No Ordinary Love

Voc:
Sweetheart/Lover-- ipo
Honeymoon-- Mahina meli
"Pono" is just an Hawaiian nickname I heard once. Have no clue what it's translation is, if there is one.

On Hawaii’s beautiful coast of Honolulu, Oahu, fishing boat The Blue Lagoon sat anchored. With the time of season perfect for catching fish, the boat was set out early to pack up Mahi-Mahi, mackerel, and other fish to sell on the market. Boat owner, Akamu Kulani, his brother, Kya, his son Akoni, and two other helpers were taking a break after pulling in their first load of fish.

“I smell a good season this year, fellas.” Kya said as he pulled out a beer from the cooler. The rest of the men were seated on the front deck. “We’ve haven’t had this many fish pulled in in years. We are going to get seriously paid.”

Kya’s older brother, Akamu removed his hat with one hand, ran his fingers through dark brown curls that blended with his naturally bronze skin, then placed the hat back. “Yeah. We might be out here for a while today.” He looked to the left and right of himself. “Say, where’s Akoni?”

Kya shrugged, drinking his beer. “I think I saw him on that cellphone of his. Talking to his hoa no doubt. What is he, in love?”

“Beats me.”

***

“Look baby, I told you it wasn’t even like that. It was just friendly conversation.” Akoni said over the phone as he paced the back of the large boat. “I don’t even know the guy.”

“Don’t play stupid with me, Akoni Kulani. I was at that party last night, but you didn’t see me. But I saw you, and he had his hands all over you.”

“He did not.”

“His hands were on your shoulder!”

“They were friendly pats, Peka! Geez! Nothings going on! I’m not cheating on you!”

“I was there! I saw it all! Don’t feed me lies!”

“Fuck, Peka!”

“What have I told you about swearing?”

“I’m sorry…..”

“You’re damn right, you are!” the line went dead.

“Babe? Peka? Hello?” Blowing out hot air, Akoni shut off his cell and stuffed it in his pocket. He’d been dating Peka Lehua for seven months now and the ‘Mahina meli stage’ was definitely over. They’d met in a Sociology class back in their junior year of college. Peka, being the more fearless of the two spoke up a conversation first. One thing led to another, and they started kickin’ it right after that. Akoni’s parents were a bit worried over the relationship though. With dashing characteristics very similar to his father—6 ft tall, bronze skin, dark brown hair, strapping physique—they thought he was getting too serious in such a short length of time. Sure, Peka was absolutely beautiful with spiky brown hair and golden highlights, tan skin, petite yet strong frame, and striking gray eyes, but he wasn’t the only fish in the sea. Akamu and Makoka Kulani wanted their eldest son to explore the dating scene while he was still young.

That was one reason why they didn’t quite like Peka, but not the only reason. Peka was a bit of a jealous control freak. He liked to have his way and didn’t like it if his boyfriend had his attention focused on anything other than him. Their one year anniversary is still five months away and Peka is already ‘telling’ Akoni what they will do that day to celebrate. Akoni’s parents have always told him to stand up and voice his opinion on things with Peka, but the young man is so easy going, he just goes along with it. Akoni’s not a big fan of confrontations. Especially not with Peka, because he knows he’ll never hear the end of it, until he himself apologizes…… whether he was at fault or not.

In an effort to cool himself down, Akoni just started to walk along the edge of the backend of the boat, holding on to the railing as he did so. By the time he reached the small gap in the railing where they would connect small boats or speed boats to the rear, he had placed himself in a calming zone. He had to in order to deal with Peka. So he was startled to say the least when his phone vibrated in his pocket, making him lose balance. His shoes stepped into a large puddle of water and Akoni slipped. “AH!” he yelled seconds before he fell backwards into the Pacific.

Akoni nearly lost consciousness due to the rough impact of the water and slight inhalation through his nose. But he wasn’t capable of preventing his body from sinking quickly towards the bottom of the ocean, until a pair of hands grabbed him by the waist and swam him, with extraordinary speed, to the surface. Akoni gasped for air and coughed as soon as he was given the opportunity. He could feel his back was pressed up against another body, but didn’t have the strength to turn around. The other person did however—10 times as much—and without a single grunt or strain, lifted Akoni’s large body back onto the boat’s edge.

Akoni’s eyes were closed throughout the entire ordeal, but once he was laid down upon the boat’s floor, he opened his almond brown eyes and saw the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Alluring eyes that were an abnormal shade of lavender, skin a few shades lighter than his own, a black mane so curly, even wet it still flipped on it’s end, a décor of pearl colored seashells dangled as a necklace from the long neck, and a toned lean shape that makes you wonder exactly where all that strength came from. It was a young man, atleast Akoni thought it was a young man. Everything looked normal until you got to his waist and saw scales. A mermaid? No, merMAN. And the merman was currently giving him the most adoring smile he’d ever seen. This…..creature was nothing short of being beautiful and Akoni was mesmerized.

So mesmerized was he, that he didn’t hear his father call from the front of the boat. “Akoni?! Son, come on it’s time to get back to work!”

