Yugo, kicked his tail as fast as he could, seashell tucked in the crook of his arm. Damn it, he hadn't expected it to take so long to find just the right shell. He thought he had buried it in just the right place, but who knew hundreds of others were also buried right around there.
Whatever, he couldn't think about that right now. Just had to make it in time. With a final push, he swam to the surface just in time to see her flying towards him.
"Hey!" Yugo yelled, waving his free hand in an attempt to grab her attention. "I found you something!"
With a supernatural grace, she descended to hover right over the water. Once her natural coolness froze a little patch, her stilt-like legs landed with a soft thud. Now situated, she looked at him with bright golden eyes as if he was the most fascinating thing in the world.
"Look I found another shell for you!" He held it up towards her, and immediate she broke out into a fit of chirping. Her feathered arms took it out of his hands and began examining each inch of it feverishly.
"Glad you like it, I guess." Whatever this creature was, she didn't speak merfolk. Still Yugo liked her company all the same.
They had met under similar circumstances to this. He had come to the surface to check on what could be causing the new cold currents others had been complaining about, only to find this creature swooping down in an attempt to eat him. After it was established he was not the type of the fish she usually ate (or at least too big for her to carry off) Yugo noticed the ice that seemed to follow her movements. A long and complicated conversation between two people who didn't speak the same language followed, and eventually they established that she couldn't hang out over these waters for long times. However until she found different hunting waters, Yugo would get food for her.
Well by now there was somewhere else she hunted, but they still kept up their meetings. He found this strange creature beautiful and fun to hang out with. He was just lucky that she seemed to feel the same.
Just then, Yugo was brought out of his thoughts by her incessant chirping.
"Wait, what is it you're saying now?"
The creature pointed at the shell and motioned him giving it to her while frowning.
"Don't feel bad about accepting it. There are plenty seashells in the ocean. It's not like I need it."
She continued to grumble, this time pantomiming herself giving him something.
"Oh do you want to return the favor? Don't worry about that, it's no problem. I mean the point of a gift is that you aren't expecting–" The creature interrupted him by pressing a quick peck against his mouth.
Her lips were cool as can be, freezing him in place. Yet despite their chill, he found his face heating up. Meanwhile she only giggled in response to his state, green locks fluttering all nice while she grinned from ear to ear. There was only one logical response to this.
"Gotta go, see you later!" Yugo dove back down as quickly as he could. Once there was an acceptable distance between them, somehow he managed to calm down long enough to trace his lips as he recalled the incident.
This wasn't too bad if he thought about it in the long run. Aside from the surprise, the kiss wasn't bad at all. He might even get used to it eventually.
The mere thought of there being anything to get used to caused him to become flustered all over again. It just might take him ten or so years.
A.N. For colorfulwatcher on tumblr and the YGOME17 and inspired but this piece of art from nevs-sketchbook on tumblr:/post/165833313009/the-water-would-grow-frigid-denying-her-the