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"Stop pacing. You don't need to be so nervous, I've already told you she's going to love you." Merlin laughs from his spot in the hatch, most of him resting on the deck, just the end of his tail swaying in the water, which he decides to use to flick water at Arthur, hopefully stopping his restless pacing.
"But what if she doesn't? She might not like that I come from a family with a history of being less than nice with merpeople." Arthur worries, never pausing in his turns around the deck.
Merlin scoffs, flicking water at him again, "Well, you're obviously nicer than the rest of them, since I'm sitting here directing you to where to find my mother. I wouldn't do that for just anyone, you know."
"I know, I know. I just want this to go well. I've never done anything like this, if my father wanted me to court someone, their parents were usually with them when we met. Even Sophia, I met her crazy father at the same time as her. I think they conspired on how best to drown me."
"If I promise not to conspire with mum about killing you, will you sit down?"
Arthur huffs a laugh and does as told, much to the relief of his crew, who'd been concerned he'd wear a hole in the ship.
He sits beside Merlin, careful to keep his boots out of the water, and rests his head on his shoulder.
"I want her to like me."
"And she will. I've told her we're coming, she's excited to meet you."
"I know. And I want to meet her! But I'm still scared she won't like me."
"If she doesn't- she will!" Merlin cuts himself off at Arthur's panicked look, "But IF she doesn't, then we'll just have to show her why she should."
He takes Arthur's hand, pulling it up to place a kiss on it, making Arthur smile.
He returns the sentiment, tilting his head to kiss Merlin's shoulder.
They sit together for a while, talking quietly as the rest of the crew does the little bit of work required to keep the gently sailing ship on course.
Eventually Merlin swims off to find Aithusa, while Arthur goes to do all his duties as Captain.
~
Despite Merlin's assurances, Arthur is still terrified of meeting Hunith, so at the last port before the meeting place, he stops to find her favorite land food, and to see if they have anything else that would make a good gift.
He finds a few things, but he'll be sure to ask Merlin before presenting them to his mother.
As he walks back to his ship from the shops, he is approached by a man in the usual dress of a sailor.
The man walks up to him intently, as soon as he's close enough he speaks in a tense voice, "Are you Arthur Pendragon? Captain of The Camelot?"
"Yes?" Arthur says, confused as to why this person knows him.
"Good." The man says and swings a punch at him.
He didn't have time to duck as sudden as it was, all he can do is retaliate as soon as the world stops spinning.
"What what that for?!"
"I've got a bone to pick with you."
"And you couldn't talk about it like a civilized person?!"
"We can talk, but that had to be gotten out of the way first."
"Why?!"
"You've been stealing my business!"
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You've seduced a merman to get all the scales, so none of the blasted merpeople come to my ship anymore!"
"What?" Maybe his head was still reeling from the attack, but he really doesn't know what this guy is talking about.
"That merman you're courting! He's telling all the merpeople that you're the best ship to go to, and now, nobody else can get any scales!"
"I didn't know Merlin was doing that!"
Well now you do, so make it stop!" The sailor hisses, walking past and shoving him aside.
Arthur watches him leave in shock, bringing a hand up to check if he's bleeding. He is, so he groans and picks up the things he'd gotten, heading back to the ship.
He doesn't get that far though, when he spots Merlin swimming back and forth, mimicking Arthur's pacing in front of the dock.
"Have you been drinking wobbly juice?" He calls to him.
Merlin stops swimming, quickly turning towards him and nearly running into the dock in his haste to get closer.
"What took you so long?"
"Just a fellow sailor wanting a chat." He says, setting his bags down as a way to hide his face for a moment longer.
"Arthur! Who did this to you?!" Merlin says as soon as he sees the bruise forming on Arthur's face when he sits on the dock so Merlin can inspect him.
"Nobody important." Arthur says, smiling softly at Merlin's concerned face.
Merlin gently takes hold of Arthur's chin, tilting his head this way and that, dipping his hand in the water and gently wiping the blood from Arthur's nose.
"Sorry," He mutters as Arthur winces, though he doesn't stop.
"If they weren't important, they wouldn't have bothered you." Merlin says as he reaches back into the water, only his slight flinch and the sudden appearance of a golden scale giving away what he'd done.
"Merlin! I thought that hurt?!" Arthur says, catching Merlin's wrist from where he's using his scale to heal Arthur's injuries.
"That one was loose-ish. But even if it wasn't, it still wouldn't hurt as much as seeing you in pain." Merlin says softly as he finally meets Arthur's eyes, dropping the now needless scale into the dock and shifting to hold the hand on his wrist.
Arthur moves his other hand to cup Merlin's face, pulling him closer and kissing him.
"You never answered my question." Merlin says when he pulls away.
Arthur hums in response, pretending not to know what he means.
"Who hurt you? I may not be able to go to them, but I will find a way to return the favour." Merlin says lowly, and Arthur doesn't doubt it for a second.
"Just some sailor mad that I get more scales than him." Arthur admits.
"Oh." Merlin says, looking away to hide whatever emotion is crossing his face.
"You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
"Umm. I may have told some of my friends that you're one of the nicer ships on the sea and they should go to The Camelot to be sure the sailors will be nice. But it was mostly because you have such a lovely crew, I hear the Captain is a real clotpole."
