I don't know what I'm doing.
Eren POV
"Down here, brat!" I heard him sneer. I looked down at the sand.
"What?"
"In the water, damn. Do I have to spell it out?" I looked over in the water. There was a swimmer at the edge of the cave, keeping his distance away from me. He was low in the water, his mouth barely peeking out of the water. What really drew me in was his eyes. They were a hypnotic bright gray. I wanted to see them up close.
"There you go. Now get out." He sounded mad. I crawled down to the water and just let my feet sit in the warmth. I squinted my eyes at him.
"Why?" I asked. I wanted to know why he was so angry.
"Because this is my water, and you are a dirty little brat."
"Why is it your water?" I snapped. He narrowed his eyes and then his head disappeared below the dark water.
"Hey!" I yelled. This guy was an asshole!
I felt something grab my feet suddenly and I screamed. I jerked my feet back and they pulled out of the water along with two pale wrists still holding them. Impossible! There was no way he could have crossed the cave that quickly! His head popped out of the water and he jerked me down. My body slid halfway into the water and his face was very, very close to mine. I rested on my elbows and my back ached with the sudden bending. Those eyes I had wanted to see more of were gazing intensely into mine.
"It's my water because I say it is." He growled. He pressed his nose into my neck and inhaled deeply.
"What the hell! Why are you sniffing me?" I felt the need to get away from him. I twisted my legs and kicked out. My leg brushed something scaly and I screamed.
"Shut up!" He snapped. Something big and gray lifted out of the water behind him and I screamed louder. It snapped forward suddenly, throwing water over us both. I closed my eyes quickly and started coughing up water. I felt something on my neck and I opened my eyes to find him buried in my neck.
"Why are you doing that?" I asked. I was trembling. I should have listened to Mikasa; I shouldn't have come here looking for mermaids.
"I'm curious." He said, as if that explained anything. I felt his warm tongue dart out and lick up my neck.
"What the hell!" He let go of my legs and put his arms on either side of my waist. He pressed his chest against mine.
"You taste weird and you smell weirder." He stated.
"Thanks!" I huffed sarcastically. He cocked his head.
"It's not bad; it's just different." I swallowed. I didn't know what to say. I looked into his eyes for a moment and blushed. He was a very attractive man and I was very gay.
"What's that?" He asked, cocking his head to the side like a puppy.
"What's what?"
"Your face. It's turning red."
"You don't know what a blush is?" I blinked at him. What the hell was happening? He sighed and that big gray thing rose up out of the water again. This time I got a closer look at it. Was that a tail? It dropped back down and I opened my mouth.
"Scream and I will hit you." He warned. "It's just my fucking tail."
"Your tail?" My voice sounded shaky, even to my ears.
He rolled his eyes. "Obviously dumbass."
"You're a mermaid?" I asked.
He narrowed his eyes. "No. I am a merman."
"I-I'm sorry." I was dreaming.
"Nevermind that now, brat, tell me why your face is red."
I blushed harder. He leaned even closer, staring at my cheeks.
"I'm blushing."
"Which is what?"
I bit my lip. I was explaining blushing to a sexy merman who had me pinned down in his cave. I was either dead or dreaming and I wasn't sure which one.
"Just fucking tell me." He sighed. He pushed himself away at arm's length. I saw ripples form behind him from his tail moving back.
"When, um, humans feel," I bit my lip, "embarrassed or uncomfortable, blood rushes to the surface of the skin of their cheeks." He was looking at me so intensely.
"Um, you see, blush is a contraction of blood and rush…" I said.
"You are embarrassed or uncomfortable?"
"Yes. Both."
"Why?" He cocked his head again.
"Because you're kinda, um, really close to me." I looked away from him.
"My proximity makes you uncomfortable?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Look, can we talk about something else? Talking about it makes it worse." I said, meeting his eyes. "I'm Eren, what's your name?"
I hoped to distract him.
"Levi." He pushed completely away from me and I pulled back up onto the bank. I curled my legs up and hugged them to my chest.
He laid on his stomach on the bank next to me, his tail resting in the water. I saw about two feet of it and leaned closer to it. His gray tail was made up of complex patterns of green tinted gray and blue tinted gray. The scales shimmer and gleamed in the moonlight. I reached a hand out to touch it.
