Chapter Text
Eren stomped down the rocky seaside, fuming. He needed his space from time to time — especially after fights. After the intense emotions, high-tension, and unwelcome environment, he desperately needed an escape; a moment to calm himself and reflect on what happened. Hurtful words from either side said in the heat of the moment clung to him like the clouds sticking to the sun’s rays. They were supposed to be on a relaxing vacation! But then Reiner had gone and picked a fight about something stupid and now Eren was left stewing in his anger, kicking rocks as he made his way down the dirt path to the docks.
Why even agree to go to the beach if he was just going to sulk the whole time?!
They’d yelled about it for over an hour. Ending with Reiner declaring that Eren had wasted ‘their money’ on a ‘stupid trip’ and Eren stomping out of their rented cabin.
That was how he found himself sitting at the abandoned dock at a scraggly shoreside while the cool wind nipped at his face and tugged at his hair instead of snuggling up on the couch with said boyfriend. Fine, so he was pouting, sue him.
It was actually Eren’s money, anyway. Maybe that was suitable grounds for pouting.
He sat on the edge of the old, weathered wood, dangling his toes into the cold water getting lost in his thoughts.
Reiner hadn’t even wanted to go to the coast with him. He’d wanted to go to some festival in the middle of the desert and get positively smashed every waking hour of the day while sweaty strangers were packed all around him. Eren scowled at the water. When he’d surprised Reiner with the trip, expecting him to react eagerly about spending some quiet time together in a peaceful get-away, Reiner had been less than enthusiastic and subtly complained the whole drive there. He’d done nothing but dampen the mood since they set out that morning.
Leave it to him to single-handedly make the highlight of Eren’s week miserable. Here Eren was, thinking he’d actually done something right for them for once, and Reiner couldn’t even spare the breath to at least pretend to be grateful.
Suddenly, a movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, yanking him from his misery. When he looked properly, nothing was there. But he was certain he saw a dark head duck behind the rockpile a few yards out, made visible only by the low tide. Eren frowned, his mind immediately thinking that someone had gotten stuck out there. So, he hastily stood up, trying to get a better view. There wasn’t much to see through the crashing waves and the mist they threw up from slamming against the rocks, but he could faintly make out the torso of a human body submerged underwater.
He couldn’t tell if they were even alive, based on the movement and the way the person’s dark hair barely peeked above the water. It could just be the waves jostling the body around. Besides that, Eren needed to investigate. If they were alive, they might not be for long. That was a long time to be under and the water past the rocks was brutal.
Perhaps it was an inexperienced swimmer that got pulled out with the tide and took refuge on the rocks? It wasn’t far of a stretch to think that a harsh wave might have shoved them off their little island.
Always having a knack for trouble, or perhaps a general lack of self preservation, Eren leapt into the water without a second thought and swam for the rock pile, uncaring for his own safety. His friends always called him a suicidal bastard for a reason.
When Eren scrambled onto the rocks pile, soggy and exhausted, the person was gone. The barren water and merciless waves made his heart sink — but then a splash from behind him had him whirling around. He exhaled a harsh sigh in relief.
A man peered out from behind a rock, scrutinizing him through one startling silver eye. Its color was like the scales of a fish and the moonlight that reflected off the water at night. Beautiful. The other one was pale and cloudy, like the storm clouds of a winter rain. A deep, jagged scar ran through it from his hairline to his chin. Whatever had caused that got him good.
Eren couldn’t help but feel struck that something was off about the man. Whatever it was, he couldn’t seem to put his finger on it.
“Whoa, I didn’t see you there,” Eren exclaimed, “Are you ok? Do you need help getting back to shore?”
The man didn’t answer him, but shied back behind the rock, making Eren lose sight of him again.
“Hey! Wait!” Eren called, stumbling over the slippery rocks after him. He frowned as he tried to focus on where he was stepping. These rocks were really not for walking on….
Just as he thought that, he placed his foot on a loose rock, which immediately slipped out from underneath him and sent him tumbling into the ravaging sea below. Pain shot up his elbow and leg, stinging from where they scraped against rough rocks on his fall in.
The rocking of the sea rendered him disoriented and he was unable to right himself. On this side of the rocks, the sea was a beast, untamed and violent. Eren flailed in the current. A particular rough wave tossed him back towards the submerged rock, slamming him into it so hard, his teeth rattled.
His whole body ached and what oxygen had been in his lungs was forced out upon impact.
