Things Found in Harbors - Axis Powers Hetalia, America x Lithuanian (AmeLiet)
Today, Toris was bringing him something special.
Well, he brought him "something special" all the time-a bit of food from the evening meal earlier (he always came at night), a small trinket when he could afford them, always something from his world. Tonight was different, though.
The gift weighed heavily in his coat pocket, but he hardly noticed as he took careful steps toward the harbor. Toris lifted the lantern in his hand a little higher. The ships docked in the harbor creaked and swayed in the wind, but he paid them little mind. Smiling at the thought of seeing him again, Toris quickened his pace-down to the harbor, past the empty pubs and the docks and their ships, to the very last wooden pier, which sat lower to the water than the others. In summer, he would take off his boots and dip his feet in the water to wait, but now, in late February, he couldn't.
He set the lantern down on the edge of the pier and settled himself down next to it, stretching out on his belly with his head and arms dangling down. Fingertips trailing the frigid water, he started, very quietly, to sing-
Tai tu tarp kitų paukštelių nei karalienė
Vis dailiaus ir šlovingiaus savo šūkteri šūtką.
O kad kartais kobotą mes tavo pamatom,
Tai tu mums nei žvirblis būriškas pasirodai.
Tu sermėgų poniškų, puikiai padarytų,
Ir žiuponiškų turbonų niekini rėdą;
Bet vis nei būrka prastai viešėdama čiauški.
Ak! ir tarp žmonių daugsyk taip jau nusiduoda,
Kad ant svieto šio mainų tikrai padabojam.
As he finished, there was a disturbance in the water under the dock on which he laid, he sound of water splashing and rippling. He took up the lantern and held it above the water's surface in time to see a face poke up from the water. Bright blue eyes opened and met his, and the face grinned. "Toris," it said softly.
"Sveikas," he greeted warmly, drawing the lantern and its light up and away from the face.
The face's owner gripped the edge of the dock and, in a single fluid motion, pulled itself-himself-out of the harbor to sit on the dock. Toris shifted to sit next to him, pressing his lips to those of his companion; he tasted of the saltwater in which he lived.
A few months ago, if someone had told Toris he would find a merman in his village harbor, he would have laughed. But that was before-
He had stayed late at the market, but now it's dark. Home isn't far from here, but he knows he'll have to hurry or else his brothers, Eduard and Raivis, will start to worry-so of course he takes a shortcut through the village's harbor. As he passes, the sound of someone-a man's crying catches his ear. Concerned, he follows the sound through the harbor until he reaches the last dock.
The young man is sitting on the edge of the dock, cradling his arm and seeming to be trying to subdue his cries. In the dark, it is impossible to really tell what he looks like, though the moonlight did wash his fair hair in silver.
Toris starts to approach him. When his boots hit the dock, the young man turns around quickly. Gasping, he pushes himself, still seated, off the dock and into the water. "Palaukite! Wait!" Toris calls after him, sprinting to the edge of the dock; shedding his pack, lantern, coat and boots; and diving into the water.
The water is cold, despite the summer temperatures. He opens his eyes to see the man-but instead of struggling, he is floating, just as easily as Toris-easier, in fact, because he isn't treading the seawater but floating like a fish. Toris' gaze goes from the other man's startled face to his body (how could he stand being without a shirt in this water?) to a long, fish-like tail.
Toris gives a start and starts to swim upward, breaching the surface with a gasp. "Vandenis… A mer-"
He never finishes the thought. Someone seizes him by the shoulders and shoves him, roughly, against the beam that supports the dock in the water. It was the man-the vandenis. "Who are you?" he demands.
"I am Toris Laurinaitis-" he gasps, struggling against his impossibly tight grip.
"What do you want of me?" His muscles are tense and he's impossibly strong, making it difficult to even try to wriggle free.
"I heard you crying and-" Toris tries to explain.
"I should drown you!" the merman shouts.
