A/N: Oh boy, this took a while, mainly because I had to research tropical fish. By the way, this fic likely isn’t ending at the end of Mermay, because uhhh I do what I want :) Also a group of merfolk is called a roup (pronounced ‘roo’ like a french person saying the last syllable of ‘kangaroo’)
Summary: Moon takes a fun little trip by the directions that Sun told him to go to meet him, only to realize Sun’s warm-watered friends are there too, and they’re dragging him into an underwater frat-party. Shorter than before, so this chapter is divided up into two parts :)
Content: No tickles, nursing shark, Percy not Jackson but still pretty gay, new characters. Lots of fucking fish.
---------------------------------------0--------------0-------------------------------------
The ocean could be lonely. All of its residents knew that. Regardless if you were without a pod, or a social circle, or were just a misunderstood species, it was not kind. Distrust was bred amongst families. Generation upon generation taught the same coldness to its offspring, with no redemption in sight for the wilderness.
But that didn’t mean that everyone could simply do without kindness. Especially those who were starved of even ‘ficial niceties, like those shared in the warmer waters’ social circles…
Another reason that Moon wanted to move to warmer waters. Considering the rumors around his own species, it was unlikely he would be welcome.
But moving was not his concern today. Nor was hunting. Or exploration. No, he could not stop thinking about his last encounter with Sun.
Never before had he been caressed like that. It was his choice to stop him. He could’ve told him to get off — bitten him, harassed him, done anything to deter him. And he didn’t. If he’d lived it again the way he was dreaming of right now, he wouldn’t have done it any other way.
Underneath Sun’s charming, warm smile, he’d felt like there was nothing wrong with the world. And the more he thought about it, the emptier his heart felt — the more he had the sensation that the cold and harsh gusty currents were seeping past his scales into his very insides.
Without much thinking about it, the young shark started his journey up the warmer currents. He felt like a salmon beginning its journey upstream — knowing Sun's hangout spot for quite some time. Perhaps out of desperation, he’d remembered the directions all this time.
… Is this what friends think about? Sharing time together away from prying eyes? He smiled stupidly at the thought, not having realized he had slowed to a crawl and intruded on someone’s hunting space until he heard a sarcastic voice through the water.
“Planning on going anywhere, anytime soon?” A nursing shark resting below him swung her tail. “You’ll scare my catch.”
“Ah- yes. Sorry, I should leave you to it.” She lifted her head up, leaning her cheek on her hand. “Not necessarily. I’m curious what a toothy thing like you is doing — heading upstream, it seems? Why don’t you take a seat?” Her kind tone betrayed her eyes, which contracted into wary slits as Moon sank politely onto a nearby reef, letting his caudal fin rest upon the ocean floor. “I’m… heading into warmer waters,” he answered, watching her expression change by a tick. “Into the lake?” She questioned with a tilt of her head, shifting her body underneath her. “Surely not?”
The nervous lack of response from Moon told her everything she needed to know. “Well, then, aren’t you a lucky sort. Have you got some sort of friend in the lake?” Her accent, if described by a human, was posh, but gentle like a Moomin. “I suppose you could say that. He’s never really told me if he lives in it.” “I see. Well, do be on your way then. Far be it from me to keep you from a friend in the lake.” The nurser smiled gently, yet showed her teeth — Moon took it as a sign to leave, pushing himself off the seafloor quickly and listening to her mumbling in the rapidly-fading distance about how sharks needed to stay in their own spaces, which he thought was quite hypocritical.
Up the currents, into the narrow space of the river flowing out of the lake, he pushed him onto a searock, getting tired of pushing against currents and completely collapsing until he heard a familiar voice, felt a familiar touch.
“Hey there moonflower!” Sun sang, his shiny, golden-orange scales finally making themselves visible in the last of the evening light. “Didn’t expect to see you around here, no siree.” His friends muttered amongst themselves in the distance about the shark that was about to enter their lake — and it didn’t sound like ordinary gossip.
“Come in, come in! The night’s just about to get started!” Sun gripped his arm carelessly, and the waters seemed to still between them. He couldn’t think about anything but what was happening, his tail pushing him through the water thoughtlessly. And then, he was suddenly greeted by a group of tropical fish, who looked cheery until seeing him — which was a sight he was frankly used to.
“Hey Sun! Knew you wouldn’t be la- Is that a shark? Oh, Sun, come on. You can’t just let anyone in. You’re gonna kill the fun.” An azure-shaded discus spoke, followed by several comments of the same volition from a clownfish and two guppies.
“I already know him, don’t worry!”
Sun, already close at Moon’s side, brought him into a sudden embrace and watched him freeze up. “He’s very fun to play with.”
The merman centered in the roup chuckled, dispersing the mumbling with his own voice that seemed to grab everyone else’s attention with ease.
“Alright, alright. That’s enough. No more of that, we’ve got a guest.”
Moon, taken aback, floated there idly and twiddled with his webbing, unable to find the words to speak. “The name’s Percy. And you, friend?”
He couldn’t believe the pretty words that just slipped out of Percy’s mouth, the ones that made something warm light up inside of him like a new lantern. Quickly clearing his throat, he forced his name out of his throat. “... Moon, my name’s Moon.” The words tumbled out of his mouth in a slight stutter, more than he had anticipated or wanted, but Percy’s smile stayed still. “So now I know both a Sun and a Moon! What a nice coincidence for ol’ Perce here. Tell you what, stay with us tonight. We’re all mers here, right?”
For someone who was assumedly not any sort of predator, Percy was sizable. A green chromis with seemingly pristine scales that were further illuminated by the moonlight, and being just half a foot larger than Moon; but the very fact that he shared a similar height caused a sort of foreboding to stir in his gut.
Moon blinked, and then nodded, uttering a quiet ‘thank you’, glancing towards the exit, but it was too late; one of the two guppies here grabbed his arm, feeling his toothy scales scratch up their palm, but they didn’t seem to care. The little luminescent plankton already began to light up the deep water of the warm lake with brilliant yellows, greens, and blues…
Tonight was about to be busy.