Chapter 12

"I'm heading out now," Martin called down the hallway.

"Okay," Casey called back, keeping his voice calm and even, even though he was practically vibrating with the need for the man to just leave. The last three days after Martin had left he'd practically darted down to the beach, where either Shawn was already waiting or arrived within minutes of Casey's arrival.

Honestly, Casey couldn't really say that they did much of anything really. Lying on the beach, swimming, talking a bit was about what the couple hours each afternoon boiled down too. Shawn had carried most of their conversations as Casey was often still too nervous to start one. But with Shawn's easy going attitude and relaxed nature, Casey found that he could relax too. Shawn was easy to talk to, joking and cajoling softly to ease Casey's anxieties, and Casey found himself enjoying the deep cadence of Shawn's voice as he shared quite a few raunchy tales from his college days.

Honestly, he probably knew more about Shawn than Shawn knew of him, but then there wasn't a lot to tell--well, that he could tell anyway. Mostly, Shawn had kept the topics of conversation simple--favorite movies, TV shows, music, etc--but Casey suspected Shawn knew that he was still anxious around him, as well as trying to hide their little 'dates' from his uncle.

He knew that Shawn was a writer, but he'd been vague about what he wrote about. He was an American, and his father was a senator in the U.S., and he was surprised that Casey really didn't know much about politics at all. But then Casey's world came down to just this small island and nothing much mattered beyond it.

Casey grabbed his towel and headed down the path, only to see Shawn heading toward him as well. They both pulled out the lounge chairs from their secure spot in the rocks and dropped their towels on it.

Casey stripped off his shirt almost immediately, not unaware of Shawn's glance cast his way. While Shawn had made no overt indication that he was interested in anything other than friendship, even Casey could see the desire in the man's eyes. Hell, Casey was pretty sure he was giving off the same looks.

He dropped his shirt on the chair as Shawn pat him on the back.

"So, anything exciting happen since yesterday?" he asked playfully as he did each day.

"Nah, just watched a movie," Casey shrugged, enjoying the lingering of Shawn's fingers as they grazed over his back.

"Really? What movie?" Shawn asked while he removed his own shirt as they proceeded through their daily routine of shedding shirts, heading to swim, then laying out in the sun before Casey disappeared back into the abyss of his uncle's house.

"Um, Splash," Casey answered, surprised when Shawn stopped abruptly and stared at him. "What?"

"Jeez that movie is like thirty years old. Don't you have anything more recent?" Shawn quipped as he started back toward the surf.

"Uncle Martin doesn't get that many movies. Most of them are older."

"Well, what about watching online?"

Casey shrugged. "I've tried a few times, but the internet connection isn't so great, and there's a lot of buffering. I've given up on that."

"Oh, yeah, I've noticed that it's not that good," Shawn agreed as they splashed into the water and Shawn fitted the goggles over his eyes. They ducked under, getting their whole bodies wet, before surfacing again. "I still can't believe the salt water doesn't bother your eyes."

Casey just laughed. Shawn had been shocked the first day when Casey had followed him into the water without goggles. Casey had just shrugged it off, just like he did again now. "I've been swimming in the ocean for over fifteen years, you just get used to it, I guess."

Shawn just shook his head. Casey flexed his leg muscles as he got ready to swim human-style again. Damn his legs were sore. After three days of having to kick with them instead of his tail, he was starting the feel the effects in muscles he wasn't used to using. He knew he wasn't as graceful swimming in his human form but that couldn't be helped.

Casey followed Shawn's lazy strokes as they swam out a bit. He yanked on Shawn's leg as a sea turtle came into his view. When Shawn stopped swimming and looked back at him, Casey pointed at the turtle.

He grinned when Shawn gasped in astonishment. They held still and the young turtle ventured closer. Casey recognized the turtle by the scar on his back as one that often hung around their shore.

"That's awesome," Shawn whispered in awe as the turtle actually swam up to Casey before darting away. "It was like he knew you."

Casey shrugged, hoping it looked casual. "I've been in these waters a lot, maybe he's just used to seeing me."

Shawn tilted his head. "Yeah, right. You've probably named him and everything."

Casey's face must have betrayed his guilt because Shawn grinned widely and splashed him with water. "I knew it! You did name him. What is it?"

Casey brushed his dripping hair out of his face. "Crush."

"Crush?" Shawn frowned. "Why Crush?"

Casey called him Crush based on the sea turtle in 'Finding Nemo', but he wasn't sure he wanted Shawn to know that. It was one of his favorite movies as a little boy. He and Uncle Thomas would watch it together all the time until Casey thought he was 'too old for it' anymore. Fuck, now he was wishing that he could, just one more time... "Just... I don't know... it sounded cool," he said distantly, casting his gaze out over the waters before the memories could drown him.

He started when he felt a soft touch on his cheek. He turned to find Shawn staring at him, his eyes shining with concern, as his fingers brushed his jaw.

"Hey, you okay?" Shawn asked softly, and Casey couldn't help closing his eyes briefly as he leaned into the gentle touch.

"Yeah," he finally said, trying to draw back.

But Shawn's hand slipped down and cupped the back of his neck, drawing him in. "No, you're not. I can see it in your eyes."

And Casey felt himself relaxing in the firm grip Shawn had on him, as if the man could ground his spiraling emotions with this simple touch.

"My Uncle Thomas...we used to watch Finding Nemo when I was little," Casey finally admitted to the dark-haired man keeping him from falling apart again. "I named the turtle Crush after the turtle in the movie."

