hi I was wondering if we're ever going to see more of the Tiny eel MerGeorge + shark MerDream bit of writing you posted with your tiny George fluff? No pressure I love your writing ❤️
Of course, here you go! The WIP was already mostly finished which is why I was able to answer this ask.
Sorry about all the other old asks; there’s been a whole lot going on in my life and while I’m still having fun writing, it has been hard to actually finish everything so stories and asks are still going to be very slow.
Fun fact: Dream is based on a lemon shark and George is a blue ribbon eel!
Word Count: 2,205
Warnings for mouthplay(?), I think that’s about it honestly
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Normally Dream sticks to deeper waters, searching for large schools of fish to hunt and sometimes working with dolphins or sharks or other merfolk to catch as much food as possible. Today, though, he's decided to investigate the reef. He isn't too hungry, so he doesn't mind spending the extra energy to catch some crabs or something other than fish.
While there, Dream sees a few other sharks (regular ones, not mers) and they act kinda like "dogs" around him according to his human friend Sapnap; they often swim up to him, wanting him to pet them or to remove fishhooks from their fins or give them food. He eventually manages to convince a very skittish tiger shark to let him untangle some rope from around their fin, then gently nudges them away, wanting to go back to searching for food without them begging for scraps.
He catches a small fish, eats it. There isn't much else around so he starts poking at some crabs, having fun avoiding their snapping claws as he grabs them and crunches down on them with his powerful jaws.
Out of the corner of his eye he spots a flash of movement; he spins around, sucking in a mouthful of water but unable to taste any fresh blood, and eventually he spots a barracuda swimming through the reef. It's clearly hunting something as it darts and weaves around stones and bunches of seaweed.
Dream huffs through his nose, thinking for a moment before he decides to join in on the hunt. If the barracuda's trying to catch a big fish, it'll probably need help, and maybe he can get some food in the process.
Whatever it's hunting is small and fast, bright blue and yellow body twisting wildly as it dodges the barracuda's snapping jaws and tries to find a good hiding spot. It eventually finds a pile of broken coral pieces and starts trying to wriggle its way in between some, but it's slightly too big to easily fit so it just ends up backing itself into a corner.
Dream drifts closer, lazily flicking his tail as he circles the coral. The barracuda moves away from him at first before it returns its attention to the coral, clearly eagerly waiting for Dream to flush the prey out.
He tries to stick his fingers into the hole but can't get a grip on the fish's body; based on the movement and the shape, he's pretty sure it's some kind of eel. After a minute he loses his patience and just uses his clawed hands to shove a large chunk of coral to the side, planning to catch the prey in his hands or jaws the second it tries to swim away.
He sees blue and yellow, starts to reach for it, freezes. The tiny mer blinks up at him, eyes wide and sides heaving as it sucks in frantic gulps of salty water.
It has been a long time since he's seen a little mer; usually he just sees dolphin mers or other shark mers. He's honestly not even sure if the little guy will be able to understand him, but he opens his mouth to try and speak anyways and they curl up even smaller, completely focused on his face (his teeth, probably) and not even looking at the rest of his body.
The barracuda tries to swim underneath his arm; Dream pushes it away and it snaps at him before dodging around him and going straight for the tiny mer.
The mer darts away, trying to find a new place to hide, but there's nowhere to go and the barracuda's fast. Dream's faster, though, and he swims closer to them when the barracuda seems like it's catching up. The mer freezes, clearly unsure which way to go, and Dream lunges forward to catch them before they can dodge. They try to get away but he easily cups the mer between both hands as he bares his teeth in warning to the barracuda. It retreats, clearly not willing to battle against a shark.
The eel-like mer squirms around in his hands, palms pressing against his skin as they try to wriggle between his fingers. Dream quickly releases them and they seem startled by this, because they don't swim away.
They float in place, squinting at him for a moment before giving him a grin and letting their ribbon-like tail sway in the water as they drift a tiny bit closer.
"Hi?" The mer asks; Dream's a bit surprised they speak the same language.
"Hi!" Dream blurts out, nearly grinning as well, but he stops himself so he doesn't scare them away. "I-"
The barracuda suddenly returns, lunging from below and nearly crushing the mer in its jaws. The tiny mer lets out a terrified shriek and ducks behind Dream, tail brushing against his dorsal fin as they practically flatten themselves against his back.
This time the barracuda doesn't give up when Dream threatens it with his fangs and just charges at the mer again, almost crashing into Dream in the process. Dream snarls and twists around, trying to catch the mer in his hands so he can take them away from the predator. The mer can't stay still long enough for Dream to catch them without the barracuda catching them first, though, even though he's pretty sure they aren't trying to dodge his hands.
They're breathing heavily, clearly panicking as they try to figure out where to hide before they get caught. Dream turns his attention to the barracuda, opening his mouth and letting out a hiss as he swipes at it because he clearly needs to get rid of the predator as quickly as possible.
The tiny mer swims closer to his face, seeming to hesitate for a second. The barracuda approaches again and the mer suddenly darts into Dream's mouth.
Dream jerks back, nearly spitting them out. They wriggle around, almost but not quite too big to fit comfortably, and they try hiding in his cheek first but are clearly too scared of his fangs to stay there.
The barracuda doesn't seem to be willing to attack, since it starts to swim away. The mer moves a bit further back, making Dream cough as their fins tickle the back of his throat. He quickly spits them out so he doesn't accidentally swallow them; they float in front of him for a second, glancing around wildly, before darting back over to his face.
