#mermari

“Ivan,” Luka greeted, nodding in acknowledgement of his respect but reaching out a hand to catch his and raise him up. “How are you, old friend? How is Mylene?”

“She’s well, everything’s good here,” Ivan bobbed his head and then turned to look at his blacksmith shop. 

***

“Show me again,” he said, and she leaned in, kissing him softly, coaxing him to move his lips with hers. It was...nice. 

“How do you show it?” she asked, tilting her head slightly. “When you love someone?” 

Luka bent down and bumped his forehead lightly against hers. “Like this.” Forehead still pressed to hers, he lifted his hands and slid his fingers through her hair, the wet strands sliding through his human fingers like cold silk. “And...” He nuzzled her, and then dropped his head to the crook of her neck, hesitating only a moment before he nipped her gently. She gasped lightly and scrunched her shoulder, and he pulled back quickly. “Sorry.” 

“No, it’s just...um…” She gestured to the faint lines of her gill slits. “We...wouldn’t usually let teeth so close.” 

“Of course,” he said, quickly. “I’m sorry.” 

“No, just...maybe over here?” she brushed her fingers over the curve of her shoulder. “Or maybe here,” she touched her collarbone. “And I can always—” She pulled herself closer to him, and bit him as he had her, at the join of his shoulder and neck. 

His whole body shuddered, and he bit his own lip, not having expected quite so strong a sensation. Marinette pulled back to look in his face. “That...was good?” Luka nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Marinette blinked those beautiful eyes for a moment, and then leaned forward, nudging her forehead against his, and reaching up to comb her fingers through his hair. Luka closed his eyes and sighed, putting his arms around her and drawing her close. She tilted her face and kissed him, and this time he knew what to do, and as pleasant as it was, the thrill that went through him at the pleased noise she made was infinitely better. “What else?” she breathed, moving to nibble at his neck again. He felt her lips curve against his skin as he moaned. “Show me.” 

“I don’t—” He sighed. “I don’t know. In this form, I don’t…”  

He should probably eat something. Luka sat back on his haunches and pawed through the blue and black hair of his crest, then shook it out with a sigh. His home was a great mountain rising out of the sea, its volcanic heart long dormant. Isolated, but Luka preferred that, more than willing to make the flight to the mainland when he needed food or company if it meant being left alone when he wished to be. His lair was easily defended but rarely in need of it, and that was all that mattered to him. 

But it did mean that if he was going to eat something other than fish today, he’d better get moving now. He strolled to the entrance of his cave and launched himself into the air. He spouted flame, just to clear his lungs, and circled his mountain home a few times to limber up before angling for the mainland.

Soaring low over the water, more out of habit than hope, he saw a flash of gold under the surface. His heartbeat quickened and a burst of flame left him. Below him the gold streak grew larger and one very familiar red-and-gold fin broke the surface before disappearing back down beyond his sight.

Before he could lament her departure, gold rushed up from the deep and this time she burst out of the water in a great leap. She rolled midair and reached one pale arm towards him in a wave, and then she was falling, out of his element and back into her own, slipping back into the sea and sinking below his view again with a flip of her shining tail. 

Luka folded his wings and skimmed as low as he could, stretching one foreclaw down to run along the water. Marinette rose again to just below the surface and flipped onto her back to face him. Even through the distortion of the speeding water, he was sure he could see her smiling.

The flip slowed her and she quickly slipped behind him and out of sight. It didn’t matter. Luka banked and turned, one wingtip skimming the sea, and picked up his altitude, knowing that Marinette would already be making the same turn under the water. Dinner could wait, if Marinette had come to see him. He could hunt later. 

Luka bypassed his eyrie on the cliffside and angled down towards a large flat rock that jutted out into the sea below. Though he was a creature of the air, he had been born near the ocean, and he had loved the smell of the sea and the lap of the waves even before he knew what they would bring him. He’d been sunning on this very rock the first time she had come to him, insatiably curious and too brave for her own good.

