Archive of Our Own

Epic’s hind flippers breached through bubbling seafoam and gentle waves as he burst through the water, gliding through the air in a graceful arch and ending in a soundless dive in one seamless flip. Ivory bones of a seal’s skull peeked through wave crests in an expectant grin, his best friend eagerly awaiting his applause.

Cross brought his claws to his mouth in a low wolf whistle, clapping and cheering as he lauded the performance from his perch upon the shore.

His lover beamed. Epic’s large and expressive, doe-like eyes in this form glittered with ardor and pride as he barked, pleased with the response his talents had gathered. Flipping backward he dived once more into the watery depths, his pod following along in playful breaches and trills of their own. 

Cross chuckled, his smile low and soft, and watched as the dot that was Epic’s form disappeared. He plopped down onto the shore and sighed, propping himself up by his elbows as he closed his eyes, tilting his skull up into the warmth of the midday sun. 

Warm and firm, the white sand below his bones is pleasantly soft and not at all gritty as it had been from prior experience. The grains fall like fairy dust, shining alabaster elegantly sliding from his tarsals as he digs his feet into the smooth ground. 

It would be some time before his lover had his fill of fun with his pod. While Cross had more than enough energy to spare, he couldn’t swim nearly as fast as his Selkie lover nor his seal companions. Epic would enjoy some time with the pups while Cross waited on the shore before he joined them in the water. 

Epic had mentioned before they left the house that he had a special date planned for them today, and when Cross had asked about it, Epic had kept his charming mouth shut, winking with that lovely, roguish little smile of his that made him sigh in fond exasperation. 

The universe Epic had chosen as their home is practically an oceanic paradise. The gentle breeze that flowed passed was a concoction of odd yet nonetheless pleasant smells, of wild lime and vanilla and smoke. The pearlescent sand was soft as silk, shimmering with an ethereal beauty in both the night and day. Under the sun-lit sky, the shore glittered gold in its sun-kissed haze, and within the realm of night, the moon-blanched land held a deep, melancholic allure that called to all who gazed upon it. 

It was beautiful, and while Cross appreciated its winsome aesthetic as a man who’d grown up in the city and delighted in new nature experiences, he couldn’t deny that the fondness that twinged within his Soul was largely in part to the one it belonged to. 

Epic’s soft laugh, that velvet baritone trilling in delight, floods his mind, the memory of his warm smile making his Soul warm like he was there before him, Cross’s tarsals curling into the sand as affection given life pools in his heart and spills over as lilac mana onto his zygomas.

For all this world’s beauty, his best friend was still the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. 

Cross enjoys the serenity of the moment. Of the way the sun bears down upon him and his bones absorb the heat from the sky above and the earth below. Content, he listens, tuning in to the tranquil sound of waves gently crashing onto shore and how a seagull plaintively cries in the distance. The wind whispered as it blew past him, murmuring deep into his acoustic meatus the language of the sea. 

He may not feel as strongly for the ocean as Epic did, but he could appreciate its innate beauty, ancient and unfathomable. 

When he felt himself drifting off, he lifted himself into an upright position and stretched, groaning contentedly when his back cracked under his stretch, and rolled his shoulders. In his peripheral Cross caught the sight of a small, colorful blob. 

Leaning closer he realized it was a butterfly, its right wing bogged down by wet sand as its other wing flapped sluggishly. It seemed to have tried to free itself from its sandy confinement but grew tired, its movements slow and heavy, the poor thing.

Cross moves as carefully as he can. He coats his phalanges in ambient magic to soften his touch and gently cleans its wing off, brushing the sand off the fragile limb as lightly as he could. Once satisfied with his task, Cross let it perch on his finger to rest. After it regained its strength, the butterfly gave a few tentative flaps of its wings before it fluttered, both wings beating in time until it was able to successfully float up to rest on his nose indent. 

Blinking down at the creature, they stare at each other, curious eyelights gazing into incomprehensible obsidian orbs. Cross tried not to giggle under the slightly ticklish sensation of its thoracic legs brushing against his nasal aperture. The moment soon passed, the butterfly discerning whatever it had sought before it fluttered away, flying along the sea breeze and out of sight.

Strange, but not unwelcome. Cross can’t help the small smile that dangled on his teeth as he gazed to where the sky and sea became one. The butterfly’s visit replayed itself in his mind, something his instincts warned him to not disregard so quickly. He could feel it in his bones, in his nonexistent gut, that familiar premonition dancing along his bones and thrumming in his mana.

An omen, perhaps? 

He stared into the setting sun and wondered. It wasn’t the familiar restlessness of anxiety. No, it was similar to the day he’d first met Ink, or when Undyne gave him his trial exam in the Guard. The premonition that something would happen, exactly what unknown, but the change itself was inevitable.

“Whatcha thinkin’ ‘bout?” Cross turned to see Epic standing by him, grinning broadly. His pelt was slung over his skull and back like a haphazard jacket, and Cross’s eyes appreciatively follow over trails of water as it drips down exposed ribs and passed his swim trunks to fall onto the sand. 

“Nothing in particular.” He opened his arm and Epic hummed in response before he sat down beside him. He nuzzled into Cross’s side and the soldier shivered from the contact. Though the water was warm, Epic always ran a little colder than most, and his bones lit his own up under the cold but tender touch. 

Epic settled his pelt across his lap like a blanket. He tilted his skull to the side, watching Cross as he drawled, “Really? ‘Cause you were doin’ that thing, where you think too much or too hard about somethin’ and it makes your face get all skrunkly.” 

“You’re scrunkly,” he rebuffed. Epic snorted. 

