Wait, he gets married, and I get chores?
“You didn’t say anything about that before,” Fian said and followed his older brother into his house.
Mikano’s presence here made Fian self-conscious, and yes, he had kept a few of his phalli studies on the mantle of the dream fire hearth that bordered on his small kitchen.Other than that, Fian was neat.Being neat was easier with eight arms, Fian had always thought so.
He headed for his armoire and pulled out a set of clothes in the human style, eager already to make his way back to the surface to see Kai and really explain that the dream they had shared had been real, just like any other dream Kai had dreamed and thought a fantasy.
Mikano plopped into the armchair Fian had carved for himself.It had a low back so he had no trouble using his arms while he sat here.
“I know, but Tom wants to keep things to the human style.I told him I could have abducted him and kept him in my house for a moon year and that would have been it, but he insists that we be humanly wed.His mother wants to see him get hitched, he says, and everything has to be perfect.”Mikano’s sharp mako eyes narrowed on Fian.“Youhave to be perfect, Tickle.”
Unfortunately, Fian’s skin was slightly wet still, and he had opted for a rather tight set of pants, leading to him jumping on one foot while he tried getting into them, his color growing unsteady while suckers erupted on his hands and fingers.
Mikano clicked his razor teeth.“Maybe…I know a demon who has great organizational skills and won’t mind being your plus one for that day.”
“No!”Fian pulled his jeans up over his ass, glad that his need for Kai wasn’t physically evident just then and remained, for the time being, in his mind alone.“I can do it!”
Mikano frowned.“Tickle, you didn’t put on any underwear, and you were really struggling just now.”
And Fian hadn’t bothered with the underwear, mostly because he was hopeful that Kai would tell him to get rid of the pants when they saw each other next.Ah, it had been so exhilarating when Kai had done that earlier!
“I—am going commando.I heard dreamers talk about it, and I thought I’d try it.”
“Tickle, what kind of shroom skewer did you have earlier?”
“There was broccoli in it!You saw.Also, some people really like mushrooms.And okra too.Maybe I know people who like these things and talked to them, did you think about that?”
Mikano crossed his legs and bobbed his foot.He wore nice shoes, a fashionable human style.
“Are you saying that when you talked to your friends about food that has no texture, you somehow ended up naked?What by all the sand of dreams is going on with you?”
“Nothing!I just—I went for a swim, and I lost my clothes in the current because I spotted a nice piece of wood and it distracted me.”
Mikano was motionless for a long moment.He was more agent than brother now, Fian could feel that.He did everything he could to control the color of his skin, but he didn’t entirely manage to keep it from shifting.
“That is,” Mikano said at length, “actually plausible.But, Tickle, really.You should be old enough to manage such little things.”He sighed and stood, pulled a folded sheet of paper from an inside pocket and handed it to Fian.“Here.Look this over.Tom says these are most of the things you should be doing as the best man.You will need a cell phone that works in the human world, and you’ll have to make a few trips.Tom also wants to meet you—I made excuses to give you time to process and possibly reconsider.”
Fian looked the paper over.It wasn’t written in Mikano’s neat script, so the surfer had done this.The surfer had either not learned cursive or opted not to use it, making Mikano falling for him even more implausible.Once Mikano was gone, Fian would be able to taste the paper with his suckers, maybe learn more about this human who was marrying a shark.
“I’ll do it,” Fian said, now contrary.“I’ll organize this bachelor party event.”
Mikano nodded.“That one was quite important to Tom, but you’re just organizing it for me.A friend of his is doing the same for Tom.”Mikano pointed.“That is your counterpart on Tom’s side, his best human, Ell.Give her a call.”
“Okay.”Just after I get a phone.If I can find one that can survive the water that is.
Mikano crossed his arms.“And if you cannot do it, tell me.”
In that moment, Fian wanted to shift, take his full kraken form, and smack Mikano in the head.They hadn’t fought like that in a long time, mostly because Fian wasn’t actually fond of fighting, yet another thing that made him different from Mikano.
“I can do it, and I will,” Fian said.
Mikano heaved a sigh and ruffled Fian’s hair, triggering yet another shift in Fian’s skin color.
“Well, I have to trust you.The success of my nuptials is in your suckers, little brother, sweet Tickle.Please don’t mess it up for me.Tom is the salt of my every waking hour, and all my dreams are his.”
That stunned Fian into silence.Yes, he had assumed some kind of affinity between Mikano and his human, but something so deep, something that rendered Mikano if not demure then at least vulnerable?He’d not thought that such a thing existed, much less that it came with a surfboard.
Fian watched Mikano walk away and close the driftwood door to Fian’s house behind him.In the silence that followed, Fian almost thought that he felt some kinship with his sharkhead of a brother, almost.