He landed easily, fanning his wings to brake before sinking slowly onto the stone. His talons clicked lightly as he paced to the edge, lifting his head on his long neck to look over the water for her. Luka was satisfied when he saw a flash of sun on red-gold scales as she made another leap out of the water—probably to look and see if he had beaten her there.

He rumbled in his chest in amusement at her competitive streak, and lay down to wait, crossing his front legs and half-rolling on his side to stretch his hind legs out behind him.

Marinette announced her arrival by backflipping and sending a tail full of seawater into his face. He snorted, shaking it off his crest and neck spines, as she disappeared beneath the waves, clearly not deigning to appear until he had taken on a form that could actually speak to her.  

Luka rumbled another laugh and gathered his energies to shift. Moments later he stood and walked to the edge of the water on soft, silent human feet, and resumed his lounging pose, leaning on one elbow. In only a moment Marinette glided up through the water, catching onto the end of his rock where it dipped into the sea and pulling her torso up onto it. Her gill slits flattened into her neck, becoming almost invisible as the webs between her fingers softened and receded. Her fins folded down, the poison spines laying flat along her tail, the fins themselves draping in artful folds around her, far more elegant to his eye than any human lady’s finest gown.  Her tail still swished behind her in the water; Marinette preferred not to change fully unless absolutely necessary (she claimed feet were itchy). Her dark hair pooled around her shoulders as her blue eyes lost their reflective shine, becoming more human as she gazed up with him with barely repressed excitement that made his heart beat faster.

There was no treasure in his hoard he valued more or found more beautiful than Marinette. And yet, she was the only treasure he couldn’t keep. 

But this was enough, and perhaps his moments with her were all the more precious for being fleeting. 

“Hi,” he smiled at her.

“I missed you!” she exclaimed. “You weren’t here last time I came.”

“You almost missed me again,” Luka said, lifting a hand to caress her cheek. “I was on my way out when I saw you.”

“Lucky timing for me then,” she giggled, catching his hand in her own. “I brought you something.”

Pure draconic greed made him shiver at the words, though he felt a little sad. He’d thought he’d made it clear they had gone far beyond such things. He butted his head against hers lightly. “You know you don’t have to bring me things,” Luka said. “I don’t need tribute from you.” He shifted and rubbed his human nose against hers gently. It was so inconvenient, being bound to these in-between forms that came naturally to neither of them. But it was the only way they could be together comfortably, so they accepted it.

Marinette pouted, but leaned her forehead into his. “It’s not tribute, it’s a gift. I like bringing you gifts.” 

Luka pulled back slightly so that he could see her eyes clearly again. Marinette smiled, sweet rather than playful this time. “Yes, I know what that means,” she said softly. “And you don’t have to accept my gifts if it bothers you. But I know what I feel. I know what you are to me.”

Luka was struck speechless for a long moment. Marinette searched his face, and then reached into the pouch she wore slung around her body, bringing out a necklace made of shining sea treasures. The centerpiece was a golden doubloon, plundered from some sunken human ship no doubt. The scent of gold made his nose twitch. The rest of the chain was strung with pretty shells, bits of sea glass, flashing bits of common metal that meant little to his kind but was precious to hers. 

Marinette set it on the rock and then pulled herself up further so that she could sit and face him. Luka drew himself up into a sitting position as well and pressed his face against hers, bringing up his human hands to cradle her face and hold her to him, overcome with emotion. “Will you accept my gift?” she asked him quietly, combing through his crest—hair—with her quick fingers, doing a much better job of tidying it than he had been able to manage on his own. It felt amazing.

“Yes,” he told her. “In a minute.” He released her and got to his feet, backing away to give himself room to shift. 

Marinette frowned. “Where are you going?” 

He smiled and answered her, just before the change took his voice. “I’ll be right back.” 

When he had his wings back, he reared back and lifted up. The short flight up to his lair took only a few wingbeats. It took a little longer to navigate the tunnels to the chamber that held the treasure he sought.

Luka had spent many an idle moment daydreaming about what he would give her if he could ever bring himself to ask her to bind herself to one not of her own kind. Why he had this piece forged, knowing he would never give it to her, he couldn’t say, but there it was in the box where he had long kept it.

