Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Wei Wuxian has always liked to walk.

Roaming around, passing the time, enjoying the sights and sounds of the natural world between encounters with the supernatural. He enjoys these walks wherever he ends up, be it dense forests or open plains or stark mountaintops. Sometimes, he even stumbles upon his next supernatural encounter while on a walk, but he has never seen nor enjoyed a sight quite like this one.

He’d been wandering barefoot down a deserted beach, a fair ways from the nearest town - outer robe, boots, and socks left on a rock somewhere a mile or so back, too hot by far in the afternoon sun - when he’d heard some strange noises. Slick, wet sounds, accompanied by moaning. He’d blushed at the noises, figuring some adventurous couple had been having some fun on the empty stretch of beach a little further on, and he’d meant to turn around and leave them to it, but then he’d heard something else. Something that had pulled at his feet with curiosity.

Voices, scratchy and a little bit inhuman, speaking a language he didn’t recognize at all, filled with clicking and other sounds he’s not sure he could even make, along with very easy and familiar ones.

The sounds were all coming from just the other side of a rocky outcropping rising up from the pale sand, and he had hurried, quietly, to peek over the top of it between two large juts of yellow stone.

And what a sight it is.

Two mermen, their scaled tails shining in the hot sun - one a lovely, deep purple that shimmers almost to blue in certain places, and the other golden as the sunshine itself, with scattered specklings of pale, pale lavender and pink - one lying on top of the other, their tails twined together at the ends.

Their eyes are both closed, and the one on top - the one with the purple tail - is muttering something, face screwed up in concentration as the golden one’s tail thrashes and he squirms, until they both moan and something Wuxian can only imagine is blissful pleasure comes over their faces.

The golden one thrashes again, and says something Wuxian couldn’t even begin to pronounce, let alone understand, and the purple mer moves above him, his arms holding him up and undulating his tail a few times, gasping, and Wuxian’s eyes widen as he gets a glimpse between them, at the way the appendage he assumes to be a cock moves, flexible and twisting, like a little tentacle.

He’s not quite sure, the glimpse was brief, but he thinks there was something twisted around it in the same manner as their tails, golden in color, disappearing into the other mer’s body along with the purple appendage.

He gets another glimpse a few seconds later, and yes, there’s definitely something there, appearing to originate from the bottom mer’s body. They do both look to be male, so perhaps it’s the other’s cock? Then again, what does he know about mer biology? He wasn’t even sure they were real until this moment. Sightings are incredibly rare, and have never been corroborated by further investigation by a reliable source.

The third glimpse he gets of what exactly they’re doing is even stranger, the purple tentacle-cock bulging outward at the base like there’s something traveling along it before his view is blocked again by the purple’s one’s thrusting that bulge inside, that concentrated look back on his face before they both gasp in pleasure moments later.

The gold one says something, eyes opening, tone urgent, and the purple one lifts himself up a bit, the bulge gone now, and reaches down with one hand to prise the golden appendage away from his own, gently tugging on it, murmuring something to the other as he does, until the thin end of the tentacle comes free of its owner’s body, the purple one moving, thrusting into him even as the tip of the golden cock coils around one of his fingers and he wraps his hand around the rest of it, doing a little bit of a jerking motion but mostly just moving his fingers in a tight caress as it moves of its own accord, wriggling in his grip.

The golden mer writhes and cries out, and the one on top’s thrusts get more erratic and finally still as globs of thick, milky liquid leak from the golden one’s tentacle. He says something, breathless, and the purple one leans down to kiss him, and they make out just like that for a few minutes before the purple one pulls away, tail slipping to one side. Wuxian has a lovely view of the way his cock retreats back inside of him, the opening well hidden once it’s closed.

The gold mer’s cock stays out, though. Resting against his scales, little drops of that thick fluid that Wuxian can only assume is seed still leaking from the tip. The purple one untwines their tails and slides backwards over the sand, moving down the golden one’s body, pressing his lips to skin and scale along the way, until he reaches the little tentacle. He gives it a long lick, and the golden mer sucks in a sharp breath as his tail flicks sand into the air and his cock wriggles against his mate’s tongue, whimpering as the purple one scoops the tip of it into his mouth with that tongue - thinner and longer than a human’s, with a forked tip, Wuxian notices before it disappears inside of his mouth again. He sucks lightly for a few moments as the golden one writhes, and says short, clipped words in an urgent tone, and then he releases the tentacle-cock from his mouth and licks along his scales, lapping up all of the spilled seed before returning to the golden one’s side, laying against him and stroking over the sparsely scaled skin of his stomach and side as his cock finally retreats back into its slit.

They lay there like that for a while, kissing occasionally and touching lightly, relaxing together on the beach, as Wuxian palms his hard cock through his clothing, intrigued, hoping for more.

He is not disappointed.

