Sanders Sides Oneshots

The Business of Luminescence- Analogical

What,  the end of May, and no mermaid content from me? Unacceptable. Thanks to people on my Discord Server for recommending I write this. And if you're not on my Discord server, head to my profile and join us! It's a fun time, but without further ado, I give you Mermaid!Analogical that's hopefully not too cliche.
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Logan was the only mermaid (merman?) Virgil knew about. When his boyfriend had first told him, he was a nervous and paranoid wreck. If stoic Logan could hide that for most of his life, how many people did he know were hiding things from him? Was everyone he met merfolk? But Logan had taken so much time to carefully explain everything he could to his lover and though it was bumpy, they got over it.

A week or two after that, Logan had wanted to show Virgil his tail. Virgil wasn't sure what the correct response was. Was he to be in awe, afraid, or what? But Logan had simply taken his hand and led him away from their beach house to the sandy shores, waiting for the tide to come it. Logan had barely taken off his shirt and stepped into the water when everything melted around Virgil's field of vision. He couldn't focus on anything that wasn't Logan.

Instead of his usual pair of jeans, a long tail (easily 6 feet alone) appeared in its place. Two long curved fins were at the base, colored midnight blue with sparkling light blue and white flecks shimmering along its edges. The midnight blue continued up the tail, widening as it blended into the skin around Logan's hips. Along the back of the tail, chipped seashells were embedded and glimmered. Two smaller fins hung off Logan's hips and helped propel him forward. The beautiful texture of the tail continued sparsely up his torso and forearms until it tapered off. His eyes seemed to glow an unearthly mix of royal purple and navy blue. Two gills on either side of his neck radiated white light.

Virgil had never seen anything so beautiful.

So, that's how their last year had been lived. Logan could live as comfortably as he wished and Virgil could fully appreciate the true complexity of his boyfriend. Everything was perfect between them so Logan's request didn't come far from the left field.

"Wait, why me?" Virgil turned around and set his notebook down on his desk. Logan was leaning on the opposite wall, fiddling with his glasses.

"Because quite simply, you're the only person I can trust with this," Logan stated bluntly, not realizing that little consolation quelled Virgil's insecurities. "And I can't quite do it alone, so please?"

Virgil considered. Logan had long since wondered what sort of seashells were along the underside of his tail. They almost appeared luminescent in the dark waters and almost unidentifiable. Virgil often sat on the shores watching Logan in the water, turning circles and contorting his body in various ways to get some sort of sample. But nothing to date had worked, so here they were. Logan asking very politely if Virgil could step into the water with him and help him dislodge a single shell. There was a minute problem.

Virgil was almost deathly afraid of the ocean.

Virgil was a small child when it happened, maybe 5 or 6 years old? His mother took him to the beach and they had spent the day in the waves, standing there and letting the push and pull of the tide wash away their footprints. But somehow, his mother's grip on his small hands had loosened. The moments he was pulled under were some of the scariest of his life. He remembered the burning of his lungs, the black spots dancing in his vision. Hearing the distorted version of his mother screaming, reaching blindly for him. In reality, he had only gone down for 30 seconds, but that had really soured him on the experience.

Until Logan. Until beautiful, kind-hearted Logan had shown him the beauty of beaches again. The beauty of the moon shining over the water and the feeling of sand squishing between his feet. And they fell in love. They had grown to love the beach together and now even lived there. Logan would often be found near the water but never quite in it (in hindsight, how hadn't Virgil connected the dots sooner?). But Virgil would always stay on the cusp of the shore, just barely letting the water lap at his feet.

There was no way around it. Logan couldn't just hop in a bathtub and ask Virgil to pluck a shell, he simply didn't fit. So Virgil would have to get in the ocean and that was scary. Scarier than falling in love. Scarier than realizing that Logan wouldn't leave him. Scarier than realizing one day, he could marry Logan. And that was a terrifying thought he found himself thinking about very often.

Nightfall came very quickly. Logan stood by the door, wearing no shirt and a pair of swim shorts. His glasses glinted in the light as he eyed Virgil with a smile. He loved Virgil, there was no question about it, but he couldn't help but finding him almost comical at times. Virgil was wearing a brand new swimsuit (bought soon after Logan realized Virgil had no reason to buy one) and staring rather forlornly at the coffee table. On the table, there was an unopened snorkel mask. "You sure I'm not gonna need it?"

"Virgil, we're not going deeper than a few feet. It'll be very quick and I won't let go of your hand the whole time. Alright?" Logan outstretched his hand and waited. Virgil huffed, an action that made his bangs flutter and took his boyfriend's hand. They walked down to the shore together, just enjoying their own silence.

Logan strode into the water with confidence, letting his body practically melt into the water and kicking his legs up as they changed into his tail. He smiled; he would never tire of seeing it. He wasn't one for superficial beauty, but it was truly something special to see. Virgil smiled as well. It was rare to see Logan so purely happy about something. So taking a deep breath, Virgil walked into the water and swam directly for the mermaid, going to hold his hand.

"Well done," Logan smiled but it didn't feel patronizing. "You did it."

"Yeah, I guess I did." Virgil squeezed Logan's hand. "You proud of me?"

"Incredibly." And Virgil knew he meant it. "But the quicker you do it-"

"The quicker we're out. I'm already on it." Virgil briefly moved to allow Logan to turn over and bare the back of his tail. The shimmering shells were exactly as Virgil remembered. Each one perfectly in place to catch the light and giving Logan an air of being ethereal. "Just tell me to stop if it hurts."

"Of course, now do hurry up. I'm rather impatient to get a better look."

"Fine, fine." Virgil rolled his eyes but he carefully slipped his nail underneath the shell, carefully dislodging it from its place. The process took almost a full minute but the shell eventually slipped from it's place from between the scales. The sudden progress startled Virgil into almost dropping it but he caught it. "Got it!"

Logan turned around quickly and held Virgil's wrist, leaning closer to see it. "Peculiar..."

"Beautiful." Virgil corrected.

"Just like you." Logan leaned in to gently kiss Virgil, feeling an overwhelming sense of pride and love for his emo boyfriend. And together, they basked in the moonlight, holding the shell and feeling the water push and pull them together.
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So? Did we like it? A fan? I'm actually fairly neutral for this ship but I do love my left-brained boys more than life itself so. Happy pride month to all of you! I wanted to wish you all a very happy pride because know things are going to be tough for us considering everything happening but I wanted to share an important message. Never be ashamed of who you are. Love who you want. Be who you want to be. You are not your identity but your identity is you. I wish you all the love and support you need and come DM me if you wanna chat! And happy pride again! We won't back down!!! Take it easy guys gals and non-binary pals. Peace out!