Work Text:
There was salt in Jack’s eyes and fingers intertwined with his own.
This was all the he needed: To be floating, dancing, kicking in the water while tasting salt on his teeth and bubbles in his lungs. And, of course, Jack was not alone- that was only half of the image. He didn’t think he could ever stand to be alone again, not now. Not when he turned himself to meet shimmering brown eyes smiling into him and black, black hair surrounding Mark’s head like a halo.
Really and truly, Mark could have been an angel.
Jack allowed himself to float up, goosebumps raising on his skin as he reached the surface, salt water dripping from him. Jack breathed, slowly. He pulled himself up onto the edge of the dock, sitting with his feet dangling in the water as he waited for Mark to surface as well. The April temperament kissed Jack with a sweet, early summer breeze that was more pleasant than anything, sending satisfying chills under his skin.
“Took you long enough,” he teased when the dark-haired man reached the surface, head tipped back to look Jack in the eyes. Always eye to eye, brown to blue. “What’s so fascinating at the bottom of the sea?”
“Your virginity,” was the wisecrack from the titillatingly deep voice, and Jack was glad he was chilly, or else the shiver would have looked out of place. “That didn’t even make sense, you arse,” the Irishman admonished, his smile giving him away, and Mark smiled back, resting his chin on his arms, which were folded on Jack’s knees.
“You’ve changed your tune since we were making out underwater ten minutes ago.”
“That’s cuz you weren’t saying anything, arse.”
Mark face formed a mocking pout as he deflated his body and held Jack’s calves, doing his best to stage wounded emotions. “I’ll never kiss anyone ever again!” he declared. “My love is all gone. I’ll only ever love Jack’s legs, because they can’t use their words to break my fragile heart.”
The Irishman snickered. “My legs?”
“Yes. I like them. Very...” Jack smiled sweetly as his lover trailed off, apparently at a loss for words. Jack giggled when Mark finished with a shrug.
“You know I don’t mind, Mark.”
Jack was rewarded with an embarrassed splash of water aimed at him. “Lay off, I’m only trying to help, ya salty dolphin!” he yelled in good nature, reaching down to hit Mark with a splash of sea water as well. Mark slipped beneath the water with crinkled amusement in his eyes, but not before placing a sentimental kiss on each of Jack’s kneecaps and melting the Irishman’s heart all over again. The last thing Jack saw of his boyfriend was the powerful pink tail flipping above the surface before it, too, was gone.
Yes, Mark could have been an angel, if he wasn’t already half fish.
The Irishman smiled down at the water, blushing a bit as he thought about his boyfriend. The merman was so curious about human life that it was downright adorable, from the concept of not being able to breathe water to tasks as simple as walking. The fascination with Jack’s legs- or simply legs in general- had been made apparent since the day they met.
Jack felt a sure hand wrap around one of his ankles and smiled to himself. That would be Mark, though Jack wasn’t sure if it was the merman’s ever-present curiosity or soon-to-be revenge for calling his lover a dolphin.
Oh, yeah- definitely revenge, Jack figured out too late when blunt fingernails teased at his sole, instep, and sensitive toes, sending the ticklish human collapsing on his back in fits of mad laughter. His other foot was ensnared with ease, and soon Jack was a mess of high-pitched giggles, flopping limbs on the dock, and reckless pleading in between loud cackles.
Mark ended the torture soon enough and allowed his boyfriend to catch his breath. Jack’s grin took a long while to fade as he wondered at the sparse clouds; it was early evening, the sky a faint gold surrounded by a dusting of purples and soft blushes of pinks and oranges. Jack let the scent of salt water waft over him, listening to the little waves lap at each other.
The feeling of eyes on him caused the Irishman to turn his head to the left, and was blessed with the sight of his lover’s brown eyes and long midnight hair.
Jack’s mouth curved into a tender smile, and he reached his hand up to cup the side of Mark’s jaw, rubbing his thumb in a comforting gesture over his cheek. The merman took Jack’s hand and pressed a sweet kiss to his palm, then the insides of his wrist and elbow, before pressing his lips to the corner of his boyfriend’s.
“Jack,” Mark murmured, touching his forehead to the human’s.
“Yes?” the Irishman nearly whispered, entranced by the merman’s eyes, deep as the ocean’s depths. Mark lowered himself down to place another kiss by Jack’s ear before whispering into it.
“I’m not a fucking dolphin.”
Jack began laughing, and so did Mark, and they continued to as they rolled back into the water, breathing in the salt and never leaving each other’s sight. Jack twisted his legs around Mark’s bright tail and breathed out prayers in the fire of the setting sun bleeding out into the water. They kissed amid streamers of bubbles rushing to the surface, unable to be touched, reveling in the presence of each other.