Thinking about siren!tartaglia....
a more unsettling version of the little mermaid
siren!tartaglia who's there when you wake up drenched and clueless on the beach. one moment you were at sea; the next, in the eye of a storm. you're not sure why he saved you, but when you blink your eyes open, there's a man staring back at you.
siren!tartaglia who looks less like a dark sea creature and more like a young prince. instead of a cunning curl of lips, you're met with a mop of messy red hair falling into pretty blue eyes. his lashes are long and pale as he blinks curiously down at you, freckles spiraling across every inch of visible skin and ear fins shimmering translucent beneath the sun. only the scars crisscrossing his torso are any indication that he is, in fact, not royalty like you.
siren!tartaglia who doesn't know your identity. who stays with you that day, offering food he scavenged from the ocean. there's a curiosity that lurks in his eyes, perhaps due to your lack of fear. you're not sure, either, why he doesn't scare you. maybe it's your affection-starved heart that betrays you in favor of an odd being that treats you normally. like you matter, despite no claim to a flimsy throne.
siren!tartaglia who lets you find him again after that day. again, and again, and again, until it feels natural to sneak out of the castle and meet the pretty merman that awaits you in the shallow waters of the beach nearby. he seems to assume you are one of the servants that dream of a life beyond the oppressive stone walls. you let him.
siren!tartaglia whose teeth are a little too sharp for comfort, but he smiles so sweetly at you whenever you come to visit him. the trials you take to escape the palace are all worth it for that smile, for the way his entire face brightens as soon as he spots a glimpse of you. you don't have the heart to tell him that there's no need for him to wave his arms so energetically to get your attention; you can spot that familiar mop of auburn hair from a mile away.
siren!tartaglia whose melodic voice becomes a thing of normalcy, pitching higher and more erratic when he excitedly recounts his tales of bravado over the years. it's hard to register the brutality of the violence in his stories when he speaks of it so beautifully.
siren!tartaglia whose tail wags back and forth when he's happy, flopping lazily in the sand as he looks up at you. it's his favorite place to be, head in your lap as you card through his hair with a gentleness he's only ever known in fleeting dreams.
siren!tartaglia who could so easily overpower you if he wanted, but instead chooses to nuzzle his cheek into your palm like a preening puppy. the delicate gills on the sides of a siren's neck are meant to be protected, fought for, yet he exposes them to you without abandon when leaning so heavily into your touch. the half-lidded gaze that meets yours tells you it's no accident.
siren!tartaglia who starts sulking every time you need to leave, arms winding their way around your waist and bottom lip jutting out in petulance. his eyes never reflect light; you're used to it. but when he tells you to stay, they're less blue and more inky black, even under the brightest of sunlight.
siren!tartaglia who waits excruciatingly, day after day, stranded on the beach, when you eventually disappear. you return to find him lying on the sand, face buried in his arms, but he’s not asleep like you thought he was. instead, he looks up when you call and lunges at you in a way that would shoot fear up your spine if you weren't aware that he'd never hurt you.
siren!tartaglia who gets ten times clingier after that day. after he realizes, eyes flat, that you are royalty, royalty who the guards have been keeping a tight watch on after being discovered sneaking out. royalty who is supposed to be entertaining suitors and getting married off. this time, fingers in his hair and your voice caressing his ear are not enough to suppress the thing lurking beneath his reassuring smile.
siren!tartaglia who likes wrapping his tail around your legs and his arms around your waist to nuzzle into the hollow of your throat. to anyone else, perhaps it would feel like a cage, but it’s natural now to relax into the comforting embrace. when your fingers lightly tangle in the hair at the nape of his neck, he sighs like he’s finally home.
siren!tartaglia who spends days digging for gemstones on the ocean floor just to fashion you an earring to wear identical to the one that hangs from his left ear. if he can't keep you with him forever, he tells you fervently, you should keep a piece of him forever instead. you don’t see the hint of a grin on his face, a mere baring of teeth, when he subsequently sees your suitors notice it.
siren!tartaglia whose head is in your lap when you voice concerns about the latest missing suitor of yours, lost to sea. he only hums, hair glowing like a wisp of flame when it catches the sunlight, and nudges your hand to make you resume petting him. somehow, you end up staying on the beach til sunset. you no longer have anywhere you need to be tomorrow, after all.
siren!tartaglia who shows up at your door one night, not long after the king – your stepfather – gets more aggressive in trying to get rid of you. for a moment, you can’t breathe. he stands before you with that same red hair, same lusterless eyes, same sweet smile. yet there’s no fins where his ears should be, no tail. just ears and legs and dull, human teeth. just a boy standing in your doorway beaming at you like this is where he belongs.
siren!tartaglia who slips into your bed like it’s second nature, curling up with you the same way he used to on the beach. his arms are still strong enough to cage you; his hair still smells like saltwater when he tucks his face into your neck. but he’s always gone by the time the sun crests the horizon, and when you look out the window, a flash of auburn disappears beneath the waves.
siren!tartaglia who perks up when you bring him morsels of fancy food every night. there’s not much you can sneak off without being noticed, but he happily laps it up regardless. the novelty of it never seems to fade, every new dish tried with that same animal enthusiasm.
siren!tartaglia who holds you the night before you’re meant to leave the kingdom. to be sent away, deemed cursed by a king who never wanted you in the first place. it’s unusually quiet, stifling, none of the typical restless energy permeating from him. it occurs to you, suddenly, that you don’t know if the sea reaches where they’ll send you.
siren!tartaglia who’s already in the shallows when you run to the beach, like he’s been waiting all morning. he looks up and smiles when he sees you, bright and uncomplicated. the same smile he always has, as if there isn’t blood still smeared on the palace floor. your hands shake, but his webbed ones take them and press them over his heart. gentle, reverent, like he always is.
siren!tartaglia who has done this before. who would do it again without hesitation. you realize it too late, standing there with his hands warm over yours. he’s looking at you the same way he always has. only now do you see his devotion for what it really is.
GOD the brainrot is killing me. i wanna make this into a proper fic now but idk🥀