Perfect Catch

-41-

Shay sighed as he continued to go through his wardrobe. Today was a clean out day as Lulu had declared it. Today they were going to grab any unwanted clothes, books and other items and either donate or throw them away. Shay and Yuto willingly went along with it was they believed Lulu wanted this so she could rid the past in the house. She had recently found out Dennis had left a note at his father's apartment saying he was leaving town, without a disclosed reason. So, this day, clean out day, was also called; "Get rid of any and all reminders of Dennis day."

Fully supportive Shay began with his wardrobe. He threw some old jeans onto the bed, they were still in good condition so they could be planted on the charity pile. Next, Shay reached up to the shelf, pulling out a few books before feeling something wooden. Curious Shay pulled it out using both hands. His eye's widened. Now in his hands was a wooden chest of sorts. He knew this wasn't his but it was something he was holding onto for Yuto. Shay's heart sank, this chest was a present to Yuto from his parents and he was told to open it up when he turned 18 but with Yuto in a dark place, Shay was too scared to give him the chest.

Swallowing hard Shay tried to make a decision in his head. Would Yuto be ready to open this now or would he still keep it shut? Grunting, he knew what to do so he made his way to Yuto's room. He stopped as he heard giggling on the other end of the door. His eye twitched in annoyance. Yuya had come over to the house to help with the clean-up but it seems Yuto had other ideas. Knocking on the door, the giggling stopped. Yuto opened the door, his face flushed and trying to fix his shirt. "Sorry about that," Yuto said opening the door fully. His eyes widened, noticing the item in Shay's hand. "Is that?"

"I found it in my room," Shay pushed the item into Yuto's space. "I wasn't sure if you would want it yet but I figured, perhaps you're ready for it."

Curious, Yuya ran up to Yuto's side eyeing the chest. "Oh, that's pretty," He gasped in awe. After looking closer Yuya noticed the key hole. "It's in the shape of your charm." Yuto gulped, taking the chest into his shaky hands. Yuya grabbed hold of his lover's arm trying to support him. "It's okay," He whispered.

Ultimately, the decision was made to put the cleaning to a halt and they all gathered in the living room sat at the dining table. Lulu had also put a halt to her cleaning and joined them. The box laid in the middle of the table, Yuto just staring at it. This was the last item his parents left him and he was debating internally if he was strong enough to open it.

Nervously Yuya handed Yuto the charm from his keys before holding onto Yuto from behind. "It's okay," he assured. "We're here with you."

Taking a deep breath Yuto brought the chest closer to him, placing the charm on the lock and opening it. He held his breath as he lifted the lid all the way, tears coming to his eyes as he noticed the photo on top. He pulled the photo form the top, brining it in view of Yuya. He hugged Yuto tightly seeing it was a picture of his family. "This was when I was a kid. I think I was about 7," Yuto reminisced. "It was the first time they took me out to sea."

"Oh look," Lulu reached into the chest pulling out an envelope.

Yuto placed the photo down taking the letter marked to him. His mother always did have beautiful handwriting. He carefully ripped open the envelope from the side, taking out the letter. He took a deep breath before unfolding it, a small shell fell out onto the table as he did. Nervously Yuto began to read the letter out loud;

My dearest Yuto,

If you are reading this you are finally of age to know. You can know learn of your true heritedge.

As he read the letter, his mother's voice rang clearly thorugh his mind, the tears falling slowly.

Yuto, I never did tell you the story of how your father and I became to be, so I wrote you this letter. I wasn't very old, in fact, I had just turned 18 when I met him. A man with deep purple hair, wonderous onyx eyes and a violet tail to top it off.

Yuto read the last sentence again making sure he read it correctly. 'Tail', his mother wrote 'tail' definitely! "Was your dad a mermaid?" Shay asked, probably just as confused as Yuto who was still had a tight grasp on the letter. Seeing the distress in Yuto's eyes shay pryed the letter from Yuto so he could continue to read.

I never thought for a moment the tales of mermaids that were spoken through the city were true. Well until the day I met you farther. I was swimming late at night and unfortunately found myself unable to move, your farther saved my life that night and he stole my heart.

Against his people's wish, he continued to see me and the more he did the deeper in love I feel until eventually, while my parents were out of town, he came onto land. It was a blissful week and, in the end, we consummated our love. I essentially became his mate.

The years passed and with my parents' work increasing, it meant they were leaving town more and more. Eventually I graduated college and began my job as a junior marine biologist and your farther came to stay more though, due to our blind love, I ended up pregnant with you, my son. Your farther was both happy and distraught. My pregnancy meant he was forbidden from returning to his community but due to a mermaids life span it meant he would grow to outlive us.

Yuya held Yuto close to his chest. His suspicions were right all along; Yuto did have mermaid blood inside him. "What else does it say?" Yuya asked crying to comfort his lover.

Shay's eyes skimmed the letter, widening as he noticed a certain part. "It says that Yuto's father became human by," Shay took a moment before continuing, shocked by what he read. "By taking the blood of his human mate. It says that by doing this, he pretty much became human, though during a certain period of the lunar cycle he was able to become a mermaid again for a small time. His life span shortened and his aging became that of a human."

"Wait a minute," Lulu gasped. "That means we've learnt how Yuya can become human. Yuto, isn't that wonderful?"

"It also means that we've learnt that Yuto is of mermaid heritage," Shay added, knowing for a while Yuto blamed mermaids for his parent's death. "Though judging from the letter, he primarily is human."

Yuya knelt down in front of Yuto, tears of joy streaming down his face. "Yuto, how do you feel?" He asked, slightly concerned. "I want to think you're happy. Your mom provided something amazing to us. She gave us the answer of us spending our lives together."

Without a word Yuto stood for a moment, walking over to a nearby cabinet and taking something out, hiding it in the palm of his hands. He fell to his knees, in front of Yuya with a thud. With his right hand he picked up Yuya's left. "You're right," He smiled, lifting his head up. "My mom, even after death is still looking out for me, so Yuya, I have an important question." Yuya watched as Yuto opened the small box in his hands revealing the same ring he admired while on their vacation months before. Lulu started to cry tears of joy and a small tear even left Shay's eye. "Yuya, will you marry me?"

"Yes," Yuya screamed. With that Yuto placed the ring on Yuya's finger before kissing his new fiancé. 

—AN—-

Just a quick one to say thank you to everyone on this. I can't believe I have 4.5k views on this. I'm so so happy I literally sometimes cry when I read your lovely comments .

Also to Twilighteclipse102, just to say some of you comments have inspired the next for chapters and you know, credit where credit is due right?

Thank you everyone for the support again! 💜💜💜