#maldives

[expressions-of-nature]

by Mark Harris

[urumashunistheonlyone]

✮﹒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲﹒^..^﹒⛱️﹒

sae itoshi x reader

you’re face down on the couch in sae’s madrid apartment, groaning into a pillow that smells like his stupid expensive detergent, when he walks in.

you don’t even hear the door at first because you’re too busy dying dramatically about the email you just got—another deadline moved up, your boss being a bitch, the usual thursday nightmare. you’re muttering curses in three different languages when his shoes appear in your line of vision.

“get up.”

you flip the pillow off your face just enough to glare at him with one eye. “no. i live here now. bury me here.”

he’s still in his training kit, hair damp, cheeks a little flushed from the cold outside. he looks annoyingly good, as usual. he crouches down so you’re eye level, expression flat as ever.

“we leave in four hours.”

you blink. “leave for where? the kitchen? because i’m not cooking, you can starve.”

“maldives.”

you sit up so fast you almost headbutt him. “what?”

he pulls two tickets out of his jacket pocket and flicks them onto your lap like he’s tossing you junk mail. first class, malé departure tonight. your name is already printed next to his.

you stare at the tickets. then at him. then back at the tickets.

“sae. be serious.”

“i am.”

“you can’t just—maldives? like the actual maldives? overwater bungalow, turquoise water, instagram aesthetic maldives?”

he shrugs. “you kept sending me those reels last month. the ones with the stupid fish and the swings in the water. you said, and i quote, ‘i would sell my kidney to wake up there.’”

you did say that. you were crying over a video of a stingray because they’re faces are just so cute.

“so you… booked it?”

“yes.”

“without telling me?”

“surprises are supposed to be surprises.”

you’re still holding the tickets like they might disappear. “sae, i have work tomorrow. i have a 9 am call. i don’t even have a swimsuit here that isn’t from 2019.”

he stands up, already walking toward the bedroom. “i packed for you last night. your stuff’s in the black suitcase.”

you follow him on autopilot. sure enough, there’s a suitcase by the door you’ve never seen before, tag already on it, your passport in the front pocket like this is normal.

“you went through my underwear drawer?”

“you own too many cartoon patterns. i left the kuromi ones.”

you’re going to combust. “how long have you been planning this?”

“three weeks.”

“three weeks?! and you didn’t say anything?”

he glances back, one eyebrow raised. “you cry when you’re excited. i didn’t want to deal with it for three weeks.”

fair. but still.

you launch yourself at him, arms around his neck, legs kicking. he catches you without staggering, hands automatically going to your thighs like this is routine.

“you’re insane,” you mumble into his shoulder. “i love you so much i’m actually mad at you.”

“noted.” his voice is muffled in your hair. “shower. we leave soon.”

the flight is eleven hours and he doesn’t sleep the whole time, just watches three movies in a row and chibi maruko-chan and let’s you have his desert because it “ruins” his diet.

you wake up somewhere over the indian ocean with his hoodie over you like a blanket and his hand resting on your thigh, thumb moving in slow circles.

when you land in malé it’s already dark, but the air smells like salt and flowers and freedom. a private speedboat takes you to the resort—some insane place with glass floors and an infinity pool that drops straight into the ocean.

your villa is literally in the middle of the sea, stairs leading directly into the water.

you stand on the deck screaming quietly (because it’s 2 am and you don’t want to scare anyone) while sae leans against the railing, arms crossed, watching you like you’re a particularly entertaining documentary.

“this is disgusting,” you say, spinning in circles. “this is obscene. how much did this cost?”

“don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to.”

you run and jump on him again. he lets you. he always lets you.

the next morning you wake up to sunlight on water so clear it looks photoshopped. sae’s side of the bed is empty, but you hear the shower running. you’re halfway through stealing his tshirt when he walks out, towel low on his hips, hair dripping.

“morning,” he says.

“morning, person who kidnapped me to paradise.”

you spend the day doing absolutely nothing. you swim until your fingers prune. you make him snorkel even though he complains the mask is “uncomfortable” and then spend twenty minutes floating while pointing out every fish like you’re david attenborough.

“that one’s a parrotfish,” you says, voice muffled by the snorkel. those national geographic days paying off.

“a what?”

later you’re on the deck swing, legs in the water, when he comes up behind you with two cocktails that are 90% fruit and 10% alcohol.

“drink.”

