The Things in the Sea Will Eat You Whole

Prepare for an Fantastic and Fun Adventure on the high seas! This is the first story in what I am calling The Rough Waters Universe. (AO3 link)
A Brand New and Original Safe, Non-sexual, M/m Vore story! The vore is similar size/close-ish to GT, not same size. 
The story is rated E for everyone but contains strong language! 
This is my first time writing original fiction vore! I hope you all love reading it as much as I loved writing it! 

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*For it's cheer up my lads,
Let your hearts never fail!
For the bonnie ship the Diamond
Goes a-fishing for the whale*

The sounds of the sea shanty fell upon the ears of two brothers: Niel and Davi Siegel, the sole sailors on the Maccabee, an old but functioning Beneteau 38S5. A recreational sailboat that Niel used for his commercial fishing business. A business that was just staying afloat.

Sailboats are not usually used for fishing due to the difficulty and danger, but it wasn’t by choice. Niel had inherited the boat from some estranged uncle who passed away 8 years ago. The boat has a motor but gas is expensive. It was only to be used in emergencies.

It was winter break for Davi so he had tagged along on one of Niel’s week long excursions. They were on day 3 and he was starting to remember why he didn’t go on these.

The first two days had been spent just sailing out to sea from the Fiasco bay to get “as far away from civilization as possible” to quote Niel. That was the last conversational sentence Niel had uttered since they left the Bright Red Golden Gate behind. Anything said since then were along the lines of “ready to tack?” and other orders relating to sailing.

Since sea sickness was a real and constant threat, Davi hadn’t been able to read any of the books he had brought.  Reading in the cabin before getting back your sea legs was a guarantee trip to the side of the boat and the delivery of one’s meal to the fish.

All in all it was looking to be a completely normal fishing trip.

Niel had checked and double checked the weather patterns and currents. Nothing was going to be unexpected. A nice week of complete silence spent in the company of the only other human he could stand to be around for longer than a day.

Normal fishing trip? More like perfect, if you were Niel.

Forgetting his vow of silence, Davi spotted something in the water.

“Niel! Did you see that? It was huge!” covering his mouth with his hands, he had not checked to see if Niel was even awake.

Niel had been snoozing on the port bench in the cockpit but he got up to look. Over the starboard side. The ocean was dotted with whitecaps but was otherwise calm.

“I don’t see anything” said Niel, adjusting his bushy brown ponytail which had shifted during his nap, “what did it look like?”

“I thought it was a whale but it was long and skinny!” said Davi. His own dark brown, wavy but not curly, hair was tucked under a beanie. 

“Maybe it was a sea serpent,” said Niel, chuckling.

“You really think so?” said Davi, “Oh you’re just leading me on.”

“I am, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been,” said Niel.

He went back to his bench, decided against returning to dreamland, and inspected the lines, both fishing and boat. Not a bite all day, and it was nearly sunset. December wasn’t exactly peak fishing time.

“Have you ever seen a serpent?” asked Davi, he had broken the silence and he was going to milk this. He didn’t take his eyes off the ocean.

“Naw, and I’d like to keep it that way. I’d rather my boat stay as far away from man eating monsters as possible,” he said.

/Well if you put it that way/ thought Davi, taking the hint and shutting up for the remainder of the day.

Not a word was spoken over dinner, nor when they went to bed.

—

Thunderous rocking and Davi woke up. At first he thought it was his nightmare coming true: a giant serpent was trying to tip the boat. It was only Mother Nature.

/WAIT THAT’S WORSE!/ Nature was stronger than any creature!

He roused Niel.

“The sail! We need to reef the sail!” Was the first words out of his mouth.

Any seasoned sailor would know that even if you’re sleeping, you do not take down the sail unless docked. Should you need to get moving quickly, raising the sails wastes precious time and runs the risk of failure in the haste. Any amateur sailor would know that in a storm, you reef the sails, which unlike raising the mainsail does not have a chance of catastrophic failure.