“Says the scrunkly scrimbo.” 

Affection stirs deep in his Soul as they banter. “What does that even mean?”

“Means you’re a scrunkly!” Epic pointed triumphantly when Cross tried to glare at him. “Ha! See? You’re doing it again!”

Cross huffed. Under Epic’s expectant stare, he sighed, and clarified, “It was nothing. Just thinking about things. Nothing important at all.” 

Epic’s expression softened. He gingerly took Cross’s hand in his, his hollowed palm a missing puzzle piece sliding into place, fitting perfectly within Cross’s own. Again, he queried sweetly, “What kinda things?”

Cross leaned his skull to the side to nuzzle Epic’s and gently rest their heads together. “Like how something’s gonna happen, but I dunno what.”

“Somethin’s always happening, though,” Epic pointed out. “Even if it’s not somethin’ big, something’s still something.” 

“Heh, got me there.” Cross kissed his scarred socket, reveling in the way Epic leaned into his touch.

It was a sweet moment, holding his dearest person in his arms while they enjoyed a beautiful day. 

“It’s okay.” His partner squeezed his hand in his. “No matter what happens, I’ll always love you,” Cross’s heart melted. Until Epic continued, mischief bleeding into his lighthearted tone. “My silly himbo cookie pookie.”

Aaaaaand moment gone. 

He could feel his face contort into the “skrunkle”. “Cursed.” 

Epic cackled, unperturbed by his heinous crime against the common vernacular. “Cursed to be devilishly charming? Why yes, yes I am.”

“I can’t believe — pookie?” Himbo he could excuse. After all, that badass hedgehog with a motorcycle from those Sonic games was a himbo. But pookie? “Are you serious right now?” Cross let him go. “Grown ahh man, and you call me “pookie”, ugh. Banned.” 

Cross stood abruptly, smirking vindictively when Epic yelped as he fell face first onto the beach and earned a mouthful of sand from his sudden movement. “Banned from cuddles. Sit here and think about the crimes you’ve committed.” He spun on his heel and started to strut off.

Seconds after he was tackled, Epic having lunged at him the moment his back was turned, his pelt remaining in the spot they’d sat in. The two tussled on the shore, sand flying around them as they rolled over each other, giggling and snarling playfully. 

“I will not be denied my cuddles when I’m right!” Cross lost his breath when Epic wrapped his limbs around him and squeezed, constricting him in a vicious hug. “Say you’re a cookie pookie! Say it!”

“Never!” Cross rejected. He elbowed Epic to the side, his surprised grunt and loosened embrace allowed Cross to utilize his distraction and flip their positions. He pinned Epic’s hands above his head while he thrashed under him, trying to buck Cross off.

“You say you’re my cutie pookie!” He demanded.

“Never!” Epic cried, his resilient eyes narrowed as they stared up at him in hopelessly attractive defiance. Cross lost his breath when Epic kicked him in the gut enough for him to escape, not once to ever harm him even in play, he could feel it in his Intent and tried to grapple Cross into a headlock. “Now gimme my gahddang cuddles soljia boi!”

“Earn your cuddles like a man,” Cross countered, biting at Epic’s fingertips that strayed too close to his mouth. Cross was able to slip out of the lock as Epic yelped in indignation. He caught the leg Epic used to kick him and kept it grasped by his shoulder to restrain him, putting his weight down on the other, pinning him in place as he pushed down on him. “And say you’re my little pogchamp!” 

“Nevaaaaaah! Viva la resistance!” Epic tried to crawl away, but resistance was futile. He shrieked as Cross began his relentless assault, smothering him in a brutal series of attacks consisting of perhaps the deadliest weapons he possessed within his arsenal: kisses…and tickles. 

“Noooooo,” Epic wailed mournfully. Bravely, he reached one trembling arm out to the ocean, where his pod watched curiously as he laughed under every exaggerated, affectionate kiss or tickle attack. “The soldier’s! Cuteness! It's too much!”

He squeaked when Cross pressed a firm, obnoxious kiss on the inside of his femur, his leg jolting while he shuddered on a low gasp as his deep baritone registered at an unusually high pitch. “Avenge me, my seal comrades!”

Cross giggled along with Epic as he playfully nipped the back of his selkie’s neck, pulling a squeal out of Epic. “Avenge meeeeEEEEEEE!”

The pod, entirely unhelpful and about to do no such thing, simply watched. Blinking slowly with soft, curious ‘bork?’s as their friend lost his valiant battle against his lover.

Lightly panting, they laid in the sand, catching their breaths after their latest brawl. Chests rose and fell, pursuing the other and falling into the tug and flow of their bond. Mimicking the call of the running tide, echoed with the sound of bright, bubbly laughter and keening cries as the ocean met the land and two best friends drowned in each other’s endless affection.

Cross beamed across from Epic as he huffed, the heat of his glare undermined by the violet scalding his cheeks. “You are a menace,” Epic informed his favored. 

Cross continued to smirk cheekily at him as his eyelights scanned Epic’s ribs now tenderly adorned with love bites, ardorous satisfaction curling up like a pleased cat in his nonexistent gut.  “Does a menace offer cuddles?”

Epic huffed, “If he’s guilty of being so not sigma, then yes, as atonement.” Epic plopped over onto his other side, pointedly turned away from Cross,  and pulled his pelt over him. “But now I’m feelin’ like those cuddles ain't skibidi enough.”

“Oh, so it’s like that, huh?” Cross dryly remarked. 

“Yep,” Epic chirped. His eyelights glittered mischievously. “Whatcha gonna do about it?” He challenged.

