8. Chapter 8 #2
“Sure. He’s very friendly. Hi, Mrs. Thompson!” Daren called to stop her before she could pass them. “Could we admire Henry a little?”
Lilo could tell that the older woman was very proud of her cat because she stood taller, smiled, and said, “Of course.”
As soon as he had permission, Lilo released Daren’s hand so he could crouch down at the cat’s level and pet his head, then down along his back. “Henry is so soft, Mrs. Thompson! And beautiful,” Lilo gushed, petting the cat more with firm but not too hard strokes.
Daren had explained to Lilo how humans kept certain animals in their homes like members of the family and even as protectors rather than eating them. Lilo understood! He’d had pets occasionally too.
His favorite had been a sea urchin named Laura. He overheard the name once from a passing boat and thought it sounded cute.
“Why, thank you, um…”
“This is Lilo, Mrs. Thompson,” Daren introduced them. “He’s my, uh… boyfriend.”
Lilo brightened. Boyfriend was a lesser term than what Lilo felt for Daren, but he knew Daren couldn’t introduce him as his mate. Humans used the term husband, only Lilo wasn’t that yet either. He hoped to be though, as soon as Daren wore his coat.
“Lovely to meet you, dear,” Mrs. Thompson said.
“You too! And Henry.” Lilo moved his pets to under Henry’s chin, and the cat vibrated beneath the touch, what they called… purring! Henry liked Lilo!
Lilo was so thrilled, he might need to ask if Daren would be willing for them to get their own cat someday.
They said their farewells to Mrs. Thompson and Henry and continued on. Now that Daren seemed to have gotten past his initial shock at Lilo’s arrival, he started apologizing like he had when he first saw Lilo.
“I am so sorry I didn’t understand what you were saying about your coat. I’d forgotten all those old stories about selkies being shapeshifters and—”
“Selkies?” Lilo questioned.
“Oh, it’s just one word we have for beings like you. Although selkies are usually seals.”
“I am not a seal.”
“I know.” Daren laughed.
“I am not a fish person either like the woman who turned to foam. I am like the sea witch from the movie! But nicer.”
“I know that too.” Daren looked at Lilo so sweetly, saying with his ocean-colored eyes that he didn’t mean he expected Lilo to be anything other than he was.
“There are stories similar to me? You learned them?”
“I did, but only after I thought I’d lost you. I didn’t think you were coming back, upset that I couldn’t understand and that I’d basically rejected what you offered, when I never would have said no if I’d realized the truth.”
“Daren…” Lilo brought them to a stop, and though they were holding hands again, he took hold of Daren’s other hand too. “I love you. I promised, remember?”
“I know. I love you too, Lilo.”
They kissed again, right there in the sunshine, on two legs.
Well, four between them.
They reached Daren’s home not long later, which Lilo had seen the outside of many times, with vague peeks inside through windows, but that had always been from afar. Now he could truly experience it and was enamored as soon as he was inside.
Daren had said the cabin-like home was family-built by his mother’s grandfather. It was small but cozy and tidy and filled with many of the things Daren had brought onto his boat to show Lilo during their courtship, like books and artwork and various trinkets.
As well as the gifts from Lilo, displayed with pride on the mantel of his fireplace.
The front door entered into the living room.
That name was especially weird to Lilo. Why was one room more living than another?
Beyond that was a dining room to the left and kitchen to the right.
A guest bedroom and bath were even further back beneath the lofted master suite that was reached by a floating-style staircase.
There was even a walk-in closet on the first floor where Daren kept his stacked washer and dryer to clean his clothes, and hooks by the door, on one of which Lilo hung his coat.
Lilo didn’t understand many of the terms Daren mentioned as he showed him around, but he took it all in with wonder. He especially enjoyed admiring some of the items he had already seen, putting context to how they existed in Daren’s life.
He scanned the bookshelves, with a gentle graze of his fingers across the spines, tilted his head at the half-painted canvas on an easel in the corner that was really only a few brushstrokes, but at least it wasn’t yet a muddy blob like the last painting he’d showed Lilo.
The pile of failed knitting on the sofa was too much a tangle for Lilo to not giggle at.
Lilo enjoyed the photographs on the walls the most, all black and whites that Daren had taken, mostly of the sea.
One mounted in a central spot was of Lilo, showing his smiling face in the water—without his teeth showing or his eyes looking too obviously all-over black, since those things weren’t usual for humans, and only his shoulders were revealed above the surface.
