So- I Did Some Art. Never Have I Actually Completed Fanart, But Here We Are! This Is My MC With Qiu &

So- I did some art. Never have I actually completed fanart, but here we are! This is my MC with Qiu & Tamarack from Our Life: Now & Forever, which is a really cute dating sim still in it's beta phase. I highly recommend it! :D

(I use they/them pronouns, and you can all can call me A ^^)

COLOR AND SKIRT SHADING DONE!!!!

Down by the Harbour

Cove Holden x Gender Neutral Mermaid!Reader

Summary: A reimagining of the Our Life Beginnings & Always prologue where the MC is a mermaid now!

Word Count: ~6k

Warnings: None other than probably OOC Cove, I'm not confident in my abilities to write characters that I didn't create so-

Authors Note: RAAAAH THIS IS FIRST FIC IVE EVER WRITTEN- This was supposed to come out last week but work absolutely demolished my energy and then my writing got too out of hand and this became so much longer than I anticipated. This was supposed to be a fun little fic but 20 pages and 6000 words later here we are, whoops? Also idk if this is even a bad thing but this fic ended up being a little bit more MC centric than I inteded it to be, as in Cove doesn't really show up until a little bit into the story, apologies if that annoys anyone you can just skip ahead if you wanna see Cove meet the mermaid MC that badly. OH ALSO if anyone is interested in the funky mermaid lore I imagine this universe having feel free to let me know! I'd love to ramble about it! Anyways I've gone on long enough, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the story!!

Likes, Comments, Reblogs, etc etc are very appriciated!!!

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When you were just a tiny fry, you found yourself in a gorgeous coral reef that’s become your beloved home. You loved to explore the reef and discover just what was out there in this vast habitat. You especially loved to scour the seafloor and find any items that caught your eye, “treasures” you called them, whether preciously valuable or utterly useless, if it interested you, you’d always pocket it to add to your collection. Finding treasures became your favourite pastime and now as a fingerling you like to consider yourself a “professional scavenger”.

One kind of treasure you especially love to find is those funny little objects that the humans from the surface would leave behind. Your coral reef seemed to be near a human habitat as very often you’d see humans exploring the coral reef similar to how you would. While the humans incredibly intrigued you you always hid away and kept your distance to only observe them from afar, then when the humans left you’d come to collect the treasures they’d leave behind.

While the coral reef was a vast habitat, over the years you’ve learned that even if the reef is safe there are still places you should always stay wary of. One such place was the place you called the threshold, the threshold was where the waters became empty of any healthy coral or fauna and the water became murky and hard to breathe in. All that was left was an empty wasteland that’d send chills down your fins. The threshold was luckily small enough to easily be able to exit if you ever found yourself there, however, what lies past the threshold was the one place you never wanted to find yourself in.

Because that place is where all the monsters sleep.

Sometimes whenever humans were exploring the reef they’d bring these giant monsters with them that would stay at the surface of the water, while they had never caused you any direct harm they still deeply scared you. The monsters would make these awful sounds that’d shake you to your core, and sometimes they’d drop down giant nets that’d steal away the fish and bring them up to the surface. Once in the past, you had gotten curious enough that you nervously followed the monster once it began moving and found yourself deep in the threshold, at some point through the murky waters in the distance you could see more monsters all at the surface. You put two and two together and deduced that whatever this place was was where all the monsters lived, then at that point, your fear got the best of you and you got out of there as fast as you could.

After finding out where the monsters lived you went back home and decided to give yourself a rule to never cross the threshold and never make contact with the monsters lest you find out where the monsters take all the fish they steal. Since then you fell back into your usual routine of scavenging for treasures and hiding whenever humans came near, your comfortable routine lasting for years up to the present…

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On this bright and sunny day, you were currently making the rounds across the reef searching the sands for treasure. Earlier today a huge amount of humans visited and explored the reefs, they did bring a monster with them but luckily it was quieter and it didn’t decide to steal any fish. Because of the sheer amount of humans that had visited there were so many treasures you saw them drop, it felt like for every one treasure two more would appear just nearby. You found so many things such as cans, bottles, lines of wire, those masks that the humans would wear, you even found those beautiful silver rings you’d see some humans wearing on their fingers! You’d hit the jackpot today!