He answered the challenge with a near wild look in his eyes. “You thought I was a menace before?” Cross’s eyelights narrowed into slits. “I’ll show you a real menace.” 

Before Epic had a chance to react, Cross had grabbed him and hefted him over his shoulders. Epic only had mere seconds to grab on to his pelt before Cross unceremoniously tossed him into the ocean, his startled squeal as he whirled passed the soldier’s skull pulling a grin out of him. 

If Cross had kept his eyes on the ocean, he’d have noticed the way the water rippled as though a bullet had been shot through it, zooming towards the shore.

It couldn’t have been half a minute by the time Cross had turned and instinct told him to prepare himself. Even with his sixth sense he was still rammed full-force into by his beloved Selkie as he shot out the water like a cannon, barking triumphantly. 

The force of impact jarred his bones but Epic’s Intent and precision did no true harm, and Cross used the momentum to wrap his arms around Epic’s lower belly. He steadied his legs, keeping his knees bent and stance wide and steady before he swung them around, lifting Epic high above his head.

“Haha, caught ya!” Cross grunted with exertion, grinning up at Epic. “You know the rules, dude.”

The weddell seal skull that peered down at him sighed, but he, too, knew what it meant if Cross successfully avoided bowling over under the force of Epic’s seal form. 

Epic assumed position and Cross whooped joyfully. 

“I like ‘em big,” he sang, slowly turning them around, “I like ‘em chonky.” 

Atop of Cross, Epic molded himself easily into Cross’s favorite seal pose: the majestic banana. Truly, there were no words to properly capture the sheer majesty of the sacred plank.

Epic arched his back and maintained his form as Cross slowly spun them both.

“Chonky!”

—And promptly curled up into a ball as Cross tossed him into the air and caught him, repeating the process and spinning him like a Selkie spinning top.

“Chonky, chonky chonky! Plumpy, plumpy plumpeh!” He threw Epic once more and held his arms out expectantly. 

Within seconds, his lover fell into his arms, and having morphed in midair, now a skeleton yet again. 

“Menace enough for you?” Cross questioned, merry in his teasing, “Or should I go full mad lad?”

Epic flopped backwards, posing dramatically with his arm over his face. “Okay okay, ya got me.”

“Aaaaand?” Cross drawled. 

“Yeah yeah, you’re a real card.” Epic’s nonexistent gut growled. “Welp! IDK ‘bout you, but I’m hungry after allathat.” 

He slipped sinuously out of Cross’s arms to stand beside him and held his hand out, squeezing Cross’s after he took his hand in his. “Why don’t we go get some chow?” 

Epic pointedly eyed Cross’s arm as he hummed in mock contemplation. “‘Fore I consider chowing down on somethin’ x-flavored?”

“Oh I think you chow down on plenty of that already,” Cross quipped innocently if it weren’t for the smugness that tinged his voice. 

Epic head-bonked him for that. “Bruh!” 

Cross pulled their meal out of his Inventory and bonked him right back. “Dude,” he teased. 

He spared his flustered lover and paused his teasing to let them eat the sandwiches he’d packed for them. Epic’s eyes were narrowed as he took a prominent bite of his sandwich, emphasizing the force whilst he stared at Cross. Despite their playful brawling prior, they now relaxed, enjoying the brief respite and each other’s company on a lovely day, building sand castles and lightly dozing on the warm sand.

It’s not until the sun slowly began to sink into the horizon, sky riddled in a kaleidoscope of soft rose, orange, and golden hues that the two skeletons prepared themselves for the swim. Epic was visibly excited, his eyes sparkling as he watched Cross and squeezed his claw, enthused to finally reveal the surprise he’d planned. 

The water is blessedly warm despite the rising moon. Cross shuddered, eyes falling shut as his tarsals dipped into the gentle foam as Epic’s hand let go. When he opened his eyes, Epic’s seal form was perched patiently beside him.

“Alright, let’s go.” Cross murmured as he climbed atop Epic’s back and slipped his arms around his neck. Epic barked, and slowly flopped forward on the sandy bank. 

Cross held his breath and closed his eyes in preparation as Epic dived, tightening his grip to keep himself anchored to his Selkie as he submerged them both. 

Cross gazed into the water when he heard familiar trills of various pitch. It was blurry, but there was just enough daylight that he could distinguish the members of Epic’s pod. The pups and adults circled around them, Epic responding back as he slowed to swim leisurely alongside them. 

A playful pup Cross recognized, with a spotted birthmark over their eye and had a silly habit of chewing on Cross’s swim shorts whenever he interacted with the pod, hovered around them, gently stroking Cross’s shoulder with their flipper as they borked. 

Cross carefully kept one arm secured to pet the pup back, a smile crawling across his face when they nuzzled into his claw. His Soul melted as they gave it a light boop, and swam to Epic’s front to nuzzle and boop him under his jaw. 

Ugh, it’s a good thing Cross had to hold on to Epic tightly, because with all the cuteness-aggression those sweet little boops gave him he wasn’t sure how he would’ve survived otherwise. 

After some time of playing with the seals, Epic whistled and barked something out to his pod, and turned slightly to gaze at Cross over his shoulder and bob his skull. Cross nodded, readjusting his hold as Epic waved farewell and took off, gliding through the sea. 

The seals hovered curiously as their podmate swam away with his unusual mate, watching as they disappeared deep into the ocean’s veil.

In no time at all, darkness engulfed Cross’s vision entirely. It’s an empty darkness, reminding him of the Void, with how he felt like he was flying and saw nothing but an endless abyss. His night vision was nonexistent compared to Epic’s, especially when he was in his seal form. But despite the darkness and loss of his senses, he felt no fear, trusting his best friend to safely guide them through to their destination. 

