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Iori climbs into bed, and wiggles himself under the covers, handing his older brother, Mitsuki, a book their grandmother had bought him before she passed (despite Iori denying he had no interest in it, “a very tsundere response” Mitsuki had called it). It’s a book that’s seen better days, but there’s no doubt about it that it’s been cherished, considering the number of times it’s been open is evident on the spine.
“Again? Don’t you ever get tired of this book, Iori?”
Iori shakes his head at him who sighs, and opens up “The Little Mermaid”.
Although Iori knows every word, he listens quietly. He anticipates the flip of the page and gets angry when Mitsuki forgets to show him the picture.
The brothers fall asleep together in Iori’s bed, dreaming of love and mermaids and running their own café together someday.
~ ~ ~
Iori is six and a half (emphasis on the half) when he first meets Riku who has just turned seven. Riku is a merboy whose hair, red as rubies, glistens in the afternoon light like pearls, and whose skin looks as if it has been kissed by the sun. Unlike Iori who smells of cakes and freshly ground morning coffee, Riku smells of brine, of a world he’s only read about in books. With closed eyes, he sings on the rocks, unaware of the human boy who has just stumbled upon him.
Mermaids are famous for their beautiful voices, and Riku is no exception.
If Iori has to compare Riku’s voice to something, it’s white chocolate. Perhaps it’s his growing up surrounded by cakes and people who love dessert in general talking, but Iori can’t think of a better comparison for Riku than the fragile chocolate that requires both caution and patience to achieve the desired result. Alone, his voice is delicate, sweet, but given the chance, it can be bold, suave, a voice that could very well drag ships to the bottom of the sea.
“You’re a mermaid.”
“Merboy,” He corrects, tossing a piece of seaweed out of his hair into the ocean.
“I knew that.”
The merboy flips onto his stomach, and grins up at him. “What’s your name?”
“Izumi Iori.” He answers.
“Hey, Iori, do you want to be friends?”
“I-Iori? Oi, who do you think you are to be calling me-”
“I’ve never met a human before.”
“Are you listening to me?!”
“Ten-nii says they don’t like us.”
“I like you!” Iori blurts out.
The redhead laughs. “You’re blushing.”
His noticing only makes his cheeks darken. “I am not!”
“I like you too, Iori.”
~ ~ ~
Iori learns his name is Riku, Nanase Riku to be exact, and that he’s the most beautiful merboy that he’s ever seen in his six and a half years of lifetime. (Of course, he’s also the only one he’s ever seen, but who can focus on sweating the details when his smile, bright and comforting like a lighthouse that guides ships home, shoots an arrow straight through his heart every time?)
Riku has a lot of questions, about him, about the human world, and so it only makes sense to bring books to read to him.
It doesn’t occur to him until he begins explaining to Riku who is oblivious to the world above him that there’s a lot of things he wishes he didn’t know about the human world.
Riku is not one of them.
He never considers that maybe, just maybe, the reason Riku keeps asking to meet him at their secret place under the dock is because he has feelings for him too because it seems downright impossible or too wishful thinking. Iori’s read about falling in love, and as much as he’d like to believe happy endings exist like in the storybooks he read as a child, it terrifies him that there’s a chance his love won’t be returned. Iori swore after that that he’d never fall in love, but all it took was one song from Nanase Riku to fall into the deep end. There’s no escaping his eyes or the way he throws his head back when he laughs.
“Promise me that you won’t forget me.”
“Huh? Why would I-”
Iori is 12 now and Riku is on the cusp of 13 when Riku first kisses him, an innocent meeting of lips lasting no more than a second that feels like an eternity to Iori.
Iori can count the days they have spent together—in laughter, in number of books they have read and sunsets that have been swallowed by the ocean. Iori has lost track, however, of the number of times he has thought about kissing Riku, but he remembers the first one very clearly. It was after he had brought Riku a plate of leftover cake from his mother’s birthday party and he gushed about how it was (and he quotes) “delicious” which led him to being able to hear his heart pounding in his ear considering that it was his cake that he had made with Mitsuki that he was eating, his cake whose vanilla frosting he was licking off his lips. It was the first time he wanted to know if he tastes just as sweet as he imagined like strawberries and whipped cream.
