YOI Fantasy Week - Day Four
AN: And hereâs my promptfill for day four, as promised, @yoifantasyweek! Filling the prompts mermaid and ocean. I suppose it fills serenity, too, to a certain extentâŠ
Premise: This is part of a larger universe, where all the characters are different kinds of mermaids, following the pattern of the ones mentioned on this list: https://lolalittlebub.tumblr.com/post/163843212538/im-a-seahorse-trainer-edit-disclaimer-this
Iâve got a more detailed explanation about how this âverse came to be on this post, but suffice to say that this is an AU take on canon where theyâre all singers instead of skaters (haha, no legs to skate on *is shot*), and where something similar to the Sochi banquet happens, except that Yuuri disappears soon after, and Victor has to search for him till he finds him. This part is set in Yuuriâs POV - Iâll have more up for the AU in Victorâs POV after we complete Fantasy Week. Hereâs hoping at least some of you will enjoy it!
(Itâs also called the Mermaid Pirates AU for a good reason. Honest. *grins wryly*)
Fantasy Week Promptfills: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Itâs a bit like a hurricane, really. Or, at least, what hurricanes look like when youâre dumb enough to get stuck in them while high up on the surface. Which Yuuri has done one too many times, but thatâs just him - heâd been called a thrill chaser of the worst kind, back when heâd been at the University of Music in Atlantica. Heâd given up singing years ago, resigning himself to the fact that he would never be able to sing the way Victor did, and drifting for a few years before getting into the business of salvage because it was easy. And, honestly, because it was easy to keep singing when there was no one around to hear him.
Thatâs why itâs like a hurricane. There heâd been, innocently picking his way through the new ship that had been sinking to the bottom of the sea bed, when heâd heard the most angelic voice reverberating through the water. It had distracted Yuuri from his own singing, and had drawn him upwards in a stupor, barely avoiding the denser wood and bodies sinking deeper. And when he finally reached the surface, half-lit by the pale light of the Tide Mother, it was to find his idol seated high on a rock formation sticking out of the water.
Heâd drifted closer and closer, agape, not registering that heâd automatically started humming along with Victorâs words until the older merman and broken off with a start.
Their eyes had met for a split second before Yuuri dived away with a shriek, tail powerfully propelling him downwards faster than even Victorâs inherited deep sea strength could catch up to.
For all that Yuuri had given up his possible career as a royal guard to take up singing instead, it was times like this that he was grateful to have done the training at all. The muscle power it had left him with meant he could move a whole lot faster than most anyone could when he wanted to.
Useful, when feeling something like this.
*
Phichit, obviously, couldnât stop laughing, once Yuuri actually convinced himself to fess up. Yuuri sighed, and made himself sit down on one of the many colorful stools that were a part of his friendâs home. Yuuri couldnât understand how Phichit enjoyed living in such a colorful apartment complex, but Phichit had always explained it away as being a âfamilyâ thing. Which, yes, nearly every coral reef merperson Yuuri had met tended to be as loud as his friend. But-
âAgain, tell me again. You swum away?!â Phichit choked out, dissolving into chortles again at Yuuriâs long-suffering expression.
âI- the voice was beautiful, okay, but I wasnât expecting to see-see-â Yuuriâs retort faded into a drawn out groan, remembering just how glorious Victor had looked up on the surface, his tail and the scales on his skin as ethereal as theyâd looked in every poster and ad Yuuri had ever seen him in. Being part Arctic and part Deep Sea meant his scales ran the gamut between icy blue to dark blue and black; Yuuri even had some rare posters where he could see the surreal glowing streaks running through his tail. And that combined with his long, silvery hair-
Phichit cackled, and Yuuri came back to himself with a wince
âYouâre so gone on him, bro. Itâs adorable. I always knew you were gone on him, but-â
âPhichit-kun.â
âOkay, okay, sorry. But you looked so flustere- so! Howâd he look! You said youâd been singing too, did he like what he heard?â
Yuuri cringed, and glanced away. His singing was no good, Victor had probably stopped because of how ugly Yuuriâs humming had made his song sound.
He yelped right after, when Phichit bopped him on the head.
âYou,â his friend said with a glower, âare silly. And ridiculous. And think too much. Your voice is great, Yuuri, stop putting yourself down.â
Yuuri gave him a smile to placate him, and changed the subject. From the way Phichit rolled his eyes, he could recognize the diversionary tactic from a mile away, but he let it slide.
*
The next time was just as bad, honestly. It didnât hit him with the same force as a hurricane on the surface, but that was only because, the second time around? Victor was the one who snuck up on him.
Yuuriâd been minding his own business. Again. And had been busy at work with salvage. Again. Nothing that should have warranted Victor Nikiforov appearing out of the depths to catch his hands and stare up soulfully into his eyes.
