Work Text:
William knew from the second he saved Damien from drowning that he was a goner. That is, he was in love with Damien. Or, as humans would say it, head over heels (which sounded much more accurate, even if he didn't fully understood what it meant).
Sure, mermaids had mates, lovers that stayed by their sides throughout their entire lives no matter what, but William never expected to find his anytime soon, let alone his mate being human. He kinda wished that his instincts weren't meant to know who his mate was the second he met them, seeing that then he could just brush it off as attraction or something along those lines, but he couldn't. Every second his mind was clouded by images of the young human, the want to see him again and to get to know him better.
William, shook himself out of his thoughts, trying to distract himself with his work. He was the Colonel of the kingdom for pete's sake, anyone who saw the mark on his chest would know that! He shouldn't be focusing on a human he randomly saved when he had much more pressing matters to attend to...
That's what he kept telling himself, over and over again. Hey, maybe one day he'll give into the temptation and go back to where he saw Damien, perhaps even becomes mates with him (he more fantasized about that. Did human's even have mates?). But right now, his duty was to the kingdom.
He lasted less than a day.
Despite his self scolding and numerous attempts to forget about the human for even a second, William found himself swimming back to the shore where he and Damien met. It was overcast, he thought as he broke the surface, his lungs going to work as his gills became useless above water. There wasn't a storm that he could sense, the clouds just enough to cover the world from the sun's rays.
William observed the shore, making sure to keep most of his long tail under the water, not wanting a random human to see him. He was lucky no one saw him when he took Damien to the shore, especially since there were so many houses along it. They were all really big, he noticed, seeing the gardens and statues that were in front of some of them. Were all humans this grand?
The merman sunk under the water as he swam closer, making sure he blended into the coral and other sea life around him. He could see the place where he saw Damien leave, and decided to stay where he could continue seeing it. The path, from what he could tell, lead to one of the many houses, so that must be where he lived.
William stared at the path, wondering if he could just make the human magically appear. There was some sort of knot in his stomach, begging to see the human and to become his mate, and for the most part William tried to ignore it. Human's didn't mate like mermaids did, and even if they did, there was no way William was just going to do that without at least courting Damien first. He never liked the idea mating without trying to win them over so that he could make sure there really was love between them.
Just as the merman was about to leave, mentally hitting himself for ever doing this, he saw Damien, slowly making his way down the path. William froze, feeling his heart accelerate just by seeing the human, wanting to run his fingers through that slicked back hair, keeping him close-
William really did hit himself this time so he wouldn't jump out of the water and grab Damien, cursing his stupid mermaid instincts. Instead, he watched the human limp to the water, wondering why he had it. Most human's he's seen walk just fine, but this one seemed to have some trouble with it, one leg slightly dragging behind the other, most of his weight against his good one. Was this why he couldn't swim?
The merman followed Damien in the water as the human walked along the beach, stopping when he found a large rock and sat on it. William noticed how he never went more than ankle deep in the water, thinking that yesterday was enough to shake him up and leave him scared. It made the merman a little sad, a part of him hoping Damien would need to be saved again so William could hold him again. He immediately felt bad after thinking that, remembering just how terrified the human had been, how close he had come to drowning.
Damien looked out to the horizon of the sea, his posture relaxed and mouth turned up in a small smile. The wind blew at his clothes, strands of hair that were not slicked back dancing. It captured William, and without thinking he went closer to the rock until he was only a few feet away. The human blinked slowly, eyes wide as if he didn't believe what he was seeing, and the merman couldn't feel worried or in danger when he looked into those eyes.
"I see you came back," he told the human, no longer trying to hide himself. Damien nodded, a pretty flush turning his cheeks pink.
Why do humans do that? He would have to ask later.
"You came back too," Damien commented, hands fiddling with the edge of his shirt. Without really thinking, William moved so that the end of his tail loosely circled one of the human's foot in the water, the one that made him limp, he realized only some time after. The move was quite the affectionate one, at least for mermaids it was. They weren't very emotional creature's, their mates and close friends and family's being the only exception to that. Even allowing another mermaid to touch your tail was a huge sign of trust, but to willingly wrap your tail around another? It was rarely seen outside of mates.
Damien didn't seem to mind at all, much to the merman's surprise. He never commented on it, but at the same time his body language never made it seem like he was uncomfortable with it, so William kept it there.
