Evan opened his eyes to soft morning light, the feeble ray having found his face after bouncing off one of the crystals encrusted on the walls. Claris was curled up against him, naked and in his human form… sort of. Claris still had translucent blue scales decorating his body in swirling patterns, his face seemed to glisten with stars. Evan’s lips curled into a soft smile as he carefully ran his fingers across his boyfriend’s glistening cheek. The warm touch woke the merman up, his eyes remaining mid opened as he scurried closer to Evan, seeking his heat.

“Morning…” He murmured, closing his eyes newly and pressing his face against Evan’s chest. The captain felt like his heart might pop out of his chest and almost immediately he hugged Claris, digging his face into the mer’s hair. It smelled like the ocean, a faint sweet scent mixed in.

“How are you feeling?” Evan asked cheerfully. He gave Claris a kiss on the top of his head before the mer had a chance to raise his head and meet the captain’s gaze.

“A lot better.” Claris’ eyes weren’t amethyst anymore, they’d taken a more magenta tone. Evan had asked about it the night before when they’d returned to shore. Claris explained that his original eye color was in fact magenta, but it’d changed three years ago. He hadn’t specified why, which was something that peeked Evan’s curiosity. The captain decided to ask some other time, in case it was a sensitive topic.

Evan chuckled, Claris kissing his chin and then pressing his face against the captain’s chest again.

“…we should probably get ourselves back to The Tiamat?” Th prince asked, Evan getting a leg entwined between the prince’s.

“Let’s stay here a little longer, the sand isn’t even itchy.”

“Hahaha! Okay, but I want morning kisses too.” The mer puckered his lips, causing Evan to laugh before giving the prince the pecks he’d asked for. “I didn’t even bite you a little, thank the Goddess.”

“Not that I would have minded—”

“Evan!”

Not everyone was okay with dating werebreeds, and much less those that had more violent breeding tendencies like those of the Azure Archangels or the northern snake clans. Claris was on cloud nine for being lucky enough to find a human as understanding as Evan… and who he liked so much to the extreme that even in the heat of the moment his body refused to do anything to harm him. It made him so happy… and so very nostalgic. Being there lying in the sand, huddled against his crush… the gentle sound of the ocean waves swaying against the cove entrance being the only other sound apart from their own voices, their breathing…

“Are you not feeling well again?” A concerned Evan ran his hand against the prince’s nape. Tears had welled up in Claris’ eyes to the point they overflowed and ran down his cheeks.

“I-I… there’s something I have to tell you…” Claris sounded distraught, the tears on his cheeks hadn’t stopped flowing. “I used to be engaged, three years ago… he had an accident and he died. I haven’t really let myself like anyone like I like you since then and…”

Claris took a moment, Evan waited for him to finish in silence. The prince started laughing, the streams of tears getting thicker on his cheeks.

“Thank you.” He mumbled, breathless.

“Thank you so much!” He finally exclaimed tightening his hug on Evan, who dug his face on the prince’s shoulder, feeling like he might start crying too. Not that he would, but he was at his limit.

Thank you, for reminding me I am human. Evan thought. He wasn’t ready to tell Claris of his past, but he sure as hell now knew it wouldn’t be long before that.

***

Dusk was right around the corner and Evan and his crew oozed excitement. They liked their merchant duties and their diplomatic missions… but in the end, they’d all grown up in a country at war. The mere thought of bloodshed got them all riled up and their blood boiling in ways that not much else could.

“Sir, we’ll go rendezvous with the Sin Hunters now,” One of Evan’s squad leaders, a young man by the name of Haruho, had come meet him at deck while he waited for a certain blue haired boyfriend of his to come get him at Pearlie’s. “You and the prince please be careful, if things seem to be going sideways, the logs can wait.”

Haruho had met Evan during the last war, around the time he’d met a rather troublesome assassin who now worked as The Tiamat’s courier. He was a soldier serving at the front lines on the border of Akakawa and the country of Lanseguo. He was covered in scars from head to toe. Curiously enough, he’d managed to spare his eyes, Rikiya kept saying it wouldn’t make a difference since he seemed to have his eyes closed all the time anyway.

“We can figure out another way to track down these pirates, you two aren’t replaceable. Not that I need to remind you, but still.” Haruho heard his captain sigh before smirking. “We’re all really happy you got yourself a lover, we’ve all been praying for you to get one.”

“Haruho Nishitani, I swear—”

“It’s okay, boss. There’s enough time for you to get angry at me after the raid. Right now, look who came to save me!” The man pointed at the pier, where Claris was waving at them.

Evan waved back enthusiastically, giving Haruho enough time to get on his way to the rest of his team.

“Rounds are on you when we come back.” Evan called after the other man.

“Of course, Captain!”

Evan grabbed his board and staff, which he’d kept by his side while he waited, and jumped off the deck. He gently landed on the pier, his board hovering above the boardwalk while Claris walked over to him sporting a dark blue suit and a black shirt. He’d combed his now black hair back and turned his eyes dark blue. He kept wincing probably because his eyes burned him.

“You ready, handsome?” The prince asked while the captain got off his board. He fixed his wine-colored jacket and popped an additional button off his black shirt. Claris brought the fake shackles in a box this time.

“Ready as I’ll ever be. Here, Hikaru said to bite it if we start feeling hazy, it should keep us safe for a couple hours.” Evan rummaged through his pocket and handed Claris a small pill filled with light yellow liquid. “Hide it in your mouth, it won’t dissolve.”

Claris placed the pill in his mouth and gave Evan a wide grin. He ran his fingers over the captain’s neck and pouted.

“I hate we have to put up this act to get into their hideout. Really wish we could just go in there and kill them all.” Claris’ head drooped, Evan cupped his face and planted a kiss on his forehead.

“It’ll be fine, we’ll still get to kill all of them.” Evan grimaced against Claris forehead, the words coming out of the captain’s mouth making him giggle. “Now come on, let’s go.”

Claris bit his lower lip, very much wishing they could take a ten-minute break to mess around, as he placed the iron collar around the captain’s neck. He took hold of the chain tied to it in one hand while he grabbed Evan’s hand with his other.