#the legend of the hidden sea

[aceinthetrap]

LEGEND OF ZANG HAI 《藏海传》 (2025) airs on May 18th at Youku, CCTV-8, Disney+

[linggluu]

allegedly this is where zang hai finds out what happens to his parents and

*trigger warning*

this is his parents skin but it's stuffed with straw lksfajdslfjsdakfds

[kdram-chjh]

Cdrama: Zang Hai Zhuan (2024?)

ENGSUB 【藏海传 Zang Hai Zhuan】 杀青特辑：全阵容官宣！郑晓龙执导现场曝光， 肖战张婧仪新造型亮相 | 肖战/张婧仪/周奇/黄觉 | 古装 奇幻 | 优酷 YOUKU

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WLsPr1ociU

[prisiidon]

Zoras with them shellpipes and seaweeds. Feat. my Wisp! 💜 I ref’d a mellon-soup pose~

[romancemedia]

Cartoon Romances + Family

[nenoname]

i know some people were like "oh!!! the cracks that bill got from being punched to death are exactly like ford's glasses" and that always made me go eh!! cos glasses can be replaced and the sea grunkle!ford we see in lost legends actually didn't have broken glasses

but like. guess who else has a permanent scar (mostly) on the right side of his body

[hiddenobject-fanblog]

I recently remembered a Hidden Object game that scared me as a kid and I never got to finish it. I found the game on Steam (Sea Legends: Phantasmal Light) and played it properly! It was good, the atmosphere is creepy and I like the older-looking graphics.

Most people were having problems getting the game to work with its resolution - I struggled with a few crashes at first, but got it running. It was worth it; I enjoyed the experience.

I still can't comprehend what happens in this game, all the blood and (past) deaths you witness, yet the main character we play as looks like THIS:

^ The Steam link, if anyone wants to try it..!

[sakuholmes]

My Drama Watchlist: ( always updating) Extraordinary Attorney Woo Crash course in Romance My Amazing Boyfriend Sweet revenge My private life The Business Proposal King the Land Twinkling Watermelon Legend of the Blue Sea Hidden love Riborn Rich 2521 The Good Bad Mother Celebrity The Glory My demon Marry my husband Suspicious partner A love so beautiful When I fly towards you Back to seventeen Blue Spring Ride Queen of Tears Lovely Runner. Doctor Slump

Movies: Silent Brave citizen Our Secret Diary

[fleshwizard]

Dragons & Folklore de France

Translation below

The Tarasque dwells in the waters of the Rhone river near the town of Tarascon, where it devours travelers and destroys dikes and dams to flood the Camargue. Saint Martha chained it, and the people of Tarascon killed it.

The ruins of the amphitheaters of Metz were infested by hundreds of snakes. The largest of them, the Graoully, had a venomous breath, a mouth bigger than its body and devoured men. Saint Clement chased it away into the Seille River.

King of serpents, the Basilisk takes many forms throughout history and appears in many tales. One of them takes place at the Gate of Saint-Eloi in Bordeaux, known today for its Big Bell, where a well was occupied by a Basilisk. It petrified with its gaze anyone who went there to fetch water. It was defeated by a man returning from the Egyptian crusade, who petrified the beast with its own gaze using a mirail (mirror).

The Cocatrix is born from a rooster's egg incubated by a toad. The egg has magical properties but must not be broken. People who cross its gaze die immediatly.

Made of wicker and covered in flowers, the Grand Bailla wanders the streets of Reims three days a year and feeds on gold and sweets. It was banished by Archbishop Charles Maurice le Tellier.

The Grand'Goule haunts the marshes of Poitou, the waters of the Clain and the flooded cellars of the abbey of Sainte Croix. It feeds on nuns and casse-museaux (snout-breakers, cakes). Saint Radegonde chased it away with holy water.

In the rivers of the Jura and the Alps there is a group of diverse dragons, the Vouivres. They are generally flying serpents covered in fire and guardians of treasures. Many have for a single eye a gigantic carbuncle with extraordinary powers, desired by those in search of wealth and power.

