Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You spent quite a lot of time studying the newly discovered sunfish-mermaid species, Sun as he liked to be called. Sure your peers would see it as pure scientific intrigue, but truth be told you were… infatuated with him. 

He was just so sweet once you had learned to understand him, something the two of you have been hiding from your coworkers. He was also the biggest flirt you’d ever met somehow, always teasing you in one way or another while you spoke, trilling happily every time he got you to blush at his words.

He only wanted to speak with you, is what he told you; he answered all the questions you had asked about his physiology, gave you whatever information you needed.  Honestly you could write a whole thesis on the research you’ve conducted. You could go on to win awards but- 

You won’t. That would mean losing your sweet Sunny. So you’d continue to “study” him. Which in all honesty just meant spending time with him, getting to talk back and forth and tell him what it's like on land versus what he’s seen in the deep oceans. The creatures he describes sometimes sound like huge leviathan nightmares. A large mer like him, but triple his size and four arms, the same ray-like fins with rows upon rows of shark-like teeth… You try not to think about it too much. You don’t suffer from thalassophobia but it’s best not to tempt those fears into existence.

But that “studying” you two do is probably what led to your current situation. He had been lifted out of his tank for a routine check-up when you noticed how uncomfortable he seemed in the enclosure the past few days. It doesn’t get better as he’s lifted out of the tank by the wet sling to rest on the examination table. Each time you try to ask what's wrong he only grabs at you and whines so pathetically. You attempt to check his temperature only to be stopped by the view directly at his hips - you notice a slit that you hadn't ever documented before, leaking an almost creamy orange slick. 

You take a look at Sun’s face, which is covered by his hands that are desperately grasping at the ray-like fins around his head. Your curiosity gets the better of you -  before you can think you reach out and touch the liquid dripping from his slit, brushing your fingers inside slightly. He violently jerks and cries out in a keening wail that shakes you to your core, causing you to stumble back into the desk behind you. You quickly rip open a sterile sample pack and swab your hand, dropping the sample into a petri dish - you knew you’d have to check what that was later. 

The more important thing was that you returned to Sun; the second you’re within arms reach you’re snatched and dragged towards the mer, your coat getting shredded in the process. But it isn’t until you’re pulled up and onto that table that you finally feel what’s behind that slit - that’s definitely a bulge of some sort writhing against the ass of your wetsuit.

You feel like your face is on fire, that’s… oh god that’s his dick isn’t it. You gasp and try to ease away only to be followed desperately, the bulge emerging from the slit to follow after you. You don’t even get far before you feel Sun’s finned hand pressed against your abdomen, pushing you back against him. The bulge slips between your thighs and you muffle a moan, one of your own hands coming up to clap over your mouth. The huffing and struggling noises you hear from behind you increase as you see the tip of what looks like one of those expensive sex toys you looked at one time peek between your thighs and oh fuck it’s leaking a lot.

“Ohh please please please my treasure please I have to please-” You hear the begging deep in the back of your mind this time. You have a pretty good idea what’s happening now as the tentacle-like appendage fucks itself between your thighs desperately. He must be going through some sort of heat or rut, that would explain his odd behavior from the past few days-

Your train of thought is broken immediately as the reinforced hems of your wetsuit snap like floss between the claws raking up your thigh. You start to chastise him, but get cut off when the hand that was just on your thigh snaps up to your chin and holds your face up, putting you now face-to-face with the being who’s now wrapped himself all the way around you, locking you in place as he continues to rut against your now one bare thigh. “S-Sunny… Please.”

You’re not sure if that was the right thing to say, but it causes Sun to grip you desperately again, wet lips locking against your own as your senses become filled with some sort of… smell. If you didn’t know any better you’d describe it as an expensive musky cologne… on a fish? It had to be some pheromone coming off of Sun, you concluded, tucking that info in the back of your head for later. Right now you’re preoccupied with the wandering hands that have managed to snake their way under your wetsuit to your breasts; you wonder when he unzipped you but settle for worrying instead about the hand now clawing into your thigh, holding you open enough for the tentacle to prod at your slit through the wet suit. 

“Sweet star please, our clutch- we need to keep it safe and warm my star, please.” The hand resting on your core right now tells you EXACTLY where he wants that clutch; you’re not sure if it’s the feeling of his cock against you or the enticing scent filling and clouding your senses but you find yourself nodding at him, mouth parted in shaking gasps.

“I-I’ll take care of them, I promise Sunny please I want them.” You’d normally be a little frightened of the starving look he gives you as his claws rip through the fabric covering your already-soaked pussy, but you’re more occupied with taking his tongue back into your mouth as explorative fingers slide across your slit and into you with startling ease.

“There, right there, all mine.” The tip of his cock only teases your entrance before it’s pushed itself into you -  it’s not too girthy but what’s there is already hitting your sweet spot and heading deeper as you’re dragged down onto his length. You wonder how much more you can take, gasping at how deep he’s gotten before your ass hits his hips and he's finally bottomed out within you.

Sun braces an arm under himself before gripping your hip with the other, leaving your head resting against your arms as he starts fucking you ferociously. You grip at the tatters of your coat as you stifle your moans against your bottom lip, tasting copper when you feel the thrusts stutter, hitting against your sweet spot so deliciously. The hand on your hip travels under your thigh again and forces your knee to your chin and you wail, tensing and clenching against him; you bite your first finger to try and quiet yourself. 

You arch back roughly against him, trying so hard to hold your scream in, but you’re losing the battle horribly as he continues to thrust at inhuman speeds, not slowing down for even a second. You just can’t help yourself as you cum on his cock, feeling him twitch and pulse in response before cumming himself. It takes a moment for you to realize that besides you feeling the tentacle writhe and spill within you, it feels like it’s… expanding? It feels like there is something traveling up the shaft and into -

You freeze, heart pounding as you finally remember. He said clutch. Our clutch , to be precise but, that means he’s…

Your mouth falls open into a groan as you feel a pressure build against your cervix uncomfortably for a moment, before an egg finally slides in. You place a hand on your abdomen, sighing in relief as you gently rub circles into your skin. It isn’t long until you feel the next one slipping through his shaft into you, pushing another egg into you and leaking more slick to coat your walls. 

They don’t stop, one after another stuffing into you until you think you're about to burst. At this point you can tell the eggs themselves are spherical and a little larger than a golf ball and you think you’ve gotten… well it’s more than nine inside you. You lost count at eight, only able to twitch and moan as he keeps filling you with more and more. The bottoms of your thighs are so coated with a little blood from the pinprick claw marks that litter you, along with Sun’s slick and your sweat, that you’re honestly a little unsure what’s what at this point. 

“Are you ready for the last one, my heart?” Your chest flutters at the name, you sneak a peek back up at Sun’s face, your eyes meeting his and for the briefest of seconds you think you see little hearts in his eyes. 

“I am, please I’m ready Sun I- I want to carry your whole clutch please .” You watch him bare his teeth further and further until you finish your statement; the next thing you know your head is being tilted, and that long tongue of his is laving across the hot sensitive skin of your shoulder.

“Hold still, my mate, this will hurt you for just a moment.” You don’t have time to ask him what that means before you feel his teeth sinking into the meat of your shoulder; you scream out only for a moment before his hand claps over your mouth. You breathe short ragged breaths through the pain as he pulls his teeth out, licking at the wound he’s created before growling and thrusting into you roughly. 

You’re too full for this; you feel an uncomfortable weight in your abdomen that slowly wears into pleasure as the thrusts continue. Sun folds up around you once again, commandeering your mouth as he holds you tight to his own body. You feel something larger slip into you, making its way up through the tentacle inside of you, stretching you so much. Too much. 

You huff at the feeling, trying to alleviate the pressure somewhat but Sun beats you to it; massaging his large webbed hand against you gently, another sound comes from him that you don’t think you’ve ever heard before, sounding close to a musical trilling purr. You gasp, feeling him bottom out in you one final time, and the feeling is enough that you actually do it. You take the entire clutch and in the same moment you cum hard, your walls clenching and flexing around his cock. Tears prick the corners of your eyes as your hips are held in place once again, Sun pistoning into you until he finishes inside you for the final time, his thrusts finally slowing enough for you to come down from your overstimulated state. 

His cock finally slips out of you, leaving you a dripping mess as a small rush of slick follows its exit. You cover yourself with a small yelp and you recognize Sun’s chirping laughter as you try to hold everything in. You shift uncomfortably on the exam table now realizing the position that you’re in sucks actually. You make a valiant attempt to get off the table and get both of you some sort of cleaned up but your legs turn to jelly the second you put your weight down, causing Sun to have to catch you and drag you to his chest. “No, love, stay, please, I will keep you safe .” 

You defeatedly grasp for the nearby chain hanging from the pipe attached to the edge of the table, sighing as you pull and soak the two of you in cool water. You can’t help but smile at Sun trilling happily, wiggling in the fresh shower while you swipe the hair clinging to your forehead away. You guess you can spend a bit longer like this with your new mate.

Chapter Text

You’re awoken around 4AM by your phone buzzing, dinging, chirping, ringing, even making sounds you’ve never heard it make - all of it messages from your coworkers, begging you to come over to the lab and see the new arrival. You squint and glance over all the texts, piecing together the story bit by bit - trapped in a fishing net, rescued, brought to the lab, possible new species, possibly related to the sunfish specimen- now that word makes you leap out of bed. 

You’ve been “studying” that particular specimen for months now -  a mermaid-like creature, all striped orange and yellow with the cutest little fins emerging from his wide, round face, resembling the rays of the sun - hence his name. Though to be fair, you also call him Sunny, Sunshine, Sunbeam, Sundrop, Sunray, or any variation you can think of. (Sometimes, when he spits water at your face, that variation is something like Stinky or, when he really makes you mad, something like Shithead.)

Sun’s all you can think of as you blast over to the lab in record time. When you arrive at the holding tanks, a group of your coworkers is already there, huddled around the glass, murmuring and taking notes. When one of them turns to see you, she makes a shocked “oh!” and the crowd quickly parts, revealing…

Well, he doesn’t look like Sun, at least not enough to be the same exact species. He’s definitely a similar shape, though; he has that humanoid upper half attached to a fish-like tail - not a traditional mermaid, but resembling one enough that you and your coworkers use the term anyway. The creature in the tank before you is a rich, deep blue, speckled here and there with pearly-white scales that seem to glitter in the light. He has the same oversized hands with somewhat-intimidating claws. Where Sun has rays, though, this creature has a white ruff around his head, and behind it sits a long fin that almost looks like another tail, except for the little white puff on its end. Despite the aesthetic differences, that same wide, round face tells you this thing and Sun must be related somehow. 

