Fish & Chips (Cut & Run 3)

When he looked down, Ty—Zane would recognize that body shape anywhere—was several yards below him, arms and legs spread out as if floating on the surface. It was a pose of utter relaxation and pleasure. He gave Zane a little wave, then straightened his body out, gave a strong kick of his legs, and dove backward, relative to Zane, deeper into the clear blue. He reminded Zane of a porpoise, with how easily he wiggled through the water.

Zane saw some divers nearby checking out the coral reef the sea had made its own, but he was content to simply float slowly deeper and keep an eye on where Ty the Super Dolphin swam.

It was easy for Zane to lose himself under water, surrounded by the warmth and silence, schools of fish flitting about, brilliant colors set off by the never-ending aqua. All that marred the view was the black blobs of the other divers, and there were fewer of those the deeper he sank along the shelf.

As he turned lazily in the water, one of those black blobs rushed toward him at alarming speed, swooping down on him from above.

Before Zane could react, strong hands grabbed his biceps, and the

“attacking” diver hung suspended upside down above him. A faceplate pressed against Zane"s, and Ty"s hazel eyes sparkled merrily as he looked at him and winked. Zane laughed and had to reach out to set his mouthpiece back between his teeth before he could swipe at Ty, who was already reeling away. Zane was a decent swimmer, but there was no way in hell he could catch Ty. It would be fun to try, though, and Zane grabbed at an arm, his fingers catching on the skin of Ty"s wrist, before his partner swished just out of reach.

Ty twisted and turned to circle back around and behind Zane, and from the smile Zane could see even behind the mouthpiece, he could tell Ty was enjoying the cat-and-mouse game just as much as he was.

He used Zane"s backside to kick off and darted away from him. Zane"s longer arms weren"t an advantage; the water slowed him down enough that all he ever got was his fingertips on suit or skin. After rolling completely over in the water while chasing a flipper, Zane watched Ty literally cavort away, teasing and waving. It struck Zane that he didn"t get to see Ty like this often: playful and relaxed. Zane really liked it.

He was very much like a seal, gleefully flitting around a killer whale and daring it to catch him. Zane tried to snort at the comparison but couldn"t because of the face mask. If Ty"s offer to take off to a tropical island for their next stretch of time off was serious, it was an extremely enticing offer, especially if this was the side of Ty he"d get to see every day.

Ty glided along the sandy ocean floor as Zane watched. The shadows were deeper there, but visibility was still good. The waves above were a world away, and the peace and joy of the moment stole over the scene, lulling Zane into just enjoying it.

He should have known it wouldn"t last.

Ty stopped his leisurely swim and sank to his knees in the sand on the ocean floor. A cloud of sediment and disturbed sand billowed in slow motion around him. He seemed to be checking one of the gauges of his air tank. After several breaths, Zane righted himself and kicked his legs a couple times to send him in that direction to see what was going on.

Ty looked up as Zane approached. The murky clouds around him had begun to settle, and Zane could see his chest and shoulders clearly again. He gestured for Zane to come closer, and when Zane got within reach, Ty reached out and took hold of his shoulder, peering at his air gauge closely. He then leaned back and tapped his own, gesturing for Zane to look at it.

It read that the tank was half empty. Plenty of air left. Zane shrugged. Why was Ty looking at it? Zane held out both hands, palms up, and lifted them in a “what"s up?” motion.

Ty shook his head and pointed to his mouthpiece. He then made a quit motion across his throat and pointed at the gauge again. He wanted Zane to turn off the air? That couldn"t be right. Zane shook his head, shrugged, and peered at Ty, waiting for him to elaborate.

Ty threw his head to the side, rolling his eyes behind the mask in frustration. Then, to Zane"s growing surprise, he pulled the mouthpiece out of his mouth and shrugged out of the tank, leaving him with no air at all. Zane called out a garbled “what the hell” through his mouthpiece and grabbed at Ty"s arm as he looked around for one of the yellow suits. If Ty was jerking him around, Zane didn"t want the instructor to see it. But another look told Zane that Ty wasn"t having fun anymore.

Ty pointed at Zane, then himself, and then jerked his finger upward. Ty wanted them both to surface. Ty waved at the air tank and swiped his fingers across his throat again, Zane glanced down at the discarded tank, and it clicked. Despite what the gauge said, the tank was out of air… just as Ty had been for some time now.

Zane nodded, but he caught Ty"s arm and tapped his own mouthpiece and then Ty"s chest. Zane just had to pull the strap off his equipment, and they could share the mouthpiece and the air.

It had worked in that James Bond movie. Why not now?

Ty nodded jerkily. He wasn"t flailing or panicking. Much like his reaction to dangling over the rock wall platform, he was maddeningly sedate. But he had probably been holding his breath for a while, and if the air tank hadn"t been full, there was no telling how much air he"d been able to get in that last gasp. When Zane got the mouthpiece free, Ty took it and hastily put it to his own mouth, breathing in deeply before handing it back and nodding.

He reached for the discarded tank and slung it back over his shoulders, his motions clumsy in the water. Then he pointed upward, touching his watch with several slow, exaggerated taps. Zane nodded as he resettled his mouthpiece without fastening the strap and started swimming up toward the light. They had a long way to go.

But Ty wrapped an arm around Zane"s neck, pulling on him forcefully and shaking his head. His eyes were almost an aqua color behind the mask, the color of the sea and sun far above reflecting to play tricks with the light. He looked Zane in the eye worriedly as he stopped their progress, and they hung in the water together in the silence, an oddly peaceful moment in the midst of an emergency. Zane knew Ty was trying to tell him something important, but he just wasn"t getting it, and that worried him almost as much as his desire for them to get to the surface quickly.

Then Ty shook his head and tapped his watch again, each tap slower and more deliberate than the last before pointing upward again.

Zane frowned and shook his head as he clenched his fist in the water.

He knew getting frustrated wouldn"t help, but he hated not being able to understand.

Ty seemed to sense what he was feeling, and he patted Zane"s hand with one hand as he reached with the other to Zane"s belt and loosened one of the weights, letting it fall away. They began to float upward lazily. Ty took hold of the mouthpiece, giving Zane a moment to take one last deep breath before he pulled it out of Zane"s mouth. But instead of putting it to his own, he held it out to the side and leaned in to kiss Zane as passionately as the dive masks and the water allowed.