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“Mermista!” Mermista hears sung out to her before Sea Hawk has even fully opened the door. Her guards slink silently out of the throne room; she doesn’t even have to ask them to leave anymore whenever Sea Hawk comes by. “Hi, love,” Sea Hawk says, softer, not as ostentatious, once all the guards have left.
It’s July and incredibly hot in Salineas—Mermista thinks she’ll take a dip in the sea soon, probably drag Sea Hawk along with her since he’s so graciously deposited himself at her feet—, but that hasn’t stopped Sea Hawk from going on adventures. His hair is a bit frizzed, sweat has parts of his shirt sticking to his skin, and a few new freckles dot at the apples of his cheeks. And just faintly, across the bridge of his nose….
“Ouch! Mermista!”
Mermista just has to give the faint sunburn there a little poke.
“Sorry,” Mermista says, not sorry and not trying to sound like she is, “If you wore sunscreen like I’ve told you to, like, a million times already, there’d be nothing to poke.”
“I’ll have you know I did wear sunscreen—for the entire trip might I add—I just didn’t…always…reapply it…when I should have.” Sea Hawk has his hands hovering up in front of his nose now, as if to protect it without quite touching the sensitive skin there. “And what about you?” he continues on, “Has the love of my life—Princess of the Sea—” he makes a grand gesture with one of his hands (Mermista rolls her eyes at him) before letting them both drop to his sides, “been wearing sunscreen as well while I’ve been gone?”
“Uh, duh, of course,” Mermista responds. It’s true. Sometimes. When Mermista doesn’t forget. When her decision to go swimming or lay out on the beach is more thought out than her deciding she doesn’t feel like having legs anymore. Which is, admittedly, not that often.
“Taking care of your skin is essential, Mermista! Just because you don’t get sunburns—”
“I know, I know, the Sun can still damage my skin, blah, blah, blah. Now, come on,” Mermista links her arm with Sea Hawk’s, “I’ll let you borrow my face stick if you put sunscreen on my back.”
Sea Hawk’s eyes light up. “Really? You’ll let me get your back?”
“Don’t be weird about it,” Mermista says, stops to think about it for a second, and then gives him a kiss on the cheek for his trouble. Sea Hawk beams. “Oh, and Sea Hawk?” He hums in response, keeping the smile. “Did you turn your nose into your newest favorite thing to arson?”
“It’s not arson!” Sea Hawk protests, “Well, not anymore, technically, I suppose. I only do my own ships now, and—”
And then, Mermista gets an idea.
“I have a plan!” Mermista announces, shoving open the doors of Bright Moon Castle’s meeting room.
“A plan about what?” Glimmer asks, sounding frustrated, “A plan about what we’re going to do about the reconstruction of the Fright Zone? Because I don’t see how we’re supposed to make people go live there or make people stay there, but if we don’t do that, how is it even a kingdom? And—”
“No, I don’t really care about that.” Mermista catches Catra’s gaze. “Uh, no offense, Scorpia.”
“None taken.”
“Anyway, Sea Hawk’s birthday is coming up, and I have, like, a super cool idea for a cake for him, but I know like nothing about building stuff, so I need you guys’s help.”
“Building stuff?” Bow asks, “Why do you need to build stuff for a cake?”
“Ooh! Ooh! When’s Sea Hawk’s birthday?” Perfuma asks. “I’ll make him a bouquet!”
“August 4th,” Mermista tells Perfuma, “and I need to build stuff because I had a vision.” Mermista goes to stand on a chair for effect. “Sea Hawk’s favorite flavor of cake—strawberry—, icing like the ocean, potentially even candy squids or whatever, and on top of it all—a miniature boat that Sea Hawk can set on fire.”
Frosta giggles from across the table. “Does he get to blow it out and make a wish too?”
“If he wants!” Mermista answers. “I need you guys’s help so that he doesn’t burn the cake in the process,” Mermista pauses, “and so that there isn’t wood in the cake,” she pauses again, “and I guess to help me build the ship? I mean, I think I could probably do that part myself, but I don’t really have a lot of experience working with wood, so I guess I could mess it up—”
“Sure, we’ll help!” Entrapta interrupts, “Sounds simple enough. You probably just need some sort of nontoxic, noncombustible base to set the ship on. If you gave me measurements for the cake and the ship, I could probably get you something like that whipped up in no time. As for the ship itself, well, I don’t really work with wood a lot…I think Bow does, though! He could probably help you!” Bow pinches the bridge of his nose at being brought into Mermista’s scheme.
