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Dating Manaka

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by anonymous

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He had hair that looked thin, cropped close to his skull, though that was something that helped him out when he spent so much time in the water, swimming, quite athletic but not in a way that rendered him overly muscled in any way. Jared, however, didn't feel quite as well as he looked, his palms sweaty, wiping them off on his shorts.

It was fortunate that the day was warm, a cool sea breeze picking down the coastline, though he needed to keep moving at a gentle, rolling walk to stay warm. That was just why it didn't make sense that he was sweating so much, beads of anxiety prickling at his skin in the strangest of places, his stomach churning.

For right there beside him was Manaka, Manaka Mukaido, her brown hair a little longer than it had been when he'd first met her, brushing her shoulders. She was about the same age as him, he thought, the two of them having met in the after-school program, though he was surprised that oceanic photography would have been her thing, considering… Well, everyone had a past. But her past did not make her who she was, her blue eyes reminding him of the depths of the ocean from where she had come.

Where did she live now? He had to wonder, had to ask, a woman who could go between two worlds, one that he was not as much as a part of as her. Could he ever be? He wanted to be.

“So…" Jared tried, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, feeling his skin a little too white on the edge of summer, though that would all come in time. “What do you want to do, Manaka?"

Oh, maybe he should have thought of something more than walking, but even the rolling gait of a walk helped things just a little. She was just too pretty, her hands small and delicate, yet even the tiniest hint of her smile had his heart pounding.

“Oh… I've never been down here before."

She may have been on the shyer side, but one could not remain the same forever. Whereas there was evidence of change in her, no longer the girl who would hide behind her hair in the corner of the room, she was not entirely outgoing. Someone, after all, would only be seen to unduly change their personality when they differed so drastically from how they had grown up. And the jury was out on whether Jared would have still like Manaka or not then.

No… He chuckled, earning himself a strange look from her, a blush rising to the peak of his cheeks. He probably would have fallen for her either way. There was something about her, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it, that made his heart beat a little quicker, an inexplicable draw.

And he wanted to know more.

“There's a great place for ice cream with all sorts of unusual flavours…" He grasped at straws, but he so badly wanted her to have a good time. “How about that? We can keep walking, going down the boulevard… There's no rush."

“No, you're right. There's no rush!"

He may have thought that her energy had been tempered but the bounce in her step returned, shy but cheeky, a smile forever on her lips. Or was that only when she was around him? Jared simply couldn't stop looking at her out of the corner of his eye, watching her every move, the tuck of her fingers smoothing hair back behind her ear.

“You still wear those? They're…" What were the words that he wanted to say? “They're…cute?"

He pointed awkwardly at the fin-like pieces of jewellery that rested around and behind her ears, though they were intended to be wings. Once, they had been a nod to her heritage, her history, her purpose… But Manaka had shown for herself that she could circumvent even that kind of fate. They were wings, in fact, but mistaken for fins, the new ones that she had donned silver in tone and peeking out of her hair as if they were a treasure to be found.

“Yes!" She happily showed him, turning her head, though she didn't stop walking, eyes half on him and half on the pavement. “You like them? I thought I'd get something special to go out today!"

He licked his lips, mouth suddenly too dry.

“Just for me?"

Alas, she was not irrevocably confident, despite all the changes that had come to be in her life and he smiled as her cheeks coloured in a blush. It was good that it was not him the whole time blushing, even if she was, at that time, even paler than he was. He could not tease her for long, however, flirting with the idea of holding her hand but chickening out at the last minute. Could he really be blamed for that?

Jared smiled. The strong set of her shoulders had softened in time. But that only meant that the inner steel of her, the determination and resolution that had come with her growth… It was strange to be able to see that so clearly in a person. Maybe he had been watching her more closely than most, but there was hardly any way to tell.

Silence stretched between them, though she shot him sidelong glances, neither of them quite knowing what to say. The day rang bright around them, however, and other people passing by gave them plenty to look at, the path they walked stretching down from a beach shopping area, the sand to their left pristine and clean. Almost a bit too clean, to be fair, everything too well-designed. Jared frowned. He would take her somewhere better next time, to a beach or a meadow further away, maybe even up to the lake or the mountains. But he'd known well enough for himself that taking a woman too far out of the way alone for a first date, well… Well, it didn't look particularly good at all.

