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“Oi, boy, keep your eyes on your net before it tangles again.”
Makoto was torn from his daydreaming by the old fisherman’s voice. Looking at his net, the fisherman’s apprentice noticed it was sure enough already beginning to warp into knots against the stern of the boat before it had even entered the ocean.
“O-oh, right!” Makoto stammered, hoping the bright early morning sun was hiding the reddening of his cheeks. “Sorry!”
Thankfully, another senior fisherman walked up to his mentor, eyes glowing teasingly. “Give the poor kid a break, old man. You act like you don’t dodder off all the time on a slow da—”
The eldest fisherman waved his younger colleague away with an exasperated grunt. “Quiet, Tora!”
Untangling his net at last, Makoto cast it back out onto the open ocean with a sigh. He knew he couldn’t complain much, but he sometimes felt so suffocated, being apprenticed by a far more experienced league of fishermen that lived and work in Iwatobi.
It has been a slow week on the open shores near the small seaside town—and Makoto was itching to get a good haul in the net to show his mentors he is better for more than just stumbling around the boat, following orders like an office intern and feeling sorry for the fish they're catching.
Growing up, everyone knew Makoto was a sensitive young lad, perhaps too much for his line of work, his parents often feared.
And yet, from as long as he could remember, Makoto had loved the sea. He wanted a profession that kept him near it for as long as he lived.
Although Makoto felt too embarrassed to admit it, perhaps it wasn’t just out of love and appreciation for the beauty of the sea… and rather, for the mermaid that the sea had brought into his life.
In his heart, most of why he loved the ocean, loved swimming, was because of Haru-chan.
Letting his net drift into the deep blue, the colors reminded Makoto of him, and his mind drifted once again with a fond hum.
He and the young mermaid had been together for as long as they both could remember, from the moment Makoto first saw him peering at him from the shore as he paddled out in the water as a curious toddler. They had grown up together since, with Makoto and his family living so close to the ocean.
And now that they had gotten older, Haru had become his precious boyfriend (or mate, as Haru insisted they be called). Although, their relationship was currently a secret, for Haru’s sake.
The clan Haru was born into had bad experiences with interaction with Iwatobi's people before, and Makoto guarded his existence with everything he had.
After all, the mermaid was Makoto's world, and as he sat for hours on the gorgeous open sea, his thoughts were always drifting away from his net and to his boyfriend.
The sky was gorgeously clear outside, and the water was perfect—on a slow weekend like this no doubt Haru was out and enjoying the sea.
I wonder what Haru-chan is doing today… Makoto wondered dreamily, kicking his feet idly from his seat as he peered into the clear sea, trying to see to the bottom. Catching the fish in the reefs, maybe?
"What's with the big dreamy eyes today, Tachibana?!” The old man calls frustratedly at his apprentice from across the deck.
“E-eh?” His doleful green eyes tore away from the ocean’s glittering surface.
“Boy,” his mentor’s sigh was so loud that every fisherman on deck could hear it, “get your head out of the dream world and put it back in reality, your net is tangled again!”
He turns his gaze back below the stern to see his net once again warping into a state of disarray. His cheeks turn cherry red with embarrassment as he clumsily hurries to fix the issue.
"O-oh, uh, right! Sorry…!" He wriggles the knots out of the net and looks up at the older fishermen with a sheepishly apologetic smile.
“S-sorry, I guess I’m just thinking about other things today…”
“Like what?” Toriachi, one of the younger senior fishermen and the most easy-going of them, playfully cocked an eyebrow with interest. “You thinking about girls?”
Flabbergasted, Makoto’s red cheeks practically grew nuclear, and the sharp-toothed man gave a delighted chuckle. “It’s about time you started thinking about it! I can give you some good fisherman’s advice, when I was your age I—”
“Torachi, get your dog arse back to your station, the boy’s distracted enough!”
As the old man loudly shooed Toraichi away, Makoto’s attention was swept away from them, jumping to attention as he felt his first tug on the net. “Oh! I got one!” He called softly and eagerly, mostly to himself.
Gripping the net controls with determination, he squinted his eyes slightly with focus and started reeling it in.
When the net broke the surface of the sea, Makoto excitedly leaned close enough to see what was inside, taking care to not lean too far and topple overboard like last time.
He felt the butterflies in his stomach flutter away with disappointment, seeing nothing but the familiar sight of seaweed bundled up at the bottom of the net.
“Ahh…” the fisherman’s apprentice groaned gently. “I spoke too soon again…”
He carefully tossed the net back out after shaking the seaweed from the bottom. As he watched it sink below the surface and into the depths, looking into the water automatically made his mind drift back toward Haru, thinking of how pretty he knows he is in the water, and how much he wishes he could be with him.
After some time, his daydreaming is pulled back again by another tug on the line connected to the net. Makoto gasped softly, his green eyes widening in surprise as he looks down to notice a young cod writhing and flopping, trapped against the line and trying to escape.
His first cast must have snagged a fish on the top of the net after all, and now the poor thing was stuck on the line and trying to escape.
Makoto gently plucked it off the line, resisting the urge to let it fall back into the sea out of sympathy. It was his very first catch of the day, and could very well be his only.
He briefly held the small fish in the palm of his big hand and admired it before placing it gently into the bucket near his chair. The boy gave a little grin at the small victory, thinking how impressed Haru would be with his catch nonetheless.