When you approach, the creature shifts his body in the too-small tank to be closer to you. His red eyes scan you unnervingly, as if he’s studying you as much as you’re studying him. You can hear your coworkers talking - someone asks you a question - but you’re a bit spellbound by just how beautiful the creature in front of you is. You almost ask him his name, but someone walks right up next to you in front of the glass, causing him to shift and squirm away. 

“Do you think it’s related to the sunfish?” one of your coworkers asks, peering into the tank. “Some of us think so, but these things have been in your wheelhouse lately, so we figured we’d wait -”

“And you didn’t think to put him in a tank he can turn around in?” you snap back. You’re obviously thrilled by this new arrival, but you’re also too exhausted to pretend to be nice. Even the tank they first put Sun in was bigger than this. 

“We, uh…well…”

“Might as well bring him to the examination room at this point,” you say as you unlock the wheels on the rolling tank. It’s extraordinarily heavy, but a few coworkers pick up on the firmness of your tone and jump to help you push it out and around the corner. The creature stays huddled in the corner as you move, almost folding in on himself; briefly, you notice him clutching the little white puff on the end of his “cap” - you still need to examine him to figure out what that appendage actually is - and squeezing and turning it between his fingers, the way you might fidget with a pen or a stress ball. 

Once you make it to the exam room, your coworkers suddenly find themselves needing to be anywhere else. You would’ve appreciated the help slinging up a potentially hostile creature, but…at the same time…you kind of wanted to be alone anyway. If this guy is anything like Sun, he can probably speak - and you really don’t want anyone else knowing that little secret. 

You gently pry off the cover of the holding tank, and to your surprise, the creature immediately pops his head out. His bright, scarlet eyes watch you with that same intensity, and for a moment you forget how to form words.

“Um…..uh, hey? Hi? Do you…understand me?”

He blinks at you a few times and tilts his head slightly to the left. 

“I mean I…I can’t assume all of you speak English I guess, but I figured since Sun does, you -”

In one sudden movement, the creature lurches up and completely out of the tank, soaking you with water and knocking you flat on your ass. You yelp in shock, both from the fall and the creature’s claws digging into your legs as he starts to crawl forward, squirming his slimy body across yours the same way Sun does - except in a much different context. He pins your arms down onto the tile floor, and when he speaks you can see the impossible sharpness of his many, many teeth.

“Where is he?” His voice has a growling, gurgling quality to it, much different from Sun’s warbling trills. “Where is my Sun?”

“You know him?”

“I should know him - he’s my mate.” 

He bears his teeth at that last word, and you feel his claws dig into your arms, piercing your wet clothes and pricking your skin. Your stomach drops and you suddenly feel like all of the air has mysteriously vanished from the room.

“M…mate?” you sputter out. “He’s your…?” In all his months here, Sun never once mentioned he had any family, much less a partner. And he certainly hadn’t said anything when you started surreptitiously “taking care” of him during his heats.

“And you…,” he starts. He shifts his weight, wriggling against you and earning an involuntary “oof” from how heavy he is. “You’re…” 

His furrowed brow suddenly softens, and he tilts his head downward. He lets go of one of your wrists and gently, gently slides his long, clawed fingers across your belly, pushing your wet shirt up to stroke the bare skin. 

“You’re carrying,” he whispers, whipping his head back up. The little puffball on the end of his “cap” tickles you as he moves. “You’re carrying his clutch, aren’t you?”

You try to reach down, try to cover the little tummy you’ve been dismissing as bloating for the last few weeks, but he won’t let you. He rubs his palm across you almost reverently, softly squeezing and poking and rubbing you all over. After a particularly deep poke, he lets go of your other arm and squirms his way down until his whole face is pressed against your stomach. 

“What are you - that - ah -” You try to grab at his arms because goddamn that tickles actually - 

 but he’s too slippery to catch hold of. He nuzzles his face into your belly and breathes deeply, the cool air of his exhalation making you tremble.

“You’re about to lay, too,” he murmurs, like it’s the most normal thing in the world. 

“About to…huh? What? Lay?” you sputter, shifting your hips under his weight. “Lay eggs?” Sun hadn’t been very specific about how long you’d be keeping his clutch safe - sometimes it was a few days, then a month, then a month or two…he’d once said a whole year, and you slapped his shoulder and demanded he take it back, but he’d only grinned and shrugged in that mysterious way of his. 

The creature lifts his head, and his red eyes meet yours again. “As opposed to…?”

You resist the urge to whack him the same way you whack Sun when he teases you. 

“Sun never told me,” you explain as he goes back to tracing swirling patterns across your stomach. “He just said…when they’re ready.”

“You’re much warmer than we are,” he replies. “What takes three months for us might be three weeks, if you’re the one incubating. And based on your scent…” He inhales deeply again, drawing air across your sensitive skin. “It could be any day now.”

Any day now. His words reverberate through your chest. You feel a little twinge of pain where the eggs have been sitting for all this time; it reminds you of a cramp, though not as bad. He must’ve been poking and prodding you too much. 

“Since we’re already so familiar,” you tease, gritting your teeth. “Could you tell me your name?”

The creature furrows his brow at you again, and presses his palm against your belly. You tilt your head back and try not to keen at the sudden pressure you feel right at your cervix, where Sun’s plug has been keeping his eggs nice and secure.

“It’s Moon,” he says, voice taking on a layer of urgency. “And when I said any day now…”

“No, no…,” you mutter out. “No, I’m not…I’m not…” Even as you speak, the pressure gets more intense. “You squeezed me too hard, you…” Your foggy brain can’t even think of an insult, because right now you feel like your lower half might explode. Moon wriggles off of you, and you hear wet slapping sounds as he moves across the tile.

“Tell me where Sun is and I’ll get you there.”

“Wha…? You’re…he’s…”

“Focus, pretty thing. You’re going to want his help with this. Just tell me -”

“Out that door,” you gasp as a wave of pressure nearly takes your breath away. “Turn right, first door…a-at the end of the hall…” 

Before you can even blink, Moon’s slides you over to lie against his back. “Hold my shoulders,” he commands, and you’re thankful your body automatically obeys as he shoots off and out of the room, dragging himself by his hands and pushing himself across the ground with his massive tail. He moves almost like a giant snake across the smooth floors, and you keep your eyes scrunched shut as he whacks his whole body into the door that leads to Sun’s enclosure. 

When you manage to open your eyes again, the whole room is washed in blue light from Sun’s tank. You’re right up against the glass; Moon has his hands pressed against the tank, and Sun has his in the same place on the other side. It’s a darling, tender reunion type of moment - at least until you can’t hold back your groans anymore. It’s not really that painful - maybe a little - but the pressure in your belly is intense, and it almost feels…it almost feels good. Drops of water sprinkle your forehead as Sun peeks his head over the top of the enclosure.

“Starlight!” he trills, using his cute nickname for you. “Little star, little star - Moon, do you see the steps there? Can you -?” Before he even finishes the request, Moon hauls himself up and into the tank with surprising strength, and immediately Sun’s big hands pluck you from his back. Your already wet clothes are quickly and easily removed; you wish you had enough composure to go lock the door, but it seems like Moon did think to at least close it behind him. You just hope no one walks in to find you completely naked and…laying eggs.

Not how you thought you’d spend your morning.

As Sun’s hands slide across your body, though, any thoughts of being embarrassed wash away. You’ve always enjoyed his touch, but now…it feels like electricity, sending shivers through you that make you lean into him, seeking more, more, more. He’s only just touching your back and your belly, but you want him, need him, need him to…

A smell like cologne permeates the air, and you realize it's his pheromones again, the same ones that got you into this mess to begin with. He wraps you up in his arms, and slowly pulls and rearranges your limbs until you’re lying with your back against his chest, floating gently at the top of the tank. 

“My treasure,” he purrs. “You’ve brought me two wonderful things today, did you know? Yes, yes, my Moonie and my clutch…you’ve done so well, keeping it so warm and safe for me…”

Your body flushes at his praise, and flushes further as he slides a hand down to slip between your folds. “This shouldn’t hurt, my sweet,” he says. “The plug will be the hardest part…”

You open your mouth to speak when suddenly another set of hands wraps around your hips, and a wide, round face plants itself right between your legs. 

“But maybe Moonie can help you?” When you glance down, Moon’s half-lidded eyes meet yours. He kisses and nips at the meat of your thighs. You inhale deeply, the pheromones amplifying the delightful feeling; you notice Moon inhaling too, also affected by the warm, almost amber-like scent Sun’s releasing. 

“She’s sensitive here,” Sun says, spreading you apart just inches from Moon’s waiting mouth. He teases your clit for a moment with his clawed finger, and Moon immediately draws his long tongue across the bundle of nerves, making you whine and arch your hips forward, pressing against his face. 

“Delicious, too,” Moon growls between teasing licks, watching and testing to see which motions will bring out those sweet sounds from your lips again. “I see why you took her as a mate.”

You don’t think you could feel any hotter, but the coolness of the water you’re in is doing nothing to abate the heat washing through your body. A wave of pressure hits your lower half again, though Moon’s steadily working tongue makes it feel less painful and more incredible. Sun wraps his oversized hands around your breasts, squeezing and pinching and pulling your already hardened nipples. The pressure mounts, and mounts, intensifying until you think you might burst; with a groaning cry, you pop out Sun’s plug onto his torso.

“That’s it, thaaaaat’s it,” he coos. “See? The worst is over, now…”

“That wasn’t that ba - ahh - ad - oh fuck-” With the plug egg out of the way, you can feel each individual egg starting to shift inside you, ready to finally come out after weeks of incubating. It’s a feeling you can only describe as odd, made even odder by Sun carefully rubbing his fingers against your stomach, pushing here and there the same way Moon had done not long ago. The pressure intensifies as he moves his hand, and you can’t help but squirm in his grip. 

