Work Text:
You’re a freelance photographer. This job doesn’t pay well, because there aren’t many tourists interested in you, so you end up with way too much free time and it gets annoying. You live in a small house by the sea, which has a great view compared to the noisy, chaotic city. You usually avoid talking to people, even if that means you can’t do the kind of job most people do. But in a way, you live a peaceful life.
While you’re setting up your camera to shoot the seaside scenery, you notice something in the sand. It’s shiny, reflects light, and catches your eye. Turns out it’s a glass bottle. You can tell right away it’s from a tourist. Ugh, they’re always so annoying. They love tossing trash into the sea and assume someone will come clean it up. Of course, that “someone” is you. This kind of garbage is poisonous to marine animals and ruins the view. It makes your job harder. The thought of those poor sea creatures swallowing plastic bags because they think it’s food breaks your heart.
You feel the coarse, hot sand get into your flip-flops as you toss the glass bottle into a black trash bag. The clinking sound tells you there’s a lot more trash in there waiting to be thrown out. You tie the bag shut with the skill of someone who’s done it a hundred times, and when you set the bag down, you take a deep breath and fill your lungs with the scent of seawater. It feels refreshing and relaxing. For a moment, you feel truly at peace…
Until a loud, heavy beat of music suddenly blasts out and makes you jolt upright. When you turn to look, you see a group of three or four teenagers drinking, with a huge speaker set up beside them. They’re talking so loudly it’s like they’re in a club. Even though you’re not the partying type, you know 2 PM in the afternoon isn’t the right time for a party. Those notes grate on your nerves and stir up your irritation.
"Hey! You know you’re not supposed to litter on the beach!”
"So what, old lady!”
"You damn brat!” You curse out of frustration but force yourself to hold it in. You know you shouldn’t pick a fight, especially since you don’t have a regular job. If you don’t count photography, but that’s just a hobby anyway. You sigh, then pretend to kick your feet and send sand flying toward the group of teens as you walk away.
As you’re leaving, you hear the teens shouting insults at your back, but they don’t follow you. That’s satisfying enough for you. Even though it was a bad move and risky to get reported, you didn’t break any laws, did you? As you walk away from the teens, you cut across the beach until you reach your secret spot. It’s a rocky area that isn’t pretty, so it’s no surprise tourists don’t come here. It’s the hidden place you’ve loved most since you started living here. And on top of that, it’s where you met your beloved.
Speaking of that, you take off your flip-flops. Your feet touch the cold stone and it tickles. Then you carefully climb up the small hill and pull out the conch shell necklace your lover gave you. It was a gift. Its touch is light and gives off a warm feeling that spreads through your palm. You slowly raise it to your lips, then blow into it, and it makes a sound like a bird’s song. Soft, soothing, dreamy. You let the conch rest at your collarbone, then sit down, hug your knees, and wait with anticipation. In just a few breaths, the sound of waves hitting the shore and seagulls calling creates an atmosphere. You fall into a trance of calm.
But then a sound pulls your attention. A high, sharp sound that gradually softens into something gentle. When you look down at the sea, you see a shadow moving closer. It gets closer and stops. Suddenly, that thing bursts out of the water. Its arms wrap around your waist. Its tail coils tightly around you until you can feel the fins against your skin. Eclipse. The merman you met a few months ago. He’s the first merman you’ve ever known. His head looks like the evening sun. His tail fades from yellow to red, giving the feeling of a sunset or a sunrise. You don’t understand merman language, but you can tell from how he flicks his tail, nuzzles his head against you, and makes soft “aah aah” sounds that he’s just as happy to see you. You can barely hold back a smile.
“Hello, big boy. Glad you’re okay,” you mumble to him, while stroking the fin on his back. It feels slippery and a little gross, and on top of that it gives you a slight shiver.
You got to know Eclipse because you joined a photography contest with the theme “Beautiful Nature.” You were broke, and the contest offered a $1,000 USD prize! That’s more than enough to get you through the month! It was worth a shot. So you grabbed your camera and walked along the beach, looking for the best spot to take a photo. At first you chose a coconut tree leaning at the same angle as the sun, but there were too many tourists. Then you tried shooting from inside a cave, but it was too dark. You wandered until you reached the rocky area. It was far from people, so all the noise disappeared. Until your foot hit a piece of glass and you let out a loud yelp. You almost lost your balance and fell, and the sharp sting on your ankle made you snap to attention. “Shit shit!” You looked at your foot. Bright red fluid was trailing down. Luckily the cut wasn’t big enough that you’d need a doctor, but walking back with a fresh wound rubbing against sand wasn’t a good idea either. On top of that, it was your own fault for not wearing flip-flops, because you thought it wouldn’t take long. Now you had to crawl up onto the rock and figure a way out by yourself.