“I… Uh…"

What to say? What to say? He scoured his brain for words. He'd thought it would be easier, but he'd only dated on and off before and never with someone who tied his tongue around itself so easily. Was it meant to be that hard?

Could a first date really be that awkward?

He swallowed hard but it was difficult to resist her smile, how it made his heart turn over in his chest, his stomach tying itself up into furtive knots. She took his hand far more confidently than he could have done so for himself, tugging him lightly along, her energy feeding into him. And yet all Jared could think about was the warmth of her hand in his, how the pressure of her fingers curled into the back of his hand, firm without being overpowering.

“Come on!"

Her high-pitched giggle called him and, despite their ages, having grown out of such pursuits, everything felt lighter and softer for a moment, the very air around them picking at their clothes. Maybe the wind wanted him to run too but, somehow, Jared found himself breaking into a light run, his long legs covering the ground more easily than hers, for she was quite petite, yet her energy was something that he could not keep up with. She giggled and jumped, leaping at a palm tree, which must have been planted down at the beachfront for decoration as a plant unnatural to the area, but dashed on by, his arm yanked.

“Ouch! Hey!"

“Keep up then!"

Words, perhaps, were not needed, but life was, throwing themselves into motion, letting people stare. Who cared about people looking at the young couple darting along, hand in hand, though their stride was not perfectly even? They were not in sync completely and utterly, but they were as they were and, sometimes, that was quite enough for them. His heart leapt but his steps kept it from taking over, smile widening in a shout that held no words and yet meant so much more.

Playfully, they split, darting back and forth between boulevards, acting the fools, the children that they had not always been allowed to be. Sometimes things in life were like that, but they could take the time, right then and there, to use the liberties of dating, their very first date to do something not new but aberrant from the norm.

“Hey – you know I can catch you, right?"

Jared grinned, the challenge rising in him even as Manaka squealed and shook her head, walking backwards for a couple of steps.

“What? No way!"

But the challenge had been set and she laughed out loud as he chased her, though there was no negativity in it, the capture never something that was meant to be had. Maybe it was simply more natural for the two of them to be in motion, expending tension in energy, though his palm still longed for her touch. Her hand had felt so natural in his, in the strangest of ways, breath catching, though he was more than fit enough to physically keep up.

Her laughter rang forth and he wondered, if only for a moment, why he had held off from asking her out for so long. He had stuttered and stumbled over himself, knowing that she would be off to a different job soon while his studies took him elsewhere. There was only so much time to be had in life and, like the waves on the shore, it came and went, though never in quite the same way.

If he had not taken his chance to ask her, fumbling with his words, scuffing the toe of his shoe across the ground, maybe it would have gone differently. Maybe his life would have been something else entirely, with someone else, and he would have forgotten her. But even if he had found another, Jared knew, even at that time, that there could never again be someone in the world for him quite like Manaka.

She turned to him, her smile brilliant, eyes sparkling with glee. The ocean framed her in the background, water sparkling with the reflection of the sun, beaming down without being too warm at that time. The wind caught her at just the right time, letting her hair drift softly out from her face as if the moment had been poised just so for a photograph, though that was only one that he would lock away in his mind forevermore.

“Hey – we're here!"

She paused, skidding to a stop, her torso following the path her feet had led with for a breath of a moment even after her feet had come to a halt. Hair wafted around her face, a stray chunk floating across her eyes. Without realising, they had come upon the shops at the far end of the beach, before the sand melted back into rocks and the concrete of civilisation, the well-groomed stretch of sand inviting but perhaps not in the way that he would have chosen if he had had the perfect setting for a date in mind.

Jared, however, could not quite stop in time, bumping into her, an arm flung out for balance that would not come in time. Yet she showed her strength as she caught him, the warmth of her body, once again, pressed against him.

Only, that time, it was not just her hand that touched him, both hands finding his arms, fingers curling around, steadying him, her laugh light on the air. Before him, Manaka bounced up onto the balls of her feet as if she was light enough to spring from the ground at a moment's notice, yet all he saw was the feel of her shoulder on his upper arm, how he flinched into her hip for a heartbeat of a second.

“Oh!"

She laughed and broke away, though he was not quite steady yet and tipped to the side. That, however, was balance for Jared to find as he gasped, breath stolen but not by their darting sprint. There was a light splash of freckles on the upper side of her cheekbones that he had never noticed before. Maybe he had never been that close to her but, as she pulled away, all he wanted to do was to close that distance between them all over again.

