Archive of Our Own ^beta

Buck delicately stepped into his wooden rowboat off the edge of the small wooden pier. The part of the coast he was at was on a separate edge from the commonly used side, in a blind spot of the lighthouse keeper. He needed to be quiet as too not alert anyone that lived on the shoreline.

He was planning to row out into deep waters tonight, past an orange buoy that bobbed calmly in the water. That was the one rule everyone had in town had to follow, on the rocky side of the coast no boats went in and no boats went out. Every time someone went into the waters of the cove, they never came back, not even any bones to show, just wiped off the planet.

But as a child, Buck was fascinated by what lived in the sea, coming from a family of well-known fishers he learned all he could about the ocean and it’s creatures. So when he was younger and curious why he wasn’t allowed to swim in one certain spot, he gained a new intrigue for the strange ocean dwelling anomaly that managed to keep an entire town out of a certain part of the ocean.

However, tonight was the night, he was older now, bordering on twenty-two, he could make his own choices. He just hoped to the heavens that it wasn’t just some dumb rumour, he had been scuba-diving before and seen what was past the buoy and all he could ever see was lush green kelp with small fish that drifted in and out of the leaves. He had a knife resting in the boat in case he needed to defend himself, so he had no reason to worry, he swore he was going to prove to everyone what was actually out there.

Sitting down slowly in the boat, Buck reached over to the edge of the pier, untying the knot of the rope, and letting the boat drift out into the water. He rolled up his long white sleeves, regretting wearing a button up shirt and pants, he should’ve just come out in his pyjamas, not like anyone would see him and his clothes weren’t comfortable sitting in the boat. Buck grasped the two oars in his firm tan hands, pushing back water as he rowed away from the shoreline, into the large rocks that dotted up out from the waves.

Buck inhaled shakily as he passed the orange buoy, turning his head around to see if there was anything of note, but there was only rocks and clear water. But it started to get foggy, clouds were swelling on the surface of the water and they were rising quickly, reducing Buck’s vision to essentially a ring around the boat.

Trying to calm himself, Buck reached for the knife in the boat, grasping the handle firmly as he swallowed heavily. He was not scared of any kraken he could do this. His breaths became unsettlingly heavy, the boat started to rock in a strange manner. Waves were being kicked up around him, the boat swaying and shaking, Buck tried to scramble for some kind of stability, but his panicking only served to help in tipping the boat over.

Slipping under the waves, Buck felt himself being pulled down, his chest constricting and something grabbing his throat. He tried to grab at his neck, his chest, but found nothing, his useless scrambling was only causing him to lose more breath.

There was a current, streams of water were pulling him under.

Buck tried to grab at something, anything, to give himself any chance of escaping the clutches of the depths. His body sinking too far to see much light, his head becoming cloudy and vision turning fuzzy. There was pretty much no chance he was surviving this, the streams that were constricting him had knocked too much air out of his lungs.

Buck had sent his prayers, having submitted to his fate. Dammit! If only he had listened all those times he was told ‘don’t go out past the buoy you won’t come back after that’. But he had gone out into the waters, and drowned, of course.

Body going limp with defeat, Buck succumbed to the waters. But after shutting his eyes and accepting his loss, the streams went loose, his neck and chest springing free. All at once, adrenaline and hope filled his head. Frantically he scrambled upwards, kicking and pulling with his arms as hard as he could, panicking as to break the surface as fast as possible.

When he broke up into the air, Buck threw his body over his upside-down boat, heaving uneven and shallow breaths into his lungs. His body shook with fear, he flipped his boat and hauled himself inside, grabbing onto the oars the held their place in the wooden rings. Buck couldn’t care less about where the knife went, he only cared about living to see the sunlight again.

Heaving shallowly, he scrunched his eyes shut, about to start rowing back to shore. He tipped his gaze up, eyes scanning the slanted rock in front of him, shooting back in shock as he realised there was someone lying and lazing on the rock. The boat almost tipped over in Buck’s own surprise, but he was able to steady himself before falling out again.

“Holy shit! What the hell are you doin’ out here? How the hell did you get here?” Buck straightened himself out, surprise evident in his voice. He got no response from the figure, just a bit of soft sultry staring and flapping of his… tail… Hmm, that’s not right.

“Holy… damn…” Buck’s gaze drifted down to beautiful glittering blue scales, decorated with orange fins and laying lazy on the edge of the rock. The new figure traced his eyes along Buck’s quivering form, shocked out of his mind and cold from his soaked clothes. He leaned his head on one of his palms, propped up by his elbow, his body was slanted on the tilted rock as he lay his entire chest down, peering inquisitively down at his new visitor and almost prey.

