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“Hello,” Arthur says, and Alfred nearly shits himself.
“Jesus, Arthur, you scared me!” It takes a minute for Alfred to right himself in the bottom of the boat, for his shin and elbow to stop stinging. When he looks over the side, he’s met with a shit-eating, sharp grin.
“I know.”
“You’re mean,” Alfred tells him, pouting. Still, he helps the merman into his boat, careful of all the fins and lures hanging off him. “Do you gotta do that every time?”
Arthur shrugs. “I find it amusing. Your face today was particularly rich.”
“Asshole.”
“Hmm.” Arthur’s hands move to the cooler, where red snapper is waiting for him today. He bites into the fish and hums with approval. “This is better than last time. How’s your research going along?”
“Not much new stuff to report. I’m telling you, us humans just don’t do curses outside of stories. The only common cure is a kiss.”
Arthur’s lip curls. A dribble of blood runs down his chin. “True love’s kiss. I am not a frog. Why the princess ever kissed it, I don’t know.” His voice drops to a mutter. “Kissing frogs, who’d ever want to kiss a stupid frog?”
Alfred just rolls his eyes. He’s not about to be drawn into that argument again. “Well, who’d want to kiss you? You’ve got sharp teeth, no sense of humour, and your hobby is giving people heart attacks.” He thinks he’d very much like to kiss Arthur.
“I only give you heart attacks,” Arthur says defensively. Done with the fish, he tosses its spine overboard.
“I feel so special.” Alfred places a hand across his heart, grinning at the merman’s unimpressed look.
“I’ll bite you next time, I swear,” Arthur threatens.
Alfred has to try very hard not to think about how that would feel. “Maybe there won’t be a next time,” he says instead. “Maybe your true love will waltz into the lake at night, get taken in by your lights, smooch you senseless, and you’ll swim off into the dawn together.”
If anything, Arthur’s face only grows more blasé. “That’s hardly possible, considering you’re the only one who knows about me.” His expression changes, grows more vulnerable. “You are, right?”
The sight of such weakness is rare when it comes to Arthur, and Alfred thinks it looks wrong on him. “I am,” he’s quick to reassure. “I did promise you, and I always keep my promises.”
He reaches for Arthur’s hand, gives it a squeeze. Feels the skin warm up. The mottled flesh never ceases to fascinate him. Arthur’s nails are dark and sharp; he could easily rip through the delicate tendons under Alfred’s skin, but he’s careful as he squeezes back. They don’t let go of each other for a while.
“Will you stay past sunset?”
“Hell yeah!” Alfred grins and traces the darker blue lines running along Arthur’s fingers. “I love seeing you glow.”
Arthur looks away. “You’re really not supposed to find it pretty. It’s how I kill.” His cheeks are pinked, so he stares hard at the mouth of the river while he speaks. Luckily, from the feel of the fingertips running across his skin, Alfred is still focused on the blue.
“You’re not gonna kill me, so it’s fine,” Alfred says. “Plus, I love blue.”
You seem to love a lot of things to do with me. Arthur bites the words back. If he allowed them to slip free, Alfred would startle and leave. He murders them instead, and pulls his arm back to his side. “I would have if we met out there.”
Alfred ignores the words. “I bought more data, so we can watch more videos if you want. The internet still has a lot more cat videos to offer.”
“I wish you’d bring yours here,” Arthur tells him, and leans against his side.
The American pulls a blanket from under his seat, trying not to gag at the smell, and dunks it into the lake. It’s soon smoothed over Arthur’s tail. “They hate water, sorry Art. You’ll see them when you get free though, I promise!”
Arthur bites back more words, strangles them near his heart. He’s accepted he’s not leaving the lake. Alfred makes it better, though. Alfred makes everything he touches better. “Show me the cuttlefish video,” he demands.
“The True Facts one?” Alfred laughs. “Sure. Pretty soon half the views on it will be from you.”
“I like it.” Arthur pokes his wrist. Hard enough to sting, but not hard enough to break the skin. Alfred scraped his knee once while trying to get out of the boat. Arthur finds it hard to control himself at the sight of his blood.
“I know, I know.” Alfred just chuckles more. He wraps his arms comfortably around Arthur’s waist, mindful of the way his dorsal fin is folded between them.
They watch video after video in the calm, the silence between them only broken when one of them laughs. Cat videos, vine compilations, even soap-making demonstrations, Alfred shows them all. Arthur watches with rapt attention. Occasionally, he’ll ask for something specific – ‘Another True Facts, please.’; ‘I want to watch the animal vines next.’; ‘Show me the lily pad pond soap!’ – but more often than not he’s simply looking at the screen with wide eyes. As the sun dips lower, so does Alfred’s head, until his chin is perched on Arthur’s shoulder and he’s laughing into the merman’s ear. The moment Arthur notices and turns to him, eyebrows rising, Alfred smiles and quickly pulls away. His chin and cheek tingle.