“Iori, I-”
“Iori? Iori, where are you?” He recognizes the voice calling out to him as Mitsuki’s.
“I’ll be right there nii-”
Iori stops believing in fairy tales.
~ ~ ~
A life under the sea isn’t so bad, Riku thinks. He knows his parents are doing it to protect him and so he obediently followed their orders after his older twin brother, Ten, had been captured (more like voluntarily went with) by humans.
However, Riku is 18 now, and the desire to break free from his confinement grows stronger every day. There’s a whole world beyond his home in the sea to explore, but even going to his childhood friend’s, Takanashi Tsumugi, cave took convincing and permission from his parents which he doesn’t understand because it’s underwater, and only one human knows of their existence (whom Riku isn’t sure if he even matters anymore).
“Tsumugi, you have to help me.”
Tsumugi is a beautiful mermaid with a string of pearls around her neck, blonde hair decorated with burgundy starfish and white seashells, and a light pink tail who works under her father’s guidance as a sea witch, providing all sorts of magic to the kingdom (though more often than not clumsily which makes her endearing).
“What is it, Riku-kun?”
“I want to become human.”
Tsumugi covers Riku’s mouth and glances around before ushering him into her cave.
“Do you know what you’re asking me?” She whispers.
“Yes.”
“Riku, your parents-”
“I want to find Ten-nii.”
~ ~ ~
Riku has a bad habit of forgetting, and that is exactly how he ends up stumbling into (a flustered) Iori’s arms (naked) because he somehow forgot humans have legs.
Iori’s bad habit is that he’s kind. It’s been that way since he was a child, coming in various forms such as when he found a box of kittens in the rain and walked home without an umbrella or waited with a lost child at the mall until his mother came to find him. Mitsuki tells him otherwise, that it’s his blunt way of speaking that he should really be concerned about. There’s a voice in Iori’s head telling him nii-san back at the café is more important than-
“Oh, you’re cute.”
Riku is too shocked by the sudden appearance of his childhood crush to process the fact that he was just called cute by said childhood crush.
He’s just as handsome as he remembers him (although he still doesn’t look his age, a complex Riku discovered when talking about Mitsuki who curses the universe on a daily basis for being short and his baby face). Iori’s gained muscle too since the last time he saw him, and Riku is surprised to find that, as a human, there isn’t much of a height difference between them (a centimeter at most, no more than that).
“Are you okay?”
Iori seems to understand when Riku touches his throat that he can’t speak.
“Wait here.”
He brings a towel to wrap himself with that he bought off the streets, and leads him to a small café titled “fonte chocolat,” the door chiming as he walks (wobbles) in.
“Iori! Thank the heavens that you’re back.”
“Nii-san!” Iori shoves Riku into the coat closet, and shuts the door.
“What was that?”
“What was what?”
“I could’ve sworn I saw somebody just now.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Could it be that my little brother is hiding a girl?”
“Girl? Nii-san, you’re mistaken.”
“Open the door then.”
“Mitsuki-san, we need to go!” A staff member calls out to him.
“Ah, we’ll talk later. Can I trust you to take care of the cake tasting?”
“Me? Nii-san, you always-”
“There’s an emergency situation I need to attend to, and-”
Iori cuts him off. “Yes, nii-san, I’ll do it.”
“Hurry! The couple coming for the cake tasting will be here soon.”
Iori breathes out a sigh of relief, and opens the door to let Riku out.
“Listen, I have work to do. Wait up in my room up the staircase to the left.”
Riku watches Iori knot an apron, and smile at the customers seated in the café before disappearing into the kitchen. The Iori Riku knows is rude. This is a new side of Iori. This Iori is gentle, princely almost.
“Iori, I need to talk to you.”
“Oh, welcome back nii-san.” He cuts a slice of red velvet cake.
“It’s really urgent.”
“Nii-san, I’m in the middle of something.” He carefully lowers it onto the plate.
“Iori, there’s a naked man in my room.”
Iori almost drops his knife. “What?!”
~ ~ ~
“I told you to wait in my room!”
“Iori, you’re scaring him.”
