The Pearled Seas - AU - Locked to seaweed_writes

[ihadabadday]

For years he had heard tales of the two fins who swan on the surface. They were... Odd. At least that was what he heard. But they still fascinated him. How did they swim? What did they eat? How did they live?

That was how he found himself on the surface, watching... He wasn't sure what it was. It was large and wooden? There were lights and white things. He curled up a bit further on the rock he had perched himself on. He was always worried the brilliant blue of his scales would make the two finners see him. But they only seemed to see what they wanted.

He gasped when the weather started to change, quickly, violently. The wooden... thing... was in shallow water, it wouldn't survive. Especially if it slammed against the rocks. He swallowed and then dove into the water, even as the waves started to grow violent, battering the wooden thing about.

He heard the wood breaking and two finners and things falling into the water.

That's when he saw him. He felt an odd pull towards the two finner. As if it was right.

There was an old tale at home, of soulmates. He had scoffed at it. Ridiculous. But, the pull he was feeling...

He swam towards the two finner, reaching out to grab the man as he was sinking deep into the water.

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[ihadabadday]

He blinked as he found himself holding a weird cylindrical object and then a pointy object.

So he bit the cylindrical object.

And that tasted off. He pulled back and made a face. No wonder two finners were weird. Their food tasted off.

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock knew he shouldn't laugh, but it was hilarious, and he couldn't stop from laughing so hard that he started to cry and was gasping for breath. It took a few moments to be able to speak again.

When he did, he was still laughing while he was talking. "John." He said. "That's what the food is contained in. Like the basket that held the food, remember, on the island?

Sherlock took the fork and forked a piece of peach. He held it up." Open your mouth." When he did, he put the piece of peach in his mouth.

"It's no fish, or seaweed, but I like it." He did have a bit of a sweet tooth.

[ihadabadday]

"Oh..." he said weakly, face flushing. How unusual. All of the two finners seemed unusual.

But he liked how Sherlock sounded when he laughed. It was nice.

John watched Sherlock use the pointy thing to stab a weird slice thing.

He took it in his mouth, pulling back carefully from the pointy thing. He then took a bite and his eyes went wide.

John finished chewing and stared up at Sherlock. "What was that?"

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock was still chuckling. "It's called a peach. They are grown in a place called the United States, its a big piece of land northwest of here. They can and send us all sorts of vegetables, those are things that are grown in the ground or underground."

He went to the larder and showed some other cans, but didn't open them, as he didn't want to waste the food. They had very rudimentary labels on them.

"This one has something called potatoes. They are little and round and starchy.. Well, I;m not sure how to explain how they taste to you, honestly."

He held up a few more- peas, corn, asparagus. He also showed some things they grow in the islands, like sugar cane and rice, potatoes, okra, mangoes, plantains, and coffee beans.

He let John try some of the fresh items, he didn't want to open the canned ones, they were hard to get and a bit precious.

[ihadabadday]

John was fascinated by it. They didn't have such a variety under the waves. He ate probably half can of peaches before handing it back to Sherlock.

"I can get us fish and crab and urchin." He said with a smile. Urchin was his favorite and he wanted to share that with Sherlock.

[seaweed_writes]

"I've never tried urchin." Sherlock admitted. He'd never been a particularly adventurous eater, but since he'd been shipwrecked, he had expanded his horizons some. He hadn't eaten fish or crab or coconut since he'd left the island..

And John.

"I have an oven, its a small box that you put wood into and it cooks the food. I can cook the fish and crabs for us. It will change how they taste a lot,"

[ihadabadday]

John got up, still a little unsteady, and moved over to where Sherlock was. He couldn't help but lean against the human.

His human.

He nuzzled his chest, since that's what he came up to, hands holding onto the cloth that covered his chest.

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock sighed happily, leaning into the nuzzles and wrapped his arms around John's torso.

"Its really nice to see you again." He said, kissing gently at John's chest. "do you want to rest? It;s very quiet here and the room is dark, so it isn't quite as hot as in the rest of the house and outside."

[ihadabadday]

John nodded. "Good idea." He would need to expand his vocabulary. But Sherlock understood him. And that was what mattered.

The blonde nuzzled again, the two fi, human's scent relaxing to him.

[seaweed_writes]

"Alright." Sherlock would worry about cleaning up the food while John slept. He helped the still wobbly man onto his feet and took him back to the bedroom.

It was small, but well appointed enough. It had a couple of chest of drawers and a nice four poster bed with an ornate bedside table at each side. Each held an oil lamp, and there was a privvy off to the side.

Sherlock closed the thick curtains of the window opposite the bed, and pulled back the covers. "Get in here. Lay your head on the pillow." He pointed to the goose down pillows at the head of the bed. "And put these sheets over you. You will be comfortable. Sleep as long as you like. I will be in the living room, reading.

[ihadabadday]

Oh... This was soft. John settled down in the bed. He watched Sherlock and gave him a sleepy smile.

But soon he was lulled to sleep by the cool and comfort.

John was happy. Happy with Sherlock and their growing child.

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock watched John sleep for a few minutes, before gently closing the door and heading back to the kitchen, where he tidied up, and he put the gold that John had brought with the rest in his small safe.

He made himself a cup of tea and settled down with a book, content with relaxing while John slept nearby.

[ihadabadday]

John had been with Sherlock for a month. Currently he was swimming nearby, letting himself relax in the water.

This was a nearly deserted part of the island, and thus he felt safe. But he was always cautious of what he now knew to be ships and other humans.