A few minutes later the purple mer’s cock peeks out just an inch or so, rubbing against his mate’s scales of its own accord as the golden one reaches down to grasp it gently between his fingers, rubbing them over it, back and forth, until it peeks out further.

The purple one’s hand presses against his mate’s golden tail, thumb stroking with a light pressure over his scales right around where Wuxian is fairly certain the slit was, and sure enough his thumb disappears inside a few moments later, then re-emerges. He twists his hand, pushing two crooked fingers into the golden mer’s slit. He thrusts them in a little deeper, pumping in and out a few times, and then they pull out fully, the little golden tentacle already wrapped around them. He strokes his mate’s with his thumb as the gold mer teases his own, and then to Wuxian’s surprise they roll together until their positions from earlier are reversed, the golden one on top, bringing their tails together again as their tentacle-cocks come together to wind around one another once more, this time disappearing inside of the purple mer’s body.

The golden one moves more, and Wuxian gets an even better view this time as they repeat what they’d been doing earlier but in reverse, the golden mer all focused as something bulbous travels along the inside of his cock only to be pushed into his mate’s body as they both sigh and gasp with pleasure.

It goes on for quite a while, the same repeating process, and Wuxian doesn’t really think he can be blamed for opening his robes as he watches, taking himself in hand and stroking slow and loose as he enjoys the fascinating show. When their movements finally get a little more frantic, Wuxian speeds up his hand, choking back his moans as he watches, trying to be quiet.

He only realizes that he isn’t succeeding when the two mermen on the beach pause. The purple one grabs the golden one’s arm and says something, straining his neck to look around, and Wuxian freezes as the gold mer looks up, directly at him, his slightly-too-big eyes widening in shock when he sees Wuxian.

He knows he should duck behind the rock, or maybe just run away, even, but he can’t bring himself to move a muscle as the golden-tailed creature stares at him. His mate barks out something harsh and unpronounceable, and the gold mer looks down, then back up, saying something a lot more calm and low. They exchange a few more words back and forth, and the golden mer gets a look on his face that’s somewhere between a gleeful smile and a smirk, and makes a sound that Wuxian thinks must be a laugh, kissing the purple one again and undulating his tail twice to make the other mer moan before he looks back up at Wuxian again, grinning, sharp teeth on display.

The golden one says something, voice raised but not angry sounding, giving another little thrust, and Wuxian is fairly certain he is being addressed. Not that knowing that is particularly helpful when he has absolutely no idea what’s being said, though.

Helplessly, he waves a hand vaguely in the air and says, “I don’t speak your language, I’m sorry.”

The golden mer says something else, sounding a bit annoyed, each sound spoken slowly and enunciated.

Wuxian shrugs, “I don’t think saying it any slower is going to help.” He’s not really sure if the two mer can understand him or not. He’s guessing not, but saying stuff they won’t understand probably won’t do any harm.

The golden mer’s tail fin slaps the sand with force, accompanied by a frustrated-sounding noise from his throat, and he raises a hand and points with two fingers at Wuxian, who points a finger at himself, eyebrow raising. The mer clicks out a short word and changes where he’s pointing to the sand next to them, a clear demand for him to come closer, if Wuxian is interpreting correctly.

He shoves his cock back in his pants and walks around the rock, thankful that at least they hadn’t seen what he was doing, even if he’d been caught spying. Though it really seems like the golden one at least was pleased that they were being watched, once he got over the initial shock. He’d continued thrusting, after all, and they remain connected as he approaches, the one on top lazily rolling his tail against the other, fucking both of their intertwined cocks into him.

The purple one says something as he approaches, but he’s fairly certain it’s directed at his mate, not at Wuxian, especially with the way his grip on the golden mer’s arm tightens, his muscles tensing as Wuxian approaches. He slows down a little bit, but continues approaching as the golden one points again at the same spot on the sand next to them.

Wuxian settles just out of reach, and plops himself down onto the sand with a wide grin, “So, you want me to watch you get busy? I didn’t mind the view from over there, but this is much nicer.”

The golden one turns his attention back to his mate, continuing what they’d been doing before, getting that concentrated look again, except this time, when the base of his tentacle bulges, he pulls fully out of his mate, reaching between them and gripping both of their cocks hard, gasping as the round thing travels the length of his cock and emerges from the stretched tip, falling onto purple scales and sliding down onto the sand, leaving a glistening wet trail in its wake.

It’s… an egg.

Of course. It makes sense, they do seem to be mating, after all.

It’s a pale pink - partially see-through, more so around the edges than through the middle - and jelly-like, firm but malleable, holding its shape without a hard shell, and, judging by the path it had taken over the purple mer’s scales, covered in a thick, slippery clear fluid. To ease the way, he supposes. Like precome or a woman’s juices.

Wuxian subtly grinds his wrist down into his lap as the golden mer untangles their cocks - drawing a disappointed sounding whine from the purple one - before shoving his own tentacle back inside of his mate and letting the purple appendage wind around his hand, fondling it much the way his mate had done to him at the end of their previous round as he thrusts into him and moans loudly, hoarsely, tail stilling, flush against his mate.

