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]

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.

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock chuckled. It was odd, he was never much of a smile-er, much less a laugh-er, but John just brought it out in him.

"Well, if you want to get out of the house, then yes. You would need clothes." He said. Sherlock was worried about taking John into town, because there were going to be so many humans there. He was more worried about John's safety, either he would do something accidentally dangerous like walking into traffic, or he would accidentally say or do something wrong to upset someone.

Sherlock had seen the first horseless carriages on the roads. They were huge and metal and even he was a bit scared of them. What would John think?

[ihadabadday]

"I would like to see. To learn. Our child will won't they?" He ran his hand over the slightly swollen belly. Their child. It was interesting to think about. Theirs. All theirs, no one could take it away from them.

"I need to learn too. For our child."

What if something happened to Sherlock? He needed to know how to navigate the human world.

[seaweed_writes]

John did have a point. He had no idea if the child would have legs or fins, but if it did have legs, it would need to try to pass as fully human. And that would mean interacting with others.

"Yes, you are right." He said after a moment's pause. "When we go into town, we will need to get you some clothes, something to fit this climate that will fit you better than my clothes. You are much shorter than me, and broader.."

He sighed. "But honestly, you are not really going to be able to go into town much.. The human males don't have babies.. and people will wonder about your stomach. So I will try to find a baggy top that covers you. You may have to wait to learn about humans more after you have this child. "

[ihadabadday]

John looked up at Sherlock and blinked. "Human males don't? But it's so common for those under the sea for the males to carry the children." He did have a lot to learn about humans. Odd creatures.

He rubbed his belly in the bath, quiet as he thought for a moment.

"I could wait until our child comes." John suggested when he saw Sherlock's almost nervous expression, "But I do think clothes for when our child comes."

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock chuckled. It was so strange to have a man... well.. a fish man.. who didn't know about the very basics of human physiology and social culture. He found that he actually liked teaching John about it.

And soon, he would have to do the same to the child that was growing inside of John.

That was a more daunting task by far.

"No, only the human females carry babies. They have.. a .. different place where the males put their penis into, and sometimes it results in pregnancy. I have no idea how long it takes for your people, but for human babies, its about 9 months, give or take a week either way, usually."

"It is up to you. If you would like to make a trip into town, you can. If you would rather wait, you can as well. But yes, both you and the child will have to wear the human clothes."

[ihadabadday]

"I'm going to go rest." John said softly. He kissed Sherlock's cheek and smiled at the human.

Anymore after he went into the water and returned, he was more exhausted than not. It seemed that the far swims were taking their toll on him.

He was asleep in the large four poster bed. The sheet was pulled over his swelling body, almost highlighting the four month bump that has been expanding slowly as the fourth month faded into the fifth.

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock could hardly believe it. It had been several months now since John came back into his life, and with some news that had fundamentally changed his life. He had no idea what to do when it came to having a child. He assumed (hoped?) that John would be able to do it himself (in the water? he had no idea) because there was no way he was going to be able to get a doctor here. A man having a baby was... well in humans it just didn't happen.

They were on their own.

And it scared him. A lot.

He knew that he was scared for John, that he would lose too much blood or something would go wrong. But increasingly, he found himself scared for this child as well. His child.

Their child.

He wanted it to be healthy and grow up strong and he wanted to teach it (hopefully) how to be a good person.

After one swim where John came back exhausted, Sherlock confronted him. "You need to stop looking for treasure,John." He said sternly. I'm concerned that it is hurting you physically, and you need to look after yourself and the baby."

He was finding that as 5 months came up, it was easier to talk about the growing swell of John's belly as a baby.

[ihadabadday]

John looked at Sherlock. He hadn't brought anything back with him this time. He swallowed and shifted a bit, feeling awkward.

"Sherlock..."

He looked down, hugging himself. He didn't know what to do now. The blonde loved swimming and finding things for them.

"I know. But I have to spend time in the water."

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock kneeled down and carefully took John in his arms.

"I know you do." He replied softly. "But you don't have to swim long distances to dangerous wrecks. Just stay close by, so you wont exhaust yourself. You have two lives that you are taking care of now. And we don't have a doctor to turn to if there is a problem. We are on our own here."

He kissed John softly. "I worry about you both. I want you both to be safe and healthy. That's may main concern now, until this baby is born. And then, we will take things one day at a time and figure out how to raise a child."

[ihadabadday]

John nodded. He understood. And humans were weird.

He leaned into the embrace and let out a breath. "I'll stay close."

He moved a hand to his belly and stroked his hand over it.