As far as Bucky could remember in his young Merman life, he loved to sit around with the other Merchildren in the Great Cave, where his people lived, and listen to the tales their elders would tell - tales about epic undersea battles, fought by ancient kings, and cursed mermen, who haunted certain waters.

Tales about the strange two-legged creatures who inhabited the land on the surface and used strange vessels to cross the seas (Bucky always wondered why they'd do this, when swimming was so much easier.).

His blue eyes would wide in horror hearing the tales telling them about the dangers the skies held within, of winged beings who apparently only lived to grab little Merchildren from their familiar environment and let them plummet to death on the unforgiving, waterless mainland (Bucky suspected that this is the reason why his parents don't let him and his siblings venture up alone.).

But the little merboy's favourite tale was about the Soul Kiss.

Once in a while, some of the two-legged beings would fall into the Seas and his kind would wait to welcome them in their realm. The Humans, as the Elders called them, would stare at them with wide eyes and offer them their souls as a gift, a thank-you for welcoming them. Of course, none of his people has denied this gift so far and claimed it by kissing the human.

Bucky had no idea, how it worked, but then he just loved the idea of the Soul Kiss.

So one day, when he, being the nosy tiny Merboy he was, illicitly swam to the surface all by himself, he was about to discover the true nature of the Soul Kiss and all those other tales he had learned to love.

oOo

Steve was doomed.

Being a member of a long-living, almost immortal race of winged humans, he had a knack for getting in trouble very often. Right now, he was plummeting towards the seemingly endless dark blue water surface of the ocean, having been knocked off his usual route back to his mother's nest by a sudden blast of wind, which had knocked out the air out of his frail lungs, resulting into a severe panic attack.

When he had come by, Steve only saw blue - and a glitter of silver. He had no time to wonder where that come from, because that's when he hit the wet surface with a loud splash and a much louder 'Ooommph'.

For a few seconds, the little blond boy blacked out. But it was enough time for his wings to get soaking wet and heavy as a sack full of stones, dragging him down into the black depths of the ocean, the cold liquid filling up his lungs until he could barely breathe anymore. His last thoughts went to his mother, who'd never know what happened to her only boy, and his only friend Sam. He'd miss them.

But then...

From the corner of his eye, he spotted the glitter of silver coming closer and he panicked again. The next thing he knew he was being heaved up to the surface and was drawing in deep breaths of fresh sea air when finally broke through it.

It took him several moments until Steve was able to breathe normally again. At least he wasn't sinking anymore, because something, or rather someone, steadied him. Turning his head, his corn blue eyes widened when he realized who it was.

It wasn't one of the sea monsters, who lived down here and, accordingly to his mother's narrations, loved to eat little winged children.

No, he stared right into the beautiful, stormy blue eyes of a boy.

oOo

Bucky couldn't believe it. He had made it. He had managed to sneak away from his parents' prying eyes and was on his way to the surface. He knew that what he about to do, was a stupid and dangerous thing.

But just today he had overheard his father talking about teaching his oldest sister the Soul Kiss thing and of course Bucky had been excited, wanted to learn it, too, but his father just said that he was too young for such a thing. One thing led to another and resulted in their biggest fight until then and Bucky swimming away in anger.

He swam until he could see the dark outlines of undersea mountains in the distance. Bucky knew that place. This was the place where the land began where the two-legged creatures lived. Under the water were also many entrances to underwater caves with beautiful crystalline stalactites illuminated by incident daylight, making them look like an underground palace. Those were the ones, which lead up to the land of the humans, and his favourite playground and hiding place.

Bucky was about to enter the entrance, when something hit the water not even 10 meters from him.

"What the...?" it slipped out of his mouth. Without thinking twice, he swam, as quickly as his tail allowed him to, to the object that was sinking slowly to the bottom. It looked...strange. Mostly it looked like one of those humans, but on his back were two appendages, consisting of lots of horny shafts fringed with fin-look-alikes. It looked beautiful, although, strangely enough, it closely resembled the winged creatures from the Tales.

By all means, Bucky should have left him alone, but the light-haired boy looked harmless enough that Bucky felt no fear. He grabbed him by the wings and hauled him upwards until they both broke through the surface, the other boy sputtering water and gasping for air. Bucky wrapped his tail around the boy's legs and steadied him that way to keep him over the water.

The light-haired boy's breathing soon became calmer and he opened his eyes, blue jewels gazing into Bucky's own. The Merboy's breath hitched and his eyes widened.

The winged boy was breathtakingly beautiful and Bucky knew he was doomed. On the other side, a part of him was excited that he got to rescue this boy. Now he would be getting his Soul Kiss.

Without thinking, Bucky pulled the boy closer and brushed his mouth on the boy's. This one gasped, but didn't pull back until Bucky did.

"What are you doing?" the boy asked Bucky.

"I'm giving you a Soul Kiss. I'm Bucky, by the way! I live down here in the ocean." he introduced himself, smiling sweetly at his opposite.

The boy flushed.