The purple mer’s cock finally releases its load of milky white come, dripping down over the gold one’s hand onto his own scales.

The golden one waits a few moments more, grinding against his mate a couple of times, and finally pulling out. He glances at Wuxian as he licks his hand clean, then copies his mates earlier actions again, sliding backwards until he can get his mouth around the purple one’s twitching little tentacle, taking the tip into his mouth and cleaning it thoroughly as his mate thrashes his tail in what must either be intense pleasure or overstimulation. Wuxian can’t quite tell.

He releases the tentacle’s tip from his mouth, licking purple scales clean as the cock retreats into the purple mer’s body again, and then finally turns his attention to Wuxian.

The golden one moves, quicker than Wuxian expected was possible on land for a creature with no legs, coming to sit with his tail bent around himself, leaning back slightly against the purple one’s tail as he picks up the egg from where it had fallen earlier and presents it to Wuxian, held out in his palm.

Wuxian blinks at the offering, “Okay? It’s an egg, right? What do you- um- Am I supposed to take it?” He reaches his hand forward, but the golden mer snatches his hand back. Wuxian puts his hand down, looking between the two of them for an indication of what they want from him.

The purple one is simply glaring daggers at him. He’d be a little nervous if the golden one didn’t seem to want him there.

The gold mer holds the egg up again, and points to it this time, still with those two fingers, “Jal.” He says, then a little clicking noise.

“Jal?” Wuxian asks, “Is that… is that your word for egg?” He guesses.

The purple one snorts, and the gold one repeats the word, this time with a harsher click, enunciating it more.

“Jal’k?” Wuxian tries again, and the purple mer lets out a little chittering laugh. Wuxian feels like he’s being mocked. It’s not his fault he can’t pronounce their weird inhuman language!

The golden one seems satisfied enough with his attempt to move on, pointing at himself, “Rulan.” Then at the purple one, “Wanyin.”

Oh good, those are easy ones, no weird clicking noises. He assumes those are names, especially when Rulan then points at Wuxian and lowers his hand, saying nothing.

Wuxian points at each of them in turn, just as Rulan had done, repeating their names, “Rulan, Wanyin,” Then at himself, “Wei Wuxian.” Then he points at the egg, “Egg.”

Rulan looks at him, fascinated, sounding out the new words, “Weiwusssian,” He pronounces it with an elongated, much more hissy sound where the x should be, but it’s close enough, “Egk.” The ‘g’ is much, much harder than it should be, ending in one of those clicks.

Wuxian grins, nodding, “Close enough!”

Rulan moves closer, shifting until he’s pressed up against Wuxian’s side, those sharp teeth dangerously close to his face, and starts pulling at Wuxian robes, tugging them open. Wuxian yelps in surprise, “What the hell?” Rulan pauses for a moment as Wuxian’s hand grabs his robes closed, and then tugs at them again, though Wuxian is fairly certain it’s not as hard as he could be tugging, if he wanted to. After a moment Wuxian lets go of his clothing with a sigh, “Okay, um, you know what? That’s fine. Fair play, I guess, you didn’t get mad at me for watching you, so I suppose I owe you a look at least. Or did you want a show in return?” He babbles, and the golden mer ignores him, pulling his robes open and untying his pants with deft fingers. They’re webbed, Wuxian realizes for the first time, not all the way, but to about a third of the way down the finger, there’s a flesh-colored webbing, thin enough to be slightly translucent. Interesting.

He tentatively reaches out, picking one of Rulan’s hands away from loosening the laces of his pants to bring it to his face for a closer look. Rulan pauses, watching him as he holds his hand, manipulating the fingers to better see the webbing. He grins up at him sheepishly, “Sorry! Sorry. It’s just, well…” He holds up his own hand next to Rulan’s, to show him the stark difference, and is rewarded with the mer running a finger between two of his, clearly also fascinated by the lack of a flap of skin.

Rulan says something in his language, and Wanyin responds, sounding a little derisive, but Rulan gives him a little smile, and Wuxian doesn’t mind the other’s grumpiness.

The golden mer finishes opening Wuxian’s pants, and his cock springs out, still fully hard, the tip leaking just a bit. The creature runs a fascinated finger up the length of it, and Wuxian’s breath hitches slightly. Rulan says something else, muttered under his breath, that Wuxian is fairly certain is a good thing, then looks up at Wuxian’s face.

He holds the egg up again, still in his hand. He points at himself, then at the egg, “Rulan egk.” He points at Wanyin, “Wanyin egk.” He taps those two fingers against his body, on his stomach, just above where his scales begin, several inches below where a belly-button would be on a human.