At first you thought about actually crawling, but that would just make you the talk of the town for a long time… Of course it wasn’t easy at all. Where you were was far from everyone—both tourists and locals living nearby. That meant you had to rely on luck more than anything. Hour after hour passed while you sat on the rock, bored. There was no sign of anyone around. All you had was your camera and a hermit crab for company. Maybe you were going a little crazy, but making friends with an animal isn’t wrong, is it? At first you saw it checking out a glass bottle to see if it could live in it, so you looked around for something better. You reached out and grabbed an empty soup can, then set it down near the crab. It inspected the can, then slowly crawled inside and chose that stupid can as its new home. If this were a game, you’d have just gained a weird ally, right? And it seemed the crab thought you were a lonely creature with no friends, so it stayed with you. It was cute having a little creature with you the whole time. But then, after about 20 minutes—which felt like an hour—the crab went back into the water. It probably thought going home was more interesting than staying with you.
“...Sigh.”
But not long after, you didn’t feel pain in your foot anymore. Maybe you got numb to it, or maybe you were too focused on the evening atmosphere. Actually, the view was really beautiful. Maybe not the most beautiful, but your imagination drifted. You couldn’t help but let out a girly scream when a shadow shot out of the water. When you snapped back to reality and looked, you had to rub your eyes several times and pinch your arm, because the creature in front of you was… a merman?
You didn’t think people could hallucinate from seawater........
You watched that creature slowly crawl toward you, and what caught your attention most was the hermit crab you’d helped. It walked toward you and pointed its claw at the sole of your foot. The merman looked at you with an unreadable expression. If looks could kill, you and everyone within a 500-mile radius would’ve become fish food without question. You tensed instantly when it reached out and wrapped its hands around your ankle. It dragged its nails along the sole of your foot, making it tickle. You could barely hold back a laugh. “Oops— hehe… sorry.”
The merman lifted his head and looked at you with curiosity. He stared into your eyes, then suddenly lifted your foot high up, making you yelp before you could even react. You closed your eyes, fear churning in your chest. Does he eat people? Is he going to eat you? Are you really going to die like this?
When you opened your eyes, you saw the merman open his mouth. His teeth were extremely sharp, like shark teeth. You could just imagine how much it would hurt to be bitten, chewed until your bones were crushed, ground down until you were nothing but a scrap of meat in the sea.
The ticklish feeling overpowered your fear when you felt something slick and soft touch the sole of your foot. Turns out the merman was licking your foot with his tongue, making you burst out laughing. “Hey, don’t— hahaha! Oh stop it!” You squirmed and tried to pull your leg away, but the merman held your leg so tightly. On top of that, he didn’t stop licking your foot until he finally let go, and you didn’t feel pain in your sole anymore. You lifted your foot to look— the cut from the glass was gone too. That shocked you a lot.
“You… healed my wound for me?” The merman made a sound, low, melodious, and it gave a feeling of calm and comfort. Your shoulders relaxed, even though you didn’t know when you’d tensed them, or for how long. You looked at the hermit crab making clicking sounds to get your attention. It slowly crawled up onto you and turned toward the merman.
“So… he’s your friend too?” The crab clicked again. You looked away from the crab and at the merman. You couldn’t speak merman, and he probably couldn’t speak human either. That made sense. He watched you, watched everything you did, then flicked his fish tail into the sea before you even got to say thank you or goodbye.
From then on, you would stop by that area every day. You’d usually leave fish you bought, or sometimes seashells from your collection. And when you came back, what you’d left would be gone, but beautiful pearls would be left in their place instead. Of course you had enough to sell, but you’re not the type to sell a gift from a friend (if you can call him that).
And then, one day, while you were sitting by the beach, you’d just helped the volunteers clean up trash because there were so few people helping, and even fewer when the weather today was terrible. Your radio said it was going to rain and the sky was turning gray. That made all the tourists disappear, leaving only you sitting there.
