Tendou POV
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Queen Agatha and a few of her private guards accompanied my group and me back to the base. It was a little nicer to travel with protection but I was also incredibly nervous that we would stick out like a sore thumb.
However, the Queen must've thought of that as well, because she wasn't dressed regally and the guards lacked the shiny armor.
The trip back passed quickly, as we had much more haste with our larger group. Within one and a half days, we reached our base—this trip previously took three days.
Oikawa was greatly relieved to see the Queen had agreed to lend her army in support of our cause.
The Queen and hopefully-soon-to-be-mer-king immediately got to work on conversing on the "rebel matters", as Hinata liked to say.
Speaking of Hinata, he and Kageyama had yet to return, actually, my group is the only one who has returned so far.
Thinking about that made me anxious. Oikawa, sensing my distress over the absence of the others, gave Wakatoshi and me a task.
"Tendou," Oikawa said softly while the Queen looked over Oikawa's notes of the mer castle's defense, "would you like something to do?"
I nodded vigorously, my hands fidgeting in front of me.
"Wonderful," He grinned, easing my nerves slightly, "Because I have the perfect task for you."
♡♛♕♛♡
"It should be somewhere over...here," I stopped in the middle of the tunnel, Wakatoshi bumping into me at the sudden stop. Oikawa had sent us on a "retrieval mission" towards somewhere quite a ways from our HQ. Toshi and I spent nearly two hours swimming until we reached the underwater mountains, then we spent another thirty minutes traveling underneath the ground in a rough stone tunnel hidden from the outside.
"I don't see anything, Satori," Wakatoshi stated blatantly.
"That's the point, Toshi," I giggled, a warm feeling spreading throughout my body, "The best things are hard to find."
With that, I moved forward and pressed my hand into the wall.
Nothing happened at first and Wakatoshi looked unimpressed,I simply smiled knowingly. Suddenly, the wall lit up, lines of light streaking every direction in ancient symbols revealed the outline of a door. With a groan, the door—which was previously hidden—swung open.
Behind it, cold water rushed out, ruffling my hair and making me shiver. Wakatoshi wrapped his arm protectively around my waist and pulled me close.
"There's nothing alive in there," I reassured him and he raised an eyebrow.
"Alive?"
"Let's go!" I pretended to not hear his comment and pulled him into the dark "room".
The water was musty and, quite frankly, freezing. I waved my hand over a section of the wall that was directly next to the door and suddenly more glowing lines lit up the walls, illuminating an ancient looking room filled to the brim with weapons.
Wakatoshi exhaled in surprise and I laughed at his reaction.
"Cool, isn't it?" I asked, gliding over to a chest and lifting the lid, revealing old-fashioned mer swords in mint condition.
"It is," He agreed, "but how is everything not rusted and ruined?"
"Magic," I shrugged my shoulders, "previously, before my father took the throne, our army was armed with magic infused weapons. We had mages, sorcerers, and every kind of magical mer you can imagine. The Kings and Queens of old knew that our army would be much more formidable if they had better weapons. So they worked with the sorcerers and such to create superior weapons. But when my father gained the crown, he banned the use of magic—which is why he hates the Octalio. He was scared the weapons would be used to overthrow him, as they are the only weapons that can fatally wound a royal mer. He had the weapons rounded up and destroyed. My mother disagreed with him so she smuggled what she could out here, to a cave which can only be accessed by someone from her bloodline."
"Huh," He muttered, tracing his fingers along the lit engravings on the wall, "So, your father is not aware of this place's existence?"
"Correct," I nodded, still rummaging through the chest, "Not only that, but even if he found out that it's here, he wouldn't be able to access it on his own."
Wakatoshi didn't say anything after that but he began to look through a rather large chest on the other side of the hidden room.
For a few minutes, there was silence, with the occasional clink of metal on metal.
I grew bored of looking alone, so I swam over to Toshi to watch him examine the weaponry. I sat on a chest next to his own and pretended to be interested in the contents of the chest.
I wasn't really fascinated with the chests as much as Toshi was, I've been here multiple times before when I was a child, Mother wanted to make sure I knew where to go if I ever needed to supply an army I guess.
While attempting to seem interested in what he was doing, I was honestly just studying Wakatoshi's features.
I already knew his face quite well, despite knowing him for less than three months, but he had a face that I could never grow tired of. I loved how his eyes crinkled slightly when he smiled, even the slightest of bits. I loved how when he was incredibly focused he knit his eyebrows and resulted in a little line between his brows. I loved how his mouth stood slightly ajar when he was thinking.