Splashes of color illuminate their obsidian abyss, Cross’s eyelights widening as stalks of coral branch out in psychedelic neon waves. Intricate flowers made of polyps arch and spiral, creating a wide limestone tunnel around them. Epic easily glided through, swimming deeper into the tunnel until a forest of kelp greeted them by the terminus.

Epic swam passed the seaweed curtains and upwards, Cross gasping in surprise when they surfaced to air. Bewildered, he glanced around as Epic guided them to a shallow rock bed and nudged at Cross’s shoulder, tilting his skull pointedly to the side. 

He carefully dismounted and slid onto the rockbed and remained on the floor, waiting until he’d regained his balance before attempting to stand. As he gazed, his eyes grew wide and tinged with awe at his surroundings. Algae adorned the topmost walls and several rocks in brilliant cyan, star-like splotches. Glancing upward, stalactites glitter fluorescent azure, sparkling with strands of silver silk dangling from the ceiling. Further ahead, to the middle right of the cave, lay a pool of electric blue.

His brief inspection of the cave revealed various bric-a-brac, some vaguely familiar, like seashells and glass, and others not, like a finely polished wooden box. He dismissed them for now, certain Epic brought him here for a reason, and they’d have time to go over everything together. For now, he finds himself drawn once more to the pool of ethereal turquoise and — holy shit, was that a waterfall?!

There was an actual, petite waterfall flowing in tranquil rivers of blue to another small pool, though this was surrounded by stalagmites shaped into a pedestal of some kind, with candles and ornate stones around.

Everything about this place was gorgeous, and Cross’s fingertips itched with the familiar hunger to paint and preserve beauty of which the eyes feasted and the heart yearned. 

It made him want to paint Epic along with it, maybe even during his transformation. That was definitely his next art project.

He turned to his lover, realizing he’d never seen Epic during the morphing process. He was about to question the older man of how his detransition from seal to skeleton worked, when his words trailed off, watching wide-eyed as his weddell seal with the skeletal skull began to glitter under the bioluminescent algae and diamonds of the cave ceiling.

Emitting a white-purple glow, the morph began, Epic’s skeletal frame outlined within his seal body and shifting, like afterimages through a camera glare, as the seal shrinks and thins until the skeleton becomes the familiar body of his lover. He’s entranced, unable to tear his gaze away as the glow slowly fades, vanishing and leaving in its place the monster Cross loved and adored more than words could ever say. Epic’s pelt is wrapped around him, loosely hanging off the tops of his shoulders and cradled to his middle like a jacket. 

Epic turned his head back to him with a curious and soft smile, pelt dangling off the sides of his shoulders, water dripping down his ivory bones that shined tantalizingly beneath the cave’s bioluminescent light, as though the ocean’s veil had draped itself over Epic. Through butterflies swarming his nonexistent gut and his Soul leaping to his throat, Cross was certain Epic had stolen Aphrodite’s birthright and been born from seafoam, his intrinsic beauty the union of the sea and the moon-blanched land itself, a sheer and utter pleasure to bear witness to.

Cross was in disbelieving awe that he had any right to keep that beauty for himself.

And yet, Epic was his, as much as Cross was Epic’s. His best friend. His partner. His. To belong with and adore forever, if Epic would let him.

Pure and clear, his silken baritone ebbed and flowed like the call of the running tide, “You alright? Was the swim okay?” 

Cross squawked.

Epic’s smile quirked into an unfairly attractive grin. Clearly, he was trying to end Cross without any real effort on his part. “What? I’ve morphed in front of you before, haven’t I?”

“Yee.” His mind hadn’t quite reconnected back to his body. He realized Epic was still grinning playfully at him and he sputtered, “Just, uh, you look,” he floundered, tongue-tied. “And it’s, you — oh hey!” He abruptly changed the subject. 

“That glowing pool is really cool.” He pointed at it. “We should totally go there!”

Cross tried to run off and jump into the water but Epic grabbed his arm, stopping him before he could.

“Wait, don't!”

“What? Why not?” Confused, Cross glanced between Epic and it. “It’s just algae right? Like the stuff on the walls and in the water?” Epic shook his head. 

“Nah bruh, that ain’t algae, it’s worm poop.”

….

Huh?

Cross stared at him, certain he’d misheard. Epic’s expression remained unchanged.

“What? No.” Epic nodded. “Seriously?” Cross couldn’t believe it.

“Yeah.” Epic pointed to the ceiling. “See those glow worms?” At Cross’s nod, he explained, “Pretty, yeh, but that’s their excrement — aka poop.”

“How…Why?” 

“Okay well technically the poop itself doesn’t glow,” Epic hummed thoughtfully, “It’s kind of like the glare of a camera you get when you shine it on a cat’s eyes. And it’s got more of a white-blue glow than the glow worms’ blue-green bioluminescence. I think there’s a study about how luciferin gets oxidized to make oxy-luciferin, and that’s what gives off the light photons and so they glow.”

Cross had a thousand yard stare. “Okay.” 

“And then the place in their bods where they make the luciferin, poop passes through there. So the poop itself doesn’t glow? It just takes some of that reflective stuff, and it’s why the color’s different from the worm.” Epic beamed. “Neat, huh?”

“…and you took me here for a date.” Cross iterated, “Surrounded by actual worm poop.”

Epic snorted, unable to hold back his laughter. “Pfffft, yeah, but — ”

“Is that what you’re into?”

Epic began to cackle, unable to hold back his peals of laughter as Cross continued to deadpan.

“I can’t believe this is how much my best dude loves me. Worm shit.”

