cosmicdare (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cosmicdare) wrote2010-05-06 08:33 am
cosmicdare) wrote2010-05-06 08:33 am
[CHAPTERFIC] Cerulean Chapter Three (Axis Powers Hetalia)
Title: Cerulean [FF.NET] [ Writing Journal Previous Chapters ]
Pairing: Main: AmericaxEngland. Minor: CanadaxUkraine, SwedenxFinland, DenmarkxNorway, SpainxSouth Italy.
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Humor/Drama/Alternate Universe
Word Count: 3,521
Summary: Arthur is spending a normal summer at his father's beach house in Cape Cod, when he encounters the extraordinary in the form of an enthusiastic young merman named Alfred, who holds an intense curiosity for Arthur. Over one summer, they'll fall in love. Over one summer, their lives will change forever.
Chapter Summary: Why was it so hard for him to smile? Arthur was so weird. He knew most humans didn’t act like Arthur. At least, the ones he saw out on their boats were usually pretty jovial.
They also, far more often than not had other people with them, unlike Arthur, who came out in the yacht by himself. Alfred sighed inwardly, gazing up at the sky and wrapping his fingers around the camera. Pleasantly warm breezes skimmed across the top of the waves, causing the boat to rock gently.
“Hey Arthur, don’t you have any friends?”
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updates on this one. For some reason I struggled with this chapter a lot!
Derek- Denmark
Katyusha- Ukraine
Shoes were nothing compared to what Arthur was showing him today.
Certainly, Alfred had made sure to follow up on his question about why humans needed to wear both shoes and socks. Arthur had explained that sometimes, they didn’t wear both, only shoes, but it was necessary at times, to avoid excess sweatiness and blisters and other things that Alfred that did think sounded rather gross.
This camera though, was easily the coolest thing Alfred had ever seen. He’d heard the word before, spoken by tourists and boaters and the like, but he’d never really been able to figure out what exactly a camera was.
“All right, I’m going to count to three… one, two,” Arthur began, camera held in front of his face. Alfred grinned waving an arm enthusiastically as he floated in the water. “Three.”
A quiet clicking noise, and Arthur turned the camera around, showing Alfred the picture he’d just taken.
“Wow!” he exclaimed, as if it were the first time he’d seen it.
“Git! How many pictures do you want me to take?” Arthur grumbled. “Honestly, I’m going to fill up my memory card at this rate. You must have asked for about fifty… all of yourself, I might add. A bit full of yourself there.”
Alfred pushed himself out of the water, joining Arthur on the back of the yacht. “It’s just so amazing to see pictures of myself though! But geez, if it’s such a problem, fine.” He was pouting now.
Arthur sighed and shook his head. “I knew you’d like the camera, but I didn’t know you’d like it this much.”
He blinked at the human man. Was it really that surprising to him? Maybe since he’d lived with them all of his life, Arthur had no idea how wonderful the things his world created were.
Or it could be that Arthur was just too grumpy to realize how awesome these things were. Alfred frowned inwardly at this. That wasn’t right at all! No one should be so cynical that they can’t find wonder in something as great as this camera.
When he’d arrived at the spit, Arthur had already been waiting, much to Alfred’s happiness. After a short discussion, they’d made the decision to drive the boat out a bit further from the bay, in order to isolate themselves more. That had been over an hour ago.
Okay, so maybe he had spent a pretty long time asking for pictures. Glancing over at the man, Alfred smiled. “How about I take some pictures of you!”
It wasn’t a question. Alfred snatched the camera from Arthur’s hands before he could even respond. Inhaling sharply, Arthur jerked it back. “You’ve got to dry your hands first, it’s not waterproof!”
Blinking in confusion for a moment, Alfred nodded, and then reached over and wiped his hands on the fabric of Arthur’s shorts.
“Idiot!” Arthur snapped, but he gave the camera back to Alfred. “Why do you want to take pictures of me anyway?”
Alfred blinked owlishly. “I wanna use your camera, and since you took pictures of me, I thought I’d take some of you.”
Nodding, Arthur shifted awkwardly. “All right then. Get it over with.”
He beamed, moving the camera so he could see Arthur in the small screen. “Awesome! On three, smile! One, two… three!” Alfred clicked the button and waited for it to capture the image.
“Well?” He raised his prominent eyebrows.
Alfred bit his lip into a pout and squinted at the image on the camera. “Arthur, I thought you said you were supposed to smile in photographs…”
Flushing lightly, Arthur’s mouth formed an ‘o.’ “Not everyone has a big idiotic smile they can just turn on like a light switch!”
Alfred scrunched up his nose and frowned. “Well sorry that I’m happy? Not everyone is grouchy like you.”
Arthur scoffed and crossed his arms. “And not everyone is a moron like you.”
