Don't let me drown
She can't breathe.
She can't swim to the surface in time—
Shuri lost her breath at the bottom of the ocean—
-Come rescue me, I'll be waiting,
I'm too young to fall asleep.-
I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe—
Shuri jolts awake from her nightmare, gasping for air desperately, and a pair of warm arms tightly embracing her, sweeping her back with force to help her breathe. "It's okay, it's okay, I'm here, I won't let you drown, Shuri, I won't let you drown—"
Namor cradles her head and lifts it, just like a few hours ago when Shuri was submerged underwater. He immediately brought her to the surface, pulling her up from down below, anxiously keeping her head above water and helping her cough out all the seawater.
"I need you—" Shuri rasps.
"I'm right here with you, Shuri, I'm not going anywhere—"
He will dry her off and hold her close.
"Don't let me—"
"I'm here, Shuri, you are safe—"
Namor will keep her safe, keep her warm.
Shuri fell asleep, holding him tightly and clutching onto him as if he were a lifebuoy. Namor held her like that throughout the entire night.
***
The morning after
Namor almost let Shuri drown.
Shuri wakes up feeling well-rested but incredibly hot. This fool had held onto her all night, making it impossible for her to turn around! Now she was sweaty and sticky, and he was sweaty too. Was he not roasted alive????
She reached out to wipe Namor's sweat, only to suddenly remember what had happened yesterday! He nearly let her drown!
Angry, Shuri wiggles free from his embrace, and gets up in a huff and Namor wakes up too, immediately grabbing her and pulling her into his arms safely.
"Shuri? How are you feeling?"
"I almost drowned!" She furiously declared! Shuri breaks free and storms into the bathroom to take a shower and Namor follows suit like lightning, squeezing in as well.
Then, the two of them showered while having a fight inside.
The remaining morning consisted of Shuri giving him the angry, puffed-up kitty treatment and refusing to talk to him, while Namor followed closely behind her all day, using all his tricks and gimmicks to coax his wife back.
"Shuri-" Namor reaches out to grab her hand, but Shuri quickly pulls it away. He persisted, continuously trying to hold her hand, while the surrounding guards observed their king and queen. Are they having a disagreement… or flirting?
This time Namor managed to catch Shuri's hand, intertwining his fingers with her delicate ones, and forming a tight grip, squeezing her comfortably. Despite Shuri's efforts to shake him off, she couldn't break free. Angrily, Shuri glares at him and Namor shamelessly responds with a smug grin!!!
"Hmph!!!" Shuri pouts and raises her voice like a child as she hums at him! Namor's expression softens within seconds and he playfully sways their linked hands.
"Don't be mad at me anymore, okay?" He patiently coaxed her.
"In your dreams!" Shuri then tightens her grip and starts running, dragging him with Namor following in small steps, heading towards the landing dock. They passed by four little figures tinkering with the royal serpent talon fighter.
"What are they doing?" Tadeas amuses.
"Having a quali." Taavi is certain.
"Quarrel? Our parents only engage in shameless banter when they argue." Zyanya teases.
"If they were really quarreling, Mama would've already knocked Baba out." Kinich, their family's truther, had spoken again.
In a flash, Namor and Shuri were back in Talokan and still, Namor didn't let go of her hand.
Namor reaches out with his free hand to cup her face, attempting to kiss Shuri to soothe her restless emotions, patiently trying to calm the ruffled little kitten.
However, Shuri remained resistant, dodging left and right while smirking, refusing to let him kiss her. Namor shrugs, thinking of another way since a kiss isn't working. He decided to lick her face, using his tongue to groom her ruffled fur just like a cat, leaving Shuri stunned in place, clearly surprised by his unusual tactic.
With a triumphant grin, he cups her face and gives her a quick peck on the lips, then another, and another, and another. Shuri arches her neck helplessly when Namor sucks along the veins, making her whimper slightly and her free hand frantically ruffling his cheek.
Their cenote echoed with their embarrassing kissing sounds, four pairs of little mouths tightly shut, two trying to suppress their giggles and the other two suppress their groans.
Namor moved along her earlobe, licking and nibbling it softly while switching sides, nuzzling their faces together. Then, using his other hand to gently lift their entangled hands up, taking a deep breath and blowing a shameless moan into her ears before parting from her. Shuri smacks him on the ass, grinning from ear to ear.
Namor lets out a sinister chuckle, turning his attention to reverently kiss her hand, trailing his lips along her veins, cherishingly pressing a kiss onto the back of her hand, sealing it with a firm kiss upon his queen's heart.
