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Sol didn’t have the internal sense of time that other Mer did. The start to his day always came in the form of a disturbance in his tank water, followed immediately by the smell of meat and, if he was especially unlucky, an overly-cheery voice that sounded like a horse choking.
He did his best to simply ignore it, only sending half a wayward glance at the scruffy blonde human standing at the edge of his tank while he sank his teeth into breakfast. Raw and bloody, just how he liked it.
Sin was almost always up before he was, but he’d learned from enough hard slaps to not bother him while he was napping. Approaching him always carried a sense of danger, but it did vary. Sol was at his most docile after he’d had the time to rest and eat.
A fluff of blonde hair bobbed half-hidden behind a rock. Every so often, a little twinkle of blue-green popped into view, before quickly ducking back into safety. It seemed the little monster was impatient today.
Taking another bite of meat, Sol let his tail extend behind him and pushed off the ground with one powerful sweep. He didn’t feel like entertaining the kid, at least not yet. Maybe he could get the pretty-boy to handle him for a change. He lazily paddled towards the surface of the tank, letting the artificial overhead lights warm him up. The differences in energy before and after his morning sunning were more than obvious. Sol gradually became less sluggish, stretching out and flexing his fins. At a speed several times faster than he’d approached, he dove back down into the water, grinning viciously.
The tanks didn’t carry sound very well, but that was fine enough. He felt the way water moved and shifted to tell who and what was moving. Barring that, the tanks were not obscenely large, and checking every corner didn’t take all that long if one knew it very well.
Or, he realized as he rounded a stone pillar, Ky could possibly just be napping right out in the open. That was new. Sol honestly expected more effort on his end. Ky liked making him put in effort when he didn’t want to.
Sol smirked at the sight. He took a moment to savor the view of Ky looking so carefree and peaceful, then sharply interrupted it with a playful nip to his collarbone.
The sudden mind-numbing whiteout of an electric shock was painful, but absolutely worth it. Sol regained enough control to give the eel a dopey smile as he jolted awake. As soon as he recognized Sol, Ky’s expression shifted to one that indicated he would have been much happier to deal with a large, dangerous predator or a careless trawler net threatening to scoop him up with a load of trout rather than deal with him.
As soon as he was able to move all of his parts properly again, Sol swam closer. Ky slipped out of arm's reach as he tried to grab his slick blue-black tail, managing a little slap with his tailfin for good measure.
Sol wasn’t deterred. He moved closer again, managing to avoid most of Ky’s swats. That time, he managed to almost reach his face, only for the eel to suddenly duck through a narrow crevice of rock and back out of his grasp.
Tricky thing, Sol would give him that. It was endearing as it was frustrating. After a few moments of watching Ky wiggle further in, he swam around the rock formation to try and find where he would come out of. He couldn’t stay in there forever. He had no way to turn around. So either he stayed in place and got himself stuck, or he came back out.
His hunch had been correct. Sol caught Ky peering out from a corner, slowly sneaking out with no sight of Sol. But he managed to notice a half-second before Sol could dive-bomb him into submission, and wriggled free from his grasp once again to swim across the tank.
Sol grumbled, paddling off after him yet again. At least it was early enough that no other humans had shown up yet. Being embarrassed was one thing, but having it happen in front of dozens of eager eyes would be too much for him.
In his distraction, not only had Ky swam off, but he’d completely vanished into the landscape. No bits of blonde poked out from the rocks, or any shiny scaled skin distinct from the sand and grass. All Sol could do was go back and forth, hoping to find some sign that Ky had passed by or that something had been moved. It quickly became frustrating, picking over every little detail to hunt Ky down, all because he was just too stubborn. They were both too stubborn.
So that stubbornness was what kept him looking. Sol was determined not to lose. Ky couldn’t hide forever. If Sol couldn’t out-smart him, then he could out-stubborn him.
Maybe Ky had gotten cocky, or maybe he’d just gotten bored waiting for Sol to find him. The sunfish caught a pale hand poking out from behind fronds of seaweed, without any caution to make sure he wouldn’t be seen.
He ducked behind a rock spire, watching a second hand join the first and push aside the green plant so a head could poke out slightly. Ky glanced back and forth, but seemed too impatient to do anything but a cursory look before poking out further.
Just from his body language, he could tell Ky was confused. Sol was a hard presence to miss- if not from his size alone, from his personality and lack of personal space. Their relationship usually involved Ky slipping and hiding away from Sol, not the other way around.
It seemed that oddity made him careless. Sol had just enough patience to wait until most of Ky’s torso was exposed before he lunged out from his hiding place, winding his muscular arms around a lithe frame.
He could tell he’d taken Ky off guard when he didn’t immediately try to slap him again. Sol gave his ear a little nip, almost a wordless ‘found you’ as a childish taunt. It was childish, but Sol didn’t care.
Even when he got his focus back, Ky didn’t resist as he was held. If he wanted to, he could have easily electrocuted him again and went back to their game of cat-and-mouse, but he didn’t. Ky had no interest in any real escape, just toying with his partner back-and-forth until Sol outdid him, one way or another. That’s how Ky was. For all his stoicism, he was really just a massive tease under it.
Finally bested, the eel allowed himself to be touched, wrapping his tail around Sol’s lower half and nuzzling his cheek.