The merman sighed, swishing the end of his fin in the cool water. “Yeah, whatever. You’re the one who told me to smile…”
Arthur was about to retort, but his mouth dropped for a moment. “Yes well… I suppose I did but…” He breathed out a puff of air. “Very well. Take the damn picture again.”
Alfred’s blue eyes sparkled in delight as he began the countdown once more. “One, two, three. Smile!”
The result this time was slightly better, Alfred observed. He pursed his lips and scratched his cheek as he surveyed the photograph. Arthur was smiling. Sort of. A slight forced quirk of the mouth that rather resembled a grimace as much as it did a smile.
Why was it so hard for him to smile? Arthur was so weird. He knew most humans didn’t act like Arthur. At least, the ones he saw out on their boats were usually pretty jovial.
They also, far more often than not had other people with them, unlike Arthur, who came out in the yacht by himself. Alfred sighed inwardly, gazing up at the sky and wrapping his fingers around the camera. Pleasantly warm breezes skimmed across the top of the waves, causing the boat to rock gently.
“Hey Arthur, don’t you have any friends?”
Arthur blinked, nonplussed. “Excuse me?”
He hadn’t really meant for that to come out. The thought had no sooner crossed his mind then he spoke it. Oops?
Alfred gulped, scratching the back of his head nervously. “You know… I just mean--- “
“It’s none of your business, you tosser!” Arthur snapped, brows furrowing downward.
“Tosser…?”
“It also means idiot,” Arthur retorted. He crossed his arms and leaned forward. “But I suppose…” his voice grew softer, “well I suppose that I don’t… have a lot of close friends, no.” He inhaled sharply. “Don’t get me wrong though! It’s fine enough. Most people my age aren’t interested in the same things I am, or are rather unpleasant company or…” He trailed off.
Alfred rested a hand atop Arthur’s shoulder, startling him. “Lucky I’m here then, huh?”
“Wha--- “ Arthur’s cheeks flushed high.
“To be your friend, right?” Alfred clarified, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. His smile was bright to the point of blinding, and his eyes brimmed, expectantly.
Arthur felt his face redden more. “That is---“ he paused, “I mean to say that I’m not going to just be your friend just because you think I’m fun to poke at!”
Alfred’s expression dropped at this. “That’s not--- I mean it’s awesome that you’re human and all, but I’d still want to be your friend if you were… you know…” He scratched the back of his neck, nervously averting his eyes. “If you were a merman, I mean.”
The cry of a seabird overhead was the only thing that pierced the silence as Arthur processed Alfred’s words. It shocked him, honestly. He was sure that Alfred was only interested in spending time with him as means to discover more about the human world. But… Alfred had come across quite genuine in his statement to the contrary and well, it’s not as if he didn’t in a way, enjoy the company of the merman. And not just because he was bloody attractive, although that didn’t help.
He was interrupted by the sound of Alfred reaching down to splash his tail and arms with water. Alfred was pointedly looking away, his cheeks dusted light pink.
Arthur swallowed thickly. “All right. Friends then…” His lips quirked up in a small, almost unnoticeable smile. “Although I suppose we already were, really.”
Alfred beamed, and excitedly, he wrapped his arm around the other man’s shoulder and squeezed. Arthur flushed hot at this, but didn’t pull away.
“G-give me the camera, all right?”
He handed Arthur the camera, his expression curious. “Huh?”
“On three then,” Arthur said, holding the camera high up in front of them. “One, two, three.”
Arthur pushed the button, waiting a moment before bringing the camera back down and turning it around to show the screen to Alfred.
A slightly sunburned human man wearing a white shirt and khaki shorts looked back at him, next to a delighted looking merman, who was pressed flush to the human’s side. Wow! He’d managed to get a picture of both of them.
Arthur was actually smiling this time. It wasn’t the huge, brilliant smile that Alfred wore, but it was genuine, more so than anything else Alfred had seen from him before. He thought it was really, really awesome. Even better than his toes!
“Amazing!” Alfred proclaimed. “And you’re even smiling.” He let go of Arthur’s shoulder and leaned over in front of him, gaining a closer look at the image on the screen.
Arthur cleared his throat and turned the camera off. “Yes well…”
Alfred was still leaning over, his elbow resting atop Arthur’s leg. The fin on his arm was pressing against Arthur’s wrist. The merman was… oddly touchy feely. He wasn’t sure if it was because merpeople were more comfortable with casual contact, or if it was just Alfred. Arthur had an inkling of a feeling that it was just Alfred.
After all, why in the world would merpeople not understand the concept of personal space?
But blast it all, while Arthur would normally have immediately slapped away anyone who tried to casually touch him like Alfred always did, he found himself not too chagrined.
It was nice to have actually garnered the attention of another man, even if it was as a friend.
“What is it?”