Wuxian thinks he gets it. He nods slowly, “Wanyin’s eggs are inside you. That makes sense, I saw him putting them there, I’m pretty sure.” He reaches out tentatively, towards where he’s fairly certain Rulan’s slit is. He thinks he can see a little seam, well hidden amongst the scales, probably well sealed, also, to keep water out. He touches it lightly, when Rulan doesn’t stop him or move away, and the muscles of the mer’s tail twitch underneath his finger. He drags it up from the slit to where Rulan had tapped, and repeats, “Wanyin jal’k.”

Rulan seems satisfied at his understanding, and reaches down, hand grasping Wuxian’s cock and rubbing up and down a bit, drawing a little gasp from Wuxian. He points at Wuxian with his other hand, scooting a little closer, then taps over the eggs in his stomach again, moving down and tapping his slit and dragging the finger up just as Wuxian had done before tapping his stomach for a third time, “Weiwusssian sserr Rulan. Weiwusssian lasahn Wanyin egk.”

Wuxian looks at him helplessly, “I have absolutely no idea what that means.”

Rulan frowns at him, and releases his cock, appearing to think for a moment before abruptly vaulting over his mate’s tail, dipping his hand into the surf as a wave rushes in only feet away from where they’d been fucking. He returns to Wuxian quickly, palm cupped, frothy seafoam and water in his hand. None of it escapes, thanks to his webbed fingers. He holds it out for Wuxian to see, pointing at Wuxian’s cock his other hand, then at the seawater, “Weiwusssian lasah.” He moves the hand with the egg in it, indicating the egg, “Wanyin egk.” He brings his hands together, “Sserr. Lasahn.” He repeats, dumping the water over the egg and moving his hands apart vertically, as though to indicate an explosion or… ah. To indicate growth, “Fsherssssok jal’kk’alasa.” He pats his stomach again, “Rulan morassss weiwusssian yit Wanyin jal’kk’alasa.”

“Okay,” Wuxian says slowly, fairly certain he’s worked out the meaning, at least vaguely. He still doesn’t know what half of those words mean, but the gesturing was elucidating at least, “The water is my seed. You want me to fertilize your mate’s eggs?” It hadn’t escaped his notice that both of them had been so careful not to spill their seed inside themselves, even careful to clean each other up with their mouths. It had made sense up until now. He had assumed neither of them wanted to have children. After all, humans often did the same thing, fucking for pleasure and pulling out before orgasm to lessen the chances of a pregnancy. But it seems to him that the golden one does want a child. Or children, rather, there were definitely more than a few eggs. He warns to carry the eggs of his mate with Wuxian’s seed.

He wonders what’s wrong with Rulan’s seed and eggs that they can’t breed with each other properly.

Rulan stares at him blankly, not understanding his words any better than Wuxian understands their language.

Well, assuming he is right about what Rulan is asking for, he doesn’t mind helping.

Wuxian taps his finger against the tip of his cock, then taps it against the mer’s slit, silent, and the mer’s tail fin swishes back and forth once over the sand. He starts to pull his hand back, but Rulan makes a frustrated noise and grabs his wrist, pressing the hand down against his scales. He grabs his hand, separating two of his fingers from the others, and presses them into his hidden slit, closing his eyes briefly and hissing with pleasure as Wuxian wiggles them experimentally inside the mer’s slick channel.

Rulan rewards him with a little moan, and moves, laying down with his head against Wanyin’s tail, his slit closer to Wuxian so that he doesn’t have to reach as far to finger him. Wanyin sits up, saying something, and Rulan lifts his head so that Wanyin can slide across the sand until Rulan’s head rests at the top of his tail, against what would be his thigh, were he a human. He strokes Rulan’s hair, and gives Wuxian a glare, teeth bared, but he doesn’t try to make him leave or stop touching his mate.

Wuxian keeps one eye on the purple mer as he explores Rulan’s insides, thrusting gently into the long channel that travels inwards and upwards. He can’t feel any eggs, they must all have made their way further inside like Rulan had indicated. He can feel something wriggling and writhing in a little pouch above the canal, pressed up against his fingers but separated by a wall of padded flesh, and he uses his other hand to spread the mer’s golden slit open, finding it a lovely pink on the inside, dragging a finger down the folds of delicate skin until he finds the opening of that pouch.

He touches the tapered tip of the golden tentacle that’s just emerging from it, enamored by the way it wraps eagerly around his fingertip as he runs it along the edge of the pouch. He begins to dip his finger inside the pouch.

Rulan yelps, tail flicking up sand, and Wanyin grabs his wrist, grip tight as a vise, snapping his teeth and barking something in his language that Wuxian doesn’t specifically know the meaning of, but gets the point across just fine.

He pulls his hand away abruptly, raising it up in a placating gesture “Sorry, sorry! Don’t put my finger in there, good to know, I hope it didn’t hurt too much.” He says with a sympathetic grimace directed at Rulan. He returns to fingering him, “This is good though, right?” He sticks his other hand back within reach of the little tentacle, letting it come to him, wrapping around two of his fingers and slowly emerging further from the pouch. He grins, and Wanyin seems to calm, releasing his wrist and returning to stroking his mate’s hair, “There we go.” He coos, “These things are so cute. They’re so wiggly!”