“Easy now, little star,” Sun murmurs. “Moon, if you -”

Moon answers his request by pushing his tongue back against your clit, teasing and flicking and sliding across it, red eyes watching your reactions carefully. When he wraps his lips around you and gives a tentative suck, your eyes nearly roll back into your head. His claws leave pinprick marks against your skin, and the blend of pain and pleasure and pressure, the electric stretch of the egg descending, all of it wrapped in the heady fog of Sun’s scent warping your senses - it all combines into the intense, dreamy orgasm that washes over you. The rhythmic contractions push one egg out, and quickly another, followed by a third; each of them stretches you so perfectly, extending your climax until you almost forget where you are - all you know is the cool firm grip of Sun’s hands against your skin, the murmured praise in your ear, how you’re doing such a good job, how it’s only a few more, just a couple now, isn't it good? I told you it wouldn't hurt, told you it'd be easy, oh - oh another already? Keep going, Moonie, keep doing exactly that, exactly there - 

You can’t help the guttural sounds you’re making, can’t help the way your body trembles and writhes and splashes, the way your hands clutch onto Sun’s arms for dear life. Your body’s working outside of your control now, normally something that would terrify you, but here? Being held and touched and praised so tenderly? You’re melting into it, melting into both of them. Moon gives you some reprieve by switching to his fingers for a bit, rubbing your throbbing clit in little circles, building you up slowly for the next wave of his clutch that’s oh-so-ready to come out - in fact, you think if you bear down just a little - 

You gasp as another egg pops out of you, resting with the others in a small pile on Sun’s torso. 

“Oh, treasure ,” Sun whines. “You’ll wear yourself out doing it that way - please, let us help you -”

“How many…,” you breathe, adjusting your grip on Sun. “How many are there…?”

“Mm…” He makes a purring noise, and you feel the fins around his face flutter as he thinks. “Probably…oh…hm…I’d say…fourteen?”

“Fourteen?” Moon’s tail lashes against the water’s surface, the splash echoing in the room. “Such a big clutch for such a tiny little thing, Sun. You could’ve -”

“She took them all, didn’t she? And look how well she’s doing now!”

Moon’s head sinks into the water with a low, gurgling growl. Carefully sliding the growing pile of eggs out of the way, he dives back into torturing your clit with his long, slick tongue, occasionally and very carefully pushing it inside you before moving back up, not wanting to impede any of your progress. He sure is a quick learner - but when you think back on it, Sun was too. Your whimpering cries fill the room, mixing with Sun’s murmured praise and Moon’s animalistic growls, both mer-creatures combining their efforts to draw another orgasm out of you. Sun’s hands and Moon’s tongue work in tandem, and your second climax comes quickly and easily. Sun trills happily as another egg is pushed out by the rhythmic clenching of your walls - that's six now, he says - seven, eight - what a great job, little star, you're doing so well - nine! Oh, oh, my treasure, such a big clutch, and you're - ten? You're almost there now -

As each egg descends and then pops out, you get a delightful stretch that makes you gasp; it’s that same pressure from before, but the more of his clutch you lay, the less overwhelming it feels. What started as an unbearable fullness is now a dull, pleasurable sensation of something , one you’re already starting to miss as another egg slides out onto the pile. 

“Almost, almost done,” Sun croons as Moon carefully gathers up all the eggs. “You’ve got three more to go - are you doing all right, my sweet?”

You take a deep breath, and the pheromones Sun’s still pumping out make your head feel buzzy and light. Moon’s working you with his finger again, the way he does between your orgasms, though with three eggs left, you figure you’re bound for one more. 

“‘m fine,” you tell him, tilting your head back to lean your cheek against his. “I can - I can do it - you said I’m almost there, I’m gonna… nnh …” When you look back down, you can see the drunk look on Moon’s face as he slowly laves his tongue across your swollen clit. There are little scratches all over your bare thighs from his claws, but you don’t even feel the pain - only the relentless pleasure building itself inside your belly again. You feel drunk too - the only thoughts left in your cute little head are of your two lovers, of their voices and scents and the feeling of them touching every inch of your warm skin with their cool hands. It feels like being pulled underwater, except the drowning is the most pleasure you’ve ever felt.

Sun presses his palm against your belly, massaging back and forth and bringing that pressure back again. When you whine, he nibbles at your ear. “Just helping,” he says. “It’s harder, getting the last few out…” That pushing is doing something for you, and you feel yourself clench around Moon’s tongue as he dares to dip inside you. (You’ll have to ask him to do that more, you think, when you’re not occupied with this whole clutch business.) 

“Almost there,” you choke out, and Sun digs the heel of his webbed hand hard into your stomach. You squeal embarrassingly loud as an egg pops out of its own accord; the final two quickly follow as you cum one last time. It’s a weak, exhausted, overstimulated orgasm, but it’s enough.

“That’s it!” Sun cries. You can feel him wiggling underneath you, though he doesn’t dare turn himself over until Moon’s gathered every single egg into his large, clawed hands. If you weren’t so exhausted, you’d wonder what you should do with them now that they’re out. As soon as he safely can, Sun turns you over and pulls you into a hug, letting your entire body weight rest on his as you nearly collapse. 

“My treasure, my star - I’m so, so proud of you, yes,” he purrs as he rubs your back and kisses your wet hair. “Such a big clutch, and you laid every last one - such a good job, such hard work, my perfect little sea angel!” You giggle weakly at the nickname and try to lift your head, but it falls back onto Sun’s shoulder. 

“Oh, rest, rest my star!” he says, pulling you closer to him. Part of you would like to be back on dry land, but the rest of you is overwhelmed by an intense need to be held and cuddled and loved by your darling sunfish. “Rest, and let us take care of you…”

Chapter Text

You spend the next month on two projects - studying and documenting everything you could about the new “moonfish” species, and watching over a large clutch of “mysteriously” fertilized eggs you “found” in the sunfish enclosure. You pretended to be as baffled as your coworkers, and happily enjoyed not having to hide your stomach all the time. 

Sun requested you take them out to the ocean, preferably in the daytime, so they could hatch in their natural habitat. “They follow the sun,” he explained. “Even as little hatchlings, they know exactly what to do. Smart little things, aren’t they?” He ruffled his fins at you, clearly angling for a compliment, but you just smiled and shrugged. 

“Well, they do take after me,” you said, and earned a splash of water to the face for your teasing. 

If you were being honest, getting to know Moon was the more fun of the two projects.

One evening, you arrive at Moon’s enclosure for his weekly vitals check (you really are studying him, after all, and you need data to prove it). You look for the usual big, wide-eyed face peeping over the top of the tank; when you don’t see him, you scan the floor of the darkened enclosure, searching for a place he might be hiding to pop out and scare you. You take a few cautious steps forward, and instead of a splash to the face, you notice a faint…glowing? There’s definitely something glowing in the far corner, like somebody dropped a box of glowsticks on their way to a rave. 

“Moon?” you call out tentatively. “Moon, I’m -” 

The glowing shifts and stirs, and your eyes go wide as Moon emerges from his hiding place. His tail whips through the water restlessly, and dotted along his body are bioluminescent spots that create a dazzling light show as he swims toward the stairs. You’re rooted to the spot as you watch; so rooted that when he hoists his long body up to the platform, you’re just standing there at the bottom, staring like an idiot.  He whaps his tail on the concrete as the blue spots shift and move across his skin. 

“Mmh…pretty thing,” he growls from above you. His lights quickly pulsate as he speaks. “You should play your scientist game later.”

Another whap of his tail knocks you out of your trance. You shake your head and blink, and then take a few careful steps towards him. His fingers twitch as his claws dig into the concrete stairs, scratching the yellow paint. 

“You glow?” you ask, ignoring his furrowed brow. “You never told me you glow -”

“Sometimes,” he says. His teeth reflect the blue light as he snarls and shifts his weight. “Why don’t you go and add it to your little file, hm?”

Any other person would be put off by his sour attitude, but you? Having dealt with Sun and now Moon for long enough, you’ve gotten used to their capriciousness. Ever since Moon got put into a separate quarantine tank, away from (one of) his mates, he’s taken issue with every “science”-related thing you try to do with him. Vitals checks have been particularly impossible.

“You know what I’m here for,” you tell him, scribbling “bioluminescence?” on your clipboard. “Do you want the sling, or do you wanna walk?” While not walking per se, ever since his first day here Moon’s had a preference for dragging himself along the ground like a big wet snake, menacing and snapping at every intern who dares cross his path. You got a talking-to about it once, but after you showed your boss the shredded fabric of the sling, she agreed to let Moon transport himself, provided he didn’t bite anyone again.

Moon narrows his eyes at you, more than clever enough to see through the false choice you’ve presented him with. His lights pulse as he gurgles and thwaps his tail on the concrete. “Why don’t you…come here?” he asks. “I won’t bite as hard as last time…”

You roll your eyes, but still find yourself taking a few steps closer, climbing the stairs until you’re almost at his level. “C’mon, Moonie, don’t lie to me,” you tease. “It’ll be really quick, I promise.” The glowing dots along his arms swirl and flash in a lovely pattern, so lovely you find yourself distracted…so distracted, those same arms have to catch you as you nearly walk into the tank.

“Easy, easy,” Moon says as he catches you. His voice, formerly growling and raspy, has more of a purring quality to it. You feel him gently take your clipboard from your hands and toss it aside; it clatters down the stairs loud enough to make you blink and shake your head.

“Moon!” you shout. You start to turn around to get your notes, but he has you firmly in his grip. “Hey - I need those for my -”

“Shh, shh, shhhhh,” he hisses, turning you around to face him again. His scarlet eyes are wide and bright, and they seem to pulse along with the blue lights that decorate his face, framing his sharp-toothed grin. “Come here, little star…those notes don’t matter, do they?”

Your head buzzes with protests - you need that data, those drawings, those charts and tables - but instead you find yourself shaking your head as Moon’s cool, clawed hands push your shirt up and over your head. Your head feels so light and buzzy that you barely notice. 

“So pretty, so so pretty,” he murmurs, pulling your shoes off and tossing them down the stairs. Your shorts come next, and he’s suddenly got you in your underwear and knee-deep in the water, moving forward as if being pulled by a leash. All you can think about is his round face, his smile, the feel of his claws pricking your skin, and those lights…cyan, turquoise, electric blue, casting a glow across your soft, warm, human skin. He pulls you deeper and deeper until your feet leave the concrete and you’re suddenly floating in his arms. The water is cool enough to make you yelp.