“Er…"

The awkwardness was back, the flow of the moment gone and lost, skin flushed from running. Jared fussed with his hands, putting one on his hip, the other on the back of his head, but it didn't feel natural, everything clunky and awkward as if he was putting on a show.

“Let's go in!"

It was good that, in some small ways, she could take the lead. It was not over confidence but, really, what was all that difficult about going into an ice cream parlour? The cool flow of the air-conditioned interior washed over them, though it was too clean, too clinical, enough to bring a rise of goose bumps to their bare skin. Without thinking, he looked for his jacket to give to her as Manaka rubbed her arms but, alas, it was back at home. He hadn't thought he'd need it.

That was one thing that he'd have to learn, to get used to, when it came to dating. He'd have to remember that he had someone else to think about, besides himself. It wasn't the “done thing" with guys to lend one another jackets and coats and, if it was done, it was done with a great deal of tomfoolery and joshing about. It was a joke and a silly thing, but it was not a serious thing that came with tenderness behind it.

Jared smiled. He would remember it.

“What kind of ice cream would you like?"

She tipped up onto the tips of her toes and he couldn't wipe the smile off his face, admiring her, her balance, her energy constantly thrumming beneath the surface. Manaka constantly retained an air of energy about her, even when she was technically still, and he wished, in a way, that he could embody that for himself too.

Manaka made her choice, but he did not have to remember, which was just as well, as he said something random for his own selection, too spellbound by her to think about anything else at all. Was that what puppy love was like? Could it even be called a kind of infatuation? All he knew was that there was nowhere else that he wanted to be.

Seating themselves with their cooling treats, he perched on the edge of his chair across the table from her, suddenly nervous, his stomach tied up into knots all over again. Maybe they should have eaten ice cream out on their walk instead, getting cones instead of extravagant sundaes? Being stationary, in a way, could not help but feel unnatural to someone who was so very often in motion.

She was cute though, his stare wandering, even if he hoped it was not creepy. She was so delicate, even if she ate with cute, quick, furtive movements, the spoon disappearing between her lips each time as if in a kiss. It was fascinating and yet drew him in to her all the more, the distance between them too much as heat crept down her neck, the collar of his T-shirt suddenly too tight.

Jared swallowed, licking his lips, suddenly intently focused on his ice cream. He hardly even remembered what he ordered. What was wrong with him?

“What are you doing now then?" He asked, fishing for conversation starters that didn't feel too “tried and tested" in his mind. “You've finished working at… Where was it again? In the museum?"

“Oh, the art gallery!"

Her smile lit up the room.

“Oh, it's wonderful there, so many people! I mean, I used to not like being around so many people but I'm better with that now, it's better. I like being busy there, but it's a seasonal job and there's nowhere else for him in the museum until the next winter season."

She frowned, the spoon sticking out of the corner of his mouth. Jared didn't want to admit how adorable he thought that was, his chest tightening and releasing for a fraction of a second.

“So… I can go back there but I want something new too. Have you heard of anything?"

He started. Shoot! He'd been so focused on her and what she was saying, how she was saying it, that he hadn't taken any of it in! The way that her mouth moved was oddly hypnotising and yet he didn't want to think about it too much, or else he would lose himself in her, in everything about her.

“Uhhh…"

It was strange. For once, there was no drama, no conflict, no tension – not the kind that need a resolution. Any tension between them was in the cause of growth, a resolution not required in the slightest. She giggled at his indecision, his slack jaw, and, before he knew it, she had bopped him on the nose with the spoon.

“Boop! You don't have to be so lost in thought, you know! Relax a little!"

He blinked, dumbfounded at the fact that she had been so forward with him and yet Manaka still blushed shyly, her chin tipping down. She was not entirely different and he was still getting a better sense of her, her personality, for what he had seen of her in the art gallery and, of course, back in school before they had “grown up" had to have changed.

But he had changed too and being a little on the flirty side, the bolder side – well, where was the harm in that? He grinned, dipping his finger lightly into his ice cream sundae (was that hot fudge he'd ordered too?), paying her back in turn as he dropped a sizeable dollop of cream on her nose. Manaka gasped and pulled back, her eyes wide, yet the giggle on her lips was genuine, if softer than usual.

“Gotcha!"

