AquaMelt Oneshots [Oshi No Ko]

To Fall In and Never Surface

The first thing Melt noticed about Aqua was his eyes.

Shimmering, scintillating, shining bright as the sky's northern star.

When those eyes looked at Melt, he always found himself lingering for just a moment; completely lost in them. They lured him in, pulling Melt into a galaxy—he wondered if it was even possible to have such beautiful eyes, or if he was somehow imagining their splendor.

He remembered, so clearly, the day they recorded the last episode of Sweet Today. He hadn't thought much about the scene, far too focused on that stupid, stupid rain, ruining the careful styling of his hair. Yet, despite his fixation, finding himself face to face with Aqua dissolved the thought like sticky cotton candy—sugar melting away in the water.

He remembered the sound of Aqua's footsteps; completely different from the way he walked before the recording. These steps echoed.

One step.

Another.

And yet one more.

They stopped.

Then, as Melt's anticipation balanced on a spider's thread, he heard a soft whisper near his ear, one that he would never forget.

"You're pretty ugly up close."

Melt snapped. Without even thinking, he grabbed Aqua's shoulders and started shouting at him. However, Aqua didn't seem fazed at all—in fact, he continued on with his lines without missing a beat. His eyes held a certain gleam, a tinge of unspoken words, and Melt found himself slowly understanding.

Follow along with the script, he was saying.

So Melt did. He followed Aqua's lead without question, without hesitation. Not without thought at all, as one settled at the forefront of his mind. Aqua was a very, very weird person. He had only known Melt for a day, and yet he played him so well. Aqua hummed a tune and Melt danced along as though he had known Aqua his whole life.

It was infuriating. It was exhilarating.

Melt was fascinated by Aqua.

The scene ended far too soon, and before Melt knew it, the filming had ended. Aqua's face suddenly drained of all emotion, returning to the simple, quiet guy Melt had seen during rehearsals.

It was then that he noticed the bruise on Aqua's face.

Being a bully, it wasn't the first time Melt had hurt someone. Perhaps Aqua still had him under some spell, because he found himself stepping forward and voicing his apologies. If Aqua cared at all, it didn't show in his face. He simply shrugged it off, saying he had been trying to get a rise out of Melt.

"All acting should carry emotion with it." He told Melt, with a smile that hardly reached his eyes.

Melt would never forget those words, either.

He watched the episodes of Sweet Today over and over again.

They were terrible. Horrid, even. Unbearable to watch.

Melt hadn't even realized how bad his acting really was. Of course, he went in knowing he had no acting experience. He went in knowing he wouldn't put his best effort, that it didn't matter. His looks were what would carry him through, not his skill..

He didn't know it was this terrible.

The more Melt watched, the more baffled he became that no one stopped him. That no one made him redo the scene. That he hadn't noticed how fucking awful it was in the middle of it all, and done something about it.