“Ah ah, eyes on me, starlight,” he coos, distracting you from the sudden chill. His claws slice neatly through the back of your sports bra, and you can barely think to be angry as he tosses the ruined garment away; you can barely think at all, really, not as his eyes stay fixed on yours, the light pulsing and swirling, drawing you in.

“Isn’t this nicer than your scientist game?” he purrs. You whine as he draws his long, slick tongue across your collarbone, his teeth barely grazing the sensitive flesh. “And you can still study me like this…hmm…” His hand unwraps from your back to palm your exposed breast, kneading and pulling at your already hardened nipple. “And I can study you, too…”

“Mm…Moon…,” you whimper as he moves his mouth downward, sucking and just barely nibbling at the sensitive bud. He hums before pulling his lips away with a wet pop. 

“Yes, my treasure?” He’s borrowed the nickname Sun uses for you, and the sound of it in his low, growling voice is enough to make you shiver. You watch the lights on his face pulse as he turns his attention to your other breast, eyes still watching yours intently. The feeling of his hand clawing at your underwear makes you forget what you were even thinking of telling him. You kick the fabric the rest of the way off, and his hand guides your hips to press against his, your legs spreading instinctively to wrap around him, pressing your heat right up against his cool, muscular body. His lights go wild and bright from the feeling; even through the water you can see them dancing across his lower half. 

He pushes you against the wall of the tank roughly, kissing you so fiercely it nearly knocks the wind out of you. His slimy tongue pushes past your lips and intertwines with yours, and immediately you taste copper as his sharp teeth nick you in his excitement. He pulls away to lick the blood from your lips, and a rumbling growl of pleasure reverberates through his chest. He and Sun both love the taste of your blood, but Moon especially craves it - and you have the marks on your neck, shoulders, and thighs to prove it. 

“Nnh…little star…,” he growls. “I need…need to…” He uses the tank’s wall for leverage as he grinds his slit against yours; as he moves, you can feel his cock emerging, pressing and writhing, automatically seeking the heat of your core. 

Your head feels so light and so blissfully empty as you watch the swirling lights on Moon’s face and chest. As you inhale, you catch a hint of a familiar smell, something warm and amber-smelling, almost like a cologne worn on the beach, rich and inviting - it makes your whole body flush hot, too hot to even think the word pheromone . It’s not as all-encompassing as Sun’s scent, but it’s enough to have you gasping and clawing at the scales of Moon’s shoulders. As his cock slips easily inside, you both let out groans, yours high and keening and his gurgling and low, echoing through the room in an odd sort of harmony. 

Moon impales himself deep into you, deeper than you thought anything could go, a feeling you’ve felt only once before, when you were pressed onto the exam table by Sun’s massive, overexcited body. He fucks into you gently, pushing as far as he can get with each gentle thrust, and already you can feel the stretch of an egg starting to slide up his shaft, spurred on by how hard you’re squeezing around him. You scrunch your eyes shut at the feeling, but Moon quickly wraps his long fingers around your chin.

“Keep those pretty eyes riiiiight here,” he commands, grunting as the egg moves up, up, up towards its goal. “I wanna see you…wanna see you taking all of my clutch for me… ah …” You both yelp as the egg emerges and, with an intense pressure, pushes its way fully inside, followed by a gush of slick to ease the path of the next one - which you can feel is quickly working its way up his cock, stretching you open as he grinds forward, pressing you hard against the wall of the tank. That familiar feeling of fullness starts to come back to you, the one you’d been missing since you’d laid Sun’s clutch not that long ago, that sensation of warmth and heaviness that starts in your tummy and spreads through your body like a comfortable wave. You try your hardest to keep your gaze on Moon’s face, his red eyes now half-lidded as they search yours.

“Doing so good,” he murmurs as the next egg - already, the next egg? - emerges inside you, pushing its way next to the others. Moon’s thrusts are quick but shallow, overcome by the need to stay as deep inside you as possible, to ensure the whole clutch is kept safe and warm. Your head lolls back as you’re stretched apart again, but Moon is quick to slide an oversized hand behind you, keeping you from knocking your skull against the glass. His fingers thread through your wet hair and hold you still; you can’t help but be entranced by the lights that swirl and pulse along his arm and shoulders, barely registering the prick of his claws against your scalp. 

“That’s it, my treasure - staying so relaxed for me - so ready to take everything I give, aren’t you?” You’d nod but he’s still holding you, watching your mouth drop open as another egg pushes in, and another still - you didn’t even start counting to begin with, so you have no idea how full he’s going to stuff you. If you’re being honest with yourself, though - you don’t really care, as long as you can take it all. 

“Sun gave you a lot,” he huffs, moving his hand out of your hair and back to your hips, holding you steady for him. “But I think… nnh …oh, I think you can do more.” Another egg pops into you as he says that last word, and it’s suddenly all you can think about. Sun had filled you so heavy and full, and you’re so small compared to them - there’s just no way…

“More?” you whimper out. “More than…?”

Moon’s sharp-toothed grin turns wicked. “Mm, you can take it…you’re…n-nearly done, even…” He leans back, moving his hand yet again to caress your swelling tummy. You can’t help but groan and squirm as he rubs his fingers across your skin, as if he’s admiring his handiwork. “You’re already bigger than he had you…” When you manage to get a look, your stomach is so big it doesn’t seem like a part of you at first. Sun’s clutch could pass for a bloated food baby, but this? You start to worry how you’re going to explain this to your coworkers when Moon’s fingers wrap around your chin again, pulling your gaze back to his face. He leans closer to you again and draws his tongue across your cheek.

“My mate,” he growls. He’d paused his thrusting to touch you, but now he’s fucking you with a renewed frenzy, the force of it pushing what you hope might be the last egg up into you. He shifts his hips, then, and you’re suddenly hit by waves of electricity as he pounds into your sweet spot. The edge of his slit pulls and rubs against your clit perfectly from this angle, and you feel yourself being rocketed towards an orgasm, the pressure of being so full amplifying the sensation unbearably. “My perfect little mate,” he says again. “ Mine .” At that moment he lunges forward and sinks his teeth into the soft skin where your neck meets your shoulder.

His cock thickens even more than it had before - if you weren’t blissed out on his hypnotizing lights and pheromones and the pressure of his clutch, you might recognize it as the egg that will keep you plugged up for the next long while - and the stretch of it mixed with the pain of his bite pushes you over the edge. You wail and grab at Moon’s shoulders, tangling your fingers in the ruff around his face as you cum, the rhythmic contractions pulling the last egg inside with frightening ease. Moon pulls his teeth from your flesh and gives a few more rough thrusts into you, emptying his last load of slick inside, so much fluid you can feel it even over the pressure and fullness of the clutch you’re now carrying.

You two stay like that for a long while, breathing hard as Moon’s cock twitches and writhes, keeping you stuffed with no hurry to pull out. His long tongue carefully cleans the blood from your shoulder, and you can tell by his hums and groans he’s savoring the taste of you. The glowing lights across his body gradually dim and slow their pulsing, leaving the two of you intertwined and floating quietly in the dark. You only realize you were dozing when Moon rumbles your name in your ear.

“Pretty, pretty treasure,” he says, and slowly, slowly eases your hips up and off of his cock, hushing you as you whine. His hand immediately presses against your opening, and you feel one finger quickly pressing inside, no doubt making sure none of his clutch escapes. He hums pleasantly and slides his hands back around your hips, and you feel yourself being pulled through the water. You only realize you’ve reached the stairs when Moon gently sets your butt on the concrete. 

“My mate,” he says again, voice more tender than before. He slides his palm across your swollen belly. “So full, so pretty…”

You grunt as you shift your weight and try to get used to this newfound heaviness. “How many was that?” you ask, and Moon gives you that same wolfish grin, teeth glinting red in his eyelight. 

“Fifteen,” he answers. “And I can’t wait to help you lay them…”

Chapter Text

So, of course you’re woken up again at 4 AM with a familiar feeling, a pressure if you will, in your stomach. It feels mildly like a period cramp so you attempt to roll over and sleep it off, but you’re unable to fall back asleep as the pressure builds. Now you’re sweating buckets and dry heaving over the toilet. The pain in your abdomen is intense, like something’s pressing and pushing against your cervix-

You’re in your car now, you barely had time to remember to grab your lab badge and keys, let alone change out of your pajamas. The drive to the lab feels like it takes hours, one hand resting on your tummy and rubbing to attempt to alleviate the growing pressure. 

You miraculously arrive five minutes faster than normal and scan your badge to enter the complex. You rush to the room where Sun and Moon, your mates, are being held in their larger aquarium tank, bursting through the door and somehow managing to lock it before you practically collapse against a nearby examination table. 

“Treasure!” Your vision is swimming as you double over to lean against the cold metal in an attempt to cool yourself; you barely register Sun calling for you, and definitely miss how Moon lifts himself out onto the steps leading to the top of the tank, dragging himself down towards you. 

Your breathing becomes labored as you feel a large pair of hands grab you by the hips, pulling you away from your cool table into a cooler set of arms. “We have to get you into the water, little sea star. Stay with me now.” 

His hands hold you steady as you precariously make your way over to the steps leading to the tank; you feel claws shred your pajama bottoms and you groan in frustration. “You c-could have just taken them off.” The mischievous snicker from behind you says otherwise as you finally make it to the bottom of the stairs. 

Your senses are suddenly overwhelmed by a very alluring, very recognizable, scent; as you peer up to see Sun sitting on the edge of the pool, arms outstretched and reaching for you, you notice a soft shimmering glow emitting from the fins surrounding his face. “Come here beautiful, it’s time to lay again.”

You should notate that. You should be taking mental notes about this whole experience, especially since this is your second time, but your head is strangely empty as you feel a nudge to your rear; you can’t help yourself but to make your way up the steps, albeit slowly, and into (one of) your mate’s awaiting arms. Sun at least has the decency to take your shirt off of you, but cuts through your sports bra with his claws before dragging you into the water with him. You make a noise of displeasure and swat at him before huffing uncomfortably at the pressure building in your abdomen, eyes squeezing shut, causing him to chortle at you. 

