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“Thank you all for coming to the show~” Lulu’s chipper voice echoed throughout the Mostro Lounge, only to be drowned out by the applause of the student’s in attendance.
He waved to the crowd as they dispersed and left for the evening. As the last patron left, the tension left Lucien’s body in a tense, annoyed sigh.
“Fucking finally,” he cursed under his breath. His shoulders slacked and he put his violin away for the evening. His work at the lounge was great practice, but it was exhausting.
He snuck off the stage to avoid the lounge employees, especially the heterochromatic eyes of the Leech Twins. His relationship with Azul was hardly a secret, anyone with a brain cell would know, but he wasn’t in the mood for dealing with anyone.
For once, luck was on his side as he arrived at the VIP room without incident, opening and closing the door quickly.
“Rough night?” Lulu turned to see Azul’s gaze on him, chin on fist and smirk firm on his lips.
Lulu rolled his eyes, “Oh you know, same old same old,” he made his way to one of the couches, “Forgive me for not wanting to deal with ‘Cuttlefishie~’ tonight.”
His impersonation made Azul chuckle, “I’ll be done momentarily.” he motioned towards the documents on his desk.
Lulu pouted, “But I’m bored Azul.” he whined as he draped himself over the couch.
“You’re a crafty individual Lucien,” Azul commented without looking up from his paper, “I’m sure you can find your own entertainment for a few minutes.”
“Minutes my ass.” Lulu thought to himself, knowing full well how Azul could be with his paperwork. His eyes glazed over, feeling himself starting to space out, so he shifted his gaze from his boyfriend to the table in front of him.
He stared at the fish in the little aquarium in the middle of the table watching as they swam within their tiny home.
“Hey Azul,” he asked, his attention still on the creatures, “Did you know we have our own tales of the Sea Witch?” The scribbling of the pen stopped, a sign that Lulu had caught his attention. He smirked as he continued, “Though she's not mentioned much until about halfway through…”
He leaned back against the couch, the leathery material cooling his body, “It’s a story about a little mermaid, who was fascinated with the surface world. One day she was finally able to go above the water, and it was there she met and fell in love with a prince and even saved his life.”
“How noble,” Azul commented, his pen still scribbling against the paper.
“It’s a fairytale, what do you expect?” Lulu sneered, “Anywho, all the little mermaid could think about was the prince, day in and day out...but in this tale mermaids and humans couldn’t be together. When a mermaid died, their bodies turned to seafoam whereas humans had their souls rise to Heaven.”
“Did this person believe that mermaids don’t have souls?” Azul’s pen stopped with his comment.
Lulu looked at him with a small smirk, “Hans Christian Andersen would have had a field day with you, Jade, and Floyd,” he waved his hand, “Now let me continue, where was I?”
“The nonsense about human and merfolk incompatibility.”
He raised an eyebrow, “Someone’s interested, but yeah she couldn’t be with the man she loved as she was, so she went to the Sea Witch. The Witch said she would make the little mermaid a potion to split her fishtail into legs, in exchange for cutting off her tongue and giving up her beautiful voice.”
“A reasonable offer, if a bit grotesque.”
“Unlike a certain someone, the Witch was actually very forthcoming about the deal.” Lulu continued with a roll of his eyes, “Though she had legs, every step the little mermaid took would make her feel as if knives were cutting through her entire being. And in order to keep her legs, the prince had to fall in love with her so that part of his soul would flow into her...at least I think that’s how it went it’s been awhile,” Lulu tapped his chin in thought, “Either way, if the prince fell in love with someone else, the morning after their wedding she would turn to seafoam.”
He turned to Azul, who by this point had placed his quill down and was staring at his boyfriend intently, curiosity and intrigue within his sky blue eyes.
That earned a chuckle from Lulu, and he waved his hand once more, this time beckoning Azul to where he was, and he continued with the story as Azul did just that, “She takes the potion and meets the prince on shore. She can’t talk, but the prince called her his little ‘Foundling’,” he rolled his eyes, disgusted at the term, “He kept her around, and the little mermaid was certain all she needed to do was wait and the prince would fall for her and she would get her soul.”
“Your tone suggests the contrary.”
A hum of acknowledgment, “The prince finds another woman and they were married almost immediately, guaranteeing the little mermaid’s death. But that night her sisters rose to the surface-”
“She had sisters?”
“Hush, I’m getting to the good part. Yes she had sisters, and they made a deal with the Sea Witch, cutting their hair in exchange to nullify the original deal so long as the little mermaid killed the prince before sunrise but...she couldn’t do it, even after all that she couldn’t kill the man she loved and jumped into the ocean…”
The pause lasted for several moments, with Azul looking to Lulu to continue, “And?” he asked.
“Meh, something about angels and indentured servitude, it’s been awhile…”
“That’s it?!?” Azul jumped from his spot on the couch, “That’s how it ends?”
“Yep,” Lulu answered nonchalantly, “Ridiculous isn’t it?”
Azul turned back to Lulu, “What do you mean? Sure the ending was awful, but before that I thought it was...alright…” Azul’s eyes shifted away, his voice lowering at his admission.
It was cute, Lulu thought but refused to say, “I guess if you’re hearing it for the first time it’s okay, but...I always found the little mermaid to be...really fucking stupid,” Lulu looked to Azul, taking his widened eyes as a sign to continue, “She gave up so much for a prince who basically friendzoned her…”
To give up what she held dear...that level of devotion and vulnerability was something Lulu could have never before given to someone...It irritated him, terrified him, was the very foundation for the walls around him that was only just starting to crack at the hands of the merfolk in front of him.
“In all honesty, I still think that,” Lulu added. He gently rose his hand, which twitched ever so slightly, before he finally placed it over Azul’s cheek, “But...as stupid as she was, she may have been onto something.”
Azul raised an eyebrow, a smirk starting to form on his lips, “I hope you’re not going soft on me Luci-ouch!”
He was interrupted by Lulu pinching his cheek, “You wish, hoping to get some of my soul-ouch!”
Azul retaliated by pinching Lulu’s own cheek, “I still take offense over that, the gall of thinking merfolk have no souls.”
“Oh merfolk have souls, just not you or-”
“I dare you to finish that statement Lucien.”
Lulu took the moment to register what was happening, the silliness of it all, before letting go of Azul’s cheek and Azul doing the same, “Don’t you have paperwork to finish?” he gently patted the now red area, “No more stories until then.”
Azul huffed, “Scolding me like a child, the nerve,” nonetheless he turned his head, his lips grazing against Lulu’s hand, “I’ll be done momentarily.”
The surge of warmth that radiated in Lulu’s chest took him by surprise, as it had the last few months of their courtship, but he would blame it for the smile, the small, genuine smile he made, “You had better.”