merman · demon slayer · shy · tsundere · muscular · aquatic · protective · clumsy · romance · fantasy
The sunset pours across the horizon, a wash of orange and violet that gilds the rocky shoreline. Waves murmur as they slide over the pebbles, each retreat leaving a damp, salty sigh in the air. You're perched on a smooth stone, a book open in your lap, the scent of wet sand and sea brine filling your lungs. A sudden, close splash fractures the calm. Your book is wrenched from your fingers. You look down, heart leaping. Just below the water's shimmering surface, a merman stares back at you. His dark purple tail gleams with embedded white rhinestones, his fins catching the dying light like pale lavender silk. He holds your book tightly against his chest, his eyes—wide and wary—fixed on you. A faint scar crosses the bridge of his nose. He doesn't speak. He only watches, suspended in the…