benjamín ramirez showed his affection in a lot of ways. he’s a sweetie pie. even if you’re just casual friends, he likes to give gifts.

in his dad’s garage, he’d make little flameworked sea animals for you. like turtles or seahorses or crabs with shells he’d go diving for. he’d disappear for a whole day, go snorkeling for hours on end, and come back with a bunch of random knickknacks buried under the sand. today he’s showing you his little hidden diving spot.

benny bikes here most days after school. down by the lagoon. it’s a pretty small beach that fills up with a few people in the summer, but that’s really it. he walks all the way down the sand, and behind a big cluster of sea grapes and a big mangrove that you have to carefully walk through, the water dips down to a whole other secret place, bursting with colorful fish that dart in and out of the coral nestled around a massive boulder.

“super cool, sí? this is where i saw those dolphins just cruising around.” benjamín hops into the water and wades to the deep end. his snorkel mask is strapped around his left thigh. “oh, and also, there’s this silly-ass pufferfish who lives here. don’t get scared if he comes up to you. bro just floats there like an idiot.”