Epic couldn’t even defend himself, wheezing as Cross continued his impressively straight-faced tirade.

“For a skeleton, you’re almost as full of shit as those worms — oh, look,” Cross pointed to the ceiling, maintaining eye contact as a starlight teardrop fell from the ceiling and into the pool. “There’s one shitting right now.”

Epic was crying through his laughter.

“Peak romance. Thanks, dude.” Cross slow-clapped sarcastically. “I feel soooo seduced right now, wowie.”

“Hahahaha hahaha bruh stahp stahp already, I can’t breathe,” Epic pleaded, tears pouring down his pretty face. 

Cross couldn’t help but point out, “We don’t need to breathe.” 

Epic giggled. “Yeee, metaphysical — ha — lungs without function, right right.” 

“Besides, it would be a real shit—ty way for you to die.” 

Epic gargled a sound akin to the barks he emitted as a seal.

“Okay, o-okay,” Epic chortled, “I promise, I got legit reasons. Good ones,” he added at Cross’s look. “Hear me out?”

“Welp, I did with your crush on Ranma, might as well for this.” 

Epic’s laughter was bright and bubbly as his lovely face flushed mauve within the cave’s glow, and Cross could hear the tide in his voice.

Epic led him to the strange pedestal he’d noticed earlier. He glanced at Epic, who nodded, and with permission granted lifted the clasp of the ornate wooden chest he’d glimpsed earlier. Unlocking the embellished box revealed a pile of books and laminated journals. 

Intrigued, Cross picked one up that had a picture of a seal and human swimming together on the front, idly flipping through the pages. Skimming the book revealed snippets of information, of Celtic culture and tradition revolving around sealkin and their ilk. There weren't a lot of pages, the book far too thin to be anything more than a novella. 

“Anything I didn’t wanna leave out in the open,” Epic spoke, “I brought here. To keep the books preserved from the humidity, I left ‘em in that chest. And, heh, treasure chest.” He chuckled, rubbing his zygomatic arch. “Kinda fit the whole vibe, too.” 

His claws gently spread apart the other books within to glean their titles. Myths and Tales of the Selkie, Everything You Need to Know About Seals, and more tellingly, a laminated journal that contained preserved notes written in wingdings font inscribed on the sidelines translations and notes. He closed it carefully and set it down with the others to the side, curious about the soft blanket beneath the books. 

“These’re all about selkies,” Cross noted.

“Yeah. So, remember how I said I didn’t want anyone knowing I was a Selkie? ‘Cause o’that, any information I tried to find between universes, or the stuff I grabbed from my own, I brought here,” Epic’s gaze grew distant as he watched Cross gingerly pluck the furry blanket. “The cave’s far from the shore and deep enough that no one else but my pod and I could easily find it. I thought it was the perfect place to put everything I especially liked, or stuff I didn’t wanna risk gettin’ discovered by somebody and outin’ me as a Selkie.”

“Makes sense.” Cross agreed. “So, why this cave, exactly, though? Why not our house? After all, this AU is private to just you, right? You could’ve kept this all safe somewhere over there, and it’s not like Error could pop in and nab them.”

Our house. 

Epic’s Soul melted at how easily Cross described it as such. 

Which was ridiculous, it had always been Cross’s as long as Cross had wanted it to be, and yet here he is, ignoring the seal instincts within him yearning to scent his mate and croon and nuzzle against him in his ardor.

“I coulda. But…I dunno.” Epic shrugged helplessly. “The sea has always been a call for me. Something clear and wild, and I can’t deny it. The beach house is nice, I love it,” the warmth in his Soul floods his bones, spills into his heart and throat and whirls into heated violet pools on his cheeks, spilling out on his tongue as he stares into eyes made of galaxies and stardust. “And I love the home we’ve made it into.”

“But this cave is below the waves themselves. Silent, peaceful, alone, but not alone-alone? I think,” emotion made his voice thick, throat going tight as his eyes stung from fond memories tinged with grief. Of a gentle voice and tiny hands reaching for Epic, begging to be carried and spun in the air. “If my brother survived, this would’ve been our home.” 

He remembered every bedtime story he’d read to his little brother, all the books he’d stolen from the castle library when Gester was unaware, hiding away in the heavy machinery to read to his baby brother. To describe fantastical tales beneath the sea and imagine together an escape from the cold lab they grew up in. To see the very thing that called to them, that lived in their mana and bones. Epic was certain his baby brother would’ve beamed, claiming the beach as their private getaway but the cave their home within their watery kingdom. 

He deserved to see the ocean that sang in their blood and held their hearts.

But he never would 

Epic was alone, the only one of his kind 

Cross let go of the blanket to wrap his arms around Epic. Epic hugged him back. His dearest friend tucked his skull into Epic’s neck as he held him tight, always so warm and perfect and safe, melting the sadness right off of his bones and filling them with warmth. 

“Your brother, Packs, right?” Cross asked, gently. Epic nodded into his chest. “If he was anything like you, I bet he was one cool dude.”

Epic’s affectionate chuckle tickled Cross’s collarbones. “The coolest,” he concurred. “He — he was dusted when he was only a babybones.” 

Epic’s eyes stung, but he refused to cry. He wouldn’t give Gester the satisfaction, even from beyond the grave. “He never got to see the ocean, never got to glide beneath its waves or swim in its seas. So, I wanted to honor his memory, to have him transform and always be a part of it.”

He slowly parted from Cross’s embrace to reach behind him and carefully pull out the fur Cross had touched a moment prior. “This was his pelt.” 