"Don't you dare." His voice was icy.
"I'm sorry!" I went back to hugging my wet legs with both arms. I looked away.
"It's intimate." He said, his voice softer, "To touch tails is only a privilege given to a mate."
"Really?" I turned toward him. "I'm sorry I tried to touch you, then. I didn't know!"
He shrugged. "How could you have known? No big deal."
"Well… I did read a book on merpeople!" I said proudly. I laid down on my back so we could be eye level. He couldn't sit up next to me because of the silky looking fin that rose out of his tail. I wondered if could extend it or tuck it in like some fish.
He raised his eyebrows. "Did you now?"
"I did! It was great!" I was so excited. Dream or not, this was incredible.
"What did you learn?" His voice was playful.
"So much!" I smiled at him. "I don't know how much is right, though, because you're the first merman I've ever met!"
"I can tell. Feel free to ask questions. I asked you about the blushing." He said, propping himself up on his elbows and leaning over a bit.
"Are you warm water or cold water?" I asked.
His eyes flashed. "You did read about us then. I'm cold water." He hummed. "Do you know what that means?"
"It means your parents are from a cold water ecosystem. You're more aggressive than warm waters. I didn't think around here was cold water, though." I said to him.
He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not from around here, brat. But you are right about the aggression."
"So why are you not in a cold-"
"None of your business." He snapped.
"Okay!" I leaned away from him. He was scary.
"Sorry, brat. This is the first time I've met a human that wasn't trying to kill me." He said sadly. I remembered the passage in the book on mermaid hunters. I shivered. Their practices of tracking down merpeople and setting nets in their home caves only to cut their tails off sounded barbaric.
"So…" I said to bring him away from the sad topic, "is this cave your claimed home?"
He nodded. "I have claimed this cave."
"Is that why you don't like me here? Because I'm another male on your territory?"
"Don't flatter yourself, brat. You're no threat to me or my territory." Levi smirked.
"I didn't mean that! Of course I'm no threat. I don't want to hurt you! It's just that I read that cold water mermen tend to run off any males that come in their homes because of competition for girls."
He snorted. "I'm not interested in mermaids, Eren." I wondered what that was about.
"Neither am I, for what's it's worth…" I said.
"You wouldn't mate with one of us?" He asked, cocking his head to the side. Shit, was he offended?
"No! It's not that I have anything against your species. I'm just gay as hell." I said quickly.
He was very quiet. I had to fix the silence, I didn't want to lose my only merman friend. Even if we had just met and this is all a dream. Just my luck, to lose a friend in my own damn dreams…
"So why do you not want to mate?" I asked him, wondering if it was too personal. "Do you not want kids?"
"I never said I didn't want to mate, Eren." He sighed.
"You said you didn't want mermaids – oh! Oh! You're gay?" I laid on my side, propping my head up on my arm.
"For a gay man, you sure as hell have a time figuring out other gay men." He shifted towards me. "That's probably why you're single."
"Maybe…" I whispered. Then I realized what he had said. "How did you know I was single?"
"Your scent is very much your own. You haven't been scented by a mate. You smell so pure that I'd bet you're a virgin, too." Levi said.
I looked away. My face was hot.
"You're doing that thing humans do."
"Let's not discuss my virginity." I tried to smile at him. "I want to hear about you. Can I meet your mate?"
"I don't have one." He hummed.
"Waiting til it's closer to the full moon?" I was glad we were off the topic of my virginity.
"So you read about our mating cycle?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah! It was really interesting."
He leaned forward. "I guess you could say that I'm waiting for the moon, yes."
"It must be hard for you, being a cold water merman. You can't mate as long as the others, can you."
He shook his head. "That is true, but my mating is more… intense."
I blushed hard. He reached a hand out and stroked my cheeks. I gulped. His hands were warm and just a little wet.
"A warm water mermaid would mate, say, 3 times in a day, while I can go and go and go…." He continued. My eyes widened.
"My record is ten times. I mostly average about 7 times. So, with 7 times in one day for 3 days, it's equal to 3 times in one day for a week." I squeaked. Holy shit. Why was he telling me such details?