The sky bleeds pink and purple when Arthur swats at the phone, almost sending it into the water. “Swim with me,” he says.
In his scramble after the device, Alfred ends up with his face in Arthur’s armpit, arms tight around his friend’s waist. He’s hanging onto his phone with the tips of his fingers. “Careful with that.” It’s not the first time he’s had to say that, and it definitely won’t be the last.
He disentangles himself and stows his phone back into a Ziploc bag. Arthur’s already halfway out of the boat so he gives him a shove, sending him into the water with a splash and a yelp. Oh he’s going to pay for that, but he has no regrets. Predictably, Arthur launches out of the lake and spits water in his face as he soars over the boat, but Alfred’s laughing the whole time and even claps at the display. While Arthur vanishes for a few minutes, Alfred takes the time to strip to his underwear. The merman is waiting for him by the time he’s balancing on the side.
They dive down into the water together. It’s really less of a dive and more of a flop for Alfred, but soon they’re both underwater. Arthur’s bioluminescence is really noticeable when they’re beneath the surface of the lake. The stripes along his body as well as his frills and lures glow a brilliant blue. They contrast well with his eyes.
Arthur grabs hold of Alfred’s hand and tugs him down five feet, then ten. Deep enough that the merman can move freely. Shallow enough that Alfred can kick to the surface whenever he needs air. Alfred is a good swimmer, but even so he can only hold his breath for less than two minutes. They’ve somehow worked around this limitation.
Alfred can’t tear his gaze away from the sight before him. He thinks he would have died long ago, out in the open ocean. Arthur is mesmerising even without the bioluminescence, but with the bright blue trails in the water it’s enough to make Alfred’s mouth dry. He kicks his legs and swims toward the surface, Arthur guiding him along with lazy sweeps of his tail.
“That seemed longer than usual,” Arthur comments when they can both speak.
“Yeah. I’m getting better.” Alfred’s still wheezing a bit. He grips onto the boat for stability.
“I’ll be waiting.” Arthur gives him a sharp smile and ducks under the water.
All Alfred can think about is how fucked he is.
He peers below and can make out flashes of blue as Arthur weaves through the water. Darkness encroaches around him on all sides, and Alfred has to try very hard to not think about anything else that might be in the lake. Arthur’s assured him that he’s the top predator in this little ecosystem, but sometimes it’s hard to remember that in the dark. Alfred focuses instead on the blue, the beautiful blue. He’s sad because he’ll never act, wouldn’t do that to Arthur because what if he’s not the one? And then it will be awkward and Alfred really doesn’t want Arthur to be alone here again. When it comes down to it, Alfred F. Jones is a coward.
The blue comes closer and Arthur tugs on his ankle.
“Coming,” Alfred says, even though Arthur can’t hear, because the word stops his thoughts in their tracks.
He ducks below again, and doesn’t resist as Arthur drags him down despite the jump in his belly. The merman twists around him, brushing up against him more often than not. Alfred holds in his shivers as the delicate frills and lures tickle against his skin. He grabs Arthur’s hand in his own and lets Arthur tug him around. This is Arthur’s quiet happiness, a relaxed companionship that only Alfred can give him. His own heart aches as he thinks how small the lake is compared to the ocean. His shoulder is yanked a bit as Arthur speeds towards the surface. He breaks it alone, and this time only takes a few seconds to catch his breath before sinking again.
He’s closer to Arthur this time, his hands on those mottled, slender shoulders. Alfred doesn’t think anymore. One hand moves upwards, caresses Arthur’s neck and cheek before toying with the lure on his head. It’s a thin bulb, bright blue like all the rest, and Alfred’s eyes watch it sway with the current. He smiles a bit.
Then Arthur’s leaning in, eyes slack and hyperfocused at the same time. As if he was the one awestruck by Alfred, the measly human.
Arthur’s eyes slip shut and before Alfred can move a muscle, they’re kissing. It’s wet, of course, and Arthur’s lips are cold, but it’s not a bad kiss.
Alfred gasps into it, releasing precious air.
Green eyes open in a flash, and Arthur jerks back. His lips tremble and his face contorts into hesitance and embarrassment before he dives down deep, where Alfred can’t follow.
Alfred’s own face screws up. He peers down into the darkness for as long as he can before his lungs start burning and he kicks upwards. Arthur has gone so far down he’s not visible anymore, and Alfred sighs as he clings onto the boat. That was one question answered. Now they just needed to talk about it.