He’d gotten used to the odd way that Alfred inflected his words. He didn’t much notice it at all anymore. It helped that he babbled almost incessantly. And, he didn’t feel the need to stop himself from staring at Alfred’s rather… unusual anatomy any longer, instead finding himself focused more often than not, on his face; his vivid eyes, his golden hair, his ever-present smile. Showing up somewhere with him on his arm would surely show Francis, but that wasn’t precisely possible.
Arthur had never considered himself particularly attractive. He was a bit small in stature, with scruffy hair that he could never get to stay put and eyebrows that were, he thought, somewhat of an eyesore.
However, Francis insisted (although he was hardly about to praise Arthur’s appearance), that it was his personality that turned people off of him. Francis was a wanker and had just about the least pleasant personality Arthur could imagine, but--- well--- it was true that the few dates he’d gone on, he’d ended up not exactly charming the men he’d been with.
But Alfred liked him. Seemingly, he even didn’t mind his personality, if he wanted to be his friend. He’d suck it up and ask him on a proper date if not for two very big problems; one, being that he had no idea if Alfred even liked men, and two, being the whole not human thing.
It’s not as if that could work out anyway.
“I um… I’m actually feeling a bit peckish,” Arthur finally spoke, attempting to change the subject, although he really didn’t feel well.
“Peckish?” Alfred still had his elbow on Arthur’s knee.
“Um, it means not well. I believe I must just be hungry. I didn’t think to bring anything with me today,” he elucidated.
The merman cocked his head to the side and blinked, pulling his elbow off of Arthur. “D’you want me to catch you something?”
“Excuse me?”
“A fish or… whatever you’d like to eat. I could try to get some shellfish. I kind of like mixing them together,” Alfred explained, grinning.
“Is that what you eat?” In truth, Arthur realized, he knew so little about how Alfred lived. He nodded. “Uncooked, I suppose.”
“Huh?”
“Well you’d have no way to cook them underwater, so of course not,” Arthur answered his own question. “I’m actually allergic to shellfish, so I’ll have to pass,” he lied. “I was thinking about going back to my house.”
“O-oh,” Alfred sighed, looking dejected. Arthur’s eyes widened. Was he really… that disappointed?
His cheeks bloomed pink and he took a deep breath. “You know, my… home is on a private beach, so if you’d… ah… like to follow me…”
The merman brightened immediately. “Really? I could come back with you?”
“It… would make it easier to meet if you knew where I lived,” Arthur clarified, voice quiet. “There’s even a dock, so I could come out to you and---“ He coughed.
Alfred whooped, causing Arthur to almost drop the camera in shock. He punched the air and laughed vibrantly, buoyant with excitement.
Arthur could not help but chuckle lightly. “All right. I’ll take you back a way that doesn’t usually have a lot of boat traffic. I suppose you’d remember the way better if you followed me?”
He nodded, leaping into the water with a splash. “Yeah! I’ll follow close behind!”
“Very well.” He smiled, just a slight one, back at Alfred, headed up to the front of the yacht, and began to drive back to the beach house.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alfred was growing impatient. He’d never been a very patient person, at least, according to many around him, Tino and Berwald included. But Arthur had been gone way too long. They’d arrived at Arthur’s house, and after docking his boat, he’d told Alfred that he was ‘going inside to get a bite to eat and would come back, if you wish to stay.’
Of course he wished to stay. He could make out Arthur’s house from the end of the dock, where he was floating. It was bigger than most of the beach houses he’d spotted on the shores before, and the front porch led out directly onto the sandy shore.
He imagined what it would be like to go inside Arthur’s house, to discover how he lived when he wasn’t out by himself on a boat. What kind of things were there inside? Alfred didn’t have a home, save the area of the Atlantic he lived in. The closest thing he had to one was a natural nook in a small canyon, which his pod generally slept in. And it’s not like he owned much of anything, like Arthur inevitably did.
He’d been told by Derek, of undersea castles where mermish kings and queens used to rule; of possessions in the form of pearls and treasures, used to trade with human kingdoms. Alfred had found pearls before. He wondered if they were still considered valuable to humans…
He wondered what Arthur would think of them.
A clatter of footsteps informed him of Arthur’s approach. Alfred perked up, smiling, as the human approached.
“Sorry it took so long,” Arthur said, once he’d reached the end of the dock. He bent his knees into a crouching position, resting his hands between his legs. “I was trying to cook something and I ah--- well there was a small fire.” His cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “So I just made a sandwich.”
Alfred had seen sandwiches before, them being something that boaters commonly brought out to eat. He nodded. “It’s okay. Uh, you feeling better now?”
Arthur nodded, sitting down entirely, his legs dangling off the side of the wooden dock. “I feel a bit rude, not offering you anything to eat.”
The merman waved his hand dismissively. “Nah, I’m full. Tino caught this huge bonito today. But you definitely have to bring me something next time!”
“So demanding…”
“Hey, I offered you something didn’t I?”
