Nonverbal Exchanges

Logan was preparing to go diving. Along with the rest of nature, he treasured the sea and wished people would put more effort into taking care of it. He enjoyed the schools of fish, the coral, the sea sponges, even the company of someone he met while diving.

A long time ago, Logan was swimming around and making sure not to touch his environment too much. Out the corner of his eye, though, he wasn't sure if he saw a big indigo fish tail or a young man with plum hair. He cautiously looked around until a shocking revelation was in his gaze: he saw both. He reminded himself not to approach too quickly since he didn't know much about the lifeform he saw. The young merman carefully approached him and Logan could get a better view of his features: his hair was wavy from the sea and he had faint freckles. The merman also seemed to have one black eye and one purple eye. The merman touched his own head.

"You didn't want to rush toward me?" Logan heard.

Logan looked around to see where the voice came from until he saw the merman nervously wave.

"Did that come from this merman?" Logan thought.

"Yes, it did come from me. I have telepathy," he heard.

"Wow, I've never imagined a merman using telepathy. Then again, I've never imagined a merman to exist."

"Yea, could you really blame us for trying to hide out? I left home after feeling like the black cod of my family for so long, I had to hide out from them and careless humans."

"Oh. I don't understand emotions much, but I'm sorry. My name is Logan."

"I'm Virgil. So, you're really not like the other humans?"

"I don't know about others, but it feels unlikely to come across someone else who cares about nature."

Ever since that first day, whenever Logan was free to dive, he would always make it a point to explore as well as see Virgil. Even when they telepathically discussed their different ways of living, Logan would tend to forget how different they were. Logan saw it as sharing his company with someone who knew what it was like to feel less alienated while alone. Virgil would explain bits of the sea life to Logan and, in return, Logan would discuss cautions to take on the surface as well as good things about it. Every now and then, Logan would joke to himself that thinking of Virgil made him gayer every day without knowing Virgil made the same joke to himself.

One day, Logan was swimming around in his diving gear and was looking around until he saw Virgil moving seashells around. As he was swimming closer, though, he felt a splash in the distance and saw another diver with something in his grip. As Logan swam closer, he noticed the diver was holding a harpoon gun and was pointing it in Virgil's direction. Logan recognized that he was angry and that he was scared. With the only thought on his mind being the desire to protect Virgil, Logan continued to swim towards the unsuspecting merman until he saw a floating crimson before his vision turned black.

Virgil saw a crimson flow and looked behind him to see a harpoon through the chest of the human he grew fond of. He looked behind Logan and saw another diver who didn't look happy. Without much thought, Virgil pulled the harpoon out of Logan and brought him back to the surface. From what he could tell, it didn't go through his heart, but it was still fatal. Virgil felt powerless to help Logan until he remembered an urban legend about the scales of merfolk. He pondered for three seconds if Logan would be worth it before deciding it was a no-brainer. Virgil removed a scale from his tail and rubbed Logan's back and chest with it.

Not long after, the blood and holes vanished and Virgil was just staring at the man before him. Out of everything he had seen on Logan, he never thought Logan would have such willingness to risk his life for him. He wasn't sure if it was because of guilt or feeling special, but Virgil hugged Logan close and sobbed in his chest. He only cried harder as he felt the beating in Logan's chest and comforting arms wrapped around him.

"Virgil? You're not hurt, are you?" he heard before he pulled away to see the human he grew fond of.

"Logan! No, I'm not hurt, but...you're alive!"

Virgil had imagined so many times what it would be like to actually talk to Logan for the first time, but he never would've imagined he'd be sobbing while talking.

"But...the harpoon..."

"...was a short distance away from your heart. I thought I lost you."

"He was going to shoot you. I had to do something!"

"Do I really mean that much to you?"

"Honestly, you've made me feel things I never thought I'd feel."

Logan slightly moved his head and noticed that there was an object that was indigo, like Virgil's tail.

"Virgil, is that yours?"

"Yes, it's from my tail. There's an urban legend among us merfolk: during a situation where a human is severely wounded, if a merperson has enough love for the human, it'll provide enough power within their scale to heal the human, but it comes with its own sacrifice."

Logan sat up and noticed that, instead of a tail, Virgil had human legs covered in fishnet tights. He looked at Virgil with surprise.

"Removing the scale and loving a human...both serve as an ultimatum," he admitted while looking down.

"You...gave up your sea life...for me?"

"Well, you made me feel things I never thought I'd feel."

The two sat up and embraced each other with tears escaping their eyes. Like their first meeting, they didn't need to say anything to know what they were thinking.