#Ikaris: If you ever hurt my sister I'll drown you

[softquietsteadylove]

The mermaid au is amazing! Let’s do something funny and sweet

One day Ikaris follows Thena and finds out about Gil! Imagine if he is so protective that he grabs Gil and pulls him into the water to wrestle with him and almost drowns him. Ohhhh imagine how angry Thena would be! 😂

"Gil!"

Gil grinned, his chest swelling at the sight of Thena waiting at the end of the dock to greet him. She was wearing one of his henley shirts with a belt around her hips. Sersi had bought her dresses and brought them over, but Thena insisted that she preferred his shirts to wear.

Thena knelt down as soon as he killed the motor of his little dingy, letting it drift closer to the edge of the dock until he could secure a rope around the post. "How was work?"

"It was good," he chuckled as he pulled himself in, already tying a knot to secure himself. "Still no word about them catching anyone else. If anything, people are talking about Kro's escaped catch less and less."

"That's good, right?" Thena tilted her head as he pulled himself up the ladder and onto the dock. She stood smoothly; she was really getting the hang of her knees.

"It's very good," he confirmed, happy to linger close to her after his long day. Although he had been letting himself call it a day earlier and earlier. The sun was barely beginning to set, but he had been in such a hurry to get home to Thena he had barely remembered to store his equipment properly.

Thena placed her hand on his shoulder, scratching the material of his waterproof backpack. "I know I should be inside. But...I wanted to come out to see you. And I made sure you were the only boat around the island."

"It's okay, Angelfish," Gil grinned, pressing a kiss to her forehead, which clearly and obviously delighted her. "I know you know to be careful. I'm happy to see you too."

Thena tilted her head at the boat behind and below him. "You should get your equipment out. The box said there would be heavy rain."

He hadn't quite gotten around to explaining to her how tv worked. "Good idea; I'll be right in."

Thena gave him a soft smile she had started having more and more often. She looked up at him, swaying herself with her hands behind her back. She was asking for something, in not so many words.

Gil gifted her with another kiss, which may or may not have been what she was looking for. "I'll show you what I brought you inside."

Thena happily bounded up the deck and back up to the house ahead of him, bringing his backpack with her.

Gil dropped back down into the boat to pull out anything left in it. He would tarp it over, of course, but the humidity wasn't something his poor, rusty old toolbox needed more of.

Two arms exploded out of the water and constricted around him.

Gil tried to get his bearings as he was dragged under. He pried his eyes open, able to see the pink and red sky getting further away. The little dock he had wasn't exactly in deep dark waters, but he was travelling at an alarming rate. He thrashed and turned.

He was terrifying.

He had striking features, for sure--pale skin, sharp bones, intense eyes that were almost a little familiar. His tail was long, with peppery scales and strong looking fins. He had fangs, and he certainly looked like he did whatever the underwater equivalent of crossfit was.

"You!"

Gil didn't think about how he could understand what he was saying bizarrely well for being underwater. Air--he needed air. He tried to swim up to the surface but his assailant was infinitely stronger and faster than him in this element.

The Fangtooth gripped Gil again, very clearly uncaring that he needed oxygen.

"You're why she's been missing for weeks?!"

Ikaris. He couldn't begin to think of why, but the name popped into Gil's head in that instant. It made a lot of sense, between the words he said and the resemblance between them (Thena would hate knowing he had thought that).

Gil kicked as best he could, but he was easy prey for Fangtooth here. He let out his last breath, watching the bubbles float upward. His vision started to blur as a spot of glowing light hit the water.

Thena swam to him in the blink of an eye, swishing her tail between herself and her brother. She pulled Gil up to the surface with her, holding him with a hand on his chest so he could worry less about keeping himself afloat and more about breathing. "It's okay, Gil, just breathe."

Ikaris surfaced a second later, snarling at his sister, "what are you doing?!"

"What are you doing?!" she snapped right back at him, not moving a hair further away from Gil as he gasped for breath. "I didn't realise you were in the habit of drowning innocent humans!"

"Innocent?!" Ikaris roared at her, crossing the distance with his shoulders above the water. He pointed a finger in her face, splashing water at her as he did. "This human abducted you!"

"He saved me from being caught!" Thena matched her brother's energy easily, both of them baring their fangs in full at each other.

Ikaris leaned back slightly, his stature clear even just bobbing in the water. "Makkari told me about that, Thena. But you've been gone for weeks before now."

Gil looked at Thena, finally getting some semblance of a healthy breathing pattern. "You went home between visits, didn't you?"

"Of course," Thena looked at him tenderly, running her thumb over his cheek. "He's just being a clownfish."

"I am right here!"

Gil laughed as much as he could after nearly drowning, "because he's always poking his head into anemones that aren't his?"

"Oi!" Ikaris belted at them. He swam a little closer again but Thena didn't hesitate to thrash her tail and even swipe at him with her hand. He swatted her away. "Thena, he's dangerous!"

"You don't know anything about him!"

Gil could have argued that technically, they were both correct. But Thena was already swimming him back to the dock, helping him up the ladder and then following him.

"Y-You-!" Ikaris' jaw dropped as his sister not only climbed the ladder like a pro, but also tugged at the human clothes she was wearing. "Wait a barnacled minute!"

Gil really liked a lot of the expressions they had.

Ikaris 'backed up' as it were, before speeding forward and launching himself right out of the water and onto the dock. He gripped the posts to secure himself and help his tail slither up the last bit.

