Cloud Strife had a secret ...
Everyone knew that he was hiding something, and those who thought they knew only saw the surface and assumed that he was just shy about his brewing musical talents. He'd steal away with his lute and play in his house on the edge of the marsh, locked up tight far from people and listening ears. Those who followed Cloud, curious about his secretive winter practice room, heard him play and play for hours, singing along in a voice they'd never expect from a youth like him. Finally, when the cold got too much for the impatient watchers, they'd approach and knock on his door, hands clasped or clapping with words full of praise.
The quiet man accepted their words, and softly encouraged them to leave him alone to practice. Normally it was all he needed to say, and the villagers or strangers left with smiles, confident in their new knowledge that they understood Cloud Strife a little better. Occasionally they insisted on staying and listening to him play, but never sing.
Curiosity satisfied, they always left after that.
However ...
Cloud shut the door on his latest visitor, sighing as he leaned against the wood. "That was close …"
"Are they gone?" his friend, the singer, peeked out from under a blanket thrown over a tin bath in the corner. He crossed his arms on the rim and leaned his head against them, looking up fondly, "They always interrupt on the best parts."
Cloud agreed, he walked over to the bath and touched his friend's arm, concerned, "Are you too cold?"
"I'm fine. Much better than being out there frozen in the lake. Play that song again, please?"
They returned to their musical passtime, bringing the lute to rest on his arm and purposefully stroked and plucked the strings in an enchanting melody that wafted out over the slow flowing river and its many pools from their house. In their four walls they were hidden and safe, and Cloud's friend began to sing.
"To feel your heart beating fast,
And stay there as I whisper.
How I loved your peaceful eyes on me ...
Did you ever know, that I had mine on you?"
The person in the tin tub reached out to touch Cloud's face, and the music stalled. Cloud's friend chuckled, "Wrong note, Cloud."
Cloud blushed, "I can't focus when you do that, Squall."
'Squall' turned over, looking up at Cloud with his head leaned back and up, smiling in the water with a sly look in his eyes, "Oh? And what is so distracting about my hands?" he held them up, the soft webbing between them drawing Cloud's eyes. They were slightly scaly, tiny flexible scales like that on a fish.
Squall tilted his head, "You humans always praise us Mers for our voices; not our scales or touches, or … kisses."
The merman laughed aloud, splashing a little water over the tin tub as Cloud dropped his lute with a face entirely mortified!
"B-But who would you have kissed to know that?!" He slapped a hand over his mouth and groaned, "Are you saying your kind is also good at kissing along with your many other talents?" he pouted, the merman always managed to tease him. Though, he supposed the merman had no other way of entertaining himself … stuck in the only pool of unfrozen water for many miles.
It had … allegedly, been Cloud's fault for getting the merman trapped.
Months previously, Cloud had used the open air and nature's many inspirations to play his lute, humming along and singing whenever he felt like it. And it drew many ears, from both his scarcely populated village, animals, and even a stray merman exploring uncharted waters (uncharted by merfolk standard).
Unbeknownst to Cloud, Squall was often laying in the murky depths nearby, listening to Cloud play his instrument with utter rapture. Merfolk had no such string instruments, the merman was enchanted by the sound and endeared by the words.
For weeks they did not see each other, but occasionally they heard each other. Singing along to the same song, Squall growing bolder when Cloud made no such attempts to seek him out beyond their first few duets.
But then winter arrived and disrupted their distant, musical routine.
Cloud woke up to hear sounds of frantic splashing. He'd left his house to investigate and discovered something incredible, and heart-breaking.
There was a merman trapped in the ice. The hard cold of the mountain had swept in so suddenly the marsh and all it's rivers had frozen solid. Squall had woken from his slumber to find his tail frozen in place and only his arms free to reach the surface, punching through the icy ceiling.
Cloud ran to help and tugged him free, and they met face to face for the first time.
Squall, of course, couldn't return to the river until the thaw and so Cloud surrendered his bath and filled it with warm water for the merman to recline in, instinctively knowing that his encounter had to be kept the utmost secret. It was mere days afterwards that Cloud picked up his lute and played; Squall recognised the sound and sang to the tunes, and the whole story came out.
Their routine had changed, but it had also stayed very much the same. The still sang and played and tried to reach each other by music alone- but their proximity led to a closer friendship than a disembodied voice through a layer of water.
Squall watched the water trickle off of his own webbed fingers, feigning boredom. "I'll have you know I'm an excellent kisser."
"Oh." Cloud turned away, ears going red when Leon chuckled at him, he threw logs on the fire and sat back to enjoy the warmth. "Any reason you brought that up?" he shot back, to make himself feel a little better.
The merman was thoughtful for a while. "You always sing love songs, I thought you would be interested in lover's affairs," he admitted, humming a few lines about longing and lips from other ballads and tunes that had become their favourites over the wintertime.
Cloud shrugged, "That's gossip."
"Not if it's you."
The blond raised an eyebrow, "You're very insistent …"
"You're not answering the question," Squall whined.
"Yes I have!" Cloud groaned "I don't think about those things … but I am now you've mentioned it so damn much, cheers you Fish."
"Half-fish. You should be thinking about them, you sing about lovers so much yet you've never had one. You'll learn how to sing and play better if you were playing it to someone who invoked the same emotion captured in a song."
Cloud raised an eyebrow, "Right. And what does that life lesson have to do with you being a good kisser?"
Squall was quiet, his version of blushing since mermen apparently didn't turn bright colours when extremely embarrassed or flustered. He sank a bit more into the water up to his nose and sighed out a huffy stream of bubbles.
Cloud couldn't help but laugh, that was such a cute reaction. Squall was cute when he sulked. "If you wanted a kiss you could have just asked me," he said, leaning over the rim of the bath to see Squall sulking below the waterline.
"It's not that simple," Squall sighed, turning over to peer up at Cloud. "You just said you weren't interested."
Cloud shook his head, "I said I never thought about kissing, not that I wouldn't kiss you if you asked, come here." He cupped Squall's head and sweetly joined their lips in a peck, one that had Leon's tailfins curling. Cloud felt oddly pleased.
Squall was a lot happier after he kiss, and his voice was richer and tender like a lover's when he sang, eyes soft on Cloud while he plucked the strings of his lute. Cloud privately agreed that Squall was right, playing a love song with and for someone you loved made everything in the experience better.
Though, he hoped Squall would just ask next time. Because if he had to pick at Cloud's music to get to the root of what he wanted then this would be a very long winter. For the moment, though, Cloud was content for the thaw to take it's time. Keeping Squall all to himself until then sounded absolutely perfect.