“Are you done? You’re gaping at me, you look like more of a fish than I do. I understand I’m gorgeous but that’s not a very good look for you, and yes, it’s real, before you ask. If you must touch it, don’t press too hard, I’m sensitive.” The merman purred slowly, his fingertips tapping against his cheek as he rested, flipping his tailfin a few times as to emphasise its position. Buck didn’t move, only staring, too nervous to ask or say anything and too fear frozen to start rowing as fast as he could to hightail it back to shore.

“Oh? You seem a little shaken, my mistake. I suppose I should apologise for what I did, shouldn’t I? I got a bit defensive there, didn’t want some land crawler getting too close to our territory, so the only thing I could really think of was to just drown you, I do it all the time, I got a bit carried away there.” He huffed, a small smirk finding its way onto his face. Buck’s face morphed from shock into absolute horror.

“W-wait a second! You’re the one that killed heaps of people in my town! God fucking damn do you know how many people ya’ have drowned?” Buck pushed himself to the back of the wooden rowboat, putting as much space between him and the merman lazing on the rock. His breath heaved as he realised how easily this guy could’ve killed him without even trying, yet for some reason he chose to spare his life.

“Hmm, never really thought about that part, I just do what I do to protect my people. It’s whatever, doesn’t bother me. Also, stop calling me ‘you’, I have a name, it’s Jenos, so don’t call me ‘you’, that’s very rude.” Jenos lazily spoke, drawing out his words in a sultry thick tone, even though he was talking about how he didn’t care about the people he killed, as if it was a normal thing to him.

“O-okay then, Jenos… why me? Why not me? I was gonna drown down there but you didn’ do it?” Buck started trying to steady his breathing, voice still shaking and fear still dripping from his words. His hands still shook but he had a hold on the rowboat for some kind of stability.

“Hmm… You were pretty, and they weren’t, it would be a waste to have you drown on me.” Jenos purred, tapping his fingernails slowly against his cheek. Watching as Buck’s shaking started to slow, getting a hold of his breathing, letting go of the oars to sit comfortably in the boat.

“O-okay, wow um… that’s cool… I guess…” Buck’s cheeks reddened, whether it was from the flattery or lack of breath he wasn’t sure, but it felt good to be complimented, even if it came from someone who tried to drown him. He was hesitant to properly respond, the idea of having any positive engagement with the creature who singlehandedly drowned any inhabitants who went out into his waters.

“That’s it? Nothing else? No interest in me whatsoever? Hmph.” Jenos perked up from his palm, bringing up his chin and dropping his hand to hang over the front of the rock. He pursed his lips, looking away from Buck with an exaggerated tilt, clearly offended.

“No no no, that’s not what I- look, you just tried to drown me, so like… I’m pretty shaken, so… it’s kinda hard to just casually respond to that stuff.” Buck fumbled on his words, shaken and confused, yet strangely kind of aroused at the same time. Jenos turned his gaze back down to Buck, side-eyeing him tentatively, bright green meeting emerald green in a glare.

“So, say if you came back tomorrow, and had time to recuperate, you’d want to talk more with beautiful me?” Jenos regained interest, turning back to face his new companion, repositioning himself to get a more comfortable view of the other man, leaning back onto his palm.

“I mean… I guess so…” Buck fiddled with his hands nervously, cheeks turning a deep shade of crimson as he flicked his eyes from his lap to Jenos every few seconds.

Leaping from his rock, Jenos dove under the waves. There was silence for a few moments before he surfaced from the quiet water next to Buck’s wooden boat. They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment, Buck leaned onto the side of the boat, letting an arm hang off the side, fingers grazing the edge of the water every few moments. He smiled, the merman smiling in return.

The moment was soft but only for a few more seconds, Jenos reached a hand up the side of the boat, grabbing the front of Buck’s shirt in his hand. Pulling the man down the side, throwing off his balance as the merman crashed their lips together. Buck was taken aback, but the feeling of Jenos’ soft lips against his was too much to resist, he reached forward, running a calloused hand over the other’s cheek, melting into the intimacy before Jenos let go, rocking back into the water.

“Well then, I’ll be right here, don’t keep me waiting tomorrow.” Jenos flicked his hand in a small wave, giving a flirtatious wink before disappearing beneath the dark waters. The fog cleared around Buck, leaving him sitting alone. He raised a hesitant hand to his lips, recalling the feeling of an honest to god merman right up against him.

“Yeah… I wouldn’t miss it.”