Arthur laughed quietly. “Fair enough then. I’ll bring you some, ah ‘human food’ next time we meet.”
Alfred grinned. “Great!”
The Englishman slipped off his deck shoes and let his feet dangle in the water. Alfred was resting his head on his arms, which were pressed flat against the dock. “Ah, I meant to ask you Alfred… how was your meeting last night, the one you had to leave for?”
Alfred’s eyes widened, enthused that Arthur was interested. “It went as awesome as it could. Matthew didn’t even come back to the pod last night, even though he said he wanted to talk to me. Went off with Katyusha…” He wrinkled his nose. “I really hate Ivan though.”
“Ivan?”
“He’s the leader of the other pod that lives in this area,” Alfred explained. “But Matthew wants to marry Katyusha, his older sister, so I had to pretend not to hate him during the meeting.”
Arthur leaned forward slightly. “Why do you not like this Ivan?” He scratched the side of his face. “You don’t have to tell me but---“
“Are you kidding? The more people who know how much Ivan sucks, the better…”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was evening.
By now Alfred was sitting on the dock with Arthur, his fin bent underneath him as opposed to dangling over the edge. An hour ago, Arthur had gone inside to retrieve sandwiches, as Alfred had finally grown hungry. The merman was quick to note that this ‘totally didn’t count,’ and he still had to bring him something ‘really awesome’ to eat next time they met.
But they’d talked and chatted and been together for, Arthur looked at his watch, about eight hours, ever since noon.
If this were to be a date, it would certainly be a very long date. Alfred was talking now about a pod he’d met last year, a rather fun-loving group of merpeople from down near Australia. “They’d decided to swim around the entire world and visit every ocean,” he explained.
“Sounds like an adventure,” Arthur replied.
Alfred looked skyward, smiling wistfully. “Yeah, I wish I could have gone. Imagine what kind of heroic things I could have done!”
He rolled his eyes. “No doubt.”
When Arthur had gone inside to make the sandwiches, he’d also snatched Alfred a towel. He figured that instead of having to constantly reach down in the water and wet himself, having a wet towel right beside him would make things easier for him. Alfred was rubbing the towel on his fin right now.
When he was done, he looked right at Arthur. In the starlight, his blue eyes almost shone brighter. Arthur swallowed thickly. “We’ve spent a lot of time together, haven’t we?”
“Yeah, we have,” he paused. “You know uh, for a while… I kind of thought maybe I had a crush on one of the guys in that pod. But I realized… not really… still it kind of…”
Why was he telling him this? Arthur considered. It felt a bit--- he said guy, didn’t he? So Alfred… His heart sped up. Well, that was perhaps, one obstacle down. His cheeks were heating up now, under Alfred’s intent stare.
“Never mind,” Alfred laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. “I don’t even know why I told you that.”
“It’s… all right,” Arthur assured him, his throat feeling dry. “I suppose I---I’ve never really been in love before myself, although… that’s not to say I’m opposed to the idea.” He averted his eyes from Alfred’s vivid blue gaze.
“Y-yeah… same…” Alfred replied, almost a whisper.
“D-don’t get me wrong, I’m hardly some idiot waiting for it! I’ve got a lot going for me. My education and my--- future and…”
“Me too! Uh, totally. Minus the… school thing and the journalism stuff but, definitely,” Alfred agreed, his cheeks flushing as he looked away.
Arthur nodded firmly. “Of course. Absolutely.”
Silence fell between them, both of them looking anywhere but at each other.
Finally, Alfred coughed. “Hey, it’s getting late so… I’d better go huh?”
Arthur fought a frown, because it’s not as if he was disappointed or anything. “That makes sense. I’m sure your family is wondering why you’ve been gone so long.”
“Yeah, probably.” Alfred shrugged. “But they are pretty used to me wandering off.”
Arthur chuckled. “That… honestly does not surprise me one bit.”
The merman grinned. “There’s just so many adventures to have, you know?”
“I… suppose there are.”
Alfred shifted, so his fin was no longer under him. Now it dangled in the water. “So uh… what are you doing tomorrow?”
Arthur’s green eyes grew large. “Do you honestly plan on seeing me every day?”
Alfred glanced up at the stars, bright in the summer sky. “Yeah sure, why not?”
“W-well I’m not sure if it’s possible to meet with you every single day but…” Arthur was blushing again, he just knew it. “Tomorrow would be all right. Francis comes home though, so we’ll have to avoid him. Come at sundown, all right?”
“Sounds great!” He nodded. He leapt into the water, eliciting a by now, familiar, splash. Just like the first time, he pushed himself back up with his arms and leaned forward, his cheeks blooming scarlet. Was he really going to--- do it again?
Quickly, he pressed his lips to Arthur’s other cheek, the one he hadn’t kissed the time before. “See you, Arthur!” he rushed out, before disappearing beneath the water.