There was nothing as crude as a food fight to take place there, for that would have gone far beyond the romantic setting of a date, but it lightened the mood, the room around them, as bright as it already was, soft and illuminating. Images of different desserts had been painted on the wall and Manaka swung back and forth in her chair as she scanned her eyes over them all, pointing out a glorious banana sundae to him, topped with whipped cream and cherries.

“Oh – we have to try that one next time!"

She laughed and his heart, once again, turned over. There was something there, something different. She was already thinking of their next date? He could not help but smile, conversation flowing more and more easily between them as they finished up their desserts.

“Sure, I can definitely help you look at some job boards, see what's in the area," he said, more confidently than perhaps he should have. “I've been looking more recently than you, I'm sure. I'm just in an office for now, basic stuff… I don't know if I'll stay there. What is it you want to do?"

She shrugged, eyes sliding away.

“As long as I stay around here while I figure things out, I don't really mind. I only don't want to go off anywhere else. I like it here."

Her eyes missed his and his smile grew a little wider all over again, their bowls set aside.

“Well, that's good to know… Because I'd like to see you around here for a long time too."

That had her blushing, but he smoothed over the moment by standing and, in a fit of boldness, offering his hand to her. Was that too forward? With all that had happened, he was not so sure that it was possible to be too forward in the slightest.

To his surprise, however, Manaka readily took his hand, their desserts already paid for, though a comfortable weight of sweetness rested heavily in their stomachs. There was to be no running as they carried down the boulevard with the beach on one side, the tide in closer to the wall than ever. It must have been near high tide and the lapping of the waves on the carefully placed rocks and smooth wave-breaker wall that led up to where they walked caught their attention, peering down at the foam of broken white water. The wall kept them raised from the beach and the businesses there safer from flooding, though there had been cases before too of tidal waves from sweeping on up into the residential area.

He'd keep her safe. Jared's hand tightened on hers, drawing a questioning look from Manaka, though she did not say anything about it. He'd always keep her safe.

Beachgoers headed home for the day, having little sand left to play on and few safe waves to ride, leaving them more and more peaceful as slowly, beneath their feet, the concrete path changed to light dirt. The trees there were more natural, sweeping down to the sand, the path melding softly into the natural world, sand sweeping to the side where the ungroomed sand rose and fell.

“Sand dunes?"

Manaka giggled, breaking free of him, only to run on ahead. She sprang forth as if gravity could not keep her chained to the land mass, his breath catching, incited to follow. There was nowhere that Jared could go, after all, without following in her steps, without taking her with him. Even after such a short time, something in him knew that there was a delight to be had there, if she was amenable to it too, if she felt the same way as him.

“I've never been down here before! It's like a secret treasure!"

Maybe. Maybe not. His lips parted but the words that wanted to ease forth were not suited for a first date. It was good that he knew that, learning from past mistakes, even though what he wanted did not align with what he knew he could do, what he could have.

You're my treasure.

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Ah, too forward, too bold, too creepy. He didn't want to push things too far and he knew the things that he had to avoid too, though sometimes what came out his mouth did not match up with what his mind wanted him to say.

“Come on! You're so slow!"

He didn't expect her to be as lively as she was and yet she still seemed to be tempering things, her motions retrained. Was that for him? Was Manaka trying to impress him as much as he was trying to impress her, as clumsily as he did that?

Jared nipped at his lower lip, tugging at a bit of loose skin. He didn't want to hope too hard, but she made it so difficult when her hair floating away from the back of her neck like that. Her skin even seemed to glitter in the faint delight of the ocean and yet, even then, he knew that there would never be anyone else in the world to compare to her.

She was the light of his life and, in his fantasy turned reality, it was time to relax into that, leaving everything that he had thought was true behind him.

His hand was cold and he longed for her touch again, though it did not feel right to snatch up her hand out of nowhere. Manaka, however, had other things in mind, eyeing up the seagulls and other oceanic birds that Jared did not know the names of on the shoreline. Out past the line of shops and entertainment, there were no other people, but sand stretching out as far as the eye could see – all the way to the point of the cliffs where the world dropped away from civilisation, become ruggeder still.

His heart pulled. He wanted to go there, all the way out there, just with Manaka. No one around, no one to disturb them. What more could the two of them want for such a thing but a good picnic?

“Jared – come on!"

She called to him, insistent, finally letting her energy out. She spun, arms flung out to the sides, fingers stretched to the wind and sea and sand. The land was hers to play with and he chased her, caught up in her majesty over it, even if it was the ocean, in all truth, that she was supposed to have an affinity with.

