was the automated message informing staff that the exhibits would be opening to the public in fifteen minutes time. The reminder prompted a lot of the other people in the canteen to get up and leave in preparation, including Brad.
“’Kay, bud. I’ll catch you at lunch.”
“Sure,” replied Colin. “See you then, Porky.”
The glare Brad sent his way was entirely playful and Colin smiled after him – it was hard to take the man seriously when he wore a shirt that vibrant and pink. Being one of the ‘backstage’ science team meant that he didn’t particularly need to wear a uniform. Just a simple lab coat over any old clothes sufficed. At least his dress code was agreeable, though he had to admit – Brad looked adorable in magenta.
Colin made his way to the lab, which was strategically placed away from public eyes. What was so glamorous about the lab anyway, the architect must’ve thought. Subtly, he thought to himself that perhaps today may be a day to shun the lab coat altogether – when summer hits California, by God, it hits hard. This was proved when Colin walked into the lab that morning and found Jeff wafting a clipboard in front of his face.
“Damn, this sun will kill me,” he murmured.
“At least you’ll be cooked nice and tender, what with all that muscle on you.”
Jeff blushed and turned – he hadn’t noticed Colin come in and thought that the prospect of being discovered slacking on the job was liable to get him fired. “Morning, sir,” he smiled bashfully as he struggled to pick up the clipboard that was slipping from his grasp.
Colin just watched on, highly amused. “Jeff, I told you before: Call me Colin. I may be your boss but I’m also your friend.”
Jeff smiled gratefully, blushing a little more. “Okay,” he murmured. “There was a message left for you this morning, by the way.” He walked over and handed Colin a slip of folded paper whilst the older man had been busy taking off his lab coat and Jeff moved away to open a few more windows to let the breeze in.
Colin read the message to himself in silence before sighing and pulling his lab coat on again. “Looks like I’ve got some work to do elsewhere, Jeff.”
Jeff looked at him, eyebrows raised. “Oh?”
“Mr. Carey’s giving me a-“ he looked at the message again and quoted, “says here he’s got a “special job” for me to do today. I can trust you not to kill those seahorses, right?”
“Sure,” Jeff responded and looked over to their tank of half a dozen seahorses. “How difficult can it be?”
Colin smiled. “Don’t jinx it. Anyway, I’ll see you later on today maybe. Oh, and tell Brad I might not be back for lunch – I’m sure he’ll be disappointed.”
He caught another of Jeff’s prize-winning smiles before heading out of the lab and across the grand aquarium towards Carey’s office. Luckily, he wasn’t one of the more recognisable staff members there so he managed to slip by relatively unnoticed to visitors. He did manage to spot Brad along the way as he was greeting a group of excited young kids to the petting pool where the rays and starfish roamed.
Eventually, past the entire glamorous exterior and into the heart of the more professional realms of aquarium-based business, Carey’s office came into view. He murmured his arrival to the secretary and took a tentative seat opposite her desk. The secretary in question, Miss Greenwood, was a prim and proper lady, but everyone knew that Carey liked to fool around with her.
Well, they didn’t know for sure, but it was a well-muttered rumour around the canteen. He was going through mid-life crisis and she was a pretty blonde. All the standard elements were there.
Colin tried not to thin about the rumours and gave her a small smile as he waited, twiddling his thumbs. It was a strange habit that made him feel slightly old – who even twiddled thumbs anymore?
“Kathy, send him in,” her intercom buzzed with his cheerful voice and so Colin stood in readiness. Subconsciously, he held his breath as he twisted the door handle and stepped inside.
“Colin,” he greeted with a bright smile. “Do take a seat.”
Drew Carey was a bit of a Fat Cat, no pun intended, and he collected and insane amount of stuff in his head office. Especially anything boat-related, being an excellent sailor and diver were some of his skills. He owned a plethora of fishing boats for such a purpose. If he didn’t have his money however, he wasn’t a happy man.
“So what was this special job you want me for?” Colin asked as he comfortably sat opposite Carey and crossed his legs.
“Oh, I think you’ll enjoy it. I know you’re the most experienced diver of everyone who works here. Well, besides me.” Drew’s head swung in mirth as he smiled, and Colin had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. “You’re fully qualified to go diving by yourself, right?”
Colin nodded. “Sure, why?”
Knowingly, Carey leant down and produced what looked like a digital camera, but one fully adapted to work underwater. He pushed it forward for Colin to pick up and inspect. It looked rather expensive, Colin thought passively.
“I need you to go out to the reef about two miles or so off shore. You know the one,” he waved his hand. “It’s where we got those latest samples of coral from and we need some photographs to verify it. I would just get some off the Internet and be done with it, but then there’s all that copyright crap I’d have to deal with. I much rather have you do it – you’re trustworthy like that.”
Of his own accord, Colin’s brow furrowed. So a marine biologist, with that pounding knowledge of infinite aquatic creatures and organisms was being asked to take pretty pictures? Well, sure, if it meant a free trip out to sea. He did love diving after all…
“I knew you’d like it,” Drew grinned triumphantly. “And while you’re out there, do snap anything else interesting. Fish, turtles, algae… sharks.”
Colin scoffed; no sharks ever came to their part of California. Far too dull and not nearly enough meat. “Sounds like a good plan.”
“That’s great. You can take one of my boats. Nothing special, but it should do the job quite nicely.” At that moment he held out the ignition keys for the boat, a little key chain of a globe dangling from them also. “All the diving equipment is already on board and I’ll phone down to the marina and let them know you’re coming.”
Colin took this as his cue to stand, clutching his new camera and keys in one hand as he shook Carey’s with the other. “I’ll get right on it, sir.”
“Good man,” Drew’s voice was deep, authoritive, but he was still smiling. “And careful with that boat – I just had it cleaned.”
~~~
An hour later, and after having changed clothes into something a little more summery, Colin was down at the Dana Point marina searching for Carey’s boat. He knew the man owned several, but the one he was searching for was named ‘Greta.’
At first he was on the look out for a little fishing boat made of wood, maybe with a rusty old net hanging from the fishing apparatus. But then he realised… no. This was Drew Carey. This prompted him to move amongst the more expensive-looking vessels on the other side of the marina.
Sure enough, there it was sitting pretty and polished a shining whit that rivalled the brightness of the sun. It bobbed softly in the barely-moving blue water in waiting for him. Colin pushed the sunglasses up his nose slightly as he looked over her – she was a beautiful boat, there was no denying it, but “nothing special”? Drew was probably crazy.
The deck was spacious, the cabin well stocked and the diving equipment left for him was clean and ready to go. How convenient, this meant more time for him to enjoy the ride out to the reef in the gorgeous sunshine. Smiling, he checked over his maps, freed Greta from her tethers and cruised her out into the inviting harbour.
The ocean was but another challenge as Colin finally navigated his way out into the big blue. Now he could see what she was capable of and pushed her up to a fast cruising speed and out to sea. He knew, as the land got further and further away behind him, that today was going to be a good day.
To be continued…
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Date: 2011-01-11 09:30 pm (UTC)Great start, hun. Thumbs up for song choice, too! XP
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Date: 2011-01-11 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-11 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-11 11:44 pm (UTC)Looking forward to the next chapter.
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Date: 2011-01-12 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 12:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 07:49 am (UTC)The guys are soooo cute! I love how you write all of them! And your Brad is adorable!
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Date: 2011-01-12 07:31 pm (UTC)Yay Brad! *cuddles*
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Date: 2011-01-15 10:42 am (UTC)More please! ^_^
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Date: 2011-01-15 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-15 12:11 am (UTC)