#I DIDNR PROOF READ THIS SO SORRY IN ADVANCE

[steveshairychest]

here's some merman Eddie that I got a little carried away with <3

~

Steve's dad has been taking him fishing for years, it's the only thing they can do together without fighting.

It's always over summer break. They pack their bags and fly out to the same island every year and spend nearly every day out on a rented boat just fishing and making small talk here and there. His mother usually sunbathes on the beach and waves at them with her book every now and then to ensure them she hasn't passed out from heat stroke.

Steve will admit he doesn't actually go because he likes fishing. He really hates fishing. He hates sitting in the sun for hours on end, hardly ever catching anything and having to listen to his dad drone on about the stock market. No, he comes to the island for a very different reason.

He first met this reason when he was 9. He saw it from his bedroom window one night, splashing in the shallow end of the water. At first, he thought it was a beached dolphin or a baby whale, so he ran down to the dark beach without bothering to wake his parents, but by the time he made it down to the waterfront, it was gone. A pile of shells and pretty rocks sat in the water where the splashing had been. Steve took one of the pearly white shells and placed it on his windowsill.

The splashing happened again the next night, the sound of fins hitting water so loud it woke him up. He peeked out his window once again, but this time, the moon was large and bright in the sky, and it illuminated the shape of a boy in the water. Steve panicked. He was only 9, he didn't know what to do when someone was drowning but that didn't stop him from running down to the water with one of his floaties. The boy didn't notice Steve until he threw the floatie at him and yelled, "Grab on! I'll save you!"

Dark eyes shone under the moon and stopped Steve in his tracks almost immediately when they narrowed at him from just above the waters surface. Steve's floatie bobbed in the water next to the boy, but he made no move to grab it. Steve was scared, unable to move when the boy lifted his head out of the water and pointed at him with webbed fingers. "You. Give it back." He snarled through sharp teeth.

Steve opened and closed his mouth, trying to force words to come out, but he was too afraid. The thing in the waves looked like an ordinary boy, he was probably even the same age as Steve, but he was terrifying. "The shell. Give it back. It's mine." It shoved Steve's floatie away as it bumped into him and swam closer to the waters edge. Soft waves lapped at his bare torso as he sat in the shallows, his legs - no, tail, sitting out in front of him. Steve stared in shock, his mind screaming so many warnings at him, but all he could think was 'pretty'. He thought he must have been dreaming. "The shell. Go get it." It splashed water at Steve angrily, which caused Steve to finally unfreeze and run back to the house. He tripped multiple times as he kept turning back to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, that the boy was still angrily sitting there.

"I - I'll go get your shell. Wait there!" He yelled behind him.

Steve didn't learn the creature's name until he was 15.

Every summer break, he practically dragged his family to the airport so that he could visit the boy with the glittering tail that visited him under the light of the moon. Steve asked him his name many times, but each time the boy shook his head. "Names are sacred. I can't trust you with it yet." He only ever spoke in short sentences, and sometimes he sat for a while, his dark gaze focused on something beneath the waves as he struggled to find the right words. English wasn't his native language. He taught Steve a few words whenever they waded in the shallows together. He'd hold up a shell and say what he called it, and when Steve repeated the name correctly, the boy would smile so wide Steve could see nearly all his razor-sharp teeth.

It was Steve's last night there when the boy finally told him his name. They were out a bit deeper, Steve treading water and enjoying the slight brush of the boy's tail against his legs as they talked about the stars. "That is my star." He pointed with a webbed finger up at one of the brightest stars in the sky. "It is named Eddie, after me."

It took Steve a moment to realise what he said. His eyes widened and he nearly slipped under the water as he excitedly exclaimed. "You told me your name!" After 6 years of swimming and learning about this boys' strange underwater world, he finally knew his name.

The boy - Eddie nodded once and looked back up at his star. "You are special. Can trust you." Steve could have sworn he saw a blush creep across his pale cheeks that night. Before Steve could say anything else, Eddie swam closer to him and whispered, "You must not tell anyone else. My name is yours to keep. Yours only." This was important. Steve could tell by the way Eddie held his gaze, something he rarely ever did. This close, Steve could see just how much he's changed over the years, not anything drastic, it was all little things. The sharpness of his jaw, the scar on his brow, the markings on his chest and arms, the length of his hair; it had been just above his jaw when they'd first met, but now it hung in waves and brushed the tops of his shoulders. He wondered what other changes would happen in the years to come.

He hoped he could be around to see them all.

Steve had his first kiss, well, first kiss that really mattered, when he was 18.

He was aware of his feelings for Eddie for a long time but he was too scared to act on them. He dated other girls, never guys, and searched for that warm, tingly feeling he felt whenever he was with Eddie. But he never found it. At night, he opened his window and stared up at the brightest star in the sky, Eddie's star, and hoped that Eddie was looking up at it too. He started to hate coming home from their island holiday. Each year, he felt more and more of himself be left behind with Eddie in the comfort of the waves.

"I hate leaving you." Steve whispered while tying a new shell into Eddie's hair. Every year he visited, Eddie handed him a shell and told Steve to tie it into his hair. He told him it was something to remember Steve by. "I have nothing to remind me of you." He said while gently touching the first shell he ever tied in; it was the shell he stole all those years ago, the one Eddie forced him to return.