Hidden in the caves and cliffs of la Pointe du Roux near La Rochelle, the Rô Beast traps and devours travelers in the coastal marshes. It was impaled by seven heroic pagans from the seas.

Mythical dragon of the Basque Country, Herensuge gave birth to the Sun and the Moon, swallowed all of Creation in ten days then regurgitated it in flames. Now asleep in the mountains, it sucks up flocks and shepherds in his sleep. When it wakes up, it will destroy the world in flames and blood. (illustration)

Durandal is the mythical sword that Charlemagne gave to the knight Roland. Some claim that it was inherited from Hector, the warrior of the Trojan War. At war with the Saracens in the Pyrenées, Roland wanted to break the sword so that it would not fall into the hands of the enemy but Durandal split the mountain. So he threw the sword, which went to stick miles away, in the rock of the town of Rocamadour.

The belief in the Tooth Fairy is widespread in several countries in Europe, and is sometimes amalgamated with La Petite Souris (little mouse). It exchanges baby teeth for money. No one knows what it does with all these teeth.

The Camecruse is a bogeyman that haunts the moors and marshes of Gascony. It is agile, can jump and hide in the night to better devour lost children. No one knows exactly how it feeds.

The caves under the hill of the town of Hastingues are home to Lou Carcolh, a monstrous snail, long, slimy and hairy. Its shell is as big as a house. With the help of its tentacles, it grips people to devour them.

The Questing Beast is hunted by kings and heroes in Arthurian legends. It symbolizes evil, incest, violence and chaos, and takes it name from the loud noises that come out of its stomach, similar to the barking of dozens of dogs.

The fairy Mélusine, cursed princess of Albania, was condemned to change into a snake below the waist every Saturday. She married Raymondin de Lusignan with whom they had 10 prodigious children. But Raymondin broke his promise never to see Mélusine on Saturday : he surprised her in her monstrous form, and she left her family forever.

[requinoesis]

did goblin sharks evolve too? if they did, do they use sunglasses/sunscreen a lot because they tend to inhabit deeper seas.

I've long wanted to explore the sharks of the deep!

Yes, the goblin sharks have also developed their own culture, but unlike the euphotic sharks, they and other abyssal shark species have never left the aphotic zone. They have remained where the light never reaches, becoming guardians of the abyss. Thus, they became known as the Aphoteans.

The Aphoteans are just one of many aphotic sharks who have followed a unique adaptive path: they have developed arms, but never legs. Like the Halui, the Rayfolk, they became creatures of the eternal waters, a kind of “merfolk” of the abyssal shadows. It is believed that the reason they never emerged beyond the surface of the sea lies in the very nature of their bodies, shaped by the crushing pressure of the depths, they simply couldn't resist the absence of this invisible burden as they rose to shallower waters. Having never left the depths, the Aphoteans have also remained unchanged in one singular aspect: their gill count. While surface sharks have followed an evolutionary path that has reduced and refined their gill slits to just three, making them more efficient, the inhabitants of the abyss have remained as they were since ancient times.

For the euphotic sharks, the existence of the Aphoteans is an enigma. Almost nothing is known about their culture and civilization, except for scattered legends and ancient tales, records of ephemeral contacts over the centuries. Most knowledge about them comes from their artifacts and the ruins of their stranded citadels, pushed closer to the surface by earthquakes and submarine eruptions millennia ago.

If the modern technology of the Sharkfolk is still in its infancy for the Halui, who have never left the ocean, for the Aphoteans this kind of innovation is nothing more than a strange dream. Some believe that their civilization has remained stagnant in time, anchored in immutable traditions. But perhaps we are underestimating them.

Ancient libraries speak of long-forgotten mystical knowledge kept by the Aphoteans in the depths of the abyss. It is said that they hold secrets about the mysteries the origin of the ocean and Mangoroa, the Cosmic Shark, and that they play a key role in the infrastructure of the hidden society of the Fathom Ones, the benevolent titans who inhabit the depths of the "Ocean Dreams", a domain not yet known.