Moon is quick to dart in after you two, circling around you before emerging and hovering over your face as you lay in the shallows. “Open your eyes starlight, I want to see you while you lay my clutch.” Your face heats even further and you open your eyes again, feeling a wave of relaxation wash over you as your gaze catches his glowing red eyes. “That’s it, my sweet, relax, we’re going to take such good care of you.” 

The lights from Moon’s bioluminescent show keep you entranced as Sun slips between your legs, his mouth latching onto your clit almost immediately, deft fingers slipping between your lips to start stretching you for the eggs that will very soon start making their way out. 

One of Moon’s hands trails to your breasts to toy with your nipples, chuckling at the guttural whine that escapes your throat. “That’s it, pretty thing, open up for your mates.” 

You feel the pressure build up against your cervix as the plug egg tries to make its way out, your eyes instinctively shutting at the strain. Moon’s clutch is bigger than Sun’s was with slightly larger eggs as well, as you had notated, so the plug egg had to be slightly bigger, possibly the size of a golf ball. You’d have to ask Sun and Moon not to eat it before you got the chance to study it- 

A clawed hand grasps under your chin to turn your face back to the red glow of Moon’s eyes once more, all thoughts in your head falling silent once again as you fall under his influence. You think you hear Sun in your daze, something about it being easier to relax if you keep watching Moon? You can hardly understand, let alone respond, as the plug finally pops its way free, forcing a moan out of you. 

You hear Sun, face deep in your pussy, exclaim something, causing Moon’s lights to flash erratically before his eyes drag down your body towards where the other mer is positioned. There’s definitely a conversation happening but you’re focused on the feeling of the plug descending and slipping out much more easily than your first time. Two hands are on your abdomen immediately, pushing and poking and prodding at you, and you feel another egg make its way out of you.

Without the direct gaze of Moon hypnotizing you, you’ve now become hyper aware that the plug is still in you and you’re laying eggs. You whimper at the hard press against your abdomen again, your breathing picking up dangerously fast. “Y-you both- t-too much-“ 

Two sets of hands are on your face and shoulders as you feel Sun pull himself up your body, applying pressure right where the egg is stuck when he lays his body on you. “It’s okay, treasure, stay calm. This happens with larger eggs sometimes, you’ll be just fine my sweet.” You can only nod as the pressure grows, huffing at his hands squeezing at your breasts as he shifts his weight around.

“S-Sun you’re heavy out of water-” You hear a gurgle of protest, followed by a low chuckle from Moon. You take a few shaky gasps of air, bearing down to try and help the egg move, feeling it shift only slightly.

You feel Moon’s growl before you hear it. “Enough of that sea star, you know better.” You feel a tongue on the junction of your shoulder, Sun making a pleased little gurgle before chomping into your flesh. Immediately you feel the effects of the aphrodisiac in your system, your muscles tensing before finally loosening and relaxing, the plug egg finally traveling it’s way down, down, to the entrance stopping just before exiting you completely. 

Your hand finds the side of Moon’s face, your other resting on Sun while he licks you clean of any excess blood. Your fingers coil into the soft ruff around his face before he catches your hand in his, pulling your wrist dangerously close to his mouth. The only warning you have is his tongue laving across your skin before teeth sink into the soft meat of your right arm. The combination of feeling the plug pressing against that sweet spot, the double dose of venom and the feeling of Sun’s hands skimming down your body to work your clit drives you over the edge. Your body seizes as you cum hard for your mates, the plug egg finally popping out of you along with a small rush of eggs as you try so hard to muffle the guttural sounds escaping your throat.

Sun’s fast, but your science brain works a little faster to grab at him before he can pounce on the egg now bobbing its way through the water. “L-leave it I need it for the- oh fuck the study-” Words fail you as more eggs descend from your womb, one popping out to float in the water briefly. Sun is quick to return to his place between your legs to work his mate’s clutch from you, catching the egg delicately before depositing it in the growing pile in the nearby shallows.

“That’s it, my precious pearl, let them all out. You’re such a good mate, letting us both fill you so full with our clutch. Laying them for us perfectly, you’re so perfect for us, did you know that?” You can’t help the long whine that escapes you at Sun’s words, the scent of his pheromones overwhelming you as he keeps his fingers on your clit, drawing out the aftershocks of your orgasm. “It’s like you were made for us, so so so perfect, don’t you agree Moonie?” 

You don’t hear Moon’s growl as much as you feel it behind you, your brain still occupied by his light show, somehow accentuated by the rivulets of blood - your blood - dripping from his mouth. “So perfect Sunny, we’ll just have to keep her with us forever, won’t we, sea star?” 

Your pussy clenches at that, and Sun definitely notices by the way he makes an excited gurgling noise, ducking his head below water before burying his face back between your legs to tongue fuck a clutch of eggs out of you with reignited fervor.

“We have to keep our treasure close, keep her full up with our guppies. You’d join us, right beautiful?” You take heaving breaths as you nod, words escaping you as more eggs slip out. Moon tilts his head to the side, licking at the bite on your arm again, causing you to shudder. “Why won’t you sing for us pretty thing, afraid your other little scientists will find out?” 

You open your mouth, attempting to tell him to shove it, but the only thing that escapes is a guttural moan. As the next few eggs make their way out of you, the combination of pressure on your sweet spot, and Sun eating you out like a starved man helps you reach your second peak. 

The pile grows steadily in the shallows, and you try to count how many you’ve laid in your head before you’re interrupted by Sun suddenly pushing your knees nearly to your chest. His tongue delving deep into you, seeming to drag a few eggs out as one of Moon’s hands trails to your puffy, overworked pussy. “You look so beautiful like this, pearl, laying my clutch.” His fingers gently rub your clit as he keeps talking. “Marked up by your mates, begging for more each time. We may actually steal you away to the ocean in no time.” 

You snort lightly, as if something like that could happen . Sun, unbeknownst to you, locks eyes with Moon, and shakes his head ever so slightly before diving back in to coax the last few eggs from you, making your legs shake from how deep he’s getting his tongue in you at this angle. Moon growls lowly before returning to rubbing your clit again with reckless abandon. Bringing you closer and closer until finally-

Pop pop pop 

You hear three eggs plop into the water gently, which are quickly scooped up by Sun and brought to the pile. 

He gently lays them with the rest before turning his attention back to you. Beautiful little human you, still holding your own knees to your ears, with your frustrated huffs at Moon, who’s teasing your clit gently while you squirm. Your orgasm had slipped away after Sun pulled his tongue from you- he knows, they both do- and Moon’s ministrations are now just gentle enough to keep you seated on the cusp. 

They’re both chuckling to themselves now, much to your frustration, and you whine both of their names. “Please I still need to- I didn’t finish, I need it.” You don’t like how they’re both still chuckling and grinning at you as Sun makes his way back over to you.

“I think you finished quite a few times sweet thing, do you really need one more?” You groan in frustration and let your legs go, while Moon’s hand slips away as Sun helps you ease into a normal position. You’re left to rest against Moon while Sun slips himself between your legs, his hands grasping and squeezing every squishy part of you he can. 

You angle your hips to line up with Sun’s slit, whining pathetically as you attempt to grind yourself against him; you’d be embarrassed honestly, if you weren’t so out of your mind horny. “Please please just one more please..” You gasp at the feeling of something writhing just beneath his slit, only to let out an indignant cry as he removes himself from between your legs. 

“Oh but I think Moonie wants a turn with you. After all, you spent all that time laying his clutch.” You’re pulled off of the shallows to float freely in the water, Sun steadying you to keep you afloat while Moon dives back into the water. He takes some time to circle the two of you underwater, but at this point you’re too tired to keep track of him. “Just relax, starshine. You did so so so good for us, our perfect little mate.” 

You feel Moon’s tail flick against your legs; you look around to try and spot him but your vision is quickly filled with Sun’s bright smiling face as he commandeers your lips. His hands trail around your chest, squeezing and pinching your nipples. A second set of hands rests on your ass, and you yelp as Moon lightly chomps into the meat of your ass. You kick at where he was and scowl but he’s gone, and Sun directs your attention back to him, cupping your cheeks and nuzzling his face against yours. 

You sigh contentedly, relaxing against Sun in the water, listening to his coos. The next thing you know, however, Moon’s hands are on your thighs, he’s spreading your legs and slotting his lean body between you and Sun. You try to tread away to make room for him, but he’s got an iron grip on your hips. You look down to him confused, only to see him wink at you before he shoves his entire face into your pussy. You shriek embarrassingly, legs flailing before finally locking around his head while his tongue delves deep into you, your arms cling desperately around Sun’s shoulders while you tremble in the water. You hear him giggling at you but you’re far too gone to care about that now. 

“Pretty pretty star, you laid such a big and strong clutch for us today, didn’t you?” You nod, shuddering as Moon’s claws dig into the meat of your ass. His tongue leaves your abused pussy to attack your clit and you cry out, nails digging into Sun’s back hard enough; you’re surprised you aren’t hurting him. “So beautiful… you’re so beautiful when you cum for your mates. The noises you make are like a siren's song to us, you know, especially when you’re so so close to the edge.”

One of your arms unhooks itself from around Sun and latches onto the back of Moon’s head, gripping at the fin there desperately as his tongue delves back into your heat, seeking that one spot they both seem to find with startling ease. “Neither of us can help it anymore, we have to fill you again and again and keep you full with our clutches forever. You’d like that, wouldn’t you sweetie? If we keep you full and pregnant always, make you a mommy over and over. Forever and ever…” You keep nodding, your eyes screw shut and you’re unable to speak as Moon finds the spot he’s looking for, your mouth hanging open in a silent cry as he grips you tighter to his face. If he was human, you’d assume he was trying to drown himself between your legs with just how deep he’s trying to bury himself. 

Sun’s hand leaves your breast for just a minute, tilting your chin up to leave you face to face with him. “Look at me, starlight.” You force your eyes open to stare into his stark white eyes, the little gray pupils barely visible in the dim light of the lab; it feels like he’s staring into your soul, seeing every little part of you that there is to see. You briefly smell something warm and amber-like, a now comforting scent you’ve come to recognize as Sun’s pheromones, before he grins wide at you, a hand trailing to the back of your head. “Such a good girl, you’re cumming for us, aren’t you?”