"Cold waters often form stronger bonds with mates, too. We live in a harsher climate. Us and our young die easier, so we form strong bonds to protect our mates and our young." He stroked my cheeks again.
"I will admit that I miss mating the mating cycle is over. There are ways merpeople make each other feel good, though. We stroke each other's tails and it feels like when I'm in human form and my mate strokes my pe-"
"Whoa there!" I said, loudly. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because it makes you blood rush." He said like it explained everything.
"You can just say blush. Do merpeople not blush?"
He shook his head. "No. When we get flustered, our fins tremble."
My mouth fell open.
"No way!"
He nodded. "Sometimes, if we are really flustered, our gills will wiggle."
"Your gills?"
He leaned head back far and gestured to the exposed flesh of his neck. I sat up and leaned close. There were three parallel slits just under his jaw bone under his ear.
"Holy shit! Can I touch?" I brought my hand a couple inches from his gills. "Or is it intimate?"
"It's a little intimate, but nothing like touching tails." He looked into my eye and I bit my lip.
"Go on, but don't touch too long…" He warned. "I'll get horny."
"Are you sure?" I wasn't sure how I would feel about a sexy, horny mermaid. Was my dream going to end up as a sex dream? It wouldn't surprise me. I had had plenty of them. I was probably still asleep in the cave. I wondered if Mikasa was out looking for me.
"Go on, brat."
I reached out and traced the gills with only my fingertips to start with. He gasped. I pulled back, and he looked at me with dark eyes. I hesitantly put my whole hand on his neck. The gills were warm and wet. I massaged them with my fingertips, wondering what it felt like to him. Apparently touching his tail was like touching my dick, so this was what? I pressed harder, feeling them flutter. He leaned his head back further, and I watched them. The flutters were almost… cute. I was going to massage more, but I heard him moan. The sound was low and thick in the warm air. I felt something twist inside me.
"Stop." He gasped. I removed my hands immediately.
"Sorry." I laid back down, I wanted to seem as nonthreatening as possible.
"I knew what it would feel like when I gave you permission to touch." He swallowed hard. I saw something move behind him and glanced down. His fin was trembling. I had made him blush! Well, the merpeople equivalent of blushing.
"Thank you for letting me do that." I said quietly. He was watching me darkly. I propped myself up on my elbows while his moan replayed in my ears. He leaned down my face. I counted the inches between our lips. 5…4…3….2…1…
I whimpered as he pressed his lips to mine. They were warm and tasted like the sea. I reached my hand up and tangled them in his hair. Just as I felt his tongue licking at my lips, wanting me to open up for him, I heard Mikasa.
"EREN!" She was outside the cave, on the dangerous side of the cove, scrambling over the rocks.
"Oh fuck me." I whispered against his mouth. His eyes went wide.
"It's not mating cycle, Eren." He said.
"Not you, Mikasa."
"Is that who's calling your name?"
"Yes." I sighed. "That's my sister." I kissed him briefly again.
"It's time for me to wake up." I sat up. I had to go.
"Eren? Will you come back?" Levi asked, grabbing my hand.
"EREN!" Her voice sounded further away. "STOP LOOKING FOR MERMAIDS, COME THE FUCK ON!"
"You came looking for me?" Levi asked. He let go of my hand. He looked down. "Don't come back, Eren."
"What?" I was confused. "You just asked if I would-"
"I know what I fucking said. Leave and don't come back." He pushed off the bank and flipped around. I saw his tail rise up before going back down, splashing me. I spurted the water out of my mouth then scrambled up the bank to the rocky side of the cove. I slipped as soon as I got out, I tripped and cut my knees and hands open on the jagged rocks. This is why no one comes over here.
"MIKASA! SISTER!" I screamed while wiping the blood form my palms on my swim trunks.
"EREN!" I saw her swing her flashlight over to me and saw it bob up and down as she ran over here. My head was spinning. He let me touch him. He kissed me. He told me to stay away. Why? Because we're different species?
I would come back tomorrow. I glanced down at the dark entrance to the cave where Levi lived. I frowned at the jagged rocks that lined the entrance. The only safe entrance was underwater. I would be here tomorrow night. I swore it.
I'm going to have so much fun writing the mating cycle scenes.