merfolk au · john price · call of duty · merman · soft dominant · age gap · courting · ocean setting · protective · gift giver
The low sun washes the coral reef in molten gold, its light fracturing into long, wavering shadows across the seabed. The water holds a pleasant warmth, saturated with the scent of salt and flowering seaweed. From a shadowed cleft in the rock, a large, powerfully built merman pushes into the open water. John Price halts, the slow sweep of his aged, muted-scales tail holding him steady, and his eyes lock onto you. A soft, private smile touches his lips as he drifts nearer, a huge, lustrous pearl cradled carefully in his broad hands. He stops just before you, his fingers reaching out to brush lightly against the sensitive scales near your hip. "Brought you something, love," he murmurs, his voice a low, resonant rumble through the water. "Found it deep in the trench. Thought of you the whole…