CustardSlice

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

Shiro had almost expected Keith to turn and run after his display of affection. He was surprised mostly to see the response that Keith did take. He was trance-like in his movements as he travelled up to his dwelling and didn’t look to Shiro once, though he did hold onto his hand. That soft, warm hand that had felt both full and slender in Shiro’s rough sandpaper-like touch. He touched his lips briefly, still feeling the memory of the smooth skin there and he smiled softly to himself.

When Keith finally turned to him, sShiro was relieved to see that the expression he gave was not one of fear or resentment but beautiful fondness. His face smiled with his lips and crinkled his eyes so innocently, so purely that Shiro felt his heart melt in his chest. This human was so mesmerising. Everything he did had Shiro intrigued and entranced like Keith himself was a siren. He was ready to turn away when Keith’s voice sounded in his mind. It was as loud as it was when he was right beside him, yet held the same rippling effect of a long lost memory that siren voices had. His heart jumped in his chest with both longing and excitement that he knew he would get no sleep now.

He waited for Keith to step into his dwelling before he pushed himself onto his back and lay there in the moonlight, floating atop the water. The sound of Keith’s laughter rang in his ears alongside his final goodnight and as he closed his eyes he found Keith burned into the backs of his eyelids. He stayed like it for hours, thinking of Keith like an adolescent but he couldn’t help himself. It was only when the sun began to slice open the sky with bright red and gold rays that he finally found a cave to rest and sleep in. He slept dreamlesy, his thoughts being preoccupied with reliving the night with Keith and resending every sensation that had accompanied it.

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

Shiro watched Keith's eyes both stare at him and away into the distance. The man was deep in his own thoughts and he drifted in and out of them. He realised that Keith was getting more and more sleepy and soon he would indeed be asleep. He opened his mouth to insist, when he stopped, his whole body suddenly alight with electric when Keith touched his hair. He didn't think it was possible, but Shiro was breathless. The soft motion of Keith's hand sent sparks down to his tail with each new touch and Shiro couldn't breathe again until he stopped.

Shiro's heart raced. He hadn't had feelings like that for such a long time and they were intense. This intoxicated being had set his body alight with sensation and Shiro feared that it would ruin him. He had spent too long in the dark arenas of Zarkon's underwater empire and experienced only pain and harsh blows and words, that this tender touch was like a burst of nostalgia. The second that Keith let go, Shiro reached out to grab his hand instinctively. He didn't want the feeling to end. It felt so new, yet so exciting and right that he wasn't ready for it to end. He gripped Keith's hand with his, not tightly, but enough to keep Keith's hand there. Shiro's palm was soft, though scarred. He loosened the grip he had and stared intently at Keith, wanting to place it right back where it had been. He couldn't, though. The intensity of the feelings had caught him off guard and the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to know what it felt like for Keith to lie his hands on his neck, his shoulders. He didn't need that. Not yet.

Instead, he brought Keith's hand to his lips and, heart hammering inside his chest, pressed his knuckles to his lips. He then let go and slipped back into the water, relieved to feel the familiar coolness of the sea around him. It was enough to cool the heat of his skin that had shot up considerably after kissing Keith's knuckles. He didn't want to see Keith's reaction, so he pushed himself forward instead, starting to swim towards the shore. He swam what would have been around 4 strides for Keith before breaking the surface and looking up to see if the man was following him or not.

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

Shiro stopped tickling Keith when his laughter and shouts became so loud he feared that someone from the nearby dwellings would come to find them in fear of someone's death. He grinned and couldn't help but laugh along with Keith as he giggled and rolled on the ground. He leaned up on the wood, his long tail still dangling and swishing in the water but he couldn't take his eyes off Keith. He never wanted this man to stop smiling - he was breathtaking in his happiness. Shiro's laughter died down before Keith's, so he just watched, grinning brightly and enjoying the view before him.