He stays there like that for ten minutes, hoping to catch glimpse of blue or feel Arthur’s hand around his ankle. It wasn’t like he’d shoved Arthur away… Any longer, and he would have been kissing back just as much. After a few more minutes, Alfred sighs again and heaves himself into the boat. His legs knock against the cooler and he curses, then freezes with an idea.
If Arthur won’t come out on his own, then Alfred will just have to lure him out.
Moving quickly but carefully so as to not destabilize the boat, Alfred reaches into the cooler and grabs a wriggling fish. He also grabs a knife, and slits the creature’s throat before tossing it overboard. The knife tip trembles as he peers into the water after the fish has sunk out of sight.
There! A flash of blue, gone as quickly as it had come.
At least Arthur’s tempted by it.
He empties out the rest of the cooler into the lake, one fish at a time. The flash of blue appears after he’s dropped each snapper, but Arthur doesn’t rise. Alfred worries his lip between his teeth after the last fish is gone. He tosses the knife aside, stilling again when he hears it clink against his glasses. Each time he’s dropped one of his possessions down, Arthur has retrieved it… He grabs the glasses without hesitation and chucks them over.
Two minutes pass. Then five. Then eight.
Alfred’s losing hope when he sees a surge of blue heading towards the surface. He smiles and leans back, preparing himself.
A hand latches onto the side of the boat, and Arthur’s head lure is barely visible as the merman reaches in to deposit the glasses on the boat seat. Alfred has a split second to act, but somehow he manages to grab onto Arthur’s wrist.
Arthur startles and shoots down, hauling Alfred along with him. Alfred yelps as his hip is slammed into the side and he barely has enough time to take a breath before he’s underwater, but he clings on. Arthur bares his teeth and continues diving, waits for Alfred to give up and let go and return to the surface. Alfred, rising to the challenge, only tightens his grip.
It’s after about a minute of this that Arthur realizes how deep they are. How far the surface is. How long Alfred can hold his breath for. His expression morphs to one of worry and he loops around so their faces are close together. Alfred’s cheeks are puffed out, occasional air bubbles escaping his lips. His eyes, screwed shut on the way down, open again and he grins when he sees that they’ve stopped moving. He reaches with his free hand to Arthur’s cheek, caresses it. Arthur feels his heart stutter and can’t help but to lean in. His tail lightly wraps around Alfred’s shin.
Then, Alfred’s face shifts. His smile falls away and his throat works desperately, uselessly. He tries to kick his legs but Arthur is heavy with muscle and he can’t hope to tug him that impossible distance.
“Arthur,” he begs, but it’s a garbled mess and his lungs burn even more as a few drops of water slip down his windpipe.
“No, no!” Arthur yells, the sound echoing in the water. He wraps his arms around Alfred’s waist and races for the surface. His chest tightens when he feels Alfred go limp in his arms, and he pumps his tail faster.
They break the surface together, shoot out of the water, and Arthur uses this to his advantage as he angles them towards the boat, with him on the bottom. The crack of his arms against the wood is worth it if Alfred survives. The human is still for a few seconds. Then, his heaving breaths shatter the air. He curls up on top of Arthur, coughing violently until the water is out of his lungs.
“A-Art?” he wheezes, his hands scrabbling for purchase. He finds Arthur’s arm and holds on tight.
“You’re here, you’re safe.” Tears are dripping down his face for the first time in many years, but Arthur doesn’t care. “You’re safe,” he repeats, and can’t say more because Alfred’s kissing him again.
This kiss is wilder, more desperate. Arthur’s breathing hitches and he’s pretty sure Alfred is sobbing, but their grip on each other is tight and sure. They pull apart once, twice for more air, but before long their lips meet again. It’s ten minutes before they take a longer break.
Alfred breathes in deep and uses the moment to stop trembling. He rests his cheek against Arthur’s chest and closes his eyes when Arthur starts carding through his damp hair. He only tightens his grip on the merman in response.
“Why did you do that?” Arthur asks quietly. A few of his frills are bent at odd angles and hurt, but he doesn’t want to move. Not yet. “Stupid human…”
“If I’d let you go, I knew I wouldn’t see you for a long while.” Alfred’s voice is still raspy, still weak. But there.
“You can’t breathe underwater,” Arthur says, quite uselessly.
“I knew you wouldn’t let me die.”
“You have far too much faith in me. I am not some pretty, dopey, red-haired Princess. I’m a predator.”
“Still cute,” is all Alfred says.
Arthur’s jaw clicks shut. He frowns. “You shouldn’t like me. I am not very likable.”