He would never ask that sacrifice of her, but now that she was here, proclaiming her love in both his way and her own...he could hardly refuse her. He hardly wanted to.

Luka lifted the gift carefully in his talons. A necklace braided from the fur of his crest, which wouldn’t rot away in the water, and decorated with his scales, which flashed blue in the light like the shiny bits of metal her people coveted, but wouldn’t tarnish and would never need polishing. The centerpiece was a perfect blue diamond, the prized treasure of his hoard. A gift, as his culture demanded. A sacrifice, as demanded by hers. It was almost physically painful to part with it, but that was the point. Though, he wasn’t giving it up, not truly, not if Marinette wore it and Marinette was to be his, and that made it bearable. 

Luka couldn’t help himself as he neared the entrance of his cave. He planted his talons in the rock, took in as big a breath as he could hold, and loosed a roar that echoed over the water. He followed it with a gout of flame. He listened for a long moment, but no challenge answered his territorial cry, and he huffed in satisfaction before leaping into the air and gliding back down to the rock where Marinette waited for him.  

He didn’t change right away, pacing instead carefully to where she waited for him and lowering his head down to hers.

Marinette giggled, not shying away from his fangs or the horns spiraling up from his head or the spines along his neck as he rumbled happily, nuzzling her, shoving her gently with his muzzle until she laughed and draped herself across him, wrapped her arms as far around his face as she could. Luka gave a wicked dragon grin, blinking his large eyes at her once before he tossed his head, sending her with a startled yelp into the air and back into the ocean. He rumbled with laughter as she emerged, playfully indignant. Luka flicked his spiked tail smugly as she swam back—on top of the water, so she didn’t have to stop scolding him. Luka shifted, a human laugh in his throat. 

“That was mean,” she huffed, pulling herself back up on the rock.

“That was vengeance,” Luka chuckled. “You should know you can’t taunt a dragon without consequence, little fish.”

“Hmph,” Marinette pouted, folding her arms. Luka laughed again, coming to sit down as close to her as he could. 

“Now,” Luka said, leaning in. “Now I can accept your gift, provided you will accept mine in return.” 

He bent his head, and let Marinette lift the necklace over his hair and settle it on his shoulders. It was the only time he would wear it; he was already planning where he would make a place for it in his hoard. Marinette might pout, but it was his nature to hide away that which was precious to him. Surely she understood that by now.

He put his gift in her hands so she could inspect it. She squealed in delight over the glittering scales until he had to laugh at her, and then finally directed her attention to the gem at the center.

“What is it?” Marinette asked, fascinated with the way the light played along its facets. 

“A rare and precious thing, forged deep inside the earth by time and nature and honed with human arts into a thing of great beauty and value.” He nuzzled her cheek. “Besides your love, it is the greatest treasure I possess,” he told her as he pulled back, his eyes going to the bright blue gem almost against his will. He blinked and forced his gaze back to her face. “Humans will kill for this, my love.”

Marinette sniffed, still examining the pretty thing. “Humans will kill for anything.” 

“I am very serious, Marinette,” Luka said, curling a finger under her chin to tip her face up towards him. “You must keep it and yourself safe, or no force on this earth will be able to stop the destruction I’ll bring to the ones that hurt you.” He studied her face for a moment, and was satisfied by the solemn way she returned his gaze.

“I’m not helpless, Luka,” she reminded him, her fins flaring out slightly with her words, the sharp, poisonous barbs of her spines rustling. “I’ll keep it safe.” 

“Keep yourself safe,” Luka corrected her, taking the necklace back and slipping it over her head before bumping his forehead against hers. “I would trade every treasure in my hoard for your safety in a heartbeat.” 

Marinette shivered, covering his mouth. “Don’t say such things,” she whispered. “It feels like an omen. Besides you know I would never want you to do that because of me.”

“But I would,” he told her seriously, nuzzling her. “I wouldn’t be able to help it. You are mine now and anyone who takes you from me will learn the price paid by those who steal from dragons.” Luka put his arms around her and pulled her close, wishing he had wings to wrap her in, to hide her away from the world.

