"Look, it's not like I went looking for him. I swear I'm not one of those selkies that hangs around the human districts baiting the humans with their coats. I don't have a human fetish, I was just hanging out with some friends at the market.I swear. I even made sure to keep my coat close just so there wouldn't be any misunderstandings." he sighs and lights a cigarette.
"But then I stopped paying attention,and it fell on the floor, and then there he was. When he gave me my coat back, our fingers touched for just a fraction of a second and I knew. I just knew, okay? It's like the old dogs are always talking about, how when you find them you just know, instantly."
The market is bustling with the hum of conversation as he speaks to you, exhaling smoke above your head in a purple cloud. His head is partially-shaven, the long curtain of silky black hair falling straight down his left side, his exposed right ear studded with piercings. He looks pretty typical of the younger selkies that haunt the human district in the winter when the herd shelters in the bay.
"I mean, the guy barely says anything to me, just 'hey, you dropped this' or something like that. Flashes me this amazing smile. Like old-school Hollywood flashbulb smile. Shit, I sound like my little sister." he stamps the cigarette but out with the steel toe of his boot. "Anyway, the whole way home my mind is like, racing, because all of a sudden I'm linked to this other person. Like, I can tell where he is,I can feel his emotions, I can tell when he falls asleep. And in the morning, it's still there, this connection. So I go looking for him.
"It took a while to get him alone,actually. I couldn't just walk in there and say 'Hey, remember me?You gave me my coat back? Well you touched my coat and turns out you're my soulmate', you know? That's...too much, to put on a person all at once. So I just go hang out at his work, become a regular, and we start talking. He's really smart. He knows, like, everything about plants and flowers and shit and I actually start to find it interesting? Like, what?"
He frowns slightly, looking agitated,and rubs at his forehead.
"Anyway, I ask him out. Eventually, I mean. I ask him out, and he says yes, and it's un-fucking-believable.I take him down to the harbor and we sit on the rocks and just talk for hours. He can tell something's up, though, like, with me.He can tell I'm hiding something. My grandpa used to tell me that,'They'll be able to tell, no use pretending'. So I come clean. I tell him I'm a selkie, and that when he touched my coat and touched my hand I recognized him, like, my soul recognized his or whatever corny poetic bullshit," he's blushing now, "and I give him my coat. Like, 'This is yours to keep, and I'll be human as long as you have it, but if you don't want me then you put it back on me and I'll be a seal forever.'"
He looks at his feet for a long while,his eyes swimming.
"Man, the silence when I was waiting for his answer was the most painful moment of my fucking life."
The selkie tosses his long hair over his shoulder, throwing you a cocky half-smile.
"And then he kissed me." he smirks."A full-on bone-shaking world-changing kiss, like from the Princess Bride or some shit. Just, kissed me and laughed and hugged my coat and promised to keep it safe. Keep me safe, I guess. So that's it,that's how we met."
Just then, a shorter young man approached you both, his dark curly hair peeking out from under his cap. He loops his arm through the selkie's. "Ready to go, babe?"
The selkie looks down at his boyfriend and smiles, bending down to kiss him. "Yeah, let's go."
He gives you a small wave as they disappear into the marketplace crowd.
"Nice talking to you."

YOU ARE READING
Monstrophy, Vol. 1
RomanceA whisper of shadow in the corner, the catch of a claw against the bedsheet; this is Monstrophy. A collection of erotic love stories featuring human and not-so-human lovers.