#WELL ANYWAYYYYY............ ive written and posted two things now what the hell. ok.

[corpsoir]

hi. ever wondered how skagen got his scar over his eye. well i wrote a little silly story about it have funnnn if theres misspellings or weird grammar no theres not dont look at it <3

its about 1.4k words long!

cw for drowning!

He has dreamt about drowning. Read about it in books, seen it in movies too. All of that had failed to mention just how badly it would hurt and how exhausting it is. Every single gasp for air feels like knives in his chest, but then again, it’s not much air he’s breathing in after all. His lungs are filled with the salt of the sea around him, the loud crashing of the waves against the rocks fills his ears, making him feel dizzy. His arms and legs feel like they're made of lead, fighting the waves becomes increasingly impossible the more he moves.

How did he even end up here? Skagen’s mind feels foggy and blurry, and instead of focusing on trying to keep his head above the waves, his mind wanders. It’s easier than trying to fight the sea anyways, and oh he’s so tired… Oh, how easy it would be to just... Let go and relax, letting the sea cradle him and rock him until his eyelids feel like heavy leather, impossible to keep open. One wave sweeps him farther away from the rocks, and the next sends him hurtling against them. Somewhere in the distance he can feel the barnacles tearing his skin open.

The salt in Skagen's eyes and lungs stings. The waves are whispering and roaring simultaneously, and he feels himself floating away to just this morning, lying safely in bed under his warm covers. The memory already feels a little bit blurry around the edges, like spilled water on an ink drawing. Was it really just this morning? It feels like it's been eons. Another gasp for air just fills his lungs with more water. He misses his blanket; this shit is cold and kind of sucks.

Skagen let’s himself get carried away by the sea, back to his warm bed under the covers, the morning sun casting golden stripes in his room, tickling his eyelashes. A hand brushes his hair from his cheek, and he can feel a tired smile forming on his face. The hand then grabs his shoulder and shakes him impatiently.

"Stooop, just five more minutes, come on..." he drawls.

Skagen is hit by a cold rush or air when the covers are lifted, and someone slinks in beside him. Oh, that's right. Solvei had stayed over for a sleepover, now he remembers... Or... Does he? The memory is getting really grainy, the ink on the paper losing its original shape becoming a pitch black, shapeless swirl in the water.

He's so warm and cosy here, his bed rocking him back to sleep. Just five more minutes. Arms still heavy as lead, wrapping them around Solvei proves to be a challenge. Is she slipping away from him already?

"What the hell Sol, come back, where are you going...?" he mumbles, or at least he tries to. All he can muster is a wet gurgle, and it burns. Oh, it burns and his entire face hurts. The covers suddenly feel sharp, like they’re digging into his skin, the pillow a sharp point straight through his eye.

"Skagen," he can hear Solvei saying somewhere far away, above him. "Open your eyes, you idiot."

He does.

He's greeted with the worst pain he's ever felt in his life. His face feels like it's being split in half, torn apart, and a rush of adrenaline surges through his body. Skagen tries to whip his head around to find the surface, but the pain is literally pulling on his face, and the water around him is red, thick with blood.

Wait, are there sharks on the west coast? The thought suddenly hits him out of nowhere, until he realises it’s a fucking stupid thought and he’s currently drowning. There are no blood-thirsty sharks in Sweden. There is water in his lungs though.

He can barely see anything. His hair, the seaweed, the blood, the sunshine breaking through the surface above, all rendering him completely unable to see.

Something yanks on him then, the pain in his face shooting through his entire body, and suddenly he breaks through the surface, yet again feeling his skin being torn apart by the barnacles on the rocks. He wants to scream, but instead of noise its water rushing out of his lungs.

While in the water, his arms and legs felt heavy and difficult to move, but now it's virtually impossible. He tries to sit up, tries to move his arms and get away from the waves lapping at his feet and legs, but no matter what he does he can’t force his muscles to move even an inch.

He can hear someone shouting, a man’s voice. Stop yelling, Skagen thinks. I’m trying to sleep here, can you shut up?

The last rush of adrenaline he felt has left him, and he's left a cold, bruised and bloody mess on the rocks.

---

Next thing he knows, he's in a hospital bed. Warm blankets remind him of this morning again. Oh, this feels nice actually, it's just what he needed! Warm, cosy, it feels like he's floating. He can hear his parents outside, but their conversation is muffled and sounds... Weird. It's as if someone pitched everything down and made every noise sound offbeat and out of tune. There's a pressure on his face and opening his eyes he realises his right eye has been covered with something. He tries to raise his hand to poke at whatever is covering his face.

Someone is holding his hand in place.

"If you would've died there, I would've killed you, Skagen."

Ah, it's Solvei.

Grinning, he turns to look at her. "What're you talking about... I’d be double dead…” he grumbles. God, his vocal cords feel like they’re made of sandpaper. Sound like it, too.

Solvei slaps the hand she's holding and doesn't return his smile. The slight upward twitch in the corners of her lips doesn't go unnoticed by Skagen though.

"You-... Shut up, you were drowning! Stop joking, you scared the shit out of me! They had to bring you here with a fucking helicopter! What if it had crashed!" She is genuinely upset with him, that much is clear. Skagen feels a sting of guilt. He shuffles onto his elbows and slowly sits up, even this little movement renders him out of breath. Ugh, breathing hurts.

"Are you saying I got to fly in a helicopter, and I don't even remember it?" he says, voice strained.

Another slap on his hand sends him into a hoarse laughing fit, and this time Solvei can't keep herself from smiling.

"Careful, before I go tell the nurse to bring me water to finish what the sea started, you idiot."

Skagen scrunches his nose, pokes his tongue out at her and lies down again. God, his body is tired, aching. Bones, muscles, lungs and everything. Especially his face.

About that.

Skagen raises his free hand to poke at the bandages. What the hell happened to him?

“I don’t think you should touch that; the doctor said it looked uh… Pretty bad. I didn’t get to see it though, he might be lying. I dunno.” Solvei lets go of his hand and runs her fingers through his bangs. Sectioning the hair off in even chunks, giving him a clumsy, five stranded braid.

Skagen pokes at his face anyways.

“I can’t really feel anything though, it’s probably not that bad. I think I just got hit with the boom when the boat gybed…” Skagen closes his eye and yawns.

Solvei snorts. Continues her messy braiding. “Uh, yeah no wonder you don’t feel anything, they’ve probably given you like, every painkiller ever. On the planet. And also,” she yanks the half-done braid playfully, “did you forget what I told you already? You nearly drowned. Some guy found you and helped you, said he was out fishing. Caught you on his hook.”

It takes a few seconds of Skagen processing what he’s hearing – no doubt the painkillers making his mind a little foggy – before he starts giggling uncontrollably.

“Would you still like me if I was a trout?” he wheezes.

The laughter erupting from Solvei is only making Skagen cackle more.

“No, you weirdo, I would turn you into fish fingers immediately!” Using the now finished braid she whips him over the nose with it. Gently, of course.

“I bet I would taste delicious.”

“I bet you would taste disgusting. Hey, your hair is still full of salt.”