In hindsight, the boy didn’t have to save his life, for it had been Yifan’s own fault that he nearly drowned and died in the wrath of the frothing tide. As though chewing the idea to himself, the boy glances down at the seashells laid in his palms before shifting the weights of them into his non-dominant hand and lifting a single shell in delicate fingers, taking several steps forward before handing it out for him to take. When Yifan catches on and does take it from him, he sees that it’s a perfectly-shaped rose petal tellin, beautifully baby pink in color that fades into a muted scarlet at the apex where the two halves connect. “These are my favorite,” the boy tells him. “I regard them as the cherry blossoms of the sea. Would you not agree?”

As he takes the shell and admires it with soft eyes, Yifan finds himself confused by this strange dynamic the boy seems to hold. “I, uh, I mean, I guess so,” he decides to go with, the ridges of the shell spiky against the soft skin on his palm. “Are you - you’re not from around here, are you?”

“Am I?” The boy asks. “What is around here?”

This time, Yifan’s brow knits. “Uh… from town? How do you not know what that means?”

“We all live in an unwalled infinitude where humans use constrictive terms such as town and state to minimize communities,” the boy says, and Yifan’s jaw nearly drops at how much his grammar flip-flops from immature and childish to utterly philosophical and all-knowing. “To say that I am not from around here is constraintive.”

“Who are you?” Yifan asks quickly, taking a few cautious steps back. “What are you?”

It is far too strange for Yifan to make sense of this event - to meet a boy with decorations in his hair and no common human knowledge, there’s absolutely no way this kid could be just a normal young man looking for his home. He seems far too content existing around the beach and collecting his seashells, as well as lingering about in the and singing to himself in a voice resonant enough for Yifan to hear it for miles. 

“Me?” The boy asks him. Then, the boy takes several languid, slow steps forward that bring his shorter self within very close proximity, his eyes icy and abnormally aqua-blue, and, as though curious, he reaches forth a little hand and delicately traces the shape of Yifan’s smooth cheekbone. 

Out of unfamiliarity, Yifan jerks back away from the touch, not exactly a fan of having strangers touch him. “What are you doing?” He asks uncomfortably.

“You are,” the boy mumbles softly, “quite a beautiful human. What is your name?”

The student’s lips part with a soft sound; alright, now he’s convinced that he must have taken something to put him under some kind of influence because this conversation, as well as the encounter itself, makes absolutely no sense and it’s a little bit weird. “Yifan,” he mutters, his expression twisted in confusion. “Can you… not touch me, please? That’s... kind of weird.”

“Yifan,” the boy repeats calmly. “What are you doing down here, Yifan? Why did you come to find me?”

“You wouldn’t stop singing,” Yifan snorts. “I thought someone might have been hurt, or something, because I didn’t understand why I had been able to hear you sing from all the way across town. Do you have some kind of secret megaphone or something?”

Then, the boy smiles at him, his cheeks rounding as his lips curl, and the intensity of his irises seems to dim just for a second as though having been soothed, and Yifan begins to feel a sense of comfort worm its way into his chest. “You could hear me,” he comments cheerfully. “Did you like it?”

“Uh,” he mumbles in confusion. “I… guess so? Look, this is kind of weird, so do you, like - need help getting home, or something? I wouldn’t mind escorting you home if you need help finding your way back.”

“Yifan,” the boy tells him quickly, and the student’s hair brushes briskly away from his forehead as the wind begins to pick up. “I already am home.”

Then, as the whisper of the wind brushes past his ears, Yifan feels something inside of himself telling him to glance down at his hand where the seashell lies, and it’s actually really ing creepy to see that the single tellin has now become two, individually clasped mollusk shells laid in his hand as though a matched pair, and when he looks back up, the boy is nowhere to be found. However, on the sand where the boy had once stood, lies a small pendant, curled up delicately with a wound silver chain, and when Yifan bends to pick it up, he realizes that the pendant is a mollusk-shell locket, two halves of a speckled egg cockle clasped together. Sighing, he runs the pad of his thumb over the round of it as the chain slips between his fingers. “Goddammit, kid, stop running away from me.”

a/n hi it's me (the rice)

u can yell at me for making random stories if u want but this is a gift for xiaojiajia's birthday this week (go tell her happy birthday pls because i told u to xoxo) cus she's a big gay and she hasn't had a lot of time to write so hi i do a write for her congrats love u 

yall (mainly jia) are gonna have to excuse me if this doesn't make it up on her actual birthday because i found out kinda last minute and uhhhhHHHH writing takes me approx. 10 years and also,,, my wisdom teeth are here,,, and i am suffering pls end me i have dentist tomorrow and i'm scared lmao save me 

anyway this is like one of the only oneshots you'll probably ever get from me and pls don't be surprised if it because i made this in like 6 days lmao :^) 

Pairing: Tao & Kris

Prompt: n/a

Length: oneshot

Warnings: (slight) human-reptilian hybrid anatomy, gross fluff, water nymph!au 

*Sequels (in order of occurrence): 

-Footprints in the Sand by me

-Pink Blossoms by xiaojiajia

don't ask lmao goodnight fellow gays i hope u enjoy this mess when i post it