Haru was ace at catching fish, even though he always insisted any mermaid worth half their fins could manage what he could.
And even though his method of catching them was rather brutal (the retractable fangs took Makoto some getting used to), his human boyfriend was in awe of his efficiency.
Makoto peered over at the small cod wriggling about in his bucket, his eyes glowing with joy. Oh, Haru-chan… this is gonna make you so proud!
Meanwhile, in the deep blue beneath Makoto and the crew's fishing boat; Haruka was sure enough where he belonged, swimming and twirling gracefully in the deep ocean.
The mermaid had journeyed farther out from the pale shores of Iwatobi than he normally would— the cool early summer day made the water a crisp and comfortable temperature, and in summers like this growing more and more boiling on his scales every year, he wasn't going to miss the chance to swim far and savor the cool sea to its fullest.
It was like medicine for his scales when they felt too cracked from the summer’s heat, soothing to him both mentally and physically. Rhythmically, the mermaid pulsed elegantly through the sea, weaving about the ocean floor, stirring soft silky sand all around him and mingling with the schools of saltwater fish making their homes in the reefs.
Haru cooed at the clusters of tiny sealife as they swam by him, his long pointed ears twitching curiously as he picked up their pulses and rhythms in the water.
He was noticing how plump the reef fish were becoming on the sea floor in such thriving weather. The mermaid fought against the instinctual piscivorous urge to dart and pick off some from the clusters of fish brushing softly against his scales.
Thankfully it wasn't hard, Haru always made sure his human mate Makoto always left for work as a “fisherman” with a full belly, which would result in breakfasts so large that Haru could go the rest of the day not even dreaming of being hungry.
Haru was fascinated by the way humankind prepared their prey—always contorting them into weird forms and shapes and stuffing their meat in bizarre metal containers.
Ever since he was young, he had fixated on mastering what those who walked on land called “cooking,” and Makoto had always been the human he practiced his attempts on.
He had nearly mastered the art—no matter how challenging it was to navigate a kitchen with no legs and use what Makoto called a “swivel chair.”
Playing with flame and other abnormalities found on land would make his clan back home hiss with disgust—not that Haru cared one bit. He had always been a rebellious mermaid, as it took a rebellious mermaid to be exiled from his clan for choosing a human boy over them.
Gently twisting his sleek body in the water, Haru let his mind roam as the calm ocean floor cradled him. His long blue tail idly swept on the feather-soft sand as he stared up at the glistening surface of the sea.
He thought of Makoto and his silly human job. He knew that despite the prosperity of the ocean life in the summer, he and his crew of older human fishermen had been struggling to return to shore with very successful hunts—or “hauls” as Makoto called them.
Much to Haru’s frustration, Makoto always considered this a failure on his part as the fishermen's apprentice. Haru didn't understand the way his mate insisted to take responsibility for the incompetence of other, older humans. He was so new to the job, it wasn't his responsibility to ensure they came to shore with full nets.
Haru’s tail fins lashed irritably as he recalled all the times Makoto would seem hurt over the way his mentor would gripe at him.
If it wasn’t such a necessity for him to keep himself hidden from the other humans, Haru would surge up to the surface and capsize that grouchy old man’s boat with the force of a typhoon.
Haru bent his head back and gave a small sigh, idly blowing small bubbles up to the surface. He just hoped Makoto wouldn't become so dull-headed and overconfident in his efforts to prove himself to those foolish old humans that he would grow foolish with how he tossed out his net.
The mermaid had been caught in his net while swimming this way before, and recently, resulting in a scramble for Makoto to free him and narrowly avoiding them both being discovered by the crew onboard.
Haru remembered being so flustered and annoyed at the time—trying to mask how truly frightened he felt from coming so close to discovery by a human that wasn’t Makoto.
But Makoto had promised him it wouldn’t ever be happening again, and even though Haru had his doubts, what with the way that boy’s mind wandered, he had no choice but to trust him.
Stupid Makoto… hopefully from now on he’ll be more careful with—
The mermaid’s clear blue gaze suddenly flickered, his heart jumping in alarm as he noticed the familiar shadow of a huge net descending in front of his eyes.
Back on the surface, Makoto felt another tug on the net. Reeling it up quickly, his excited heart was met once again with disappointment.
“Oh, come on!” Makoto moaned softly. It was the same sad sight as before—seaweed and no fish in sight.
With a frustrated huff, Makoto tossed his net back out into the open ocean way farther than he would with responsibility in mind.
The hours of today’s trip were dragging on, and he was feeling so desperate to turn things around after such an unsuccessful week. He wanted to make his mentor proud—make Haru proud.
After only a few minutes, Makoto felt the net begin to bog down by the heaviness of the ocean, just then realizing he cast it far deeper than he should’ve.
Darnit, Makoto. The boy cursed himself in exasperation. This is exactly what made you catch- eh?!
As Makoto’s net lowered down closer and closer to Haru from above, the fisherman peered into the clear water and noticed a familiar shape near the sea floor.
Just as it was about to hit Haru, Makoto’s heart soared as he noticed him at the same time, almost as if their thoughts were syncing up.
Haru-chan?!
Haru let out a hiss of alarm as his eyes went into hyper-alert slits upon recognizing the net closing in on him.
