Work Text:
It begins like this: Eichi is on the beach near the manor. The fogs drifts in from the sea. There is silence, and there is the grey. There is one alone on the shore.
A hand pulls him back just as a rogue wave crashes where he had been standing only a moment before.
Then there are two.
~
Eichi, for his part, doesn't look particularly frightened by the fact that he could have been swept out. The waters here are cold and deep. They do not surrender their captives. It would not have been an easy escape.
But the only thing he expresses is curiosity. “...who are you?”
...the lie comes easier than it should. Rehearsed for the slightest hope this day might come. "I live over at the lighthouse."
"The keeper has had a son this entire time?" Surprise, but not disbelief. "You should have visited sooner. Does he keep you there all day? I have never seen you. "
"...I help with his work."
"Oh, so you can take over one day? Well, that makes sense... You should come inside."
...and it is as easy as that. Had he known that it would be so little trouble to slip into the life of this boy, perhaps it wouldn't have taken so long.
~
“... Tenshouin-sama, where did you find this stray you have brought in.”
…Keito does not know what that means, but the tone makes him think he has just been insulted.
“This is Keito. He's from the lighthouse. Be nice.”
The servant stares at Keito assessingly. Or judgementally. Perhaps both. It is hard to say. But it seems Eichi's authority is enough to allow Keito entry, as she steps aside.
It's the same level of suspicion he'd originally expected from Eichi.
The halls are long. The house is big. And mostly empty of other presence. A few servants, and Eichi. And now, him.
“They'll get used to you. They'll have to.”
“They do whatever you want?”
“I'm in charge, unless family visits.”
“...your parents?”
“Not here,” Eichi pauses at a door, gaze shifting to him. “You likely won't see them, if you're worried about that.”
He'd been under the assumption that humans remained with their children. Apparently not. Perhaps they are not so different as the tales would make it seem…
…Though walking on land is going to take some getting used to.
“I was not, but I will keep it in mind.”
~
…The servants do indeed have to get used to his presence, considering some nights Eichi does not even allow him to leave. It is not long before he spends more time on land than at sea.
~
“Is there a reason you're only here sometimes?” It's the question that has been haunting him since the first time he saw Eichi, finally making its way to light. This person who comes and goes so easily…
"It's warmer here in the winter. So it's better for me to be here," there is something almost clinical about it. Like he is merely repeating what he has been told, or what he has said to others in explanation many times before. "That's what the doctor recommended. To be near the ocean and the warmth."
"...I see," so humans treat their illness by wandering about to different places... The idea of it is strange, perhaps because he has only ever remained around this area. "...so you are a migratory creature."
The detachment flickers a bit. Then Eichi laughs. "You put things in such funny ways, Keito."
"Do I."
"Hm, hmm~ I suppose I would be a 'migratory creature' to someone who has stayed in a lighthouse his whole life~"
"...Right."
It is close enough. Keito has arguably stayed in one place his whole life. Here. It simply hadn't been that specific place. He tries to reassure himself that he isn't misleading Eichi that much.
...but his heart remains unsettled.
~
"You shouldn't wander too close to the water's edge."
"You're boring, Keito."
"Shouldn't you be studying?"
"I can't believe you would try to force a sick boy to do work. How cruel~"
Keito sighs, continuing to trail after Eichi as he teeters too close to the ocean. Again. As usual. He is lucky that the sun does not lure the tide. "If you were feeling that unwell, you would not be playing with fire," he pauses. "...water."
"You would save me," Eichi says lightly, turning to him. And now he's walking backwards. Wonderful.
"You have too much trust in my ability to rescue you from your own foolishness."
"Well, your first appearance made quite the impression."
...Keito has little to say to that. And just as little will to forcibly pull Eichi back inside when he's enjoying himself.
~
It comes after Eichi has been indoors for a week, too ill to wander. Too ill to leave. Stifled by the confines of his own body. Keito visits him a few times. By the third visit, when it's been a good nine days since he has left his room... That is when Keito enters to find him out of bed.
There's something eerily still about him as he looks out through the window. Keito had always thought of his eyes as a blue sky. Now, they resemble the dark of the ocean more than anything else.