“Excellent, Geek Princess! Bow, would you help me with the ship?”
Bow sighs. “I guess.”
“Great! Then, it’s settled.”
“Great,” Glimmer says with a fake smile, “now, can we please all talk about what’s going on with the Fright Zone?”
The hardest thing about the whole thing is cutting their make out sessions on the rocks short—that is, keeping Sea Hawk from finding out, Mermista would amend.
Sea Hawk smells like coconut sunscreen with undertones of aloe, so close to Mermista’s face that she can’t really see him, can just hear the waves flowing around them, can just feel them there beneath them, lapping against their rock with the in and out of her breath. She could grab those waves if she wanted, the power just underneath her fingertips. She should go, she really should—she should have gone ten minutes ago.
She reaches up to tangle her fingers in Sea Hawk’s messy, sea-drenched hair, mussing it even further, and leans in to kiss him more. She lets her fingers slip into the triangular slit in his shirt, just resting there, just warm, slippery skin against warm, slippery skin.
“I’ve gotta go,” Mermista says, slipping her tongue out of Sea Hawk’s mouth and giving him a light tap on the chest.
“Mm,” Sea Hawk hums, contentedly, and then, “What? Why?”
“Princess stuff,” Mermista answers. Girlfriend stuff. “Oh, don’t give me puppy dog eyes, Sea Hawk,” she plunges her tail into the water to splash him, his pout slipping off his face as he shakes his hair out, “I have duties, you know.”
“I know,” Sea Hawk says, pouting again.
“Come on, I’ll take you back to the castle,” Mermista says, hopping off the rock into the water.
“Mermista, are you listening to me at all right now?” Bow asks. He’s kind of in a mood. Adora and Glimmer went off on a mission without him because he’d promised to help Mermista with her ship and Mermista had shown up fifteen minutes late.
“Uh, huh, what? Totally,” Mermista says, pretending like she hasn’t just been spacing out passing a block of wood between her fingers.
“Whatever. Whatever! It doesn’t matter,” Bow mumbles to himself. “We were talking about the sizes of wood we need for the ship,” Bow says. He doesn’t say ‘before you stopped paying attention.’
Mermista had decided that she didn’t want to throw a huge party for Sea Hawk. Not only were there the issues of how big the fire would be if they made a cake big enough for that many people and Mermista not being all that comfortable with people seeing her doing something sweet for her boyfriend, she just…liked the idea of catching Sea Hawk’s eyes when he realized what was going on, what Mermista had made for him to celebrate him and show her appreciation for him.
Plus, the idea of Sea Hawk performing his gratitude for not only her but a whole crowd gives her hives.
She and Bow work together on the boat, talking back and forth, retrieving measuring tapes and rulers from where they’ve set them far off to the side, plotting out blocks of wood and glue. “Concept,” Mermista says towards the end of their session, gluing a part of the hull down, “I make a little bi pride flag to hang on it.”
Sea Hawk sleeps in the most contorted way humanly possible, limbs spread all across the bed, face smashed half on and half off his pillow, neck at an awkward angle. Mermista knows because she’s had him in her bed more than a few times. And because she’s watching him right now. He only has a loose, light sheet covering him, and it’s slipped down some in the night. Mermista can see his bare back moving up and down with his breaths, can sort of see the peaceful smile on his face. She locks the memory away in her mind, just because.
Mermista runs over and launches herself onto him. Sea Hawk wakes up immediately, letting out an ‘oof’ sound, and Mermista says, “I have a surprise for you.”
“Good morning, my gorgeous Mermista! Would you at least allow me to brush my teeth first before you show me this…” Sea Hawk’s dramatics get interrupted by a yawn, “wonderful surprise?” he asks, blinking drowsiness out of his eyes.
“Please do,” Mermista says and gives him a quick peck on the lips. “Meet me outside by the three mermaid statues in an hour, okay?”
“Aye, aye, Princess!” Sea Hawk raises his hand up to his head in salute and pecks her back before Mermista slides off of him and leaves his room. She has a beach-worthy outfit to get into.