A curse in his tongue that his mother would cuff his ears over left the mermaid’s lips. Throwing his tail out against the water and attempting to dart forward, Haru’s heart began to beat quicker as only the net met him, trapping him in quickly as sand stirred all around and obscured his vision.
“A-ah…! Wait, wait!” Makoto rushed over to the net’s controls, nearly stumbling on the slipperiness of the deck as he rushed to try and pull it back up. Unfortunately, the fisherman was far too slow and clumsy in his panic, and the huge net was quickly colling around Haru’s much smaller body.
No, no, no! Not again! I can fix it! Makoto's frantic scrambling to pull the net back away from his boyfriend jammed the controls, only serving to twist and tangle the confused mermaid up quicker.
“Oi, what’s gotten into you over there, Makoto?” Torachi called from his post on the deck, looking a little confused and concerned at the younger fisherman’s sudden scrambling.
“N-nothing, Toraichi-san!” Makoto gasped, overwhelmed as panic began to pulse through him. “Just trying n-not to twist my net up again…!”
“Ah, yeah, wouldn’t want the old man to get worked up about that again, eh? Just be careful.” Toraichi reminded him casually, returning to his own post.
“R-right!” Makoto was barely listening, veins flooding with adredaline as he fought to try to get control over the malfunctioning net controls before it wrapped Haru up before he could escape.
The massive net roughly yanked backward against Haru as he attempted to dart the other way and evade the net.
Lining from the net was grating against his scales, and Haru twisted against the net as the instinctual panic to escape the manmade contraption with every ounce of his strength in his body seized him.
"This better not be your net, Makoto!" Haru spat out loud underwater, frustration and helplessness gripping him as he lashed and pulled defiantly, feeling the net tightening around his scales.
His fierceness was spelling his doom quickly as his tail wedged between one of the net's many openings—getting stuck along with most of the rest of his body.
Even as the net tightened and restricted him, Haru continued to fight fiercely as his ability to move waned.
“Oh no, oh no!” Watching his boyfriend below the surface in a panic, Makoto was quickly beginning to realize he couldn’t free him with the controls stuck as badly as they were; he had no choice but to bring Haru up with the lever.
Quickly getting off the controls, Makoto sprinted over to the railing. He leaned down on it to get a better look at Haru, the net now completely tangling his mermaid boyfriend up.
Haru-chan, you're stuck again! Guilt, shame and fear alike flushed Makoto’s skin. I'm so sorry!
Makoto looked back at the jammed controls before looking down at Haru again, then back, weighing his options, panic clouding his mind and making him not sure of what to do.
Without another moment of hesitation, he grabbed the lever and yanked it backward hard, heart pounding as he watched the net start to pull upward and bring the trapped mermaid up with it.
Haru-chan, just calm down, I'm bringing you back up! Makoto thought desperately, somehow hoping the struggling mermaid could hear his thoughts from below. His heart was aching with guilt seeing his poor boyfriend lashing inside the net. Please don’t panic!
Haru continued to twitch and fight angrily against the net, feeling a hint of helplessness and fear as the net began to hoist the tangled mermaid up quickly toward the surface.
Despite himself, he knew he desperately wanted this to be Makoto's net—he would be in great danger if he were fished up by any other fisherman.
Making one final effort to thrash against the entrapping net, an abrupt hiss of pain shot from Haru's lips as one of the net's hooks near the top grazed the base of his tail, ripping a scale off and causing the sensitive flesh underneath to bleed slightly.
Haru let out another, softer hiss of pain, angry that he couldn’t bend his head down to lick the wound.
Tearing a scale was only a minor injury—mermaid scales shed naturally over time anyway. But for Haru, who was particularly sensitive, it still hurt.
Knowing any further frantic movement would only risk the hooks cutting him deeper, Haru forced himself to relax and go limp as a dead carp as the net nearly broke the water’s surface, thankfully with little water resistance and without any of the other fishermen having noticed.
Frantically, Makoto grabbed onto the ladder hard and launched himself into the surface of the rippling water as the net surfaced, racing to detangle and free Haru.
The mermaid was still barely breaking the surface near the top of the net and looking up at his boyfriend's face with undisguised fury—and maybe just a little bit of relief to see him and not another human.
“Haru-chan…!” Makoto called softly as he paddled close and drew his big arms around Haru, forcing himself to fight against the urge to cry out his name worriedly. “Are you oka—“
"Makoto." Haru’s long-finned ears pinned back, hissing softly into Makoto’s shoulder, not loud enough for other fishermen to hear.
"I’m going to eat you.”
“I-I know, Haru-chan, I’m so sorry!” Eyes sweeping his boyfriend’s body in a panic for injuries, he set to frantic work untangling Haru from the net, taking no care to avoid damaging it.
“I’m going to get you out, okay? J-just hold on!” Makoto whispered urgently.
“For your sake you’d better,” Haru snapped irritably, his attempts to be threatening slightly diminished by his head buried needily in his boyfriend’s shoulder. “I’m about to bite those clueless fingers right off!”
“I-I know, I deserve it…” Makoto whined softly in embarrassment, his hands hurriedly working against the many knots and tangles, using all the strength he could muster to help him get free as fast as possible.
As his hands reached the knots entrapping his boyfriend’s tail, he instantly noticed the small torn scale.
His green eyes widened, the sight of Haru’s torn scale frightening despite the rational side of his mind knowing how minor it was for a mermaid to lose scales.
