Chapter Text
Dr. Walter Zickefoose fell backwards over the side of his boat.
When he opened his eyes and took that first breath of air from his tank, he felt alive for the first time in a week. Life on the surface was awful. He spent his work life pounding knowledge into the heads of undergrads who didn’t give a fuck. He used to be able to relax in the evenings looking at pictures of sea life on instagram as 20kLeaguesUnder, but even that was ruined now.
Son_of_Neptune ruined his life. He had been comfortable before. Not always happy, sure, but he was content.
Now his only joy was found under the water.
20kLeaguesUnder swam slowly through the kelp forest. He paused occasionally to watch some of the fish, and once he even saw a shark in the distance. He headed in that direction.
The farther he swam, the more sharks he saw. (He wasn’t afraid. He knew they were friendly as long as you were careful.)
Before long, he found the main shiver. He slowed to a stop and slipped behind a clump of kelp so he could watch the sharks without disturbing them. (Not everyone is as terrible as Son_of_Neptune, after all.)
They were beautiful, glistening and grey and deadly. He didn’t know how long he floated there watching, mesmerized.
Then he noticed a shadow where it didn’t belong, weaving among the sharks. He looked closer: that looked like a person? Surely not. His was the only boat in the area, and surely no one would be foolish enough to swim in the middle of the shiver.
Then several sharks moved, and everything made sense and no sense at all. That was his nemesis, Son_of_Neptune.
Conflicting emotions washed over him, starting with dismay. Was it not enough that Son_of_Neptune ruined his online experience with his harassment and impossible pictures? Did he really have to ruin his underwater time too?
On the other hand, this was his chance! After a year of frustration and taunts, he was finally in a position to figure out Son_of_Neptune’s trick.
Of course he stayed to watch. He was a scientist! He was going to figure the influencer out if it killed him.
Son_of_Neptune cavorted through the sharks with the grace of a dancer and the self-preservation instinct of a depressed lemming. It was a miracle that he had any fingers left, given the frequency that he waved them under the sharks’ mouths.
Most stunning of all, he wasn’t wearing any scuba gear whatsoever. No tanks, no rebreather, no mask.
This was impossible. He had been underwater far too long to be holding his breath. Walter checked his timer; he had been watching the display for twenty minutes, and Son_of_Neptune had been here first. He didn’t know what to think. He wanted to shake the other man for his foolishness. He wanted to haul him off to his laboratory and keep him there until all of these mysteries were solved.
Suddenly all of the sharks took off to Walter’s right at top speed, leaving Son_of_Neptune alone in the open water, staring away from the sharks.
This was his chance.
Walter pushed the kelp aside and swam towards his nemesis.
Son_of_Neptune spun abruptly to face him, a look of alarm on his face. (This was the first time Walter got a proper look at the younger man. If this was a story, Son_of_Neptune would look handsome with flowing black locks, or would be striking with glowing orbs and rippling muscles, or be horrifically ugly like a proper son of the Father of Monsters, but he wasn’t. He was remarkably ordinary looking. Walter would remember his face forever.)
Walter started to swim in the other man’s direction, but he paused at the frantic signals to stay back, conflicted. He wasn’t inclined to let the influencer avoid him, but on the other hand, he was too experienced a diver to ignore hand signals.
He didn’t have much time to dither.
He froze in terror when the sea monster emerged from the gloom and started swimming right for him.
He thought for sure he was going to die.
It was ironic that he was going to die just as he had a chance to figure sonofnrptune out.
Briney was going to kill him.
He floated there, watching it come for him. He knew he couldn’t swim fast enough to avoid it.
Sonofneptune hit the monster like a torpedo.
Walter gasped. No human could hit that hard. He understood physics. The amount of force required to redirect something that large was unimaginable, but Son_of_Neptune had managed it.
And he saved Walter’s life.
Walter could only watch helplessly as Son_of_Neptune drove the monster back with his trident.
Son_of_Neptune stabbed at the monster’s face again and again, but didn’t manage to connect. This didn’t discourage him. He ducked under the swipe of a claw and used the change in position to stab low under the monster’s arms, and he managed to drive the tip of his sword into the monster’s chest.