He rubs his thumb softly over the tip of the tentacle, and it writhes against his hand, more of it wrapping around him until he’s fairly certain it’s all out, “You seem plenty slick inside already. So, what? Do I just fuck you now?” He knows the mer won’t answer, but it just feels better to continue talking to them, even if they can’t understand him. It’s more for his benefit than theirs.

He pulls the hand that had been fingering Rulan out, leaning on it as he moves to straddle that golden tail, keeping the hand with the tentacle-cock wrapped around it close to the mer’s body. He settles over him, knees in the sand, and leans forward, using his free hand braces against the group to keep himself upright as he moves his cock in reach of the mer’s slit. The golden tentacle unwinds from his fingers to wrap around the tip of his cock instead, and he gasps loudly as it moves around him, constricting and writhing, all slick muscle. It feels so strange, but in an absolutely wonderful way.

He watches the golden appendage writhe for another few moments, just enjoying it, before pressing the head of his cock to the small split between the scales underneath the base of the mer’s cock. He tries to press inside, but it’s too tight a fit, and with only the one hand to aim himself it’s not really working, his cock just slips to the side.

Wanyin shifts, leaning over to spread Rulan’s slit with two hands, thumbs hooked into his pink flesh, exposing it to the air. His mate whines and writhes at the touch, but he doesn’t appear to be in pain and Wuxian is fairly certain Wanyin would not do anything that would cause his mate to hurt, especially after earlier, so he simply aims himself between those helpful thumbs, pressing the blunt head into the mer’s cunt.

Wanyin releases the sides of the opening as he gets a couple inches in, allowing it to squeeze shut around him, and he moans as he pushes further inside. It’s a tight fit. Almost tight enough to be painful, but just on this side of heavenly, slick and squeezing around him, waves of muscle contractions drawing him deeper. He can’t tell if the mer is doing that consciously or if it’s simply a reflex, but it feels good regardless.

It feels even better, somehow, when that slim golden tentacle writhes between his cock and the walls of its owner, providing an additional layer of friction. It already feels so good. He doesn’t think he’s going to last very long, which is such a shame.

He wants to stay in here forever.

Rulan does not seem particularly bothered by the size difference between their cocks. The tentacle-cocks aren’t that much smaller than his own at the base, but the ends are incredibly thin, which is probably part of why entering was so difficult. He supposes the mer is used to fitting two inside of him, so even with the size difference it probably isn’t that much of a stretch at least right at the opening, though he does wonder how it feels further in, when he’s used to such thin tips.

The eggs have to travel the length of the canal though, so it must be fairly elastic. It doesn’t really matter, as long as Rulan isn’t in pain, and he definitely doesn’t seem to be. Wanyin would be snapping at him if he was, he’s sure.

He begins to thrust, leaning forward on his hands for leverage as he fucks in and out of that tight opening, trying to keep his movements fairly gentle both to prolong his own pleasure and to keep from potentially hurting the mer with his size and rigidness. He watches where his cock disappears inside, mouth slightly slack with pleasure.

He looks up as Wanyin shifts, half expecting him to begin snapping at him again, but as he watches, the purple mer slides back slightly so that his mate’s head is resting a few inches further down his tail, and starts softly rubbing his own scales just below where the tip of his cock peeks out, eyes trained on where Wuxian’s cock enters his mate’s body.

“You like watching me fuck your mate?” Wuxian says with a grin, “Is it because he’s your mate, or because they’re your eggs?” He wonders aloud.

Wanyin glances up at his face briefly before looking back down at their joined bodies, three fingers rubbing at the emerging inch of his cock as he watches.

Wuxian watches the other mer touch himself as he fucks Rulan, rolling his hips harder and more erratically as he gets close. Rulan’s tail slaps the sand repeatedly as he writhes and moans under him, cock wriggling inside himself, still coiled around Wuxian’s dick.

Wanyin slips three fingers into his own cunt, his other hand reaching forward as his mate cries out, dipping inside of Rulan’s folds alongside Wuxian’s cock to hook around the base of the golden tentacle, drawing it out of the golden mer’s pussy gently just as he’d done earlier when the two mer had been fucking.

Wanyin fucks and fingers himself as he fondles his mate’s cock, rubbing it until it spills over his hand, and Wuxian comes at the sight, pumping Rulan full of the seed he’d wanted. Wuxian has no idea if it will take, if humans and mer can even breed, but he hopes for Rulan’s sake that he gets what he desires, whatever the reason is that he can’t use his own eggs or seed to have children. He feels a little pang, though, as he realizes that if it does take, if he ends up with a clutch of little merchildren, he’ll probably never know, never get to meet them.