“O-oh no, your tail—!” Makoto gasped softly, arms tightening instinctively around Haru. He truly wasn’t able to apologize enough in his flustered, fearful state.
“Your net’s stupid hooks pulled my scale,” Haru grumbled into Makoto’s ear, chin plopping down dramatically on his shoulder. “Could’ve killed me.”
“How badly is it hurt? I-I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean for them to get you…”
Makoto was clearly distressed to see his poor boyfriend hurt event a little bit, and embarrassed to have caught him, especially again.
“A-and I didn't mean to catch you, either…”
"Stop apologizing—and stop touching it!” Haru snapped softly through clenched teeth as Makoto delicately brushed the torn scale with his fingers, trying to examine it.
“Just hurry and get me out before the other humans see us.” Haru insisted, pressing into Makoto and keeping his slitted eyes trained on the deck of the boat for the sight of the older men.
Makoto nodded furiously as he set back to work urgently on freeing Haru, moving as fast as he could untangle his boyfriend's sleek body.
Parts of the net were snagged into Haru's scales, and Haru let out a frustrated whine of pain as Makoto pulled too hard against them in his haste.
"Ugh—careful, stupid Makoto!”
Makoto instantly stopped, his hand coming up to run through Haru’s wet hair urgently and apologetically. “S-sorry! It’s hard to pull them away from your—“
Both of them froze as a voice above the deck called gruffly for Makoto.
"Tachibana! What are you doing overboard, boy?! Don’t tell me you fell again!”
Instantly, instinct took over and Haru dove underwater at a speed Makoto’s eyes could barely register.
Using the little freedom he could muster against the imprisoning net, Haru hid under Makoto's large arms to avoid being seen, his head burrowing into Makoto’s chest.
Makoto’s head shot up to the sight of his mentor, his arms quickly wrapping tight to cover Haru, turning him away from view at the last possible second and making it look like he simply had a bundle of net in his arms.
“E-eh?” Makoto tried to make his tone come off as clueless, ultimately doing little to hide the overwhelming nervousness in his stuttering voice.
“N-nope!” He pulled his best innocent expression and held Haru closer, tighter.
Forcing his eyes not to turn to check on Haru, he called out. “I-It's nothing, it’s just… ah…”
He paused for a moment before speaking again, trying to force himself to sound more casual, failing miserably at that as well.
“J-just some seaweed caught at the bottom!” Makoto reported nervously. “Seaweed with nothing else in it, s-sir!”
"Net twisted again?” Makoto could hear the old man’s loud, exasperated sigh even from so far away. “You went all the way down into the sea for that?”
“Ah, w-well,” Makoto struggled to explain, cheeks flushing desperately. “It was tangled pretty bad this time… I couldn’t get it unstuck with just the controls.”
“When are you going to learn to be easy with that thing?” His mentor reprimanded impatiently. “Stop fooling around in the ocean and come back on board quickly."
With that, the old fisherman’s footsteps faded as he walked off to the other side of the boat, back to his own post.
Feeling a little dizzy with relief, Makoto almost yelped when Haru popped back up on the water's surface.
“Wah—!” Makoto gasped, his heart soaring at how close he came to crying out. “Haru-chan, don’t come up so fast! You scared me!”
“Good.” Haru hissed, head once again pressing against his boyfriend’s neck, feeling clingy in spite of his anger as he gritted his teeth in slight pain.
The tiny hooks near the edges of each opening of the net were starting to hurt increasingly worse as they dug against his scales.
"Hurry," Haru murmured curtly, trying to hide the prickling pain so as to not make his boyfriend worry.
Makoto was able to tell in spite of his effort though, and the increasingly pained expression on Haru’s features filled him with more worry anyway.
He would have to work quickly to free Haru, but not too quickly that he would endanger more of his scales
The young fisherman quickly went back to trying to untangle Haru, but with his desperate yanking and pulling of the net’s control panel combined with Haru's fierce struggling—it was on impossibly tight.
Knowing they were on borrowed time, Makoto resorted to tearing the net apart with his bare, strong hands, trying to get Haru free with the precious minutes they had left before the others became suspicious.
His large hands ripped and pulled against the net with all his strength, not caring one bit how he damaged it, trying to enlarge enough of the holes in it that Haru could slip through one.
Makoto knew he was going to get the earful of a lifetime for ripping up such an expensive heavy-duty fishing net, but right now the worry was hardly crossing his mind. After all, it was just a net.
After another minute of struggling, Makoto had finally managed to rip most of the net away from Haru—with only one tangled mass near the midsection of his tail left to tear away.
“Haru-chan, I got it... almost... just hold on, okay?” He told his boyfriend hurriedly and started pulling back roughly on the last bit of net still caught on his tail.
He used his free fingers to pry the stray hooks still clinging to Haru’s scales, not caring that they pricked his own fingers as he did it.
After a few more stressful moments of fumbling and holding Haru still and close to his chest, Makoto had at last ripped an opening large enough for Haru’s sleek tail to slip through.
“Got it!” Makoto gasped, relief crashing over his senses. “I’m gonna let you out, ready—“
“Just hurry!” Haru snapped in a rush, tail fin lashing eagerly, ready to propel himself back into the ocean.
Gathering the mangled net up in his arms, Makoto lifted Haru up in his arms and gave him an angle to easily slide out.