The monster roared in pain and darted backwards before the blade could do any real damage. It whipped its tail around, attempting to swat Son_of_Neptune. The man did a barrel roll over the tail, pressing his advantage. The long shaft of the trident let him stay out of the way while he stabbed at the main monster’s vulnerable underbelly.
Man and monster continued to thrash around the kelp forest for several long minutes, neither gaining an advantage over the other. The monster’s size and strength were formidable, and its armor repelled glancing blows from Son_of_Neptune’s weapon. in contrast, the man had a clear speed advantage, darting around the monster far faster than a regular human could hope to swim.
The monster twisted rapidly, biting at Son_of_Neptune where he had rolled over its shoulder. The man grabbed a kelp stalk as he dodged, tangling the monster in the plant.
The monster thrashed in an attempt to free itself, and Son_of_Neptune took advantage of its distraction to add more kelp stalks to the tangle. Before long, the monster was hopelessly ensnared.
Son_of_Neptune grabbed his trident firmly in both hands and drove it deep into the monster. It vanished in a rush of water and a swirl of gold dust.
Walter watched the fight in stunned silence. This was impossible. It couldn’t be real. It violated every rule of science he had ever learned. He didn’t know what to do.
Then his computer began to beep. He was out of air.
Shit. He shouldn’t be at the end of his tank; he had enough air for at least two hours in the water! He checked his watch. He had been in the water for more than an hour, and adrenaline kick the monster provided meant he was consuming air faster than usual. He could taste the declining air quality, and he was at least thirty minutes from his boat.
He had trained for this. He immediately started swimming for the surface. It wouldn’t be fun, but he’d make it. He could radio for help once he could breathe. It would be embarrassing, but embarrassed was better than dead. He could only hope he wasn’t under long enough to get bent; he didn’t have the air for safety stops.
When Son_of_Neptune arrested his ascent, he was furious. He didn’t have the air to waste on nonsense. Walter desperately made the “out of air; ascend,” hand signs.
Son_of_Neptune let go long enough to wave his hands around like a cheap stage magician. A bubble of air formed in front of Walter’s face. “You can breathe that,” he said.
Walter decided to risk it; he didn’t have the air to quibble. He spit out his mouthpiece and took a breath, half expecting to get a mouthful of water. The air tasted like ambrosia to his starving lungs.
“What? How?” Walter asked.
Son_of_Neptune let go and backed off, but the bubble of air kept supplying much needed oxygen. “You were under too long. If you surfaced that fast, your joints would explode.”
“It wasn’t my first choice, but I was out of air. I didn’t know this was an option! I don’t even know what you’re doing!”
“I’m giving you air.” Son_of_Neptune said like it was obvious.
“But how?! This isn’t possible!”
“It isn’t possible for a mortal. Fortunately for you, I’m not a mortal. I’m the son of the god Neptune. Water obeys me.”
“I know who you are, Son_of_Neptune. What I want to know is how you’re doing it!”
“You know who I am? Oh, you must use the internet. Yeah, I post pictures and videos sometimes.”
“I know. I’m 20kLeaguesUnder.”
“Oh. Surprise? I was telling the truth.” He pulled Walter another ten feet up the water column.
Walter grabbed his shoulders, moving closer to the younger man and shouting directly into his face. “How are you doing all of this!? None of this is possible! It’s making me crazy! I’m making entire websites to figure you out, and I can’t!”
“I don’t know what to tell you, dude. It really is magic. I’m the son of the sea god. The water and the sea creatures obey me. Though it’s flattering that you’re so obsessed with me.”
Walter kissed him. He didn’t know why. Maybe his passion had to go somewhere, and this was the easiest outlet.
Son_of_Neptune froze for a moment, startled, but he quickly sank into the kiss and moved his hands lower. They both knew where this was going.
[I am very very bad at writing any kind of smut, sorry. You’re going to have to use your imagination. Assume there are a lot of throbbing members and impossible anatomy.]