After scrambling to get on layers, foul weather gear, and life jackets,  the brothers clambered out on deck. Davi switched the on deck lights and pocketed a waterproof flashlight. Visibility was still crappy, the rain came down relentlessly.

“Hold the boom steady!” ordered Niel who was already climbing to the mast to tie and unclamp the reefing lines.

/There wasn’t supposed to be a storm!/ He had checked and double checked the weather! Otherwise he would never have brought Davi. And he certainly would have untangled the reefing lines! He cursed as he had to take his gloves off to handle the wet rope.

Davi took hold of the mainsheet and pulled it in, locking it in place so it that the mainsail was perfectly center and parallel to the deck and would not swing out.

Lightning struck the main as Davi looked up to see how Niel was managing. All he saw was a blinding flash of light, and when his vision cleared it was just in time to see Niel tumble off the boat and disappear into the angry black ocean.

—

Storms were the best. The massive waves and swells were endless free rollercoasters if you were a giant sea monster.

Which he was.

And at night it was even better. The darkness added a fear factor that one simply did not get during a daytime storm. No one in all of the oceans could be having more fun than he was right now.

The flashes of light above were a spectacular show! The crackling electricity ran across the sky and in a similar pattern to the stripes on his tail. It pleased him that he and the storm had so much in common. Not just the pattern, but the sharp sweet scent that filled the air. He liked to think he was sharp yet sweet.  Though normally, during a storm, the water didn’t smell any different. It hadn’t smelled like this a minute ago!

Wait a tick! The smell was blood! He should have recognized it easily, but the storm was so distracting.

Maybe it was an injured seal or fish! That would be fantastic! He stopped playing and swam towards the source of the blood. He couldn’t see what it was, but he had other senses that told him when it was right in front of him.

Whatever it was, it was stunned. An easy meal!

Or not! He had taken an experimental bite and found the skin rubbery and the flesh off putting.

/A human/ Only humans tasted so strange, and that wasn’t skin it was that clothing stuff they wear!

He was already swimming away when it hit him. The human was lost at sea, dead for sure in in a few hours if no one found him. The human had been found. Unfortunately it was by a sea serpent. If the wasn’t taken out of the cold water soon…

Maybe there was a way for him to help the human! He could keep the human warm and alive until he found help. He swam back and took the human in his grasp, taking care not to drag it’s head under the water.

The human’s bulky clothing would have to go, but it wouldn’t need it anyways, nor the puffy thing around it’s neck. He left the human in its thin undergarments, and and took a deep breath. He wasn’t thrilled with his plan, it was the kind of thing he’d rather avoid. It gave his kind a bad name. But he was determined to save the human.

Tentatively he put the humans feet into his mouth, and the slowly drew the rest of it in as he began to swallow carefully and slowly. The human, he noted, was about the length of his arm, probably a little taller and certainly wider. It didn’t taste THAT bad, but fresh fish or seal definitely tasted better. The task was soon done, and the human was entirely in his upper stomach, surrounded by the his muscle and most importantly, by his thick blubber, keeping it warm. Keeping it alive.

He took more deep breaths to make sure the human had ample air before swimming on.

He was just wondering where the human’s ship could be when he caught the scent of another human. Now that he knew what to look for, the scent was obvious. Hopefully this one would be conscious!

No such luck. Another human passed out in the middle of the ocean! He sighed and rubbed at his fairly full stomach. Yeah, there was room. This new human was significantly smaller, he only had to remove the puffy neck adornment before swallowing it whole, easy as pie. This human, he noticed, wasn’t injured, or at least, was not bleeding like the first one.

With two humans in his smaller upper stomach, he was nearly full to bursting. If asked, he wouldn't deny that the feeling of fullness wasn’t immensely satisfying. 

But no one was around to ask, so he didn’t have to confirm or deny it.

There wasn’t much to do now except wait for one of the humans to wake up. It was too dangerous to go back to wave riding, but he could at least float along on his back, and the the storm do what it wished. It was starting to die down, and the swells rocked him to sleep.