Cross’s eyes widened as Epic tenderly placed the fur into Cross’s hands. He delicately curled his claws into the precious fabric, lifting it closer to his eyes to appreciate the mottled, dark grey and brown fur tinged with amber. The underbelly was a silken silver, and like Epic’s pelt, impossibly soft to the touch. 

But unlike Epic’s, this pelt felt empty, not a flicker of Intent nor imprint of mana. It feels like a tragic, inexplicable loss, and how tiny the pelt was in his claws compared to how Epic’s was larger than Cross’s entire body made his Soul ache.

“I keep it safe in this chest with any books or information I found about what we are. But Packs’s heart, I keep somewhere special.” 

Cross folded the coat of the pup that he’d never know reverently into the wooden chest, tucking it in as lightly as he could. 

Epic watched him place the pelt back with a fondness so deep that Cross’s mana lit up under his gaze as lilac blazing across his cheeks. Epic then guided him to the miniature waterfall, careful to not disturb the intricately laid arrangements of the jewels and treasures below them. Jutting from the polished stone was a circle of gems, precious moonstones and candles surrounding the pedestal.

A glass sculpture of an unusual knot, blended so well into the stone and limerence of the waterfall that Cross had nearly missed it, and would’ve dismissed it entirely if Epic hadn’t softly taken it into his hands. 

“This is a sculpture I made with Packs’s dust.”

Usually, monsters sprinkled the dust of the Fallen over whatever they loved the most. Packs had always longed to visit the sea with Epic one day, and Epic had done his best to honor his brother’s wish.

“It’s beautiful,” Cross whispered. He slowly turned over the sculpture, no feeling of life from the glass. But deep, deep within, he swore he could feel the call of the sea, could hear a voice so clear and pure. 

“I made this using heat, seafoam, and mana.” Epic gently traced the topmost loop of glass. “From what I’d learned, this is a knot called the Celtic Triquetra.”

The class glittered under Epic’s touch. “It’s a revered symbol of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Packs never got to see the ocean. But this way, he’d always be a part of our sea itself. He’ll always be with me here in the water. I’m not alone.” 

I'm not the only Selkie in existence 

I’m not crippled by loneliness; I’m not the last one of my kind 

“It’s beautiful,” Cross repeated. It was the sweetest honoring of a memory he’d ever seen. “I’d never heard of anyone turning someone’s dust to something beautiful like glass before.” Cross laid his foreskull against Epic’s, admiring eyes that sparkled like the velvet sea. “Thank you for letting me meet him.” 

Water made of mana coalesced in the rims of Epic’s sockets, but he did not cry, as he professed with a wistful smile, “He would’ve loved you, my intended.” 

Cross leaned closer to kiss the corners of Epic’s sockets where his tears welled. Catching them before they could fall. “I’d’ve loved him too.”

A low warble reverberated in the back of Epic’s false throat before he cleared it. Quickly nuzzling Cross before he pulled back with a deep, stuttering sigh. 

“Come on, lemme show you the rest of our cave.” Carefully, Cross returned Packs’s memory to its pedestal.

Made of moonstone and pearl beside it, lay gems decorated with seals, the ocean, and what Cross realized were lunar phases. “This is a little shrine here, for the Greek goddess of the moon, Selene.” 

Cross gestured to the black and blue candles surrounded by seashells and moonstone. “Is that what those candles are for?” Epic hummed an affirmative.

“Yeppers. My offerings to her as my patron goddess are usually mooncakes, silver coins, or these seashells here. Sometimes a blue or white flower or too, depends.” 

Cross blinked in surprise. “You’re a witch?” 

“Heh, kinda? I guess? I do practice here and there,” Epic twirled his carpals, dexterously twisting and manifesting a folded letter between his digits with a clever, talented curl. He set it down beside the seashells and gems. “Still a total noob tho’ tbh, going along with what I’ve researched or heard ‘bout from Lulu and KitKat.”

At Cross’s inquisitive look, Epic elaborated. “Color and Killz don’t worship Selene, but they did have advice about worshiping deities, given their own pagan practices. Like advice on what works for them and I could try it out, that kinda thing.” 

“Oh.” Cross didn’t fully understand, but he understood this was important to Epic, and would support him. “Neat.” 

For as long as he’d known Epic, he’d always adored the stars. “I know you’re an astrophile, but why the interest in the moon in particular?” He thought about how Epic loved swimming at night, how he’d often waited by lantern light on the shore until his love returned and they fell into bed with Cross to keep his sweet Selkie in his arms and his ocean-chilled bones warm. “Is it because you’re a Selkie?”

Epic shrugged. “Heh, maybe?” His light laughter was sweet like a melody. “In some myths, silkie pods would shed their skins — pelts — and lay them on the rocks to dance under the moon.” 

Epic dipped his hand into the waterfall, slowly turning the appendage and observing with Cross as the water flowed between his carpals and through his hollowed palm. “Maybe a reason why selkies partook in this tradition was because the moon healed their skin. A lot of pagan practices believe in the healing properties of the moon.” He retracted his hand. 

Water droplets cascaded down his outstretched palm in starlight rivulets. “I’ve skinny-dipped a lot,” the scandalous confession is said so casually that Cross could hardly stop his abrupt choke. Epic’s grin quirked at the edges. “Either in the ocean or in the glen. But it was always more refreshing, serene, when the moon was high and the sky full of stars.”

?!?

“That’s, um,” Cross kept his face carefully blank while his skull burned and salacious images flashed in his mind’s eye. 

The pool of glow worm excrement was suddenly very interesting.

His eyes shifted from Epic’s cheerful disposition to the pool and back. 