Knowing Sherlock had gone into town, John dove deeper into the water, wanting to explore a wreck he had seen a few months back.

He was surprised to see that the ship was nearly whole. He went in and started to explore, happy to find waterproofed, as Sherlock called it, chests. So he grabbed one and swam back towards their home. He hoped something interesting would be in this one.

[seaweed_writes]

It had been a very nice month. He and John had gotten to know each other better. The spoke about themselves and their respective worlds. They hadn't gotten intimate again after that morning on the deserted island. They had hugged and snuggled a bit since John found him again, and that was fine with Sherlock. he didn't need intimacy. He was just glad for the companionship.

Over the month's time, John's belly grew. It was slow, and even after a month it was still not large, but there was no mistaking that something was there.

Sherlock went about his normal life as much as he could. He still went into town once a week for food, but now he was eating for two- well really for three. Of course the grocers noticed, as he'd gotten pretty much the same things for months. He just said that he was trying to build up his larders a bit more, and that was that.

John had gone off to swim when Sherlock went into town. he came back with groceries only to find John, still wet and dripping in his kitchen, with a giant sandy, wet and full of seaweed chest sitting there.

"John." He sighed and shook his head. "We can't have you putting this all over my table. We eat here." He was still smiling, he wasn't really mad, John was still learning about the human world.

"Have you looked inside of it yet to see what is there?" He asked, while putting up his groceries.

[ihadabadday]

"Oh." He said, "Do you want me to move it?" The blonde asked.

Humans were finicky creatures. But he did love the one he shared this home with.

"No, I haven't looked yet." John answered, "Wanted to do it together..."

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock chuckled and shook his head. "Too late now, I'm already going to have to clean the sea water off of this. Might as well not dirty up anything else."

He looked around the chest, it was small, but heavy. He found a tool and managed to remove the rusty, barnacle covered lock. It was a bit tricky to open, the barnacles and rust tried to seal it closed, but he eventually got it open.

Inside were...

"Books."

Sherlock took them out, gingerly. They were wet, but the chest had prevented them from being eaten or disintegrating. He looked at the titles, and gasped.

They were from England.

England, his home that he hadn't seen since he'd gotten on a ship at 14 years old, not even a man yet.

For a moment, he was silent. He very, very carefully lifted the three tomes out of the chest and put them on the table.

"We... are going to have to let them dry out. It may take weeks, or longer. And the pages will be very brittle." He explained to John.

"Th-thank you, John." He whispered. "These are from where I was born. I very much want to read them when they are ready. " It would be hell waiting, but any little thing that he could find out about his long lost home, a place he was sure he would never see again now, was welcome.

[ihadabadday]

"Do you want me to get the other chests?" He asked, "They were about the same size."

John stared at Sherlock with wide eyes. He wanted to make the man happy.

And he seemed so happy with the books.

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock's eyes lit up when he looked back at John. There were more? More information about England?

"Y-yes, please." He said softly. "But remember your promise, you weren't going to go anywhere where it's dangerous." Sherlock's eyes canted down to John's stomach, and then back up to his eyes.

He wondered what else he might find, medical tomes, or maybe new novels written by authors that he's never heard of before? The possibilities were endless.

[ihadabadday]

"I was being careful." He promised. And he had been. It wasn't a narrow squeeze, it was in an area that he was somewhat familiar with. This wasn't an area ships passed through.

"And there are probably three others." John said with an eager smile.

"I can go now. Or tomorrow." He added quickly at the end when he saw Sherlock's almost disapproving look.

[seaweed_writes]

"Tomorrow." Sherlock said, smiling then looking out the window. It was already the afternoon, and he had no idea how far away they were.

"Maybe you could get one a day, that way you won't tire yourself out too much?" He had no idea how in the world a merman pregnancy was supposed to go, how long it lasted, if he needed to take it easy, what he should or should not eat. It worried him constantly, how much he didn't know.

[ihadabadday]

He nodded. "Can I take a bath?" John asked quietly.

He shifted from foot to foot, one hand on his belly.

The blonde looked down at the ground.

[seaweed_writes]

"Of course." Sherlock said, looking a little confused at why John seemed to be shy about asking.

He had been here a month, so John knew where the bathtub was, but for some reason, he had never asked to use it before. Toilets had only become commonplace in the last 20 years or so, and that is about the same for hot water. Despite living on a small island, since it was an English colony, they had some of the comforts of their home country, and Sherlock had been able to get these two what would be considered by many luxuries.

"Would you like me to draw the bath for you, or would you rather so it yourself?" He asked, already heading towards the only bathroom in the whole small house.

[ihadabadday]

He began to follow, watching Sherlock. He was shy, worried.

He wasn't sure how to work the bath. And he didn't want to break it.

"Thank you." He said softly.

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock sat John on the toilet seat, then worked with the water to get it warm for John. It was still a bit of a new fangled thing, so it took a few minutes, but eventually he had a hot bath. He put in a some lavender scented bath salts, and then looked back to John with a soft smile.

"Come on, John. It's ready."' John never wore clothes, so at least he didn't have anything to take off. It was odd at first, but Sherlock eventually got used to it.

He took John's hand and gently helped him lower into the water.

[ihadabadday]

He settled down, relaxing in the warm water. It was nice. Different than the open water.

John smiled and looked up at Sherlock.

"Will you need me to wear those clothes?" He asked.

He wanted to see the island, to see more of the people.