The two youngster’s eyes never left each other. Even when the indigenous ocean dweller slowly placed a hand on Akoni’s cheek and caressed him, Akoni couldn’t draw himself from those lavender eyes.

The merman looked up quickly when he heard the sound of footsteps coming in their direction. “Akoni?!” his father called again. The beauty looked back down at the other young man and noticed his eyes still hadn’t wavered from his face. Smiling again, he moved his soft, gentle hand from the other’s cheek to the tempting full lips. Blinking slowly, Akoni gaped open his mouth slightly, unawares of doing it, and that’s when the merman took his opportunity and gave him a chaste but lingering kiss on the lips.

“Akoni, boy where are you?!”

Pulling back, the merman ran his fingers over Akoni’s lips one more time, before he pushed himself off the edge of the boat—a loud splash of water could be heard.

“Akoni?” Akamu said to his son once seeing him stretched out on the boat floor, wet. “Pono, what the hell happened to you?”

Shocked, Akoni started blabbering. “I—I—I fell in the water and started sinking to the bottom of the ocean. The impact of the water was so hard, it stunned me and….and I couldn’t move. I thought……I thought I was gonna die. But a guy came and helped me. No, it was a fish. No, it was part man part fish. I don’t know, but it was…..it was the most beautiful creation I’d ever seen…..I—“

Akamu grabbed his son from around his chest and began to bring him to his feet again. “Work is over. I’m taking you home. The blow of the water has made you delirious.”

“No. No, I’m not delirious.” Akoni pulled away from his father, leaning quickly over the railing to glance back down at the crystal blue ocean water. “I—I could’ve sworn I saw him.”

***

Akoni laid flat on his back in the comfort of his bedroom, staring at the ceiling. *I did not just imagine that. Did I? I didn’t just imagine a merman kissing me? Surely the hit force of the water didn’t impair me that bad. How could I imagine up a perfect vision like that? That’s because I didn’t. I couldn’t have. It was too real. It was—*

“Hey, stupid!” Akoni looked away from the ceiling and saw a 14 year old version of himself standing by his bedroom door. His brother, Jojo. He shook the house phone. “Phone for you. It’s ‘Peka’, your husband-to-be.”

Akoni rolled his eyes. “Shut up and hand me the phone.” Jojo tossed the phone at him, nearly hitting him in the face, and shut the door. “Hello?”

“Hey, baby.”

“Hi.”

“I was just calling to see if you had calmed down. You can be very mean when you’re angry, you know.”

*Here we go.* “You’re right. I apologize, Peka.”

“For what?” Peka asked sounding noticeably coy.

“For…..for everything. You were right.” 9 times out of 10, Akoni never knew exactly what he would apologize for, but he figured to keep the peace, he’d be the one to apologize and just use that statement as his words.

“Well, it’s not that big of a deal.” *Bull.* Akoni thought. *If it wasn’t a big deal, I wouldn’t have to apologize all the time.* “So, what are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“Can I come over?”

The 20 year old really didn’t want any company at the moment, rather, he wanted to relax in his room by himself and ponder over the mysterious merman he ‘kissed’. But he knew that refusing Peka would mean another argument and that would lead to him having to apologize again. He wasn’t going through that twice in one day. “Sure.”

“Great!” Peka said cheerfully. “I’ll be over in 20. Kisses.” The line went dead.

***

Same time, deep in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean….


A young merboy zipped through the crystal blue/green waters, twirling and doing cartwheels mid-speed towards his older brother, who he found stretched out languidly on a large piece of coral. He carried a dreamy smile on his face. “Hey booger-face, what are you doing?”

*sigh*

The thirteen year old cocked his head to the side, staring confused at his brother. Kekoa was acting really strange. Normally, he’d chase young Ilani all over the ocean floor for calling him a booger-face. Now, Kekoa doesn’t even look like he’s in this world. “Hello? Are you in there?” Ilani waved a hand in front of Kekoa’s face. His brother kept smiling. Pissed that the spoiled baby of the family wasn’t getting his desired attention, he shoved Kekoa’s shoulder. “Hey! I’m talking to you! Kekoa!”

Kekoa finally turned his head towards his little brother, still grinning. He sighed again.

“What’s got you so stupid today?”

“I’m in love.”

“You’re in love? With who?”

“A guy I met today. He’s so handsome and strong….”

Ilani rolled his eyes. “Oh, brother.”

“….He fell off one of those floating things and I saved him….”

The merboy who looked very much like Kekoa, frowned at his brother. “He fell off one of those floating things? Kekoa, only land dwellers use those floating things.”

“I know.”

“You can’t fall in love with a land dweller! It’s against the law!”

“I can’t help it. He was so beautiful and I kissed him and……”

Ilani shook his lovestruck brother, trying to shake some sense into him. “Get a hold of yourself, Kekoa! What you’re saying is wrong! Mom and Dad will skin you alive if they find out you let a land dweller spot you, let alone you fell in love with one!”