While he was a decent swimmer in calm water, he was helpless in the face of the sea’s true might. His clothes acted like weights, betraying him and pulling him further in the ocean’s depths. He was running out of oxygen fast and unable to open his eyes from the sting of salt water. Left blind, unable to help himself, and dying a slow, petrifying death.
Oh fuck, he thought distantly. Reiner doesn’t even know where I am right now. No one else was out here. No one will ever find me. Unless….
As if reading his mind, a pair of strong hands grabbed him under his armpits and hauled him up towards the surface. Well, what he hoped was the surface — it could have been down for all he knew.
It became clear that yes, they were heading to the surface, because the pressure relented on Eren’s ears and his head breached the waves just a moment later. He gulped down deep breaths of air, struggling to help the stranger keep him afloat. Not that it was necessary, though. With ease, he was dragged through the water towards the rock pile once more.
Dang, the man was a strong swimmer. He was carrying Eren like he weighed nothing. Some delirious part of him wanted to jokingly ask the man if he was part fish, since that was obviously the only logical response to someone just saving you from drowning.
Well, he would do that, if he weren’t still sucking down air like it was the first taste of oxygen he’d had since the day he’d been born. He wiped his stinging eyes when he was deposited on the slippery rocks once more. He went to help the man climb up, since that was the polite thing to do. The water really was rough out there.
But, when he turned around to do so, he froze. There in front of him, the pale, marble skin of the man trailed into the dark water where it stopped at his waist. Decorative, flowy fins trailed from his hip and pelvic regions, ornately decorating him. Eren’s mouth hung open. The man was not simply wearing dark trunks that hid his lower body while the dark sea obscured his legs.
No. This was no man.
Frantically, Eren’s eyes bolted over the creature’s features, taking in all of the inhuman characteristics about him — the sharp, tapered ears, the scaly sheen of the skin, and the slashes of gills.
His savior shrank back from him, eyes darting nervously to the side like he wanted to bolt, but for some reason… he didn't. As Eren hurriedly yanked his legs up and hugged them to his chest, irrationally fearing that he might be dragged in again and drowned for a snack. The strange creature tilted his head to the side and peered curiously at him through his one good eye, intrigued. That startling piece of silver roved over his bare legs, studying, thinking.
Eren’s breath came in rough pants. Having a sea creature sitting in front of him quite literally took his breath away. These weren’t supposed to exist. This… thing in front of him was not possible.
They had scoured the oceans for years, trying to document all the different species that lived in the dark, watery depths. Never had something like this even been hinted at. No skeletons. No fossils. Not even some crappy, bootleg found footage. At least, nothing reputable.
Mermaids didn’t exist.
Yet, here one was, poking its head out of the water and having a rather competitive staring contest with him. Long, pale fingers curled into the grooves of the rock. Between each digit was a thin, delicate webbing and short, stubby claws anchored the mer in place despite the sea’s angry efforts to dislodge him. The mer barely looked bothered. Eren shuddered as he thought about how strong the creature must be to keep himself in place with mere fingertips. It even looked like two of them were missing too.
“... ok?”
Eren’s head shot up from where he was looking at those ghostly pale hands, eyes bugging open comically. It had been a mere whisper of a voice, tone unsure as a tongue not used to making words forced the syllables out.
The thing had just spoken to him! It could speak.
Eren’s jaw worked stupidly, unable to form words or even a sound as the mer’s eyes narrowed at him, clearly unimpressed.
“Y-you,” Eren stammered, “You can talk?”
The mer huffed into the water, blowing a few scoffing bubbles.
“Yes.”
The creature, no, mer…man? looked rather insulted. Eren did what he did best and continued to stupidly gawk at the merman in front of him.
“You… ok?” The mer tried again, brows furrowing and his mouth working around the strange words. A glint of razor sharp teeth were shown off at the pronunciation of ‘you’, making Eren swallow nervously.
“Uh, yeah,” he said, “M’okay.” His eyes never left the mer’s bobbing form, scarcely daring to blink from fear.
The mer frowned at him and raised himself slightly out of the water to scrutinize Eren’s shivering form closer, a displeased look taking over his beautiful, chiseled features.
“No.” He said stubbornly, sinking back into the water once he completed his look over. He jabbed one finger at Eren’s steadily bleeding arm. “Hurt.” He spit with force, like it was an accusation.