Eddie looked down at the water and hummed in thought. They sat on a rock, so only the end of his tail was submerged and he repeatedly lifted it out of the water before letting it splash softly back down into the cold sea as he thought. He always seemed so fidgety whenever they sat like this, his hands fiddled with the necklace that sat just above his collarbones and his eyes were never off the water for long. "I can give you something." He said after a moment of silence.

Steve perked up immediately. "Really? What is it?" He asked, unable to keep the eagerness out of his voice. Eddie never let him take any shells home so he knew it wasn't going to be that. A rock, maybe? He'd be happy with one of Eddie's favourite rocks.

"Close your eyes." Eddie said softly, his cold hand rested on Steve's thigh and caused him to shiver. "No peeking." Steve immediately did what he instructed. He screwed his eyes shut tight and listened for anything that could give away what Eddie was going to give him. Cold hands brushed against Steve's neck before resting on his bare shoulders, the touch almost feather light. Maybe the gift is a necklace? "Don't move." Eddie whispered.

And then there was a gentle pressure against Steve's lips and he felt that warm, tingly feeling spread throughout his entire body as he realised that Eddie was kissing him. Before Eddie could pull away, Steve threaded his hands into his soft, wet hair and deepened the kiss. It was wet and messy and a little uncoordinated, but it was the best kiss of Steve's life. When he slipped his tongue into Eddie's mouth and traced the sharp edge of teeth, Eddie made a noise that sounded a lot like a growl, and he pulled Steve as close as possible. Sharp nails lightly scratching his skin.

"Never forget me." Eddie said against Steve's lips.

"I couldn't even if I tried."

Eddie does end up giving Steve a necklace to take home. It's made of a variety of shells and stones, and it becomes a source of comfort when he leaves.

His friends ask why he turned down every girl that seemed interested and, unable to tell them he thinks he might be in a relationship with a merman, he shrugged and said that none of them were his type. He knew that whatever was going on between him and Eddie wasn't healthy or sustainable, but he's never felt more alive than when he's diving underneath the waves hand in hand with Eddie. Sure, Eddie didn't always understand him, was nocturnal, ate an exclusive diet of fish, and sometimes even brought Steve dead fish he'd just caught, but those were all things he loved about him.

Oh. Oh.

He was in love with Eddie.

His parents no longer come to the island, his father says he's too old, and his mother doesn't talk to him anymore. Steve's 22 now. He's turned down every beautiful girl his parents have tried to set him up with and instead of taking up his father's offer to join their family business, Steve works as a conservationist on his lover's island. He lives in his parent's holiday house, which is now equipped with a salt water pool that connects to the sea, and has a dog to keep him company during the day while Eddie is sleeping.

He's happy, content, and so, so in love, it's ridiculous. Eddie wakes at around 5pm every night and usually spends the first few hours awake with his family; who Steve has actually met. They sometimes come up with Eddie to Steve's pool and watch him potter around his house at night. After a while of listening to his family ask Steve nonstop questions, Eddie flicks his tail in irritation and hisses at them to leave in a language Steve's slowly learning. "Mine. Not yours." He growls at them. Steve's learned over the years that Eddie is very territorial and doesn't like sharing what is his, which includes Steve.

"Hi, my love." Steve sits down on the pools edge and smiles down at Eddie as he rests his head on Steve's lap. Some nights, they just sit and talk, Eddie's getting better at English and loves when Steve teaches him a new word. Some nights, they swim for hours and add to Eddie's shell collection that lines the edges of Steve's pool.

"I have something for you." Eddie says softly one night, only his head poking out the top of the water as he wades in the waves. A pale, webbed hand lifts out of the water and beckons Steve to leave his spot on the sand and join him in the icy waters. "Come here, my Steve." He calls into the night.

They're chest to chest in the water now, the scales underneath Eddie's eyes glitter in the light of the moon as he looks up at Steve. "Your people give rings to their lovers, yes?" Steve nods, fingers brushing over the scales at the base of his spine. "My people give pearls." He reaches into the little pouch that is tied around his waist, he keeps all his treasures in there, and pulls something out. He keeps it hidden in his fist and holds it out for Steve. "I made this for you, for us." He's nervous, Steve can tell by the way he keeps looking down at the water instead of at Steve.

"You made me something?" Steve says in awe as he lifts his hand and accepts the small treasure from Eddie. It's light and fits perfectly in the palm of his hand. When he looks down at the gift, his heart feels like its about to jump out of his throat. "Oh, Eddie." There's tears in his eyes as he carefully picks up the silver ring, a beautiful pearl adorns the top of the ring and catches the light of the moon as Steve slips it onto his finger. It fits perfectly. "It's beautiful. I love it."

Eddie beams and lifts his other hand to show Steve the matching ring on his finger. It doesn't sit as far down on his finger like Steve's because of the webbing. "We are- what's the word? Wives?"

Steve laughs and leans forward to rest his forehead against Eddie's. He's changed so much since that first day on the beach. There are more scales dusting his cheeks and neck, more shells in his hair and lines around his eyes when he smiles up at Steve. "Husbands is the word you're looking for."

Eddie hums and wraps his arms around Steve's neck, his cold fingers playing with the short hairs at the base of his neck. "Husbands sounds nice." He kisses his favourite mole on Steve's cheek and sighs happily, his tail brushing against Steve's legs.

"Yeah, yeah, it does."