Just as you were packing away a pretty net you could use as a shawl you found something had moved in the corner of your eye, when you looked over to see what it was you saw a manta ray tightly wrapped in plastic. The manta ray was shakily swimming through the coral, clearly struggling to navigate due to the plastic restricting its movements. You gasped then put down your bag and quickly darted toward the manta ray to help it, unfortunately, you had moved too suddenly as the moment you got close enough to reach out the manta ray got spooked and quickly began to flee. You called out to it to try and get it to stop but the animal didn’t listen so you swam after it.

Despite being hindered by the plastic the manta ray proved to be a very slippery catch as every time you got close to it it’d slip right out of your grasp and continue fleeing. It was honestly very frustrating however you were determined to help the poor frightened animal. You laser-focused on catching the manta ray which caused you to not notice that the coral and plants were beginning to become less present and that the water was becoming increasingly murky…

Finally, the manta ray seemed to tucker itself out as it slowed its efforts at swimming which let you finally catch it, you smiled in triumph as you finally reached the manta ray and carefully laid your hands on its fins. It thrashed around to try and escape your grasp again but you quickly shushed it while gently stroking its back which thankfully made the manta settle down. Once it was calm you began to get rid of the disgusting plastic, tearing it apart with your sharp claws.

As you tore the last bits of plastic off a deafening rumble had suddenly come from behind you, you barely had enough time to wonder what that noise was until a large shadow ominously passed over you. The shadow made you look away from the manta ray and finally take in your surroundings properly, the waters were a vomit brown and the seabed was completely barren with no pieces of coral or fauna in sight. Horror seeped into your bones and you began to panic as you realized that you had swam straight into the monster’s territory.

You looked above you and lo and behold a monster was moving directly above you, you felt like screaming but clamped your mouth shut in fear of the monster hearing you. This monster was the loudest one you’ve ever heard, making a deep yet scratchy rumbling sound that shook the ground below you. In your fear, you almost forgot about the manta ray until it slapped your hands with its fins before quickly swimming away. You went to get up and follow it but as you did the ground shook under you and suddenly you were scooped up into the largest net you’ve ever seen.

The monster had caught you.

You screamed and tried to get out but the monster’s net had completely engulfed you. Rocks, garbage, and even other fish were caught in the net with you as it dragged across the ocean floor, kicking up sand as it drove on. In your state of panic, you flailed around and got your tail stuck through one of the holes in the net, adding fuel to your panic. You tried everything to get out, but the more you struggled the more trapped you became. 

As the monster continued moving and catching more things in its net you began to hear more monsters in the distance. Not even wanting to imagine what the monsters were going to do with you you doubled your efforts in trying to escape. In your desperation, you had begun to viciously scratch and bite at the net itself to try and break it, even as bits that you’d chew off got in your mouth you spat them out and continued. Finally, you had tugged, scratched, and bitten the net enough that it finally tore and you tumbled forward. You must’ve put much more strength into your escape than you thought as when you broke through the net you caused the entire net to break and nearly snap off, even the monster stumbled a little.

Very unfortunately however, even if you tore through the net a large piece of it was still wrapped around your body. You tried to get it off however the net was tightly wound around you and you were being thrown around by the currents that all the monsters were creating. The entire world was spinning both figuratively and literally, so much so that you felt like you were gonna vomit, and it didn’t help that you were already so disoriented and panicked from the adrenaline before. You felt the net tighten around your body more and more but before you could try to escape again your dizziness had become too great and everything went dark…

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How did this day go from great to absolutely horrible in mere minutes???

All you wanted was to just add some new human treasures to your collection but now here you were, washed up on jagged and uncomfortable rocks with your body and tail twisted in all the wrong ways because of this stupid human net! One of your arms was twisted backwards and pinned to your side while the other was bent painfully and pressed into your chest and neck. Your tail meanwhile was bent and twisted in various directions while being simultaneously constricted by the net. Everything felt sore and even the slightest movement would cause shocks of pain to burst throughout your body.

So right now all you could do was just lie there on your back, you still felt exhausted from before so your mind still felt too sluggish to think of a logical escape plan. You huffed and laid your head back against the rock, your mop of wet hair splaying out under you. You seemed to have washed up under some small wooden structure as when you looked above yourself you only saw a bunch of wooden planks lined up together and extending outwards into the sea, so much for trying to pass the time by cloud gazing…

Judging by the little amount of sky you could see when looking to your side it must’ve been pretty late in the evening right now, the sun had been pretty high in the sky when you first got caught (at least you think it was), just how long were you out for?