--

Davi woke up; slowly, groggily. Wherever he was, it was swaying. So he was in his sleeping bag on the boat? No, he had fell off, he couldn’t be in bed. Also, wherever he was, it was pitch black, very warm, very humid, and smelled terrible. The wall his face was up against was squishy and soft. He tried to stretch out a leg or an arm but there was NO ROOM at all. Something is pushed up against him. He got out his flashlight, it was still in his jacket pocket. *click*.

Ear piercing screeches from his middle jolted Kov awake and it took him a few moments to remember what happened. He blinked, it wasn’t nighttime anymore, the sun was starting to rise.

The world around Davi was red and pulsing, and it shifted violently. Wherever they were, the storm still raged outside and the thing he was pushed up against was his brother.  It was hard to breathe, the air was so heavy.

“Niel! Niel! Wake up!” There wasn’t enough room to slap him.

“Hello in there?” a voice reverberated around him.

One of the humans was awake! It was about time, Kov was starting to get worry that he had been too late.

“Hello! Hello?! Whoever you are: my brother and I are trapped somewhere! Can you see us?”

“Is your brother still alive?”

/What kind of question was that?/ though Davi,

“I, Uh,” Davi turned the light back on. Niel was no longer in his layers of foul weather gear, but he, Davi, was. Davi saw Niel’s chest rise and fall, he also saw and now smelled the blood from the wound in his left arm.

“Yeah, he’s alive, but I think a shark bit him!”

At these words the walls around him tensed and pulsing increased in frequency.

If a sea serpent could blush, Kov would be bright red, but they can’t. They do however, change color, and Kov watched in distress as the lovely blue stripes that adorned his serpent body flushed lavender.

“No, that-”

“No? What do you mean “no” How the fuck do you know?”

“That was me, I bit him,” said the voice, much more quiet than before.

“Wha-what?” Nothing about this situation made sense. “Who are you?”

“I bit him, my name’s Kov, I’m a sea serpent,”

/What!/ The pieces were starting to fall into place. The hot humid enclosed space with red pulsing walls. It was crazy but-

“And I ate you.”

The human didn’t respond.

/What else was he supposed to say?/ Kov had not prepared any sort of introduction, not to mention his stripes were still purple. This was the first conversation he’d had with anymore more well spoken than a dolphin in over a decade.

Dolphins, while some of the smartest creatures on the planet, have a rather limited vocabulary due to their lack of consonants, flexible tongues, and lips. It certainly didn’t help that they wasted 100 simple sounds to mean “wanna play tag?” and another 100 on “down to fuck?”.

Screaming was pointless so Davi just sat in silence. He turned off the light, looking at the surrounding flesh of Kov’s stomach made his own stomach turn. They had been eaten by a sea monster, swallowed whole.

And yet. They weren’t dying. And the monster, sounded apologetic about biting Niel; he had asked about Niel’s condition.

“Are you alright in there?” Kov resisted rubbing at his stomach.

“Kov, was it?” Davi’s voice cracked.

“Yes!”

“Why are we still alive? You said you “ate” us-”

Davi pushed out against the walls, testing his range of movement.

Kov took a deep breath and looked up at now clear sky, “I don’t know what happened before I found you, but I found your brother first. Unconscious and bleeding, that’s what attracted me to him, I could smell the blood. It was so dark out, I didn’t realize he was a human until I bit him- you were both unconscious! The water is too cold for a human so-“ he was starting to lose his train of thought and his ability to speak.

“So- you ate us, to keep us warm, to keep us alive!” said Davi. Holy shit.

Rescued by a sea serpent. Not eaten; rescued.

“That’s right!” Kov was pleased that his conscious occupant finally understood. “I’m much warmer than the ocean wouldn’t you agree?” Kov patted his middle.

“GAH!”

“Oh, sorry, that was my hand!” Kov took his hand off his stomach. He probably shouldn’t tell his new friend how good it felt to have him there. Not yet.

“You have hands?!”

“That’s a stupid question, of course I do!” said Kov, flexing his clawed, webbed hands in front of his face just to be sure.

