The other man nodded, pulling out of the mer's hold to take a step back. He looked down at the pearl and black glass in his hands before quietly snorting and dropping them into his pouch. Didn't want to lose the damn gifts after all. And thankfully both were smooth enough to not chafe or scrap inside of him.
"Lead the way. Let's see the infamous beastie"
Steve chuckled and teasingly ran a finger across the slit of the pouch before stepping away and waving for Yondu to follow after.
"Do not be afraid of her- is very important." He said with an easy tone. "I will push your ship back into the water and you can sit on that to see her since she cannot come in close to shore."
He waved him towards the ship with a smile and moved around to the front of it to begin pushing. Muscles rippling as he pushed it back into the water with small waves.
Despite his grumpy attitude, Yondu was rather intrigued. He wasn't sure, but had a suspicion that the blood-marked tooth that sealed the deal for him wasn't just any old creature, but rather Steve's mount.
Jumping into the water when the ship was pushed in, the Centaurian swam towards the nearest wing, heaving himself up onto the metal and daftly climbing up towards the top, where the emergency hatch was. He eyes the patch next to it, remembering his first awakening on this planet and the blue blue eyes looming over him. Who would've thought...
Shaking himself off, Yondu sat down and looked over at Steve.
"Alright, I'm ready"
Steve chuckled and changed as he pushed the ship farther into the water, his long scaly tail making propelling the gigantic metal structure through the water easier. Bringing it a good two hundred feet off shore, the merman held up his hand at Yondu and ducked his head beneath the water calling out for her.
There was a reason Steve had brought Yondu out this far. One, the water here was deep enough to hold her bulk though not overly deep and two- another two hundred feet past them was a drop off where the ocean floor fell away. It was here she was residing mostly because it was comfortable and secondly because it let her do one of her favorite things- breaching.
With long powerful strokes of her tail she shot from the dark. Rushing towards the surface in a blur of white and grey before she broke it- all sixty feet of her leaping clearing a solid twenty feet out of the water before she came crashing back down. The resulting wave nearly swamping the vessel.
Steve just laughed at her antics and popped his head back above water as she wound her way closer, fin cutting through the water like a blade and headed right for them.
"Fuck this shit, I'm out!" yelled Yondu when he saw the gigantic creature leap out from beneath, showering him and the ship in a powerful wave of salty ocean droplets. His hand clenched Steve's, nails digging a bit into the tough skin of the merman as the blue male looked on with wide eyes.
He had never seen an aquatic animal quite this big, even though reptiles of similar size were common on Centauri IV and he had seen a few as a child. Rather seen their hollowed carcasses that had been eaten and left to bleach in the sun and grow moss and scum on the bottom, as the creatures of the bogs made it their homes.
Never the less, his back was pressed tightly against the ship's hull, and Yondu refused to take his gaze off of the predator
The Mer chuckled gently and puffed out his chest proudly. She really was an impressive sight to see and he had tamed her.
"She will not harm you - you have my word." He said calmly and stroked comfortingly over Yondu's skin. The enormous shark lazily drifted in close so they could see her up close.
"Come, meet her." He insisted and slowly tried to draw his skittish mate back down to the water.
"Hell no" refused Yondu, digging in his bare heels and frankly all too aware of his bare state. He at least wished there were something covering him. Not that I would be an adequate protection, sure, and he understood that. But a primordial part of his brain insisted that something was better than nothing.
Consciously, he understood very well that Steve wasn't lying to him, had no reason to. But the shark wasn't Steve.
Coming over his wrapped his arms around the one he had chosen as his and kissed his skin slow.
"I will not make you - being scared is perfectly natural. You had asked to see what gave me those scars and it is her." he motioned to her again.
"Stay on the ship, I will send her away and bring you back to shore.
The Centaurian hesitated at that. He ain't ever been a coward before, was he really about to start now? In front of the male that he had deemed worthy to court him?
Dammit…
"Nah. Can't keep running from her forever. And besides, I've seen bigger critters back on my home-planet. They just weren't alive when I did" said the man as he roughly patted the other on the shoulder and jerking his head towards the fin that was still slowly circling around them
Steve chuckled, glad his ruse had worked. He hadn't expected his mate to back down from a challenge and knowing that he wouldn't make Steve all the more determined to win him over completely.
"Good. Then come." He said and slipped down the metal into the water - waiting by the wing and holding out his hand for Yondu to take when he was ready.
"Fuuuuuck" inaudibly bit out Yondu as he slipped into the cool waters and the waiting hands of the merman. He shivered minutely at first before getting a hang of temperature control and threaded the waters, one hand swishing in front of him while the other held Steve's.'
Said man grinned and ducked his own head under the water, clicking his tongue and calling to her. Almost lazily she drifted closer. Steve's powerful tail keeping him on the top of the water and making it easier to help Yondu stay up. Sliding in she glided past the both of them, letting Steve reach out and touch her, gently guiding Yondu's hand to do the same.
Yondu traced his fingers over the cool exterior of the beast, looking as if he was floating atop of a grey rock for the size that she was.
The skin was tough and felt like sandpaper on the pad of his palm, the tiny scales that pointed towards her tail creating a soundless swim for the giant predator.
"Is she one of the biggest this planet has to offer?" asked the Centaurian as he looked over at the blond
"There are squids larger." Steve said with a nod "and some whales. But she is the largest predator of her kind." His smile grew fond. "And one of the largest out of her specific species."
She made another pass around and nudged her nose against his hand letting Steve scratch it, her eyes rolling back to expose the whites as she relaxed under the hand.
"That is just... interesting to look at" drawled Yondu as his hand hovered above the shark. Deciding to screw caution and blame it on the other man if anything happened, the man reached out and patted her somewhat awkwardly on the nose right next to where the other was doing the same thing.