You felt the ocean water gently wash over the end of your tail, relieving the soreness but only for a brief moment before the tide went back down. A whine escaped your throat, you couldn’t help but wonder if the ocean was deciding to taunt you now, showing just how close to home you were despite being unable to move. Were you… going to be stuck here forever? You could only count the number of times you were on land with one hand, and even then you’ve never been out of the water for this long. Would something happen to you? You had no idea, and that made you increasingly nervous.

You probably shouldn’t wait long enough to find out if something would happen if you were on land for too long, but you were at a loss as to what to do. Your body still hurt and you still couldn’t move, and even if you could move and shimmy back into the water your arms were stuck in a position that made scratching at the net impossible and last time you check you can’t make your neck grow longer so biting the net was also a no go. How were you supposed to get home???

As you wallowed about your predicament the silence was suddenly broken when you heard a loud thumping from above the wooden structure. You immediately stopped what you were doing, your fins flaring out in alert to focus on whatever the noise was. It moved from the start of the structure all the way until the end of it where the sound stopped.

What in the world was that??

Quiet as a guppy, you listened carefully for any more noise to try and figure out what that was. You’ve never heard a sound like that before in the reef, was it a surface thing? You racked your brain to try and think of whatever it could be... Could it be… a human? What would a human be doing here? Aren’t they supposed to be with the monsters? Oh no… What if the human was looking for you to bring you to the monster you escaped from earlier?! You couldn’t let the humans or the monster take you again! Subconsciously the tip of your tail that was sticking out the net silently flailed as you feared being discovered. You need to get out of there right now-

*Hic- Hic- Sob…*

Wait… What was that..?

From the end of the structure was a different sound from before. The noise was quiet, almost like a whisper, you heard something taking in gasps of air in very quick succession along with sniffling and whimpering. Was the human… crying..? Why? What are they so sad about? Your previous fear of being discovered had begun fading away and was now being replaced by great sympathy, you never liked it when things were sad and it was no different with humans. You almost wanted to speak out to the human but you were unsure if revealing yourself would be a good idea.

The human’s cries continued while you quietly listened until a particularly harsh tide rolled up the land and crashed over you and dragged you downwards. You slid down the rocks before abruptly stopping before fully being in the ocean again. The jagged rocks scratched at your back and the sudden movement made your twisted limbs burn with pain and soreness, you couldn’t control the pained cry that left your mouth. Writhing from the pain you had rolled onto your side without realizing, as your bit your lip to try and stop your crying. The pain slowly cleared from your head letting you tune into your surroundings again, it was then that you realized the sounds of crying had completely stopped.

“..H-Hello?”

Oh no.

The planks of wood creaked above you as you assumed the human was moving around after hearing you.

“Is someone- hic- there…?” The human said again, their words briefly cut off by a hiccup and sniffle.

You stayed completely silent, not moving a single muscle. The human seemed to be doing the same thing as you couldn't hear any more noise coming from them, well, except for the sniffles and hiccups they still let out. As this silent stand-off continued you found yourself starting to consider properly speaking up to the human.

Back when you’d seen humans in the reef you never really got to hear them speak, you always thought that since the humans were almost always around the monsters the humans would sound similar to them, but it seems to be the exact opposite. This human’s voice… was so… meek. They didn’t sound like a monster trying to find you, they sounded small and sad and… like a fingerling. Just like you.

And just like that the tiny bit of fear that lingered in your head completely crumbled. Gathering the strength you could you rolled to lay on your back again, weakly grunting as you did. Taking a deep breath you puffed out your chest and opened your mouth.

“H…Help..”, your voice came out much weaker and scratchier than you anticipated, you knew you hadn’t exactly spoken words–especially not human words–for a while but wow…

Scratchy and unused voice aside, you listened for any response from the human. However you were only met with silence, strange, did the human not hear you? You shut your eyes and called out for help again, saying it louder this time. Resting your body back down on the rocks you yet again listened for a response, and yet again you were met with nothing. Now you were really confused, they were talking before but were completely silent now, what gives??

You almost went to call out again until you saw a shape in the corner of your eye that wasn't there before. You quickly looked over and saw something peering down at you from over the wooden structure, but just as suddenly as it appeared it darted away. That had to be the human! You heard thumping come from above you until suddenly the sound dashed towards you, the human was running to stand right above you!

You barely had enough time to react when from your side something swung down from the structure. You jumped in reaction and looked over and immediately felt your jaw drop at what you saw. A body like yours, but with two legs dangling down from their hips, there was undeniably a real human being staring down at you.