Shawn pulled him closer until their forehead touched. "And Crush reminds you of your uncle sometimes," Shawn surmised. "The one who passed away."

"Yeah." Casey took a shuddering breath as the firm touch and closeness of the other man brought him focus.

Shawn's hand shook him slightly, drawing Casey's gray eyes to meet his. "It's okay to miss him. At least you still have your Uncle Martin to lean on."

At that, Casey snapped free of his self-pity. "Yeah, yeah, of course," he muttered. As Shawn's hand slid free, Casey patted the man's firm bicep. "Come on, let's head up around the bend to your side and see if Dory is around."

Shawn laughed and turned with Casey to head north. Just before he dove, though, Casey grabbed his arm, placing his hand firmly on Shawn's slick chest. Shawn frowned at him.

Casey grinned and pointed into the waters in front of them. "We might want to wait for Mr. Ray to pass on by first."

Shawn's eyes widened in shock as he jumped back at the sight of the dark three foot long creature floating by, grabbing onto Casey's shoulders. "Oh, shit!"

Casey just started laughing as Shawn panicked at the sight of the rather small manta ray swimming lazily across the sandy bottom. "Jeez, Shawn, calm down, it's not like he's going to attack you or anything."

"Really?" Shawn kept bouncing on his toes as if keeping as little of his body in contact with the ocean floor would protect him from a vicious attack by the small manta.

"Yeah, he's basically just a baby," Casey chuckled as the graceful creature floated along filtering water for food.

"A baby? Fuck, he's huge," Shawn gaped as he carefully kept an eye on the foraging fish. He hovered behind Casey, keeping a tight grip on his shoulders.

Casey scoffed. That was not a huge manta ray by any means, if anything he was tiny in comparison to most which was why Casey suspected he was just a baby. When the ray swam around behind them, Casey felt Shawn almost climb up his back.

"What the hell man?" Casey laughed, finding it amusing that the big strong man he'd come to... well, not love, really, not yet anyway... but at least like a lot was so scared of the large placid creature.

"What if it whips it's huge stinger around and it stabs us or something?" Shawn muttered as he kept turning to keep an eye on it.

Casey laughed out loud now, nearly throwing them both off balance and into the water. "First of all, you're not Steve Irwin. Second, it's a manta, Shawn, not a stingray."

As the oblivious creature swam back out to deeper waters, Shawn glared at him. "What the hell's the difference?"

"Well, the big difference for you is that mantas don't have stingers. They're harmless, but they're usually much bigger than that. And honestly, stingrays won't bother you either unless you provoke them," Casey said calmly.

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Shawn was still frantically checking out the water around him as the younger man laughed at him. He was irritated by being so scared in front of the other man, but hell, that was freaking scary! How the hell was he supposed to know it was harmless.

But it was worth it to see Casey laughing and smiling again. He'd gotten so morose there for a few minutes that Shawn thought Casey might retreat back to the house early. It was obvious that he really missed this Thomas guy. He'd gotten the same impression from Martin. Both of them must have been really hurt by Thomas's passing. And he got the impression that Casey didn't smile a lot because of it.

He hoped he could remedy that a lot more.

He glared playfully back at Casey laughing at him. Damn what a beautiful sight. All that bronzed skin, lean muscles, the sun making his sandy hair almost golden, the silver padlock at the guy's throat glinting in the sun.

Shawn frowned again for a second as he thought about the chain around Casey's neck. He'd never seen Casey without it--not that he'd seen the guy that much up close and personal yet, but still, it seemed odd that he wore it all the time. It did make him wonder a bit more about what it meant. He was still afraid to ask about it though, especially this early in their friendship, since he didn't want to offend Casey by prying too early into something that probably was rather personal given that he always wore it.

"Okay, fine, laugh it up," Shawn grumbled, though he wasn't really upset. "I think I'm done in the water for today."

Casey grinned. "What? You don't want to hang around and meet Bruce too?"

"Bruce?"

Casey grinned slyly. "Yeah, you know, Bruce."

It took a second, but Shawn finally figured out what he was talking about. "Oh, hell no," he grunted and took off for the shore.

Casey dove after him, catching him around the waist. They sputtered in the surf, having moved inland enough to be caught in the breakers as they sprawled on the sand. Shawn wriggled free and crawled up the shore until he was in the tidal zone, and the water rushed over him at regular intervals. And there was no fucking chance of running into Mr. Ray or a goddamn Bruce.

He rolled to see Casey strolling out of the water toward him--with a huge fucking grin on his face. Bastard. Casey dropped to his knees next to him, obviously trying to control his laughter.

"You're an asshole," Shawn growled at the chuckling sandy-blond as he dropped his own body back on the sand, closing his eyes to the bright sun.

"Sorry," Casey apologized but didn't sound all that sincere. "I just never expected such as big, strong, handsome man to be so scared."

Handsome? Did Casey just call him handsome? He blinked and raised his head before coming up on his elbows with a smile. While Casey was still laughing his ass off, Shawn abruptly whipped up, grabbed Casey's shoulders, and flipped him over on his back.

He grinned at the shocked look of the smaller man under him. "Then I guess your cute little ass is just going to have to protect me from all of Nemo's friends," he quipped, leaning forward boldly before Casey had a chance to panic, and kissed him chastely on the lips. He jumped up before the younger man could react and sauntered over to their chairs.

He couldn't help the smug smile that spread across his face as he heard Casey's soft "Holy, shit" from behind his back.