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fanfic-me-up · 9 months

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HARBOUR ROSE ┊ COVE HOLDEN

synopsis: love casts it’s own net, and there’s only one man who can cut you free of this one.

tags: GN reader, childhood friends to lovers, ORCA employee cove, mer reader, ocean pollution (boooo) reader caught in a net, reunions, sooooo much fluff, developing relationship, happy hopeful ending

wc: 2.2K

↳ for the mermay collab hosted by the teahouse server ↰

The rain gives itself unto the sea. Each fragment becomes one with the tide that laps weakly at your body. With your tail curled, fins entangled in an old ghost net, you give into fatigue and rest upon the wet primrose sand. This net is unlike ones you’ve dealt with before. It is garish blue and tough, cutting uncomfortably into your fluke. Rope could be easily severed but this new material is stubborn, and painful.

A gust of wind dances through the marram grass. You breathe deeply, listening to the percussion of the waves, eyes trained on the secluded beach and drawn to any small movement. Something about this place calls to you in a way you cannot explain. That thought makes known a memory in the back of your mind which evades your grasp each time you seek it.

Frustrated, you poke a claw-tipped finger through the net and trace a line in the sand. You try to ignore the dull throb around your hips. Being tangled and contorted as you are has you restless, the urge to spread your fins and swim buzzing under your skin. Fighting the snare more would do no good. Struggle and you’d hurt yourself more.

Had the day been warm you might’ve found yourself in a little more trouble. At least the rain would keep the humans from the beach.

Or so you thought.

Fear seizes your body. In the distance, a bipedal figure walks along the shore. You press yourself low to the sand. The sound of your heart beats loud in your ears, now tucked flat to your head. Unperturbed by the thin rainfall the human keeps his gaze on the waves wearing only a pair of shorts and a thin white shirt, smiling softly as they crawl to kiss his ankles. He is tall and sun steeped, hair like seafoam laid flat to his forehead and cheeks. Markings decorate his arm like refracted light on the ocean floor.

Can you take me with you?

The memory is fleeting. A young child’s forlorn voice. Dusk had spread her fingers across an empty beach. A pink sky. Pink, like the hard shell wrapped around his arm.

Would you take me? the voice repeats. There are no other kids here. I don’t want to stay…

Your gills flutter, venting the air as you exhale shakily. The human is closer now. His gentle face twists with displeasure when a food wrapper rolls in on the next wave, littering the sand. You watch him huff, mouth downturned as he snatches it up. It kindles a little hope in you—

And it reminds you of a lonely human boy you met years ago when you were but a guppy yourself. His name… you liked it a lot. What was it…?

Your pod had migrated because the old nursery grounds were destroyed by fishing boats. Metal machinery and nets that stretched for miles dragged along the seabed. Sunset Bird proved to be a perfect place to wait out the mating season. You spent most of your time on the surface, playing in tide pools and sunning yourself in the grasses, kept company by little Cove Holden.

The human’s movements freeze abruptly a few feet away. In that instant your eyes meet; his own widen, expression flowering in surprise, hands fisted tightly at his sides and shaking.

You stare at one another. Time seems to have slowed to a stop. Over the pitter patter of rain you think you hear your name. Again, confident this time, as the human breaks out into a sprint. Sand kicks into the air. You flinch, inhaling sharply as the distance is immediately crossed and he is falling to his knees at your side.

“Oh my god. Oh my god,” he’s mumbling frantically under his breath, hands outstretched to hover over the lines of plastic knotted around your lower half. “It’s you. It’s really you. You’re hurt—” he jolts and begins patting at his short pockets, pulling out something small. A sharp blade folds out from within the case. You shrink, a reflexive whine building in your throat.

The human holds his breath. He swallows. You see his throat bob, ribs expand and deflate, calming the tremors in his limbs. “I’m sorry,” voice lowered into gentle reassurance, he tries to show you a tremulous smile. “I—I’m going to use this knife to cut the net away. Is that okay?”

You consider the sincere warmth in his gaze and nod as it washes over you. His smile widens. Telegraphing his movements piece by piece he cuts into the net, careful not to snag the frayed scales around your fins.

“I’m so sorry. We comb the shoreline as much as we can for litter but…”

A blush steadily spreads across his cheeks as your focus drifts back to him. Blue eyes flicker back and forth, around your face and back, pointedly avoiding your bare chest. Your nerves settle at that familiarity. The Cove you remember had been small, nervous and lost, but when he smiled he brought the sun with him. This Cove is so big, so at home in his body, and just as beautiful.

Tucking his fingers under the final line Cove slips the blade beneath and cuts you free. You feel the pressure alleviate. He gasps an awed sound as your fins fan out, almost sentient in how they stretch toward the cloud covered sky.

Turning on your hips, you sit upright and bend to rub the thin membranes between your finger and thumb. A wave rushes up and douses you in fresh sea water, soothing the ache. “You can’t help what the tide brings in,” you reassured, chewing the inside of your cheek. You glance toward him as he discards the net with a frown, “Thank you… Cove”.

Cove tenses, emotions flowing into him like a babbling brook. “Wow,” the word came out in a whisper. Then, even quieter, “You remember me.”

“Of course I do,” your voice is fragile as your throat adjusts to spoken words. It’s been a long time since you needed to use it. You smile gingerly, aware of the heat emanating from his body; longing brushes you like a thick fog. “You were my first friend, after all”.