"Sometimes, I think about the ocean. Going into it. Drifting. Letting it take me away. Surely it would be a more peaceful death than this."
...He is not sure what to say to such a thing. Comfort? Reassurance? Agreement? Certainly not the latter. If anything were to happen to him...
...but nothing will. Not ever. At least, not in the ocean. Keito wouldn't allow such a thing.
Whether Eichi wants to go that way or not.
"You don't want to be out there."
"Why not?"
"You would be lonely."
Eichi's gaze finally shifts from the silent waters outside. His gaze holds Keito in place for a long moment. That would be the least of my problems if I were drowning, his face reads, but— "I suppose I would," is what leaves his lips.
The topic does not arise again that night.
~
“I got you something,” Eichi tells him the moment he arrives, placing some sort of object into Keito's hands.
“...I don't need gifts, Eichi,” …Whatever this is. Keito has never seen such an object. He messes with the parts on the hinges a bit, trying to decipher its use…
“...you're acting like you've never seen a pair of glasses. Do you not get taught anything up there? Come here.”
Eichi's hand plucks the thing right back, taking it and placing it on Keito's face. He blinks. Something is different… He is a little too distracted at first by the unfamiliar weight of it to realize what has changed.
Things are clearer. More like they are when he's in the ocean.
“...what.”
“They're glasses. They make your vision less blurry. You seem as if you can't see well sometimes. Are the lenses alright?”
“...I think so.”
“You're lucky. If they weren't I would have to drag you to the doctor. You don't want to see the doctor.”
“I don't?”
“No.”
He would have to take Eichi's word on that… As he does on most human matters. He hadn't realized it was so obvious that his vision wasn't… ideal. At least, not here.
“I see…Thank you.”
“You're welcome~ Now don't protest my gifts anymore.”
~
"I'll take you home. You never let me visit. I want to see the lighthouse, Keito~"
"There's no need, Eichi."
He knows it's a failing battle already. It had been the moment Eichi got the idea into his head. There is no stopping him once he's decided on something. Eichi's stubbornness is as endearing as it is troublesome, and right now, it's the latter.
Each step up the path leading to the lighthouse feels like a step closer to ruin.
The lighthouse keeper looks at them not unkindly, but with not a trace of recognition. As is to be expected. Because Keito does not belong here. Not here. Not on land. And not beside Eichi Tenshouin. But they are allowed inside and served tea nonetheless.
"What do you two need?"
"I've brought Keito back. I live at the manor down the road," Eichi's engrained instincts as the heir to an empire kick in, a hand reaching out for a shake, "Eichi Tenshouin. It's nice to meet you."
The man's gaze flickers between the two of them. Trying to disentangle the situation. He reaches out to shake Eichi's hand, but his gaze lingers on Keito a second too long before shifting over. "Likewise. But I'm afraid I don't know this boy. Any reason you're bringing him back here?"
A pause. A narrowing of eyes. Eichi looks to him in question. "...I suppose I must have mistaken the address. I apologize."
It's not convincing to a single person in the room.
Keito is silent. Eichi is still looking at him. The keeper takes a sip of his tea before speaking.
"...sure you did. Happens to everyone," it doesn't. Even Keito's been on land enough to know that much. "Well, you should both be cautious about wandering to the wrong places. Lots of strange creatures out here."
"Creatures?"
"The isolation, the water, the environment. A lot of things are drawn in, and they stay lurking."
Keito sets down his cup a little too abruptly, reaching out to take Eichi's hand as he stands. "Thank you for your hospitality. I think we'll be going now."
"I wasn't ready to-"
"We're going."
For once, Eichi goes quiet as Keito leads him out of the lighthouse. The gaze of the keeper is heavy on his back.
~
"...you're not from the lighthouse."
"...I'm not."
The ocean in front of them is dark. The tides crash against the shore, clouds overhead signaling an approaching storm. Keito stares out at it rather than meeting Eichi's gaze. The waters do not feel welcoming.
"...Keito. What are you?"
Leave it to him to figure it out based on a few wrong words from the damned lighthouse keeper and Keito's own lies being unraveled. Of course he would. It's Eichi.
"I am a selkie."
"...a selkie."
"Yes,” and then, as if it's any real explanation, “I came from the ocean."