Even though sharks have triumphed as the true guardians of the ocean, the depths still whisper unfathomable secrets ~ 🌊✨

Thanks a lot for your question, it helped me get inspired! ✨

[aceinthetrap]

LEGEND OF ZANG HAI 《藏海传》 (2025)

[linggluu]

it's a crime this is just a guest role

[theonlyonesora]

Emergency Contact - Max Verstappen x Reader

The room smelled faintly of antiseptic and lavender hand soap—the soft, almost apologetic kind they keep in private hospitals tucked into the hills of Monaco. Outside the tall windows, the sky was still a dusky lavender-grey, the sea just beginning to glisten like a spilled secret. The city hadn’t quite stirred yet. The yachts in the harbor rocked lazily in the hush of dawn, and the streets—usually alive with the quiet luxury of another world—were still.

You weren’t sure if you were dreaming.

Your body felt like mist. Bones suspended in honey. There was a dull ache in your side and a whisper of pain behind your temple, like the aftertaste of something sharp. Machines beeped softly around you in a rhythm that felt too slow, too gentle for what had happened.

The crash. Rain-slick asphalt. Screeching tires. A flash of headlights. Then nothing.

You blinked. Once. Twice. The world wavered like a watercolor before it cleared.

And there he was.

Max was seated beside your bed, shoulders hunched forward in a way that was so unlike him it made something twist inside you. His Red Bull hoodie was wrinkled and slightly damp near the hem, like he’d stepped out into the rain and hadn’t noticed. His hair was a mess. His hand was in yours.

And his eyes—stormy and rimmed red—were locked on your face like it was the only thing tethering him to this plane of existence.

He didn’t speak at first. Just let out a breath so shaky it nearly broke you.

“I thought I lost you.”

The words were hoarse. Ragged. Like he’d been screaming them in his head all night. You tried to smile, but your face didn’t quite cooperate.

“I’m okay,” you managed, voice soft and a little raw. “I think.”

“You’re not okay,�� he snapped, then caught himself, breathing in hard through his nose. He looked away, eyes glossing over the sterile white of the hospital walls like he could will himself back into control. “They said… it was close. You weren’t waking up. I didn’t know what the hell was going to happen.”

Your fingers tightened weakly around his.

“I put you down as my emergency contact,” you whispered. “Didn’t think you’d actually have to come rushing over in the middle of the night.”

Max laughed. It wasn’t a happy sound. More like a sharp exhale of disbelief.

“I’ll always come rushing,” he said. And then quieter, like a confession to the silence: “I should’ve told you that before.”

There was a pause. Long enough to hear the ocean hum somewhere far beyond the window. Long enough for you to read it on his face before he said it.

“I love you.”

The words weren’t dramatic. They didn’t explode into the air like fireworks. They landed quietly, like snow on an already beautiful morning. But they shook something loose inside you nonetheless. Something you’d kept hidden beneath your ribs for too long.

You stared at him. The Max you knew—fierce, untouchable on the track, rarely unguarded—was gone. In his place was something softer, realer. His knuckles were pale where he gripped your hand, and his thumb kept brushing over yours like a prayer.

“I love you,” he said again, as if repeating it would make it true in both your hearts at once. “I should’ve said it sooner. I just… I didn’t want to mess this up. But when I saw them wheel you in, when they said you weren’t waking up—nothing else mattered.”

You swallowed hard. Eyes stinging.

“Say it again.”

He leaned in, forehead brushing yours, so close you could feel the words before he spoke them.

“I love you.”

And that was it. That was everything.

The world know him as the champion. The racer. The living legend. He’d wear his fireproof suit like armor and chase glory at two hundred miles an hour.

But this morning—this fragile, golden, precious morning—he was just Max. Yours. And that mattered more.