“I guess, I don’t know what a sea serpent looks like,” confessed Davi.  “So now what? You didn’t plan on us staying here forever, did you?”

/If only/ thought Kov, /it would be nice to have a friend/ but alas, he could not.

“Do you have a name?” Kov asked. He folded his arms behind his head.

“I’m Davi”

“I’ve been waiting for you to wake up, Davi. As it happens, you aren’t the first humans I’ve ever found. You’re the first I’ve ever eaten, but not the first I’ve found. Normally I would take you back to shore or to your ship. Unfortunately, the nearest shore is over a days swim away! And I never found your ship… I was hoping you would know what to do.”

Davi sighed, they weren’t out of the woods yet. Or rather, Davi mused, out of Kov. His muscles were starting to ache.

“Niel would know what to do,” said Davi. He turned his light back on; Niel was still breathing, still asleep, unaware he was in the stomach of a sea serpent. “He’s the sailor, I just tag along.”

“I hope I didn’t injure him too badly!” Kov was genuinely concerned. “Isn’t it a bad sign if he doesn’t wake up?”

“I see the bite, It’s not bleeding anymore , which is a miracle. But he was also hit by lightning before falling off the boat, so there’s no way of telling if he’s ok until he gets to a doctor” the bite looked bad, but if Niel was going bleed out and die he would have by now.

A moment of silence. Kov let his entire body float to the surface and ride the now much smaller waves; the humans shifted inside him to the rhythm. At least they were both still alive, he was determined to get them to safety. Something the human had said nagged at him.

“Hold on!” said Kov, “How can you see anything? As far as I know I don’t bioluminesce internally!”

His middle vibrated as the human laughed. “That, feels very odd.”

“Waterproof flashlight. I had it on me when I fell off the boat” said Davi. “Do you bioluminesce externally?”

“Only at night, but yes!” at night his stripes become spotted bright blue, along with the fins on his arms, face, and back. “My mother taught me special dances to use at night should I ever find a potential mate!”

“That’s really rad” said Davi, he hoped to see that someday. The dance, not the mating.

“‘Rad?” I’m afraid I don’t know that word” said Kov. “Hey, I’m gonna start swimming, I’ve been in one place too long!”

“It means good,” said Davi. He could feel Kov’s body move as he swam, it was almost like being on a swing.

A really rough swing! Kov picked up speed, Davi held to Niel tightly. It wasn’t as if they could fly off this ride even if they wanted to. And Davi did want off. The pressure was increasing, Kov had submerged.  

After his unsuccessful hunt last night, Kov was getting hungry. Even on the open ocean he could always find something, and what he found was a small school of striped bass. He put on another burst of speed, swiftly snagging a large fish in his teeth. He swallowed it without a second thought.

All Davi heard was the gulping sound, and that didn’t leave him much time to prepare for the body of the 2ft long fish joining him and Niel. It was still alive, and it’s tail slapped him in the face

“AHHHHHHH”

Hunting while someone screamed in your gut wasn’t ideal. Kov quickly nabbed another fish, but didn’t swallow it, instead it swam to the surface with it in his claws.

“Davi, it is rude to scream while in a sea serpents stomach,” said Kov, “I didn’t say anything when you first woke up because that instance was an exception.”

“AND IT ISN’T RUDE TO EAT WHILE SOMEONE IS IN YOUR STOMACH? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”

“That I was hungry?” Kov didn’t understand the problem, he licked at the fish in his hands. Yum.

“But I’m IN HERE, you can’t eat at the same time!” was Kov delusional? If he digested the fish, he would be digested too!

“Yes I can! You’re only in my first stomach, I can only hold things there,” said Kov, “If you would be so kind as to help get the fish to my second stomach, I don’t want to risk doing it myself and hurting you or Niel”

“Is that a danger???” Davi started to panic, but he also caught hold of the flailing fish.

“Oh no, you’re much too big! I just don’t want your feet or hands could get caught! Come on, help me out, I’m hungry!”