“Oh,” Eren replied dumbly, “yeah, hurt. It’s fine, though.”
Distantly, he hoped merfolk weren’t attracted to blood like sharks. What if this merman was trying to circle the rocks until Eren tired out, ready to pounce once Eren let his guard down?
“I help.” The mer said definitively and disappeared without further explanation. His dark tail flicked up towards the surface and further sprinkled Eren with a shower of water.
He sat there dumbfounded as the sea lurched around him, no trace of the merman in sight, swallowed up easily in the pitch black water. Should he make a break for it and try to get to shore before the creature came back? He really hoped the shark thing wasn’t true for mermaids….
Just as he got shakily to his feet and mustered up the bravery to take a step to dive in, a dark head of hair popped up right where it left, sending Eren tumbling back down to the rocks in surprise. The mer looked at him incredulously. Eren never felt so judged in his life, and by a half-fish man, nonetheless. He quickly brushed his palms free of grit, trying to play off his jump of fright, but one look from that steely gaze told him the merman wasn’t buying it.
“Here thing,” the mer garbled, his gills flaring to let foamy water out as he struggled through the words, “for you.” He motioned a small bundle of what looked to be green leaves to Eren. Something in the creature’s gaze told him it would be extremely rude to not accept it. Eren gulped and tentatively held out his bloody arm. Best not to piss off the merman while he was literally surrounded by water.
The mer gave a sudden heave and pulled himself fully from the water, bringing a slap of water and scales onto the rocks. Now that he could get a proper look at him, he could see the mer’s tail was sleek and slimy, like a true fish. His tail stopped just at his hips — the top half of him mostly man; the bottom, a creature. At first, Eren thought the scales were pitch black to match the sea, but as the creature began to haul himself forward on his hands, they glinted with a deep undertone of blue, reminding Eren of a snake. He plopped down at Eren’s side, his hip and dorsal fins flaring in a mesmerizing pattern.
“So, uh,” Eren stumbled over his words, “d’you have a name?”
The merman nodded and began to unpackage his little bundle.
“Levi.” He said simply, pulling out a few strange looking aquatic plants.
Eren watched in amazement as the mer got to work grinding a round berry looking thing between a rock to create a paste. Levi barely spared him a glance as he worked, mixing a different plant in and grinding in some slimy seaweed and what looked to be the skin of a fish. Eren grimaced as he watched, wondering if he should be letting the mer do this. While it may work for Levi, who lived in the sea his whole life and used medicines like this regularly, what said it wouldn’t make Eren’s cut infected?
“You — name?” Levi prompted gruffly, jarring Eren from his thoughts.
He flushed in embarrassment. “Eren,” he whispered, eyes only for the merman.
This was so surreal. He was trading names with a thought to be mythical creature. And an extremely handsome one at that. His features were fine and delicate, effortlessly beautiful. Even with his scarring and rough treatment from the ocean, he looked as if he were carved of marble. Similarly beautiful to the way an old Roman statue had lost a part of its face to time — still breathtaking despite the damage and wear to the art.
Levi nodded. Eren wasn’t sure if it was in approval or to indicate that he’d heard. Deciding his paste was ready, Levi turned to him and gripped Eren’s wrist firmly in his clawed hand, tugging it to him.
Without warning, Levi’s head dipped down and a hot, slimy tongue dug into Eren's cut. It wiggled and wormed its way through his tender flesh, making it sting fiercely. Levi lapped at the cut, collecting the pooling blood on his tongue and dipping it back in even when there was no more to spill. Eren yelped and yanked his arm back, scrambling away from the blood thirsty beast.
Levi watched him skitter away, a sour look on his face. He tilted his head as if assessing if Eren were truly worth the effort to save. Eren’s chest heaved as he tried to breathe, overcome with fear.
“Come back,” Levi said dryly, looking unamused at his patient's wiggling. He also muttered something else under his breath, but Eren couldn’t understand it as it certainly wasn’t English.
“ Worse than a pup,” he grumbled.
Eren shook his head. “You’re trying to eat me,” he accused, firmly sitting still.
Levi made a face. His gills flared as he sighed and turned to spit a wad of blood and grit into the ocean.
“No. Taste bad.”
Eren actually felt a little insulted, which was silly — shouldn’t it be a good thing that he tasted bad? So the flesh-eating merman wouldn’t want to devour him? Levi turned back and broke out into a strange clicking noise when he saw Eren’s scowl. The mer’s pale shoulders bounced up and down and his cheeks and neck flushed a hue of light blue. It dawned on him that it was Levi’s way of laughing.