You are. You don’t realize it at first, maybe due to the overstimulation of Moon’s tongue attacking your g-spot, maybe due to Sun’s pheromones, you don’t know. All you know is how good it feels to be right here with the two of them; you belong with them- belong to them- just as much as they belong to you. You realize in that moment that you’d give up anything and everything for them, to be with them for life, to love them and carry their clutches and take care of them, just as they want to take care of you. The hand on your chin tilts your head to the side and you desperately press your neck forward, begging him for another mark, to show everyone- prove to everyone- who you really belong to. Who your true mates really are.

You cum again as Sun sinks his teeth into the sensitive junction between your neck and shoulder, and you wail unabashedly as he drags you closer to himself, claws pricking into the skin of your back as you feel a calming warmth wash over your body like a tidal wave, easing your intense orgasm. Your thighs shake around Moon’s head as you come down from your high, you feel his tongue drag across your folds again, tasting whatever he can of you before retreating from between your legs. Sun’s jaws clench a little harder, making you whimper, before he releases you. You watch him lick up any remaining blood from around his mouth. The water stains a slight red around you as you relax against Moon, who’s swam up behind you; he licks at the wound before kissing it gently, and you swear you hear purring coming from the mer behind you as you’re gently brought back to the shallows and laid on the bank. Half out of the water and too blissed out to move, your mates watch you relax fully against the sand beneath you. You can barely keep your eyes open and your mates curl up next to you, their long tails entwining at the ends as they close you into the most comfortable cuddle sandwich you’ve ever been a part of. Moon’s calming voice is the last thing you hear before slipping into unconsciousness. 

“Sleeeeeep sweet little mate, we’ll be right here when you wake.”

Chapter Text

At this point, you’re used to being full of eggs.

Six months ago, that would’ve been a weird thing to say. But since your Sunfish and Moonfish - your “pet projects,” as your coworkers call them - were finally cleared to be reunited and share an enclosure permanently, you’ve found you’re carrying a clutch more often than not. It’s usually Sun’s, since he goes into heat more frequently - and you don’t mind, really, since his eggs are smaller and your belly easier to hide. With Moon’s, though…well, you’re lucky they keep your office cold and you can layer up.

You’re barely in your office these days, though. You spend the vast majority of your time in, at, and around Sun and Moon’s new tank, observing them, taking notes, even drawing little sketches if you can get them to keep still for long enough. Since being reunited they’re connected at the hip, constantly holding hands or brushing fins, never separated from the other for more than a few moments.

You wonder if that’s why you haven’t been pumped full of someone’s eggs lately - they’ve been too busy with each other, probably dealing with their heats the way they used to in their natural habitat, too caught up in the joy of being together again to even think about their new human mate. And that’s fine - really! It makes your heart swell to see them swimming and eating and dancing together, so happy that their scales are shinier than they ever have been.

And yet…

You push that twinkle of doubt out of your head as quickly as it came. They were mates first, and they’ve been apart for who knows how long - they deserve this. You might feel a little neglected for a while, but they’ll come back around…

Right?

Your hand rests instinctively on your decidedly-unswollen belly as you push open the doors to their enclosure. You usually hear wild trilling and splashing at this point as they race to see you, but as you take another step inside and close the door behind you, you’re shocked to hear…nothing. The tank is full of rocks and plants and bubbles - the water seems clean, the glass looks clear - but there’s no sign of your special fish. 

“Boys?” you call out. “Sunny? Moonie?” 

Those thoughts of being neglected, abandoned, forgotten start to fill your mind again, chilling your veins and tightening your stomach. You grip your fingers into the fabric of your shirt. Maybe they are done with you - maybe they’ve realized that humans aren’t all that great, that you can only carry so many eggs before you’ve lost your usefulness, that your novelty is gone and you’re back to being a boring old marine biologist. You can’t even blame the hormones of carrying a clutch when tears spring to your eyes.

“H…hello?” you call out weakly, embarrassed at how your voice wobbles as it echoes through the enclosure. “Boys, I - I’m really not in the mood for -”

Your words are cut off by a rush of water nailing you right in the face. You blink and sputter and wipe your eyes, and when you open them again, both Sun and Moon are gripping the edge of the tank, peering down at you with wide, worried eyes. If you weren’t so emotional, you might notice the soft glow emanating and pulsing under their scales, or the faint sweet, warm fragrance that’s just beginning to swirl around the enclosure. 

“Sea angel?” Sun shouts. The fins that line his wide, yellow face are trembling. “Did we frighten you? Oh, oh, we didn’t mean to, no no no, never would -” Moon observes you silently as Sun chatters away, cocking his head to the side when you sniffle and wipe your eyes again.

“I’m fine,” you interrupt. “It’s not - I mean - don’t worry about it.” Your voice is still shaky, and you silently berate yourself for letting your negative thoughts get to you like this. Just yesterday Sun was giggling and splashing you as you swam together, distracting you so Moon could sneak up and pinch your ass with his claws- so why would they be bored of you today? That just wouldn’t make sense - but leave it to your scientist brain to overanalyze anything and everything. 

“ Up ,” Moon growls, loud and decisive. His voice cuts through your anxiety, snapping you back to the here and now. When you blink at him dumbly, he darts over to the stairs that lead up to the tank and pulls himself onto the top step, digging his claws into the wet concrete. “Up, now .”

You kick off your shoes and follow his command, climbing the steps as if he’s pulling you by a leash - and the instant you’re in grabbing range you’re suddenly in the water, wrapped tightly in his lanky arms. You don’t have time to shout or even feel surprised - your whole world now is him, your Moonfish mate and the softness of his ruff as he nuzzles against your skin. Another body squeezes up against your backside, trilling and purring and murmuring about how warm and beautiful you are, and the tears you were holding back suddenly escape as a pathetic, heaving sob.

Noises of comfort rumble through your body, four sets of hands stroking your skin and your hair, all of them keeping you close. They don’t freak out or ask why you’re crying or tell you to stop - they simply let you sob, whispering it’s okay and we love you so much and caring words you can barely hear because it only makes you want to cry even more. For once in your life you let yourself feel the emotions crashing through your body, because for once in your life you know that the two creatures wrapped around you will love you no matter what.

When your crying naturally ebbs, you spend a long moment resting your head against Moon’s shoulder, trying to breathe deeply. They don’t even ask, and you know they won’t pry, so when you feel like you have a voice again, you attempt to explain.

“I was feeling lonely,” you murmur, and all the hands on your body freeze in place. When you lift your head, Moon is watching you carefully, his mouth a flat line across his bicolor face. You can’t bear to meet his gaze, so instead you watch the way the little “bulb” on the end of his head fin glows and pulses with light. “And I - I was thinking about how you - you hadn’t given me a clutch in a while, and -”

Those previously motionless hands are suddenly all action, peeling off your shirt and shorts like it’s a race and you just fired the starting gun. You yelp in surprise, and barely a second later you’re fully nude and pressed up against both of them again.

“Boys I didn’t mean - you don’t have to - I didn’t say now !” you sputter - though you have to admit, the smoothness of their scales feels delightful against your skin. Their hands are back on you again, and this time it’s Sun who’s trilling and chirping and pinching your backside. You finally notice that familiar smell, the one that feels like a cool breeze and warm sand and comfort and want wrapped together, the one that makes your head light and spinny and your body so, so open and soft. Sun’s scent is the strongest, almost overwhelming as he nips your bare shoulder, but Moon’s is there too, mixed in to create a pheromone cocktail that you wish you could bottle and keep for those long, lonely nights when you’re apart.

“ We’re ready now, though,” Moon murmurs in response, licking the salty tears from your cheeks. “We’ve been ready, just….hmm…holding back…”

“We didn’t know if you could handle it, sea star,” Sun adds from behind you. You can feel something grinding against your ass that definitely wasn’t there a minute ago, and you can’t control the groan that escapes you. “Both of us, I mean.”

“B…both?” you murmur. You watch as Moon’s face erupts in a sharp-toothed, wolfish grin. His hands wrap around your hips, pushing your bare cunt against something else - it’s a small nub now, still emerging from his slit, but you know from experience just how much of a something it’s about to be. 

“We’re sorry for neglecting our pretty mate,” he says. “But we just had to be sure…”

“Sure of what?” you ask, your whole body suddenly overheated, your cunt pulsing between your legs as Moon’s growing cock starts to press and slick between your folds. Sun’s is growing too, pushing up between your ass cheeks in a grinding motion that makes you breathless. 

“That you could take everything we give you,” Sun answers. “Both of our cocks -”

“- and both of our clutches,” Moon finishes, and their words make you so dizzy you dig your fingers into the scales of his back. Though that might be the pheromones, or possibly the pulsing light show that’s dancing across Moon’s skin, drawing your eye and calming your nerves.

“I…I don’t think,” you start, but when Sun angles his hips down to slide his cock between your legs, intertwining it with Moon’s, your own groan cuts you off. Feeling them play with each other like that, the way they’re writhing so perfectly against your clit, the way Sun jerks his hips and groans when Moon squeezes him - the thought of that happening inside of you is too much to bear. Your hesitation evaporates; you need them now more than anything.

“Please,” you whine, any thoughts of being abandoned, neglected, or forgotten completely and totally gone, carried out with the tide. “I want to - I want -”

“Patience,” Moon purrs, “and that means you too, Sunbeam.” Sun whines and wiggles again, and you can feel how Moon’s cock is wrapped around his, keeping him from getting overeager and pressing inside your heat the way he’s oh-so-desperate to do. While Sun complains, Moon slowly draws his long tongue across the junction of your neck and shoulder, pausing to admire the scars there before sinking his teeth inside your soft human skin. The effect is nearly instantaneous; the aphrodisiac in his saliva hits your veins like a tidal wave, amplifying your heat and desire so intensely that your mind totally blanks. You need his cock, both of their cocks, both pushing inside and stretching you open and filling you with eggs, as many as you can stand - you need it, need it, need it - 

“Almost,” Moon promises as he licks at your wounds, and you realize you definitely said that last part out loud. “Sunny, she needs your help, too.”

Sun grunts and whines, but quickly obeys his mate, pressing his teeth into the flesh of your other shoulder. That same feeling crashes over you, doubling what Moon’s already given, overloading your tiny body with desire so strong you start to quiver in their grip. You think you might tear Moon’s scales off his body if you don’t have something inside you right this instant - 

Which might be why you practically scream when Sun’s cock escapes Moon’s hold and sinks deep inside you, hilting completely in one thrust, pulling you open and filling you so perfectly your whole body shudders. You need it like you need air, that stretch, the way he immediately presses against the bundle of nerves inside you, the way he knows exactly how to please his human mate. You think you hear Moon huff and scold him for rushing ahead, but you’re already too fucked-out to care.