"What?!" Toris cries, kicking in the water. He wants to cry out, but knows there is no one to hear him.
"Another sailor who wants to hurt me," the other accuses. "I should drown you right now!"
"I don't want to hurt you!" Toris pleads, his voice high and desperate. "I'm not even a sailor!"
The merman's eyes narrow. "Then why are you by the water?"
"I'm a farmer trying to go home," Toris explains. "I don't sail, and I certainly don't want to hurt you."
He didn't speak, and Toris hopes that his silence means he's getting to him. "Who hurt you?" he asks, as gently as he can manage. "What happened?" His eyes flick down, and he sees a gash on the other's upper right arm. "Oh, your arm…"
"A damn sailor shot an arrow at me," he explains, nodding toward one of the ships farther down the docks, his voice tight. "I got away before anyone else could see me."
"If you let me out of the water, I can help you," he offers.
The merman seems to consider his proposal before finally releasing him. "Fine."
Toris thanks him and pulls himself up onto the dock. As he wrings the saltwater from his hair, the man-it was so amazing to think that he had found a merman!-pulls himself up next to him, holding his injured arm close to his body. In the moonlight, Toris can better see his tail, rich blue scales that start at his bare hips and trail all the way down, perhaps a meter or so, and end in two translucent fins, both a pale burgundy. He wears gold cuffs on both wrists, and a pendant hangs from a chain around his neck. Up close, he can easily see more scales scattered across his shoulders, arms and chest like freckles; the faint outline of the gills that allow him to breath underwater; and the crescent moon-shaped lock of hair that sticks up, sentry-like, from the rest of his hair. Toris reaches for his pack, first pulling out a length of cloth, and then a plum. He held out the fruit to his curious companion. "Here-for you."
"What is it?" he asked.
"Slyva, a plum," Toris explains. "It is something grown on my farm. You can eat it while I bandage your arm."
The other accepts the fruit and regards it curiously. "How do I eat this?" he finally asks.
"You bite into it," Toris answers. "There is a stone in the middle, so don't bite too deeply."
The merman considers the fruit for another moment more before taking a bite. Juice runs down his chin. "It's sweet," he announces when he swallows.
Toris smiles as he tears off a strip of the cloth. "My farm grows the sweetest plums," he says proudly. "Now let me see your arm, please."
The merman holds out his injured arm and watches Toris wrap the wound, eating the plum all the while. By the time he ties off the bandage, he's licked the plum stone cleaned. "Did you like it?" Toris asks.
"Yes," he answered. "Thanks for this." He lifts his arm, nodding to the bandage.
"You're welcome." Toris tucks the remains of the cloth back in his pack. "Thank you for not drowning me."
The other tips his head back and laughs, the sound almost intoxicating. "How do you know I won't still try?" he teases.
"You seem too kind to drown someone who had just helped you," Toris teases back.
"Very well," the merman announces with an almost regal air. "I won't drown you tonight." His attention shifts from the human at his side to the plum stone in his hand. "I want to keep this."
"Gerai," Toris agrees, "but why?"
"It's interesting," he replies, considering the ridges and grooves of the stone.
"Then it's yours," Toris says, shivering slightly. Being soaked and in the night air is starting to take its course.
"Why are you shaking?" the merman asks. "Are you scared?"
"Cold," Toris corrects.
"I forget how fragile humans are," the fair-haired merman says, almost to himself, before pushing himself into the water and resurfacing. "Go to your farm-you don't need to do anything else for me. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Toris replies, gathering his things and standing.
"Hey." The merman splashes water up onto the dock at Toris' feet. "Don't tell anyone about seeing me-definitely not about meeting me."
"Not a word," the human promises.
The merman nods once, pleased with this vow. Then: "Alfred."
"Hmm?" Toris is just been turning to leave.
"You gave me your name, Toris Laurinaitis," he replies. "I am called Alfred." With that, he disappears under the water with only a flick of his tail for a farewell.-
Before he had befriended a merman.