It’s alright. He’ll have children someday with a human woman, or maybe take one in from off the street. He can just help provide children for this pair of beautiful creatures, for now. They won’t really be his. He can live with that.

He pulls out slowly, shivering at the way Rulan’s walls still try to draw him back in, tight as ever, and shifts backwards down the golden tail until he can lean down to where Rulan’s golden cock is still wound around Wanyin’s hand, licking and sucking at both the writhing appendage and the webbed fingers. It’s surprisingly pleasant on the tongue, thick and honey-like in consistency. It’s very salty, with a hint of sourness and more than a hint of sweetness to balance out everything else. Rulan’s tail thrashes underneath him and he whimpers, but Wanyin just stares at him with a heated gaze, not telling him to stop, so Wuxian continues until he’s fairly certain he’s swallowed all of the mer’s come. He gives his scales a few licks too, for the droplets that had dripped down, as he’d seen the other two do, before pulling away, watching Wanyin as the purple mer watches him, three fingers moving in inside himself.

Wuxian doesn’t want to be done just yet. Rulan’s cock is slipping back inside himself, and Wuxian is soft, but he knows if he waits a few minutes he’ll be good to go again, and the purple mer, Wanyin, looks beautiful in front of him, one hand still resting on his mate’s tail as the other moves those three fingers inside himself, in more of a wiggling motion than an in-and-out thrust. Wuxian supposes that it must be more similar to the feeling of the tentacles’ movements. It makes sense that that might be preferred.

He moves, slowly, towards the purple mer, grasping his hand as he does so and bringing it to his lips, pressing them to the webbing in between each finger in a little almost-kiss. Wanyin keeps fingering his pussy, watching him closely, a light flush on his cheeks, and Wuxian gets off of Rulan’s tail with a firm and friendly pat to the scales and skin around where his hip would be if he had hips, walking on his knees over to the purple mer. Wanyin watches him warily.

He bends, laying a hand on lovely, purple-blue scales, and lays his cheek down just by the opening, giving a little lick to the edge of the mer’s slit as he looks up for his reaction. His breath hitches, and he pulls his fingers out, sitting back on his elbows to allow Wuxian access.

Wuxian smiles up at Wanyin for a moment before looking down at his prize, spreading his pussy open with his fingers as Wanyin had done to Rulan earlier, and dipping his tongue into his folds, wriggling it inside. Wanyin moans, and to his surprise Wuxian suddenly has a mouthful of writhing tentacle-cock, the thin tip traveling to the back of his mouth and making him gag. He swallows purposefully, and it twitches in his mouth and coils around itself, and he does his best to suck, pressing a finger into the mer’s pussy and wiggling it around the same way Wanyin had been doing to himself.

A minute into this he feels something pressing against the tip of his finger. The walls of the purple mer’s cunt contract heavily around it, and he looks up at Wanyin’s face to find his eyes closed, his brow pinched in concentration. This new thing slides smoothly against his finger, unlikely the textured insides of the mer’s walls, and he removes the digit, pulling his face away a bit to get a better look under the tentacle as it slips out of his mouth, surprised when an egg pops out of the mer’s slit after his finger.

“Huh?” He glances back up at Wanyin’s face, and he’s panting a little, face still screwed up in concentration. A few moments later, another egg slides out of him with a wet squelch, and he gasps for breath.

Rulan is sitting up now, and scoots closer to his mate’s side, laying a hand on his stomach and stroking gently down from there to just above his slit, talking to him softly. His other hand nudges Wuxian aside a bit so that he can stroke his mate’s opening, one finger slipping just inside and tracing just around the edges for a few moments before Wanyin says something short and Rulan dips four fingers deep inside, side by side vertically, stretching him wide on exit as they draw out a third egg.

Wuxian watches with fascination as this continues, Rulan speaking soothingly the whole time, until nine eggs have been expelled from the purple mer’s body, and he finally collapses back into the sand, breathing labored as Rulan fingers him gently, his other hand still stroking over his scales with affection.

Wanyin spends a minute recovering, and then he seems to get restless, wiggling under Rulan’s fingers, the end of his tail twitching, flicking sand this way and that. He says something unintelligible, and Rulan answers, then turns to look at Wuxian expectantly, eyes traveling down to his still soft member with a frown.

He pulls his fingers out of his mate, turning fully to Wuxian, and reaches down with slick fingers to touch his cock, poking it in confusion. He says something, and Wuxian doesn’t know what but he does his best to answer anyway.

He shrugs, “It’ll be hard again soon, if you wait. That’s just how humans work, it goes soft for a while.” He gives the golden mer a little grin, “It might speed things up if you used your mouth a bit, though.” Of course the other doesn’t understand him, so he reaches out, touching Rulan’s lips, running his thumb along them and then bringing his hand to his cock, tapping the tip.

