The Book of Garbage

Keep it down!

 Cap groaned as their host shifted once again, the movement causing the slimy, pulsing walls around them to gurgle in protest. Warm, thick water mixed with an unearthly amount of drool swished around the tiny merperson. It wasn't uncommon for the half-fish half-goat mer to end up in the prison of their friend's gut... It also wasn't uncommon for Cap to be in a better mood. But, today had been tiresome and the little mer had just about had enough.

"Could you keep it down?!" the hybrid snapped, giving one of the walls a good shove. Their hands sank into the wall, so the desired effect wasn't satisfying. Cap snorted and crossed their arms, settling back against the stomach lining. Usually, they didn't care if Ethan housed them here. In fact, they'd almost grown fond of their little hideaway...when they were in the mood. Cap wanted to sleep in peace, to try and forget the trials of the day. With the constant moving and sloshing, resting or relaxing was getting increasingly difficult. "C'mon, E, I'm trying to sleep," Cap growled, closing their eyes. As he had been since slurping them up, Ethan was silent, save a soft rumble.

--

Some time passed before Cap opened their eyes again, and were welcomed with the blackness of Ethan's stomach. Things had settled down, thankfully, and it felt like Ethan was finally still. Cap lay their head atop the spongy wall behind them, their arms crossed over their chest. What was the blond up to?... Usually the shark was playful and teasing after noms...why was he so quiet?...

Cap couldn't ponder this much longer, as the walls suddenly tightened and squeezed inwards. The capricorn yelped, scrunching their eyes shut. After a moment of discomfort, Cap was shoved upwards, pushed into the throat, and found themself toppled atop their friend's tongue. Sputtering, the pink-haired mer raised their head and blinked several times. Their eyes soon adjusted to the dim light filtering through Ethan's fangs. Slowly, Ethan's tongue lifted Cap up and gave them a few, gentle licks. Cap squeaked and shoved at the muscle, and was soon lowered from the room of Ethan's maw.

"Ethan, what're you up to?" Cap called, still a little agitated. What was the shark up to? Why was he being so quiet?? Ethan was awkward, yes, and very insecure, but he was hardly quiet. Ethan rumbled around them, the sound rattling Cap to the core. They scrunched their eyes shut as Ethan's mouth slowly opened, letting in a much brighter light. When Cap could open their eyes again, their jaws dropped in amazement. Slowly, as not to hit any of Ethan's teeth, they swam out.

Cap was greeted with the sight of a glowing cave. It was like nothing they had seen before! The walls were almost entirely lit by every color Cap had ever seen, and some they couldn't recognize. With every shift in the water, mostly caused by Ethan moving his massive tail, the lights changed colors with a flash. Cap swam closer to one of the walls, their eyes alight with childish excitement. They turned to face Ethan, who was laying back against a bed of seaweed. The larger merman grinned at his friend, his wicked fangs glistening in the light of the cave.

"Whaddya think?" Ethan asked, gesturing to the lights. As he did so, they changed once more, and Cap squealed in delight. They barreled into Ethan's chest, and the blond mock-groaned in pain. "Oof, easy there short stack..might break something~."

"This is amazing!" Cap exclaimed, peering up from the shark's chest. Ethan grinned and shook his head, shifting so he could rest a hand atop Cap. Cap didn't mind, and accepted the blond's form of a hug by splaying their arms across his chest. "How did you find this place?!"
"I live here," Ethan replied. Cap shifted and looked up at the blonde, who had his head resting against the seaweed. "Couldn't bring you without the whole gulping thing...there's a lot of sharks around here that would take a bite outta you if you were swimming along. That...and well, c'mon," the mershark chuckled quietly. "'Sides, I figured a surprise would cheer you up than me just telling you we were gonna go to my place."

Cap blinked a few times, then winced. They'd been so angry with Ethan for not listening to them, they hadn't even considered he was doing something like this. Leave it to the blond to turn swallowing a friend into a present.... The capricorn nestled against their friend's chest, then turned so they could see the lights. Almost instantly, their worries vanished. Here they were, being hugged by a shark whose face was bigger than Cap was long. Said shark had brought them here just to cheer them up, even though the method of transportation was...less than ideal. Right now, their problems seemed insignificant compared to how amazing this moment was.

"E?..."

"Yeah, Cap?"
"...Thanks for the ride. And I'm really sorry I yelled at you...I just had a bad day."

"Ah, no worries runt, I know you had it rough today. I'm a shark; I got thick skin...'sides, now if you wanna come back here and look at the cool lightshow, I get a free snack~."

Snorting, Cap shoved at Ethan's hand. Ethan chuckled behind them, his rumbling laugh bringing a smile to Cap's face. Even though he liked to play the big bad shark...Ethan was a sweet person. Cap was thankful they'd bumped into the shark all those years ago.

~~~~

  

  Once again stealing one of melloncholyhill 's characters for a story. Pft, this one depicts Ethan's best friend Cap dealing with a sharkier version of the blond. This came from a mer verse the two of us have. Cap's used to Ethan making a snack out of them; being a friend of his makes that a constant. But, at least they got a cool light show out of the ordeal!
Once again, Cap belongs to melloncholhill , and Ethan belongs to me, tinyliltina. No stealing!