“Ah, alright, um,” Davi turned the light on to see what he was doing. With Niel in the way it was difficult but he managed to shove the fish to the opposite side of the stomach from which it had entered. He closed his eyes, and pushed the fish’s head into the sphincter. The fish was pulled from his hands, disappearing completely in a few seconds.

He really should have just turned off the light, alas he didn’t. He was starting to be comforted by having it on.

“That was gross, Kov,” said Davi. “That was. Really gross.”

“I forgot to ask if you wanted some,” said Kov guiltily. He looked at the fish still in his hands. Good thing he had caught another!

Davi blinked. “Wanted some, of the fish? The fish that you ate?”

“I should have offered you some first! It is no matter, I caught another!” said Kov.

Oh no.

Another “gulp” and another fish joined Davi and Niel. Davi didn’t want to be impolite but he also couldn’t imagine trying to eat a live fish; it flopped next to him, unaware it had been eaten.

“Thank you for the offer, but I’m not hungry” Davi lied, he didn't know how long it had been since he had eaten anything.

“Well, you keep it just in case” said Kov, who swam on.

Nope! He was not doing that. As gross as it had been the first time, Davi shoved the fish into Kov’s second stomach, rather than have it die in his arms and stink up the place even more than it already stank. Davi was starting to doze off again, he turned off his light and leaned against Niel, comforted by his steady breaths.

Unable to think of anything to say, Kov said nothing.

---

He hadn’t been swimming in silence for very long when he spotted someone off in the distance, many someones. He could hear them too.

“I think I see some whales!” said Kov, poking his stomach to wake Davi up.

“Whales, huh?” said Davi, he had been sleeping very lightly, “I’d like to see them too.”

“You know I can’t let you out!” said Kov, missing the sarcasm, “I mention it because they might know where your ship is! I can ask them if they’ve seen it. I just need to know what it looks like so I can tell them”

“Really!?” cried Davi, astondounded that Kov could speak to whales and that the whales could be that intelligent. He described it the best he could, and then Kov swam fast to meet up with the pod.

If speaking to dolphins took a long time, speaking to whales was worse. If a human were to compare it to anything, it would be morse code. Different Long bellows and short squawks to make the words. Unfortunately, long and short are relative.

Kov was determined to save his new friend and his new friend’s brother. Diving a few feet under water he called out to the humpback whales in their traditional greeting.

Everything around Davi vibrated tremendously as a horrible sound echoed. It nearly deafened him. After almost a minute it stopped. He heard Kov take a deep breath, and then begin again. Breath, dive a few feet under, noise, and breath again. This repeated for some time. The noises lasted from 10 seconds to a minute long.

Unlike whales, who do not need to exhale to produce their sounds, Kov did, making the process arduous. After finishing the greeting Kov took another deep breath and swam closer, right up next to the largest of the pod to pay his respects.

“What are you doing, Kov?” asked Davi.

The only response he got was a push from outside. They were underwater, Kov couldn’t answer. But the whales did.

Kov’s blubber and muscles muffled the whale’s response the same way putting your hands to your ears would muffle the sounds of a jet roaring to life 5 feet away from you. Davi couldn’t tell when one sound stopped and another started. 

Did they really need the whale’s help!? Davi was starting to regret this as Kov started his cycle of breathing and, (Davi supposed the word would be “singing” since it was whale noises), again, followed by the whales singing back.

If hell existed for jewish people, this would be it. Jonah had nothing on Davi at this moment.

After what seemed like ages, Kov went to the surface and spoke english again.

“I know some of these whales! They say they met me four mating journeys ago!” He started to absentmindedly rub his stomach, Davi didn’t protest this time.

“Did you ask about the boat” Davi reminded him, his head was spinning and buzzing, “also, how much longer is this going to go on?”

“Patience, Davi, you can’t rush a conversation with whales, they will stop talking to me if I try. If we want them to help us, so we have to go through all the formalities” said Kov.

“Are you telling me you’re still saying ‘hello’?” Davi was mortified.