"Hide me!" They beg, hands pressing against his chin and lips. Dream uses a hand to carefully push them away but they quickly return. "Please!"
"What is wro-" He has to snap his jaws shut because they nearly get into his mouth when he tries to speak. He catches them in his hands before they can dodge and they don't attempt to swim away, instead choosing to just stare up at him. "What are you doing?"
"Please, please, I've been swimming all day." They squirm in his hands but don't seem to be actually trying to escape. "I've been trying to hide, but every time I find a place I nearly get killed."
"You're getting chased by predators, so your first instinct is to swim up to a predator and try to hide in their mouth?" Dream blurts out. "I could've eaten you!"
"I di- what else was I supposed to do?" The mer asks. "You're the only predator I met that didn't instantly try to eat me, I figured I'd at least have a chance! And I was right, you spit me out!"
"Yeah, I'm not gonna eat another mer." Dream lowers his hands to the coral, releasing them. "Now go hide or something."
Dream starts to swim away and they eagerly follow, staying so close to his hand that he nearly whacks them by accident. He quickly stops, squinting at them. "What are you doing?"
"The barracuda might come back," They murmur, clearly nervous about moving away from the reef. "If it tries anything, you'll just eat it."
"You can't keep up with me." Dream reaches for them but this time they back away from his hands, looking a bit wary. "And I'm going to be out on the open ocean, so you'd be stranded when you get separated from me."
“Yeah, but maybe...” He sees them study him, and then they suddenly falter. “..oh. Oh, wait, nevermind-“
“Wait, wait, hold on,” Dream cups his hands around them when they start to back away; they tense up but don’t try to slip out of his grasp. “What is it?”
"I didn't even- I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry," They blurt out, curling up a bit smaller. "I thought you were a dolphin or maybe some kind of giant eel, not a. . ."
"A shark?" Dream asks, eyes narrowing slightly. "I already said I wasn't going to eat you. Why does it matter?"
"Wait, no, I'm not trying to accuse you of anything!" They gesture wildly with their hands, back pressed against his fingers as they lean away. "I just- well. . ."
Dream lets them think; they're clearly struggling with their words, trying to explain their thoughts.
"You chose to save me from that barracuda, so I assumed it was because we were both eels since I didn't get a good look at you," The mer admits, tail coiling around itself until it almost looks tangled. "But you obviously weren't an eel, so I thought maybe you were a dolphin? Which is why I thought it would be okay if I tagged along for a bit, because they travel in groups. . ."
Dream blinks, the membrane sliding over his eye. "Oh. . .so the problem isn't that you thought I was going to eat you just because I'm a shark, it's that you think I wouldn't want you tagging along?"
"Yeah?" Dream lowers his hands and the mer glances around at the open sea before swimming a bit closer to his tail. "You guys are more solitary, right? I mean, so are eels. I thought you were a dolphin and that me tagging along with your pod wouldn't be a big deal, but you swim alone so you'd have to be constantly worrying about me. . .I'll just stay at this reef."
"You can stay with me for now, I wouldn't mind," Dream says. The mer swims a bit closer to him. "I just don't think you'd be able to keep up."
"Normally I would be able to," The mer huffs, looking a bit offended. "I'm fast. I've just been swimming all day."
"I could carry you in my hands, maybe?" Dream glances down at his hands. He could, but it would slow him down a bit and probably not be too comfortable for the little guy. "Or I guess you could hold onto my fin. . ."
Wish they were a remora, that way they could stick to me.
Maybe we could come up with a way for them to do that? I wish Sapnap was here, he'd be able to do that with his clever human brain and fingers. He's at least an hour away, though, and that's assuming he's at the dock right now. So not very helpful for today.
They swim up to his face. ". . .maybe I could just hide in here again?"
They seem a lot more hesitant this time. Dream wonders if it's because they now know he's a shark or because this isn't a life-or-death situation anymore.
Well, I guess this still IS a life-or-death situation for them. Without my help, they’ll probably get eaten by something.
Not sure if I WANT to do this, but we don’t really have a better option. Shouldn’t be too annoying. I can carry them for a bit until they’re feeling well enough to swim fast enough to keep up.
I won’t eat them, it’ll be fine. I’m not really that hungry.
“...fine,” Dream grumbles, opening his mouth a bit wider. “But you have to keep still. And curl up small so I can close my mouth, okay?”
They nod, swimming right up to his mouth even as they warily eye his fangs for a moment. He stretches his mouth open even more and they eventually enter. It takes a few seconds of squirming around before they finally go still, and Dream slowly closes his jaws, giving them plenty of time to move their fins out of the way if they need to.
They're curled up right on top of his tongue and he can taste them every time he breathes in, but he already ate some recently and they don't taste like blood so it isn't too much of a temptation. He goes back to swimming and does his best to just ignore them.
Their pulse slows slightly a few minutes later and he nearly spits them out in a panic before he realizes they're sleeping. It's certainly a shock and it just makes him feel even worse for the little guy, because they're probably been swimming around for a while all alone.
Well, they have me now, at least until we can find a safer place for them to live. Hopefully this will all work out okay.
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Thank you all for your patience with asks! It was fun to finish this story and I have a few more ideas for it, although to be fair I’m almost physically incapable of writing things as just one-shots lol