spaces_between | This isn't the Little Mermaid

[He was already chewing on a second piece of orange, not particularly one to savour a meal, even a special one like this. He liked having the taste on his tongue and lips, like the sweet juice hitting his belly. It was a texture that one didn't find easily in the meat in the sea. Everything was either soft or hard, never particularly sweet unless it was some water plants.

Oranges were his favourite. Steve was also his favourite land creature.

He nuzzled the smaller man more aggressively, humming a low two-toned musical note that failed to express the allure of his voice entirely. He still rubbed his forehead all over Steve's, bumping their noses and then doing that 'human thing' of rubbing his nose on Steve's cheeks, not even bothering to be mindful of the injuries of the black eye.]

Did you save the teeth? [He frowned and grunted unhappily at the mention of the victim. Matriarch's were to be honoured and protected for their knowledge and wisdom.] Young human males seem to have no respect for their matriarchs. You did the right thing defending her.

[That was not a compliment he gave often, if at all.]

No, I didn't. [ Steve wasn't in the habit of saving those things, much to Bucky's evident dismay, but he knew that the choice of victim this time distressed him more than the others did. Bucky's world prized the females more than the males, matriarchal -- his respect for the older females in society were bred from his own experience, for whatever it was worth.

He wrapped his arm back around him again, eager to comfort him as he gently crooned, addicted to Bucky's soft musical hum, to his open expressions. He rubbed his cheek back against him before he pressed his lips against his cheek. One soft kiss. Another.

Bucky bumping against his black eye made him wince, but it didn't matter, not when he'd pretty much heard what was the highest of praise. ] Hey. Hey, it's okay. [ He smiled a little. ] That's a first I'm hearing from you.

[He knew that Steve didn't particularly value objects of conquest as much as he did, but even he only had a very small collection. There was nothing to take from the creatures that he ate most of the time, no particular challenge to that hunt. He only took prizes from those that were challenges or perhaps as minor gifts for Steve.

He almost forgot his orange in the face of Steve's comfort, nuzzling as he had seen before he peeled off of slice of orange. He turned one end in his teeth and leaned forward for Steve to take the other half.]

Lure them in next time... I'll see they learn respect.

Can't teach them respect if you eat them, Buck.

[ Steve told him, all sass. He liked the little gifts that Bucky saw fit to give him from time to time. Small baubles that interested him, items from the tea -- sometimes even here, too; complete with a proud footnote from a pleased merman if that person had been particularly adversarial. Steve'd chided him about that one when he could.

He took the other half, coming intimately close so that his lips just barely touched Bucky's own, feeling a warm tingling down his spine at the brief, butterfly soft contact. The burst of flavor in his mouth is welcoming, but it mattered little in the face of this impromptu, unexpected little kiss. ]

It tastes good.

Who said I would eat all of them?

[He frowned and shook his head faintly in disapproval because he knew how to imprint lessons on the typical average male who Steve engaged with. Most of them were cowards, screamed like terrorized seabirds and floundered like a land creature unable to swim. All it took was circling them and bumping them around a little to impress upon them that their actions were silly. No one believed their weeping tales of him anyway.

He made a soft pleased noise when Steve grasped the other half of the slice and they bit down together, separating it evenly. His lips brushed against Steve's in return, finding a tingle run down his spine.]

You taste good with orange on your lips. [He moved in a bit more boldly but with an air of complete curiosity as he pushed his lips against Steve's, using his tongue to taste both flesh and the remnants of orange. Yes, that was a wonderful mixture.]

I was joking.

[ Steve told him gently, smiling as he drew him closer. Bucky was a lot more unpredictable as far as everything goes, but Steve -- well, he loved him anyway. He'd seen his heart, his innocence, the sweetness that he carried with him. And when he made that soft little noise, he parted his lips a little more to invite him in to explore.

Steve tasted the copper tang of blood, just a little, but there was the nearly overpowering flavor of oranges, too. His heart raced, anticipation and excitement both, and right here, no one can see them. ] Mm -- keep kissing me, Bucky.

[There was the soft shift of his soft scales against the rough cement, drawing his lower half in closer to Steve in a subtly protective gesture as he kissed the other boy. There was something very soft and alluring about Steve's lips, like they drew out something in him that had never previously been described when dealing with another. His fingers abandoned the orange safely to the ground so that he could cup the other boy's cheeks with his palms, ever careful of his claws as he deepened the kiss.

If he was concerned that Steve's blunt cow-like teeth would fix on his tongue, he gave no sign. Instead, he found himself curiously exploring this new action between them. Steve tasted like orange and other human foods that he hadn't yet tried himself. There was a tinge of blood, no doubt Steve's from the cut lip. He pressed closer and harder, enjoying the sensation and only withdrawing when it seemed prudent to breathe again. He huffed and sighed, peering at the other boy.]