The human dangled from the wooden structure using one arm to hold themself up, their other arm down at their side, strangely the arm by their side was wrapped in a weird thick pink… thing. You’d never seen anything like it, but the bright pink stood out against the night so much you couldn’t help but focus on it. After a few moments of silence, the human suddenly let go of the wood and dropped down to the rocks, breaking you out of your fascination with the human's strange pink wrapping.

The human stood completely still, they just stared at you with wide disbelieving eyes. They wore a thin white top and thick beige shorts, on their face was something that you’re not entirely sure of what the name is, it was one of those frames with glass in them that you remember finding sometimes in the reef. What really stood out to you from the human was their eyes and hair, both of which were coloured almost exactly like the sea. Looking into their eyes reminded you of the bright clean waters back at the reef, and their hair that gently swayed in the wind made you think of the calm waves you’d see during those rare days where you’d perch up on a rock above the water. Your curious mind almost wondered if they were a human version of the ocean itself, if so maybe that pink wrapping would be their coral.

After you observed the human, you tilted your head at them, the movement startling the human and making them gasp, the action almost making you giggle. The human shook their head then wiped at their eyes with the hand wrapped in pink (which you thought looked slightly uncomfortable) then looked back at you and gulped.

“... Are you real..?”, they asked tentatively. Their voice shook ever so slightly as if tears were gonna start falling from their eyes again at any moment.

You nodded your head in response to the question, even if you felt it was a tad strange, of course you were real! The human took a very slow and careful step towards you, mumbling something you couldn’t hear properly.

The human went silent yet again, but their eyes drifted from your face downwards towards your tail. Suddenly feeling quite bashful underneath the human’s stare, you slightly fidgeted your body which you quickly regretted as soreness sprouted in all your limbs. Right, you almost forgot the twisted state your body was in.

After seeing you fidget the human’s eyes widened, “You’re stuck.”, they thought aloud.

After a pause, the human suddenly walked closer and stopped just next to you. They still looked slightly wary and held their hands up in what you assumed to be a position that tried to make them look more docile. Even so, you couldn’t help but feel slightly intimidated by how the human towered over you and you felt your body shrink back. At that, the human sputtered.

“I-It’s okay..! I wanna get the net off you.” They crouched down so they weren’t ominously standing over you.

From here you could see their actual face much more clearly. They had chubby cheeks that had streaks of dried tears running down them, and when you looked up into their sea-coloured eyes they looked slightly red from crying.

The human looked away from you and instead looked over at the net wrapped around your body, they winced at how the net was digging into your skin and reached out. You tried to stay as still as possible as they grabbed a piece of the net with their not wrapped hand, cautiously sliding their fingers under the material to put some space between it and your body. Their hand was ridiculously warm against your cold skin, but they weren’t reacting to the temperature difference.

The human then grabbed another piece of the net with the hand wrapped in pink. They breathed out an “Okay” and suddenly tugged harshly to try and rip the net. Your body shook with the action and you yelped in a mixture of shock and pain.

“Ah- Sorry!” The human said, they continued tugging at the net but a little softer this time. It didn’t necessarily stop all the pain, but the gesture was sweet enough for you to try and keep your cries to a minimum.

Despite the human tugging on the net as hard as they could the net wouldn’t rip. After one extra hard try the human let go of the net and huffed, falling back onto their bottom to sit on the rocks, their cheeks puffed out in an angry pout. 

“I can’t break it.” The human grumbled, and you couldn’t help but sigh in disappointment with them.

You rested your head back on the rocks, then an idea came to mind. You looked back at the human, more specifically their hands. Just like you thought the human didn’t have claws like you did, that’s probably why they had more trouble with the net than you would. If the human didn’t have any claws that could tear the net, then they needed to find a substitute!

With some strain, you rolled onto your side which got the human's attention, they shuffled backwards and watched you to see what you were doing. With your cheek pressed against the rocks, you bent your neck so you could grab one of the jagged rocks under you with your mouth. Once you had one you looked back up at the human, who was just staring at you in confusion. With your limited mobility, you made a slicing motion with the rock in your mouth, and at that, the human got what you were trying to communicate.

“Oh! I can cut the net with the rocks!”, They looked at the rocks near them and almost immediately spotted one they could use. They grabbed it and ran their finger across the jagged edge of the rock, nodding in approval once they deemed it sharp enough.

They reached back down at the net but paused before they tried anything. They looked back at you for a moment.

“Um, please don’t move too much. I don’t want to cut you.”, You nodded and made your whole body go limp.

