Work Text:
It had been a long week for Damien. A long, stressful, horrible week.
First he had to go to a party with his parents and Celine, a part filled with stuck up rich snobs that only cared about the quality of their wine and how much money the other person they were talking to made. It was absolutely terrible, especially since Damien knew that his family made more money and owned more property than anyone else in the room, meaning they were all trying to sweeten him up and act nice. He usually did his best to steer away from these types of parties when he could, but this time his parents had forced him to come. Why, he didn't know, seeing that any other day they tried to keep their crippled son as far away from the public eye as possible.
At least he had his cane. His parents never even questioned where the object came from, and for that Damien was greatful. How was he supposed to tell them 'oh yeah I met this merman when he saved me from drowning and he gave me this when he found it in a shipwreck. And also we may or may not be dating or something, but whatever.'
Yeah. He did not want to have that conversation.
But anyway, to top off the horrible party, Damien found out that Celine was supposed to be looking for a husband. He didn't realize this at first, seeing as how he spent a good part of his time at the beach anymore, and when his sister finally got around to telling him, he was devastated. He couldn't imagine Celine marrying someone, let alone simply because of their money.
Yet all Damien could do was press his mouth into a thin line and grip his cane, not looking at his sibling. She wasn't looking at him either, both looking in the straight forward.
"When?" he whispered, the unspoken understanding going easily between them.
"Before I turn eighteen."
That nearly made the boy collapse in shock, eyes going wide as he looked at his sister. Eighteen? That was only a few months away! Their parents really expected her to find a husband and get married on such a short notice?
Celine never looked at him, and Damien could see unshed tears glistening in her eyes. He wanted to say something, anything to comfort her, but he didn't know what or how. Instead, he used the hand that wasn't holding onto the cane and grabbed Celine's hand behind her back, squeezing softly. She squeezed back, and for the rest of the party the sibling's stayed there, wondering about what awaited them in the future.
That was just the beginning. Nearly every night Damien was forced to go to another party, whether it be for some fundraiser he didn't know or care about or for his parents to show off just how much money they had. All the while, Celine had to dance with random men that neither of them knew, all egotistical bastards that wanted in on the Doom family fortune. It was hard to watch his sister deal with them, but what was he supposed to do? He had no doubt his parents were just waiting for the right moment to tell Damien to find some girl to marry as well.
Which lead to the worst part about this whole week.
He never once got to see William.
Damien didn't realize how much he relied on the merman until now, didn't realize just how much his presence made him happy until he couldn't see him at all. It didn't help his nerves that it was just a few days after they kissed in the cave, thoughts invading his mind about how William must think he didn't love him after all and this was his way of telling him that. It wrecked his heart to think about the merman coming to the shore day after day only to never see him.
"I'll see him soon," the boy whispered to himself at night as he tried to fall asleep. "I'll see him soon."
And by the end of the horrible week, Damien finally had a chance to escape from his life. The sun was more than halfway down the sky, but in that moment he couldn't care less, instead running as quickly as he could with his limping leg down to the beach. He nearly fell several times, and about twisted his ankle in the process, but he eventually made it to his paradise where he's been denied for s long.
It was a beautiful night, no clouds covering up the twinkling jewels that were beginning to light up the sky, a pearl like moon that reflected in the crystal water that lapped gently onto the shore, the cooling sand beneath his feet. It was like everything that was knotted up in his chest finally being set free, a sense of calm washing over him. He was finally where he belonged.
William. The merman had to be here, right?
The human stumbled through the sand, calling out the merman's name. He didn't care if anyone heard him, all he wanted was to see his love after so long of being apart. After many minutes and still of William, Damien began to fear the worst, just like his nightmares showed him. The merman thought he was rejecting him, and after so many days of not seeing him decided he wasn't coming back. William would never come back, and Damien was trapped here, and and-
He fell to the ground, tears rolling down his cheeks silently, hands quivering and shaking. He stayed there for a long time, staring up at the stars and wondering where it all went wrong. There must be a way that William would come back, right? There must be...
"Please come back," Damien whispered into the sky. "Please please come back."
"Damien?"
The boy's eyes went wide, darting around until it landed in the ocean, and faintest shades of red able to be seen in the increasing darkness. The red trailed for a good nine feet, until it reached a face and a mustache that Damien's been dreaming about seeing for the whole week.
