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Sun yawned as he woke up, squinting out into the open water before cuddling back into Moon, even as he knew he had to get up for the day. Light softly filtered through the water into their den and slowly, reluctantly, Sun forced himself out of their nest, untangling himself from the hold Moon had on him. His mate twisted in their sleep, feeling around for him and Sun gently nudged Moon awake.
“C’mon, sleepyhead,” he murmured affectionately, Moon grumbling as they rose to look balefully at Sun, who only laughed in response, “ I know, so mean of me to make you wake up so soon.”
He poked Moon teasingly on the center of their face, retracting his hand as Moon ineffectively tried to bite his finger, “You know I’ve got to go catch us some food, but I’ll be back before you know it, Moony.”
Waiting for their acknowledgement, Sun circled his half-asleep mate happily, occasionally swimming closer to flick Moon with the ends of his fins or nuzzle in close. It was the midst of Spring-time, which meant brighter colors and more prey to catch, and though he had just arisen from his sleep, Sun was already awake and alert - the opposite of Moon’s current demeanor.
As Sun twisted back around, aiming to flick his mate lightly once again, Moon drowsily tried to nip at his tail. Sun easily doged Moon’s attempt, and turned to face them once again, giggling as he nuzzled into their neck. He curled himself around them, carefully so as to not accidentally prick them with one of his venomous spines, and Moon let out a rumbling purr of “Mmmkay, Sunny, see you soon,” as they slowly drifted off towards sleep once again. With the Spring came warmer waters, leading to a sleepy Moon, and thus it was Sun’s responsibility to hunt for both of them - much like Moon did in the cooler seasons.
Whenever one of them left to hunt, they always made sure to briefly wake the other before leaving to ensure that neither of them woke up alone with no explanation. Sun carefully unwound himself from around Moon, this time more careful not to disturb their sleep, and gave them one last affectionate nuzzle. He rubbed his cheek against theirs, purring lightly, and finally headed off towards the nearby reef to catch their next meal.
This time of year had the reef positively teeming with fish, though today Sun wanted to get a bit of a treat for the two of them. Eels were a prey that Moon had taken a liking to, though they required a bit of extra work to track down, given their propensity for hiding in the crevices of the reef. Sun’s personal favorite food were crabs and the such, and he plucked up a few to snack on while he looked for the best spot to lure out an eel to catch. Once he found a good spot, Sun planned to use smaller fish to entice an eel into showing itself and giving him an opportunity to grab it more easily.
After looping slowly through the reef, he decided on a spot near a particularly deep crack in the reef, where he could hide himself on a nearby coral formation that matched his coloring well. As Sun settled into place, a shadow fell over the water, likely from a cloud drifting by, he thought. From his chosen vantage spot, Sun blew streams of water at passing fish to disorient them so he could grab them up to use as bait, holding them carefully in front of the crevice. Time passed oh-so-slowly as he waited for an eel to peek out, and he cracked open the crabs he’d caught on his way over to eat in the meantime.
Out of the corner of his eye, Sun spotted a group of fish scattering oddly, as if trying to avoid something, and glanced over to see what was chasing them. He turned, forgetting about his hunt as he realized what was chasing the fish, but even as he recognized it and flicked his tail to swim away, he was caught up in it.
A net, large enough to swallow him up and drag him out of the water as it was lift towards the cause of the shadow in the water. Not a passing cloud, as Sun had assumed, but rather a boat. Sun struggled and tried to slice at the net in vain - the material too thick and slippery for him to properly cut - and only got more tangled when it surfaced and the weight of gravity settled in.
He was unceremoniously dumped onto the boat, trapped in the net, and let out a cry - to the humans, no more than a piercing, chattering whistle, but for him - “ Moon!”
Sun had always had a loud voice - too loud at times - but at that moment he only hoped he could cry loud enough to reach Moon resting in their den.
“MOON!”
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Back in the den, Moon shifted sleepily, humming softly at the faint call of their name - Sun must be on his way back already. However, when they heard him call again, they frowned, eyes slitting open as they pushed themself up to look for their mate. They didn’t smell him on the water and, looking out of their den, found that Sun was nowhere in sight.
At yet another, more desperate, cry of their name, Moon’s eyes snapped fully open, their pupils contracting in the bright sun as they swam towards the reef as fast as they could. Something was wrong, Sun was in danger.
Approaching, they soon realized the cause for alarm - a shadow, a boat , floated over the reef and from it Moon could hear the cries of their mate. They tried to scale the side of the boat to reach Sun, but it was too high and too slick for them to get a grip, and they ended up scrambling uselessly at the boat, calling out for Sun in response. It started rumbling even as Moon tried in vain to get a grasp on the boat, and by some stroke of luck they managed to finally haul themself onto the deck, where Sun lay tangled in the netting.
Growling at the humans running about, Moon quickly dragged themself over to Sun, murmuring reassurances to him as they tried to slice through the nets. Out of the water, and not actively getting tangled in the net, Moon was able to cut it off, all the while hissing and baring their teeth at any human which dared to approach. If it weren’t for their current focus being on freeing Sun, they definitely would have taught these humans a lesson, but as it was their priority was getting back into the water safely with Sun.
Pulling the cut apart netting off of Sun, Moon glared and hissed at the humans one last time before pulling Sun with them out of the boat and back into the water below. Once back in their proper environment, Moon swiftly gathered up Sun, who clung to them tightly, and brought the two of them back to their den. They curled up in the very back of their nest, shielding Sun from the entrance as they checked him over for any injuries caused by the net or the humans, all the while reassuring the shaking Sun, “Oh, my Sun, you’re safe now, they can’t get us here, don’t worry, let me see you…”
Under Moon’s fretting and soft reassurances, Sun slowly calmed down. Luckily, he was uninjured, aside from a few sore spots where the net had dug into his fins, and he pulled Moon down into the nest with him to cuddle. Moon easily followed Sun’s pull, and gently traced their fingers along Sun’s rays as they laid with him, humming lowly.
“I think it’s best if we hunt together for the next while, until the humans stop bothering us,” Moon said, coaxing Sun into a gentle lull. Sun hummed in agreement and cuddled yet closer into Moon, winding his arms around them tightly and pushing his face into their neck.
They continued running their hands soothingly down Sun’s spines, helping him relax as he slowly nodded off. Moon stayed awake for a little longer, still humming, but in the safety of their nest and curled up with their partner, they too drifted off to sleep.
They were both exhausted from the brush with humans, and needed the rest and comfort of each others’ presence before thinking about tackling the remainder of the day.