"Have you licked enough?" Shuri beams. "Have you cooled off? Namor kisses her forehead sweetly. "Hmph, it's clearly your fault—" Namor cocks his eyebrows at his wife, ooooh~ he bet Shuri's going to hide in his chest later after he talks her out of her adorable and unreasonable argument.
"You can't just blame me, blame the baby orcas, Shuri. They were just being excited and playful when their queen naughtily hopped onto them to ride them. They probably thought you wanted a ride around—" Namor starts retorting.
"You're the one who took me to see them! And you were busy talking to the people, didn't even notice your wife getting kidnapped by baby orcas!" Shuri continues to be the adorable and unreasonable wifey, she knows he loves it.
"I did notice, you had your suit on. A few laps in the water wouldn't kill you, Shuri, especially with baby orcas~" Not even the adult orcas could hurt her.
And then Namor's right ear twitches.
"But you said they weren't properly trained yet! They're not very good swimmers and guess what happened!! I almost drowned—!!" Shuri pokes at his stupid chest.
Namor guides her hands and puts them onto his shoulder, letting Shuri grip him.
"What happened is that you didn't hold on tight enough and got thrown off, and they just happily swam away, right?" Namor pouts at her smugly, tilting his head menacingly.
"..." Shuri was speechless— Namor ruthlessly exposed her like that！
And then Namor's left ear twitches- his mouth slightly curves up uncontrollably.
But the show must go on. If she admitted that she didn't hold on properly, wouldn't she be embarrassed as hell?!
"Yeah! I realized that too late! Thank you for noticing and—!!"
"I noticed, you were wearing a new prototype suit instead and I had already rushed out of the city to get to you by the time you were struggling to catch your breath. I got you out of the water before things got too dangerous. It was a bit risky at the time, but luckily you're fine..."
Namor K.O.
"I… I- it's still your fault! I don't care! It's not that I didn't HOLD TIGHT, you were slow and you almost let me drown—!"
Namor tightly pressed his lips together, waiting for it—
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—"
The sound of water being spat out and bursts of laughter erupted from behind them.
Shuri widened her eyes, looking at Namor with disbelief, only to find that he had already barked into laughter along with the kids!
Now it was all out in the open!!! Her embarrassing incident was going to be known by the whole family!!!!!!
"Why didn't you tell me they were there?!?!" Shuri wails.
"I only— heard them trying to bite back their laughter… like halfway through, you can't blame this on me, Shuri- they were there from the start, we were just too… occupied to notice them—" Namor chuckled while Shuri buried her blush-covered face into his chest, pounding on his chest with her fists embarrassingly.
Namor and Shuri turned to look and saw their four children sitting on the other side.
Their eldest son, T'Amor was holding their youngest son, Shukan, where he was still clutching the cup of corn juice that had spat earlier. T'Amor ridiculously attempts to drink from the cup, while laughing so hard that his hand trembled, spilling the liquid everywhere as he gasped for air between laughs, while Shukan giggled adorably in his older brother's arms.
Shuri could imagine their children watching them the whole time, enjoying the show, sipping on corn juice and squinting their eyes while covering the little one's eyes and ears!
"You four! Come here!" Shuri leaves Namor's shaking embrace and stomps on the ground, summoning their kids.
T'Amor held Shukan, covering his eyes with one hand and holding him with the other, his cup emptied from all the trembling. As for their eldest daughter, Kiri, she carried their youngest baby girl, Namuri in one arm and held a cup of corn juice in the other, all of them approaching their parents while laughing hysterically. Most of Kiri's cup had already been shaken off too.
"Mama, you made me spit out my corn juice, what a waste!" T'Amor complains while wiping his tears off.
"Mama, don't worry~ We both had our eyes narrowed, so it's fine~ We covered the little one's eyes and ears too, you know~ We remember you and Baba's teachings— 'respecting others' privacy'."
After Kiri finishes teasing, she laughs uncontrollably, leaning on her brother for support. Their little princess, Namuri, also giggled while reaching out her hand towards him, demanding, "Baba, I want a kiss too!" She flies up to him, bumping into her father as Namor gently kisses her cheek, and then kisses Shukan who flew up too. "Baba, me too!" Kiri eagerly shows her forehead to him, and Namor gladly complies.
After kissing his baby girl's forehead, T'Amor jokingly made a disgusted sound as Namor pulled the son in for a kiss on the forehead too.
"Alright, stop laughing, all of you. You're not allowed to laugh at your mother, and you're not allowed to make fun of your Mama like that. Got it?" Namor warns them slightly.
"Ohhh kayyy~" They chorused in agreement, but their teasing laughter didn't stop, and so did Namor's smile. Shuri looks at them with amusement, suddenly feeling that making a fool of herself and making the whole family laugh is a joyful thing.
