Work Text:
One morning Takeo started off his day by shoving a man that would not respect personal boundaries and he was pulled by the hand by a young woman.
Takeo had been running to a grocery store to pick up some breakfast food because he had run out. When he rounded a corner he saw a man trying to pull what looked like a brown fur coat with little white spots on the back out of a woman’s hands. The man was leering and saying something about marriage in a malicious, joking tone but Takeo’s mind was clouded so he didn’t get the specifics.
It wouldn’t matter because Takeo ran to the scene and ripped the man’s hands away from the fur coat and shoved him hard to get him away. The man fell back onto the pavement, his head bouncing on it once, and by the man’s wheezing he got the wind badly knocked out of him.
And then Takeo felt the woman grab his hand and run. They stopped after a few blocks when it was clear they managed to get out of sight.
The woman thanked him and introduced herself as Yamato Rinko, and Takeo gave her his own name in return. In this conversation, as she joined him to the grocery store, Takeo learned that she was a demi-human. She was half-selkie and Takeo suddenly realized why that man was trying to rip that fur coat out of her hands and mocking her.
It made him frown and shake his head as he reached down for a basket.
As they went to the milk shelf Yamato answered his question of whether one of her parents was full selkie. Neither of them were and this must have come from an ancestor.
When Taken was checking out the eggs Yamato told him that there was a tradition where other demi-humans like herself would give the fur coat to their partner as a marriage proposal. She had a particular fondness for the tradition; that the harsh, horrible past of someone stealing the fur coat and forcing a marriage had morphed into a choice.
When Takeo was done buying his groceries he found out that Yamato had gone out with her fur coat to go swimming in the ocean. She gave him her number so that he could join her next time.
They texted each other frequently, in-between their college classes and work until they found a free day to go to the ocean.
When they were at the beach and in the water Takeo marveled as the fur coat covered Yamato completely and the form of a seal was in her place. The brown fur coat matched her new form down to the white spots that dotted her back. He swam with her and she easily cut through the waves.
When the sun had nearly set over the horizon Yamato pulled back her hood to swim as a human, the fur coat surrounding her in the water like a blanket, and when she laughed as she jumped through the waves Takeo could feel something begin to flow in his chest.
Their newfound companionship continued on through the years. Much later, on a warm spring day, Yamato told Takeo that she loved him. It wasn’t long after that that Takeo called her by her first name. In those continuing years it was a joy to call Yamato by her first name, “Rinko,” with his voice and in his head.
And it was much later still that Rinko pressed her fur coat into Takeo’s hands. It was soft to the touch and precious in his hands and Rinko looked up at with anticipation.
Takeo gave the fur coat back to her, with his hasty explanation that he accepted the proposal with everything good and brave in him. But he wanted to give the fur coat back to her because it was hers.
Rinko’s eyes filled with tears and there was a small smile on her face like she expected this outcome and she folded up her fur coat neatly, placed it aside, and hurried to take Takeo into an embrace. Takeo returned it, and felt as though love overflowed his heart continuously.