Bending his flexible back, Haru narrowed his eyes in focus and propelled himself into the water, tail unfurling outward and his soft fin swiping hard against Makoto’s chin.
Squirming a little as it tickled him, Makoto opened his eyes and watched in relief and a little awe as Haru darted freely back into the water at an almost unbelievable speed.
With a vindictive huff, Haru made sure to slap his tail fin hard against the water’s surface before it vanished into the sea, splashing Makoto noisily on the way out as he disappeared into the deep blue.
Still feeling waves of relief, a very soaked Makoto quickly rushed to climb the ladder back up onto the boat, dragging the mangled net along with him.
He would be getting his own new holes ripped in about tearing up the net from the other fishermen—but he knew the bite from Haru when he returned to shore was going to be even worse.
Holding the ruined net, Makoto looked over to the other fishermen in embarrassment. Toraichi noticed him first and came over to look at the net with wide, bewildered eyes.
“Lord, what the hell happened down there?!” The fisherman’s voice was hushed, more flabbergasted than angry. “It’s like you got jumped by sharks!”
“Aha… o-oops?" Makoto stuttered sheepishly, not sure how to begin to find an explanation.
“I—uhh... the net got twisted really badly on the side of the boat—it was like that when I went down…” Makoto lied, feeling too much relief over freeing Haru to feel too guilty about his dishonesty.
“Shit, kid,” Toraichi groaned, knowing it was going to be a hard sell to cover for him this time. “The old man is going to be so pissed…”
Back in the ocean, it took a long moment for Haru to even think of drawing back close to the surface.
Before he did, he had swam with all his strength to escape deep into the ocean where no human vessel would be able to find him, instincts driving him to avoid all eyes after such a close brush with discovery—despite knowing he was safe.
As his instinct-driven fears waned, Haru relaxed against a cluster of rocks on the deep sea floor and began to groom the scales on his tail with his forked tongue, smoothing over the damaged scale and checking others for any tears.
While tending to himself, Haru thought naturally of Makoto, and the verbal lashing he was probably getting.
In spite of himself and his anger at the repeat incident, Haru started chortling fondly at how mad the older fishermen were going to be about the net that bumbling Makoto had practically disemboweled his big, clumsy hands.
Stupid Makoto…
After sure enough getting the verbal lashing of his life from the old man for tearing up the expensive net, Makoto spent the rest of the fishing trip paying even less attention to the job—instead anxiously waiting for them to return to shore so he could go looking for Haru.
He wanted to apologize profusely for catching Haru in a net again—Haru had been fed-up enough by Makoto’s cluelessness the first time he had accidentally caught him and Makoto was admittedly petrified of facing the mermaid’s renewed wrath.
The fishing trip soon proved to be as uneventful as the last few had, and only after some meager hauls by the other men did the boat begin to return to shore.
Once it docked near sunset and Makoto was dismissed for the day, he practically flew off the docks in the direction of the small, long-abandoned cottage near the very end of Iwatobi’s far-stretching shoreline, the place they had found together for Haru to live.
His fishermen’s overalls were still soaked and cold from plunging into the ocean hours before, but despite how it bogged down his pace, Makoto didn’t let it stop him for a second.
The cottage was far out of sight of the town, and only still maintained its electricity thanks to the generator Makoto had swiped from work to power it when the pair had first discovered it.
It was the perfect place for the mermaid to live for now, it helped him fulfill his desire to familiarize himself with the way humans lived without immersing him too closely to society. The cottage had to have been abandoned for decades—a lot of its appliances being simple and eye-wateringly outdated.
Still, it was a charming place, and had quickly become Makoto’s favorite place to be in the world. Well, most of the time… maybe not right now.
Makoto raced down the far sandy shoreline past the town and toward the familiar path leading to the cottage, only stopping every few minutes to catch his breath from how long he had to run.
His mind was buzzing with worry as he anxiously imagined every possible scenario; he hoped Haru wouldn’t be too upset with him once he got there.
What if Haru was too mad to want to talk to him? What if his torn scale was worse than it looked? What if the other fishermen had seen Haru and didn’t tell Makoto until he left?
So many "what ifs" ran throughout his worrywart mind as he ran to the small cottage, slowing down once arrived at the rickety wooden porch of it at last.
“H-Haru...?” He called quietly outside their door, forcing his voice not to loudly cry out anxiously so as to not startle him.
Makoto gently knocked on the old wooden door and gently pushed it open, calling out again. “Haru-chan, are you—”
He trailed off halfway through his sentence, his face showing his worry as he heard no response, and began to notice that in the very small interior of the cottage, Haru was not there.
The tiny, dark living room felt eerie and quiet with no presence of the mermaid as Makoto stepped worriedly inside. He began to walk around the entire tiny home, trying to find his partner.
“H-hey, Haru-chan?” He called anxiously. Still no response.
“I'm here, Haru… are you okay?” He tried again and frowned worriedly.
Not in the kitchen, not on the couch, not even sulking in the bathtub or burrowed in a nest under the cold blankets in his bed.
Trying not to panic as his worst fears started to gnaw at him, Makoto turned and hurried back out of the cottage as quickly as he entered it, hurrying over the porch and toward the beach.
One of the things Haru enjoyed most when the sun set was sitting on the secluded rocks near the cottage to watch it—maybe he was just there?
Growing desperate to find him, Makoto hurried toward the clefts and stopped, shouting out urgently for the mermaid.