And, of course, sunscreen to spray on.
Mermista is out of her room in 45 minutes flat, hair tied up high in a ponytail and one strap of her prettiest, ruffliest blue bikini top visible under her loose one-sleeve-off-the-shoulder shirt. She almost falls sliding into the castle’s kitchen, steadies herself, and gets a good look at the cake she triple-checked would be ready today. It’s gorgeous, with rough, multi-toned blue icing covering the sides and the boat she and Bow made sitting proudly at the top, separated from the cake itself by the base Entrapta made. “This is perfect, you guys, great job!” Mermista tells all her chefs, and she goes over to the drawer she’s been keeping the little bi flag she made in and hangs it on the ship. She grabs the stand the cake is on and starts wheeling it out of the kitchen.
“Don’t go too fast, Princess!” one of the chefs calls.
“I won’t!” Mermista calls back. As if she’d risk anything happening to this cake.
Sea Hawk is out by the mermaid statues only a few minutes after Mermista is, and he immediately gasps and brings his hands up to cover his mouth once he sees what’s waiting for him.
“Happy birthday,” Mermista tells him, suddenly feeling almost shy.
“Mermista, you made this for me?” Sea Hawk asks, looking surprised. Mermista throws him a pack of matches.
“Sure did. You can also set the boat on fire. If you want.”
Sea Hawk gasps again. “Oh, Mermista! Oh, it’s beautiful! Oh! Would it be a bit much if I asked you to marry me right now?”
“Definitely,” Mermista says, smiling. Sea Hawk comes over to hug her, smacking loud, obnoxious kisses all over her face.
“You made this? For me?” Sea Hawk asks again, “The boat and everything?”
“Yes, dummy.” Mermista tells him about the whole process, from getting the idea to telling the Princess Alliance about it to building the boat with Bow.
“Thank you, dearest,” Sea Hawk says, giving Mermista a tight, tight squeeze. “I’m taking this flag off before I burn the boat, though.”
“Duh,” Mermista says in acknowledgement, and Sea Hawk drapes the flag around her neck. Sea Hawk lights a match, ponders for a moment where to place the first flame, then sets a mast aflame, right near one of the sails.
“Yes! Adventure!” Sea Hawk calls out, and Mermista smiles to herself.
They watch the miniature ship burn up in contented silence, arms draped around each other’s shoulders. In close proximity to the heat, some of the icing starts to melt, and the smell of sugary sweet strawberry icing mingles with the rich smell of burning wood in the air. It’s awesome.
“Ready for some cake, birthday boy?” Mermista asks once the fire’s burnt out, already moving over to use the knife the chefs gave her to very carefully slice the cake with in the exact way they showed her how to.
“Pssh, always!” Sea Hawk says. Mermista hands him a plate and a fork, and his eyes immediately light up when he takes a bite of the cake. “Mermista, really, marry me,” he says seriously.
Mermista can’t help it, she lets out an incredulous laugh. “Sea Hawk!”
“It’s my favorite, Mermista! And I’m sure you gathered up the best chefs in Salineas because—”
“Oh my god, of course I did! It’s your birthday, and I love you!”
Sea Hawk smiles a big wobbly smile at her and pecks her on the lips. Mermista licks off a speck of icing that transferred from Sea Hawk’s lips onto hers. “Can I feed you a piece?” Sea Hawk asks.
“Yeah, alright,” Mermista says, accepting the fork Sea Hawk holds out to her. After taking a few bites of her own slice, she offers a piece out for Sea Hawk to eat too.
They finish their plates and wheel the cake back inside, both of them too enamored with it to forget it out in the Sun. They find themselves standing face-to-face in a hallway, smiling at each other, hands loosely linked. “Wanna go swimming less than an hour after we’ve just eaten?” Mermista asks finally.
“Always!” Sea Hawk says with a big grin.
“Race you to the big sitting rock?”
“You’re on!” Sea Hawk says, and then they’re running off to jump fully-clothed into the ocean without a care in the world. Mermista will win, like she always does, and when Sea Hawk catches up to her, she’ll hold out a hand to help him up onto the rock, and they’ll lounge there together as long as their sunscreen is—hopefully—still good.