Keith was unlike any other merman or woman that Shiro had met. He felt his emotions so strongly and they hummed around him like a bubble. His current emotion bubbled up like a hot fissure under the sea and it melted into his laughter with bright colours and sounds. He enjoyed seeing Keith this way. The man finally stopped laughing and rolled onto his stomach. Shiro froze when he did so. Now that he was perched on the wooden planks, Keith was suddenly close to him. His face was close enough that if he tried, he might feel Keith's breath on his face. Another difference that Shiro was now completely aware of - Keith's breathing pattern was completely different to his. His breathing came from his chest and was harsh when it pushed its way out of his mouth. Shiro's own breath was close to nothing. His gills worked for him under the sea and only worked at half of their capacity out of the water. He got breathless much quicker out of the sea because his lungs weren't equipped for him to work hard outside of the water, so his chest barely moved when he breathed. Keith's body rippled with the force of his breathlessness and Shiro worked hard not to focus on the panting sounds he was making. He swallowed hard and looked at Keith's gestures instead.

He was pointing to his arm and making adorably large eyes like a child would with their parent. He scrunched up his nose. He wasn't sure what the arm gesture meant, but he was sure that Keith was trying to stay longer. Shiro rolled his eyes and dropped his head to his left shoulder, almost ready to give in. He pointed to himself and then used his hand to make a wriggling motion like that of a swimming fish towards the sand. He would swim with him to shore and see him back to the dwelling, but he didn't want Keith to get sick or actually fall asleep, especially not with the liquid he was drinking. It smelled a lot like the liquid the younger merfolk dug up from the old smugglers caves and he had seen how silly that made them. He didn't want Keith getting into trouble because of it.

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

Shiro blinked and reared back at the man's reaction. He had anticipated some kind of resistance in the form of Keith wanting to stay up to talk to him or to find out more about him but the man simply laid back and pretended to pull a blanket over himself. Shiro frowned and made a noise that was half-way between a screech and a frustrated huff. He didn't want Keith to stay out in the cold, he didn't want the man to get sick or he wouldn't be able to see him again, didn't Keith understand this?

Shiro huffed again and clicked his frustration at the back of his throat before getting an idea that could go one of two ways. He had noticed that Keith avoided the water. He had briefly dangled his limbs into the water but this had been with some hesitation and only brief. Shiro's initial idea was to splash him with water, but he thought that it might scare him away and this was certainly not what he wanted. He looked at the man and saw his beautiful purple eyes watching him with a rebellious glint in them. 'I see what you are trying to do' Shiro thought and he crossed his arms over his broad muscular chest and raised an eyebrow. If Keith could be petulant like a child then Shiro could be stern like a parent.

It was then that the mischievous glint struck Shiro's eye instead of Keith's. He switched his gaze to the small pink stubby appendages on the ends of Keith's limbs and wondered whether it was like stroking the underside of his tail - ticklish. He leaned up against the wood and pushed himself up further in order to reach; his whole chest now above the water. He locked eyes with Keith again, his own full of mischief. He let himself smirk, before reaching out and taking hold of Keith's foot with one hand, then tickling it with the other hand.

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

Shiro listened to Keith talking. He wasn't sure what was being said but the words weren't what Shiro was listening to anymore. The tone of Keith's voice was low and smooth. The back of his throat hummed and the sounds came out with a slight husk that Shiro found himself eager to listen to. His way of talking was so relaxing. He watched Keith drooping as he spoke and recognised that he was tired. The moon had been out a long time now, it was beginning to set. Shiro wondered if the voice he was using was just because he was tired. He shouldn't keep him out here much longer if that was the case.

Shiro's eyes fell back on the rocks when Keith began rearranging the rocks again and he clicked at the back of his throat seeing that Keith was going to be 21 very soon. He looked up, straight into Keith's eyes and he was frozen there, caught in the shy sincerity that was within them. He picked up a tone that was new in Keith's voice and recognised the pull from his eyes - he was asking Shiro a question of sorts, or making a suggestion. Shiro just wished he knew what that question was. He searched Keith's purple eyes and watched the water sparkling in them. The moon reflected within them too and Shiro saw the life within them, beneath the hurt and the heavy weights. The life he wanted to know about. The life he needed to know about. His stomach squeezed and he could feel his heart racing the more he stared. He recognised the feeling and it started to worry him just a little - the last time he had felt them was when he first met Adam. He couldn't remember being so mesmerized around him though.