“Haru! Where are—” He was cut off as he suddenly felt something wet, slimy and soft smack him harmlessly on his left cheek.
“Eek—!”
Yelping in surprise, Makoto reached for his cheek to dislodge what was just thrown at him, pulling off what looked like a wet, freshly-killed small reef fish in his palm.
The dead fish had familiar fang marks pierced freshly into it, indicating to Makoto immediately the particular mermaid who could’ve killed it.
Makoto studied the creature lying in his palm in bewilderment, cogs turning in his head as he reminded himself it wasn’t physically possible for a fish to fly this far out of the shore on its own.
Just as soon as he turned to look at where it had been thrown, another small reef fish was thrown at him, bouncing off his forehead and sending fish slime down his eyelid.
Makoto’s blurry eyes fell instantly in the direction of Haru, who was sitting calmly tucked between two crags with an unamused look on his face.
His jaw dropped, too overcome with relief and joy to care that Haru was sporting an arsenal of dead fish in a pile next to him, looking ready to throw them at Makoto at any second.
“Haru!” Makoto cried, almost tackling Haru at the edge of the rock where he sat, roping him into an eager embrace despite his tiny hiss, lifting him a little as the mermaid’s tail fin lashed irritably in protest.
“O-oi!” Haru hissed lowly, wriggling in Makoto’s heavy arms.
“So this is where you were hiding, huh?” Makoto closed his eyes and gave a breathy giggle of relief. “Geez, you scared me…!”
He pressed a kiss to the patch of soft scales on Haru’s cheek, noticing the deeply unamused, soft pout on Haru's face. Clearly, the mermaid was still upset by Makoto’s blunder of the day.
Despite this, Makoto seemed completely oblivious to Haru's unhappy face, too elated to see Haru had made it out of the run-in with the net safely to care about any potential trouble he was in.
“I'm sorry, Haru-chan!” Makoto says softly as his nerves calm down at last. “I was—mmph!”
The beginnings of Makoto’s hurried apology were cut off as another slimy reef fish was abruptly pushed against his mouth by Haru’s hand.
Haru only let his boyfriend hold him for a few more moments before wriggling harshly out of his boyfriend’s strong, soft embrace to grab a fish from the pile and push it toward his mouth—finned ears pinned against his head and still clearly miffed by the day’s events.
“All you caught were mermaids in your net today,” Haru reminded him in annoyance, silencing his mmphs of confusion by keeping the fish pushed to his lips. “So I caught some fish for you myself.”
Makoto pulled his face back free of the fish and spit out remnants of fish slime on his lips, green eyes flooding helplessly with apology as he looked at Haru pleadingly.
“It was an accident, Haru-chan, honest! I didn’t—”
Haru took another reef fish from the pile and tossed it, this one wetly bouncing off Makoto’s cheek.
“I-I didn’t even notice you were under the boat till I—”
The next fish hit Makoto on the chin, causing the slimy creature to fall down into his chest and get stuck between his chest. Makoto resisted the urge to let out a sigh.
“Haru, come onn…” Makoto whined as another fish flopped into his hair, getting stuck and tangled up in his chestnut locks.
”Have you seriously been catching fish all day just to throw at me?”
Haru’s sharp eyes glinted, his pupils turning slightly to slits. “You’d better believe it.”
Makoto released a long sigh and almost gave a sheepishly fond smile. Haru could be so overdramatic and petty, and yet he knew he deserved the mermaid’s tantrum.
He knew his repeated mishaps with the net were troublesome, and even a little frightening, for the mermaid. He wanted to make it up to his boyfriend.
But Makoto couldn’t even begin to explain himself, every time he seemed to open his mouth was another well-aimed fish flying scarily close to his mouth.
It wasn’t long before an almost comical pile of fish was gathering at Makoto’s feet. He could see the arsenal in Haru’s hands had quickly run out; he only had one small fish left now.
Makoto felt absolutely caked in seafood. He gave a small sheepish smile as Haru gazed down at his palm with his long ears flicking irritably, annoyed that he had already run out of fish.
“Hehe, looks like you’ve run out of weapons, Haru-chan.” Makoto giggled, before shrinking back a little as Haru shot a glare at him. He winced, expecting the final fish to be flung at him at any second.
“Now come on,” a small, nervous grin spread on his face. “Can’t you let me explain myself now?”
Ears still twitching, Haru’s unamused face didn’t change as he leaned back against the rock. “Fine,” the mermaid huffed.
Makoto relaxed with a genuine, relieved smile. “L-look, you know how clumsy I am with this stuff, and—” The second he felt comfortable the onslaught was over, he was slapped in the face by the last fish.
His face started mirroring his boyfriend’s own unamused expression as the fish slowly slides off, leaving another trail of slime on his already-filthy features.
Haru’s tail fin flicked from side to side. “You were saying?”
Makoto sighed deeply and put his hands up in surrender. “Haruu, don’t be so cruel...” His expression is soft and pleading when he looks at his boyfriend’s annoyed face.
“You aren’t gonna be mad at me like this all night, are you?” He gently approached Haru and tried to embrace him again, now that his moody mermaid had run out of fish to pelt him with.
As soon as he was in arms reach, a startled and confused eugh! left Makoto as he was slapped wetly across the face by a long string of slimy kelp that Haru had been keeping hidden behind his tail.