“Alfred, wait!” Arthur finally managed to call out, once the lump in his throat had dissipated. But by then, Alfred had swum far out of hearing distance. “Wh-why do you keep doing that, you absolute git?”
Pairing: Main: AmericaxEngland. Minor: CanadaxUkraine, SwedenxFinland, DenmarkxNorway, SpainxSouth Italy.
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Humor/Drama/Alternate Universe
Word Count: 3,521
Summary: Arthur is spending a normal summer at his father's beach house in Cape Cod, when he encounters the extraordinary in the form of an enthusiastic young merman named Alfred, who holds an intense curiosity for Arthur. Over one summer, they'll fall in love. Over one summer, their lives will change forever.
Chapter Summary: Why was it so hard for him to smile? Arthur was so weird. He knew most humans didn’t act like Arthur. At least, the ones he saw out on their boats were usually pretty jovial.
They also, far more often than not had other people with them, unlike Arthur, who came out in the yacht by himself. Alfred sighed inwardly, gazing up at the sky and wrapping his fingers around the camera. Pleasantly warm breezes skimmed across the top of the waves, causing the boat to rock gently.
“Hey Arthur, don’t you have any friends?”
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updates on this one. For some reason I struggled with this chapter a lot!
Derek- Denmark
Katyusha- Ukraine
Shoes were nothing compared to what Arthur was showing him today.
Certainly, Alfred had made sure to follow up on his question about why humans needed to wear both shoes and socks. Arthur had explained that sometimes, they didn’t wear both, only shoes, but it was necessary at times, to avoid excess sweatiness and blisters and other things that Alfred that did think sounded rather gross.
This camera though, was easily the coolest thing Alfred had ever seen. He’d heard the word before, spoken by tourists and boaters and the like, but he’d never really been able to figure out what exactly a camera was.
“All right, I’m going to count to three… one, two,” Arthur began, camera held in front of his face. Alfred grinned waving an arm enthusiastically as he floated in the water. “Three.”
A quiet clicking noise, and Arthur turned the camera around, showing Alfred the picture he’d just taken.
“Wow!” he exclaimed, as if it were the first time he’d seen it.
“Git! How many pictures do you want me to take?” Arthur grumbled. “Honestly, I’m going to fill up my memory card at this rate. You must have asked for about fifty… all of yourself, I might add. A bit full of yourself there.”
Alfred pushed himself out of the water, joining Arthur on the back of the yacht. “It’s just so amazing to see pictures of myself though! But geez, if it’s such a problem, fine.” He was pouting now.
Arthur sighed and shook his head. “I knew you’d like the camera, but I didn’t know you’d like it this much.”
He blinked at the human man. Was it really that surprising to him? Maybe since he’d lived with them all of his life, Arthur had no idea how wonderful the things his world created were.
Or it could be that Arthur was just too grumpy to realize how awesome these things were. Alfred frowned inwardly at this. That wasn’t right at all! No one should be so cynical that they can’t find wonder in something as great as this camera.
When he’d arrived at the spit, Arthur had already been waiting, much to Alfred’s happiness. After a short discussion, they’d made the decision to drive the boat out a bit further from the bay, in order to isolate themselves more. That had been over an hour ago.
Okay, so maybe he had spent a pretty long time asking for pictures. Glancing over at the man, Alfred smiled. “How about I take some pictures of you!”
It wasn’t a question. Alfred snatched the camera from Arthur’s hands before he could even respond. Inhaling sharply, Arthur jerked it back. “You’ve got to dry your hands first, it’s not waterproof!”
Blinking in confusion for a moment, Alfred nodded, and then reached over and wiped his hands on the fabric of Arthur’s shorts.
“Idiot!” Arthur snapped, but he gave the camera back to Alfred. “Why do you want to take pictures of me anyway?”
Alfred blinked owlishly. “I wanna use your camera, and since you took pictures of me, I thought I’d take some of you.”
Nodding, Arthur shifted awkwardly. “All right then. Get it over with.”
He beamed, moving the camera so he could see Arthur in the small screen. “Awesome! On three, smile! One, two… three!” Alfred clicked the button and waited for it to capture the image.
“Well?” He raised his prominent eyebrows.
Alfred bit his lip into a pout and squinted at the image on the camera. “Arthur, I thought you said you were supposed to smile in photographs…”
Flushing lightly, Arthur’s mouth formed an ‘o.’ “Not everyone has a big idiotic smile they can just turn on like a light switch!”
Alfred scrunched up his nose and frowned. “Well sorry that I’m happy? Not everyone is grouchy like you.”
Arthur scoffed and crossed his arms. “And not everyone is a moron like you.”
The merman sighed, swishing the end of his fin in the cool water. “Yeah, whatever. You’re the one who told me to smile…”
Arthur was about to retort, but his mouth dropped for a moment. “Yes well… I suppose I did but…” He breathed out a puff of air. “Very well. Take the damn picture again.”
