"Tyler! I need you to grab the top rope!" Brock yelled, hands on the valve. Tyler sprinted past him, digging his feet into the metal under him and grabbing the rope to secure it.
"Jon on three!" Brock called, the smaller man nodding as he prepared himself. "One, two, three!"
Brock quickly spun the valve, feeling the tension under his hands. Tyler, John, and Lui did their part, keeping an eye on the drill to make sure it was running smoothly.
Once that run was finished, they locked everything up and Brock leaned against the metal pillar with a sigh, rubbing the back of his arm across his forehead.
"Right. It's time for lunch," Brock said and his friends nodded, using dirty rags to wipe oil off their hands.
Brock, Tyler, Jon, John, Lui and their other three friends Anthony, Marcel and Chrissy worked on a drillship in the middle of the ocean. Chrissy, Marcel and Anthony were mechanics, doing the maintenance part while Brock, Tyler and Jon were engineers. John and Lui were certified in welding and had certifications for heavy equipment.
They were part of the team that worked the 8am to 8pm shift every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, shifts then changing from 12pm to 12am Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Sundays they were split up, taking whatever shifts were available.
Brock grabbed himself a sandwich, chips and a bottle of water, moving to sit at the edge of the rig. His eyes trailed the waves below him, seeing fish and even a turtle swimming by.
He loved the ocean, the mystery and calmness of the waves soothing after a long day of work. When they got hit by storms, it was exciting, thrilling, and adrenaline filling. Sure it was terrifying, but Brock never cared.
He carefully stored his trash in his pocket, refusing to be one of the ones he'd seen throw their trash in the water. He hated that, and during his and his friends' off time they tried to do whatever they could to clean whatever they could see.
Tyler, Jon, Lui, Anthony, John, Marcel and Chrissy joined him, all looking down at the water. "This is the best part of this job," Jon said wistfully, smiling faintly at the waves breaking under them.
Brock nodded in agreement, taking a deep breath as the spray coated their legs. High tide was coming in, which meant the water that was several meters below them was getting closer.
Brock checked his watch and sighed. "We got 10 minutes, might as well go get our trash thrown away and get back to work," he said and his friends made faces.
As they all stood up, Brock noticed a couple of his coworkers standing on the landing above them, talking while eating. He paused, frowning as he saw one throw a Styrofoam cup and his plastic bag into the water, the items floating just a few feet away from the turtle he'd seen earlier.
"Tyler, Jon. Get the rope, I'm getting that before the turtle does and throwing it in Mike's face," he said irritated, kicking his shoes off and setting his phone inside one of them. Tyler grabbed a 20ft long rope, Brock securing it around his belt loops.
The rest of his friends took ahold of the rope, Brock eyeing the trash floating closer before taking the dive. He dove in with perfect form, having perfected this technique over the last few years of working at this rig.
He swam up, taking the trash and sticking it in his pockets. The turtle swam closer, Brock laying a gentle hand on its shell with a faint smile. That smile turned to a frown as he noticed a soda tab stuck around its flipper, Brock sighing as he carefully gathered the turtle into his arms and swam over to the ladder.
"Hey! Any of you got a knife?" He called up as he climbed the ladder carefully with the turtle under his arm. He was thankful it was a small one, only a foot long instead of the few feet they could be.
"Yeah here!" Tyler said, grabbing Brock's arm and pulling him onto the ship. Brock took the knife and carefully slid it under the plastic around the turtle's flipper. He did a single quick motion and sliced it free, tugging it from an indentation in the turtle's skin.
"Here," Chrissy said, handing him a tiny bottle of animal safe disinfectant. Brock doctored the cut, thankful it wasn't too deep. The plastic probably hadn't been on it for too long, and Brock was thankful he's been able to find it before it got any worse.
John ran up with a wooden slab, Tyler taking the rope from Brock and making a platform. Brock set the turtle on the wood and together they carefully lowered it back into the water.
Brock smiled satisfied as the turtle swam off, disappearing into the depths. While Tyler and John brought the wood back up onto the ship, Brock went and emptied his pockets of the trash into the trashcan.
"Hey Mike! Quit throwing your shit in the water!" He yelled at the man standing on the top of the railing. The man just rolled his eyes and said, "Oh yeah? What you going to do about it?"
Brock crossed his arms, knowing after working the rig for a few years longer than this man he was a bit more impressive with the muscle tone.
"You don't want to know. Put your trash in the trashcan," he ordered, the man sneering and walking away. Brock sighed frustrated, rubbing his forehead.
"You can't change everyone's mind Brock, come on, it's time to get back to work. Just a few more hours," Jon said quietly and Brock nodded, following his friends back to where they were needed.
Hours passed, Brock and his friends working quickly and efficiently. And only one injury, with Tyler getting a rope burn on his wrist, so Brock counted that as a win.
Soon they clocked out and hit the showers, cleaning the days grease and oil off them. Once they were clean, they went and grabbed a quick dinner and sat on the edge of the rig again.
The only light was off the structure and from the full moon above them, casting dark shadows across the rushing waves. Brock loved being this far from the land, being able to see the stars and star dust clearly in the sky.
"They say a hurricane is coming in the next week, supposed to hit us Friday," Tyler said and Brock frowned, tilting his head as he examined the waves.
"That'll mean extra hours to prepare the rig then. Tomorrow we should start the lock down and secure all the pallets inside," he mused and Tyler nodded, sighing.
Brock finished his food and crumbled his trash, getting up off the ledge. "We've got a long day tomorrow, might as well get as much sleep as possible," he said and his friends nodded following him to the trashcan and inside to their bunks.
Brock laid there, staring at the underside of the bed above him where Jon laid. He'd been working at this rig for nearly 8 years now, one of the more senior employees here. Tyler had been hired at the same time, and they'd grown as brothers.
Brock had nothing at home for him. His parents had passed a year before he'd applied to the rig, no girl or boyfriend waiting for him. He had decided he was going to live for the ocean and his friends, keeping both safe.
The amount of times he'd gotten hurt protecting his friends or the sea creatures were immeasurable, but he didn't care. What was one more scar? His friends were alive and he knew at least those sea creatures got one more day to swim free.
He craved it sometimes, to just dive into the water and disappear. To swim with the animals and live weightless. Unfortunately he knew that would never happen, and being on the water here was the closest he'd ever get.
He rolled over in his bed, one arm under his pillow. He closed his eyes, knowing he needed rest to get through the rest of the week.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Blue eyes trailed the large structure above them, a small sea turtle swimming circles around him. He reached out and gently touched the cut on the turtle's flipper, watching as the skin healed.
"Those people are always saving the creatures, especially that one with the fluffy hair," he heard spoken beside him, yellow tail glinting in the darkness.
"They're something else, aren't they?" He agreed, running a hand over the turtle's head before watching it swim off. His dark red tail moved smoothly through the water, following his friend back to the ocean floor.
"A storm is coming in a few days, we should make sure to be close by. I have a bad feeling," he said quietly and his friend nodded, fingers wrapped around a stone pendant he wore around his neck.
"Come on, the others are waiting for us," was all was said before his friend flipped around and took off into the seaweed. Blue eyes gazed at the flickering lights above him before he turned and followed.
Short chapter, but just an intro lol idk where I'm going with this tbh, I just wanted to write a mermaid au for a long time and I have completely finished all my other wips so yeah lol here we are. Anyway, hope yall enjoyed! Kisses!!
~Banana