Makoto barely managed to peel the first long strip of kelp off across his nose before another was wrapping around his shoulder, soaking him in slimy seawater.
“Uwah—Haru!” Makoto cried in exasperation, trying and failing to get a grip on the newfound strings of seaweed to peel them off his chest. “Where’d that come from?!”
Finally, a small smile of impish, and just a little playful satisfaction was spreading on Haru’s face.
“Foolish of you to think a mermaid could ever run out of things to gather in the sea, Makoto.”
“Eugh… it’s so slimy, Haru! Ah, don’t throw it there—!”
The kelpy assault continued until Makoto was absolutely filthy, drenched from head to toe in fish grime and kelp alike. The fisherman was utterly defeated, looking like a sad and guilty dog that had just been doused with a garden hose.
Makoto deepened his sad, pitiful face, looking up at Haru with doleful eyes and trying to tug on the mermaid’s heartstrings.
He was absolutely caked in fish and kelp residue now—and didn’t know how on earth he was going to clean it off.
His hair hung down his face like wet ropes of seaweed, resembling a sad mop. He looked up with puppy-dog eyes that begged for forgiveness.
“Haru-chan, please… I'm really sorry, okay?”
He looked down at the ground in shame, trying to really sell the quivering guilty dog look, which he had learned won against Haru’s iciness every other time.
“But… can I come hug you already?”
Haru gazed incredulously at his boyfriend, still drenched in sea life and kelp. The mermaid had always had a soft spot for Makoto in this kind of state, and quickly proved impossible to his heart for him to not forgive him when he looked like that.
His finned ears lowered a little, his pettiness beginning to melt at the helpless look on his beloved mate’s face, being replaced with a sense of longing. Makoto’s face was always so disgustingly adorable—it wasn’t fair.
“Stupid Makoto.” Haru gave a little sigh, trying to play himself off as simply growing bored.
“It’s no fun throwing things at you when you look so pathetic.”
The mermaid’s darkly irritated blue eyes softened. Tail fin twitching, he leaned back against the rock in resignation, ears twitching expectantly and allowing Makoto to come up and hold him at last.
Despite his sogginess, Makoto’s face lit up upon being forgiven. Nodding vigorously with a thankful hum, the kelp fell to the ground as Makoto practically flew forward into Haru’s arms, gathering the mermaid’s smaller body up tight against his.
“Hehe… thank you, Haru-chan!” Makoto smiled like the sun despite being as filthy as a bog, rubbing his cheek up against Haru and feeling his long ears flicking against his face.
He leaned back slightly after a few seconds, relieved to have Haru’s forgiveness, but the look on his face still showed genuine guilt.
Makoto leaned his forehead gently against Haru's and looked into his eyes with a fond, soft exhale against his scales.
“You’re so cute…” Makoto sighed sadly. “I’m sorry that I caught you today.”
Haru closed his eyes and huffed, trying not to look like he was enjoying his forehead against Makoto’s too much. “...Don’t call me cute.”
“Heh, sorry, sorry…”
The pair were quiet in each other’s embrace for a moment before Makoto spoke again, voice soft.
“I really am sorry, though…” Makoto repeated himself, the guilt of his blunder today still tugging on him.
“I know I told you I would be more careful with my net… sometimes I just get so distracted on the sea.” He leaned forward to nuzzle and kiss Haru’s scaly forehead, leaving some seaweed there that was stuck in his mouth.
His wet, fishy hands stroked Haru’s soft black hair as the mermaid sighed, considering Makoto’s genuine words.
“I’m sorry for making you mad, Haru-chan.” Makoto apologized earnestly, his shaggy and unkempt head pressing into the mermaid’s chest gently. “I promise I’ll be more careful.”
Haru's soft scaly skin, the gentle sounds of the sea and the sand scraping past the rocks was so comforting and relaxing. Despite his guilt, Makoto easily felt his problems melting away when they were like this.
“...And make sure I check before I throw my net from now on.” Makoto finished with a cute, light giggle.
“I'm... not that mad,” Haru promised after a moment of hesitation, nuzzling into Makoto’s bare shoulder.
“You can just be such a…” Haru’s tail fin flicked in thought as he tried to find the appropriate human word. “Dummy when you’re on that fishing boat.”
To another human, Makoto would unbearably reek right about now, fishing overalls and skin utterly soaked with grime from the ocean.
But to Haru, Makoto smelled just like home. He loved it—almost wishing his mate would give him an excuse to throw fish at him more often, if only to keep such a nostalgic scent on him.
After spending several moments tangled up in each other against the rocks, Haru fastened his scaly tail tight around Makoto’s waist, a familiar gesture that told him Haru was ready to move.
“Your smell is going to kill your mother if you go home tonight like that,” Haru murmured into Makoto’s skin, breathing him in while he had the chance to.
“You need to be groomed—let’s go inside and get in my bathtub together.”
Makoto hummed in agreement, enjoying the familiarly cozy feeling of Haru’s thick, smooth tail wrapped around him.
“Ah… you’re right.” He agreed sheepishly, nuzzling into Haru and giggling, a little embarrassed. “You got me good, Haru-chan… I feel so dirty now.”
“I got you dirty—so I’ll groom you,” Haru promised, perhaps a little too eagerly, as though he excessively pelted Makoto with fish just so he could have a chance to scrub Makoto in the bathtub.
