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Will strummed his ukulele as he lounged on the deck of his sailboat, nothing but the open ocean surrounding him for as far as he could see. He started singing along with the tune he was playing, and soon felt the boat rocking underneath himself as something bumped it from underneath. He smiled and kept singing, pretending that he hadn’t noticed, even when the deck started slanting as something pulled on one edge.
A cold, wet hand closed around Will’s ankle as somebody shouted, “Boo!”
Will laughed, setting his ukulele aside and sitting up to see Nico with his arms propped up on the side of the boat.
Nico pouted. “Oh, come on, I didn’t scare you?”
“You can’t scare somebody if you warn them ahead of time,” Will pointed out.
“What do you mean, I warned you?” Nico argued. “I tried so hard to be quiet!”
“You bumped into the boat before you grabbed me.”
Nico huffed. “Whatever. Scoot back, would you?”
Will did as he was told, moving to sit at the opposite edge of the boat, and waited as Nico hoisted himself up until just the tip of his tail remained in the water. Once the boat had stopped rocking, Will allowed himself to shift closer to the merman.
“I found some stuff I thought you might like,” Nico told him, removing a single-strap bag from over his shoulder and setting it on the deck in front of himself. He propped himself up on his elbows so that he could more easily search through the bag. “I found another shipwreck. It looked pretty old, so I don’t know if this stuff is ruined from the water. I don’t know what any of it is, either, so I was hoping you could tell me.”
Will smiled and leaned in as Nico started pulling out various objects, telling Will where he’d gotten them or what he guessed they might be for. Will corrected him on some things, and encouraged his crazy ideas for others, always with that same soft look in his eyes.
Once Nico had unloaded his entire bag of treasures, he looked up at Will with his chin propped up on one hand. “What’s that look for?”
“What look?” Will asked, his smile holding strong.
“You’re looking at me funny.”
“Am not.”
Nico lifted himself up as far as he could and poked Will in the cheek. “Yeah you are, there’s your little cheek dents and your eye crinkles.”
Will laughed and wrapped his hand around Nico’s, twisting their fingers together. “I’m just smiling. Is that not allowed?”
“Depends. Why so smiley?” Nico asked, tugging on Will’s hand to bring him closer.
Will shrugged. “Maybe I just enjoy your company.”
Nico grinned. “Maybe I enjoy your company, too.”
Will darted forward and pressed a kiss to the tip of Nico’s nose. Nico’s smile grew a thousand times brighter before he pushed himself up to kiss Will square on the lips.