Eren frowned. “What’s so funny?” He asked defensively.
Levi raised his head, grinning with all of his sharp teeth. Eren was too annoyed to be scared.
“You —” he pointed, “face mad.” He mimicked Eren’s insulted expression and laughed some more. It only made Eren scowl harder.
Though Levi clearly enjoyed making fun of him, he motioned Eren back, still wanting to fix up his arm. Eren eyed his clawed hand warily, noting again those two missing fingers.
“Don’t lick me again,” he growled, begrudgingly returning to the merman’s side.
Levi snapped his teeth lightly as he took Eren’s arm back, more firmly this time, and inspected the wound once more. Eren scoffed. For a creature that couldn’t communicate very well, Levi sure had a lot of sass.
“I clean,” the merman punctuated by pulling the arm back up to his lips, pausing to lock eyes with Eren, his lips just hovering over his cut, warming it with his breath. “Clean or hurt bad.”
Eren’s face felt like it was on fire. Those lips were so close to his skin. Levi’s breath made the hair on his arm stand up and lightning zing up his arm from his wrist. Levi smirked and maintained eye contact as he began licking the cut clean again, a glint in his eye. This time, Eren kept his mouth firmly shut, in case any embarrassing noises escaped. It helped that it still stung like a bitch to have the grit cleaned out.
Pulling back, Levi spat again into the water, finally deeming the wound free of blood and dirt. With one claw, the mer brought the strange concoction to the now bloodless cut, massaging it in with surprising gentleness. The pair sat in silence listening to the waves crash on shore as Levi patched him up. To finish it off, a bind of a leafy green plant was wrapped around it to hold the paste in place. Levi chittered quietly, his gills flaring proudly as he surveyed his work.
“Good,” Levi stated proudly. He released Eren’s wrist and allowed the man to pull his arm up for inspection. There was hardly any pain now and the snug wrapping looked durable.
“Thanks,” Eren replied honestly. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Levi tilted his head to the side in confusion. His tail slapped in a puddle, fins flaring with thought.
“No like?”
“No! No, that’s not it,” Eren rushed to fix his wording, fiddling with the wrapping as he struggled to think up a way that would communicate his meaning to someone who barely spoke his language. “It’s a saying — a human saying. You were kind when you could have left me. You saved me from the sea, then you patched me up, without knowing me.”
Levi hummed low in his throat, the sound a foreign noise to Eren.
“Kind….” His steelen eyes picked up a distant look. The mer turned and looked over Eren again, taking in every inch of him from his face to his legs, his expression almost apprehensive. His eyes flickered down to the rocks. “No kind there —” he gestured sadly out to the open sea, “you, you ok.” He finished off his broken words with a soft look at Eren. There was warmth in his eyes and a hint of something akin to affection.
Eren swallowed, heat warming his face. Levi was struggling so hard to work with what few English words he seemed to know, but nevertheless he tried to speak with him. Clearly this mer had been through a lot in his life, the scars evident on his skin and probably more hidden away in his mind. The sea, with all its beauty, was just as ruthless as it was nurturing to its inhabitants. Eren didn’t find it hard to believe that Levi didn’t see much kindness out there. And to think that despite all that, he still saved Eren and stopped his bleeding, with no obligation to do so.
Levi wasn’t as scary as he looked, Eren surmised. Not a bloodthirsty predator, but actually, a lonely mer. Perhaps he had a heart under… whatever strange anatomy mers had.
“Eren,” He garbled out his name, rolling the letters in his mouth in such a beautiful but strange way, Eren couldn’t help but be captivated, “need kind.”
Slowly, the mer slid towards him again. Eren stayed perfectly still as Levi’s clawed hand came up to rest on his chest, right above his heart. “You hurt.” He stated, staring into Eren’s eyes seriously. His fingers were cold from the water and wind, but with Eren’s clothes still being drenched, it didn’t matter. The gesture warmed his heart.
The words, however, bit deep. Slight tears welled in his eyes as he remembered why he was down at the shore in the first place. Levi cooed suddenly, gills flaring, his hands shifted so he was cupping Eren’s face delicately. Levi’s coo sounded so comforting, like listening to a cat purr; it eased some of the ache in his heart. Carefully, the mer swiped under his eyes with the pads of his thumbs easing the tears away before they even fell, keeping his claws clear from Eren’s delicate skin.