But then a cry caught your attention. You recognized that sound—the cry of the merman who had saved you before. You quickly stood up, left your camera on the sand, and ran toward the sound immediately. And you found him again. That merman was struggling up onto the beach. He looked so desperate as he looked at you, and on top of that, a fishing net was tangled around his tail. So you guessed he’d just escaped from fishermen. But it looked like that net was tied a little too tight… Okay, you take that back. It was tied so tight his tail was bleeding from the friction. Panic shot through you the moment you heard his desperate sound. You used all your strength to lift the merman up and carried him back to your place. Luckily most people were inside their houses, so no one saw you carrying a merman down the street.
You set him down in the bathtub, then went to grab scissors. The instant he saw the scissors in your hand, he hissed at you, so you had to raise your hands. “Hey… calm down. I’m just trying to help… stay still, okay?” You crept slowly toward him, then used the scissors to cut the net off. Since it was made of pretty tough rope, it took you quite a while to get it all off. After several minutes you managed to get it all off and immediately tossed that net on the floor.
The merman looked much calmer once that suffocating feeling was gone. He rested his chin on the edge of the tub and looked at you with dewy eyes… like a dog, or a cat, something like that. You don’t know anything about treating fish. Actually, you never thought you’d raise fish, because the last fish you kept met a sad end in the toilet…
“Alright, what should I call you?” The merman looked into your eyes. He tilted his head curiously. You looked at him too. You started tilting your head too, touched your ear, wiggled your feet while thinking. You’re not good at naming things. Actually, you might be terrible at it. But calling him “merman” all the time would be a bit weird. Of course you wouldn’t do that.
Lots of names popped into your head. Considering the color of his tail, it gave the feeling of fire, or the sky at sunset. Maybe Fire? Oh, that’d be a bit strange. Or… Sun? Oh, that’s the same as your online friend’s name. And definitely not Moon either. So you looked for a name in between the two, until one name came to your mind…
“What do you think if I call you… Eclipse?” The merman tilted his head again. The corner of his mouth lifted happily, and he let out a high-pitched sound, a signal that he was pleased. You couldn’t help but smile too.
You spent several days taking care of that merman. Eclipse’s wounds healed shockingly fast. If it were you, you’d probably have to suffer with it for about 2-3 days. And you and he got closer every day too. Eclipse seemed especially clingy with you. He’d make sweet sounds when you came to him, but if you tried to leave the bathroom, he’d wail like an owner-obsessed dog. At first it was cute, but then your neighbor let you know to take better care of your dog because his sound was bothering other people. So you had to spend more time with Eclipse. Some nights you even had to carry a pillow and blanket to sleep in the bathroom.
As for food, Eclipse wasn’t picky at all. He ate everything you gave him—fish, squid. I guess if you gave him human meat he’d eat that too… but you’d never do that, of course.
In your free time when work didn’t come in, you researched mermaids on the internet. Even though it didn’t give much info, watching _The Little Mermaid_ showed you how scary real mermaids are compared to the cartoon. But you were grateful to your friends, Sun and Moon. They’re marine biologists, so you could learn from them that some fish species have a clear breeding season. In exchange, you had to lie to them that you decided to buy guppies to keep…
And time passed until Eclipse was healed. You took him back to the sea. You thought that would be the last time you’d see him, but the story didn’t go that way. Turns out Eclipse came to find you every day. This time he was the one inviting you himself. And sometimes he’d bring beautiful seashells for you too. It was so cute seeing him rise from the water with a seashell in his mouth. He always picked out perfect, beautiful shells for you.
Until you talked to Sun again over video call, you found out that what Eclipse was doing was a courtship behavior, just like a hermit crab. You couldn’t help but imagine Eclipse talking to that crab to ask for dating advice to woo you… okay, that was a little funny. But once you learned that fact, you finally realized you were being courted by a mythical creature. Okay, maybe you realized a bit late, but it still made you feel warm inside.