For hours the two talked, getting along very well, telling stories likes and dislikes, the works. William told the human what the tattoo on his chest meant, Damien explained why the houses were so large along the beach (apparently the rich and wealthy like it for whatever reason) and the merman struggled not reveal his true feelings towards the human. Without thinking he called Damien Kaiá, which was a name meant to show affection and love towards another. When the human asked what it meant, William panicked and said, "it means my friend."
Man, he was seriously going to have to learn some human terms if he ever wanted to tell Damien how he felt.
Just as the sun touched the end of the sky, Damien claimed that he had to go home, which made William sad, his tail letting go of the human's ankle so he could stand up. He followed the other back to the path, bidding farewell, and Damien waved goodbye. The merman's heart ached, but like many other times, he ignored it, diving into the sea to head back home.
It became a routine for William to go to the same shore after he was done working, and without fail he would find Damien, whether he'd be already waiting for him or walking down the path not a minute later. With each day the merman fell deeper and deeper in love, and before he knew it he was trying to court the human, even if the other never realized that's what he was doing. William would dance in the water, showing off his tail as it would glitter in the sun, brought the human beautiful seashells he found on the seafloor, sang songs in his language, everything he could think of to somehow show how he felt about Damien.
Yet it was clear the human did not know what these things meant. William honestly couldn't say he was surprised, seeing how little most human's knew about mermaids and their culture, but it was still frustrating. It was even more frustrating trying to voice how he felt, seeing he didn't have the time to research human interactions with people they love between spending his nights here and his days working. So for now, he continued to call Damien his Kaiá, even if he didn't know the meaning.
One day, he flat out asked, but it turned out to be a lot harder than he anticipated.
"So... what names would you call another human that you loved?" the merman questioned, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. Damien just furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion, not entirely sure what he was asking, shifting on the rock that had basically become their fo to place at this point.
"Well, it depends what their name is!" the human replied cheerfully, smiling wide, and William had to fight the urge to simultaneously beat his own head against the rock or kiss the human. Why did it have to be so hard?
"No no no, I mean like, words of affection, that aren't their name. What would you say?" the merman held his breath, not sure if he saw the lightest dusting of pink on Damien's face or not, waiting for a reply.
"Well... you can call them darling, sweetheart, honey, love, some people call their lovers objects that mean a lot to them or have many of meanings like star, moon, sun... is there a reason you're asking me this?" the human's voice went up in pitch a little bit.
William quickly shook his head. "I was just curious, no real reason."
Damien nodded, the awkward air between them evaporating after they changed the subject. Even after they parted ways, the merman couldn't stop thinking about the words the human said, and even started saying them to himself. They felt odd on his tongue, as did most words human's used at first.
"Darl... darlring? Darling," he said to himself in concentration as he swam back home. "Sweet... hert... heart... sweetheart."
For some reason, he liked those two the best, and over and over again he imagined himself calling Damien his darling and sweetheart, seeing the blush that would light up his face, then he would kiss the human-
Damn. Damien had him wrapped around his pinky and he didn't even know it, didn't he?
Tomorrow, he decided, is when he was going to tell Damien how he really felt. Then he could call the human sweetheart and darling all he wanted to.
He never did.
William was going to, he really was, but he chickened out at the last moment, a large bundle of nerves somehow wiggling into his stomach and chest. He's never felt this nervous about anything, and it drove him up a wall with frustration. It shouldn't be this hard, but it was.
It didn't really help that the merman practically called him sweetheart at one point, only he realized half way through the word what he was saying and jumbled it up, making it sound more like "swheet-hurt." Damien was confused and asked him to say what he said again, but William brushed it off and swiftly as possible, saying that it was nothing and thinking that he was going to start blushing like a human. The human gave him a weird look, but dropped it, instead telling a story about his twin sister Celine.
So yeah, just like that human saying, William was full head over heels (maybe head over tail) in love with this human. But for whatever reason... he couldn't find it within himself to tell him. Maybe he was under a spell of some sort, preventing him from doing so, or maybe he just needed to get his shit together.
Either way, William loved his time with Damien, no matter how short it was or how much he hated leaving. He loved Damien's laugh, eyes, hair, mannerisms, everything about him. It gave him hope that one day, perhaps those things will finally give him the courage to confess how he felt, and they would both live happily ever after.