"Why not? Is it...culture, in your language?" Her older sisters had eventually given up trying to explain every little nuance of human behavior to their youngest sibling, and had finally just dubbed it "culture", glossing over what they couldn't explain.
But those wide eyes didn't miss the sleek expanse of unmarked skin, and the ripple of muscle beneath it. Yes, this was a good catch. "...you're so pretty..." Talia heard herself sigh, leaning her cheek on one small arm. "You should be 'naked' too, James Bucky."
"Um, yeah, it's my culture," Bucky says. It's as good a way as any to explain it and it gets the point across without him fumbling around for words that make sense. Then she looks at him and leans her cheek against his arm and he has to close his eyes; her skin is so, so soft and she's so beautiful.
"Um, you can use one or the other. Use James," Bucky says. He doesn't know why he decides on that but he thinks that sounds better than Bucky and he'll just...let that be. When it hits him that she wants him naked he exhales sharply.
"Uh, I should probably not do that. We're not together. But I'll leave my shirt off because it's hot here."
She smiled again, lazy and warm. "But we are," Talia insisted, lifting her head. "We are 'together'. Right here, on my island." She gestured around. "See? Together." Therefore, it counted. And he should be 'naked', too. Especially since she wanted to see more.
"I want to see your legs," the mermaid abruptly told him, reaching out of the water to grasp at his pants' hem. "All humans have legs. But not us. Only when out of the water." She gave the faded fabric an insistent tug. "Please? Let me see?"
"Hey, whoa, if I take my pants off I'm just gonna be in my shorts, doll. I can't be running around like that."
Bucky thinks about it for a moment and realizes this is the only time in his life that a beautiful woman is tugging at his pants and asking him to get naked and he's saying no. It doesn't seem right, though, because she seems so innocent to him. He sighs and pops the buttons and wriggles out of them. At least his shorts had a chance to dry out on that beach.
For now, apparently, because her eyes were riveted to the rest of his body, long, lean, and elegantly carved. He still wore some silly little garment around his waist, but that was fine. For now. She was able to look all she wanted, and Talia did, ever curious.
Finally, she heaved out of the water to sit on the edge of the pool, grimacing a bit as her shimmering scales began to fade, then separate, leaving her with two smooth, pale legs ending in very small feet, toes pretty and perfect. Gingerly standing, she was a little wobbly at first, but finally, with a tiny hand resting against a palm tree for balance, she stood before her soldier at last, clad in her long wet hair and naught else.
"See? I am also like you. Well," she amended, glancing down, "...almost?"
Bucky knows he shouldn't be looking but he does because he just can't help himself and then he immediately feels bad about it. It's obvious mermaid culture doesn't care about nudity but his culture does and he needs to not be openly staring at this girl who saved his life. But God, he hasn't seen a girl since before he deployed and definitely not one as beautiful as this one.
"Talia, hey, you shouldn't be...I know you don't care about the nudity thing but it would be wrong for me to look at you, you know? Do you know what I mean when I say together? I don't mean us just standing here and talking. I mean together. Like in a bed? Only we don't have a bed. But like you would in a bed?"
Her expression brightened when he mentioned bed, because she knew what one was. Although, what one did in a bed was beyond her. "I know what a bed is!" It came out on a squeal due to her bright excitement. "I have seen pictures. In a book." Several years ago.
Then it caught up with her. And her brows furrowed. "Is...is it your culture to not look at others? You never look at naked humans?" Seemed silly to her, but then, humans were strange. Talia took a hesitant step, moving her hand from the tree to the middle of Bucky's chest. His skin was warm.
"But...you look like me. ...almost," she said again. "Why is it bad?"
"It's not bad," Bucky says, sighing a little. God, this is the most difficult thing he's ever done because he doesn't want Talia to think he's judging her or she's done something wrong but he does want her to understand why he feels bad looking at her.
"It's just...special. Humans only get naked together if they care about one another. Well, I do anyway. Some do it just for fun but I don't have sex unless I care about the girl I'm with. So it's just not right for me to look at you because I'm taking advantage of you, because I know it means something different to me than it does to you. And that probably isn't something you want to give me."
She puzzled her way through this oration, expression twisting with her deep thought. A few moments later, Talia was about to reply, but a sharp rumble of thunder cut her off. Jerking away, she nearly stumbled, but fell against the tree for balance, gazing a little fearfully up at the skies.