“Whales don’t do anything fast, but we already said ‘hello’, the formalities are -” Kov began to explain

“I don’t actually care, this is taking too long!” said Davi “God, what time even is it, how long have we been here? I can’t see the sky, I have no sense of time in here! This sucks! It smells bad, the air is foul, it’s cramped, I just want to get out!”

“Hmmm” said Kov, but Davi’s expression of distress clouded his mind. He was trying to be as hospitable as possible, it wasn’t his fault he didn’t have much to offer.  

“FUCK!” Davi punched at the wall as hard as he could, which was about as hard as someone in a straight jacket.

“What’s wrong!” Kov could hear Davi crying, and he couldn’t do anything.

“I’m so stupid! I have my fucking phone! I’ve had it the whole time!” this time he kicked, managing to put a decent amount of force behind it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it must be a good thing!” said Kov, “*OOF* Hey? Can possibly find it in your ability to not do that?”

“Sorry. My phone, it’s, a thing I have, that knows where the boat is! It can lead us to the boat!” Davi didn’t waste anymore time and rummaged around till he was able to take off his rain pants and insulating pants to reach his regular pants, in the left pocket of which had his phone.

It lit up, protected by a waterproof case, showing Davi that it was nearly 11am. It was hard not to think about the fact that he had been sitting in a stomach next to his unconscious brother for over 6 hours, if not longer.

He didn’t have any signal, but that didn’t matter, it just needed to detect the boat, which had a satellite dish. That is. If the boat hadn’t sank. His heart raced as the little “searching” icon kept spinning.

1 minute

2 minutes

3 min- and he was connected! The boat was only a few miles away! He barely felt the that started tears running down his face. He told Kov the good news.

“That’s fantastic! Guess you’ll be free of me soon ha ha” Kov said, “so which direction do I need to swim?”

It took about a minute to get oriented and after bidding the whales farewell, which Davi thought took way too long, they were off at a speed of, well it was a little over 20mph but neither Davi now Kov knew that. But we know. We know.

What Davi did know was that Kov wasn’t thrilled about finding the boat. He had clearly grown attached, and if Davi was honest with himself, so had he. Kov was making good on his promise, he had saved them and was going to let them go, he knew he couldn’t keep them forever, people cannot live in the stomach of a monster. The rest of their interactions were limited to keeping them on course to the boat.

“We should be real close now! Can you see it?” said Davi /what if the boat wasn’t there? Just the radio equipment/ his mind whispered to him, making his heart race.

Kov stopped swimming and held himself up out of the water, twisting his tail to keep himself up.  

“It is within my sights!!” said Kov.

Less than a minute later, they had arrived. Kov dived and then swam up fast, bursting from the water like a stripper from a cake.

Except hadn’t leapt high enough to catch the edge of the boat.

“STUPID MODERN BOATS!” Kov hissed, his claws raking uselessly against the fiberglass hull as he attempted to climb up.

“If you let me out I can-” said Davi

“No! I can do this!” Kov growled, teeth bared.

He dived again, as far as he dared.

This time he flew right over the lifelines and onto the front of the boat, seizing the mast to steady himself.

“HA! See!” he huffed.

“Great! Now get me out!” yelled Davi.

“Right you are!” said Kov, screwing up his face in concentration he forced himself to throw up.

A few seconds later Davi felt the cold air on his face as he slid out of the serpent's mouth. And then almost off the boat again, slick as he was with saliva and slime and on the convex bow of the boat, leaning to the side with Kov’s weight. He grabbed the nearest kleat but was dangling off the side by one arm.  

“Oh no you don’t!” said Kov, taking Davi’s arm and lifting him back onto the boat and then grasped the mast with both hands again.

“Thanks Kov,” said Davi, and then he froze. “You- You’re”

People are often lost for words when they catch sight of incredible things. Davi was lost for thoughts.

When Kov had said “sea serpent” Davi had imagined a lengthy dragon-like creature, like those drawn on old maps. When Kov mentioned he had hands, Davi added those to his mental image. He had not imagined a drop dead gorgeous merman, let alone a giant drop dead gorgeous merman.