[yv0nn1e]

"'cause i don't feel alive 'til i'm burnin' on your backburner."

backburner — rafayel

summary: in every life, in every timeline, the god of the sea is doomed to sacrifice everything for his beloved, angering the deep sea, and causing lemuria to fall. in every timeline, the sea god's most dedicated follower cannot stop that from happening.

pairing: rafayel x (non!mc) fem!reader

cw/tw: pure angst? and blurry timeline & lore (heavily implied relation to myths and anecdotes from the game, but will have some non-canon twists of my own)

note: have i been gone for 2 years only to come back to write a gut wrenching thought i can't contain anymore about my beloved fishboy? yes.

wc: 2k+

thinking about non!mc reader who can see and remember every timeline she has ever been in. with those timelines being intertwined with lemuria and the sea god, rafayel, her beloved but not his.

non!mc reader starting in the forgotten sea timeline as a lemurian herself whose family is closely associated with the sea god, rafayel. when young, she finds herself unexplainably infatuated with an adolescent version of rafayel himself and his aura. he was just so mischievous and cheeky in a way that it made her admire his bravery and eagerness to just explore the world. she becomes close friends with him and eventually, she realizes the underlying danger she has put herself into.

"when lemurians fall in love with someone, all our senses are committed to perceive them."

at first, she found it sweet. cute even. she adored rafayel. even if she had no oath or celestial bond that bounds her to follow anything rafayel asks, she knows it deep down that she will still obey and do whatever he wants. rafayel, ever so kind, kept her near and considered her as one of the closest companions he's ever had in such a large yet lonely position as the next sea god. their bond was somehow intimate—with her keeping rafayel stable whenever the pressure of lemuria's expectations get to him and rafayel accepting her for who she is whole-heartedly. every flaw, every freckle, and every scale in her body and soul that he could see, he could understand.

but then one faithful day, years after their younger selves have formed their close friendship, a loyal group of humans who simply idolized the god of the sea set out to offer a sacrifice to rafayel. unknowingly, when their mission goes south due to a storm, this sacrifice of theirs manages to escape and unknowingly meet the sea god himself, asking if he were lemurian and for him to help her, only to get teasing from rafayel in response. then everything happens so quickly with a kiss that sets off the mark of their oath. to the girl, mc, it may seem as though she was just trying to survive since legends held tales of a lemurian's kiss blessing one with the ability of breathing underwater. yet to non!mc reader and rafayel, they knew that it was something much deeper. something binding. sooner, the sea god then chooses mc to become his 'devout follower', failing to see that there was already one who was so willing to be in that position. with that, non!mc reader realizes she's already lost rafayel, her beloved. their ever so holy tome (tome of the sea god) states the everlasting bond that the sea god has when he has chosen his devout follower—meaning, he is bound to that very person. every command and ask must never be disobeyed or rejected; otherwise, the bond breaks.

and non!mc reader's heart breaks, especially with that girl down in lemuria and the sea god's ceremony approaching where the sea god, rafayel, and his devout follower exchange vows. jealousy was an understatement. whilst all of lemuria await in excitement, she wallows in the truth that rafayel has undoubtedly chosen mc as his beloved and his bride. before the ceremony, rafayel meets non!mc reader one last time, jokingly teasing her to not worry for he won't forsake his friendship with her which only earns him a soft chuckle and a hidden pained smile. he then thanks her for all those years he stuck by her side, that he could not have gone past the challenges and hurdles of his training and his pursuits if not for her. 

"you mustn't forget to bestow us your utmost protection when you ascend to a higher level of godhood." she jests, trying to make light of the situation and distract herself with some light banter than she hopes might just change his mind and choose her to become his devout follower instead. 

rafayel could not promise her that. with the slight shift of his eyes, flickering a hint of guilt, non!mc reader supposes that she knew that too.