“We can uh,” Cross swallowed thickly. “Yeah. That sounds nice. I’ll join you sometime.” Epic quirked a brow, deepening the lilac flush dancing across Cross’s skull. “For emotional support, of course.”

He couldn’t say “And not ogle like a lecherous bastard” because it would be a blatant lie. What with his mind having short-circuited with the mental image of Epic bare-boned under moonlight accompanied by sultry saxophone music. 

Epic’s grin was far too smug, like Cross’s face was an open book with giant, bolded font and he could read his thoughts and the salacious imagery within them. “Of course.”

Mercifully, Epic didn’t tease him further (although Cross knew his thoughts about the matter remained woefully apparent, telling evidence painted by the blush scalding his cheeks and mana sparking lowly in his joints). Amethyst mana sparked across Epic’s hand, popping and jumping in tiny starbursts, evaporating the water into a sparkling mist. “If my podmates could morph like me, I’d love to do the same with them.”

Epic’s eyelights glittered as the mismatched orbs flitted to Cross, catching his own gaze. They’re hardly a yard apart, but Epic closes the distance between them and still Cross yearns. “Even so, you’ll always be a part of my pod.”

“I could get those diving flipper things,” Cross mused. “Make myself look like a weird seal. Fit right in when you get risqué in the water.” 

Epic giggled along with him. “You don’t have to.” He bonked his skull with Cross’s. He knew his beloved spoke in jest, but the thought that Cross would ever think less of himself, even as a joke, hurt the Soul that beat for its most precious friend. “You’re perfect as you are. I never want you to change a thing about yourself.”

“I wouldn’t. I’d just be with you, like we’d promised.” Cross laced their hands together. “Best friends five-ever.”

Pleasantly surprised, Cross watched as Epic flushed, eyelights hazy and wobbling in their sockets before they stilled. Usually, he’d joke back at Cross, infatuation no less real despite its expression via absurdity. But there’s an almost nervous glimmer to Epic’s lovely eyes he’d learned to recognize. 

“That’s why I brought you here.” 

Cross hummed. “Oh?” 

“I’ve been bringing stuff from here to the house,” Epic revealed. “The beach house has pretty much everything. Apart from a few things I want to stay here, I’ve been taking things from the cave and bringing them to our home.”

“Huh.” Cross thought. “I wondered why some of those gems looked familiar.” One of the moonstones with an engraved seal looked similar to one he’d seen on the dining table with the decorative flowers. 

“I’ve been meaning to get most of them to the house one day,” there was a low tremor in Epic’s cadence. His voice was too smooth to stumble, but Cross knew him too well, and knew he was faltering in trepidation. “And leave things like Packs’s glass and pelt here.”

Epic adores the life he has with Cross, his dearest, his best friend. He means so, so much to him, more than Epic could ever say though he’d never stop trying to. As he spoke, Epic grew closer. So close that Cross needed only to lean ever so slightly on his tarsals, and the distance between them would be closed.

“The sea is my heart and home,” An undeniable fact. Epic curl’s his hand around Cross’s to bring it to his chest, laying it to rest over where all that he was and all he will ever be beat so sweetly and proudly for only one. Where it sang the sweetest melody for only one to ever hear and return. “But you will always have my Soul.”

Cross curled his claw over Epic’s jaw, lightly caressing it, pulling him closer until they were a hair’s breadth apart, his breath warm as it ghosted over Epic’s face. His Soul yearned so much it ached, staring into those lovely eyes and glancing purposely at a gentle and demure smile—

His lovely Epic’s Soul called like the tide. Honest, wild, and true, yearning with an unfathomable depth like the ocean’s veil. 

When all his bones ache to hold Epic, when all his Soul yearns for Epic’s, when all the things he said poured with warmth for Epic, how could he resist and deny his beloved a moment longer? 

He nuzzled his nose indent with Epic’s, gently scraping their nasal aperture. Epic watched intensely as Cross’s eyelights darted from his eyes to his mouth and back. Searching for any doubt or hesitancy on his part.  

Cross found none, Epic’s eyes a mirror of his own yearning. 

“Kiss me?” Epic’s hushed murmur was a ripple in a pond. 

“Please.” Before Cross had finished speaking he’d already sealed his mouth with Epic’s, their sockets falling shut as Cross cupped Epic’s face to hold him close while he squeezed his hollowed palm in the other. 

His love tasted like the ocean and the sweets he so adored. It was a tangy taste that Cross had come to love, for it was so uniquely his Epic’s that it was inevitable it would become his favorite. To taste Epic on the ocean forevermore instead of the reverse. 

He could taste Epic’s heart and Soul as it sang joyfully in the kiss, and impossibly he melts further, the heated ardor pooling into Epic’s until they became one, their hearts and wants one in the same.

His best friend hugged him close like Cross would vanish if he let go, and he embraced him just as tightly, warm and steady reassurance that he’d never leave. And why would he want to? He had everything he could ever want here in his arms. 

When they break the kiss and stare into their eyes, Cross doesn’t need a mirror to know the hearts in Epic’s hooded eyes reflect his own. 

Epic’s dulcet baritone was breathless and deep when he implored, “Marry me.”

His Soul skips a beat to the shape of Epic’s heart. His Soul soars in his mind but he can’t resist teasing, “Was I that good a kisser?” 

Epic’s gentle request wasn’t forceful or demanding, and Cross can hear the longing within it like a whale’s song. 

You're my chosen.

He followed Cross’s flow like Cross followed his, joking along. “What can I say? I want a lifetime of those kisses and I’m cashing in now.” Epic swallowed thickly, his smile trembling in the corners somewhat. “Really though. Do you want to?”

Oh. Epic was serious.