He finally broke away from the locked gaze and looked back down at the rocks. He would need to think of ways he could communicate with Keith, ways he could ask questions and find out the answers. He wanted to know more about the language so he could imitate it and use it to ask questions and find out more answers. He felt compelled to learn more about this beautifully dark being that he was sure he could lose himself in. He looked back to Keith and pointed to him, then pointed to the wooden structure on the beach, then to the moon again. Keith's eyes were drooping more as time passed and Shiro didn't want him falling asleep so close to the water. High tide was approaching and he had sensed Keith's aversion to the water since he had sat down at the dock. He spoke gently, his voice sounding like waves and whistles in the wind, whilst he pushed the words into Keith's mind with his learned telepathy. Perhaps Keith could learn to use it too - he looked similar to mer-folk in so many ways physically that perhaps his kind had the capacity to do so. 'It's almost dawn, you should rest, you can't sleep here.'

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

Shiro wasn’t expecting Keith to understand the rocks so quickly. He flicked his tail in excitement when Keith’s voice raised with excitement itself. He almost understood the words, his expression was so clear and enthusiastic. Shiro grinned as Keith arranged the rocks to his own summers and winters. He counted the rocks Keith took and made a face of disbelief.

He didn’t look like 20 cycles had passed, he looked older than that. Though it could have been the dark lines under his eyes or the slouching of his spine from the weight of the darkness around him. He didn’t look any less beautiful, but a new web of pity was spinning itself within Shiro for this new broken thing he had found.

Shiro raised an eyebrow at Keith and carefully added five rocks to each of Keith’s rows, then gestured to his own eyes and pointed at Keith, ‘I see you as 25 cycles.’ But of course, it didn’t matter to Shiro. He eyed the missing rock in the winter row and his stomach flipped slightly. A new cycle starting was always celebrated and exciting in mer culture. Friends and family celebrated with gifts and food and music all night long and the biggest ones even took place on islands or in caves with strange fruits and drinks found in old smugglers bunkers that were decaying with dust and rot. The drinks and the food lifted everyone and played with their balance and speech so much that some folk even lost their memories. The celebrations were something that Shiro used to always look forward to.

Being trapped in Zarkon’s deadly game for so long had robbed him of his last new cycle, however, and would probably steal any more that he could survive through. But Keith had one soon. The harvest moon was soon to be upon them, which meant that winter was on its way. Shiro pointed to the moon and rearranged the rocks. He placed 27 rocks back in front of the yellow stone and 26 in front of the white. He then laid out 5 new rocks in a row, then took that fifth rock and moved it to the winter rocks to make their total 27. Once again he looked to Keith to watch his expression.

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

@svpernxva The idea of Shiro just sitting there practising Keith's name is cracking me up and making me melt at the same time XD Glad you're enjoying it too!

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

@svpernxva I hope you don't mind this awkwardness between their communication.. I'm really enjoying it - I haven't seen it before but it's fun to play about with how they might tell each other things!

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

Keith's laughter was so quick to consume him and so raw that Shiro couldn't help but admire him. His laughter enveloped and shook his entire
body so much so that he struggled to breathe and he leaked from his eyes. So many strange and wonderful things were happening to the man that Shiro couldn't pull his eyes away. His own laughter had died down and he was left grinning and watching the other man.

Something dark surrounded this man, Shiro could sense it. It wasn't a darkness from within, rather it was a darkness that had been placed upon him and it hung like a millstone around his neck. Even now, as his voice caught and echoed in Shiro's head, Shiro could sense this darkness within him. He couldn't help but want to help lift it from his shoulders.