The human brought their attention back to the net and grabbed hold of it. They held the net with their wrapped hand and held the rock in their not wrapped hand. Very carefully to not cut you the human slid the rock between you and the net and pressed the sharpest edge of the rock against the net. Then very slowly they began to move the rock back and forth to slowly slice the net. The process wasn’t smooth by any means, the human had to adjust their grip multiple times and make sure they pressed the rock against the net hard enough to actually do something. But the human didn’t give up, and after what felt like ages of cutting, finally, the rock cut through the net!

Once the rock cut through you and the human let out a cheer of triumph, your tail moved in excitement and the human went back to cutting the net, though this time filled with much more vigour after the initial success.

Soon enough with the human's efforts they were able to cut through a large enough portion of the net for them to reach under and tear the rest of the net much more quickly. Once the net was torn enough for you to regain control of your limbs you cheered and rolled over onto your stomach, flailing your tail around to fling leftover pieces of net off of you. 

Finally, your limbs weren’t in pain anymore! Relief washed over your body so strongly you nearly felt like crying. To your side, you heard the human sigh and felt them grab the net from under you and throw it somewhere else. You sprang up from the ground and sat down properly, looking at the human with stars in your eyes you leaned towards them and smiled.

“Thank you..!!”, Your voice was still pretty scratchy but you made sure to sound as thankful and happy as possible.

At the sound of your voice again the human’s eyes widened before they nodded, “No problem.”, you swore that even in the dark you could see their cheeks turn red ever so slightly.

A silence fell over you and the human, both of you looked out towards the sea but neither of you made a move to leave. After the brief pause, the human spoke again while fidgeting with their fingers.

“So… um… You’re really a mermaid?”, they asked. 

You were slightly confused. Mermaid..? You’ve never heard that word before. You looked back at them and tilted your head in confusion.

“Mer…maid?”, you said, pronouncing it very carefully to try and get it right.

The human paused for a moment, they looked just as confused as you were. “You…”, their words trailed off as they looked down at your tail, they looked back at you, “You don’t know what mermaid means..?”

You shook your head to which the human scrunched his eyebrows.

“Never… Heard of… ‘Mermaid’… before.”, you shook your head. The human hummed and then looked out at the ocean before pointing at it.

“You live in the water, right? And you can breathe in it?”, they asked to which you nodded.

“Reef is… my.. Home”

The human mumbled then resolutely said, “So you’re a mermaid.”

You still didn’t understand what that word was, but you honestly weren’t sure how you were supposed to respond, the human had said that you were a “mermaid” so surely you felt like you kind of had to agree with them.

Without waiting for you to confirm or deny what they said you were the human spoke again. “How did you get here? And how did the net get on you?”

The topic change was slightly abrupt, but they did ask a question you could actually answer, so you did.

“A monster.. took me! Grabbed me in.. its… its net. I got away… Bit my way out. But.. my mind.. hurt… so I fell… asleep.”, you explained as best you could, trying to use the best human words you could in the way that made the most sense.

Luckily the human got what you were explaining and nodded along with your story. They turned their body to face the ocean instead of you and rested their arms on their legs.

“Mm. I got here ‘cause of my dad.”, they said, your fins perked up at the mention of the human’s dad. You looked at the human curiously, wanting them to explain further.

“Dad..?”

The human nodded, but before they began explaining their expression suddenly saddened and it looked like tears were gonna fall from their face again.

“My parents… They don’t love each other anymore.. And- hic- and I had to leave home and come to this- this stupid town!”, tears began to flow out of their eyes again after their outburst which left you internally panicking.

If you were being honest, you weren’t entirely sure what the human was talking about but you still didn’t want to see them cry. Wracking your brain for a way to make the human feel better you got reminded of the manta ray you had helped earlier today, more specifically how you got it to calm down so you could help it.

Hesitantly you raised your hand to the human's seafoam green hair. Then making sure to be as careful as possible so you didn’t spook the human you began to pet their hair. The second your hand touched their head they stopped trembling and froze like a statue.

“I’m sorry…”, you soothed. The human turned their head to look at you with pure bewilderment which made you self-consciously take your hand off their head and drop it back down to your side. Maybe humans didn’t do that to comfort their friends…

Thankfully the human didn’t look angry at what you did, just very perplexed. They sniffled and wiped the new tears from their eyes, mumbling a shy “Sorry” back at you. After that, you and the human settled into another moment of silence, the rolling tides of the ocean becoming comforting background noise.