As Sun licks the blood from both of your bites, Moon rests his oversized palm against your cheek, holding you still and gently commanding you to open your eyes; when you do, the lights dancing in Moon’s wide, red eyes and across his face give you something to (attempt to) focus on. 

“Stay with us, treasure,” he murmurs. “Eyes on me, hm? Can you do that?” 

You nod weakly, and almost close your eyes again as Sun wriggles and shifts his hips. Taking a clutch always feels good, but this? Right now, sandwiched between them, feeling the tip of Moon’s cock gliding against your cunt - it’s overwhelming, it’s electric, it’s beyond anything you’ve ever experienced with them - and all you can think about is how you need more, and now . 

“ Good little pearl,” Moon purrs, and his eyes stay locked on yours as slowly, slowly , he works his cock inside of your already-stretched hole, swirling it around Sun’s, carefully gauging your reaction as he fills you further and further. Your whole body pulses with their aphrodisiac venom, allowing you to accommodate more than you thought possible - and even then, you’re still begging and groaning and trying to push your hips so you can feel every inch of both of them. You can feel Sun’s hot breath on the back of your neck as he whimpers. 

“Moonie, I…I’m…nnh…” His tail thrashes in the water, pushing all three of you forward through the water. You turn your head to try to catch a glimpse of him, but not a moment later you feel what’s got him worked up; there’s a familiar stretch at the base of his cock, and you shudder as the egg works its way up, up, up to the deepest part of you, pressing and pressing until it sinks into your womb with a pop.

“So impatient ,” Moon growls, though right away you feel it again, the stretch of another egg that massages your walls as it moves. It’s been a while since you’ve taken a clutch, but this time it feels effortless, like your body was made to do this, to be their mate and keep their eggs warm and safe. As Sun’s second egg settles inside, every muscle in your body trembles and every nerve ending pulses, every part of you overtaken by a primal urge for more .

That’s what you demand, your voice barely your own now - less human and more animal, driven by the aphrodisiac in your veins and the throbbing between your legs - and you start to wonder if this is what being in heat is like for them. Your barely-conscious inner scientist makes a note to ask them about it later.

Sun’s tail thrashes again. His eggs are coming quickly, faster than you ever remember them coming before - it must be Moon’s influence, you think, or maybe he’s just overexcited - but either way, you certainly don’t mind how his cock squirms and stretches you with each one. You rest your flushed cheek against Moon’s palm, completely engrossed in the pulsating light of his eyes and the dizzying fragrance of his pheromones.

“Soooo perfect,” he murmurs, gently stroking your scalp with his claws. “I knew you were ready for both of us…our precious treasure…” You cry out weakly as two more of Sun’s eggs pop inside you in quick succession. You can feel Moon’s cock assisting the eggs to their destination, and the sensation of all that movement inside you is almost too much to bear. 

“Can you take moooore for us?” he asks, though both of you know the answer. Moon shifts the angle of his hips, and you whine as his larger egg starts to inch its way up his cock, easily settling itself next to Sun’s eggs in your womb. What is that - only five? You’ve barely started and already there’s a familiar pressure, that fullness you’d been craving for weeks, both too much and not enough even as two more of Sun’s eggs rush in behind. You nod weakly against Moon’s palm.

“I can, I can - please ,” you beg. You’re so drunk on Moon’s hypnotic lights and Sun’s powerful scent that you can barely focus. “I need you, I need…I need…”

“I know you need it,” he coos. “And you’ll take it all, won’t you?” You nod as vigorously as you can manage. Your whole body is aflame, flushed and throbbing with desire, and you can feel yourself squeezing both cocks inside you tighter and tighter, begging for their clutches to fill you up. Moon growls as you practically pull the next egg out of him.

“Moonie, she’s - I’m -” Sun whines from behind you, and you groan as he abruptly bites you again, sinking his fangs into your overheated skin and pushing a wave of eggs into you all at once, followed by a good amount of slick to cushion them. The pain and the stretch combine and push you very suddenly over the edge into an orgasm, your body milking the two cocks swirling inside your rhythmically squeezing walls. As your tiny form shakes and your vision grays at the edges, you briefly wonder if you’re about to pass out; if you died here, well…would that really be so bad?

Thankfully, though, Sun’s concerned trilling brings you back down to earth.

“Is it that good?” he asks, and you feel his cool, wet tongue lapping at the blood that’s settled on your collarbone. “We thought maybe -”

“She’s just fine,” Moon interrupts. “Look, Sun, feel how full -” He drags one of Sun’s hands to press against your belly, already distended from the eggs they’ve pumped inside. Sun whimpers and shifts his hips as he strokes your warm stomach. “I’ve got a few more, and then we can plug her.”

“We can’t both,” Sun says quickly. You feel tiny pinpricks as his claws dig into your skin. “There’s no…there’s no way she can take that, no no, no way, no room…”

“Right,” Moon says, and with your slightly clearer head, you notice the sharp-toothed smirk playing at the edge of his mouth. “We can’t both…so I will.”

“N-not fair!” Sun yelps, and Moon breaks into a gurgling sort of laugh. “I should get to - nnnahh Moonie you can’t -”

You can feel them both writhing inside you now, caught in the crossfire of their desire to be the one who plugs you up for the next month. Normally you’d berate them for fighting, but when they’re fighting over you? Literally fighting inside you? It feels too good for you to stop them. You don’t care who wins, only that you end up as full as possible - and another of Moon’s eggs quickly slots next to the others, granting your wish.

"I could do both," you whimper, leaning your head back to rest against Sun's shoulder. "I could, really…"

You feel a shudder run through both of their bodies at that, and they pause their squirming for just a moment.

"It doesn't work that way, treasure," Moon explains. "Once you're plugged…your body won't accept anything else. That's the plug's job -"

"It keeps our clutch inside, but keeps other clutches out," Sun finishes. "It makes sure you're ours and only ours."

“But I am yours,” you whine, wiggling your hips like it might entice them to agree. “Both of yours…please, I can - I can - oh fuck -”

You curse as something much larger than any egg starts to press against your entrance, and based on Sun’s trilling and Moon’s furrowed brow you can guess it must be the solar mer’s plug trying to make its way inside. Sun rolls his hips against you, pushing a little harder with each thrust, easing the thick plug just a little bit more inside. You hiss and whimper at the stretch; when it finally pops into you, you let out a cry at the mix of pain and pleasure that overtakes your senses. 

“Thaaaat’s it,” Sun purrs from behind you. “Just a little more now, you can take it…”

He’s gently fucking into you, working the plug inward ever so slightly, and you can feel your body starting to take over. Your walls clamp down around both of them - it feels like you could be cumming again, or maybe not - either way, there’s no more pain now, only that delightful sensation of being stuffed beyond your limits. 

“W-what were you saying earlier?” Sun huffs. Your eyes are scrunched shut, but even still you can hear Moon’s growling rumbling through your chest. “She’s already pulling me in, in, in, Moonie, I know you can feel it…”

Moon’s ruff brushes against your cheek as he leans forward, breathing hot against your neck, sharp teeth barely grazing the skin. You feel it, then, that same pressure, and you groan long and low when Moon’s plug pops inside underneath Sun’s, both of them pulling you completely apart. Whatever you were feeling earlier builds and blossoms into what’s definitely another orgasm, or perhaps a continuation of the last, your body drawing both of them deeper into you, begging for your mates to claim you, fill you, make you theirs again and again. There are no words between the three of you, only animal grunts and cries, splashing and clawing and biting and blood and slick and pop, pop - both, both plugs settling in one after the other, your body defying them both, knowing you truly belong to them and only them. Their pretty mate, their treasure, their perfect sea angel.

There’s no telling how much time you all spend wrapped up together, floating gently in the warm water of the enclosure. You’re exhausted and swollen, but it all feels so correct , like you were meant to be here; just the thought of your human life back on dry land makes you want to sob. You accidentally whimper, and right away Moon is nuzzling his face against yours while Sun trills and hums behind you. 

“Are you all right, sea star?” Sun asks, and his hands immediately press against your swollen stomach, soothing over the stretched skin. Moon’s hand does the same on the other side, and soon you have two mers purring and cooing and stroking your egg-filled belly, both of them so captivated by it that you actually let out a little chuckle.

“‘m fine boys, I really am -” you start, but that doesn’t slow them down - in fact, Sun slips out from behind your back to stare, wide-eyed, at your newly swollen form. Moon’s giving you the same look, reverently tracing your soft flesh with his claws. Sun dips underwater, and your chuckle becomes a full-fledged laugh as his fins tickle your stomach. You pull away instinctively, but he’s right on you, planting little kisses overtop of his clutch. 

“S-Sun, quit, it hurts to laugh!” you squeal. Moon pushes his mate’s forehead away from you and wraps his hands protectively around your stomach, blocking Sun’s assault.

“ Gentle , sunshine,” he growls when Sun peeks his head above water again. 

“But - but - look how full she is! Doesn’t that just - just - just drive you crazy ?”

Moon glances down at your belly again. “It does…but she’s not built the way we are. You know that.”

“She will be,” Sun whines, and you barely have time to ponder that statement before Moon whisks you back over to the concrete steps leading to the enclosure.

“You ought to get some sleep, treasure,” Moon hums. Despite your protests, he gently lifts you out of the water and sets your butt on the top step. Sun appears behind him with your wet, partially shredded clothes, and plops them in a heap next to you. That wouldn’t be the first outfit they’ve destroyed…but you do have some dry clothes stashed around here somewhere (at least you hope - you might have to sneak out of here wrapped in just your lab coat).

“I wanna sleep here,” you whine. In your brain you know your warm bed is what’s best, but all the hormones and venom surging through your body are demanding you stay in the arms of your mates, even if it means falling asleep in the water. And that doesn’t sound too bad either, now that you think about it…

“You need proper rest,” Moon says, holding you firmly against the concrete despite your attempts to wiggle back into the enclosure. “And for a human, that means a bed, and blankets -”

“Alone, though!” you cry out. Your voice echoes through the enclosure. “Alone, a-and…not here, with you…”

The look on both Sun and Moon’s faces is pained. You can tell they want you to stay just as badly, but something is keeping them from acquiescing - you just can’t figure out what. 