Shiro dropped his head, still grinning brightly and listened once again as Keith repeated his name. Shiro was still giddy with laughter and perhaps the excess oxygen around him was contributing to the lightheaded feeling of happiness he was experiencing. He wasn't ready to practise with complete seriousness, but wanted desperately to see the smile stay on this dark creature's face. It lit up his whole being as well as those purple eyes that bored into him with such intensity. Shiro repeated the word quickly, "Keese." He couldn't master the quick movement of his tongue to form the 'th' and he shook his head, content with what he had so far. He envisioned himself spending the rest of the night practising, probably until they met again, and hoped that the next time it would be perfect. He said it one last time, lowering his voice and narrowing his eyes as he listened to himself saying it, "Keys." He raised an eyebrow, looking to the man with a look that told Keith that he knew it was wrong, but asked for him to accept it as his final attempt for now. He was drawn to Keith and wanted to know him. He knew what his name sounded like, he wanted to know more.

He searched quickly for an idea to communicate more with him and flicked his head from side to side. He wanted to know more about this person, who he was, where he was from but their worlds were so different that he couldn't envisage something that he could use to share such information between them. He let out a soft click of frustration before an idea took hold. He slipped beneath the water and dove down to the sea bed. It was closer than he was used to here and as he dove, his spine curved into his tail seamlessly above the water before his tail broke the surface and the dark plastic fin he had attached to it with ropes, hooks and kelp sprayed water with a lack of Shiro's usual grace. He scooped up a handful of stones from the bed and brought them up to the surface, breaking the surface with an excitable splash but reaching up and taking hold of the dock without so much as a gasp. He dropped the stones at Keith's feet and smoothed his hair back over his head then looked up at Keith with determination in his eyes.

His gills worked silently, opening and closing as they regulated his breathing for him. Like that of a shark, the skin forming them was thick and pale, with thin membranes beneath them. These membranes were pale pink in colour and they shimmered with water as they worked. Shiro picked out a bright white stone and set it down, then shivered and held his arms. He then took a yellow-coloured stone and stopped shivering, instead sighing in pretend relief that it was warm again. He glanced up at Keith, hoping that he wasn't lost. He set both stones down and laid out 26 plain grey rocks in front of the cold white stone and 27 plain grey rocks in front of the warm yellow stone. He laid them out to show how many summers and winters he had seen. If it meant anything to Keith, he hoped that he would show it in his face, because Shiro wasn't sure how else he could do it. He didn't even know whether Keith's species acknowledged the passage of time enough to have counted the summers and the winters. Or if Keith would even understand what he was trying to communicate.

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

Shiro watched the man with a curious interest and felt his chest swell at the kindness and bashfulness that the man was showing him. He clearly gave the impression that the mispronounciation was his fault and the way the man’s head dipped and his brows furrowed sheepishly was adorably entertaining as it was kind. Mistakes weren’t something that Shiro made without consequences and he avoided mistakes as much as he could by taking minimal risks. His interactions with this man was a considerable risk and his anxiety within the situation was incredibly high.

Yet somehow he was losing his grip on that anxiety. His grip on the wooden structure had loosened considerably and the ache in his back from holding it so straight and rigid was dying away as he relaxed and allowed the water to keep him floating there. In the back of his mind, Shiro was still ready to run, but in the front of his mind he was content watching and listening, learning and observing.

He watched, fascinated by the man as he spoke slowly and said his name. Shiro copies the mouth movements silently, then felt his skin prickle and glanced at the man’s hand. Again he enjoyed the feeling. Having been out of the water for so long his skin was dry now and the rough texture was like sandpaper. The man’s soft skin moving against it made soft scratching noises and it sent an oddly intimate shiver down his spine. He returned his gaze to Kieth’a quickly and once again he tried copying the movements, “K..ee..thss.”

The last sound felt strange and silly in his mouth. His tongue felt too big in his mouth and the sight of the serious, pale, beautiful face before him sticking out his tongue was so out of place it was hilarious. Combined with the odd sound that Shiro made, he couldn’t hold it in any longer. Like a much needed release of tension, Shiro laughed, brightly grinning and throwing his head back as he did. His laugh was soft and ripples through his whole body. Yet somehow, he didn’t feel ashamed of the silliness, instead he felt at ease.