âYou,â said Victor Nikiforov, âHave the voice of an angel.â
Haha, no, said inner Yuuri. Â This canât be happening to me. I quit.
Omigod heâs so beautiful, said inner Yuuriâs understudy, and made a garbled sound as he fainted in awe.
Yuuri, for his part, stared up at Victor Nikiforov with his eyes huge in his head, wondering if it would be too much of a social faux-pas to faint in awe like inner Yuuriâs understudy.
Not at all, cackled inner Phichit. I mean, look at those lean muscled arms and that broad chest. Faint away, fair Yuuri- urk.
âThat- canât be true. If youâre saying I have the voice of an angel, what does that make you?â Yuuri asked faintly, shutting out his inner Phichit, and watching with wide eyes as Victor flushed a pretty, pale pink in a wide swath right across his face, catching his nose and ears too.
It was possibly the most adorable thing Yuuri had ever seen, and he had no idea how to react.
âY-Yuuri,â he whined, and Yuuri gaped a little more.
âYou know my name. How do you know my name?!â
Victor stared back at him, visibly confused.
âOf course I know your name. We met at the post-annuals at the University of Atlantica; youâd been in your final year, and Iâd been called in as a judge? We danced and sang a duet together in the after party, donât you remember?â
No, Yuuri does not remember. Yuuri is currently in the middle of an imminent breakdown, inner Yuuri and his understudies gibbering helplessly. It takes Victorâs hands reaching up to tighten on his shoulders to calm him down enough to actually look up and pay attention to Victor again.
Victor looked a little confused, but also very serious, clinically observing the expression on Yuuriâs face.
âYour voice,â he repeated, âis beautiful by itself. I didnât lie when I said it is the voice of an angel. But what I love more is to sing along with you, because we sound like something new and unheard of together.â
And proceeded to ignore any of Yuuriâs protests to the statement, instead tugging him back upwards to the little island Yuuri had first seen him on. The water was turbulent up above, so much more violent when Yuuri could feel it drumming up against the rocks and against his skin. There was water dropping down from above, returning to the ocean beneath, and Yuuri found himself sitting and clinging to Victor, wide eyed, because this âstormâ, by the human name, was absolutely breathtaking.
And then Victor opened his mouth, and wordlessly threw his voice upwards to the sky, the strength of his lungs enough to pour out the kind of music Yuuri had heard from the ancestor-elders, bleeding their songs through the depths for years on end, singing to each other and to anyone else who cared to listen. Itâs almost unnerving, to hear that depth of sound coming from another merperson, but Yuuri is more humbled than disturbed, because the song is hauntingly surreal, speaking to that part of him he knows is endemic to anyone from the depths of the undersea kingdom.
Victor had never been recorded singing like this before. But itâs what had drawn Yuuri up through the remains of a sinking ship, called forth on sheer instinct. Itâs beautiful, and Yuuri can only cling to him, hesitantly lending his own voice to the harmony, smiling in spite of himself when Victorâs arms tightened around him.
âI always sing, up in the storms,â Victor said easily, later, when they were tired of singing. Still lounging on the rocks, arms tight around one another.
âHuman storms,â Yuuri murmured, peering outwards.
The ocean had calmed, as had the skies, the Tide Motherâs light coming down in pale rays from between the misty clouds above. Yuuri knew bits and pieces of the world above, had spoken to old fishermen and women who wouldnât carry tales to their children, only wanting to share themselves with the depths the way Yuuri and his family shared themselves with the land, at times. But he had never stayed up for so long on the open waves, even in the dark of the human night. The emptiness is almost as humbling as sound of Victorâs song.
âHuman storms,â Victor agreed, his lips curling up into a smile where they were pressed against Yuuriâs temple.
âYou asked me to come away on an adventure with you when we sang together, Yuuri. Iâve been chasing adventures ever since, because you disappeared and I couldnât find you.â
Yuuri flushed red, and he hid his face in Victorâs throat. The fact that Victor hadnât let go of him once, not since theyâd levered themselves up onto the rocks, told him that Victor wasnât even exaggerating the claim to have been chasing him. What he canât understand is how Victor feels so strongly about that time spent together - itâs been so long since Yuuri had been in the university, too.
Ah, but youâve been chasing Victor just as long, havenât you? Asked his inner Phichit, and Yuuri sighed, his fingers delicately slipping down Victorâs flanks to come to a rest against his hips.
âI donât have any adventures to take you on,â he confessed in an undertone. âIâm just a salvager. Who sings in his spare time. Thereâs nothing interesting about me. Not like you. Youâre the best artist in our generation, the royal family loves your voice, you sing to the skies, like the ancestor-elders sing to the depths. Why would you want to chase me?â
Victor was silent for a moment, long enough that Yuuri began to pull away, but Victor tugged him closer when he tried.