You drilled a hole in the shell Eclipse gave you, then strung it into a bracelet. Your crafting skills aren’t great, but when you finished you felt really proud of how cute it turned out, and you wore it almost all the time. It felt really good. And when Eclipse saw you wearing the shell bracelet he gave you, he cried out happily and immediately nuzzled his head against you. You liked it when he did that too, even though Eclipse’s touch felt a little creepy…
From then on, you had a sea creature as your lover. And right now, you’re sitting on the rock with your feet in the water, and an 8-foot underwater monster is lying and nuzzling in your lap. You stroke his ear fins back and forth. It’s been months since you and Eclipse have met at this secret spot. Sometimes the hermit crab is there too, stealing your affection from Eclipse. It’s funny seeing these two fight over you. But right now, it’s just you and your beloved.
Eclipse lets out a soft purr when you tickle his ear fins. “If you weren’t so cute, I wouldn’t be sitting here all day like this.”
“:<”
You laugh in your throat when you see Eclipse make that face at you. You lean down and nibble his cheek until Eclipse wriggles. He lets out a soft squeal, then flips over and wraps his arms around your waist. He rubs his head against your stomach and makes sweet sounds. At first you didn’t know what he was trying to say, until he started rubbing your stomach in circles. The truth hit you like getting hit by a car, and your face immediately flushed hot.
“…Oh no, I’m not having kids!”
Eclipse made a sad sound and wrapped his fish tail around you. You almost gave in when you saw Eclipse make puppy eyes, but you won’t get pregnant with his baby. Not yet. It’s too soon to have a child. You’re not ready to have fish eggs inside you, and biologically you don’t think you could have a baby with a fish, even if you did it a hundred times.
“No, I’m sorry Eclipse, but I can’t.”
“:(”
“Not right now.”
Eclipse’s ear fins shot up immediately. He squeezed you tighter and let out a high-pitched sound of joy, making you laugh. Okay, the idea of having a baby isn’t bad at all. You’ll probably give in to him about this someday, right??
|Eclipse pov|
Eclipse’s entire merman life was so boring. Ever since he could remember, his hazy memories of being in the capsule weren’t anything interesting. His tail color was so striking compared to his siblings. Too striking, which made other merfolk notice him and try to court him. And on top of that, it also attracted predators, which all had nothing but downsides.
His only friend was Rainy, a hermit crab. Rainy was the only sea creature who wasn’t interested in him. They always played together. Mostly hide-and-seek. But when Eclipse grew up, his strength grew too. Rainy told him he’d have to find a new home, because his shell had cracked from them playing too rough. At first Eclipse insisted on going up with Rainy, but his friend made him promise that Eclipse couldn’t follow him up, because humans might find him and he’d get caught. So Eclipse had to stay alone in his cave (which used to be the home of some sea animal Eclipse didn’t care about. Who cares about food that gets eaten, right?).
A long time passed. Eclipse lay in the cave until he got bored. He missed playing with his friend so much. But then, clicking sounds caught his attention, making him realize Rainy was back! And he’d come back with a new home too. It looked like some kind of silver, sturdy thing. But before Eclipse could invite Rainy to play, his friend clicked and called him to follow. So Eclipse obediently followed. He swam after Rainy all the way to the shore, and there he saw a human! And she looked injured too.
Eclipse didn’t understand why Rainy brought him to this human, but Rainy told him this human had helped his friend find a home, and wanted Eclipse to heal the human in return. Eclipse wanted to refuse, but since his friend asked, he had to do it. Eclipse lifted the other’s foot. Strangely, this human was pretty skittish. He could feel her trembling under his touch, and the blood. Oh, human blood smelled so good. He’d never smelled human blood before… would human blood be delicious?
The only thing he could do to heal the wound for the human was merman saliva, which has excellent healing properties. But… for merfolk, they only lick-heal wounds for their mates. And that meant he had to accept this human as a mate. Really? Eclipse swallowed his annoyance, then stuck his tongue out. His tongue touched the sole of the other’s foot. It felt strange, not slippery like fish, not bitter, and the blood. Oh, he thought the blood of every creature would be fishy like every fish he’d ever eaten, but no. This human had blood with a pretty strange taste. It was metallic and warm. Such an addictive taste. He didn’t even realize how much you squirmed trying to pull your foot back.
And then he snapped back to reality when your laughter kept getting louder and louder. And that sound— your cute laughter ran through his ears. This human had a very melodious voice. Among all the merfolk he knew, they had annoying, uninteresting voices. But you, the annoying human, had the cutest laugh he’d ever heard. But then you pulled your leg back, leaving him sitting there looking at you. He tilted his head, looked at you with curious eyes, and made a sound.