Gil just stared at him before looking at Thena, "can you do that too?"

Ikaris growled at him, "of course she can, human. Anyone with a tail could."

Gil looked at Thena again, who didn't seem concerned with looking at him in return. "Anyone with--so you-"

"What do you want, Ikaris?" she barked at her brother, walking closer to where he was 'seated' on the dock.

"What do I want?" he balked, shaking his head in exasperation. He looked at Thena with a slightly different expression, though. His anger, having boiled over, lowered to a simmer. "I want to know my sister is unharmed."

"I told Makkari-"

"To see it with my own eyes, Thena," he corrected her, firmer but not back to yelling. His hardened expression did something, though, because Thena sat down in front of him, even folding her legs beside her somewhat like she would her tail. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You were caught in a net," he rushed, practically cutting off her assurance. He leaned forward, partly gripping her for balance and partly squeezing his sister's shoulders to assure himself she was there. "You were caught by the bounty hunter. You are not fine, Guppy."

Thena gave her brother's ear a tug for what Gil had to assume was a childhood nickname. "I am not a hatchling, Ikaris. As you said, I met Gil a number of moons ago. And did you not see me regularly in that time?"

"See you reg-" Ikaris cut himself off, baring his fangs again. "You say that as if the water is not your home, Thena. This is home!"

Ikaris gestured to the water below and behind them, but Thena looked behind her, up to the cabin. "Don't."

"Ikaris-"

"Don't!" he jabbed his finger in her face again. He knew from experience to snap it away before Thena could bite it. And with such force that her teeth clicked. "Why are you up here, Thena?"

She looked from the cabin to Gil, lingering a small but respectful ways away from their conversation. She waved him over.

He had misgivings about that, but he reluctantly came to his Angelfish's side. "Uh, hi."

"Human."

"Ikaris," Thena said more firmly, making her brother roll his eyes. She put her hand over Gil's, "this is Gil--Gilgamesh, actually."

Ikaris tilted his head at Gil one way and then once in the other direction. It was much cuter when Thena did it. "I didn't know humans could be named Gills."

"Just Gil," Thena shook her head, holding up a finger, "just one."

Ikaris eyed the finger with disdain all over his face before looking at Gil again. "Fine...Gil."

He said it the way Gil thought the name Kro.

"Perhaps you can tell me why my sister is spending all her time on the surface since meeting you?" Ikaris fixed him with a look that Gil recognised as the look any brother could get when he was worried. He could hide it behind his aggression all he liked, but it was clear that he was afraid for his sister's safety. "With legs?!"

Gil cleared his throat, his eyes darting down to Thena's pale thighs. "Look, the legs were a surprise to me too."

"What?"

"But Thena came and found me on her own," Gil shrugged, speaking as honestly as he could from one man to another. "I was glad she did, though. I first met her after she saved me from falling overboard."

Ikaris looked disappointed that he hadn't drowned.

Gil continued anyway. "I was going to sail out and just talk to her again, but then a storm hit. I was a little worried about her, but she came and found me the next day."

"Right," Ikaris grumbled, crossing his arms and letting his eyes trail down to the necklace that was secured preciously around his sister's neck. She raised a hand to it, as if to protect it from Ikaris' harsh gaze. He flicked his eyes over Gil, "fisherman?"

"Y-Yes," Gil gulped. He had gotten so used to Thena's sweet smiles and warm, green eyes, he had forgotten that they could look truly terrifying if they wanted to.

"And you didn't even think to try and capture a creature of your myths and legends?" Ikaris raised a brow. He had every right to ask; they were cautious of human on principle for a reason.

"No," Gil professed in complete honesty. "I don't blame you for not believing me, but I would never...as soon as I saw her, I knew Thena was something else...something special."

Ikaris took one look at the look on Thena's face and stuck out his tongue, "hrrrghk!"

"Shut it!" Thena hissed at him, although he hissed right back at her. She pursed her lips, "I do not need your approval, Brother. All you need to know is that I am safer here from that monster than I am in the waters. And Gil is making sure of that."

Gil shivered; he hoped he could continue to make that statement true.

Ikaris ran his eyes over Gil again, just to make sure he knew that he was well and truly disgusted with and by him. "Watch your step, human. I will be watching from below the surface. And if you ever-"

"Ikaris, stop it!" Thena stood in a huff, kicking at him with her bare feet. "He doesn't need you seagulling at him!"

Ikaris swatted her away from him, although he did slowly and surely start leaning in the direction of the water again. "You're the gull!"

"You are!"

Gil did his best to contain his chuckling. They really were brother and sister. He caught Ikaris' eye before the merman fled. "I'll take care of her--I promise!"

Ikaris hissed at him, with longer fangs and angrier eyes than even Makkari had bared to him.

Gil sighed, "I guess I wouldn't expect them to like me."

Thena brushed off her shirt/dress and held out a hand to him, "they don't have to like you."

He supposed she was right. And he should be grateful Ikaris hadn't legitimately killed him for catching him getting cuddly with his sister, he supposed. He wilted against Thena, who offered her support silently and immediately.

"Where are you tools?"

Underwater.

"It's okay, I'll get new ones," Gil waved over his shoulder as they headed towards the cabin. "I just want to sit down, right now."

"Right now?"

"No, it's okay--it's just an expression."

"Expression?"

"Yeah, like when you say Ikaris is a clownfish because he's intrusive."

"He's also stupid," Thena felt was very necessary to add. She smiled as Gil shook with laughter against her shoulder.