As Haruka dived back into the ocean with his squawking aquatic friend behind him, all demeriting thoughts seeped and devoured the sappy moments he imagined with the human, Sousuke, that had saved his life. He slowed to a stop, letting his gaze fall to the hand that had been buried by the sand and engulfed by a strong, warm, dry hand. Haru's cheeks flushed with colour and he brought his tainted touch to his chest. His tail caught his eye in his peripheral and those gooey good feelings were gone.

His delicate scales had been shattered and cracked where the rope had dug viciously into his flesh. It still ached when he moved, but it was bearable. What was he going to tell his parents? There was no way they would fall for an outright stumbling lie. It had been difficult enough to veil where he keeps going once his formal training is done for the day. The cut on his arm he received after helping Nagisa took hours of his tall tales before his parents decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and dropped the subject. He had been sent to the family doctor who, though thankfully didn't ask questions, had his rather well-placed suspicions about Haru's fractured story.

Haruka floated there for a moment, waiting for Nagisa to catch up; at the same time, determining the right course of action to take with his parents. He could fabricate a long-winded story, hopefully, extensive enough for his father to interrupt his practiced dishonesties and send him to his room without further inspections. Highly doubtful if his mother was present. Always the voice of frantic concern for him, and with a rather visually disturbing wound, she would not let it slide so easily. Then, perhaps, he could go with a half-truth. Not lie with how he obtained the injury, and with what. But the rescue and whereabouts of said incident could be falsified to a degree. It wasn't like his parents didn't know he liked to explore, that was extremely evident in the stories he retold his compliant parents that entertained his adventurous escapades at the dinner table.

As long as Haru didn't mention humans, or the beach, or fishing– just anything that revolved around him coming into physical contact with Sousuke– then he should be just fine. There was always the option of sneaking into his room without even seeing his parents. It would stave off the disconcerted accounts of the events of his wound and allow him to plan and evaluate with absolution on what he should do. But if he left it till the morning, swimming down for breakfast to find himself on the end of accusing and patronising stares, would indicate Haruka had something to hide, something monumentally vast that, not only would the repercussions affect him and his family, but the entirety of merfolk kind. Their anonymity among the surface dwellers was something his father had been protecting since the start of his reign and during his father's own before.

Another stressful allegation pushed its way to the forefront of his mind. Haru's brief, but body-tingling rendezvous with Sousuke, eradicated all his common sense. Sousuke knew he was a merman. A human knew he was a merman– a mystery of the deepest parts of the sea. No part of their interaction did Haruka ask for Sousuke to keep this to himself. Nor did he get any indication that Sousuke would declare he had met a myth of tantalising secrecy. Haru would have to blindly trust that his identity would remain under wraps until he saw Sousuke tomorrow.

Haruka's eyes widened slightly and his exhale was shaky with nervousness and self-reprimand. He had informed Sousuke he would return to him; to continue this forbidden affair. To what extent, Haruka was sure– and was somewhat hoping– it was nothing of virginal innocence. The human was incredibly attractive, unfairly so. Appreciating from afar had been one thing. But sitting beside him, lacing their fingers together and daring the other to close the diminished distance between their faces to seal the start of something that caused Haruka's heart to beat dangerously fast and a rare smile to pull at his lips, had Haru realising how desperately he wanted to see Sousuke again.

First, he had to deal with his parents.

Grounded. Haruka gritted his teeth as he swimmingly paced his room. So, the half-truth didn't pan out as he expected. His wound caused his mother to gasp and weep in despair, while his father demanded to know what had happened. It wasn't the story they didn't believe, nor was it the fact that despite Nagisa's dreadful attempt as supporting Haruka's lie, his narrative had larger holes than the actual net that caused the damage to his tail. His parents called for the doctor and grounded him for his own safety. Haru's argumentative protests were cut off before they had even begun with his father's commanding and icy tone of voice.

Haruka wouldn't say he sulked like a toddler deprived of the toy he had asked for as the doctor examined his tail. Nor did he tense at the underlying meaning he sensed when the merman noticed particular nicks that didn't add up with Haru's explanation of how he managed to untangle himself from the net. Haru refused to look the doctor in the eye, folding his arms across his chest, silently ordering him to hurry up with whatever medical ministrations he would perform. His injuries had been wrapped in salve-covered seaweed, which now, was starting to be undeniably itchy.

"Haru-chan?" Nagisa's quiet but consistent voice had Haruka stopping and looking around at his friend. The small mammal was splayed out on his bed watching him in unneeded worry. Haru floated over to him and rose a brow as Nagisa let out a sigh.

"What's wrong, Nagisa?" Haruka asked and tried not to stiffen as the mammal laid his fin on the sticky seaweed on his tail.

"This is all my fault." He whined in apology. "What are we going to do?"

Haruka curled his fingers into his lap and squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to defy his parents. They were only doing what they thought was best for him. He could understand that. But, Haru still wasn't one hundred percent sure that Sousuke wouldn't tell anyone about him. He had to go back, whether it was because he wanted to ensure his peoples' safety, or the selfish notion of having those big rough hands exploring the scopes of his body.