Alfred’s blue eyes sparkled in delight as he began the countdown once more. “One, two, three. Smile!”
The result this time was slightly better, Alfred observed. He pursed his lips and scratched his cheek as he surveyed the photograph. Arthur was smiling. Sort of. A slight forced quirk of the mouth that rather resembled a grimace as much as it did a smile.
Why was it so hard for him to smile? Arthur was so weird. He knew most humans didn’t act like Arthur. At least, the ones he saw out on their boats were usually pretty jovial.
They also, far more often than not had other people with them, unlike Arthur, who came out in the yacht by himself. Alfred sighed inwardly, gazing up at the sky and wrapping his fingers around the camera. Pleasantly warm breezes skimmed across the top of the waves, causing the boat to rock gently.
“Hey Arthur, don’t you have any friends?”
Arthur blinked, nonplussed. “Excuse me?”
He hadn’t really meant for that to come out. The thought had no sooner crossed his mind then he spoke it. Oops?
Alfred gulped, scratching the back of his head nervously. “You know… I just mean--- “
“It’s none of your business, you tosser!” Arthur snapped, brows furrowing downward.
“Tosser…?”
“It also means idiot,” Arthur retorted. He crossed his arms and leaned forward. “But I suppose…” his voice grew softer, “well I suppose that I don’t… have a lot of close friends, no.” He inhaled sharply. “Don’t get me wrong though! It’s fine enough. Most people my age aren’t interested in the same things I am, or are rather unpleasant company or…” He trailed off.
Alfred rested a hand atop Arthur’s shoulder, startling him. “Lucky I’m here then, huh?”
“Wha--- “ Arthur’s cheeks flushed high.
“To be your friend, right?” Alfred clarified, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. His smile was bright to the point of blinding, and his eyes brimmed, expectantly.
Arthur felt his face redden more. “That is---“ he paused, “I mean to say that I’m not going to just be your friend just because you think I’m fun to poke at!”
Alfred’s expression dropped at this. “That’s not--- I mean it’s awesome that you’re human and all, but I’d still want to be your friend if you were… you know…” He scratched the back of his neck, nervously averting his eyes. “If you were a merman, I mean.”
The cry of a seabird overhead was the only thing that pierced the silence as Arthur processed Alfred’s words. It shocked him, honestly. He was sure that Alfred was only interested in spending time with him as means to discover more about the human world. But… Alfred had come across quite genuine in his statement to the contrary and well, it’s not as if he didn’t in a way, enjoy the company of the merman. And not just because he was bloody attractive, although that didn’t help.
He was interrupted by the sound of Alfred reaching down to splash his tail and arms with water. Alfred was pointedly looking away, his cheeks dusted light pink.
Arthur swallowed thickly. “All right. Friends then…” His lips quirked up in a small, almost unnoticeable smile. “Although I suppose we already were, really.”
Alfred beamed, and excitedly, he wrapped his arm around the other man’s shoulder and squeezed. Arthur flushed hot at this, but didn’t pull away.
“G-give me the camera, all right?”
He handed Arthur the camera, his expression curious. “Huh?”
“On three then,” Arthur said, holding the camera high up in front of them. “One, two, three.”
Arthur pushed the button, waiting a moment before bringing the camera back down and turning it around to show the screen to Alfred.
A slightly sunburned human man wearing a white shirt and khaki shorts looked back at him, next to a delighted looking merman, who was pressed flush to the human’s side. Wow! He’d managed to get a picture of both of them.
Arthur was actually smiling this time. It wasn’t the huge, brilliant smile that Alfred wore, but it was genuine, more so than anything else Alfred had seen from him before. He thought it was really, really awesome. Even better than his toes!
“Amazing!” Alfred proclaimed. “And you’re even smiling.” He let go of Arthur’s shoulder and leaned over in front of him, gaining a closer look at the image on the screen.
Arthur cleared his throat and turned the camera off. “Yes well…”
Alfred was still leaning over, his elbow resting atop Arthur’s leg. The fin on his arm was pressing against Arthur’s wrist. The merman was… oddly touchy feely. He wasn’t sure if it was because merpeople were more comfortable with casual contact, or if it was just Alfred. Arthur had an inkling of a feeling that it was just Alfred.
After all, why in the world would merpeople not understand the concept of personal space?
But blast it all, while Arthur would normally have immediately slapped away anyone who tried to casually touch him like Alfred always did, he found himself not too chagrined.
It was nice to have actually garnered the attention of another man, even if it was as a friend.
“What is it?”
He’d gotten used to the odd way that Alfred inflected his words. He didn’t much notice it at all anymore. It helped that he babbled almost incessantly. And, he didn’t feel the need to stop himself from staring at Alfred’s rather… unusual anatomy any longer, instead finding himself focused more often than not, on his face; his vivid eyes, his golden hair, his ever-present smile. Showing up somewhere with him on his arm would surely show Francis, but that wasn’t precisely possible.