“You can stay with us soon,” Sun says, sliding his fingertips along your bare thigh. His claw catches on something, and you jerk your leg away instinctively. “But not yet…or you might get scratched again.” His fins vibrate as he gives you a sharp-toothed, lopsided grin. 

As upset as you all are, your mates seem firm in their decision. They both help you stand up on wobbly legs, and Moon slithers down the steps alongside you, given that you can’t see your own feet anymore to walk safely down the steps. You find your hidden cache of clothes, along with a clean towel to dry off with; Moon watches curiously as you pull your shirt taut over your bulging stomach. Once you have your keys and phone in hand, he lifts himself up to plant a kiss on your cheek - and a quick, wet kiss on your belly, before worming his way back up the steps and into the tank with a splash.

There, he notices Sun is staring not at you as you leave, but at his own hand. As he swims closer Moon can see what’s caught on his mate’s claw - it’s a scale, iridescent and glittering in the light, neither yellow-orange nor blue, but a different color entirely. It’s beautiful. 

“Soon,” he says, and kisses Sun’s forehead before swimming off into their nest. 

Chapter Text

You’ve found it quite difficult as of late to keep getting clearance for “discarding” (releasing) moderately sized quantities of “unfertilized eggs” (absolutely fertilized eggs) into the ocean without some sort of significant reports on your findings. Your direct supervisor, who used to forget about your existence until your yearly review, called you into his office to discuss the lack of thorough investigation in your most recently submitted reports. 

“Your findings have slowed to a crawl, doctor. For most scholars, you understand, that means you should move onto other projects. Perhaps let some of the other scientists conduct research on these life forms.”

His scowl deepens as you shake your head in immediate response. “Doctor Townsend, you must remember at least the basis for some of the theories from my reports. Both of these life forms will not interact with the other scientists without extreme hostility, requiring me to monitor them nearly 24/7 as to prevent any of my fellow doctors fro-”

“Oh, cut the crap. You and I both know what’s going on here. I’ve seen this plenty of times in my tenure as a department chairman.”

You swallow deeply, your hand reflexively coming up to scratch at your neck. “Y-you do?” Please no, there’s no way he could know- let there be no way he knows-

“You’re on the verge of a breakthrough in your research, but you’ve plateaued.”

What? “Huh?”

The chairman shakes his head, his shoulders bouncing as he chuckles. “You’re so close to a breakthrough in your research, but you’ve hit a wall. I know you’ve been working early mornings to late nights studying their behavior for weeks on end now, but even doctors with the most passion for their experiments reach a point where they can no longer make any notable findings without a break. You really need to take a vacation, doctor, at least a two week rest. Let the other scientists have a crack at observing the specimens, and you’ll return with clear eyes to review your peers' reports for things you may be missing.” 

You watch him swivel back and forth in his desk chair, seemingly pleased with this conclusion. Meanwhile, you’re clenching your jaw tightly to prevent it from dropping at the mental gymnastics he’s just done in front of you. “You— may be right, Dr. Townsend? I will, certainly take your advice into consideration-”

“That’s a directive, doctor. I expect to see your time put in by the end of next week at the latest.” You sputter.

“Sir, please, that's not nearly enough time to- to plan a nice vacation. For myself. Give me at least a month to plan it all out-”

“Three weeks. That’s the most you’ll get out of me. Trust me, doctor, I really am looking out for your well-being here.”

You were quickly shuffled out of his office without another word, his secretary insisting the chairman had an important meeting to attend to. Leading you to here, and now, standing just outside the doors to your lab. Your head hangs as you worry your bottom lip, thoughts scrambled while you attempt to think of a way to even begin this conversation with the boys. 

“Still work here, doctor? I was sure you’d be sobbing over your pet project getting snatched from you and escorted out of the building by now.” Bastard. Your head tilts in the direction of the sniveling asshole approaching you. A wide smirk crosses his face as he stops a few paces away from you. 

You absentmindedly scratch at the dry skin on your arms. “Funny. I didn’t think they let co-eds into this wing of the research center. Might wanna check your clearance pass there, Greg.”

He scoffs. “That’s “the future Doctor Gregory Parker”, to you. As soon as I get my hands on those creatures in there, my dissertation on them will be submitted and I’ll become the lead expert in their field. Not to mention the lead scientist on their research going forward.” 

You bark a laugh. “Delusional much? The Moonfish alone would have you dead in the tank the second you got too close. They’re both incredibly territorial and violent around male researchers, something you’d know if you even bothered to read the initial observation report.”

“That’s what they make tranquilizers for, genius. How would they have gotten the Sunfish into the lab initially otherwise? He would have killed himself on that net if it weren’t for us-“

“You’re wrong, he’s smarter than that.” You see Greg’s eyes dart to something just behind you, then down at your feet. You feel a familiar, large, still wet, hand reach up to grasp your lab coat. You turn your attention to Moon, who’s dragged his oversized fish body from his shared tank to push the door to the lab open. You watch his lips curl back with a snarl as he bears his razor sharp teeth at the other male, and you’re pulled a little off balance as Moon attempts to hoist himself up using your body. In turn, Greg takes a few cautionary steps back, holding his hands up to protect himself. 

“This isn’t over. You’ll see when you get back from vacation.” 

You watch as the co-ed backs up a few more steps before turning away and briskly heading for the nearest exit. Moon stops his low growling and instead focuses on getting you on the floor to his height, his pulling only forcing you to brace against the lab door. “Moon, quit it, I’m okay. Let’s get you back inside the tank before security calls a code on you again.”

He relents and lets you in, slapping the door shut with his tail before slither-dragging himself across the lab floor like some kind of fucked up snake. You honestly don’t think you’ll ever get used to seeing him do that. “I can handle the human in blue shorts myself, what did that other male want with you? We both heard you arguing outside the door.”

You hesitate, the forced vacation is an unforeseen hiccup in your on-the-fly relationship you’ve been in for the past 6 months. Sure, it’s no problem to start sneaking fertilized eggs out to the beach in your giant metal water bottle, but two 15 foot long Mers? You scratch at your side as you wrack your brain for a solution, making a mental note to pick up some lotion for yourself on the way home. You’ve used your whole stock after all the dry skin you’ve had recently-

A loud chirp in front of you snaps you back to reality. You see Sun tilt his head in interest, reaching over the edge of the tank for you. “Sunshine, what’s wrong?” 

You feel a nudge to your rear, turning to see Moon grinning up at you with his rows of sharp teeth. His face nudges against your ass cheek again and you step away before he decides to take a bite. “We’ve got a serious problem, and I’m trying to figure out a good solution...”

You head towards your desktop, eyes lingering on the little USB with all of your more... intimate research on it. You sigh deeply and rest your head in your hands. You can’t stop your leg from bouncing as you consider the logistics of putting Sun in the back of your Jeep.

“What kind of problem? And stop scratching at your skin- as much as I love licking your wounds, it doesn’t seem like now is a good time.” You spin around in your chair towards Moon, seeing him halfway laying on the exam table that you put between yourself and him. You realize it’s the same table that Sun had you on the first time you took his clutch. You drop your hands from your neck, wiping the flaking skin out from under your nails. You’ll really have to see a dermatologist at this rate-

“STARLIGHT!” 

You jump, eyes shooting to Sun, who’s now pulled himself halfway out of the tank and braced himself against the glass. You stand up immediately to try and stop him from crashing to the floor, or breaking the glass, whichever comes first. “Sunny! Please just use the stairs or let me get you in the sling if you want to be out, I really don’t want you to hurt yourself.” 

“Then tell us the problem so we can give you a solution.” You whip around to Moon again who’s now eye level with you and perched on the exam table His intense gaze holds yours firmly as your mouth tries to form words, but they catch in your throat. You heave another breath, almost feeling as if you’re drowning. 

“I don’t know what to do. They want to force me to take a two week vacation due to my stagnation on research. I’ve got three weeks left now to ‘plan a vacation’.” Moon’s head tilts side to side, eyes narrowing.

“So they’re forcing you to leave us for two weeks? Sunny and I can handle ourselves-”

“They’re going to let the other scientists research you both in my absence.” You hear a bang behind you as Sunny’s tail strikes the glass, and Moon’s low growling returns. “It’ll most likely be intern Parker heading the research. He’s an accomplished intern going for his dissertation, not to mention one of our most generous sponsor’s sons, so they’ll want to give him a leg up on his research.”

“Not a problem if I eat him, can’t do any research then.” 

“Moon, he wants you in particular, as the specimen more prone to violence, on an autopsy table. An attempt on his life is going to be the fastest way to get you there.” Two more thumps behind you make you jump a little, and you crane your head back to look at Sunny. 

His glazed white eyes stare right back at you, just as intensely as the first time you saw him. Your mind wanders to remember when they first brought him in, completely dosed up on tranquilizers and trapped so tightly in a fishing net you could see blood oozing from between his scales. A few of the scientists had insisted due to the coloration of his eyes that he was in fact blind. You knew better the second he let you, and only you, close enough to see the barely visible pupils darting around in panic. He was only soothed when the majority of the net had been removed and hauled off, and the two of you were left alone in this exact exam room.

“They won’t take you from us. Even if they tried, we’re already bonded more tightly than any human ceremony could hope to make us.”

“That’s a sweet sentiment Sunny,” you sigh, “but it’s not like I can just join you two in the ocean after I release you. I’m a person, I’ve got a career and a car and rent. Taxes are coming up soon! I can’t just disappear.” You scratch at your neck again, wincing at the raw itchy skin. 

“But, Starlight-” You hold up your hand, pulling your USB out of your desktop. 

“I’ll figure something out, just give me time. Both of you please try not to stress about it in the meantime.” You pick up your bag and sling it over your shoulder. You then head over to Moon, leaning in and giving him a peck on the cheek which he does not accept and immediately grabs you and tries to get his tongue in your mouth. After fighting him off to the best of your abilities, you head up the concrete stairs and kneel down on the landing, watching Sun quickly head over to your spot and beam at you when you give him a little peck on the forehead. You pet his rays gently before standing and heading towards the door, but not before Moon tries to trip you up with his swishing tail. You stick your tongue out at him as you open the door.

“I love you both very much, don’t ever forget that, okay?”