"We have to go back." Haru managed to say without letting out a small noise of desire at his delirious thoughts. He opened his eyes after he felt Nagisa's touch disappear. The aquatic animal was gone and Haruka blinked before looking around the room. A small bout of sorrow bloomed in the pit of his stomach at the thought of Nagisa leaving him due to his own self-regard. He jolted his fright when Nagisa suddenly appeared outside his window.

"Well, are you coming?" Nagisa asked and motioned to the untameable ocean outside. Haruka huffed a little in amusement and showcased an appreciative smile. He pushed himself up from the bed and followed his friend out the window and away into the dangerous unknown.

They made it to the beach by dawn, peeking out of the waves to see Sousuke and the other humans groggily waking up to start the day. Haru was immediately drawn to Sousuke, watching as he placed some kind of vessel on top of a small controlled- but alive- dance of red and orange. The other humans soon joined him, chatting and laughing merrily. Haruka swam a little closer, keeping to the rocks in the shallows. Nagisa was right by his side, a constant in the rip of the watery grip of the unexplored.

"How do we get his attention?" Nagisa asked quietly and Haruka shrugged, too preoccupied with watching Sousuke to actually attain his attention. Haru didn't mind it when Nagisa started to squawk at a quiet level. Didn't think anything of his wary bouts of silence between his cries. Haruka creased his brow when Nagisa increased in volume, finally turning away from Sousuke to his oddly acting friend. He was about to ask what he was doing when Nagisa let out an ear-piercing strangled cry. Haruka grabbed him and smothered the last of the noise by clamping his hand over Nagisa's beak. He snapped his head to the beach to see Sousuke looking right at him. A shiver ran down his spine and his breath caught in his throat as he was singled out by Sousuke's intense stare. Haru ducked down behind the rocks and let go of Nagisa.

"What did you do that for?" He asked in a scolding manner trying to disperse Nagisa's smug smile.

"Come on!" Nagisa dived back into the water. Haruka gaped in disbelief at the empty space in front of him. He stole a look over the rock to see Sousuke still looking and felt his heart clench in anticipation as the human stood and motioned to the secluded spot, where they had spent their short-lived liaison. Haru could only nod in response, allowing his body movements to be controlled by his heart inside of his head, and dive back under the water. Nagisa was already waddling up to the sand when Haruka appeared and he crawled up the beach behind him.

"Haruka?"

Haru gulped and already felt the excitement build as his name rolled off the human's tongue. He looked to his right and felt his breath become uneven as Sousuke cautiously crept forward. Haruka twisted onto his back and sat up, beckoning Sousuke forward with mesmerising movements of his tail.

"You came back," Sousuke stated the obvious and Haru suppressed the fond smile that wished to be expressed. He nodded in reply not quite trusting his own voice. Sousuke's eyes fell to his tail and the dressing that covered the wounds. "How's your tail?"

"It's okay," Haru said quietly. He didn't even glance at his body keeping his sole attention to the human in front of him. His lip caught between his teeth as his hand impulsively reached out and deftly caressed Sousuke's jaw. Sousuke looked back up at Haru and easily copied his breach of personal space. The scatter of scales that ran up his neck and finished at his cheekbone caused Haruka to jerk away and bow his head in self-consciousness.

"Haruka?" Sousuke called softly and tipped the merman's head up by his chin. Haruka gasped lightly as Sousuke purposely ran his fingers down his neck like he knew why he had pulled away in the first place. "They're beautiful. Like you."

Haru's eyes widened and blushed in pleased embarrassment. He fluttered his eyes closed and allowed Sousuke to feel each scale. He treated them like small treasures, faint with his touch to determine its fragility before increasing the pressure of his fingertips. Haruka hummed in pleasure and continued to encourage Sousuke's examination with small noises of approval.

The actual reason why Haru was here had foregone to be forgotten as soon as Sousuke whispered his name. It felt as if their lips were mere millimetres apart and Haruka opened his eyes to discover that his assumption was correct. He felt his hand press against Sousuke, but that was a far as Haru went. He was supposed to push him away, demand that they speak about the possibility of his species no longer being a grand and rather dangerous myth. Instead, Haruka ran his hand over the broad smooth skin and gripped at Sousuke's shoulder as the human whispered his name again. He didn't need to ask for him to kiss him. The mutual and straining attraction finally boiled over, and the two came together in a heated mess of arousal.

Haruka allowed himself to fall back, Sousuke half leaning over him as they kissed. He whined lightly when Sousuke pulled away for air and wrapped his arms around the human's neck to keep him close.

"I can't believe I'm making out with a merman," Sousuke confessed in a muffled breathy tone. Haruka snorted unattractively and ran his finger down the side of the man's face and curled around his chin. He bit his lip seductively to ensure Sousuke's attention and curved his body against the human's.

"Our little secret, right?" Haru asked with a fluttering of eyelashes.

"Oh, absolutely," Sousuke answered eagerly and leaned back down to capture Haru's lips with his own. Haruka gasped and happily reciprocated. He supposed, for now, in the highest point of the moment, he would take Sousuke's lust-raged answer at face. He would believe that their forbidden affair would remain as such. To stay hidden for the lives of his people and for the unknown patch of darkness that if their relationship came to light, Haruka would never see his love again.