"And you never thought to just tell me this?"
The look in Eichi's eyes reads strangely to him. It's not right. It is the absence of the ease and familiarity he has become accustomed to. The realization comes colder than it should, despite it being the obvious conclusion to the failing of his ruse.
...Eichi no longer trusts him.
"Eichi, I—"
"Don't."
And that is the end of it.
~
By the very next day, Eichi has packed and left, despite the summer still lingering. He has slipped from Keito's grasp as easily as water.
He does not return the next summer.
~
The moon is bright, like a lure upon the still waters. But it is never the sky that brings him to the surface. There are brighter things among the world of the landwalkers to draw a curious selkie in.
There is a manor near the water. It looms high enough to cast shadows upon the ocean nearby, towering like a cliff along the coastline. The sort of habitat that only the ultra rich could inhabit. The same types whose heavy ships sink with their gold and jewels before ever reaching a destination.
...and inside, a boy.
~
When Keito had first seen him, he'd wondered if an angel had made residence in the mortal realm. Or perhaps a fae. Not that he'd ever seen either of those. But he'd been told such things were out there, even if he has never strayed far enough from the water to meet them. But... It is unlikely. So the only thing he could be was human.
...No human had ever caught his interest. But something about this one...
He knows better than to get too close. But there is no harm in watching from afar. Quiet observance, moon broken on the water by a spectre in the shallows. The light from the windows reflects.
Keito waits.
For what - unknown.
~
The ocean falls still and silent. As if the lack of life in the house on the cliff side has sucked out the life from the seas, too.
...Perhaps that is not far off from what has happened.
The next two summers find Keito adrift. It is... Harder than he would have expected, Eichi's absence. Getting attached to a human had been a terrible mistake. He wonders if that is the true reason all selkies are warned away from humanity. Not only because of the potential dangers, but because of the heartbreak and loss. The insurmountable separation of land and sea.
He had taken the chance and tried to make a place on the land, that day so long ago, when he'd pulled Eichi away from his death. And he had been allowed, for however long, to bask in the sun.
And now, the moon is all that is left.
~
It is spring when the light returns to the manor by the sea. Keito notices the moment it happens. It is difficult not to. He has been watching for nothing else. There is nothing else.
But he does not approach. Uncertain. Is he welcome? The ocean gives no answer.
It is only the next day that he dares. Standing at the shore is an open invitation in his eyes, and that is exactly where he finds Eichi.
His approach is as the tide being called in.
There were a million reasons he had never told Eichi, and a million more that maybe he should have. But does any of that matter after all of this time? What has happened is years past, and now they once more stand by the water.
“...you're back.”
“So I am.”
It is not leave, nor is it I'm still mad at you. It is…merely an exchange of words, and yet it is much more.
Eichi turns to enter the manor. Keito follows.
~
...things settle between them as if nothing truly happened. As if there had not been years of distance. The ease of it is almost unnerving. And yet... For Keito, at least, it lacks the tension that once framed their interactions. There is no more hiding what he is or lying about where he had come from.
For better or for worse.
Keito does not return to the ocean. Eichi does not leave when the weather chills. The house by the sea has become a new home for both of them, it would seem, without a word said about the shift.
~
He is halfway through a peaceful day when he is accosted and dragged off to the study. Before he can get his bearings enough to figure out what Eichi is up to now, he is pushed into a chair at the desk, where a stack of books sits.
Eichi pulls one from the top of the pile and sets it in front of him.
"Go through these for me. Cross out anything that is incorrect."
"...why."
"And you can write down anything that is missing over here."
"..."
"...don't look at me that way. Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to learn about you," Eichi tells him. And indeed, the books do all seem to be about selkies or general mythology… "Humans make things up. I cannot trust any of this without your input."
He is not wrong, Keito finds himself thinking later on, a few books in. Too much crossed out and too many pages of notes. It's almost astonishing how little humans know of the selkie world, but then again, doesn't that go the other way too? Keito hadn't known much of this world until he left the water. There are many reasons their species remain apart, and little chance for communication.
Their arrangement is very unusual.
Keito will correct what he can. If only for one human's sake.
~
“Keito, do you ever miss the sea?”