"to love you is a privilege." that i do not have. non!mc reader says to rafayel with a soft smile, her eyes calm yet hurt, somehow helpless too. she is unsure of what he plans to do but something within their conversation told her that perhaps, it would've been the last.

and it was.

outside the temple of lemuria, the civilization starts to shake and crumble. the lemurians run with panic, wondering what could have made the deep sea enraged on such a momentous occasion. as bloodshed stained the waters of the city, non!mc reader stood amidst the chaos, shutting her eyes in disappointment and regret that she could not have stopped rafayel from whatever he was planning to do. that she could not stop rafayel from giving his heart away to his beloved costing him lemuria and his most treasured friend.

non!mc reader remembering her life during the sea of golden sands timeline where she is a guide with abysswalker!rafayel. in this timeline, they strive hard to find a way to restore lemuria and when they find out that the princess of philos has what they need to achieve that, she insists on coming with rafayel to visit her, only for rafayel to refuse. 

she warns rafayel that it's dangerous. that he was already caught once when he was younger. that he was lucky for the princess to be kind enough to let him go. rafayel reassures her by telling him what happened that faithful day when rafayel was gifted to the princess of philos. he told her that one day, he'll come back for her. 

non!mc reader knew that rafayel would only be captured if he wanted to. meaning that he purposely wants to be caught just to see the princess. then it hits her. the princess of philos was the same girl who became the sea god's devout follower in another life. she doesn't know how or why she knows this kind of information but something in her just recognizes the emotional and literal agonizing pain of lemuria falling and her heart being torn to shreds. she then sets out a theory that she may have gained the ability to see her past lives. 

non!mc reader only finds herself becoming angry when rafayel brings the princess to the sand ruins, telling her his plans of reviving their homeland, lemuria. it angers her even more when the princess mentions dreams of the strangely familiar land. that's when she confirms that the princess was indeed rafayel's devout follower. when the princess regains her past memories after the tome reveals the symbols that stated the god of the sea killing his beloved to awaken the seas, non!mc reader knows that she's lost rafayel in this lifetime again. with much love for lemuria, she tries to set rafayel back to the right track, ignoring the fact that the princess was rafayel's beloved and convincing him to just take her heart already and revive lemuria. the princess then wished to return rafayel's heart after it is revealed that in the past life, during the ceremony of the sea god, rafayel had given his heart to mc instead of the other way around. this revelation lights fury within non!mc reader due to the clouding judgement that lemuria had fallen underneath its own god's sacrifice, seeing it as an act of betrayal on rafayel's part. yet, she said nothing. she said nothing even when rafayel refuses to take the princess' heart, even resorting to erasing her memories so that she'd forget this encounter. 

"you are such a paradox, rafayel." she says with underlying venom under her voice as she sits down on a dusty rock. "you wish to revive lemuria and yet you cannot make the one true sacrifice you need to do so."

"perhaps there are other ways." rafayel gently yet assertively says.

"perhaps." she responds which may seem polite and complacent enough, yet anyone with delicate ears can definitely dissect the mockery in her voice.

days later, as their crew prepares to leave, non!mc reader notices the light glow of the fishtail beacon rafayel carries with him. with amund questioning whether or not rafayel and the princess' bond was truly even broken, non!mc reader silently scoffs in irritation, especially when the princess somehow just arrives in their hideout. despite the anger she had for rafayel, her heart gets deja vu with the way the princess declares her wish to follow rafayel wherever he goes, as if swearing she'll be his devout follower in this life too. 

non!mc reader who swears she will not fall for rafayel in the next timeline she falls into when rafayel manages to put her life in death's door on this universe once more.

non!mc reader in the current timeline who, after the tsunami that revealed the reappearance of lemuria southeast of linkon, leaves the sea. leaves rafayel. leaves lemuria and her mermaid form to pursue becoming an actress on land, proceeding to be one of the most popular actresses as rafayel travels around the world, becoming a well-renowned painter who took revenge for those who wronged lemuria and his people on his own, secret ways.

non!mc reader whose heart stops on a windy day, with the sun setting and the waves of linkon city's beaches were playful once she sees rafayel walking towards her with a cheerful smirk. 

"it's been a while. if i didn't know better, i'd think you were avoiding me all this time." rafayel teases to which she shakes her head to ground her thoughts.

"if only i could truly avoid you." she responds with a well-practiced smile, feigning a friendly banter that long calls back to their very first timeline. 

"have you been well?" at this point, rafayel invites her to walk along the shores of linkon city, catching up on the years they've been apart. she could not deny it no matter how much she tries. she was fated to always be next to rafayel.

perhaps, it was also destiny's fault that she inevitably falls for him in every one of her lives.  