Words? What were words when laughter could be shared instead? Slipping easily from parted lips, they made up their own kind of dance in the sand. The gulls swooped and dived as if they were joining in with their jesting play, though there was no fear to be had in them. Some scattered across the same but appeared more annoyed by their intrusion than genuinely scared, for there were all manner of creatures out there that could have disturbed them from feeding on molluscs and more at any time.

“Look!"

It was special with her and they could act like children again, even if they were far from that, gasping as their exertion caught up with them. He was fit, of course, but not so much so that he could shout and play and act every bit the fool. Tension was softened in the expenditure of energy and he thought, only for the briefest of moments, that maybe that was what had been needed all along. Sitting down for dinner and a movie may have been typical, traditional, but he wouldn't have been happy with that and, although that would later be confirmed with her, neither would Manaka. She was livelier than that, energy thrumming through her, for she was done sacrificing her life for beings that had no claim to her energy. She was a woman, her own person, her life her own to do with as she willed.

There was no direction, only being, existing in the moment. And that was enough, bringing them down to a lighter state of being, something that existed only between the two of them. It was easy for them, easier than it perhaps should have been, but they took everything as it was.

But energy, alas, had to fade at some point and they flung themselves down, side by side, on the edge of the tunes, rougher grass clinging the sand together into its shaped mounds, standing fast against the wear of erosion. Their chests heaved, fingers curling into the sand, taking their leave of the moment, experiencing it only together.

Jared's head turned, looking at her as if he was seeing her properly for the very first time. It was strange but a good kind of strange, the kind of strange that wanted him to stay there for forever and a day. They didn't have to solve anything when they were merely enjoying being together, her lips ever so slightly parted as she looked up at the so very blue sky. She didn't wear any makeup, not there, perhaps only a hint of foundation with SPF to protect her face from the sun, but Jared could not have said that she needed it at all. She didn't need anything at all to be as beautiful as she simply was.

“Hey… Manaka?"

She turned to face him, some grains of sand clinging to her face beneath her ear.

“Yeah? What is it?"

She smiled and he met her smile with his own.

“I really had fun today…" His tongue tied around itself in knots and he clenched the fingers of one hand until his nails dug into the palm. “Can we…do this again sometime?"

Ah, there it was: the awkwardness. It would not have truly bene a first date without it, but he would be more than willing to put up with every bit of it if it meant the start of something more.

At least, he hoped it was the start of something more. Only time, when it came to that side of things, would ever tell the truth of it all.

“Of course."

She sat up, brushing the sand off her arms, some grains clinging to her hair, though his fingers ached to brush it away for her. Handholding was one thing but when put up against touching her hair or maybe even the skin of the back of her neck… Jared swallowed, struggling to find the words to put to his emotions. He could push himself to be bolder but not at the expense of Manaka.

Never at Manaka's expense.

“Good, because I think I've got some good job sites already lined up for you."

“What? Already? But we've been out here!"

Manaka seemed surprised but Jared grinned and tapped the side of his head, dropping her a wink that came out cheekier than he had intended.

“Yup! I've got it all up here."

And I've got so much more to give you than job sites.

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For that was true. He'd never had the chance to show what he could do for someone before, but he was determined, with Manaka, to not mess it up. He'd learned all the lessons he hoped he'd need before, taking everything to heart, perhaps a little too much at times. But she was special, a woman that he wanted to see there forever, always by his side, though even he knew that he could not hold a delicate bird like her too tightly.

If he tried to cage her, she would fly away. If he locked her to him, she would break. Her inner strength was not something to be tampered with, allowing her to be just who she was, without any restraints.

“Tomorrow?"

He grinned.

“Yeah, tomorrow. We can go to the library, unless…"

“No, I think I'm okay to come to yours."

His heart skipped a beat, Manaka tucking a stray strand of hair back behind her ear, lips tugging up on the side closest to him on a smile.

“I feel comfortable around you, Jared. You make me feel safe. Not that I can't look after myself, of course, but won't it be more comfortable to sit and look at jobs in your home? My place doesn't have a desk and a set up… Not yet anyway!"

Nodding, he grinned widely, putting his hands back behind his head.

“Yeah. That sounds really great. Really, really great, Manaka."

Everything was alright, more than alright. He sighed, eyes half closed, the sea breeze tickling his skin.

It was the start of the rest of their lives together.