"Too soon," she lamented, shivering as the wind began to gust a little harder. Looking back at Bucky, she grabbed for his hand, tugging him towards her and the clear pool. "You must come with me," she urged. "Not safe on land during storm. Safer beneath the water. I will help you. Please, come with me!"
"I can't breathe underwater," Bucky says. He knows he should be afraid of the storm, the last one knocked him out of the sky, but he thinks he'll be a lot better off in the trees of this island than he was in the air. He's gotta be. People survived storms out in the wilderness all the time before there were houses, right?
"I can't come with you, doll. I've gotta stay up here. It's okay. I'll find a place to hide and then I'll come back here when it's over. You don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself."
It was frustration that twisted her countenance this time, and Talia didn't bother arguing any further. Rather than ask again, she simply reached out and took the soldier by both arms, proving exemplary strength when she catapulted the both of them over the pool's gentle edge and headfirst into the water. They surfaced immediately, the mermaid still gripping her soldier in a tight grip.
Without any warning, she pulled them close and fastened her lips to his, kissing him just as she had before, sharing with him the inherent magic in her blood. An eternity later, she released him, and dark lashes lifted to gaze right into his eyes as she told him, "Now, you can breathe. Come with me, I will keep you safe."
Bucky hadn't expected to be thrown into the water and kissed and while it wasn't a romantic kiss, it was a long one, and he's puzzled as to what it means until he dips his head under the water and realizes he doesn't have to hold his breath. He can breathe underwater. He can breathe underwater.
"Shit. I mean, sorry, I shouldn't curse in front of you. Okay, where do you want me to go?"
Bucky wants to explore the fact that he can literally breathe underwater (and swim a little faster too, but maybe that's his imagination) but he's following Talia deep down to the bottom of the ocean to wherever she thinks is safe from the storm. There's something that almost looks like...a sunken ship? Do mermaids live in shipwrecks?
"Is this your house?" he asks, feeling stupid as soon as the words are out. "Why are you wasting your time up there with me?"
Now with fins instead of feet, Talia hauled her companion down through the tunnel leading to the ocean and out into the lagoon, emerging into the salty water not a minute before a large streak of lightning split the sky far above. The flash danced across the surface, illuminating the depths for a brief second before disappearing, and the mermaid didn't waste any time.
She towed Bucky further into the reef, swimming along a large, colorful shelf before abruptly diving deeper, taking him to her own shelter, a sunken schooner that had settled here centuries before. It lay on its side, but there was a large, splintered hole in the bulkhead, and it was through there that Talia took her charge, settling them both in what had been the captain's quarters at the rear of the ship. The glass was still intact, so they could see out into the reef beyond, but at least they were protected from the ocean's angrier currents, just beginning to swell with the storm's emergence.
"I live here," she confirmed, floating comfortably against an ancient divan. "It's a good place to shelter, when the outside becomes too rough."
He looked a little silly, she decided, smiling in amusement, with his gangly legs and arms everywhere, but that was okay. He'd learn how to move in the water soon enough.
Bucky knows how to swim but he's never been practically at the bottom of the ocean before either. He's not really sure what to do with himself, honestly, but he manages to lean against the hull of the ship opposite of where Talia's divan is and looks at her.
"So how am I not dead? Are you magic? I'm assuming it's magic and stuff."
He's read a few books with wizards and things and while he never thought magic could be real, he guesses if mermaids are then that is too.
"Magic? No..." Well, not that she knew of, anyway. "It is a gift that we have. To share our breath." A delicate bare shoulder lifted and dropped. "All of us can do it." Talia absently brushed her long red hair aside, to float out behind her. A few silvery fish flitted here and there, darting around their two larger forms.
"I brought you here before," she confessed. "After the crash. You slept here for a while." A small hand brushed the divan's damask, faded from the salty water. "Then I brought you to the shore, before you woke up."
So it is magic, then, if she can share her breath with him and he can breathe underwater. Maybe they don't call it that among their people but it's magic to him and it's all relative. When she says she'd brought him down here before to rest, it makes sense that he had felt better when he woke up than he should have.
He doesn't have much time to think about that, though, because Talia has moved and her hair is flowing behind her instead of covering her breasts and he finds himself staring, eyes captivated by how beautiful her body is. God, I shouldn't be doing this. It's not right.