ââŠisnât it enough that I wanted to chase you anyway? I think you sing beautifully. And I think I want to know you. I donât need to be promised adventures, but I feel like weâll have them if weâre there to chase them together.â
Yuuri peered up at him, bemused. Because Victor looked so damn earnest, it didnât feel fair to crush that purity of feeling. Heâs about to crush it anyway, because honestly, people like Victor didnât belong with people like him, when Victor gave a sudden gasp, snatching his arms away from Yuuriâs person and dragging himself up higher on the rocks.
âWhat? What is it?â Yuuri called out at him, alarmed.
âA ship!â Victor called back, sounding delighted. âTheyâre coming this way, maybe they heard us singing!â
âThat isnât exactly a good thing- what if they decide to attack?â Yuuri shot back, and Victor laughed.
âThey wonât. Iâve drawn ships to me before. The sailors are more likely to throw themselves overboard or jump into their tiny boats to get away than they are to attack me.â
Yuuri stared up at him, incredulous. The wind was building again and Victorâs hair, nearly dry after how long theyâd spent up on the rocks, was blowing up around him like something out of a dream, flowing as lightly as it had when theyâd been in the depths. When he looked back down at Yuuri, face lit up in glee, Yuuri had to laugh, and pull himself up higher as well. He got an arm around his waist for his troubles, and pressed closer to the other man to whisper into his ear.
âWhat do you say we sing some more, then?â He said, feeling mischievous, like something elemental had lit up in his veins. âI bet you we could draw them closer. Your voice definitely could.â
Victor shivered against him, his lips lifting up into a smile that glinted with sharp teeth.
âIt could, couldnât it. Yes, Yuuri, yes.â
*
âA ship,â the Queen said, staring at them both with a blank expression on his face.
Yuuri shuffled in place, wondering if he should back off slowly. Heâd known Otabek since heâd still been a prince, but that deadpan expression on his face had only grown more iron-clad with age. Victor was still beaming at their Queen, the expression barely making a dent in his good humor.
âYes! A large one, too, we could bring down the treasure they had on board. My Yuuri put the anchor down by our little island; it wonât be going anywhere any time soon. Yuuri already knows his way around salvage, and-â
âA ship. A human ship, that isnât a wreck, and you âanchoredâ it near our kingdom?â Otabek repeated, voice mild, and Yuuri winced.
âYour highness, in our defense, they were drifting in our direction anyway. They would have come up on the rocks whether we got involved or not. This way the ship remains unsunk and in one piece, and a majority of the human sailors survived, so their corpses wonât pollute our water either.â Yuuri said quickly, and Otabekâs gaze slowly shifted to him.
âKatsuki,â he said, and Yuuri straightened immediately, recognizing the tone from his days in training, âhumans carry tales.â It might have been best to let them die, was what went unsaid, and Yuuri stiffened.
âYour highness,â he ground out, and cut himself off when Victor got a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
âOtabek,â he said, and Yuuri jerked around to stare at him, âThe only thing theyâll carry tales of are of haunting music in the night, and of rocks that loomed up at them out of the dark. There are enough stories of sirens in the human world, Iâm sure they wouldnât mind taking credit for this too.â
Otabek stared back at them both with narrow eyes, then leaned back in his seat. Yuuri was distantly relieved the Queen had chosen to meet them in his study, this meeting would have been a lot more nerve-wracking if it had taken place in the throne room.
âVery well,â Otabek said finally. âKatsuki was already listed as a privateer, I suppose this would come under his bailiwick.â
âMy Yuuriâs a privateer?â Victor gasped, at the same time the Yuuri groaned, and covered his face with his hands.
âThat was only when I was still working with Phichit and Sueng-Gil, your highness. Iâve been in solo salvage for a long time now.â
Otabek stared at him silently, and Yuuri didnât need to hear anything said to know that the Queen was laughing at him. A lot.
Victor just looked about as bright and gleeful as he had earlier, damnit. And something about that innocent delight made Yuuri want to do all the terrible things that he knew Victor was imagining.
Chasing adventures, was it. Fine. Fine.
âFine,â Yuuri said out loud, scowling at the Queen, and quickly lifting his arms to steady Victorâs weight when the older merman threw himself at Yuuri. âIâll do it. Iâm in.â
âI donât know what youâre talking about. Youâre the ones who came in to tell me that youâd commandeered a human ship.â Otabek said blandly, and Yuuri just stared back at him with an equally blank expression on his face.
âI wonder when the next stormâs going to come in,â Victor wondered out loud, and Yuuri nearly keeled over in shock.
The Queen? Just laughed at them both. Out loud, this time.
Yuuriâs life. Honestly.
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