Work Text:
Finally, summer had come, and the sea was warm enough for a good, long swim. Tomorrow was the day they'd agreed on. The day when everything would get settled. Daichi finished the last seam he needed to sew by firelight, tying the knot on his thread and biting it off. Nothing to do now but roll it up to store with the rest of his gear. Just a few hours of night left to sleep in before it was time to wake up for his day's sail. Suga was in for a real surprise! At least, he hoped so.
Oh boy, he hoped this wasn't a stupid idea.
~//~
Suga splurted out a giggle at the sight of his fake tail, but it came with a fond look from his brown eyes that never failed to be warmer than the sand on the beaches. That was good enough for Daichi. Clearly, he'd done his work right.
"Well, you said we were going to meet your parents, so I thought I should be properly dressed! Ha ha! I can swim in it and everything."
"Daichi, my parents know you're a human, and even if they didn't yet, they'd know the instant they saw you in that." His merman lover squirted some of the ocean water at his face with his hands, then gave Daichi a salty kiss. "There's not a merkin alive who keeps his, her, or their tail on with suspenders. Honestly, how did I fall for such a dork?"
"Luck?"
"Bad luck, clearly."
Pulling Suga the rest of the way onto the sandbank, he cupped his lover's pale cheek and watched him blush as pink as the moment before sunrise. Then, he let Suga do the pulling, dragging him down to the sand while the summer sea lapped at Suga's honest-to-goodness tail, and soaked the canvas flipper Daichi had sewn up over the last few nights.
"Honestly, Daichi, you can't make that face at me while I'm sitting up. It makes me want to kiss you, and I can't kiss you properly when I'm using my arms to keep myself propped up." One of the problems, it turned out, with your lover having a spine that went all the way down his tail was that bending to sit upright on land was a bit like walking hunched over all the time. Daichi couldn't say he minded the compromise of laying down together when his fish felt like getting caught. "You're lucky I asked for an hour to make sure you were ready before my sisters brought the air bubble for you."
"Guess I better make good use of the time," Daichi laughed, reaching for the buttons to unfasten his 'tail'. He couldn't very well straddle Suga to get a good position if he couldn't spread his legs.
But before he could even undo the first button, Suga batted his hand away. "Oh no, sweetie. You keep that on. Or don't you want to learn how it works with a tail?"
"You should've told me you'd like that earlier. I'd have made one before now."
"Shut up and kiss me, Daichi."
Now that, he could definitely do.