She blinked at him, again confused by the apology. So Natalia simply shrugged it off, giving him a smile before swimming to the edge of her shelter, peering up at the surface. The skies above were still dark, the ocean beneath a dull, flat blue, and even though they were beneath the waves, she could still smell the electric anger in the air above.
"This is storm season," she told him, glancing back over a bare shoulder. "They come almost every day for months." No doubt it was one of those massive maelstroms that had sunk his craft. "Very dangerous, up there." She swam back to float gently in front of her new companion. "Better you stay here, with me."
The mermaid took Bucky's hand, threading their fingers together and smiling in enthusiastic delight. "I will show you the sea. And then bear your daughter, after storm passes."
"Wait a second," Bucky says, catching the last thing she said. He still has his fingers linked with hers but his face is full of shock. She wants him to give her a kid? Really and truly just...give her a kid? That's insane. They just met.
"Bear my daughter? That's...if I'm having a kid I want to have a say in it! That's a big thing for a guy. I gotta help take care of them and we have to be parents together and that's literally not something I have planned for at all. Not yet. Holy shit."
Again, her brows knit in confusion. "Parents...together?" Natalia shook her head, a small jellyfish floating between them, completely unperturbed. "No, that's not how it is," she told him. "I bear your daughter, and you go. Home. Or, somewhere. Fathers never...stay."
At least, none in her memory had ever remained. Her father certainly hadn't. And the mermaid wasn't entirely sure that her own mother hadn't eaten him, after mating, but that wasn't a concern right now.
Pulling her hand from his, Natalia planted both on her hips, giving her "mate" a speculative look. "--why are you so confusing?" she demanded, as exasperated as any human woman might become when faced with a flabbergasted man.
"Well I'm not just gonna leave you with my baby all alone," Bucky says stubbornly. "Am I not allowed to have a say? I can't see my kid once she's born, she just belongs to you? That's not really fair. If you're gonna...the whole thing is weird," he admits, "But I don't wanna have sex with someone who doesn't care about me and then have to leave my own kid behind. That's just not how it works."
He guesses mermaid society is really different but that's the way he was taught and he isn't gonna change that. It's wrong. The sex he guesses he could do - she is beautiful - but he isn't just gonna leave his own kid behind. That's a part of him.
She was starting to understand why her sisters didn't bother talking to their mates very much. Not if this was what they had to deal with. Natalia huffed rather than answer again, tossing her head and flicking her tail, abruptly swimming outside of her shelter to gaze around once more.
Infuriating male! She considered, briefly, tossing him back on the beach and letting him fend for himself, but she wasn't, at heart, cruel, and she...liked him, besides. Maybe they could just...not talk about things? A familiar shoal of silversides flashed by, teasing at her long hair and making her laugh; they were residents of the reef, too. They flitted around her, this way and that, considerably lightening the mermaid's sour mood.
By the time she returned to the sunken ship, she was calmer, and rather than say anything at all, she swam to her companion and put her arms around his neck, meeting his mouth with hers. Kissing was far preferable to talking, anyway.
Kissing was good. Natalia is a good kisser and Bucky lets himself sink into it even though it's a little crazy that he's underwater with a mermaid and he can still breathe. She's got her arms around his neck and he slips his around her petite waist, holding her close to him.
"I don't wanna leave," Bucky says softly. "Do you want me to just go after I give you your kid? Because that's not what I want to do." He kisses her again, so soft, and presses as close to her as he can.
"How will you stay?" she asked after they broke apart. "You have feet. No fins. Daughter will have fins. No feet for...many years." That was a skill that each mermaid had to learn, finding their feet. "I must have daughter. This is how we continue. All of my sisters have many daughters. I...have never."
She lowered her eyes, letting him go and drifting away a bit.
"Males...cannot stay, after. None ever have." Pushing her long hair aside, she looked back at Bucky. "Why do you want to stay? Give up life on land?" To her, it made no sense.
"I don't want to just...you don't leave your kids," Bucky says. "You don't leave the woman who gave birth to your kid and not help her. And I want to see her. She's gonna be a part of me, you know? I want kids. I don't want to just have to leave her and never get to know her or hold her."
This is bothering him more than it should, he guesses. Plenty of men would be happy to be absolved of responsibility and only get the fun part.
Her expression twisted again, realizing that he was probably right. "...no," she agreed, shaking her head. "I...and I shouldn't have told you." Now she realized why her sisters never bothered talking with their mates. Words just caused problems.
