for @crimsontentacles : mibuhimu + merpeople + secret relationship
ao3
send me this meme! (please keep in mind charas/pairings/tropes i enjoy writing)
Reo’s curled around the rock when Tatsuya gets there, skin and tail glistening with sea spray under the starlight. He’s gazing up at the sky, the moon; he knows Tatsuya’s there but makes no move to acknowledge it yet (tease). He looks so picturesque and so not, too lifelike for a faded painting in a human art gallery. His tail curls tighter; his fingers brace against the rock.
“Care to join me?” Tatsuya says.
“You’re asking me too nicely,” says Reo.
He slithers off and into the water, gliding over to Tatsuya and taking his hand below the surface.
“I was beginning to think you weren’t coming,” says Reo.
“I got held up,” says Tatsuya. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long?”
He raises Reo’s hand from the water to his lips, kisses it long enough for the salt to sink into his lips. It has the desired effect, at least for now; Reo purses his lips and gives a half-sigh, a token of his wishes to be exasperated. But he’s not really; enough of him disagrees. Enough of him sides with the argument that their moments are small and stolen and even if Tatsuya had shrunk this one below its intended period he shouldn’t shrink it further.
They dive below when the water gets deeper, farther away from the rocks and the shore, where it gets darker quicker and it takes a little while to get used to the pressure. They’re still holding hands; Reo’s leading the way and Tatsuya gets a really good look at him. He’s just as well-toned as ever, the muscles in his shoulders and arms accentuated as he swims, the mass of his back clear and beautiful. His hair floats around his head, and Tatsuya remembers the last time they’d gone on one of these excursions and he’d stuck an anemone in it. Reo had laughed and Tatsuya had let his fingers remain in Reo’s hair, dancing along his scalp until Reo had shoved him away and then they’d lain on the sand gazing upward at the wave-filtered sunlight.
Tonight is different, the ocean silent and dark around them. It’s not, at least right now, about wandering and laughing. Tatsuya can feel the tension in Reo’s fingers, in his palm, in his pulse. It’s not unwarranted, but it’s unwelcome all the same. Tensions are flaring between their tribes again, and bitter remarks have been exchanged between the leaders. Both sides have threatened physical violence; Tatsuya’s parents have made it clear that if there’s fighting to be done they expect him to take part, and he’s never met Reo’s parents but he’s fairly certain they’re taking the same attitude. Things had never been easy but they haven’t been this bad in a long time.
Words bubble in Tatsuya’s throat, heat from a deep-ocean trench, but he can’t voice them. He can’t tell Reo that they should end it, not here, not like this. Reo wouldn’t let him, anyway; tribes or no tribes they’re too close to tangible, carefree happiness for Tatsuya to get away with lying about some change in his feelings. Even if it would make things easier for Reo to not have this conflict, even if he deserves someone who he doesn’t have to sneak around with, he’s not going to let Tatsuya go, not when Tatsuya can’t even convince himself he wants this to end.
Because he doesn’t want this to end. He squeezes Reo’s hand, almost subconsciously, and Reo turns back.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Reo looks at him carefully, sharp eyes going up and down.
“Tatsuya.”
“Yeah?”
Reo tugs on his hand, pulling him closer but giving him room to pull back if he wishes—and Tatsuya kind of wants to but he lets Reo draw him in anyway.
“You’re not thinking of saying something stupid, are you? Like how this is getting difficult so we should break up to make it easier for me, or that you’ve suddenly decided that your loyalties to the tribe are more important.”
“Are those things inconceivable?” Tatsuya asks.
“Not in and of themselves, but.” Reo pauses. “But right now, yes.”
“Well it’s a good thing I wasn’t thinking about them, then,” says Tatsuya.
Reo huffs, bubbles floating out of his mouth. One hand is still clasped in Tatsuya’s; the other is on Tatsuya’s waist; he’s nudging Tatsuya’s tail with his own. Tatsuya feels uncomfortable, pinned down—by Reo’s body, by his words, already knowing exactly what he’d been planning on, calling him on it too soon.
“I want you, okay?” says Reo.
“Okay,” says Tatsuya.
He kisses Reo before Reo gets the chance to kiss him; when they break the conversation is put to rest and Reo’s muttering about how unfair that move was. The silence is a little more comfortable as they swim ahead, down, but only because Tatsuya’s shoving those kinds of thoughts away for now. A rock formation looms up ahead, a solid mass within the motion of the water around them.
“This is it,” says Reo.
And Tatsuya’s always been good at listening to his impulses, at letting them take over and dealing with the consequences later. Because right now Reo’s hands are pressing against his skin and he’s telling Tatsuya how beautiful he is and Tatsuya already knows it but it’s always damn good to hear, especially when Reo’s voice is this low and sincere. He’s pressing Reo against the Rocks and Reo’s bigger than him but letting him do it anyway, ceding momentary control and yet taking it away with his tongue and those long eyelashes against Tatsuya’s skin. The water slows the motions but makes them stronger, more powerful as they move against each other.
The current begins to move beside them, and Tatsuya draws back. Someone could see; someone could see them here and could jump to the right conclusions. A shark swims into view, wrinkles its nose in disgust, and swims away. Reo puts his hands on Tatsuya’s shoulder.
They don’t say anything; right now they don’t need words. They need time, time that is always so hard to come by, time that will somehow run out. And maybe it’s selfish, but for now Tatsuya wants to stretch and extend it like unfurling kelp. Reo’s hands move lower, around his waist; he settles his head on Tatsuya’s shoulder. They stare into the open water. It’s murky, but it’s still navigable.