His human half was nearly the length of the bow, the serpentine body hung over the lifelines, which were straining against Kov’s weight. Mottled grey-brown-green scales were broken up by opalescent blue vein-like stripes. Beautiful was too weak a word.

Sea water dripped and sparkled off Kov’s mottled grey-brown skin as he held fast to the boat. He had almost fish-like fins on his arms, back, and face (jawline to ear), which transitioned to the same blue as the stripes. No gills that Davi could see; that explained a lot. His face was level with Davi’s, but his face was also at least 2 feet from chin to crown. Hair as black as squid ink but shimmered like oil. Kov must never have cut it, it was longer than Davi was tall. Kov’s nose was wide and had slit-like nostrils that could seal shut, he was breathing hard. There was no other word for it, Kov was toned. Except for his midsection, which was slightly rounded. /Because Niel was still in there/ Davi remembered.

This last observation of Davi’s was actually incorrect. Kov’s healthy layer of blubber was producing that effect, though Nie’s presence accentuated it. Upon Niel’s release, Kov would not suddenly have six pack abs. Though how Kov still looked toned with blubber at all is a mystery that may never be solved.

“What? What am I?” said Kov, tilting his head to the side.

A million words flew like a swarm of hungry locusts hunting for the neurons in his mind. Resplendent, Magnificent, Dazzling, Splendorous!

“Big” Davi said lamely. Then he cleared his head.

“I think,” said Kov, almost losing his grip “that it is you who are small!”

“Maybe you should move over to the stern, it’s, better?” words still didn’t work for Davi.

Kov let go and slid back into the water and came up by the back of the boat, where Davi met back up with him. The stern had a back that could be opened, and a ladder could be lowered for those who had feet.

“Just, pull yourself up by the pulpits,” Davi said, indicating the metal railings.

The boat rocked violently as Kov heaved himself into the cockpit, angling himself so that he wouldn’t fall back into the water.

“Yes that this is much better!” he proclaimed.

“I’ll be right back, I need to use the head” said Davi. His brother could last a few more minutes, he needed to pee very badly.

/Oh right!/ thought Kov, /Davi’s brother is still in my stomach!/ and he repeated the process that he used to get Davi out.

The much larger human was still unconscious, so as he came out of Kov’s mouth, Kov kept his head from hitting the deck, laying him down gently.

The human coughed and stirred. Niel was waking up. He rubbed his eyes.

Kov close to him  /Why now!? The human had hours to wake up, and it chose now! While Davi wasn’t here?/. He was glad that he would get a chance to officially meet Niel.

“Ohhhhh I think i hit my head. Davi?” Niel blinked in the light of the noonday sun, which was blocked by the massive face of a sea monster.

Niel lost the brief staring contest and started screaming. Kov leaned away.

“AHHHHHHHH” He tried to get up but failed extravagantly and settled for shutting the hatch. Maybe it would just eat him and leave, then Davi would be safe. That failed too, instead he slammed a piece of the door on his fingers.

Not knowing what to do, Kov did nothing. Said nothing. He didn’t even blink.

/Shit/ Davi heard the screaming, and he finished up as quickly as humanly possible to run back to the out to the cockpit. He had planned on changing clothes, and putting on his binder, as there had been no time during the storm. Though with all the layers and especially the life vest, it didn’t make much of a difference. He was slightly thankful, since having it on while inside Kov would have been highly unpleasant if not damaging. 

He stopped at the top of the stairs looking at the petrified Kov and his distressed brother.

“Davi get back!” cried Niel, “Get a flair, we can drive it off”

/And how do you think you are going to achieve that when you can barely move?/ Davi thought but did not say out loud. He did roll his eyes.

There were plenty of options Davi could have taken to remedy the situation. The remedy he chose would have been prescribed by a doctor.

“You’re ok!” he cried and fell upon his brother in a big hug.

“I-” Niel was stunned, he looked at the monster, which still didn’t move, and then back to his brother, who was crying into his shoulder. He was missing a lot of information, but he could get it in a minute; he hugged his brother tightly, “We survived the storm.”