The two of you stayed like that for a while, sitting next to each other and watching the waves. You could tell that both you and the human were getting tired, your body and mind felt more sluggish and out of the corner of your eye you saw the human yawn and rub at their eyes to try and get the sleep out of them. Yet despite the growing fatigue neither of you moved to leave. You both stayed put right there together, and neither of you really knew why.

“...My name is Cove.”, the human suddenly said. You had gotten so used to the silence that you almost jumped at the sudden noise.

You repeated the human’s–Cove’s–name, liking the way it rolled off your tongue so naturally. The name almost felt familiar though you couldn’t tell why. You smiled and said the name one more time.

“Coove~”, you said it in a sing-song way which made Cove look at you dazzled, and he couldn’t help but return your smile.

You then pointed at yourself, ready to introduce yourself. “You.. Call me-”

“Cove?!”, someone suddenly yelled from somewhere.

You and Cove immediately whipped your heads around to the sound. You didn’t recognize this voice at all, it sounded much older than you and Cove combined. The voice yelled out for Cove again, sounding very concerned, how did the voice know Cove’s name? Oh no, was it..?

Cove looked back at you with fear and a new sense of urgency, “It’s my dad!”, he gasped, confirming your suspicions, “I-I don’t want him to see you! You have to go back home!”, he urged.

Cove’s sudden sense of scared urgency immediately spread over to you making you panic. Even if Cove was sweet and had helped you out of the net that didn’t mean all humans were like that! Who knows what Cove’s dad would be like?? From what Cove had said and how sad he sounded, then his dad must be terrible!

Gathering strength into your body you began hurriedly shimmying further into the water. Cove crawled over behind you and placed his hands on your back, the sudden warmth against your scales making you jolt, though Cove either didn’t notice or didn’t care about your reaction as he simply began to help push you into the water. Eventually, once your whole tail was completely submerged you were able to let the incoming tide sweep you down into the water.

Letting yourself sink into the water, you felt nearly all the tension that had built up exit your body. It was so nice to be back in the water where you belonged. Or, almost where you belonged. You were still deep inside the monster's home and you had to navigate out of there, you could only hope that all the monsters were asleep. But that’s a problem you didn’t want to worry about right now.

Swimming back up to poke your head out of the water, you saw Cove still sitting there at the water's edge. He was checking behind him, presumably watching to see if his dad would show up. Hearing you poke your head out of the water he looked back at you, jolting a bit as you had startled him.

You smiled and raised your hand out of the water, “Goodbye Cove!”, you didn’t want to leave him without saying goodbye.

Cove nervously returned your smile and waved back at you with his hand wrapped in pink, rushing out a stuttered goodbye. After sharing your farewells, you quickly dived back down underwater, ready to finally make your way back home. The water was muddy and the environment was still depressingly barren, making it tricky to navigate, but you weren’t going to let that deter you.

As you were slowly but surely making your way back home, your thoughts kept drifting back to Cove, he somehow managed to feel so strange but so comfortingly familiar at the same time. Everything about him just made your brain go wild with curiosity. Humans had always intrigued you but they always felt too foreign, too invasive for you to gather the courage to speak to them, but Cove wasn’t like that. He felt… nicer. That’s the only way your young mind could put it. You wanted to find out more things about him, his personality, his hobbies, his fears, his dreams, anything you could uncover about him you wanted to figure out.

You wondered if you’d ever see Cove again, you really hoped you would…

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Cove stood at the edge of the ocean in a daze, he felt like he was dreaming. Did he seriously just meet a real mermaid?? There’s no way! That person had to be some sort of actor wearing a fake tail and makeup or something. But the tail didn’t look fake… and neither did their fins or gills… Oh jeez, maybe all of Cove’s messy feelings were really getting to him.

Cove was stuck in a tornado of events. First, his parents fighting more, then them breaking up, then his dad saying that they had to leave to somewhere else, then him being brought to this weird town where all anyone does is fish, and now on top of everything Cove has to meet a real mermaid??!! He barely knew what to make of all of this.

He looked to his side and saw the cut-up net he had helped the mermaid out of. When he first saw them all tied up he knew he wanted to help them, but he was so caught off guard by their appearance that he still froze. In the end, Cove was glad he got the net off, the net was coarse and scratchy when he tugged on it, there was no way being wrapped up so tightly in it was painless. The net must’ve come from one of the boats that he and his dad saw when they were exploring the harbour, they looked very similar. Hopefully, the mermaid wouldn’t get caught that badly again.