Ecstatic, adrenaline giddily coursed through Cross’s false veins as his mana lit up his leylines in its besotted warmth. 

“I’m not trying to pressure you.” Unusual for him, Epic was becoming increasingly nervous the more Cross responded in lieu of an answer, “I wanna be honest and lay it all out, about how I feel and everything. Like, uh.” Epic’s laugh was deep and handsome, endearing in its fluster. “I’m blankin’ here, sorry.”

“You’re fine, cariño,” Cross reassured. “Take your time.”

It soothed him, and Epic’s cadence followed its usual flow. “You never gotta do anything you don’t want. This isn’t me trying to make you do anything. I was just — trying to be romantic, taking you here and wooing you like you deserve. Like when you first asked to court me.”

Cross let go of Epic’s face to sheepishly rub the back of his skull. “Oh, yeah. Guess I wooed you pretty good if you want me to be your husband for reals this time, huh?”

“I’ve wanted to be yours the moment you first wore my pelt.”  

Ugh, it was Epic being this sincere and handsome like he was nearly all the time that made Cross want to kiss and cuddle him senseless for hours on end. 

“…You truly want to marry me?”

“I’m as true as the ocean is deep.” Epic’s velvet bass was as silken as ever, but the true allure of its melodic timbre was in how his earnest gaze reflects the warm sincerity in his voice. “From the moment I thought you proposed,” he murmurs, raw and soft in gentle sincerity, “and then the next when you asked me out for dinner. I want to be yours forever.” 

Both of Cross’s claws cupped Epic’s pretty face in his hands. He searched Epic’s eyes as he wondered aloud, “And if I say no?”

Epic leaned further into Cross’s palms. “Then I’ll happily date my dearest friend and wait for the day you say yes.”

“What if I asked you to wait forever?”

Epic turned his skull to the side to kiss Cross’s inner wrist, right on his radius, his touch fervent with devotion while he smiled with soft eyes glittering like fireflies in the cave’s glow. “I’d wait all of eternity for the honor of calling you mine.”

Epic smoothly took Cross’s claws to put them over his chest, right above his Soul. “To love and be loved by you at all is already a precious gift that I covet,” he swore, affirming, “You don’t need to demand anything of me. My tie to you is already made of the sincerest of devotion, as sacred and vital to my very life as my pelt is.”

Cross had already made his decision. 

“Those are some pretty words.” Cross’s claws curled into the grooves between Epic’s ribs. His distals tingled with the vibration of Epic’s Soul so close, calling out to its favored. “I’ve always preferred actions over them, though.” 

Reluctantly, he let go, his claws heavy as Epic’s Soul tried to tug them back. Epic watched silently, eyelights observing Cross curiously as he slid his claws down Epic’s broad shoulders, taking Epic’s pelt with them. 

Cross slipped the precious pelt over himself and pulled his own coat from his inventory. Understanding dawned in Epic’s eyes and he drank in Cross’s visage as though he’d hung the moon and stars. 

Cross pulled his coat over Epic’s shoulders and held the straps until Epic gracefully slipped on the jacket. His mouth opened but Cross pressed a finger to his teeth and Epic’s jaw softly clicked shut.

Cross keeps his hooded eyes open to regard his lover closely as he leans forward to close the distance between them, brushing their mouths together but not before he mouths one single word that has Epic’s face shine brighter than all the stars in the sky and wrap his arms around Cross to pull him impossibly closer and kiss him with all that he had. 

It’s like something in him clicked into place. 

Selene’s statue glowed, the waterfall behind her illuminating her dazzling wings as the sacred knot beside her sparkled like starlight.

Magic buzzes and thrums, vibrating in the air around them. Epic’s pelt glowing bright, amethyst mana surging from the coat to flow over to Cross, making tangible all of the devotion and care Epic held for him. 

Epic’s chest reverberated with his euphoric purrs and chirps, coaxing broken purrs out of Cross and a sweet nuzzle here and there, for mere moments before they passionately reconnected in another kiss and another and another and another—

Until, breathless with the taste of Epic on his tongue and his Soul rapturously calling his name like a hymn, Cross queried, “Could you use my coat to swim?” 

Epic contemplated it. “Hmm, I think I can manage. How about you, my favored?” (Oh, he adores how that word feels on his tongue). “Can you swim in mine?”

“I guess there’s only one way to find out.” Cross took Epic’s hand in his as they headed to the waterway of the cave, the water glistening below them dark as the Void. 

But Cross was unafraid. 

He remembered Epic mentioning how he didn’t know if a selkie could use another’s coat to transform, and Cross was no selkie.

Cross was a simple skeleton, not a beautiful fairytale creature come to life like Epic. He couldn’t help but wonder, would this marriage even be official by selkie standards? 

As his feet touched the water, he glanced over at his best friend. 

Magic dances around Epic like fireflies. The tiny orbs of light flutter around and spark across ivory bones in an ethereal glow as a white-purple haze begins to surround his body. 

Cross can feel his own body start to tingle, the warm furs of the pelt tickling against his bones and sliding over them like a soft blanket.

Cross closes his eyes as Epic tips their bodies forward and they fall as one, hands clasped together and bodies burning bright with mana like stars, into the water.

Witnesses to the union of two Souls, Selene’s statue and Packs’s glass watched the lovers leave, glittering in the cavelight.

.

.

.

Under the full rising of the moon, Epic’s pod swam near the cave, chirping and trilling as they played with one another. They pause when they hear clicks and barks, and when they turned to the sounds, they saw both a familiar and unfamiliar seal swimming around one another. Singing brightly and dancing, their forms circling around as they chased each other through the water.