“It’s not what it looks like.” Iori tries to explain Riku sitting on Mitsuki’s bed.
“I’m listening.” Mitsuki crosses his arms.
“He can barely walk and he can’t speak. I found him on the beach like this.”
Mitsuki sighs. “Get him cleaned and dressed.”
“But the client-”
“I’ll take care of the client.”
“You heard nii-san.”
~ ~ ~
“I brought you a towel. I’m coming in.”
Iori enters the bathroom to find Riku submerged under the tub.
“Do you want to drown?!” Iori lifts him up to the surface for air.
Drown?
He groans. “You didn’t even wash!”
Oh, I forgot humans can’t breathe underwater.
Iori grabs the bottle of shampoo and massages the soap into Riku’s hair. Riku winces.
“Does it hurt?” He nods, and at that, Iori’s fingers knead gentler into Riku’s scalp. “Sorry.” Iori grabs the showerhead, and rinses the soap out of his hair, taking caution not to get it into his eyes.
“Dry off.” He instructs, and tosses him a towel. “There’s some clothes for you to put on on top of the counter.”
When Riku joins him in his bedroom, Iori tries hard to stifle his laughter.
“What is that?”
Riku looks down at himself. What’s wrong?
“Come here.” Iori has Riku remove his shirt because apparently it’s on backwards.
It’s the first time Riku sees Iori laugh like that, bent over, clutching his stomach, and eyes reminiscent of crescent moons and twinkling stars.
“I’m sorry for yelling earlier.” He apologizes in a voice so soft it feels intimate because it’s a reminder that it’s just them two in Iori’s room. “Is it too hot?” Iori asks as he blow dries his red hair which is looking more and more like a cardinal’s feathers as it fluffs. Riku shakes his head ‘no’. “Nii-san is a good person, much better than me. You’ll like him.”
Riku moves from his position, and pulls Iori into a hug, stroking his black hair.
“I’ll… be downstairs…” Iori removes himself from Riku’s embrace, and rises off the floor.
Riku realizes there’s one more thing that hasn’t changed about his memories of Iori: he’s still very much in love with this boy.
~ ~ ~
“Does he have a name?”
“I asked him, but it’s hard to get a response out of him.”
“Can he read?” Mitsuki asks as Riku browses the shelves of books in their café.
“No, he can’t read, speak, or write, nii-san.”
“Teach him then, Iori.”
“What?”
“Since he can’t talk, wouldn’t it be good if he can at least write?”
“I… guess I could…”
“There’s no guessing. You will do it.”
“Nii-san, I have school!”
“Yes, I know, so for now until summer, you can just teach him the basics.”
Iori and Mitsuki get a clearer idea of who Riku is when he learns the words for family and numbers. Riku has an older twin brother, and his birthday is on July 9th. (“That’s soon!” Mitsuki exclaims, and begins preparations for it.) There’s laughter that comes from the older brother when he finds out that Iori is still the baby of the household.
“Pick one.” Iori drops a stack of books onto the table of the booth Riku is seated in.
They’re fairy tales, ranging from foreign ones like “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” to Japanese staples like “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter”.
Riku writes on the whiteboard Iori had surprised him with. “I can’t read them yet.”
“I know.” Iori responds.
He erases the whiteboard. “Why?”
It takes a blush from Iori for Riku to realize that he is offering to read to him.
A book with the colors faded, the pages falling out, and the spine worn catches his eye. On the cover is a mermaid with beautiful, golden hair that reminds him of Tsumugi.
Riku pushes it towards Iori. “The Little Mermaid?” Riku nods. “Nii-san used to read this book to me a lot when I was younger. Understood. We’ll read this before bed tonight.”
He doesn’t care much for the story as it’s one that his mother had used to scold him with when she found out he was secretly meeting with a human. He likes, however, that Iori doesn’t forget to show him the pictures and the look of nostalgia on his face as he turns the pages.
Iori closes the book when he notices Riku succumbing to dreamland. Iori joins him in bed when he turns off the light. Riku can’t think of a better way to wake up in the morning. With Iori sleeping peacefully by his side (his usual frown absent from his face) and the scent of fresh pastries filling his lungs, life is perfect.
~ ~ ~
July marks the beginning of the rise in festivals in Japan.
