#The kangaroos for Bruce; the clear white sand for... Beach lol

[quincyhorst]

March 3/16. ⛱️🦘

Happy day to one of my earliest and most beloved pairings of BW, BruShine/MarBeach <3

This is technically meant to be just a headcanon of them, but it ended up quite long. Either way, it is one of my favorites. Though I'll admit that I'm not sure if it's 100% going into my setting or just remained as a concept, I've never settled on that... Still a cute scenario either way. Love childhood encounter ships.

I might not focus with BW nor BruShine as intense as I did back on 2022, but these two still got my heart. I hope you can enjoy this story.

Although both Bruce and Shine both had separate lives, one living on Western Australia and the other in Queensland, truth is that at some point in the past, they had already crossed paths. Way before they got to play on the same time. It happened while they both were around 3 or 4 years old, in an era where the storm hadn't come yet for neither. So for now, things had been quite happy. Shine for example, despite being overlooked by his parents, he always found a spot of comfort on his own grandmother, who'd take him to the coast almost every weekend.

However, the beaches that Shine would attend had its fair share of flaws. Soon trash started to accumulate, people would be impolite, loud sounds would play everywhere, and overall, no matter how beautiful the view was, the sorrounding city gray felt overwhelming for both child and woman. So as a way to give him a change of pace, his grandmother Sun took him one day to an entirely different place: Lucky Bay Beach, located within Western Australia. It wasn't easy to plan out said trip at first; but a business trip of the Beach family became the perfect excuse to take Shine away as his parents meddled in dumb economical stuff.

Grandma Sun had once visited Lucky Bay a long time ago, sometimes to the point she herself questioned if what she had seen was real on the first place. And even after coming back decades later, the views of such white sand with a sky blue sea still felt something out of a dream. Little Shine also felt the same way too, which led him to step on and want to play with his sorroundings, just to prove himself the reality of such scenery.

But after enough toying with sand and splashing the sea waves, soon some external noises interrupted the peace of the two. At the distance, they saw a peculiar scenario: Following along the jumping beach kangaroos, there was another boy around Shine's age. Not paying mind to it at first, soon Sun was surprised with her grandson wanting to imitate said boy; to the point he also went jumping towards him. Although in such a clumsy way, almost the two children crashing with each other.

The fluffy animals were startled off by this encounter, and quite fearful, they fled towards the bushes; as the blonde boy observed in shock. Feeling cornered upon two strangers, he was almost at the verge of tears. When grandma Sun finally catched upon with her grandson and saw the crying stranger, she tried to comfort him, but it seemed futile. Things could have gotten worse, but...

"Do you like kangaroos?"

To Sun's surprise, Shine had decided to break the ice. Still distrustful at first, the other boy still replied by nodding up and down.

"Me too." Beach continued "I'm sorry for scaring them."

Well, at least sincerity had worked, given the blondie had halted his cries and now was standing up. Nonetheless, he was still feeling let down over losing his friends, so Shine took it as a chance to continue talking. At some point he looked over to grandma, usually her main helper in communicating, but she preferred for her grandson to go his own way this time around.

"...I liked how you were jumping! You looked just like one of them."

...Oddly enough, being compared to a kangaroo of all things was something that did lighten up the stranger, taking it as a compliment.

"You think so...?" Were the first words he muttered upon a smiling Shine.

"Yes! I want to see it again. Could you show me...?"

Now feeling better, the blonde boy nodded once again, and soon he became Shine's teacher on kangaroo jumping. Both boys bonded quickly as they jumped together, and soon tried to follow another batch of marsupials nearby. It didn't last for long, as their laughs accidentally scared the kangaroos away; but at least the blondie didn't cry this time around. Soon their playtime stopped being only jumping, and now the two were playing in the ocean waves, splashing each other. And once both were tired enough, they chilled together on the sand.

Right before Shine could ask for his new friend's name however, separation came upon them. By just hearing the far away call of his father and grandparents, "Bruce! Bruuuuce!", the blondie reacted on the spot and was ready to run towards his comfort zone. Rushing each other's goodbyes, Shine tried to share his name at the last second; but even to this day he never knew if the blondie had actually heard him.

Life kept going for both. After the encounter Bruce had gotten more interested on talking to others; leading to him later on finding his actual best friend back in Esperance. Shine had also tried to talk with others too, but unlike Bruce, soon those around him started to treat him different because of his tiny height. As a result, he became more solitary and preferred to reject conversations.

When Big Waves was formed, Bruce was soon to recognize the same boy he had talked back then, barely changed except for few centimeters of height. To be sincere I don't remember developing much the idea in this specific point; but I could see each other at some point addressing the elephant on the room. Well, if Shine's willing to talk, that is. But if things go well enough, maybe this could be a cute explanation how he learnt Kangaroo Kick too. (Idk if Holly used it on the anime, it is Bruce's creation to me)

At least one thing is sure, and it doesn't matter if it's on the FFI or later on; whenever Bruce or Shine see each other, it makes both reminisce of simpler, yet happier times. Though nostalgia can be toxic at times, and it did prove when the two met once again. Now as adults, both unhappy with their lives, having said reminder nearby didn't help at all.

Fortunately this idealization of the past didn't last forever, and after managing to accept both their current situations (with ways to improve within them); the two were ready to start a new step of their lives. They'll keep making new, happier memories as life continues its course. 🥺💙🧡