Alfred wrapped his damp arms around Toris to draw him close, still kissing him. "I missed you," he murmured against his lips.
"I missed you too," Toris whispered back, wrapping his arms around Alfred's waist.
"What have you brought for me today?" Alfred asked, sounding like an eager child. Though they were the same age (or so Toris assumed, as Alfred had explained that his people aged quite differently from humans), he was still so very young at heart.
"Something wonderful," Toris answered, reaching into his coat pocket.
"You've given me a lot of wonderful things, Toris," Alfred reminded, running his fingers through the human's dark hair.
Toris' eyes wandered down to Alfred's chest. Hanging around his neck was the plum stone from their first encounter. "This is even more wonderful than the others," he promised, removing the gift from his pocket and placing it in Alfred's webbed hand.
Alfred looked down at the gift Toris have given him. On a long cord was a ring set with a golden yellow stone. "It's beautiful," he announced, placing it around his neck. "What is this stone?"
"Amber," Toris explained. "It is common on my land."
"Beautiful," he repeated, placing his hand on Toris' cheek and kissing him.
"I gave this to for you a special reason," Toris admitted, pulling back.
"What is that?" Alfred asked, grinning and leaning in close.
"Among my people," Toris began, reaching out and taking up the ring, admiring the amber's color against his merman's skin, "this kind of ring is given by a man to a woman when he wants her to be his bride."
"A bride?" Alfred echoed, looking from the ring to him. "Toris, are you talking about marriage?"
"I do." The words were simple, his tone sincere. "I want nothing more in the world than for you to marry me, Alfred."
He had pictured this moment a thousand-no, a hundred thousand times, and he had imagined him smiling and happy; now, Alfred could only smile sadly at him. "Toris, I can't be a mate for you. I couldn't live in a home with you, or help you take care of your fields." Alfred gestured sadly to the water beneath them. "This is my home. I can't live on land, and you can't live in the sea."
"It doesn't matter," Toris declared. "I care not that you can't live with me, only that you can be mine."
Alfred looked at him with wide eyes. "Do you mean that, Toris Laurinaitis?" Whenever he was serious, he always spoke to him by his full name.
"Of course," he said. "I love you, and I ask again: Please, Alfred, marry me."
This time, Alfred smiled-wide, and he laughed and threw his arms around Toris and dragged them both into the water. When they surfaced, Toris threw his dripping hair from his eyes and Alfred surfaced after him, still laughing and smiling, his pendant-his engagement ring-sparkling in the water. "I take that as a yes?" Toris asked, treading water and smiling.
"Oh, Toris, yes!" Alfred threw his arms around his neck and kissed him deeply, and Toris returned the gesture, feeling the amber pressed between them, as a reminder and a promise.
-.-.-.-
Title: Things Found in Harbors
Author: TheCrazyAlaskan
C/P: Alfred F Jones x Tolys Laurinaitis [America x Lithuania / AmeLiet]
Word Count: 2103
Warnings / Notes: De-anoned from the kink meme
Summary: I care not that you cannot live with me, only that you can be mine.
The idea wouldn't leave me alone. God, I fucking love AmeLiet, you don't even know.
The "song" is taken from a poem called The Seasons [Metai] by Kristijonas Donelaitis. Specifically, the passage is called "Pavasario Linksmybės"-"Spring Joys." The original Lithuanian can be found here, the English translation here. The translation for the passage I quoted is:
Then you among the birds reign like a lovely queen,
And your melodic strains grow evermore superb;
But when at times we catch a glimpse of your attire,
Then you appear to be a homely sparrow's mate.
You scorn the regal robes, despise resplendent gowns;
You shun the silken dress and all the gaudy styles.
Clad in a boorish garb, you sing your song divine.
And so it often is in this, the life of men,
When we stop to observe this everchanging world.
Lithuania, America, Axis Powers Hetalia © Hidekaz Himaruya