“It’s hot.” Iori flips the café’s sign to “Closed”.
“Iori, what’re they doing?” Riku writes.
“They’re writing their wishes on tanzaku to hang on bamboo trees for Tanabata.”
Riku tilts his head. Tana… bata…?
(Iori finds it cute that Riku draws a question mark because he can’t spell it.)
“Seriously? To sum it up, it’s a celebration about two gods named Hikoboshi and Orihime who are lovers who were separated by Orihime’s father because she paid more attention to her husband than to her weaving, and can only meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month after crossing the Milky Way.”
“Can we write one too?”
“Sure.”
“Can I wear a yukata too?”
“Do you think yukatas grow on trees?”
“Does that mean I can’t?” Riku pouts.
“N… no…”
Iori had found Riku a yukata, brown with red polka dots, to wear which thrilled Riku (although he needed help putting it on). When they arrived at the festival, Iori had to apologize for Riku attempting to return the goldfish children were fishing for in a tank to the sea (and then explain goldfish are 1) domesticated and 2) freshwater fish, so they’d die if he succeeded).
Iori figured to keep him from further embarrassing himself to leave Riku in charge of securing a good spot to view the fireworks while he bought food from the stands. Riku had only seen fireworks from under the ocean because Ten-nii claimed it wasn’t safe to watch them from above the water, so happiness didn’t even begin to cover the feeling in his chest.
Riku had previously had run ins with breathing air for long periods of time since becoming human, but it was nothing a glass of water couldn’t fix until that moment when he felt like he was suffocating. Tsumugi had warned him about it, that it could be a possible side effect since her magic wasn’t as experienced as her father’s.
“The longer you’re away from the ocean, the worse it will get.”
Riku gasps. Ten-nii.
“Here.” Ten hands him a vial of clear liquid from his pocket. “It’ll make you feel better. It’s medicine. Seriously, Riku, what do you see in him? You’re in pain, aren’t you?”
Have you been watching me? Riku wishes to communicate with him.
“Did Tsumugi do this to you? I told you she’s inexperienced.”
“Ten, we’re leaving.” A handsome, tall man with hair cascading in silver curls interjects.
“You’re running out of time, Riku.” Ten joins him with a wave.
Ten-nii… wait…
Riku wants to ask him so many things, for starters, where he’s been all the time followed up by who’s that man he’s with. Riku wants to call out to him, to do the impossible and make up time he can never get back.
“I bought the- What happened? What’s wrong?” Iori rushes to Riku’s side.
He forces a smile onto his face, and shakes his head. Riku mouths “I’m fine” to him, but he doesn’t seem to buy it, eyes narrowing on a slim, white haired figure in the distance sliding into a black car. Riku grabs his wrist and shakes his head when Iori makes a step to go after him. Sighing, he joins him on the grass as the first firework bursts into silver and yellow sparks in the night sky.
Riku had forgotten about the promise he had made with Tsumugi when she (reluctantly) agreed to transform him into a human. Should he not be able to find somebody who can admit they love him in return by his birthday, he will return to the ocean forever.
He had thought it’d be easy, that he’d find Ten-nii and they could live happily together as humans if he wouldn’t return to the sea with him as a merboy. Iori, however, came as a surprise, and now it’s Iori, not Ten-nii, whom Riku wants to spend the rest of his life with.
The only problem is he’s got two days left to get him to fall in love.
~ ~ ~
“Ah, isn’t your birthday this Saturday? Nii-san wanted me to ask you what kind of cake do you like.”
Riku lifts up his whiteboard.
“Vanilla?” He pauses from brushing his teeth. “Well, if that’s what you want, I’ll tell nii-san. You like simple flavors, huh?” Iori spits mint toothpaste out of his mouth.
Riku watches Iori walk from the bathroom to his drawer to pull out a black t-shirt to slip over his body.
“Oh, is there anything you want for a present? We’re not rich, but-”
Before Iori can finish, Riku closes the gap between them, pulling him down by the collar of his t-shirt. For a second, he does nothing, too shocked to protest and unwilling to admit he actually doesn’t really dislike the sensation of Riku’s lips covering his own. It isn’t until his hand moves to cup his cheek to deepen the kiss that Iori pushes him away.
