Gabriel's eyes grew, if possible, wider as Eric swam closer and touched his hand to the place where his own pressed. The soft smile that accompanied it caused a pleasant squirming within Gabe's stomach, but before he could mouth a greeting through the glass, the merman had done an impressive flip and darted out of sight.
The minutes between Eric's disappearance and eventual reappearance were awkward, with Gabe looking around the enclosure briefly before taking out his phone and fiddling with it in order to distract himself. When the merman eventually announced his presence, Gabe startled slightly and had to scramble to save his cellphone from ending up in several shattered pieces on the floor as his hold on it slipped. Letting out a breath of relief, he slid the device back into his pocket and turned his gaze to Eric...and what a sight he saw. For several moments, he allowed his eyes to travel across the man's defined body, from the faint glowing that surrounded him to the trail of hair that disappeared into the waistband of his jeans.
"Hi!" he said brightly, only the barest hint of nerves lacing both his tone and his broad smile as he returned his focus to Eric's face. "It was amazing! You're so pretty. Handsome! I mean--" Repressing the urge to groan out loud, Gabe tilted his head back momentarily and took a deep breath, forcing himself to settle down. "What I meant to say was that the show was great. You were really good, I liked it a lot."