Cove sighed and kicked at the rocks underneath him, it was only a matter of time until his dad found him here. That sucks, Cove had hoped he could stay away at this secluded dock forever. At least the mermaid got away, Cove wanted them to be his own little secret, besides his dad would probably scare them away or something which could make it so Cove never saw them again. 

“Cove! There you are!”

Speak of the devil. Cove turned around and saw his dad hurriedly make his way over. Once his dad reached Cove he dropped to his knees and quickly gave Cove a once-over to make sure he was okay. Once he knew Cove was fine his dad pulled him into a tight hug and lifted him up. Cove tried to push away from the hug to no avail, groaning at the affection.

“I'm sorry, looking at the boats must’ve been too boring right? Let’s go check out the house now okay? You must be tired, I know I am!”, Cove’s dad laughed as he began to walk back to the main harbour with his son in his arms.

Cove grumbled but conceded, “Fine…”

Cove rested his chin on his dad’s shoulder and took one last look out to the ocean. He wondered where the mermaid was now, they mentioned ‘Reef’ being their home, did that mean there was a coral reef near here and that’s where they lived? Hopefully there was, Cove would love to visit. He had so many questions about the mermaid, but his growing sleepiness made it hard to focus on any of them.

Feeling his eyes finally droop close, Cove could only wonder if he’d ever see the mermaid again. He really hoped so, maybe they’d make this town a not-so-terrible place to live…

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Thank you for reading! Forgive me if the writing in this is kind of funky or flawed, I haven't written this seriously in months and I'm trying to get my groove and style back

If this gains enough traction and interest then I might continue this as a fun little series so once again any form of interaction is greatly appriciated and encouraged!!

Hi love first how in the fuck to you say your tumblr username

Second I would like to request for Qiu x mc(it doesn't say anywhere what gender you write for so can I have femmc) where her and Qiu are getting married and her mum stands up to give a toast and reminds mc of what she said about marrying Qiu as soon as she met them much to mc embarrassment

Hello anon! The username is batsie, but you can call me A! ^^ Also- thanks for pointing out the thing I missed! I'll add it to my author's info that I write for all MC genders or lack there of! Now! Onto your request! It shall be done, just keep an eye out on my page- I'm working on it now! :D

▀▄▀▄▀▄Traditions▄▀▄▀▄▀ (𝚐𝚗!𝙼𝙲)

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛'𝚜 𝙸𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚍: 𝚀𝚒𝚞/𝙰𝚞𝚝𝚞𝚖𝚗 𝙻𝚒𝚗 𝚃𝚊𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝙱𝚊𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚗 𝙾𝚙𝚊𝚕 𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝙼𝙲 𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍 (𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙾𝙻:𝙽&𝙵)

𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚙𝚝: The night before Halloween, the cul-de-sac trio decides to have a sleep over at MC's house- going trick or treating the next evening as a group. Based in Step 1

(𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚍 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗)

The cul-de-sac trio, all bundled up in their pajamas with a bunch of fluffy blankets (supplied by MC) together layed out on the floor with snacks as they huddled together, watching classic Halloween movies from Opal's laptop. (Imma draw this, at some point- I already have a refrence picked out.)

"I'm super excited to go trick or treating! My parents didn't really do Halloween, so this basically a first time for me!" Tamarack said excitedly shifting side to side- scooching just a bit closer to MC who resided in the middle of the trio, controlling the laptop while laid out on their stomach. "Really? Why didn't they?" Qiu asked, curiously- lifting himself up with his elbows slightly to get a better look at who he was talking to.

"I dunno, we just didn't. Not very common in German culture I guess, plus they were always busy." She said nonchalantly, not bothered much by it- too distracted by the movie playing on the screen. "Makes sense to be honest, cultures can be vastly different." MC spoke up, pausing the movie. "Oh? How do you know that?" Qiu asks, a smug smirk on his face but it was a genuine question.

"Well, living previously in the city- many different types of people lived there. Plus we used to move around alot for my mom's job- that said I had the oppertunity to meet a lot different people, or at least learn about them." MC explained a bit before Opal came into the room with a plate of decorated cookies- halloween themed of course. "So- how's the movie going kiddos? Need anything? Water, more blankets, anything?" She asked with a kind smile, putting the cookies down on MC's nearby desk.