Levi smiled at him then, a soft hint of one pulling at the side of his mouth. Eren returned it, true appreciation and happiness buzzing through him. They were close, faces inches from each other. Levi’s warmed breath fanned over Eren’s cheek. Suddenly, they were too close. Eren’s stomach fluttered with excitement he hadn’t felt in a while.
“Eren!”
Eren jolted back from the mer at the call of his name, distant and lost in the wind, but still familiar. His heart sank as reality came snapping back. Reiner.
Levi blinked and rested his arms back on the rock, beginning to scoot back towards the water. His steel eyes nervously flickered to the rocky shore. Eren bit his lip in frustration. Whatever part of Levi he’d just seen was gone, once more replaced with the nervous, skittish mer from earlier.
“Levi —” Eren began.
“Eren!” Reiner called again, sounding closer. “Where are you?”
Irritation coursed through him. Eren stood up, looking for his boyfriend. Levi slid fully into the water and for a moment, Eren’s heart seized at the thought of Levi disappearing and never getting to see him again. To his relief, Levi quickly grabbed onto the rocks, once more keeping himself anchored in place, hiding from the shore behind the rock pile.
“Come back?” The soft question made its way over the rock toward him. Eren spun around and saw the lonely look on the mer’s face. He lay with his pale cheek resting on the rock, staying as low as he could, his eyes searching Eren’s sadly.
“Of course.”
The promise fell from his lips without thought. Eren’s heart twisted at how wistful the mer looked. It was sad for the both of them to part then. There was so much more for them to know about each other, but Eren understood Levi’s hesitation to be seen by another.
Levi seemed to shake himself out of whatever stupor he’d slipped into, his eyes narrowing and his face losing that soft look. Once again, he was an ocean predator, made of stone and muscle. He gave a sharp nod.
“I clean,” he grunted, nodding towards Eren’s wrapped arm. He tore his gaze away from Eren and flicked a piece of seaweed into a puddle with an air of indifference, but his teal dusted cheeks gave him away.
Eren smirked and said nothing. If Levi wanted to play it off as wanting to check Eren’s bandage again, then he’d let him keep his pride.
“Eren!”
Reiner’s voice made him jump. He turned back towards the shore and saw Reiner standing there, waving his arms.
“I’ll be back tomorrow,” he hurriedly promised Levi, not waiting for a reply as he jumped into the sea.
The swim back to shore had his head swirling with thoughts. What would happen tomorrow? He couldn’t wait to see the merman again. Something in his heart fluttered every time he thought of those steelen eyes and dark hair. When he got to shore, Reiner made a face at the state of his clothes.
****
“Where the hell have you been? You just disappeared on me. Why’d you go swimming in your clothes? You’re going to freeze on the walk back,” Reiner berated him, “And what the hell is on your arm?” Eren bit his tongue at the fact that Reiner had his college sweatshirt on and looked quite warm.
“I wanted some solitude, but I fell and got a scrape while I was out.” The vague explanation was all he offered up. Shivering slightly in the chilly air, Eren wrapped his arms around himself in a poor attempt to conserve body heat.
Reiner rolled his eyes and started walking back, Eren falling into step beside him. As they made their way back up the shoreline, Reiner began ranting, as he always did when he was displeased with Eren.
“How could you just leave like that? You were gone for over an hour! Do you have any idea how it will look like when we go out together? Did you do that on purpose, Eren? Huh?” Reiner tore into him, barely sparing the effort to look at him. “Are you trying to make me look like the bad guy?”
All fell on deaf ears as Eren walked silently beside him. Though the barbed comments stung him, it wasn’t like he hadn’t heard anything like this before. Besides, it wasn’t like he would be able to get a word in anyways if he did try to argue. If anything, it would only make things worse to interrupt. They did just get out of a long fight and the last thing he wanted to do was start up another one. Eren was tired — physically and emotionally.
“I mean, how can I even stand to be seen in public with you now?” Reiner continued. “This is what you wanted, wasn’t it? Drag us both out here and then cause a scene and make it look like I beat you. Real fucking mature, Eren. That’s not manipulative at all.”
****
Slowly, Reiner’s poisonous tirade seeped into a dull hum of background noise, getting lost in the distant crashing of waves and endless roar of the wind.
The whole walk away from the beach, Eren felt a burning, steelen gaze upon his back and found comfort in it.