Coral Red ❤︎ [Brallon]

3.

Brendon's POV
• ❀ • ❀ • ❀ • ❀ • ❀ •

I look at the "ring" that I now have on my finger, it's so pretty! I can't believe he actually gave it to me.

My tail flaps more, making small little splashes against the shallow water, and I could feel my tail hit the sand that was under us.

"So p-people wear them b-because they're pretty?" I asked, my focus still being on the little band that fit snugly around my finger.

The man nods and smiles as I look up at him, and I giggle.

"We don't h-have things like this.. it's u-usually pearls! Or s-shells! And if y-you're lucky, y-you could have a s-shark tooth!" I say, getting excited as I start to list off all the possibilities of "pretty" things that I have or know of.

"If y-you're important, y-you could have cuffs a-around here," I say, putting my fingers around my wrist. "B-But I'm not i-important, so I don't h-have them.. b-but they're s-super cool!" I say, giggling more softly but I stop as I see the look on his face.

"W-What is it?" I question, and I start inching back into the water.

"It's just you said you're not important, when you are," he says, and I just shake my head.

"I c-can't be i-if I don't h-have cuffs," I reply, and I cock my head slightly. "H-How could I be im-important? No o-one really p-pays attention to me, so h-how could I be?" I add, telling him things that I had been told before by other merfolk.

I look back down to the ring that was around my finger, and I hold it up so the sun can shine on it, my fingers spreading, and the webs in between them being obvious now.

I don't notice, or pay attention to him liking at the webs as I continue examining the ring. My tail flaps again, making a particularly big splash that makes me giggle again.

I look back up at him and cock my head a bit.

"What does be-beau-tiful... mean? I-Is it like p-pretty?" I ask, the bigger word slightly confusing me as I always stuck to simpler phrases.

As I look up at him, I shift a little, now holding my tail up and out of the water without even really thinking about it. The movement causes a bit of my hair to flop down into my face, and I giggle as it tickles my nose, my eyes crossing a little as I look at it before looking back to him.

"Why d-do you say I'm b-beauti-... beautiful.. and im-important?" I ask, still looking up at him with my wet hair in my face, but I'm too distracted by it to even think about moving it.

I do have a bit of a struggle pronouncing that word again, but I do try, and the smile that the man gives me makes me feel a bit better about myself, and I giggle, my tail swaying gently behind me, the large fins flapping forwards and backwards.

Since I'm in the sun you can really see the color of my scales, the bright red shining and glittering in the sunlight. The small reflections of color sometimes distracted me, but I really did try to focus on him, and his answer, as I was generally curious about what he means.

Dallon's POV
• ☼ • ☼ • ☼ • ☼ •

I smiled at the other man, as he tried to pronounce the word 'beautiful'.

"Why d-do you say I'm beau...beautiful?" He asked. "W-what does that m-mean?"

"It's more than pretty." I said. "See that ring on your hand?"

He smiled down at the ring. "Yeah, i-it's really p-pretty."

"But it's more than pretty, right?"

"Y-Yeah."

"That's what beautiful is, and you're beautiful." I said.

He blushed again, but I could see something else that was red almost reflected on his face, but I pushed that thought out of my mind.

"W-What about imp...i-important?" He asked. "H-How am I im...important?"

"You saved me, I'd be dead if it weren't for you!" I said. "Whatever shit somebody put in your brain is wrong, you're the most amazing person I've ever met."

He put his hands over his mouth, and I could tell he was smiling.

"What...w-what does shit m-mean?"

"Okay, uh, let's not say that anymore, okay?"

"Is it b-bad?"

"Kinda." I said. "It's a bad word."

"Then w-why did you s-say it?"

I laughed, not knowing what to reply.

He laughed too, something splashing the surface of the water. I propped myself up on my elbows to see what it was, and my jaw dropped. "Woah..."

I saw the other man look around too. "Oh n-no.."

I reached over to touch the tail attached to the man next to me. It was bright red and scaly. "This...you're amazing."

He whimpered, moving away from me.

"Hey, I just wanna see. I've never seen....I....please?" I stuttered.

He nodded, flipping his tail towards me.

I touched the fins first, feeling how fragile they were. Then I moved up to where his thighs would've been, feeling the hard but delicate scales there.

"You're amazing." I whispered.

I saw that there were different patches of scales all over his body, and there were gills on his neck. I was mesmerized by him, not able to take my eyes off of the man, or should I say merman in front of me.

"A-Are...are y-you scared?" He asked.

"I'm anything but scared, you're beautiful," I said, holding his hand. I felt webs between his fingers, which in a way felt quite nice. "And to top it all off, you have a ring."

H-How's your head?" He asked softly.

"Hurts like crazy, but it's getting a little bit better." I said.

"T-that's good." He said, smiling.

"Are you doing okay, you gotta go back under?" I asked, pointing to the ocean.

"My tail is in, so I'll be okay." He said, smiling, as his tail flopped around in the water.

"I don't want you to turn into a raisin out here."

"W-What's a r-raisin?"

"A dried up, disgusting squishy thing."

He made a disgusted face. "E-Ew.."

"Exactly, I don't want a beauty like you to turn into that."

He smiled. "T-Thanks.."

He was so shy, it was adorable. I rubbed my fingers over the scales on his wrist, not minding that they were a little bit sharp, and would prick me from time to time. He had been playing with his ring, but now was running his fingers through my hair, tugging it to know how it felt. I smiled, I never wanted to leave this beach.

I never wanted to leave him.