Cove grins, misty eyes squinting. “You were mine too,” he tugs a necklace from beneath his shirt collar. Hung in the middle of his chest is a shark tooth. Serrated crown narrow and pointed, root uneven where it cusps, hale as the day you found it.

“You kept it!”

Suddenly coloured with embarrassment his hands return to his lap and he gives a nervous laugh. “I did. I could never forget you. When you didn’t come back the year after, I…” his features tighten as he restlessly fiddles the hem of his shirt. The fabric stretches thin. “I really thought I made it all up”.

Guilt crept in. You let it bleed through and soften your apology. “I’m really sorry, Cove. I wanted to come back, but—do you remember that big oil spill? A little further South?” Cove tilts his head, grimacing in recognition. You nod, “I couldn’t come this way for a while”.

You notice then that the rain has stopped; clumps of dry sand stuck to your hips and petrichor hung in the briney air. Cove is impervious to it all. “I understand,” he mumbled, giving you a meaningful look before his eyes darted back to the tides.

Tension seeped from his shoulders and you felt yourself relax in turn, instinctively leaning toward his warmth. He sucks in a breath. Any worries are put to rest by the soft intent in his eyes that belied his excitement. Emboldened, you reach up to tuck a wayward curl around the shell of his ear.

Cove quakes, jaw trembling where you linger. He makes a sound and only later do you realize it was your name. “You look so different now,” you murmur, trying to be delicate, lest you fracture the pleasant atmosphere and scare him away. “I almost didn’t recognise you”.

Your human glows ripe like an algae bloom. He leans into the cradle and touches your elbows, offering silent encouragement. “Oh. In—in a good way?” he asked, self conscious.

A grin splits your lips. Your other hand rises, cupping his face in your palms, amazed at the heat under his skin. “In a good way,” you echo an affirmative. Your gaze falls to his forearms. One a shock of blue, the pattern of the sea. The other is bare aside from a thin white scar. “And your strange pink wrapping is gone, now”.

“Ah, that’s right,” eyes softening in the late afternoon light, Cove’s lips thin into a small smile. You mourn for a moment when he releases you to trace the scar. “Yeah. I haven’t needed that for a long time. It’s all healed up”.

Overturning his arm he shows you the scar in full, winding from his inner wrist to the crook of his elbow. The tendons flex as his fingers move. You mirror his actions and follow the path with your fingertip. Bumps rise on his skin. You’d forgotten how reactive his body could be. “That’s good,” you reply, a little breathless. Brightening, then, when you remember, “This means you can swim now!”

“Yeah! I can surf, too. If you want we could paddle out further so it’s safer—for you?”

Cove taught you about surfing that first summer. Humans take boards into the ocean that can remain buoyed on the surface to ride the waves. Sometimes for sport, but mostly for fun. Visions of Cove finally alongside you in the water flood your thoughts. In your enthusiasm you push into his space and he tips back into the sand, bracing on his elbows. “Now?” you ask, practically draped over his lap.

A strangled noise gets caught in his throat. “Close,” he whispers, blinking rapidly. The red blush on his cheeks crawls down his neck to his chest, splotchy and honest. Sudden realisation appears to snap him out of his reverie. “I can’t today,” he hesitates, expression falling. Your mouth is inexplicably dry as his full lips jut into a pout. “I need to get back soon. If I don’t they’ll send someone to get me and I don’t want anyone else to see you”.

You stifle a wince when your fins flutter and fan out on display. Your body is just as honest as his. Deflecting quickly you tease, “Ah. Want me all to yourself again?”

Rather than fluster Cove’s features harden. “Yes,” he bursts, nodding firmly. You stare at him in wonder, and watch in silence as his mind races to catch up with his mouth. He clears his throat, shrinking back apologetically. Over the gentle sifting sand as a wave recedes he murmurs, “Sorry. I mean, I do want you to myself. But—”

“Cove,” his rambling stops at the fond intonation of his name. You dip forward until your nose bumps his cheek. You leave a kiss there, on the warm swell. “It’s fine. I feel the same”.

You’re close enough to feel his shaky exhale. Voice an octave higher, he squeaks, “You do?”

“I do,” you nod, reclining to give him some space and smile when he breathes a little easier. “I’ve waited to see you this long, I can wait a little longer”.

“You’re still so…” there’s that quivering smile again, blue eyes gleaming, face hemmed by unruly seafoam. Steeling himself, Cove rises to his feet and brushes the sand from his knees. “Then I promise I’ll be here tomorrow”.

“Good,” the tide crawls further, crashing against your hips. Foam fizzles along your tail. It calls you back to the currents. Cove watches you pivot onto your belly, turning to follow the next wave out. “I promise, too. I’ll be somewhere around here. Just call out to me, alright?”

“Okay,” he grasps the shark tooth necklace, rolling it between his thumb and finger, dithering on the shoreline with the net that had snared you tucked under his arm. Louder as the distance grows, he plucks up the courage to yell, “I missed you”.

You think of that second summer, when your elders told you the pod could not go back to Sunset Beach. How you had darted away to hide in the kelp forest, curled into yourself where you buried into the sand, stubbornly refusing to move. That grief had dulled significantly over the years yet a single encounter with Cove unearthed all those feelings without ceremony. Lying there, dormant and waiting.

Bobbing above the surface you cup your hands around your mouth, you shout unabashedly, “I missed you too!”

#this is soooooo good #one of the best fics I’ve read in this fandom 😭😭😭#your character descriptions are chefs kiss #i need a pt 2 😭#cove Holden #cove holden x reader #cove x mc #our life beginnings & always

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