Arthur had never considered himself particularly attractive. He was a bit small in stature, with scruffy hair that he could never get to stay put and eyebrows that were, he thought, somewhat of an eyesore.
However, Francis insisted (although he was hardly about to praise Arthur’s appearance), that it was his personality that turned people off of him. Francis was a wanker and had just about the least pleasant personality Arthur could imagine, but--- well--- it was true that the few dates he’d gone on, he’d ended up not exactly charming the men he’d been with.
But Alfred liked him. Seemingly, he even didn’t mind his personality, if he wanted to be his friend. He’d suck it up and ask him on a proper date if not for two very big problems; one, being that he had no idea if Alfred even liked men, and two, being the whole not human thing.
It’s not as if that could work out anyway.
“I um… I’m actually feeling a bit peckish,” Arthur finally spoke, attempting to change the subject, although he really didn’t feel well.
“Peckish?” Alfred still had his elbow on Arthur’s knee.
“Um, it means not well. I believe I must just be hungry. I didn’t think to bring anything with me today,” he elucidated.
The merman cocked his head to the side and blinked, pulling his elbow off of Arthur. “D’you want me to catch you something?”
“Excuse me?”
“A fish or… whatever you’d like to eat. I could try to get some shellfish. I kind of like mixing them together,” Alfred explained, grinning.
“Is that what you eat?” In truth, Arthur realized, he knew so little about how Alfred lived. He nodded. “Uncooked, I suppose.”
“Huh?”
“Well you’d have no way to cook them underwater, so of course not,” Arthur answered his own question. “I’m actually allergic to shellfish, so I’ll have to pass,” he lied. “I was thinking about going back to my house.”
“O-oh,” Alfred sighed, looking dejected. Arthur’s eyes widened. Was he really… that disappointed?
His cheeks bloomed pink and he took a deep breath. “You know, my… home is on a private beach, so if you’d… ah… like to follow me…”
The merman brightened immediately. “Really? I could come back with you?”
“It… would make it easier to meet if you knew where I lived,” Arthur clarified, voice quiet. “There’s even a dock, so I could come out to you and---“ He coughed.
Alfred whooped, causing Arthur to almost drop the camera in shock. He punched the air and laughed vibrantly, buoyant with excitement.
Arthur could not help but chuckle lightly. “All right. I’ll take you back a way that doesn’t usually have a lot of boat traffic. I suppose you’d remember the way better if you followed me?”
He nodded, leaping into the water with a splash. “Yeah! I’ll follow close behind!”
“Very well.” He smiled, just a slight one, back at Alfred, headed up to the front of the yacht, and began to drive back to the beach house.
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Alfred was growing impatient. He’d never been a very patient person, at least, according to many around him, Tino and Berwald included. But Arthur had been gone way too long. They’d arrived at Arthur’s house, and after docking his boat, he’d told Alfred that he was ‘going inside to get a bite to eat and would come back, if you wish to stay.’
Of course he wished to stay. He could make out Arthur’s house from the end of the dock, where he was floating. It was bigger than most of the beach houses he’d spotted on the shores before, and the front porch led out directly onto the sandy shore.
He imagined what it would be like to go inside Arthur’s house, to discover how he lived when he wasn’t out by himself on a boat. What kind of things were there inside? Alfred didn’t have a home, save the area of the Atlantic he lived in. The closest thing he had to one was a natural nook in a small canyon, which his pod generally slept in. And it’s not like he owned much of anything, like Arthur inevitably did.
He’d been told by Derek, of undersea castles where mermish kings and queens used to rule; of possessions in the form of pearls and treasures, used to trade with human kingdoms. Alfred had found pearls before. He wondered if they were still considered valuable to humans…
He wondered what Arthur would think of them.
A clatter of footsteps informed him of Arthur’s approach. Alfred perked up, smiling, as the human approached.
“Sorry it took so long,” Arthur said, once he’d reached the end of the dock. He bent his knees into a crouching position, resting his hands between his legs. “I was trying to cook something and I ah--- well there was a small fire.” His cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “So I just made a sandwich.”
Alfred had seen sandwiches before, them being something that boaters commonly brought out to eat. He nodded. “It’s okay. Uh, you feeling better now?”
Arthur nodded, sitting down entirely, his legs dangling off the side of the wooden dock. “I feel a bit rude, not offering you anything to eat.”
The merman waved his hand dismissively. “Nah, I’m full. Tino caught this huge bonito today. But you definitely have to bring me something next time!”
“So demanding…”
“Hey, I offered you something didn’t I?”
Arthur laughed quietly. “Fair enough then. I’ll bring you some, ah ‘human food’ next time we meet.”
Alfred grinned. “Great!”