“G… good night…” Iori flips off the lightswitch, and slips under the covers.
~ ~ ~
It goes without saying that things are awkward between them leading up to Riku’s birthday. Mitsuki is too excited putting together a party for him to notice.
“Nii-san has finished your cake.” Iori’s voice surprises Riku.
Iori sits down with Riku on the sand who is staring at the sun setting in the horizon.
“I’m sorry for how I reacted the other day, but-”
Riku grabs Iori’s hand, and uses his finger to spell out into the wet sand:
I love you.
“I’m sorry.” Iori apologizes again.
“Do you love someone else?”
“No, who would fall in love with someone who stole their first kiss from them?!”
He’s talking about me.
“What did he look like?”
“Well, he looked… a lot like you actually…”
Riku opens Iori’s palm, and places a necklace into his hand.
“Na… nase… -san?”
“Do you love me, Iori?” The waves wash away Riku’s question.
“Yes.”
This time, Iori is the one to initiate the kiss, and Riku gladly complies.
Years of secret, shared attraction, spill out, taking the form of awkward, shy exploration. A hand travels up his side under his clothes while Riku’s fingers grasp at the ends of his black hair before sliding down to his back where he grips at the (now soaked) cotton shirt. Iori pushes him back gently onto the sand, the warm waves of summer rolling under their bodies. Riku finds himself giggling halfway into the kiss, only to be hushed with an inexperienced tongue begging for immediate attention.
“I love you too, Iori.” The words are barely audible, but nevertheless cause Iori to retreat in surprise.
“You can speak?!”
“I’ll explain later, okay?”
Iori puts a hand between his and Riku’s mouths. “I still haven’t forgiven you for stealing my first kiss.”
His brow furrows. “Can’t you act a bit cuter about this?”
“I liked you better when you couldn’t speak.”
They both laugh and remain inseparable from each other with the moon as their witness until Mitsuki finds them and Iori swears he’s never wanted to be an only child until then.
~ ~ ~
Six months have passed since Iori and Riku began dating (although neither of them actually asked each other out both because it was long overdue and too embarrassing). Communication has gotten easier. (Iori sometimes misses the squeak of a marker when he and Riku argue—which is a lot since his voice came back.) Riku gets better at reading too. He still can’t read novels, but he’s worked hard to understand more advanced children’s literature. If Iori were honest (which he isn’t) he finds it cute when Riku asks him questions like an elementary school kid does. He takes him to the library every Saturday afternoon where they spend the day until closing time. It’s not an ideal date location as the former merman seems far more interested in the shelves and shelves of books than in his boyfriend (boyfriend… it’s still a strange word to be called…), but Riku’s smile when he selects a book to read for the week is worth it. He’ll never admit that the actual reason he spends a lot of time in the animal section is because it has a perfect view of the children’s section where Riku browses and sits in chairs far too small for his body (although his love for cute, small things is also a factor). Visits from “Ten-nii” as Riku affectionately calls him (Iori prefers the devil in disguise) become increasingly random and more frequent when word of his dating his younger twin brother arrives. (On that note, Iori has started a tally of bullshit reasons Ten has come up with to observe their relationship. So far, there’s been six.)
As for his relationship with Riku, nothing much has changed aside from Mitsuki telling them to stop flirting in the café and the former merman imposing on his baths (which he’d appreciate if he at least had the decency to knock). Mitsuki also takes it upon himself to give Riku a sex education lesson “in case Iori ever tries anything with you” which makes Iori drop one of the sugar flowers on the floor he is supposed to be decorating a wedding cake with. The teasing didn’t end when he refused to answer if he had thought about it or not. The teasing only got worse. (“Huh.” “What?” “So even you have those kind of thoughts, Iori.” “Nii… nii-san…!”)
Destiny, fate, to Iori, those were fairy tales, myths strung together to give comfort and hope to the unexplainable, but since meeting Riku, brushes of fingers, greetings like “Good morning!” and “How was your day?” and “Welcome home!” given with a smile, legs tangled under the sheets in the cold winter months, and murmured “I love you”s in between kisses are enough to convince him otherwise.