"She feels rough. Almost like tree-bark, or sandpaper" mused he
Her eyes flashed open and she gave a few halfhearted attempted nibbles.
"Hit her snout - show her you are my mate and to be respected also. It is right response." Steve said, not hitting her himself. Yondu needed to be able to stand up for himself and not have Steve do it. He'd be there of course if anything truly dangerous occurred but really she just needed to be put in her place.
"Yes - though since I have known the feel of her skin longer I think it is the trees that feel like her."
Chuckling at a very Steve-like explanation, Yondu craned his neck to look at him better before shifting his gaze back down at the dull eye looking up at him.
He scowled and pounded on the snout of the shark with his fist, not really holding back at all. He felt that at most his hit felt like a tap from a lemming for her, their size comparison considered.
Never the less, he put a lot of his strength into the hit and cackled low in his throat, a clicking half-growl escaping the Centaurian's windpipe
She shook her head and moved back a bit, swimming a slow circle before coming back and gently nudging him instead- allowing him to stroke her nose like Steve had.
The blond man grinned broadly and gave Yondu's hand a squeeze, proud of his mate.
"That worked? I ain't gonna get eaten anymore?" asked Yondu, glancing cautiously over at the other man
Steve laughed.
"You are my mate, she knows and would not eat you regardless. The nibbles were to try and put you below her in the pecking order. Now it is myself, you and then her in terms of eating first." He reached out and stroked over his head.
"Oh well then. That's good to know. As it should be of course. I'm awesome" smugly announced the Centaurian as he swelled up with pride a bit, legs kicking faster
Grabbing Yondu up, Steve pulled him onto his belly and used his powerful tail to swim alongside the mighty beast.
"Yes. You are. I would not have chosen you if you were not exceptional."
"Yeah, I had a question about that" piped up the other as he propped himself up on the broad chest, waves coursing past them.
"Ya must've been on this planet for a while, and judging by your size and general looks, I wouldn't be amiss to think ya ain't got a shortage of partners. Sure, I'm exotic and not from this planet, but why choose me? I ain't the nicest man out there, ya know that by now already, right?" he asked
"There are a great many that are scared of me." Steve admitted, lazily swimming around.
"So they do not approach me. Others still are herbivores - breeding with them would not produce desirable offspring, mostly for the offspring. I have a few progeny around - results of old mating, but mer children are self sufficient nearly from birth. Especially those I had with a shark mer - they were biting right out of the womb." He said proudly.
"I did not raise them - though I was proud from afar."
"Huh" muttered Yondu as he tried to imagine the look of those little brats.
"Pretty sure I got a few of my own running around the galaxy somewhere. Brothels and whorehouses ain't known for keeping their stock too sterile and safe. I might've sired a cub or two in my time. But fuck if I know about them or the mothers" he shrugged, resting his chin on one of the hands.
"Ya realize ya ain't really answering my question though, right? Cause as I said before, multiple times, I sure as shit can't breed with ya" he added.
"Cubs..." Steve said affectionately.
"Is that what you call them? We call them pups." Reaching up he stroked over Yondu's skin.
"I want you- my heart sings for you the same way it sings for deep ocean and the stars. I cannot explain it... I should be more worried about pups but I am not... I do not know why."
"The most bullshit answer I've ever received about why someone wanted to screw with me, outside of your fin's glowing, it likes me «snorted Yondu, averting his gaze as a small dark fluster dusted his cheeks and the tips of his ears
Steve laughed and reached up to drag him down for a kiss.
"You are very attractive - as blue as the waters. And you glow like I do." He teased a finger along the implant in his head.
"But you seem to like my words - like knowing that I wish not only to stuff you full but to cherish you as well. To provide everything you could need."
"Oh shut it , ya water crest" mumbled Yondu before he was quieted once more, lips descending on his own and making him swallow the next retort.
Never the less... He couldn't deny the truth behind those words. This was just about the first time someone declared that they genuinely wanted him for something more then plugging their hole and a fun roll in the sheets.
The first time someone wanted to do good by him,
The amused smile lit up his face when Yondu back-sassed him, pleased to see that fire, that spirit. His kissed him deep and slow but with a fire-y passion that resounded deep in him. His fingers playing along the other man's spine in delight.
"Come on, ya sap. Trek us back to the island will ya. Your platonic shark-mate might not wanna eat me but I suspect there's a shit-ton of other creatures that wouldn't mind a blue bite" said Yondu as he jerked his head towards the ship floating some ways away.
Steve chuckled and changed course as Yondu wanted. In truth there was nothing in this shallow and this close to the surface that would eat him but if he felt better back on land Steve was not going to stop him.
When he reached the metal he pulled himself up alongside it.
"You get on. I will let her know she can go back to patrolling and then come back to push you into shore." He reassured him.
Deftly and easily climbing back onto the familiar and much loved piece of the metal alloy that was the wing of his WarBird, Yondu turned around and looked at the dark shadow that flickered underneath the waves.
It was truly massive, and looking at the gigantic predator, he couldn't help but imagine exactly how the taming process went. Because honestly speaking, he had trouble with that.
Steve wasn't exactly clad in armor, and the scars proved that it was a bloody mess, but what the fuck did he even do to ensure the top place in the pack?
Steve dove beneath the waves and ran his hands along her, clicking happily because Yondu had seemed pleased- if scared- of his mount. Giving her a few more affectionate strokes he sent her back off to watch his territory watching her vanish into the deep dark.
Popping back up near the ship he placed his hands against the cool metal and began to propel it back in. The sun high in the sky now.
The Centaurian sat on the Plexiglas cover of the cabin, watching as the water got lighter, bluer and their island came into sharper focus.
The man had to admit, it was damn peaceful like that.