“We live right next to it.”
Eichi huffs, rolls over in the bed to face him. “You know what I mean. Don't be stupid.”
Of course, Keito is very much aware. But the topic is not one he likes to linger upon, nor does he wish to talk about it. It is not relevant. It is not important.
“There was nothing for me there.”
A doubtful hum. “Nothing at all? I find that hard to believe.”
“...is there anything back where you came from worth staying for?”
“Obviously not. Why do you think I'm here?”
“Exactly.”
“...oh,” it takes an unusually long time for the meaning to reach Eichi. But it does. As most things do. “So you're here for me, and I'm here for you. That's almost romantic, Keito.”
“Perhaps it is.”
~
Three years drift by. The passage of time flies. It is different from how it had been so long ago. Days dragged on into eternity in the ocean. But not here.
~
"Eichi," he begins, though it comes unusually hesitant. Keito rarely feels any uncertainty or nervousness, now that the truth is out. Things are easy enough between them. It is comfortable. But this is...
"Yes, Keito?"
Wordless, Keito hands him the skin. It glistens beneath the light. Eichi blinks, though he takes it in hand before questioning.
"...your seal skin? Whatever for?"
...It's not the right reaction. He opens his mouth to explain, but what comes out instead—
"Put it somewhere safe for me. You would know the house better."
"Hm. Alright. You really shouldn't just hand such things off to other people, though."
"You're not other people."
"Is that so?"
"...don't look at me that way."
"I don't know what you're talking about~”
~
Eichi, for all his intelligence, does not hold the knowledge to be aware of exactly what he's been given. To him, it is little more than a gift, like the many others Keito has brought to him. Why should he think any differently? The ways of the selkie are unknown to the majority of humans.
Especially this. Letting one's natural predator know of such a glaring weakness is the kind of hubris that turns a species from very real to bygone myth. He cannot return to the ocean without it. He has trapped himself on land. With Eichi.
So. A gift. And not the courting ritual it is. Not the life altering decision it is. That is the assumption.
Keito chooses not to take any measures to correct this. It doesn't matter whether Eichi knows or not. His feelings remain the same, carefully kept safe and untouched within his heart. To be near Eichi is contentment in itself.
~
…Until, as all things, that, too, is uncovered. There are no secrets that can be buried.
"Keito."
"Yes, Eichi?"
A book lands on the table in front of Keito. Open. Finger pointing to...
Oh.
"Is this true?"
Selkies conduct many courting rituals, which ideally end in a proposal. They may exchange their skins as a show of trust and affection. A human may also be given a selkie’s skin, but this is rarer.
"...yes. What of it?"
He tries his best to keep his emotions in check as he looks to Eichi, whose own expression lies somewhere between shock, awe, and... Something else.
"...you proposed to me," Eichi says. "Keito."
"What."
"Were you ever going to say anything?"
"...maybe," even he isn't sure.
"That's a no. You're an idiot. How could you propose and not even tell me."
"I didn't think it was important. It doesn't change anything."
Eichi huffs, the way he does when he thinks Keito is being particularly obtuse. "What do you mean it's not important?"
"We already live together. We do everything together. We will never be separated. Is that not already a marriage?" Keito shakes his head a little. "Even with you knowing, things will be the same."
"A wedding. And rings. And we could be kissing, Keito. There are many other things involved in being in a relationship! We have been wasting time not doing them."
"...I basically gave you a ring, did I not?"
"You're being difficult on purpose."
Keito sighs. "...incorrigible. Fine. We can do this your way."
"We can?"
"Eichi Tenshouin. Will you marry me?"
Eichi does not reply for a moment, as if he really hadn't expected Keito to do it, and cannot quite process it. Keito wants to tell him to answer already, flustered enough having to say it aloud and even more so the longer Eichi stares at him. But at last...
"...that's better. Yes. Of course. Did you ever think I was going to refuse you?"
"...clearly I was not thinking at all."
"That seems to be a trend with you."
Keito frowns. "Don't tease me."
"Really? I'll tease you all I want, Mr I'm going to propose and not tell the other person!"
…Eichi is going to hold that over his head forever, isn't he.
…but perhaps it's not so bad so long as they have forever in the first place.