He almost could have been human in that picture, but it was only now that a human version of Lilo could actually stand before Daren.
As Lilo hovered his fingertips over the framed photograph, his attention shifted to a mirror on the wall at his right. It was large, opposite the front door, giving the illusion of more space, and as Lilo approached it, he filled the reflection from his hips up.
“Lilo still...” He trailed off, catching himself on his old speech patterns, and tried again, holding Daren’s gaze in the mirror behind him. “Am I still... beautiful?” he asked with a bashful smile.
“So beautiful,” Daren promised, coming up behind Lilo to wrap his arms around his waist.
Lilo enjoyed the sight of them together in the glass. Daren seemed to as well and started to sway with Lilo in his hold.
“Hang on,” he suddenly said with a grin.
Daren moved to a machine, his stereo, and got it to start playing one of Lilo’s favorite songs that Daren had introduced to him on the water. Hearing it here was so much better because it could fill the entire house instead of being dulled through the speaker of a cellphone.
Dire Straits’ “Water of Love.” It was a sad song but promised the hope of returned love in the future.
“Come here.” Daren beckoned him as the song began with soft folksy guitar.
“Daren?” Lilo questioned as he went to him.
“I didn’t tell you much about this,” Daren said, opening his arms to pull Lilo in against his chest, “since you didn’t have legs or feet before, but this is something else humans do. It’s called dancing.”
“Dancing?”
“Mm-hmm. We hold each other close, like this, and move our feet side to side, swaying to the music.” Daren did so, guiding Lilo’s body to follow his.
Lilo sank against him, and though he worried he might step on Daren’s feet at some point, he never did. “Dancing nice. Easy.”
“There are more complicated kinds, but this way is easy. I can show you other dances someday. I can show you so much, Lilo.”
“Will Daren show Lilo…” Lilo trailed off again and stilled their swaying steps to look at him. “Will you… show me… how beautiful I still am?”
What Lilo wanted must have been clear because Daren nodded like he had never wanted anything more. He leaned into Lilo for a kiss. What started slow and searching soon delved into deeper probing until they were gasping with their tongues twined and bodies writhing closer.
Lilo pulled back with a gulp for air and started to reach for the hem of his stolen sweatshirt.
“Wait. There’s a better place for this.”
Daren led Lilo to the stairs. These were especially unfamiliar, and Lilo was a little nervous going up them.
He didn’t teeter and stumble like he had when first trying his legs, but to be safe, he held tightly to Daren’s hand until they reached the top.
He looked around the loft in similar awe as he had the lower level, especially at the bed.
“That’s where I sleep,” Daren explained, “but since humans can’t float while being intimate with each other, we also use them for other things. Here.” Gently, Daren took hold of the hem of Lilo’s sweatshirt to remove it for him.
Lilo was lean and well-muscled like in his other form.
Larger than Daren but not drastically so.
There were marks like scars where his gills should have been, which Daren lovingly traced with his fingers, and then sat Lilo on the edge of the bed.
Usually, Lilo was the one leading. He’d had to, given they had always been intimate in the water, and if he hadn’t, Daren might have sunk beneath the surface.
It was nice having Daren take the lead now. Lilo trusted him completely.
“Soft,” Lilo said, patting the blankets beneath him.
“You are too,” Daren whispered. He felt more broadly up Lilo’s naked chest. Maybe Lilo felt softer because Daren had never touched him while he was completely dry before.
After kneeling below Lilo, Daren removed the boots Lilo had also stolen from the boat. Then he coaxed Lilo to lift slightly so he could relieve him of the jeans. Lilo wore no underwear, not because he hadn’t found any, but because he had wanted to dress as quickly as possible.
And be able to undress just as fast.
“Would you like me to tell you what I see when I look at this version of you?” Daren asked, running his hands up the outside Lilo’s thighs.
“Yes.” Lilo nodded vigorously.
Daren’s eyes definitely strayed between Lilo’s legs, but he dragged them up to Lilo’s face and started there.
“Your hair is the same.” Daren petted it, making Lilo wish he could purr like Henry the cat.
“Beautiful black with hints of blue. Your ears…” He traced along the edges of them, flowing heat southward down Lilo’s new body in a similar yet very different sensation than he was used to.
“Still slightly pointed at the tip, but not three-tiered or nearly as sharp. That little point is very cute.”
Lilo turned his head, encouraging Daren to kiss one of them.
He licked it too.
“Daren.”