"i couldn't be happier." she lies. after the multiple lives she's lived, hiding her true feelings for the man, she's learned the skill of lying so swiftly as if she were actually uttering what she convinces herself was the truth. perhaps that was why she had grown to obtain a penchant for acting.

because in every universe, she has had to act as though she was not broken by the fact that she was undeniably in love with a man who was forever bounded to his beloved.

non!mc reader who foolishly accepts rafayel back into her life when he mentions that he's staying in linkon, even though something in her already knew that he was there for a reason. even though she long realized that rafayel agreed to also leave lemuria to travel the world only to search for his devout follower, his bride, his soulmate.

non!mc reader who is no longer surprised when rafayel introduces his new bodyguard, a young woman with a heart condition. she could only smile at the girl, knowing that rafayel, has once again, found her. that, once again, destiny has shoved it in her face that she was only meant to yearn for rafayel's love, forever by the sidelines.

a celebratory party was held for yn when she just reached a greater height for her acting career. she finds herself walking the shores of linkon at night in her velvet blue dress, the mermaid cut of the skirt softly brushing against the white sands. she adores the warmth of the yellow string lights within the trees and posts, engulfing herself in the solitude and respite she needed. truth be told, despite her love for her career, one of the main reasons she even pursued the thing was to distract herself from the impending doom and painful fate she was destined to go through, like in every timeline she was ever in. to be killed under her own deity's hands. 

"i never took you to be such a loner." a familiar voice takes her out of her trance, eyes shifting from the whispered waves of the beach and towards rafayel.

"just thanking home, i suppose." she responds elegantly, head tilting a bit to point to the ocean.

there was an awkward silence when she turns her body away from rafayel, her back facing him as she hugs herself to give some warmth from the cold brush of the sea breeze. 

"afraid to get in the water?" rafayel gently teases as he walks closer to her, arms already taking off his dark blue blazer, not even giving her a chance to react as he wraps the garment around her shoulders.

taken back, she tilts her head to look at him, eyes slightly wider than normal but not enough to show shock. 

"you looked like a cold fish." rafayel points out, justifying his actions. 

for a moment, she takes rafayel in once more. it's been so long that she's avoided true connection with him to lessen the pain she would have to endure in this timeline. he seemed the same. different yet the same. his purple hair softly brushing against his forehead, bringing out the multiple hues within his eyes, and the glint of different colors making up his skin under the glow of the moon. 

the longer she looks at him, the more she remembers every life she had suffered because of him. 

destiny is far too cruel with fate to let her fall in love with him over and over again.

destiny and fate be damned.

"i love you, rafayel." she didn't expect her voice to quiver but as soon as those words slipped past her lips, her eyes blinked with crystalline waters pooling above them, almost teasing their fall.

"i wish i didn't, but i can't help but fall for you in every life i can remember." rafayel, still taken back with what she said could only stand there.

"i don't know if you can remember but i certainly do, as if they were just memories of yesterday." biting her lips, she lets out a heavy breathe, letting the weight of centuries of pain after every timeline and every life go. "and i am most definitely tired of having to endure those lives standing by your side and keeping quiet of what i truly feel."

"i love you, rafayel, and words can not begin to describe the longing that my heart must go through just by standing next to you. i can not continue moving on from one life to another and pretend as though my heart does not beat for you. as though i am not ready to carve it out and serve it to you if that's what it took to open your eyes. it pains me, so to know that i am destined to a sad ending of being alone, without you. but perhaps, it's high time i fight against it."

non!mc reader who fails, falling in love for rafayel in this life and realizing that she will keep falling for him in every other one that may come.

"destiny had always been my biggest enemy, with you as my greatest regret."

[love-hs28]

Under the Stars

Summary: You and JJ lay on the boat one night, in your own little world a few feet away from the rest of the group. JJ kept you company, though, by making up ridiculous stories about constellations. 