“…stupid human.”
Rainy clicked a warning at him for being rude, which made him feel irritated. Then he went back into the water. The sudden temperature change made him not notice you were trying to say something to him. Of course, he wouldn’t care. He wouldn’t care about you, because he’d already repaid the debt for you helping his friend. He wouldn’t care about the warmth in his chest, wouldn’t care about the sweet taste still on his tongue, wouldn’t care how cute your voice was. No, he didn’t care at all.
The next day, Eclipse came back to the same spot. He told himself he wasn’t coming for you. He was just watching over his friend. No, he didn’t want to see you. He definitely denied the thought of wanting to see you. He didn’t want to see you at all. The thought of getting to see you made his face hot and made him feel weird in his chest. Who were you to make him like this? You were just a stupid human. An annoying human.
While he was hiding behind the rock, thinking endlessly about you, he didn’t notice you’d already walked up. Didn’t see when you looked around for him, or when you set down fish along with seashells. And when he noticed you, you’d already walked away. Eclipse shot up onto the rock. He wanted to call out to you, to make you pay attention, but the thought stuck in his throat. So he slowly dragged himself to the things you’d left. The fish in good condition, and the pretty purple seashell. He hesitated to eat the fish, afraid you might have set a trap for him. But considering the smell, it only had your scent. Eclipse decided you weren’t planning to hurt him, so he accepted the gift you gave him.
But… Eclipse didn’t like being in debt. It hurt his pride. So he found pearls to give you. For merfolk, pearls weren’t valuable at all, because merfolk tears come out as pearls anyway. So they were pretty abundant. But he’d heard that for humans they were worth a lot.
Day after day you and he kept giving things to each other endlessly. Eclipse found that he really liked the seashells you gave him. They were mostly in perfect condition, and some even had a sparkle. One day, after he left pearls for you, he went back to his cave, back to his warm nest. Eclipse decorated that nest with the seashells you gave him. It made his nest look warm and lively. Eclipse’s nest was shaped like a bird’s nest, made from seaweed or stones, decorated with the colorful shells you gave him.
Eclipse swam into the nest. He spun around to get comfortable, then curled up to lie down. It might be a bit early to sleep while the other merfolk in the pod were out hunting, but for him, he barely needed to rely on food others hunted. Meanwhile, clicking sounds made him open his eyes, and he saw Rainy, his friend, seemed interested in the shells he’d gotten. So Eclipse sat up.
“That? Got it from… your human friend.”
Rainy looked at Eclipse curiously. He pinched one shell with his claw, then gestured for Eclipse to come closer.
"Are you trying to tell me something?”
……
“Wait, what!?”
Eclipse could barely believe his ears. Rainy was telling him that all this time you’d been bringing him shells, feeding him every day, it wasn’t just repaying a debt. It was… courtship!?
All this time, you were courting him, and you never failed to give him seashells! What kind of courting method is this! Eclipse’s face got so hot, and that warmth in his chest came back again. Eclipse didn’t even realize he was raising his hand to clutch his chest right where his heart was beating. What was he supposed to do with this fact? It was like getting hit in the face by a shark out of nowhere. You… were courting him? Every single day? He’d never realized it at all.
Eclipse knew humans were usually selfish and would do anything to get what they wanted. And you… you were… wanting love from him. Eclipse had never heard stories about humans and merfolk loving each other before. There were only annoying rumors. But you made him have to rethink himself. Really? Was it possible? Oh, he’d have to consider this for a while…
“Fuck!!”
Eclipse cursed. He blamed his own stupidity for not thinking things through. When he saw his best friend being dragged away by a human rope, he knew right away it might be dangerous. But diving in to pull Rainy out wasn’t a good idea. Not only did his friend’s claw get ripped off—which would grow back, so no need to worry too much—but his merman tail got caught in the net, or rope, whatever it was. He found it hurt so much when the rope rubbed his scales raw. Some of his fish scales came off, and this rope was so tough. If he didn’t bite it, he’d get caught by those disgusting humans. The smell of blood was thick in the water. Eclipse knew immediately this wasn’t safe. No, the smell of his blood would attract lots of predators. Not just sharks, but also other merfolk who were savage and cruel too. He had to run and hide to heal, but… where could he run? His cave wouldn’t be safe. No, even though it was warm, it was easy to get in and out of, and there was no other escape route. He might go hide in deep water, but that was dangerous too.
