Phichit briskly pumped his tail to propel himself forward, using the drift from the gentle current as momentum. Elated, he let out a clear laugh, his heart light and his spirit merry. Sunlight from above the surface cast beautiful, moving patterns onto the seabed. Small fish of every hue swam alongside attempting to race him, but they were far too slow. He grinned gleefully and twirled in the water, holding his arms close to his body to decrease drag.

Ah, the only thing that would make this better would be to have Yuuri there with him. Phichit had tried to locate his friend earlier that morning, but nobody seemed to know where he had gone. Worry gnawed at his stomach, and he told himself that Yuuri was probably fine. But he had been acting so depressed lately… He'd gone through this before, but it had gotten far worse after he'd returned. Phichit should go find him and see if he was doing okay.

Hmm… Where did Yuuri like to hide? He tended to retreat to the kelp grove or his family's armory, but he'd already checked both of those locations, and the other merman was nowhere to be found. Phichit racked his brain. Where else? Well, there were the decaying remains of an old human pier that Yuuri sometimes frequented, the cave that they had played in when they were smaller, or the coral reef that was farther down the coast. The cave was the closest, so he would start there.

Phichit swerved out of the current, tumbling and wheeling through the water when he exited. The cave was to the… East, if his memory served him correctly. Mission in his head, he quickly began swimming through the thick seaweed plants, some sticking to his scales. He pushed out of the thicket and gazed out over the relatively flat landscape. Ah, yes, this was starting to look familiar. Nostalgic memories of him and Yuuri when they were little ghosted through his mind. He hadn't been in this area for a long time.

On the horizon, a large shape began to come into view as he approached it. Soon, he was in front of a ginormous, imposing rock jutting out of the sea floor. It stretched nearly to the eaves above, sloping upwards like a small mountain. There, about halfway up the craggy surface, was an opening that was difficult to spot unless you already knew it was there. He wriggled his crimson tail, swimming up to the entrance to the cave. It was just big enough for an adult mer to pass through horizontally comfortably.

Phichit entered, his pelvic fins grazing the sides of the hole. He was considerably bigger than the last time he'd come here, when he was a little child. It was pitch black inside the small cavern, save for a beam of light streaming down from an opening far above.

"Yuuri? Are you in here?" he called, peering into the darkness. Silence. He was turning to leave, disappointed, when he heard the soft clattering of shifting stones behind him. He whipped around just quickly enough to see a flicker of movement in the shadows.

"Yuuri?" A muffled sob echoed through the chamber. Phichit darted toward the sound and groped blindly, trying to catch Yuuri. His hand closed around the shaft of a tail, right above the caudal fin. A yelp rung out, reverberating against the walls. The tail thrashed in his grip, but he wasn't letting go. With his free hand, he reached up and grabbed the other mer's wrist securely, then released his tail.

Phichit swam with powerful strokes into the light, dragging the struggling merman in tow. The soft luminescence from above illuminated the familiar purple and blue scales of his friend. He looked up to meet Yuuri's eyes, and almost released his grip on the other merman's wrist, jolted by what he saw.

"Your hair!" he gasped, mouth slightly agape and eyes wide in shock. Yuuri bowed his head and looked off to the side. His hair was so, so short, hacked unevenly and floating around his head like an obsidian-colored halo.

Phichit bit his lip, upset, and outstretched his unoccupied hand to touch the roughly sheared strands. He rapidly withdrew it when Yuuri flicked away.

"Who did this to you?" he asked, concerned.

"I did," the other mer replied softly, and lifted his gaze to make eye contact. Phichit shivered. Those brown eyes were so empty and blank. It was like looking at a stranger.

"But why?" he cried. A mer's hair meant so much to them. It was a symbol of valor, strength, grace, and dignity; never to be cut. Chopping off your hair was like amputating a hand or a fin. Additionally, merfolk hair took a long time to grow, so it could take up to ten years to return to the length it had been before.

"I felt like it," Yuuri finally responded in a voice that was threatening to break. A fake smile was on his lips, even as tears seeped from his red eyes and dissipated into the water. "I'm fine, really," he added weakly. Phichit gritted his teeth, frustration rising.

"You are clearly not fine. All this misery and suffering for a human? I don't understand." Awful silence filled the cavern, so thick that it weighed like a heavy blanket over the two of them.

"Phichit, I- I-.." Yuuri swallowed, as if this was hard to say. "I loved him."

"What? A human?" came the response, but he held up his blue-webbed hand to indicate that he wasn't finished.

"But- but I've moved on now," he continued miserably. I'll go through with the wedding, and forget about him entirely." Phichit moved closer and placed his hands on his friend's shoulders.

"And what, be unhappy the rest of you life?"

"That's what I deserve, isn't it?"

"No, Yuuri, it's not!" he argued. Yuuri nodded, but Phichit could tell that he wasn't convinced at all. He then pushed past and whispered quietly,

"I've got to go." Phichit allowed him to leave the cave and watched his retreating back helplessly.