What is that called? I see people on bridges and near waterways do that. It's very nice.

Kissing.

[ Steve grinned, hopelessly fond of him, and his heart racing at the gesture of affection -- he loved the way Bucky tasted and felt against him, felt something in him curl warm in the pit of his stomach, a pleasure that he cannot help. He felt Bucky come closer, the sliding of that tail like a snake's across sand.

A hand came to rest on those lovely scales, because no matter what it was Steve loved all of him anyway. He thought about it for a long moment, trying to explain it in proper form to him. ] It's what you do with someone you have very special and good feelings for. [ He smiled a little, and licked his own lips. ] But you can't do that with just anyone. Does it make you feel good?

[He considered the single word, able to translate it with what he knew the underwater equivalent to be. It was one of the few times that a human word sounded as alluring as the gesture itself, and it seemed to him that Steve enjoyed that as much as he had. That wasn't rare since there were very few things that Steve seemed to enjoy less than he did.

The light expression took away some of the abuse that showed on the other boy's face, and he nestled his chest against Steve's arm. He hummed a new musical note of approval at the touch to his scales, smiling his feral smile in response to it, his scales bristling approval before smoothing again.]

Under water, there is a similar gestures that potential mate pairs do to show their interest in one another. I don't think they press their tongues into one another's mouths though. [He admittedly had never been close enough to look.] It makes me feel warm inside. Do you feel good when we share oranges and kiss?

[ Potential mate pairs? He thought they were potential mate pairs? It's telling, and it made Steve smile just a little wider, although the cut on his lip ached at that gesture. He wasn't sure if Bucky understood the complexities of love, or what it meant to be in love with someone -- to be of the same gender and do the same.

They would be wrong here, in this place, in this time, but when Bucky's scales bristled and soothed over with contentment, he knew that he wouldn't want to be anything or anywhere else. He wanted to make him sing again, and so Steve continued stroking the scales, smooth and brilliant in the light. They were so beautiful, so very captivating -- imagine how much better they looked in the sea. ]

What do you do underwater? [ He can't help but be relieved, happy, cheeks pink with pleasure. ] It makes me feel good, too. [ He paused. ] You make me feel good.

[He hadn't considered himself and Steve to be anything close to mate pairs because males were not aggressors in his world. They showed up at the great currents when the season was right and performed all the tests same as the women, judged by the matriarchs who were no longer able to breed. Their performances, skills and survival instincts would win them the attention of potentials. He was too young to be considered to be anything but a gangling youth, not yet mature or worth considering.

Steve never made him feel too young. They were very similar in age and while Steve physically didn't show it, the other boy was clearly in the same sort of oddly gangling youth stage, not yet considered a man completely. Steve was the only thing on the land that he cared about.

He shivered at the stroke to his scales, his eyes half-closing in pleasure as the muscles contracted beneath his hide.]

We swim the great and most difficult currents in groups. And if a male performs well and proves himself, a female might approach in interest. They will court with kisses and rubbing scales, and she will decide if it is a match. [Even in the dark and for the first time, his cheeks flushed bright pink.] ...and matches twine together and make babies.

[ Steve considered that for a long moment, stopping his stroking as he thought of that, an odd sort of heartache in his chest when he realized that yes, this would be part of how it would go.

Bucky would find a female he liked, and make babies with her -- Steve could never get between that. He wouldn't want to. He took in that pretty blush on his face, tempted to kiss it away or make it darker, and he thought of him and another female locked together in a mating dance.

Was he jealous? Maybe a little bit. A very little bit. Carefully, he asked. ] Would you like to have some someday? Babies, I mean.

[He rubbed his cheek quite suddenly on Steve's shoulder as if that might remove the pigment from his skin. His tail also tightened around the other boy's waist, and he quickly retrieved the last half of the orange and began to pull it apart into its separate slices for something to do.]

Me? I'm not sure. There's never a guarantee to being picked as a match. Female family groups are very... independent and protective of one another.

[He suddenly looked at Steve, aware that human mating worked differently. He hadn't seen it, but there had been a few close calls where a male and female had fumbled with their clothes under a bridge.] What about humans? Are you going to make babies when a female picks you?

No one's going to pick me. [ Steve told him wryly, like it's a fact of life, and it is. No one wanted someone small and sick; everyone wanted the handsome ones, the solid, strong ones who could keep them safe. He knew it, of course; it was hard not to.

He snuggled closer, starting up to stroke his scales again, the smoothness of it, sleek and slippery. He thought of Bucky's world, where he'd come from, and he frowned; it seemed weirdly lop-sided. ]

Can't you pick anyone?

But you have so much... um survival strength. [He wasn't certain that was the right term in the human language, but Steve had proven himself over and over to not be able to stand down from a fight. Surely that refusal would be attractive to a female? It wasn't just about physical qualities after all.