"Oh really?" Arthur says in amusement, knowing exactly what Merlin means, he'd been telling people all about his lover.
"Yep. Everyone knows Lancelot is the nicest sailor on board, with the way Gwen raves about him."
"And of course, you've not been singing my praises?"
"No, why on Earth would I do that?"
"I've no clue." Arthur says, grinning as he's pulled into another kiss.
"I suppose I'll tell Gwen she can't tell everyone how wonderful Lance is anymore, since his dollophead of a captain has decided to go around and get beaten up. I can't be pulling out all of my scales to fix you up, you know."
"Of course not, then where would I get the golden scales that are in such high demand?"
"Ah, I knew it. You only see me as a free scale dispenser."
"What else could you possibly be?"
Arthur laughs as Merlin splashes him, thankfully just with his hand this time.
"If anyone ever heard us talking, they would think we hate each other." Arthur says as he wipes the water off his face.
"I thought we did?" Merlin teases.
"And here I was, thinking the opposite."
"Ugh, I hate it when you're right." Merlin playfully glares until he can't stop the smile any longer.
They grin at each other for a while, losing track of time as they often do.
Eventually their gazing is broken when a crew member yells for the Captain.
Arthur stands after another quick kiss, retrieving his items and boarding the ship, setting sail once more.
~
They follow Merlin to an island halfway between the last port and the one the crew is headed to.
It's a bit unusual for the Captain to let his crew sail off without him, but since Leon is such a wonderful first mate, and with the help of Lancelot and Percival, they make a perfect stand in Captain.
The crew is going to sail the ship up to the next port to sell the scales they've gotten, while Arthur remains at the island until they return.
He slips out the hatch so they don't have to sail up against the island, taking everything he needs in a watertight container.
Merlin is waiting for him when he surfaces, smirking to make fun of Arthur's slow swimming.
He receives a shove for his humour, then they wave off the crew as they sail away.
"Is she here yet?" Arthur asks anxiously when they turn to the island.
"Not yet, you have a few minutes to panic."
"Merlin! This is no time for jesting! This could be the most important meeting of my life!"
"Oh, and meeting me is what, top three?"
"Bold of you to assume you even make top five." Arthur says on instinct, fully expecting Merlin to splash him or something, but not expecting to look over and see a mermaid floating beside him with her arms crossed and an expectant look on her face.
"Mum!" Merlin cries and rushes over to hug her.
She easily returns the gesture, somehow smiling at her son and never taking her eyes off Arthur.
"Mum, this is Arthur." Merlin says as he releases his mother, swimming over to where Arthur is treading water, taking his hand and making sure it won't hinder his ability to stay afloaf.
"Hello," Arthur says nervously, smiling awkwardly at Hunith.
"Mumm, stop doing that! You're making him nervous!" Merlin complains when Hunith doesn't return the smile.
She quickly caves at Merlin's whining, giving Arthur a warm smile that makes him relax a little.
"Oh, Merlin. You know I have to make them sweat a bit! It isn't every day I get to make sure someone is worthy of my little bird."
"Mum!"
"What?"
"Just don't freak him out. He's already about to have a nervous breakdown." Merlin whispers to his mother, looking at his lover's fidgeting, unable to even swim without nervously moving.
"Oh, there's no need to be nervous my dear!" Hunith quickly drops the act and rushes to engulf Arthur in a hug.
Merlin tries not to laugh at the face Arthur makes as soon as he realizes his worries were for nothing.
Arthur quickly returns the hug, then moves his arms to situate Merlin, who decided he needed to be part of the hug as well.
Hunith pulls away after a moment, but Merlin and Arthur stay together, each with one arm wrapped around the other and leaning their heads together.
"Aww, aren't you two just the cutest?" Hunith gushes.
The boys grin at her approval, Merlin nudging Arthur to say 'I told you so'.
Merlin swims beside Arthur up to the island, so he can sit on the beach while they talk.
Hunith trails slightly behind, smiling at the sight of them quietly teasing each other.
She had almost been worried when she'd breached the water and heard what Arthur was saying about meeting Merlin, but then she saw the fond looks on both their faces and knew this was what Merlin had talked about, their gentle teasing that masks how deeply they truly care for each other.
It had only taken those looks for her to like him, but once Arthur gets on the beach, opens his container and presents Hunith's favorite food, she is ready to welcome him to the family permanently.
They talk for a long time, sharing stories and getting to know each other.
Hunith shoots Merlin a mischievous look that has him panicking right before she tells Arthur how much Merlin has been talking about him.
"Is that so?" Arthur grins, looking at Merlin, who quickly drops a mask of indifference to his face.
"As if! Why would I go around talking about a dollophead like you?"
"Merlin, did I not teach you that you shouldn't lie without reason?" Hunith says, winking at Arthur.
"But there is a reason! His head can't get any bigger, it'll explode!"
"Merlin!" Arthur complains, trying and failing to hide his amusement.
Hunith laughs at their pretend argument, watching her son light up in a way she's never seen before.
She is definitely satisfied that Arthur is worthy of her little bird when they start a splash fight, Merlin hollering "I warned you to never do that!" before drenching Arthur, then pulling him closer to wipe the water from his face with a smug grin.
"Maybe one day you'll learn."
"I won't stop until I win."
"Good luck growing a tail, clotpole."