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Selen was woken by the chill of something missing. Blinking blearily, she shifted slowly in their empty bed, face pulling into a frown at the empty space in her arms. That simply wouldn’t do.
With stretch and a yawn, she swung her legs over the edge, one hand reaching up to rub away the last wisps of sleep as she glanced around their room. The place was a mess, of course, with clothes scattered across the floor and the heavy, still lingering scent of a busy and fun night. Selen made a mental note to pick up the shredded fabric tomorrow as she scanned the floor, picking up and pulling on her relatively intact sweater as she padded over to the slightly ajar door.
The house was quiet this early in the morning, only the soft sounds of Ember’s snores filling the air as she plodded down the stairs. It was getting light out – not quite the gold of dawn, but the soft light of a lifting night, when everything was just that little bit awake yet still so dreamlike.
“You’ve never watched the sunrise before? How?”
“I don’t know, I just…never paid attention to it, I guess? I mean, I’m usually a little out of it by then – I never even noticed the weird light before dawn.”
“It’s not weird! It’s just – you know, pre-dawn lightening -”
“Pre-dawn? Pre-cu -?”
“Finana!”
Selen chuckled, shaking her head at the memory.
A tugging instinct, along with her slowly awakening sense of smell, drew her out to their kitchen. Everything there, aside from the floors and counters, was almost violently pink and girly, from the fridge to all of the knives and utensils. Finana had absolutely adored her Hello Kitty kitchen set, actually squealing when she caught sight of it when she first came over to Selen’s place. It wasn’t really the first time someone’s seen that side of her, but it was the first time her palms had been that sweaty and her heart had beat that fast as someone fawned over her forks and spoons.
It was actually Finana who had insisted on getting the full matching set when they moved out, because “it’s too cute not to!”. Her enthusiasm had been endearing, and well worth the urge to dive into the ground every time their friends teased her about it. Which is just about every time they came over.
“Don’t worry Selen, you’ll always be the cool scary dragon to me.”
“I better be.”
She could never be grumpy for long, though – not when she got to tease her Feesh about how absolutely inept she was around her own tools. She’d gotten better these days, but she’ll never let Finana live down the time she managed to burn soup.
The large, sliding glass door was open just a little, the fresh sea breeze drifting through and wrapping around her, familiar and comforting. Claws clicking as she plodded across the tiled floor, Selen made sure to be as careful and gentle as possible as she pushed the door all the way open, eyes trained on the sight before her.
Their pool was almost the size of their entire lower floor, and probably the most out-of-place thing around. A thing of rock and coral shimmering softly with bioluminescence, it had looked for all the world like someone had torn out a coastal tidepool and slammed it into their backyard. Which, to be fair, wasn’t that far off, even if the process was a little more refined than that. She’d never forget the look on her lover’s face when she came home from a long day to this.
“What the – Selen – how did you -?!”
“I have my ways, princess.”
“I…you…you didn’t have to -”
“I wanted to.” Her lips brushed against fins, earning a soft little sigh as the mermaid leaned back into her, sagging into her embrace. “I know you’re sensitive to all that chemical shit they put in pools, so I didn’t want to get those for you.”
“Ah…we still have to clean it sometimes, you know?”
“Hm…we can figure that out later.” She truthfully hadn’t thought of that. Finana seemed to realize that too, because when she turned to meet Selen’s lips with her own, there was a smile curled there.
“Hm…thank you so much, Sewen.”
“Anything for you, princess.”
She giggled a little as she pushed away from her dragon, hands brushing down her front almost teasingly as she dropped her skirt in one fluid motion. Selen’s mouth went dry as her lover waded into the shallow end, the gentle blues and purples highlighting every soft curve of her form, every shimmering patch of scale that was exposed as she threw her shirt to the side. She turned back, a hint of a mischievous smile on her lips-
Surprised sunset eyes met hers, and Selen blinked back into reality as she stared down into the pool.
Finana was absolutely adorable, almost entirely submerged, with only the top of her head stuck out of the water. Her fins, which were perked up in surprise, slowly drooped as she lifted out of the water a little, expression sheepish and maybe a little guilty. The whole thing brought the stupidest, most lovestruck smile to Selen’s face.
“Sorry, did I wake you?”
“No, no, it’s fine – I wouldn’t have been able to sleep without you in my arms, anyways.”
A light blush dusted Finana’s cheeks, and Selen swallowed a squeal, walking over and dropping to sit on the edge of the pool as her clawed feet swished idly in the water. Her girlfriend emerged a little, and her eyes were instantly drawn to the rivulets of water dripping down her bare form as she swam forwards and propped herself of Selen’s lap. The dragon couldn’t even find it in herself to be grumpy about her wet sweater as Finana wrapped her arms around her neck, lips meeting hers in a languid dance. Her heart swelled, warmth covering her from head to toe as she curled around her mermaid, deepening their kiss and trying to pour every ounce of her sheer adoration for her into it – this innocent yet dirty dork, this competitive yet caring wonder, this adorable and beautiful and amazing woman she gets to call hers. This girl she gets to kiss against the dawn, tails wrapping against one another as she leaned eagerly into her, this girl who’s so shameless in her want yet so adorably flustered when she buries her head against her neck and starts purring up a storm.
When they finally met eyes again, Finana was just a little bit bemused and a little bit dopey.
“What was that for?”
All Selen could do was smile as she pressed their foreheads together.
“Nothing, just reminded of how much I love you.”