"All right, get out of here, in bebés, don't disturb me and your mother." Namor shoo the little rascals away, wanting Shuri all by himself.
"Got it, Baba~~~" They didn't move an inch away from them. Namor rolls his eyes and—
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—"
This time it was Shuri who took the lead. The mother and babies turn to mock him in laughter loudly!
"Don't give me that look! You're the one who spoils them all the time, you can't blame this on me, nuh-uh!!" Shuri points at him cheesily, shoving all of them into her husband's face.
"...Well~ okay…" Namor admits and looks at Shuri with a doting gaze as the kids watch their parents, getting more and more smitten by each other again for the 20221111th time, unable to help but chuckle knowingly.
"Don't let me drown." She murmurs to him softly, cocking her eyebrows cheekily.
"I won't let it happen again." He assures her, barely grazing their foreheads together.
Shuri leans in closer and whispers the words softly, almost as if she were sharing a secret, "Swear it."
Namor gazes into her eyes and they touch.
He murmurs softly, his voice barely above a whisper, his voice a gentle caress, as his words were a delicate exhale,
"On my life." Determined, as Namor vows.
Shuri tilts her head to the side, not quite accepting—
"Unfair, you won't drown anyway." She's speaking the truth!
"Tsks, you don't need to ride an orca, Shuri. How about you tie me up, throw me into the desert, and then ride me to death?"
Shuri cocks her eyebrows in tease—
"That sounds more like it."
"Ewwwwwwwwww!!! We are getting outta here!!!!" T'Amor and Kiri scream while scooping up Shukan and Namuri into their arms, covering their little eyes and ears, escaping from their cheesy gross parents for real this time!!
"Baba!! Big Bad Kitty!!" Shukan teases.
"Mama!! Embarrass Little Kitty!!" Namuri joins the fun. They peek through the gap, eyes shining with mischief. Namor and Shuri have no idea where they learned that from.
"Want to play games with me? Come back and consider it when you're as tall as your mother." Namor shouts at them with a playful grin, they groan insufferably one more time before diving into the water.
Shuri grins like a devil, happy that Namor avenged her!
"How can there be a menace and merciless dad like you?" Shuri comments cheekily.
"Because I have a beautiful and lovely wife like you, that's why I've become so interesting~" Namor smoothly confesses.
"I feel like I should lock you up to prevent you from corrupting our innocent and naive children." Shuri tiptoes and kisses him.
"Believe me, Shuri, they are far from naive." Namor closes his eyes dreamily, melting into her kiss.
"Or maybe you should lock me up next time?" Before he knew it, Shuri started singing while spinning around him to taunt him. "♫Lock me up with joy and kisses? Lock me up with love? Chain me to your heart's desire~ I don't want you to stop♫"
Namor spun along with Shuri, unable to take his eyes off her radiant smile and sweet singing voice. He pulls her softly, and holds her tightly in his embrace, imprisoning her.
"Next time I'll lock you up in my arms, I'll lock you up with my mouth, and you'll never drown again."
At night, all of the children come home together. The first to speak is—
"So, Mama, you got fling off by baby orcas?" Kinich strikes.
"Mama, are you hurt? But I bet Baba had~" Zyanya points her fingers between them cheekily.
"Mama! I can give you riding orca lessons! Just like the whales!" Tadeas volunteers.
"Mama, that's impossible! The baby orcas are very sweet! You must have forgotten to hold on tight!" Like father, like daughter. Their little angel in disguise, Taavi, K.O.
"Yeap, she definitely didn't hold on tight, you are right, In wíits'ine'~" T'Amor grins.
"And it's allllll Baba's fault~~~" Kiri winks.
"Baba let Mama drown drown!" Namuri squeals.
"Mama drown drown in Baba!!" Seems like Shukan can be the next truther in their family.
"I hate you," Shuri tells him, facing all the embarrassing mockery with a graceful face.
"I love you too, In watan." My wife. Namor looks at the children with a glance—
And T'Amor, Kiri, Kinich, Zyanya, Tadeas, Taavi, Namuri and Shukan know THEY ARE SCREWED—
Not sure who screamed first but…
"RUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNN—!!!!!!!!!"
Namor sinks them down beneath the water's surface, making sure this time that no orcas would come to steal away his wife.
"Shuri? How are you feeling?" He checks on her, always wrapping her close to him as they float in the shimmering darkness.
"Drowning." Shuri huffs playfully.
"Tsks— how are you feeling, my love?" Namor leans their foreheads together.
"—Water," Shuri whispers her love back to him.
"I'm water."
Namor and Shuri embrace underwater, sharing a longing kiss, becoming one with the water as they become one with each other.