But he couldn’t. Every dragon knew how to care for his treasures. No matter how much he longed to hide her away, Marinette was a creature of freedom and the sea, and to take either of those from her would destroy everything precious about her. 

Marinette pulled herself close, pressed their foreheads briefly together, and then tilted her face to join her mouth to his. Kissing wasn’t something that came naturally to Luka, but the merfolk kissed, and so he had let Marinette teach him, to make her happy at first, but he quickly found why they were so fond of it. There was very little softness in his life, and he would have said he had no need for it until he felt Marinette’s lips on his own. Now kissing her was as easy as breathing and as hard to go without, the press of her sinuous body against his as welcome and as necessary as the touch of the sun on his scales. He combed his fingers through her hair, and lowered his head slightly so she could do the same to him. 

“Will you swim with me?” Marinette asked him.

“I’m not made for swimming,” he reminded her, chuckling, stroking the bend of her tail lightly. Her tiny scales were so different from his own armored plates, warmed from the sun and firm but pliant under his hand. 

“Humans can swim,” Marinette said, poking his human chest. “So can you. You can swim even as a dragon when you must, I’ve seen you. Surely you can swim with me for a little while as a human.” 

“Marinette,” Luka said gently, smoothing his hands down her arms. “Of course I will swim with you if you like, but you know it won’t be the same. It won’t be as it would with one of your own kind.” 

“I don’t want my own kind,” she said, using her grip on his shoulders to haul herself up even with his face. “I want you. I want you to kiss me and hold me and swim with me. It doesn’t matter if it’s not the same. It only matters that it’s you. I know a nice place where the waters are calm and even you can swim without fear,” she told him teasingly. “There's a cave where we can both rest. Together. In whatever form we choose.” She kissed him, and then nuzzled his cheek and nipped at his neck, lightly and then harder, making him jolt and gasp and growl with approval as she ran her tongue over the bite. She’d gotten as good at learning his ways of showing affection as he had at hers.

She smiled at him knowingly, and then with a twist of her body, plunged back into the water, looking up at him expectantly. 

“Can’t I follow you there?” he suggested. Her pout made her opinion of that clear and he sighed. 

Luka moved to the edge of the rock and slipped over to slide into the water. 

Marinette circled him, her fins brushing teasingly along his body, though she kept her poisonous spines tucked carefully away. She held out her hands to him and Luka took them. “There is one thing I must ask,” he said as she pulled him close, drawing his arms up around her neck and wrapping hers around his waist, holding him up in the water easily despite the waves. 

“Which is?”

“Promise me you will remember that only one of us has gills.” 

Marinette rolled her eyes at him even as her tail curled protectively around him. “That was one time, Luka!” 

“Once was enough, my treasure. I would prefer not to nearly drown a second time.”

Marinette wrinkled her nose at him. “You’re so dramatic.” 

“Dragon,” he reminded her, kissing her cheek and nuzzling her temple. “Do I need to remind you what happened the one time I took you flying with m—“

Marinette disappeared under the water and out from beneath his arms, and, unprepared, Luka went under for a moment. Then he felt Marinette’s arm around his chest and he broke the surface with a gasp, but she was already swimming, towing him along his back, and Luka was forced to shut his mouth to keep seawater out of it. He growled, but just relaxed and let her pull him along.

This pool was actually an accident, formed in a depression in the cave thanks to some cracks in the floor that must have been connected to the flooded tunnels, and even once the work was finished this second pool remained, refreshed by the seawater coming through the tiny fissures but without any openings large enough to allow anything unwelcome into their home.

Neither had thought much about this second pool at first, too absorbed in each other and in making their now joint home comfortable for them both, in their natural shapes and in the human forms they took to be together. As time went on, however, Marinette found herself lingering more and more in and around this second pool, decorating it with pretty pebbles and some of Luka’s prettier stone treasures. She felt his eyes on her every time she moved some of his treasures, but he never stopped her, cocking his great horned head at her occasionally, but keeping his peace. Marinette doubted he would have been so calm if she had moved his things closer to the mouth of the cave, but since the pool was tucked in the back and there was no danger of his treasures being lost or stolen, he let her do as she pleased, only complaining once when she began sifting through the particular pile of treasure he preferred to sleep in. Marinette pouted, and teased him about his draconic sleeping habits, and he shifted to human form to tease her back, until she tackled him back into the cold pile of his precious gold, straddled his hips, and busied his teasing tongue with other things. 