The golden mer bends down immediately, pressing his lips to the tip of Wuxian’s cock, sticking his tongue out and giving him a lick, seeming to consider the taste for a moment before taking the tip into his mouth and sucking gently. His teeth lightly brush Wuxian’s delicate skin as he takes him deeper, clearly not used to fitting them around something so thick, and Wuxian suddenly remembers how sharp those teeth had looked when he’d gotten a few glimpses here and there, remembers how many there had seemed to be.

He really hopes Rulan knows what he’s doing.

The little rush of fear only seems to enhance the pleasure, though, filling his cock out quickly in Rulan’s mouth, and Rulan pulls off with a little satisfied look on his face, licking his lips before tugging Wuxian dick first on his knees towards his mate.

Wuxian has no choice but to follow. Not that he would have chosen anything different.

He goes to straddle Wanyin’s tail like he’d done with Rulan, but the purple mer clicks angrily at him and thrashes his tail when he goes to throw a leg over him, so he pauses, looking at him for direction.

Wanyin reaches up and pulls Wuxian down on the sand next to him, on his side, and turns onto his own side to face him, shifting over the sand until Wuxian’s legs are pressed up against his tail, spreading his slit open with one hand as his cock reaches for Wuxian’s and coils around it, guiding it to his entrance.

Wuxian looks down as he pushes inside slowly, shuddering and moaning as the mer’s tight walls squeeze him in waves, pulling him deeper with barely a thrust on his part.

Rulan lays down behind Wuxian, cuddling up to his back and leaning up on one hand to watch as Wuxian begins to rock forward and back, sliding in and out of those clutching walls.

He’s just finding a good rhythm, Wanyin’s eyes shutting as he clutches at sand slipping slowly between his fingers, tail twitching back and forth against Wuxian’s body, when he feels a hand tugging his pants down, something slick wriggling between his ass cheeks and sliding against his hole. The tip of Rulan’s tentacle-cock breaches the tight ring of muscle, and Rulan gasps just behind his ear, his length sliding further into him, all writhing coils and twists that he can feel, slick muscle against muscle, moving almost like a snake within him, pressing itself deeper without Rulan even having to thrust his tail forward.

It feels amazing.

Bizarre, but absolutely fucking amazing.

He only lasts a few minutes with that tentacle inside him, Wanyin’s own cock wrapped around his inside of himself, thrusting into him erratically as he comes with a shaky, loud moan inside of the purple mer this time. They keep going without him, tentacles still wriggling for another minute or two before they both come as well, and Wuxian just lays there, pressed between them, cock softening inside Wanyin as Rulan uses his ass.

He can feel it when Wanyin orgasms, the change in texture of the channel their cocks are sharing, the liquid oozing around his cock and mixing with his own more watery release as the purple mer finally goes still. Rulan, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to release anything inside of him that he can feel, simply writhes a little extra, moans a little louder, and then goes still behind and inside of him before slowly sliding out.

It’s strange. He’s fairly certain that was an orgasm, but there’s nothing to show for it. He knows for a fact that the golden mer can ejaculate though, he’s already seen him do it twice, after all.

Oh well.

He doesn’t know anything about mer sex, and Rulan seems pleased and sated as he pulls away, flipping himself clumsily over the both of them so he can cuddle up to his mate’s other side. He closes his eyes, nuzzling his face into Wanyin’s shoulder, pulling him onto his back, and Wuxian slips out of his pussy as Rulan moves him.

The purple mer’s eyes open, one hand reaching up to stroke Rulan’s hair, the other reaching for Wuxian, cupping the smooth skin of his neck, so unlike the ruffled flaps of skin on the two mer’s necks. Gills, he assumes. They must be.

Wanyin’s thumb runs gently along the edge of his jaw, his fingers skate over Wuxian’s cheek, watching him attentively, and Wuxian isn’t quite sure what to make of the gesture, but it feels… affectionate.

He smiles, wide and sunny, letting him touch his face as he reaches down to shimmy his pants back up his legs and do them up, finally turning his head slightly to press a light kiss to Wanyin’s thumb.

The purple mer’s lips quirk up at the corners, just a tiny bit, and Wuxian’s heart soars at the little hint of a smile.

He starts to sit up, and Wanyin is still watching him closely as he gets his feet under him, but as he begins to stand up, he lunges for Wuxian abruptly, clutching at his arm.

He says something that Wuxian cannot understand, but his tone is urgent, and it feels important. He desperately wishes he knew more than the word for ‘egg’ in the mers’ language.

He looks helplessly at Wanyin, taking that webbed hand in his, holding it in one hand and stroking it with the other, trying to convey his regret that he does not understand with only that gesture and his eyes.

They stare silently at each other for a few long, long minutes, and then Wanyin says something else, and slowly pulls his hand back, disappointment clear on his face.

“K’ikkan.” Wanyin says softly, “K’ikkan weiwussian tsowah jal’kk’alasa.”

“K’ikkan.” Rulan echoes, looking up at them both with warm eyes and a much wider smile than his mate had briefly gifted Wuxian with.