Rather than talk anymore, or even kiss, the redheaded mermaid flicked her tail in an abrupt about-face, and swam out of the shelter, veering abruptly to the left and vanishing amid the coral and sea grass. She couldn't even look at him right now, not even as pretty as he was.
A few familiar fish tried to follow her, curious, but she warned them off with a few threatening strokes of her tail. Above her, the ocean was still roiling as the storm raged, but deep in the depths, near the coral beds, the current was steady, and the unhappy mermaid settled to the sandy bottom amid a colorful bouquet of plants and creatures, blending seamlessly. She just...wanted everything to go away, right now.
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But those wide eyes didn't miss the sleek expanse of unmarked skin, and the ripple of muscle beneath it. Yes, this was a good catch. "...you're so pretty..." Talia heard herself sigh, leaning her cheek on one small arm. "You should be 'naked' too, James Bucky."
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"Um, you can use one or the other. Use James," Bucky says. He doesn't know why he decides on that but he thinks that sounds better than Bucky and he'll just...let that be. When it hits him that she wants him naked he exhales sharply.
"Uh, I should probably not do that. We're not together. But I'll leave my shirt off because it's hot here."
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"I want to see your legs," the mermaid abruptly told him, reaching out of the water to grasp at his pants' hem. "All humans have legs. But not us. Only when out of the water." She gave the faded fabric an insistent tug. "Please? Let me see?"
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Bucky thinks about it for a moment and realizes this is the only time in his life that a beautiful woman is tugging at his pants and asking him to get naked and he's saying no. It doesn't seem right, though, because she seems so innocent to him. He sighs and pops the buttons and wriggles out of them. At least his shorts had a chance to dry out on that beach.
"This pass for you?"
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Finally, she heaved out of the water to sit on the edge of the pool, grimacing a bit as her shimmering scales began to fade, then separate, leaving her with two smooth, pale legs ending in very small feet, toes pretty and perfect. Gingerly standing, she was a little wobbly at first, but finally, with a tiny hand resting against a palm tree for balance, she stood before her soldier at last, clad in her long wet hair and naught else.
"See? I am also like you. Well," she amended, glancing down, "...almost?"
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Bucky knows he shouldn't be looking but he does because he just can't help himself and then he immediately feels bad about it. It's obvious mermaid culture doesn't care about nudity but his culture does and he needs to not be openly staring at this girl who saved his life. But God, he hasn't seen a girl since before he deployed and definitely not one as beautiful as this one.
"Talia, hey, you shouldn't be...I know you don't care about the nudity thing but it would be wrong for me to look at you, you know? Do you know what I mean when I say together? I don't mean us just standing here and talking. I mean together. Like in a bed? Only we don't have a bed. But like you would in a bed?"
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Then it caught up with her. And her brows furrowed. "Is...is it your culture to not look at others? You never look at naked humans?" Seemed silly to her, but then, humans were strange. Talia took a hesitant step, moving her hand from the tree to the middle of Bucky's chest. His skin was warm.
"But...you look like me. ...almost," she said again. "Why is it bad?"
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"It's just...special. Humans only get naked together if they care about one another. Well, I do anyway. Some do it just for fun but I don't have sex unless I care about the girl I'm with. So it's just not right for me to look at you because I'm taking advantage of you, because I know it means something different to me than it does to you. And that probably isn't something you want to give me."
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"Too soon," she lamented, shivering as the wind began to gust a little harder. Looking back at Bucky, she grabbed for his hand, tugging him towards her and the clear pool. "You must come with me," she urged. "Not safe on land during storm. Safer beneath the water. I will help you. Please, come with me!"
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"I can't come with you, doll. I've gotta stay up here. It's okay. I'll find a place to hide and then I'll come back here when it's over. You don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself."
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Without any warning, she pulled them close and fastened her lips to his, kissing him just as she had before, sharing with him the inherent magic in her blood. An eternity later, she released him, and dark lashes lifted to gaze right into his eyes as she told him, "Now, you can breathe. Come with me, I will keep you safe."
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"Shit. I mean, sorry, I shouldn't curse in front of you. Okay, where do you want me to go?"
Bucky wants to explore the fact that he can literally breathe underwater (and swim a little faster too, but maybe that's his imagination) but he's following Talia deep down to the bottom of the ocean to wherever she thinks is safe from the storm. There's something that almost looks like...a sunken ship? Do mermaids live in shipwrecks?
