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"Aren't you excited?! This is the first time we'll get to meet pods from other oceans!" Li Yu exclaimed to his friend Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian laughed as he swam next to the even more excitable mer, "We're meeting a pod from the Arctic oceans A-Yu. It's so cold there, rumors say that every mer is like a block of ice themselves!"
Li Yu pouted as he nudged the red and black mer, "You're just spouting out every jelly story you've heard on our way there! For all you know they could be incredibly warm and kind!"
"They very well could," Wei Wuxian agreed, "But I've met a mer from the Arctic before, and let me tell you! There was nothing warm or friendly about him!"
Li Yu gave Wei Wuxian a side glance, and innocently asked, "You mean the mer you haven't been able to shut up about for the past two years?"
Wei Wuxian gasped in affected outrage, "Don't you dare!"
"How did you describe him again?" Li Yu asked with a smirk, before going, "Oh right! 'With hair darker than the ocean trenches, scales purer than the ice above, and eyes like the sun when you've breached the water, he is without a doubt the most beautiful mer in existence."
Wei Wuxian rushed Li Yu and sent the two of them spinning, shouting, "I should feed you to the seagulls for that!"
Li Yu laughed, "You're the one who said it!"
Their rough housing came to a sudden and abrupt end when they crashed into, what felt like to Li Yu, a solid rock. He looked up and came face to face with the most beautiful mer he'd ever met. Tall, with long dark hair, darker eyes, and a tail in the darkest shade of blue that Li Yu had ever seen.
His jaw might have dropped, it was impossible to tell. It was only when he heard a high pitched squeak from Wei Wuxian that Li Yu remembered other things existed.
He looked over and saw his friend being carried by a large mer, a glance at Wei Wuxian's completely red face, told Li Yu that he was exactly where he wanted to be.
Li Yu turned back to look at the still silent mer, and sheepishly said, "Sorry about that! My friend and I were just really excited to be traveling you see!" He offered a light bow and continued, "I'm Li Yu by the way! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
The mer quietly held out a stone tablet with the words I am Mu Tianchi, it is a pleasure to meet you carved into it.
Li Yu's eyes grew wider at the sight, "Oh wow! That is amazing! How long does it take you to carve a tablet? Or does someone else carve them for you? What do you do when you have something to say, but it's not on a pre-written tablet? Or is this just for the formal meetings when you have to introduce yourself to a lot of people?"
Mu Tianchi looked at the smaller mer, with his bright orange-gold scales, and bright, guiless smile, and allowed himself a small smile in return. He pulled out a piece of treated kelp and a thin tipped seashell and quickly wrote out, Carving a tablet can take upwards of a week, but this one specifically was a present from my father, so that I might still interact with others in a reasonable way.
Li Yu read it over and nodded his head, "That makes so much sense!" Then he physically covered his mouth for a moment, took a deep breath, and more calmly added, "Please tell me if my talking ever bothers you. I tend to ask a lot of questions and I know it has to be annoying having to write down answers for everything."
Mu Tianchi shook his head and wrote, I enjoy hearing the questions you have to ask. Please feel free to ask as many of them as you like, while I show you around.
Li Yu chuckled, "Alright then! It's a deal! I've never been this far north before, so what is it like? How do you handle the colder temperatures? Oh! What about predators like sharks..." the questions seemed to continue forever, but Li Yu always patiently waited for the answers as the two swam through the various areas that Mu Tianchi wanted to show him.
That night, Li Yu waited by Mu Tianchi's side, trying to catch a glimpse of Wei Wuxian swimming through the water. "I hope everything's okay between him and Lan Wangji." Li Yu muttered, "I'd hat to think they spent the entire day arguing."
Mu Tianchi paused for a moment before quickly writing, I don't think you'll have to worry about them arguing all day.
"But then what could they have been doing the whole time? We've been swimming around for hours and we haven't seen fin nor scale of them this entire time!"
From what I have understood... they were working out some much needed tension...
Li Yu stared at the words for a moment before his entire face lit up in a flaming blush, "OH! Well! Good for them!" Then he sighed and said, "This does mean that I have no idea where I'm supposed to be staying for this entire trip though."
Mu Tianchi tilted his head in question.
"Wei Wuxian was the one who knew where we were staying... which now that I think about it, might have just been with Lan Wangji, but I'm not getting anywhere near that, so I'm kinda out of luck."
Mu Tianchi stared at his seashell for a moment, as if seriously considering what he was about to write before jotting it down, ...If you are agreeable, you are more than welcome to spend the night with me
Li Yu looked between Mu Tianchi and the words, once, twice, "Are you sure, Tianchi? I'd hate to impose." Mu Tianchi nodded, and proceeded to get bowled over by Li Yu's excitement. "Alright! Let's go! I can't wait to see where you live!"
What Li Yu had failed to mention, even a little, was that he tended to be a very cuddly sleeper.
This, in and of itself, is perfectly fine. The only issue came from the fact that Mu Tianchi had not expected a guest that day and had therefore offered his bed for Li Yu's use. Li Yu had of course, found the idea of turning his new friend out of his own bed unthinkable and the two had some how ended up sharing it.
Now, Mu Tianchi was suffering the consquences as Li Yu wrapped around his body, their tails practically merged into one at this point. It was one of the most exquisite tortures he had ever endured, simply because a part of him wished to do so much more.