Stop I just imagined mer!Nanami who has a tail thats speckled navy, light blue, goldenrod, and cream who was all but dragged by Satoru to meet you who is quieter than Getou but much more blunt and deadpan with Satoru. He only shows up on occasion and is enamored with human food and will never asks you to share but just stares at what you're eating. He offers shells and other things as repayment and sometimes requests things like strawberries and bread
HES JUST SO CUTE I WANT TO SHAKE HIM UP
ahhhh anon this is so so cute!!! his tail sounds so beautiful, i can just imagine it shimmering in the sun, the colors like the shore, ocean and sand alike. he flicks it carefully, keeping his fins away from you. he keeps his distance, kento, unlike suguru and satoru.
but you see him watching you from afar as you lounge on the dock, snacking on fresh fruit from the stands just off the shore. the fruit is sweet and juicy, and he eyes it more than he eyes you. you offer him some, but satoru—close at hand as always, heaved up on the deck with his tail curled around you, his scales scraping against the wood—catches it, his mouth hot around your fingers. you yelp as he bites down lightly, fangs scraping against your knuckles.
you try to push him off the dock, annoyed, but satoru doesn't move, his heavy, muscled tail keeping him steady no matter how hard you push.
"here," you tell kento, putting a hand on satoru's jaw and shoving him away from the next cut of fruit. "for you."
he eyes you for a moment before he swims closer to the dock. you manage to give it to him before satoru recovers; it's a good thing, too, because satoru pins you down in place and eats the rest of your fruit before you can even protest.
"thank you," kento says, the first time you've heard him speak. there's no smile on his face; it's as stoic as ever. he ducks beneath the water soon after, disappearing with his prize.
(satoru whines about it for days. suguru's brow creases when he hears, a summer storm washing across his face before it clears, dissipating like fog under the sun's gentle touch. but he smiles at you, and you think nothing of it.)
the next time you see kento, you're alone.
he approaches cautiously, but draws near when you offer him some of your picnic basket. the furrow in his brow is cute; you detail each thing you're giving to him, though he seems to know the name of them.
the two of you talk until suguru appears, his dark hair swirling in the current, a trail of spilled ink. he circles the dock a few times as you lean down to greet him.
kento ducks below the water and disappears again.
the next time you see him, he brings you a shell, beautifully pearlescent. it starts a trade of sorts, one that suguru watches with a furrowed brow and that satoru whines about.
but you don't care, because you've already decided on your goal.
you want to see what kento looks like when he smiles.