"I'm St-Steve. Nice to meet you, Bucky!" he replied. Gesturing to the cliffs on his left side, he said: "I normally live there, but I fell. Thanks for saving me!"

Bucky giggled. The boy was so cute.

"Do you mind if I give you another Soul Kiss? The first one doesn't seem to have worked." he asked, his eyes never leaving Steve's blushing face.

Steve blinked - and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright!"

Bucky shook his head, then pulled Steve in for another kiss and another one. And then another one, just to be sure.

Luckily, Steve didn't pull away. On the contrary, Steve found them quite nice, just like Bucky. He was not the children-eating monster, like his mother had told him so many times as a good-night-story. Bucky was beautiful - stormy blue eyes, longish, brown, wet hair and a long tail with glittering silver scales, which sparkled in the water.

Eventually they stopped just because they needed to breathe and Steve started to feel the weight of his wet wings.

"Can we go somewhere where I can dry off my wings? They're getting heavy."

Bucky took a moment to stroke them slowly. They were so soft, even in their wet state. Steve shivered, but not because of the cold water. The feeling of Bucky's fingers on his wings sparked something in him, but he didn't know why.

"I just know the place. Can you hold your breath for a minute?" Bucky asked.

Steve looked confused at him.

"Wh...AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Steve yelped when the Merboy pulled him as close as he could before submerging and swimming with an incredible velocity towards the underwater site of the cliffs and then entered a hidden cave passageway which led to a water pool in the middle of an impressive cave.

As soon as Steve was out of the water, he shook himself, water droplets hitting a laughing Bucky, who stayed with his lower body in the pool.

Just then he had time to take in his surroundings. To his surprise, the cave was relatively bright. On the other side, natural stairs led to an opening in the ceiling, through which daylight illuminated stalactites in the colours of the rainbow. It was amazing - a unique sight.

"Wow, that's amazing, Bucky!" Steve exclaimed, carefully touching the fragile feature.

"I know. It's my favourite hiding place. Glad you like it! So what do we do now?" Bucky asked with a mischievous grin on his handsome face.

oOo

They ended up spending the day talking about their families, their friends, their races, their favourite activities. They laughed about the Tales they had accepted as true and which now weren't more than fairy old wives' tales.

When they got hungry, Steve climbed up to the surface and found himself in the middle of a meadow with lots of berry bushes. While Bucky went back to the sea and brought back some weird green plants, Steve collected some of the berries for them. Then they shared their meals with each other. Bucky tasted some of the berries and found them delicious, while Steve tasted Bucky's green plants, which tasted strongly of salt and fish. Steve didn't like it much and stuck to his berries.

Time flew by and when it began to dawn, Steve knew he had to go home since he didn't like flying in the dark. Bucky pouted, but agreed eventually. He still had some questions about the Soul Kiss, but he'd ask one of the elders so he wouldn't have to bother his father again.

So Steve and Bucky shared a bittersweet goodbye kiss, promising that they'd meet again here in their secret cave.

Bucky watched with a heavy heart Steve climbing up the natural stairs and waving him goodbye before flying back to his nest. Just then the Merboy also left the cave. He was happy for once. He had a new friend and a new soul, although he still wasn't sure if it had worked right. But he'd badger an elder for answers.

oOo

MerCouncilman Pierce was the oldest merman on the MerCouncil and the most respected one. That's why Bucky came to him to get his answers.

"What can i do for you, child?" he asked gently, when Bucky approached him.

"I'm curious about the Soul Kiss! I asked him and he said I was too young for that."

Pierce laughed quietly.

"Oh child, you're not too young. Come on, I'll tell you about the Soul Kiss." he said, gesturing for Bucky to sit down at one of the rock seats in his study. The Merboy did as he was told.

"So you want to know about the Soul Kiss. Well, you certainly know that sometimes some of the humans enter our realm and we give them a Soul Kiss. This is no ordinary kiss you'd give your mate. The Soul Kiss is a kiss where we completely strip the humans of their life essence in order to gain our long live. It may sound cruel, but in order for us to live, they must die. It's a natural law."

Bucky had paled visibly during the Councilman's explanation. So that's what the Soul Kiss was all about. It was nothing more than a weapon to kill other beings with. And to think he had almost killed Steve with it...

No, he couldn't do that. He wouldn't do that again - never in his entire life. And if it meant to keep his distance from the winged boy, so be it.

"Are you alright, child?" Pierce asked, when Bucky didn't answer. The Merboy jerked out of his train of thoughts and looked at the old merman, nodding weakly.

"I'm okay. Thank you for your time, Councilman." Bucky said and left Pierce's study in a hurry.

Swimming to the ceiling of the Great Cave, he slipped into a hidden niche and just then he allowed himself to cry.

The Soul Kiss wasn't a nice thing. It was a necessary evil for his people. But right there, Bucky made himself swear to never use it. And he'd distance himself from Steve, even it hurt him to the core, because in just one day he had fallen in love with him.

But it was better that way.