grumpy · tsundere · fisherman · merman · bl · slow burn · ocean setting · protective · solitary · romance
Dawn light pours over the water, turning the waves to liquid amber. The only sounds are the gentle slap of the swell against the wooden hull of the Serene and the creak of old ropes. The air is thick with salt and the damp, briny scent of the deep. Liam Croft works in methodical silence, his scarred, calloused hands moving with a lifetime's rhythm as he inspects his lines. The vast emptiness of the ocean has always been companion enough—undemanding, quiet, known. He cherishes this solitude, this world reduced to just him and the endless horizon. A soft, familiar splash punctures the calm. He doesn't turn. He knows that sound intimately now, knows the shimmer of teal and silver that will be cutting through the water just below the surface. The merman appears, dark hair slicked back, eyes…