Some time later he watched without objection, sated and rather dazed, as she walked away with several sparkling gemstones in her hands. 

If he thought her sudden preoccupation with arranging rocks both precious and common in the second pool was odd, he said nothing of it, but she suspected he honestly thought little about it. Dragons were constantly rearranging their treasures, after all, so why would he think anything of it. Marinette hadn’t thought anything of the odd urge at first either, though it grew stronger and stronger. Now she became unbearably restless at the thought of leaving this safe, secure pool, securely guarded both by natural location and her mate’s looming presence, supplied with fresh seawater, and cushioned at the bottom with...oh.

“Luka,” she said, looking down at the bowl of rocks she’d created in the pool. Looking down at her...nest. “I think I need to talk to my mother.”

Luka tilted his head and blinked at her, a draconic expression of puzzlement she was quite familiar with. Marinette bit her lip, and looked up at him, trying to decide whether she should speak before she could be sure. 

But how could one be sure of things one didn’t believe to be possible in the first place? 

Impulsively she put up her arms and Luka lowered his head at once, allowing her to wrap her arms around his muzzle and press her face into his scales. A noise came from his throat, the gentle croon of a dragon comforting its mate. One of the quietest noises he was capable of making in this form, she still felt it vibrate through her bones and she felt a sudden, irrational panic that it might hurt something that shouldn’t be there at all. “Stop,” she gasped, “Be quiet!” Luka fell silent, head drawing up slightly in surprise. “No—“ she cried, clinging onto him, and he froze “Don’t leave me.” 

A concerned rumble cut off almost as soon as it began. 

“Luka,” she whispered, “I think I’m carrying.” She peeked up at him, and could see that he didn’t understand. She pushed off of his muzzle and straightened, feeling a pang of annoyance. She didn’t know the right word to use, what one called a dragon who was—Ah, tides take it. “Eggs, Luka. I’m carrying eggs. Your eggs.”

It was good that she’d let go of him because his head reared high on his long neck in shock, until he banged his horns against the rock ceiling. Marinette covered her ears as he bellowed in pain. “Luka!” she shrieked, and he quieted at once, feet shuffling comically on the stone floor as he bent and nosed her anxiously in another familiar gesture that meant sorry, sorry.

Then his head tilted slightly and he inhaled deeply, nose pressed to her skin. He turned his head to blow the smoke of his exhale away from her, agitation stoking his inner fire beyond his ability to fully contain it, and then pressed his nose to her middle and inhaled again. Again he blew his smoke away from her, but when he looked back his eyes were soft. 

“You think so too,” she murmured, dipping a hand in the water to caress the pebbles she had arranged so carefully. “You can scent it?”

He stepped away from her and she felt the surge of magic as he shifted, and then his strong arms enfolded her and she leaned back into his chest with a sigh. 

“I can’t be sure,” Luka said near her ear. “You smell different, but I can’t be sure that’s why.”

“Why else would it be?” Marinette asked, a little irritated by his doubt. Now that she had voiced it, she was sure it was so. “Surely you’ve been around me enough to recognize all the normal changes in my scent.” 

Unruffled, Luka nuzzled her neck. “Most of them. But the scent of the sea is so strong it has taken longer than you might imagine. It’s not impossible this is something else.” He paused, and added hesitantly, “And even if it is as we think, we shouldn’t get our hopes up too high, my treasure. We have no way of knowing whether they will be viable.” Despite his words, she felt his hope in the way his hands spread possessively over her belly. 

“Pessimist,” she teased him anyway, rubbing her face along his cheek. 

“Dragon,” he reminded her, butting his head lightly against her. “How soon can you speak with Sabine?”

“As soon as you let me go,” she teased.