“No, you’re not.” Alfred laughs as the hand in his hair freezes. “You’re grouchy and mean and I really think my heart’s gonna give out one day because of you.” He tilts his head up and grins brilliantly at the look on Arthur’s face. “But you’re nice to me and I think you’re funny and I wanna find out everything about you.”
Arthur’s cheeks pink and he has to look away. “Because I’m an oddity.”
“Because you’re an interesting person, Art.”
“I see.” He can’t help the smile from coming to his face.
“…And I also think I have a thing for really sharp teeth.”
“Alfred!” Arthur squeaks and tries to shove him away, but his grip is too tight. “I- I’ll bite you!” He purses his lips as he realizes his mistake.
Alfred only smirks. “Oh, will you, now?”
Arthur covers his face with his hands. “Why do I like you?”
“Hmm, why do you?” Alfred peppers Arthur’s knuckles with kisses, though his face is serious again, almost hesitant.
“You never treated me any different,” Arthur murmurs, reaching a hand for Alfred’s cheek. “Even though you fainted the first time you saw me.” He pinches the skin beneath his fingers, and bites back another smile at Alfred’s chuckles. “You’re nice to me too, and you always come back.” He can listen to Alfred talk forever, can talk with him forever, though he doesn’t say that. Alfred’s ego is big enough already.
“Love you, Art…” Alfred mumbles, nosing into the hand and pressing a few more kisses to Arthur’s palm.
Arthur feels his heart stop, reboot. He coughs. “I love you too, you stupid human.”
“Stubborn fish.”
“I take it back, you’re not nice at all.”
“Wh- Hey!” Alfred laughs even more. “You’re the one who started it! But you’re my stubborn fish, that’s what’s important.”
“Oh, is it.” Arthur can’t help a few chuckles from escaping. Unable to meet Alfred’s gaze for too long, he looks out at the lake and jolts. “Alfred.”
“Hmm?”
“I… I can go home now.” Arthur feels his eyes well up again. “Alfred, I can go back to the sea, I can go home!” When he looks to Alfred again, he’s smiling more brightly than ever.
“Oh!” Alfred’s eyes widen, and his lips stretch into a matching smile. “That’s awesome!” Arthur can go back…to the open ocean. To the depths of some trench, where he’s happy and comfortable. His expression crumbles at the edges.
Arthur notices. It clicks in his mind. “You stupid, stupid human,” he coos, holding Alfred closer. “I’m not going to leave you, not after this. I meant I can leave this lake, get my most treasured possessions before coming back to you.”
Alfred shoves his face into the crook of Arthur’s neck. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Arthur suspects he’s one of the very few beings on the planet to witness Alfred’s insecurities. He treasures them, and does what he can to smooth them away. “Shall we…try it again?”
Alfred grows serious again as he clambers off of Arthur’s body. He helps the merman shuffle into a more comfortable position, and as he does so, his hand brushes against a particular torn frill. The first time he tried getting Arthur out of this lake on his boat.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore,” Arthur murmurs, placing a hand over Alfred’s.
“I know.” Alfred doesn’t think he’ll ever get the sound of Arthur’s scream out of his mind, the pure agony as his fin started to disintegrate. “I’m nervous.”
Arthur takes in a deep breath. “You love me, and I love you. The curse should be lifted.” If he ever finds the creature who hexed that stupid piece of coral, there will be hell to pay.
“Okay. I love you, Art, I really do,” Alfred says once more, just to be sure. “Tell me the moment you’re in pain, okay?”
“I will. I’m not that much of a masochist.”
Alfred covers Arthur in the damp blanket once again before picking up the oars. They’re out near the middle of the lake, so it takes them a good ten minutes of rowing before they reach the mouth of the river connecting the smaller body of water to the ocean. He slows the boat as they reach that border, and keeps his eyes on Arthur the whole time. The merman is tapping a clawed finger against the side of the boat with boredom, but there are lines of tension running through his whole body. They both stiffen as the boat transitions from lake to river, and then Alfred is throwing himself into Arthur’s arms.
“You’re free!”
Arthur laughs and pulls him close. “I’m free,” he says, then proceeds to kiss Alfred senseless.
Somehow the boat manages to keep floating in a straight line.
“It’s like twenty minutes at this pace,” Alfred says a few minutes later, when they’re simply curled together at the back of the small space. “But we don’t have to hurry, right?”
“Right,” Arthur agrees. He’s happy to snuggle into Alfred’s shoulder.
“Hey, so uhh…”
Arthur does not like that tone. “What?”
“You’re an angler fish, right? Like the fish part?”
“Yes.” Arthur squints at him. “We’ve been over this.”
Alfred licks his lips before grinning brightly. “So when we have sex, will I fuse to you, becoming just a pair of extra balls in your side?”
Arthur bites him.