k/t: Crest and Break - Rated E
The water is summer-warm, even at dawn, and Kaner is having one of those nights where he revels in the way it glides across his skin as he swims. His sisters take the water for granted; Kaner would never let this happen to him. The water cradles him, supports him, is soft and slick as he pushes through it.
He pounds his tail against the water, pushing himself through the current with as much power as he can muster. And when he breaks the surface, the air hits him and dries him out, cool and unforgiving, making him shiver all over until he hits the water again.
He’s not allowed to feel the air on his skin. His clan has been forbidden from surface-breaks for centuries, because some dick ruined everything years ago, but Kaner can’t satiate his curiosity. His tail glows bright when he swims along the break, his shoulder blades teasing that line between water and air, heart beating tight and rapid in his chest.
And then he sinks back below, swimming down until the moon is a dull pinprick and the glow from his tail is the only light by which to navigate. He fits himself back into his trove, nuzzling into the anemones and alcyonacea, and hibernates for the night.
His secret rendezvous with the surface has to remain just that - a secret. He knows that by doing it he’s risking his security within his clan, even threatening himself with exile, but… even despite all that, the lure of the air was too much for him to resist.
Well, that, and the human with the dark eyes.
Read the fic here.