JJ Maybank x Reader  Fluff  800 words  Posted on: 11-17-24

The night sky above the obx never failed to amaze you. The endless canvas of stars never got boring to look at, and you could spend hours just staring into the never-ending space. 

Everyone was hanging out on the HMS Pogue after a long day of working at the Poguelandia shack, and you and JJ were lying on the deck, a few feet away from the rest of the group. The conversation had dwindled out to a quiet mutter, everyone sipping on their drinks and looking out into the marsh, letting the gentle rocking of the boat ease away the day’s stress. 

JJ lied next to you, his arm tucked under his head as he gazed up at the sky. Your cheek rested against his shoulder, tracing idle patterns into the worn fabric of his t-shirt. 

“You see that one?” JJ’s voice broke the quiet but comfortable silence between you two, warm and soft. He lifted his free hand and pointed to a cluster of stars. “That’s the Great Sea Turtle of the Outer Banks.” 

You let out a soft laugh, your head tilting to follow his finger. “The Great Sea Turtle?” 

“Yep.” JJ nodded contently, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Legend has it that he’s the guardian of hidden treasures. But, plot twist- he’s got a thing for nachos. So he only shows up when someone’s got a really solid batch of cheese and jalapenos goin on.” 

You let out a full laugh this time, the sound so genuine and bright that it made JJ’s chest swell with pride. You turn your head towards him with a loving smile on your face. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Ridiculously accurate, you mean,” he shot back, turning his head to look at you. His blue eyes twinkled with a familiar mischief, but there was something soft there too- a look that never failed to make your heart flutter. 

“Alright, Maybank. What about that one?” You tilted your head back up to the sky, but you could feel JJ’s gaze stay on your face, making you blush slightly. You pointed to another group of stars, interested to see what story he would make up. 

JJ squinted, pretending to analyze the constellation like it was a topographical map. “Oh, that’s an easy one,” he said after a moment. “That’s The Dolphin Doing Taxes.” 

You snorted. “That what?” 

“Dolphins gotta pay taxes too, baby,” he said, completely straight-faced. “You think livin in the ocean’s easy and free? Nope. Uncle Sam’s got his hand in their fish jar too.” 

You couldn’t hold back your laughter this time, and you playfully shoved his arm. “Stop it before I push you off this boat,” you joke, looking up at him with a smile both on your lips and in your eyes. 

JJ grinned proudly, his heart thudding against his ribs. God, he loved making you laugh like this; seeing your face light up because of him. 

“Alright, alright,” he chuckled, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “I’ll cool it with the tax jokes.” 

You shook your head with yet another laugh, your giggles fading into a soft smile. “You’re somethin else, Maybank.” 

JJ’s grin softened as he looked back up at the sky. “Yeah well.. I gotta be. How else am I gonna keep you around?” 

You knew he meant it as nothing but a joke, yet you couldn’t help but feel there was a hint of self-consciousness hidden under his humor.

Your hand found his, your fingers intertwining as easily and familiar as breathing. “Oh please,” you said softly. “You don’t have to do anything, J. ‘m not goin anywhere.” 

You tilted your head up towards JJ once more to meet his gaze, both of you saying a thousand unspoken words with your eyes. For a moment, the world seemed to exist only around the two of you. The sound of the others- John B’s laugher, Sarah’s teasing voice, Pope’s exasperated comments- faded into the background. It was just the two of you, lying under the stars, holding onto something that felt infinite. 

“Good,” JJ murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. He pressed a soft kiss to your temple. “Because I kinda like having you around.” 

“Oh yeah?” You tease, blush creeping up to your face. He never failed to make you feel flustered in all the best ways possible. JJ nodded with a smile on his face as you nestled closer to him, letting the warmth of his body and the cool night air wrap around you like a blanket, both of you returning your gazes to the sky. 

Above you, the stars twinkled on, silent witnesses to your little world of laughter, love, and ridiculous stories of dolphins paying taxes. 

Thank you for reading! Not my best work, but Season 4 got me back in my JJ phase so I had to crank somethin out for you guys. More obx content probably coming in the future! Leave some prompts for me and I’ll love you forever. xoxo