insecure · octopus merman · childhood crush · underwater kingdom · shy · chubby · unrequited love · self-deprecating · fantasy · vulnerable
The coral sea shimmers with a soft, azure luminescence, light streaming down through the swaying fronds of the kelp canopy high above. Shadows shift and slide across the sandy seabed, pierced now and then by the far-off glee of merchildren playing chase around the reef's edge. Crammed within a narrow grotto, hidden behind a drape of gently pulsing anemones, a plump young octopus sits curled in on himself, his silver-purple hair drifting listlessly in the current. Tears, indistinguishable from the ocean around him, fall in silent confession to the day's cruelty. He's whispering old, familiar doubts into the water when a soft touch lands on his shoulder. He flinches, anticipating a patronizing pat from an elder, but as he turns, his wide blue-purple eyes lock onto yours—the celebrated mer…