Wei Wuxian walks off of that beach with a better understanding of the world than he’d had when he’d wandered onto it, and yet far more questions than answers.

Perhaps someday he’ll return.

Perhaps they will too.

Chapter Text

Notes on mer biology and cultural practices in regards to sex and procreation:

All mer are hermaphrodites, with an opening in the front of the tail fairly close to the torso that contains both a vagina-like channel that leads to a sort of incubation pouch that isn’t quite a womb - not quite in that they have control over it and the eggs can be willfully expelled at any time if need be - and a penis-like tentacle appendage that both lays eggs and ejaculates. Mer breeding generally involves some stimulation inside or just outside the channel to coax the tentacle out, and then the twining of both mer’s tentacles inside of one of them, with the one on top laying their eggs inside of the one on the bottom and climax occurring at the end of the egg laying at which point the one on the bottom ejaculates into their own incubation pouch to fertilize the partner’s eggs. The egg-laying partner orgasms but doesn't ejaculate, as internal stimulation must be achieved for ejaculation to be possible. There is also a short refractory period between ejaculation and the ability to lay eggs, to prevent accidental self-fertilization since they both travel along the same space within the tentacle. After ejaculation, it is flushed out by a small amount of sticky, clear fluid similar to human pre-ejaculate to make the way safe for any eggs.

Generally, both partners in a mated pair will carry one another’s eggs, as all mer produce eggs during mating season and not laying them is uncomfortable, though if one half of the pair (or both) does not want to be pregnant they can expel their partner’s eggs after they are laid, though this is not looked upon kindly by mer society if the eggs are fertilized, so many mer will take care not to fertilize eggs they don’t intend to hatch, despite the less pleasurable result of ejaculating outside the body. Laying eggs without a partner is also done sometimes, though many mer find it extremely difficult to push them out without the pressure and stimulation of another tentacle wrapped around theirs and a partner’s channel walls around them. Eggs cannot survive outside of the body for more than a few minutes. If eggs are not laid during mating season, they are reabsorbed into the body.

‘Pregnancy’ lasts for four months - and is not usually very visible from the outside unlike a human pregnancy - during which time the eggs grow to about three times the size they started and develop a hard shell, at which point hormones encourage contractions and they are expelled over a period of minutes to hours, and will spend a further two months developing outside the body within their hard shells. The last thing to develop is usually the sharp spines on the ends of the tail which are actually protruding bits of bone from the structure of the fin. These spines allow the baby to break the shell from the inside and hatch.

A clutch of eight eggs per mer (in their prime breeding years, which last about half a decade) is average at the point of breeding, but some of those will fail to fertilize or have defects that cause them to be unviable and absorbed into the carrier’s body, and even more will die in the hard shell after the second laying. A mated pair can usually expect about four eggs each breeding season to hatch between them. Even so, mer tend to have many, many children, with lots of mer pairs having three to five babies every year in their prime years. Mer children are extremely small and fragile and dependent for the first year, but grow surprisingly quickly after that and become largely independent by age six, though they tend to stay near their parents home for at least two or so decades, some remaining close to their large families for their whole lives. Child rearing is done in a communal manner, as having so many children is much easier to manage in groups, with older mer who are no longer having many children of their own taking an active role in the care of their descendants or the descendants of their friends and neighbors.

Despite the body’s automatic safeguards against accidental self-fertilization, it is possible for a mer to wait through their refractory period and purposefully fertilize their own eggs inside their partner - though this can be slightly challenging as it is not possible to achieve ejaculation without stimulation inside the channel, so manual stimulation by one or the other or mutual penetration must be achieved for this to happen - or, if they are one of the few who do not have trouble laying without a partner, eggs can be laid into the hand or something else and manually inserted into the incubation pouch - by themselves or with a partner’s assistance - and can then be self-fertilized in the usual manner after a short wait. Successful fertilization takes only a few minutes from the point of ejaculation, so it is generally safe for mer to get busy again for pleasure after the egg laying/fertilization process without worry of accidental self-fertilization.

It is almost impossible for a mer to directly lay eggs inside their own channel, as the base of the tentacle must be straight to allow the egg to begin pushing out of the body, and this is mutually exclusive with the tentacle being deep inside the mer’s own channel. Sometimes outliers occur, with particularly long tentacles that allow for the correct positioning, but a tentacle of that size is incredibly rare.

Self-fertilization of eggs is considered incredibly scandalous, akin to fertilization of a close family member’s eggs, and is in some places considered a punishable offense to hatch self-fertilized eggs. Despite this, it still happens with some frequency, possibly more than is recorded as many single mer suspected of self-fertilization claim fertilization by a human male, which, while possible, usually comes with particular traits that these supposedly half-human babies do not always share, like a lack of webbing between the fingers, dull teeth, fewer teeth, smaller gills or missing gills, or a duller pigmentation of the scales and irises.