“We almost didn’t! We both went overboard.” Davi pulled away slightly, wiping tears, “You were struck by lighting. We were afraid you weren’t going to wake up! We were so worried.”  

“Did we now? Then how,” /how had they gotten back aboard?/ thought Niel “Wait did you say ‘we were worried’?”

The sea serpent shifted like a kid who stole candy. Niel didn’t like the shit-eating grin on Davi’s face.

“Niel, this is Kov, he rescued us!”

Wide-eyed, Niel looked again at the monster. It smiled at him with an impossibly handsome face, and impossibly sharp white teeth.

“Hello,” said Kov, reaching out a hand as he remembered that’s how humans normally greet each other.

Determined to show no fear, Niel took the proffered left hand-shake “I’m sensing this will take a while to explain?”

“It’d take longer if we were whales!” said Davi. Behind him, Kov choked, in front of him, Niel looked more confused.  

“I don’t get it.”

---

Even after explaining what happened to them, Niel still didn’t trust Kov, but he let him follow them back to the docks in Berkeley. It was a two days out to sea, it was two days back.

So far they had been sailing steadily for one day.

“Your brother doesn’t talk much does he? Or is he still mad that I ate him?” Kov asked as Davi watched him glide alongside the boat, flipped onto his back so he could talk to Davi.

“I think he might still be mad, but he’s also just like this, even with me, don’t worry. You’re not getting special treatment,” said Davi, mesmerized by Kov’s movements. So effortless and yet he was keeping pace with the boat.

“Even after seeing me dance!? Unthinkable,” said Kov. He had tried his best to make a good impression the first night of sailing and had shown off his glowing spots by doing formations in the water and leaps out of it.

Neither Davi nor Kov saw Niel smile when he heard that. Kov and Davi wrong, he wasn’t mad, but he was processing. He wasn’t mad because they were alive, if Kov had planned to kill them then they would be dead. And now his brother had company, someone to talk to. Someone undeniably handsome. For a monster.

He looked over the side of the boat for an instant and caught Kov’s eyes. His own were hidden behind sunglasses. But his face grew red all the same.

It was all too soon that they reached the docks, at least in Davi’s mind. Kov’s too. It was night so he followed them right up to the docks.

“I- I guess this is goodbye, Kov,” said Davi.

Kov didn’t say anything, he just stared at him in silence.

Then Davi leapt out into the water, right at Kov.

Kov caught him on instinct. Then he noticed Davi was holding onto him, even if he let go he was tightly held.

“What’s going on?” Kov looked to Niel for guidance but all he got a ‘don’t try anything funny’ blank stare.

“It’s a Hug you idiot!”

“Oh! I yes! I have seen this before!” and he embraced Davi.

Not wanting to invoke any suspicion, Kov quickly placed Davi back on the docks.

“Here, take the gear back to the car, i'll just give everything one more look over” Niel said to Davi upon his release, handing his little brother the car keys.

Both Kov and Niel watched as Davi ran up the dock and out of sight. Then Niel turned to Kov, who stiffened as Niel knelt down to eye level.

“Kov,” he said.

That was the first time Niel had said his name. It was the first time he had spoken directly to him rather than direct words meant for him at Davi. The fins on Kov’s face raised up slightly. In the dark night Kov’s fins were lit up with fluorescent blue spots, it was stunning.

The blue light danced in Niel’s brown-green eyes as he stared into Kov’s black ones.

“Thank you, for- for saving us. You didn’t have to, but you did. It takes a kind heart to put so much effort into helping complete strangers,” Niel continued, voice shaking.

Kov has come all the way up to the dock and had put his hands on the edge, his face was about half a foot from Niel’s.

“And. And if you stay within The Bay, or just outside it, maybe next time we, or even just I, go sailing, you can come with,” he finished.

Niel didn’t give Kov enough time to process, let alone answer, before getting up and leaving.

Kov watched as Niel disappeared up the dock and onto land.

Because it was night, he couldn’t tell that his stripes had turned purple. And he sank into the water.

He did not leave The Bay.

Fin