"William," the human choked out, a sob retching from his throat. He forced himself up, forgetting about his cane and his leg, running to the water until he was right in front of the merman, falling down again from his leg giving out. But William caught him before he hit the water, bringing the human close as Damien continued to sob. He shushed the human gently, caressing his cheek with the back of his webbed soothingly. Damien leaned into the hand, wrapping his arms around William before leaning in desperately to kiss him, the merman kissing back with the same desperation. There was so much force that the human fell onto his back against the sand, William following close behind and trapping him there. He didn't mind in the slightest.
"I'm sorry," Damien managed in between breaths of air. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry."
William finally drew back, the human whining as he chased the merman's lips. "You have no need to apologize," William reassured, pressing long kisses against the humans jaw and neck. It made Damien cry harder to hear his love say that, running his fingers through the others hair as the merman put their foreheads together.
"But-But-" the human stuttered, struggling to maintain eye contact with William. "But I've been gone for so long without explanation- oh God you must hate me, don't you? You must think I don't love you anymore, you must thought I was trying to break apart-"
"Shhhh," William wiped away Damien's tears, pressing another small kiss onto his lips. "Never say that, alright? I will never think any of those things, and I will always come back no matter what. I would never abandon my mate."
He said everything so gently yet so matter of fact, and it instantly made all of the fears festing inside of the human fade away. The merman was here, and he loved Damien with all of his heart, just like he did. It didn't matter of they were apart for a week or a year, nothing about either of those statements would ever change.
"Mate..." the human said slowly, not entirely sure what it meant. He remembered William mentioning once that mermaids had true loves that they cherished til the end of time, but he had never called Damien that until now. It made his heart soar, and without another thought he leaned up and put a chaste kiss on the merman's lips, feeling William's tail beginning to wrap around him gradually. The merman, seemingly deciding that it would take a lot of effort to that while the human was trapped under him, shifted so that he and Damien were laying side by side on the sand, chests pressed together, lips still locked. Like this William's tail had a much easier time getting to where it wanted to go, and within a minute the human was in a cocoon of his love's tail.
They both eventually pulled away from the kiss, tracing each other with their eyes. Damien used his fingertips to trail over the tattoo on William's chest, focusing on every little detail he possibly could, practically purring as the merman rubbed patterns into the skin on his back. For a long while, everything stayed like that, content and silent. Both wanted to keep the other as close as they could, still afraid that this was all a good dream that they would suddenly awake from.
"I've had one of the worst weeks of my life," Damien mumbled, almost under his breath. He didn't think William heard it, but the merman did, tilting the human's chin up so they could look each other in the eyes.
"And why would that be, Kaiá?" William asked, and just like that, it was as if a dam had been broken.
Without thinking, Damien started listing off all the bad things that happened in the past seven days, everything from the stupid parties he had to go to, the people there and how all they thought of him was his family name and money, how he kept having the bad feeling that sometime soon his parents were going to make him marry and pass on the family name, and Celine already being forced to do so. It all came out in such a rush that the moment he was done, it was like he had been drained of all the energy he body could hold.
"And of course, I couldn't see you the whole time... believe me when I say it kept me up at night."
William chuckled sadly after his love had expelled out all of his thoughts, touching their noses together. "I'm sorry, darling. I wish I could have been there to comfort you," the arms and tail around the human tightened, making Damien sigh and burrow into the merman's chest, taking a deep breath. He smelled of salt and something distinctly William, something comforting and warm. Whatever it was, it made the awfulness of the past week fade away, and everything coming to peace.
"I missed you," came the muffled voice of the human.
"I missed you too," William replied, kissing the top of Damien's head.
Now that everything was calm and he was at peace, Damien could feel his will to stay awake was slowly melting away. He knew there was a good chance someone would come looking for him, and if they found him here his relationship with the merman would be out in the open, but he didn't care. Let them see, let them understand. All he wanted to do was stay right here and sleep.
"Can... we stay here?" the human questioned, feeling the rumble in William's chest as he chuckled.
"Of course we can."
And that was all it took before Damien was out like a light, submitted to sleep easily. William wasn't too far behind the knowledge that his mate was safe and sound and in his arms comforting him like a mother would to their child.
Neither of them saw the figure standing by the path, smiling softly at the two of them. They quickly brushed their eyes of the tears they knew were forming, and whispered into the night, "I'm glad you found your happiness, brother. Maybe someday, I'll find it as well," and walked back to the grand house behind them.