He tilted his head at the question and then offered Steve a slice of orange before chewing on one himself, contemplating the answer. His scales were softening under Steve's grip as they almost finished drying out.]

No, males are not allowed to pick a female. They occasionally form um... bachelor groups. I heard songs of males practicing mating with each other so they would know what to do in case they were chosen.

[ Steve took the orange with a quiet word of thanks, his hand resting on his drying scales as he took that little fact in. It astounded him how vast his culture was, how different it was from his own, and it fascinated him.

He smiled just a little. ] Males can't be with males here. [ He exhaled. leaning his head against Bucky's. ] They say it's wrong, and you get punished for it.

[ But how wrong could it be, when he felt so strongly for this boy with him? ]

[He had known and watched Steve enough to know what those little smiles really meant. They were opposite to what they were supposed to, like when Steve picked fights over cats or the abuse of a matriarch.

Instead, he peered at Steve for a long moment, chewing thoughtfully on his orange.]

You can't make babies with another male, but how will you know what to do with a female that chooses you if you've never practiced? At least, that's the argument I've heard. [There was not particular punishment though for his people.]

Do you throw punches at those people who say it's wrong too? You look like you disagree.

Yeah, I do. [ More often than not, really -- Steve hated it; whose business was it, what people did in the privacy of their homes? Steve took a piece of his own orange, mildly embarrassed at that question. Making babies with a girl?

Not to say that he hadn't thought about it, really; but still. Gotta have a girl who liked you enough to want to do it with, and Steve hadn't yet found the right partner.

He blinked. Wait a minute. ] Do... the females and males have the same parts? In your world?

[He was not surprised at all by Steve's admittance, amused that the other boy would fight anything, probably even a stiff wind. It was very attractive, that fighting spirit, even if Steve was physically unable to do much about whatever fight was engaged.

He leaned in between finishing off the orange in his hands to nuzzle Steve's cheek when he sensed that the topic wasn't entirely a pleasant one. Steve was perhaps considered too small for a human male to have a mate?

He tilted his head in confusion at the question.] Same parts? We have tails and arms and voices...?

No, I mean --

[ Steve's cheeks heated up, embarrassed as he nuzzled him back, his hand finding his so that their fingers could twine together. No, it wasn't a pleasant topic, but Steve was used to it. He cleared his throat, then tried again. ]

Reproductive parts. How did you do that with a male and replicate it with a female?

[Oh...!

He knew what that meant now, though his face flushed again the same as Steve's. He gave a small anxious laugh to dispel that sensation because he knew that he could tell Steve anything, just as the other boy could him.

His scales were soft and pliable, absorbing slowly down into tougher human skin, the dark colouration giving way to the pale upper body-like skin.]

We have different parts. I don't know the words in English... I um... Males have outside parts, and females have inside parts and to make babies, males go inside females.

But males -- [ Even in his own embarrassment, Steve couldn't help but notice just how cute Bucky was when he blushed -- they were hopelessly young, he thought; and without thinking he shrugged off his thin coat.

He was noticing it, the way the scales slid away to reveal naked human skin, and a soft cock nestled in dark curls that he had to fight to look away from. What was Bucky like, he wondered, when he was caught up in pleasure? Did he know what it was, even now?

He gently put his jacket over Bucky's lap. ] -- how do you decide which one is the girl? Which one of the males takes it?

[This was what he liked the most, the awkwardness of youth that he could share with Steve despite the chance that they aged differently. The other boy was as awkward as he, and there was a simple joy in exploring their world together with blushes and laughter that so often he didn't find alone traveling the waterways.

His legs came as they did when he was completely dry, but they separated from each other last in the process. They were long and muscular, and he tilted his head when Steve covered his nudity. He didn't understand human preference for cloth aside from for warmth.]

Well... I don't really know. I've never practiced with a boy before. [He paused, picking at his lower lip with his clawed fingers for a moment before smiling at Steve.] The more dominant one must play the female role. How does it work with humans?

[ Steve decided that the entire underwater world was the exact opposite of the one above the water -- the dynamics of females and males were fascinating, and he found that he liked the former much better.

He continued to share, enjoying the time that he had with him, the easy affection and intimacy that rose between them. And it was good, right? They were both boys, exploring and new to all of this, at least together they had a better collective idea of the whole thing. ] The female is more passive. Males are supposed to be the stronger ones. I think -- a lot of them think the weaker males should play the female role.

[The more he was learning, the more opposite it did seem to him as well. It didn't seem that odd that they found one another's worlds very interesting and worth learning about. For him, he could be a far better hunter than he was. For Steve, he was certain that the other boy was curious of a world under the water.

He shifted his legs, drawing them out from around Steve and sitting up more, curling them under his weight so he was kneeling. He kept the jacket around his waist with a hand and used the other to smooth Steve's hair affectionately.] Do you want to play a female role? Are you limited by what your society deems you to be? You don't seem like that kind of male.

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