Kekoa sat up. “They’ll be okay with it, Ilani. Just wait and see. Once they see just how much this guy means to me, they won’t help but give me their blessing.”

“Don’t hold your breath.”

***

“He’s a what?!” Older merman, Manu, asked his son once the two siblings returned home.

“What’s his name, Kekoa?” Kekoa’s mother, Noelani, asked as she ran a worried hand through her brunette mane. Both she and her husband we seated on makeshift chairs--made of red coral—in their home’s master bedroom, sharing a snack of filleted fish.

Kekoa, who was lounging across his parent’s bed, replied, “I—I don’t know his name.”

Manu sighed. “But yet you love him, right?”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely ridiculous. This is absurd, Kekoa.”

“What is absurd?” he asked his father. “The fact that I’m showing signs of growing up by finally falling in love, or is it because who I fell in love with is human?”

“Both!”

Kekoa sighed. “Dad. Let me live my own life for once.”

“At the expense of exploiting the entire mermaid nation? Out of the question.”

Kekoa looked pleadingly towards his mother. “Mom?”

She sighed. He hated being the ‘middle ground’ between those two. She’d be in that position all the time, considering those two argued all the time. “You know I’m all for you finding the right person to love, Kekoa. I’ve always hoped you would. But the fact that he has legs DOES put a damper on that….”

“Exactly.” Manu interrupted. “That’s why I don’t want you to see that ‘boy’ again.” He ordered, saying ‘boy’ like it left a bad taste in his mouth just speaking it aloud.

Kekoa sat up quickly. “You can’t do that!”

“I just did! You’re forbidden, Kekoa!”

“Dad, please!”

“I mean it, son! Those land dwellers find out we exist, we’re all dead.”

“He wouldn’t tell anybody about us.”

“Based on what evidence? You just met him today. You don’t know what they are capable of. Rumors have been going around for years that humans are sneaky, lying, selfish creatures. He may not try to exploit us or he may not even intend to, but it’s in his blood, son. He won’t be able to help himself.”

Fed up, Kekoa sighed dramatically, then swam out the bedroom angry.

***

Akoni and Peka were sitting together in the den watching tv. Well, Akoni was, Peka was kissing him on his cheek and neck and rubbing his solid tummy. However, when Peka looked across the room, he spotted Akoni’s little brother, Jo-Jo staring. Peka sighed. “Don’t you have anything else better to do than stare at us?”

The fourteen year old shrugged. “Nope.”

“Well, get lost anyway. Can’t you see we’re alittle busy right now?”

“Looks like you’re the one busy. Akoni looks pretty satisfied watching the music videos.” Jo-Jo laughed.

Peka looked at him unfazed. “Scram.”

“No.” the boy countered.

Akoni looked at his brother. “Beat it, Jo-Jo.” His brother stubbornly folded his arms across his chest.

“Whatever.” Peka said, standing up. “I need to leave anyway. I’ll call you, ‘kay?”

“Alright.”

After dropping a kiss on Akoni’s cheek, Peka called from the den into the kitchen, where Akoni’s parents, Akamu and Makoka, were seated having a conversation. “Bye, Akamu! Later Makoka!”

Makoka frowned at Peka’s blatant rudeness. Any other respectful young person would refer to grown folk as Mr. and Mrs. Especially if you want to be on your boyfriend’s parent’s good side. “Goodbye, Peka! Have a good night!” *And please don’t come back.* she thought. Akamu never spoke a word to Peka. He just didn’t like the boy.

“How about walking me out?” Peka suggested. Akoni knew better. It was an order. He got up and they walked to Peka’s dark blue Scion XB. He hopped in his car, but rolled down his window to receive a kiss from Akoni. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” Peka pulled off. Sighing he was finally alone, Akoni took a look at the ocean that was harbored only a short distance from the back of his house, he decided to take a walk along the beach.

Kicking off his shoes, he walked barefoot across the shoreline, finding peace in listening to the waves. The sun had totally set by the time he reached a sort of fence of rock boulders that were formed by nature. That was his ‘place’. For years, Akoni would come to that very spot and sit there for what seemed like hours, relaxing and clearing his mind of everything. No one in his family knew of the place, due to the long distance it took to get there. He never even showed it to Peka. It was his own private sanctuary and he wanted to keep it that way.

Climbing up the pile of large rocks, Akoni walked to it’s very edge and sat down, his feet sinking into the now black shallow ocean water.

Just fooling around, he grabbed a small pebble and tossed it into the darkness, waiting to hear the splash. It never came. Frowning, he was grabbing another, when the first pebble was sent flying right back to him, hitting him in the arm. “Ow! What the….” He quickly looked around him. “Jo-Jo!” his little brother was known for following him.

“What’s a Jo-Jo?” a sweet, melodious voice called out from nowhere.

“Who’s there?” Akoni asked into the distance, then jumped when he felt a wet touch on his jean shorts. His breath caught when he looked down at the water beneath him and saw milky beige skin rise up from out the water, revealing a toned torso, and a magnificent young face. “It’s you.” Akoni whispered. The merman smiled.

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