"Is this your house?" he asks, feeling stupid as soon as the words are out. "Why are you wasting your time up there with me?"
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She towed Bucky further into the reef, swimming along a large, colorful shelf before abruptly diving deeper, taking him to her own shelter, a sunken schooner that had settled here centuries before. It lay on its side, but there was a large, splintered hole in the bulkhead, and it was through there that Talia took her charge, settling them both in what had been the captain's quarters at the rear of the ship. The glass was still intact, so they could see out into the reef beyond, but at least they were protected from the ocean's angrier currents, just beginning to swell with the storm's emergence.
"I live here," she confirmed, floating comfortably against an ancient divan. "It's a good place to shelter, when the outside becomes too rough."
He looked a little silly, she decided, smiling in amusement, with his gangly legs and arms everywhere, but that was okay. He'd learn how to move in the water soon enough.
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"So how am I not dead? Are you magic? I'm assuming it's magic and stuff."
He's read a few books with wizards and things and while he never thought magic could be real, he guesses if mermaids are then that is too.
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"I brought you here before," she confessed. "After the crash. You slept here for a while." A small hand brushed the divan's damask, faded from the salty water. "Then I brought you to the shore, before you woke up."
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He doesn't have much time to think about that, though, because Talia has moved and her hair is flowing behind her instead of covering her breasts and he finds himself staring, eyes captivated by how beautiful her body is. God, I shouldn't be doing this. It's not right.
"I'm sorry...I'm sorry I'm staring."
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"This is storm season," she told him, glancing back over a bare shoulder. "They come almost every day for months." No doubt it was one of those massive maelstroms that had sunk his craft. "Very dangerous, up there." She swam back to float gently in front of her new companion. "Better you stay here, with me."
The mermaid took Bucky's hand, threading their fingers together and smiling in enthusiastic delight. "I will show you the sea. And then bear your daughter, after storm passes."
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"Bear my daughter? That's...if I'm having a kid I want to have a say in it! That's a big thing for a guy. I gotta help take care of them and we have to be parents together and that's literally not something I have planned for at all. Not yet. Holy shit."
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At least, none in her memory had ever remained. Her father certainly hadn't. And the mermaid wasn't entirely sure that her own mother hadn't eaten him, after mating, but that wasn't a concern right now.
Pulling her hand from his, Natalia planted both on her hips, giving her "mate" a speculative look. "--why are you so confusing?" she demanded, as exasperated as any human woman might become when faced with a flabbergasted man.
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He guesses mermaid society is really different but that's the way he was taught and he isn't gonna change that. It's wrong. The sex he guesses he could do - she is beautiful - but he isn't just gonna leave his own kid behind. That's a part of him.
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Infuriating male! She considered, briefly, tossing him back on the beach and letting him fend for himself, but she wasn't, at heart, cruel, and she...liked him, besides. Maybe they could just...not talk about things? A familiar shoal of silversides flashed by, teasing at her long hair and making her laugh; they were residents of the reef, too. They flitted around her, this way and that, considerably lightening the mermaid's sour mood.
By the time she returned to the sunken ship, she was calmer, and rather than say anything at all, she swam to her companion and put her arms around his neck, meeting his mouth with hers. Kissing was far preferable to talking, anyway.
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"I don't wanna leave," Bucky says softly. "Do you want me to just go after I give you your kid? Because that's not what I want to do." He kisses her again, so soft, and presses as close to her as he can.
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She lowered her eyes, letting him go and drifting away a bit.
"Males...cannot stay, after. None ever have." Pushing her long hair aside, she looked back at Bucky. "Why do you want to stay? Give up life on land?" To her, it made no sense.
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This is bothering him more than it should, he guesses. Plenty of men would be happy to be absolved of responsibility and only get the fun part.
"Maybe I'm not a good mate for you, Natalia."
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Rather than talk anymore, or even kiss, the redheaded mermaid flicked her tail in an abrupt about-face, and swam out of the shelter, veering abruptly to the left and vanishing amid the coral and sea grass. She couldn't even look at him right now, not even as pretty as he was.
A few familiar fish tried to follow her, curious, but she warned them off with a few threatening strokes of her tail. Above her, the ocean was still roiling as the storm raged, but deep in the depths, near the coral beds, the current was steady, and the unhappy mermaid settled to the sandy bottom amid a colorful bouquet of plants and creatures, blending seamlessly. She just...wanted everything to go away, right now.
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