Maybe if… oh… he still had you. You probably wouldn’t turn him into sashimi if you saw him weak and battered like this. Maybe it was a bit selfish to go to you like this, but it’d only be temporary. He didn’t have many other options, and he wasn’t picky. And a human like you probably couldn’t do anything to him, right?
Oh, he was dead wrong. When you brought him to your house, it overwhelmed him almost instantly. First, you had a sun stuck to the ceiling. That white light bothered Eclipse’s eyes so much. And you had so many collections. So many, everywhere. A lot of them had strange shapes and looked a little scary. You took him into a room lined with flat stone all around, which you called a bathroom, or whatever. Eclipse had to admit that the weird tub you put him in felt private and safe. Even though the water you filled the tub with didn’t feel great, since Eclipse was used to saltwater, it could substitute and keep him moist. And he thought your house looked really good compared to his cave.
In the first days Eclipse stayed with you, he admitted you were a terrible hunter. The food you brought him had been dead for a long time. And even though it was still cold, that didn’t feel good to eat at all. And you were still trying to treat him, without licking. He didn’t know before that human saliva didn’t have healing properties. But you chose to pour weird liquid from a weird bottle onto his tail instead. The clear liquid felt ordinary. It was like plain water. And the next one—he had to admit it was the worst. It was yellow and had a weird smell. You put that on his tail and it stung so much. He cried out pathetically, felt so much pain. He always dug his nails into your arm and scratched you whenever you applied it, but his wound slowly got better. Even though his scales still hadn’t grown back, which would take a long time to regrow.
Besides that, you were so gentle. You were patient with him. He’d never seen you get angry even if he hurt you. Humans are fragile. Eclipse knew that well. But you didn’t show any fear of his sharp teeth or claws. Even though the fish you hunted was awful, the temporary place you gave him was so cramped he couldn’t move much, and your voice was annoyingly loud. He hated you so much. Hated that his body felt comfortable with your laughter when he did something stupid. Hated that he always felt satisfied when you stroked his fins gently. Hated your smile. Hated most of all that he realized he was falling in love with you now.
Eclipse found his aggressive attitude from the first days was fading, and every time you left he’d long for you. He longed for your smile. Longed for your touch. Longed for your voice. Even though you couldn’t sing a courtship song, he could! He could do it for you! If you allowed it, he’d agree to be your mate for breeding season! He’d heard you hum songs sometimes. It wasn’t as beautiful as what most merfolk do, but it was perfect enough for him. He wanted to prove to you that he was interested in you too. If he wasn’t injured, he thought he’d hunt food for you too, even if he had to fight a whale shark and drag it onto land for you, he’d do it. But right now he couldn’t do much for you, so that would have to wait a bit. But what if you shifted your attention to another merman? He’d make sure that merman couldn’t get your attention. You were his and only his. Eclipse didn’t like sharing.
And one day, Eclipse was admiring you while you babbled on. He might not understand human language, but it seemed like you were naming him. The first few names were names related to his siblings, which he didn’t like much, until you said his name. Eclipse could barely believe his ears. You said his name! Yes! You’re so smart! Just like the human he cherished so much. You were perfect.
And that day came—the day his wounds healed completely. You took him back to the sea. Eclipse won’t deny that he missed his nest, missed the ocean, and better food. But he missed you too.
It’s a shame that a human like you can’t breathe underwater (your species is pitiful), but Eclipse could always come find you. He knew where you lived now, and he also knew where he had to meet you. He’d come to you every day, bringing you the most beautiful seashells. You’re his life partner now. You might not live as long as he does, and that’s okay. He’ll make every moment he gets to spend with you special and precious.
And honestly, he might even get you pregnant with his child. Who knows. Just picturing you carrying dozens of merman eggs in your belly made his heart feel warm. Imagine it— you, the beautiful human, cradling merman eggs in your arms. That image drove him almost crazy. But he’d only do that with you if you agreed, for sure. If you allowed it. But if you’re afraid of his wildness, he’d be gentle with you, just like you were with him. For you, he’d do anything.