Humming with excitement, Makoto swept up his mermaid partner lovingly in his strong, damp, fishy arms.
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” he giggled. “Let’s go!”
Carrying Haru comfortably in his big arms, Makoto took him back into his cottage.
Once they were inside, Makoto gently set Haru in the cottage’s old, massive but slightly-rusted tub and started to fill it with warm water—but not too warm.
His mermaid boyfriend was in the bathtub so much that Makoto had it memorized just the way he liked it. Having known each other for so long, Makoto knew little things like that as easy as breathing.
As Haru situated in the bathtub, Makoto undressed himself from his soaked, filthy fisherman’s outfit, revealing his broad and strong body underneath.
Haru watched eagerly as Makoto rummaged briefly in the medicine cabinet before gently sliding into the bathtub behind Haru’s sleek body.
The mermaid leaned back into his boyfriend’s warm chest with a soft, contented purr. Makoto frowned at the missing scale on Haru’s tail, more concerned with making sure it was properly treated than he was with getting clean just yet.
“Here, Haru-chan… for your scale.”
Holding a tube of disinfecting cream in his hand, Makoto delicately and gently tended to Haru’s large tail hanging off the side of the tub, rubbing the cream in slowly and thoroughly with his index finger.
The mermaid flinched a little at the unfamiliar feeling of the cream in his scales, but relaxed quickly at the rhythmic, strong rubbing of Makoto’s finger. He cuddled up to Makoto as close as he could be while he nursed the tiny injury.
“Sorry,” Makoto pressed a quick kiss to Haru’s wet hair as he continued to rub in the cream. “It might sting a little for a second, okay?”
“Hmph…” Haru’s right ear flicked. “It doesn’t hurt… just feels a little weird…”
Curiously, Haru peered up at the look of immense concentration on Makoto’s features, resisting the urge to huff out a giggle at how silly it was, with a soft look of affection vaguely spreading in his eyes.
Haru could feel his body warming up while immersed in his human, and seeing Makoto clean and tend to Haru's wound felt touching in a way Haru could never quite describe. The way his clan cared for their kin was far different, but Haru loved the way Makoto did it more than he was willing to admit.
“Haru-chan, you're supposed to be mad at me, not cuddle me. Makoto whispered teasingly, with a small laugh.
“Too much effort to stay mad,” Haru mumbled bashfully, leaning his head back into the crook of Makoto’s neck.
Once Haru’s torn scale had been properly rubbed with soothing cream, Haru nimbly and eagerly turned into the bathtub to face Makoto, finned hands spreading on his shoulders.
“Now… time for me to take care of you.”
“E-eh?” Makoto’s big eyes looked up at Haru in wonder, face reddening a little. He could never really tell what exactly words like that from Haru would entail when they were like this.
Haru set to work delicately but thoroughly sponging the fish and seaweed grime from Makoto’s skin and from his heavy chestnut locks, using human shampoo instead of his saliva like his clan would normally do it, much to his resigned chargin.
The mermaid hummed thoughtfully as he worked, strong fingers digging into Makoto’s scalp gently but firmly, thin claws occasionally flexing out to scrub the thicker areas of his scalp.
His thorough work caused Makoto to lean into him with a gentle moan at the soothing feeling of being massaged, closing his eyes and bonking his head softly against Haru’s scaled chest.
“You should tell those old human fishermen to get bigger nets,” Haru noted in consideration after a long silence as he continued to wash his boyfriend.
“If their holes weren’t so small, I would never get stuck.” The mermaid stopped for a moment to think. “Don’t they have labels on fish from human stores that say they were caught with ‘dolphin-friendly’ nets?”
Haru stopped for a moment, huffing in mild annoyance as he continued to scrub. “They don’t have mermaid-friendly nets?” His ears twitched judgementally. “Inconsiderate humans…”
Makoto hummed as Haru continued to scrub and work at his tangled kelp hair, enjoying the comforting feeling. He chuckled light-heartedly at Haru’s complaining.
“If only they knew there were mermaids in the ocean, Haru-chan, maybe they would actually have to take you into consideration…”
Haru paused his scrubbing again and huffed noisily, annoyed that Makoto had a genuine point against his typical complaining about humans this time.
“That does make me wonder, though…” Makoto mused, letting his head rock a little as Haru’s scrubbing intensified to get the stronger knots out of his hair.
“About?” Haru questioned casually, trying to keep most of his focus on his scrubbing.
“Well, our fishing spots near the shore aren’t very big, but they’re not tiny,” Makoto explained, face fixing in thought. “I’m not really sure how you keep ending up under our boat, to be honest.” He gave a tiny, clueless chuckle.
Haru’s eyes widened a little. His mouth worked as he gave a small exhale and came up with a quick excuse.
“The boat makes noises that stir up the reefs at the bottom,” Haru reminded him, keeping his voice dismissive and casual. “I follow where the fish go—that’s why.”
Makoto’s head bobbed in thought, satisfied with the answer. “Hmm, that does make sense.” His boyfriend hummed fondly. “You sure love those little reef fish, huh, Haru-chan?”
“Maybe a little too much…” He added sheepishly under his breath, trails of fish slime washing off his cheek as Haru swiped a washcloth across it gently.
Haru allowed his mouth to twitch into a tiny smile—relieved that his secret of always following the boat that carried his human was safe.