Let me float with you (Male!Ariel x Reader)

Let me float with you

I had been drawn to the water for as long as I could remember, the sound of water slapping against water as waves rose and collapsed. The scent of the salt in the air as the miniscule droplets wafted towards the shore in a blanket of vapour. The mystery of not quite knowing what was in the water with you, not quite knowing where the security of the sand ends and the bottomless pit of the ocean begins.

Countless days of my childhood were spent watching as the tips of the waved turned to froth, bubbling in a thin layer on the shore, bubbles popping and disappearing as it soaked into the sand, only for another layer to coat the granules.

I wasn't the only one of course, the beach just 5 minutes from my house was more often than not filled with countless people. Tourists and locals alike came to visit the edge of their well known grounds in fascination.

I had been drawn to the water for as long as I could remember, and for as long as I could remember, I had been terrified of it. The shift from a glistening aquamarine, welcoming and warm, to a sudden navy - forboding and cold. The sensation of your heart as it sinks to your stomach when the floor is no longer under your feet.

I spent my days sitting on the sand, well away from the edge of the water, watching the foam drift upon land from a distance. Keeping the warm, dry sand between my toes, I found myself flinching at the slightest drop of salty water. Things were different at home, obviously I could handle drinking, bathing, showering, but it was something about the sea. About the smell, the sound, the sight of it that screamed for me to stay away.

There were times I woke up in cold sweat, eyes wide and lower lip stinging as it bubbled with blood from the sharp tips of my front teeth. Times I would wake up with my heart hammering so loudly in my chest it would echo in my ears and my head would throb in tune with it.

Those were times where my dreams were filled with the water that scared me so much, the lack of floor beneath my feet and the lack of air surrounding my lungs. I would see my hair floating in front of my face in almost peaceful wisps, it was calm in those times. Then suddenly, suddenly my chest would tighten, throat clamping down itself, my lungs would burn in searing pain. Arms thrashing and legs kicking as I desperately searched for the surface.

I can't breathe

Those times were the times that made me afraid, that made me wish I could stay away, but I knew I couldn't. Not with my impending doom sitting just outside my window. The soft sounds of the waves crashing against the sharp jagged rocks called out to me like a sirens whisper. It was terrifying, but so hard to ignore.

On the nights where my dreams were the worst, where the water was just a little colder than usual, just a little darker, and it was just a little harder to breathe; I would come here. To the root of my fear, I would sit on the beach, watching the icy cold waves inch closer than they had only a few hours prior.

My fear would draw me to the very place I was afraid of, the only reason I could come up with, was something along the lines of keeping an eye on the enemy. Many of my dreams were formed on the sound of the trickling water as it seeped in under my bedroom door, slowly filling the room.

Unconsciously, my fingers slip through the sand, once warm from the sun. With the hours of lacking sunlight, had turned a chilling cold, I clutched the sand tightly in my fists. The miniscule granules slipping through my fingers in ropes of what could only be described as lines of silk.

I clutched it tightly, as to assure myself that I was on solid ground, that the water hadn't reached me, that I wasn't sitll dreaming. The security of the soft sand between my fingers grounded me, tied me to the reality that the water couldn't touch me, not if I didn't want it to.


--


I liked to consider myself an expert on the ocean, knowing the colour of the water depending on the weather before making my daily trip down to the beach. How high the waves would tower over the surfers depending on the distance of the moon the night before, and the creatures that swam a little too close to the shore.