"Hey momma? What was that guy from the bakery's name again? Him and his mother ran that place after moving from France to share his mom's recipes?" MC asked, shocking Opal a bit who just chuckled a bit but smiled anyways. "That was Monty sweetheart, why do you ask?" she replied gently, crossing her arms and leaning on the doorframe gently. "Tamarack is having her first genuine Halloween with us, and that turned into talk about different cultures." Autumn explained quickly, resulting in Opal to nod swiftly.

"Gotcha, well- Monty was from France. Just like how Tamarack's Omi and Opa were from Germany. Germans don't often celebrate Halloween because of one of their holidays: Martinstag. It's very similar to both Halloween and Christmas, but also- what me and MC celebrate: Yuletide. I don't know much about the specific details of the traditions or celebrations, but I do know they light lanterns, share treats, and have a communal bonfire." She explains a bit, teaching what she knows from her minimal experience. "Yuletide?" Tamarack asks, looking to MC with a questioning glance.

"Yeah, what's Yuletide?" Qiu asked with her, MC's eyes seemed to sparkle in delight at the mention of the holiday season. "Yuletide is the holiday season of what you both know as Christmas! Yule is the actual holiday. It's a whole two weeks of celebrations! We light bonfires, give gifts, do a simmer pot, cook together, decorate a yule tree, and a bunch more things! Christmas was derived from it actually!" they rambled on a bit, excited to be able to teach their friends about one of their own traditions.

"A WHOLE TWO WEEKS?!" Tamarack exclaimed, sparkles in her eyes- jaw dropped. "That's so lucky!" she said excitedly. "So do you get gifts everyday?" Qiu asked, making Opal chuckle a bit. "Well- we normally spend the first week and a half exchanging hand made gifts. The second week we spend quality time together but on the day of the winter solstice we exchange the rest of the presents we got each other." she explained with a happy sigh, recalling the memories.

"Do you think we could participate in each other's traditions this year? All together?" Qiu asked with sparkles in his eyes, Tamarack nods eagerly- grinning like a kid on Christmas. "Well I'd have to speak with both of your guardians first, but if they accept it- then I don't see why not!" Opal says happily, pulling out her phone. "I'll go give them a ring, you three get back to your movies and snacks!" she said before exiting the room, the three kids giddy and excited for the possibility of spending more than just Halloween together.

"I hope they say yes!" Tamarack said excited, hugging a stuffed animal tightly as she got back into her original position for watching the movie. "I hope so too! It'd be super fun to join our families for the holidays! Besides, even if they don't say yes I still intend to make and get you guys gifts for the holidays!" Qiu said with a grin. "Oh yeah? You sure you won't lose them?" MC teased him gently, earning a slight elbow to the arm- making them laugh a bit. "Either way- I had already planned to make you guys Yuletide gifts, but now I'm way more excited!" MC said hugging a pillow and snuggling it close.

"Aww MC!" Tamarack said before hugging them, "I'll be sure to make you some gifts as well!" she said happily. Qiu chuckled lightly, smiling softly "I will too, it's only fair. After all you do keep my papers from magically disappearing." he said with a smirk, leaning against MC lightly. "You mean, they keep your papers after you lose them?" Tamarack teased before getting a pillow thrown softly at her, both her and Qiu laughing as MC just laid their shaking their head and stiffling a laugh.

"You guys are the best, thank you for being my friends. Seriously." MC said with a soft smile, catching the other two off guard slightly. "Where did that come from?" Qiu asked with a chuckle, his hair dishevled and completely down. "I don't reallty know, just- thank you. Both of you." they said again. "MC!!!!!" Tamarack squealed before she practically tackled them in a hug, making Qiu get squished behind the two- but they all laughed despite that.

𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝: 1,017

Hello! Hows it goin? Do you have any college headcanons for Cove and MC (from Our Life: B&A) because I would think they would've attended college at the same location if they could knowing how connected at the hip they always are.

Okay- hear me out. Cove? He doesn't seem the type to go to college. BEFORE YOU LEAVE- LET ME EXPLAIN!

Cove is the type who'd sneak onto campus to see you if you live there, but he's already got his life ahead of him- with his work with ORCA, helping his dad at the shop, going to see his mom frequently, ectara.

"Why would I want to do more school?" Is the vibe I get from him, but like I said before- he's the kind that'd sneak onto campus with flowers and your favorite snacks just to see you.

His constant need to be beside you results in you both falling asleep on call, or him driving out to see you and being walked in on while cuddling (or more-) by your dormmate.

Might do a college AU one-shot if someone asks for it, cause like- imagine a super overworked MC calling Cove and him rushing to your side. (Pardon the hopeless romantic in me is swooning.)