“trying to get me drunk, itoshi?”

“you’re louder when you’re tipsy. it’s funny.”

you kick water at him. he doesn’t even flinch.

night falls and the staff lights lanterns all around the villa. you’re sunburnt and happy, lying on the outdoor daybed staring at the stars when he sits down next to you, still in his black swim trunks, hair salty and messy.

you roll onto your side to look at him. “why’d you really do this?”

he doesn’t answer right away. just looks out at the water, the reflection of the moon broken into a million pieces.

“you were tired,” he says finally. “you stopped laughing. you always laugh.”

your chest feels too small for your heart.

“sae.”

“hm?”

“i’m laughing now.”

he turns his head. the lantern light catches the side of his face, makes his eyes look almost soft.

“good,” he says. then quieter, “don’t stop.”

you crawl into his lap, knees on either side of his hips, hands in his damp hair.

“thank you,” you whisper against his mouth.

he kisses you slow, lazy, tasting like pineapple and salt. one hand on your waist, the other sliding up your back.

“you’re annoying when you’re happy,” he mutters.

“you like it.”

“shut up.”

it’s enough.

(later, when you’re half asleep tangled in sheets that probably cost more than your rent, he says into your hair, voice so quiet you almost miss it—

“stay happy.”

you pretend you didn’t hear so he doesn’t get embarrassed.

but you hold him a little tighter and he lets you.)

credit to @dollywons for the divider

[pangeen]

" Meeting with the Giants " // © Anaelle 🌺

Music: © D-Sleeves - Ride With Me

[sayruq]

[florial]

jesshunt2 via Instagram

[aestum]

(by Ahmed Saeed)

[reasonsforhope]

Portable Coral Spawning Laboratory Shipped to the Maldives and Grows 10,000 Young Corals in Weeks

A single ReefSeed unit spawned 3 million larvae during a single spawning season, which they turned into 10,000 juvenile corals.

"In the Maldives, a mobile coral spawning system has been trialed with scintillating success, as 10,000 juvenile corals were grown by local operators.

It represents not only a major hope that island nations can abate the loss of coral reefs, but also that the spawning system’s $1.5 million grant investment was well-spent, and that an expansion in production of the technology could well be warranted.

Co-developed by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and Maldives Marine Research Institute (MMRI), ReefSeed is a shipping container-sized, portable, seaside spawning laboratory for coral.

Designed to allow local marine scientists anywhere in the world to spawn and grow coral for reef restoration in weeks rather than months, and to operate without external power sources or the need for divers, ReefSeed received $1.5 million from the G20 Coral research and Development Accelerator Program.

It passed its recent acid test with flying colors, as the MMRI were able to use a single containerized ReefSeed unit to spawn 3 million larvae during a single spawning season, which they turned into 10,000 juvenile corals.

These corals were then deployed via 720 seeding devices across 9 different reefs. It was done without any of the AIMS experts present, proving its utility doesn’t require expertise in the system.

The spawning took place on Maniyafushi island in the South Malé Atoll of the Maldives, and AIMS coral reproduction scientist and ReefSeed co-lead, Dr. Muhammad Azmi Abdul Wahab, said the plan was to offer ReefSeed to as many other island communities as possible.

“We have learned much from working with colleagues at MMRI, which will help us make improvements in the training and refinements in the way the system itself can work,” Dr. Wahab told Oceanographic.

MORE REEF SPAWNING RESEARCH: 

New Technology Lights Up Coral Beds to Speed Reef Restoration By Attracting Food

First-Ever Coral Crossbreeding Hopes to Mimic the Resilience of an ‘Invincible’ Reef in Honduras

Breeding Corals for the Great Barrier Reef Achieves First Out-of-Season Spawning Event Ever

First Coral IVF Babies on Great Barrier Reef Have Produced Next Generation

“Coral reefs in the Maldives sustain communities and livelihoods but, like coral reefs globally, they have been impacted by bleaching driven by climate change. Innovations like ReefSeed can play a role in supporting restoration efforts providing hope for these communities.”

MMRI scientists were invited to the Great Barrier Reef to witness, alongside their AIMS colleagues, the autumn spawning season on the world’s largest reef, something which GNN has reported before has to be seen to be believed—like the shaking of a giant snowglobe.

It was there they learned the fundamentals of coral spawning that they would take back to Maniyafushi island and their ReefSeed station."

-via Good News Network, July 16, 2025