To be honest, I loved everything about him, I just didn't know how to express it well enough. Which worries me.
"Satori," Wakatoshi's voice shook me from my thoughts.
"Hmm? What's up, Toshi?" I tried focusing my eyes on his own, but they kept falling down to watch his lips form words.
"Is there something on your mind? You seem to be spacing out," his lips wilted downward slightly to form a small frown.
"Uh yeah," I said dazedly, trying to force my eyes up, "But it's not important."
His lips curved down more, "Satori, my eyes are up here," He said, concerned about lacing his tone, "Are you sure it's nothing important?"
I flinched slightly, feeling bad that I caused him to worry.
"I just...I don't know," I hugged my arms around my chest and tore my eyes from his face, fixating on the shining swords, "I feel nervous. No, nervous is the wrong word. I've been feeling uneasy and on edge ever since we got back from the Swordfish kingdom," I decided to admit a different worry of mine.
"Satori," Toshi rose and lifted my chin so I was forced to look at his face, "I'm sure everyone else feels worried, after all, you are trying to plan a coup. Even I feel worried, not necessarily for the same reasons they might, but I still do," He added the last bit vaguely, his eyes drifting slightly.
I let out a soft breath and tilted my head to the side, smiling, "Thank you for admitting weakness, Toshi," I joked, a warm stirring in my chest when he smiled bashfully back, even if it was only for a split second, "It's good to know that even the almighty and fearsome Ushijima Wakatoshi feels worried too."
"Words meant only for your ears," His lips quirked up in the corners and I flushed pink.
"Then I'll never tell a soul," I promised and loosened my arms around my chest slightly.
"Good, can't let others know that I am like every other living being and also feel fear at times," Toshi said, shockingly, as a joke.
"Well bless my soul" I gasped dramatically, widening my eyes excessively, "Did THE Wakatoshi just make a JOKE?!"
He snorted and tilted his head back while running his fingers through his hair, "Only if you found it funny."
"Well dammit, Toshi," I pouted, "It's not nice to look overly sexy every hour of every day."
"You don't like it?" He smirked, which did not help the reddening of my ears.
"Well not exactly..." I mumbled, embarrassed.
"Hmm, I thought so," He scooped me up off the chest and pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
"H-hey!" I whined, wiggling in his grip of steel, "Lemme gooooo-"
"How about no~" He smiled wickedly and I gave up resisting.
"Fine," I surrendered and he kissed me again, this time on top of my nose, "But stop playing around the bush!"
"What bush?" He said, deciding to play stupid.
"Metaphorical, Toshi!" I groaned as he kissed my cheek, obviously knowing what I meant but set on not giving it to me.
"Well, then be more specific," He said, placing a kiss on the back of my hand, his half-lidded eyes glancing up at me through his eyelashes.
My heart skipped a beat and the temperature seemed to rise in the room.
"What do you want me to do, Satori?" Wakatoshi looked at me with his dark eyes, a look of victory passing through his irises when he took in my flustered state.
"...when did you get so confident..." I mumbled under my breath.
"What was that?"
"...Kiss me," I whispered, blushing harder.
"Sorry, I missed that," He smirked, "say it again?"
"KISS ME, DAMMIT!" I said louder than I meant to, which resulted in my ears burning hotter.
Wakatoshi's smirk widened, "well why didn't you just say so?" He joked and I whimpered in defeat.
"Fine, fine," He leaned down and pressed a kiss onto my lips.
It felt like heaven...if heaven was filled with lust, passion, and most likely sinful thoughts. Well, I guess it felt like heaven if heaven met hell.
A searing hotness rushed through me, stemming from the point of contact. I let out an intelligible noise and wrapped my arms around Wakatoshi's neck, forcing our bodies closer.
His breathing hitched but he didn't stop, thank Poseidon. Instead, he let me slip out of his arms so he could grip my waist, holding me in place.
I tangled my fingers in his hair and readjusted my mouth against his, groaning at the feeling of his tongue flitting through my mouth and the friction of his lips.
"Satori.." He breathed against my mouth and my hips jerked against his. My skin felt like fire everywhere he touched, and wherever he didn't, longed for the feeling.
His hands slipped up my sides until they cupped my face on either side. Toshi pressed my face closer, making it physically impossible to break away, like I would want to anyway.
During this time, Wakatoshi pressed his body into mine, which would move us back ever so slightly until my back was against the wall.
My back arched at the feeling of cold rock, which meant I was rubbing against Toshi's own chest even more.
Using that opportunity, Wakatoshi dropped his right hand and caressed the small of my back, rubbing his calloused fingers over the small bumps and dips of my spine.