The Englishman slipped off his deck shoes and let his feet dangle in the water. Alfred was resting his head on his arms, which were pressed flat against the dock. “Ah, I meant to ask you Alfred… how was your meeting last night, the one you had to leave for?”
Alfred’s eyes widened, enthused that Arthur was interested. “It went as awesome as it could. Matthew didn’t even come back to the pod last night, even though he said he wanted to talk to me. Went off with Katyusha…” He wrinkled his nose. “I really hate Ivan though.”
“Ivan?”
“He’s the leader of the other pod that lives in this area,” Alfred explained. “But Matthew wants to marry Katyusha, his older sister, so I had to pretend not to hate him during the meeting.”
Arthur leaned forward slightly. “Why do you not like this Ivan?” He scratched the side of his face. “You don’t have to tell me but---“
“Are you kidding? The more people who know how much Ivan sucks, the better…”
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It was evening.
By now Alfred was sitting on the dock with Arthur, his fin bent underneath him as opposed to dangling over the edge. An hour ago, Arthur had gone inside to retrieve sandwiches, as Alfred had finally grown hungry. The merman was quick to note that this ‘totally didn’t count,’ and he still had to bring him something ‘really awesome’ to eat next time they met.
But they’d talked and chatted and been together for, Arthur looked at his watch, about eight hours, ever since noon.
If this were to be a date, it would certainly be a very long date. Alfred was talking now about a pod he’d met last year, a rather fun-loving group of merpeople from down near Australia. “They’d decided to swim around the entire world and visit every ocean,” he explained.
“Sounds like an adventure,” Arthur replied.
Alfred looked skyward, smiling wistfully. “Yeah, I wish I could have gone. Imagine what kind of heroic things I could have done!”
He rolled his eyes. “No doubt.”
When Arthur had gone inside to make the sandwiches, he’d also snatched Alfred a towel. He figured that instead of having to constantly reach down in the water and wet himself, having a wet towel right beside him would make things easier for him. Alfred was rubbing the towel on his fin right now.
When he was done, he looked right at Arthur. In the starlight, his blue eyes almost shone brighter. Arthur swallowed thickly. “We’ve spent a lot of time together, haven’t we?”
“Yeah, we have,” he paused. “You know uh, for a while… I kind of thought maybe I had a crush on one of the guys in that pod. But I realized… not really… still it kind of…”
Why was he telling him this? Arthur considered. It felt a bit--- he said guy, didn’t he? So Alfred… His heart sped up. Well, that was perhaps, one obstacle down. His cheeks were heating up now, under Alfred’s intent stare.
“Never mind,” Alfred laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. “I don’t even know why I told you that.”
“It’s… all right,” Arthur assured him, his throat feeling dry. “I suppose I---I’ve never really been in love before myself, although… that’s not to say I’m opposed to the idea.” He averted his eyes from Alfred’s vivid blue gaze.
“Y-yeah… same…” Alfred replied, almost a whisper.
“D-don’t get me wrong, I’m hardly some idiot waiting for it! I’ve got a lot going for me. My education and my--- future and…”
“Me too! Uh, totally. Minus the… school thing and the journalism stuff but, definitely,” Alfred agreed, his cheeks flushing as he looked away.
Arthur nodded firmly. “Of course. Absolutely.”
Silence fell between them, both of them looking anywhere but at each other.
Finally, Alfred coughed. “Hey, it’s getting late so… I’d better go huh?”
Arthur fought a frown, because it’s not as if he was disappointed or anything. “That makes sense. I’m sure your family is wondering why you’ve been gone so long.”
“Yeah, probably.” Alfred shrugged. “But they are pretty used to me wandering off.”
Arthur chuckled. “That… honestly does not surprise me one bit.”
The merman grinned. “There’s just so many adventures to have, you know?”
“I… suppose there are.”
Alfred shifted, so his fin was no longer under him. Now it dangled in the water. “So uh… what are you doing tomorrow?”
Arthur’s green eyes grew large. “Do you honestly plan on seeing me every day?”
Alfred glanced up at the stars, bright in the summer sky. “Yeah sure, why not?”
“W-well I’m not sure if it’s possible to meet with you every single day but…” Arthur was blushing again, he just knew it. “Tomorrow would be all right. Francis comes home though, so we’ll have to avoid him. Come at sundown, all right?”
“Sounds great!” He nodded. He leapt into the water, eliciting a by now, familiar, splash. Just like the first time, he pushed himself back up with his arms and leaned forward, his cheeks blooming scarlet. Was he really going to--- do it again?
Quickly, he pressed his lips to Arthur’s other cheek, the one he hadn’t kissed the time before. “See you, Arthur!” he rushed out, before disappearing beneath the water.
“Alfred, wait!” Arthur finally managed to call out, once the lump in his throat had dissipated. But by then, Alfred had swum far out of hearing distance. “Wh-why do you keep doing that, you absolute git?”