I trembled at the touch of his fingers and gasped, throwing my head back, accidentally banging it on the wall. It hurt, but I was too caught up in the moment to care.
Toshi dropped his lips from my lips and I whined at the loss of the feeling. But I was silenced when he locked his lips on the skin just below my gills, sucking intently.
"T-Toshi," I groaned, feeling both pain and pleasure at the sensation. He hummed, acknowledging that he heard me, the vibration of the noise causing me to excite further, "fuuck."
His lips curved against my no-longer-pale skin as he found pleasure in my voice. Wakatoshi's right hand moved from my cheek to the back of my head, knotting his fingers tightly in my hair. I moaned at the pain, but instead of hurting it felt amazing. My fingers loosed from Toshi's hair and I instead clutched at his back. Wakatoshi then moved up, kissing my gills softly.
Gills are the most sensitive part of a mer, and stimulation often causes hyperventilation, so when Toshi continued to brush his lips against them, they began to flare, taking in more oxygen than necessary. If I was in a normal mindset, it would've been scary, but I enjoyed it. I was a mess. Wriggling around in Wakatoshi's firm grip only turned me on more. My hips practically had a mind of their own as they ground against Toshi. Wakatoshi pressed my face into the crook of his neck, resulting in me feeling his gills flaring in excitement next to my face.
Once again, I felt Wakatoshi's tail try to curl around mine, but this time, I broke off, forcing Wakatoshi away, despite how much it hurt to see the confusion on his face. My gills were still flaring at the stimulation but now it hurt instead of feeling good.
"..Satori?" He looked hurt and the confusion was written all over his features, the small line between his brows felt like a stab to my chest.
"We can't..." I gasped, my breathing still trying to reregulate, "We can't.."
"Why?" He looked more worried about me hurting than himself which felt like a punch to the gut.
"Because," I struggled to explain, "It's dangerous to do now."
"How is it dangerous," He approached slightly but I backed away, if I was too close I might lose control.
"Because that's called mating, Toshi," I said, a desperate look in my eyes, hoping he understood, "it's much different from courting, and I don't know if I can handle hurting you any more than I already do."
He was silent, probably processing what I just explained, but when he spoke again, he didn't have the angry tone I was expecting.
"Satori..." He started slowly, "You being with me never hurts, but when I'm forced away, it rips at my heart. I want to be with you, I don't care if it's not good for me, and I don't care what others might think of me. I want to be with you because I love you, not because I want to feel comfortable. If I had to live in a whales' stomach for the rest of my life to be with you, I would. Nothing you would do could possibly hurt me, because even if you cut off my arms and scarred me beyond recognition, my heart would still long for the warm feeling you give me."
I listened as he spoke with a lump in my throat. I always had self-doubts as to whether or not someone truly loved me, but Wakatoshi manages to wash those fears away like they never existed. My head tells me to keep him at a distance, to protect him, it says. But my hearts cry out in pain every second I spend away.
"What the hell, Toshi," I rubbed my eyes, which itched for the ability to cry, "How do you do that?"
He approached slowly again, this time I let him, "Do what, Satori?"
"You make me feel so many things that I don't know how to deal with them..." I looked up at him with red eyes. There was only a foot of space between us, yet it still felt too far.
"Why don't we deal with these confusing feelings together then," He offered, extending his webbed hand to me, like a rope sent to pull me from the deep dark.
I didn't take his hand, instead, I embraced him with a hug, my eyes felt heavy and my hearts throbbed. He was taken aback, but only for a second. He returned the hug, enclosing me in a tight embrace.
We stayed that way for a few seconds. Or maybe minutes. Or could have been hours. All I know is that it rejuvenated me in a way that only Wakatoshi could.
"Satori," he spoke finally, breaking our silence.
"Yes, Toshi?"
"I want to be with you. Till the end of my life, I want to be by your side."
"I just. . . I just want you to be sure you won't regret being with me," I muttered, refusing to look at him.
"Satori, you aren't listening," He said softly and gently tugged my face up toward his, "If it's not with you, I. Don't. Want. It. If I can't live by your side, I. Don't. Want. To."
"Toshi..." I failed to find the words to say, but Wakatoshi knew what I meant without needing me to speak.
"Let me be with you," He muttered, pulling me closer and tucking my head into his chest, his hand resting on the back of my head, reassuring me that he is there.
"Ok," I said quietly, and then louder with resolve, "Okay, I want to be yours, Wakatoshi."
He smiled and I felt his tail begin to wind around me, and this time, I let it.
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What is the most important trait for a political leader to have, in your opinion?