Arria blushed, "Well… yeah I do."
"Never shuts up about how, amazing and cute and wonderful you are." Herla said, chuckling.
"Anyway, it'll be nice to spend some time with you, see if what Arria says is true but, he never lies and is terrible at it so I highly doubt he's wrong." Mulir said, smiling.
Carter himself blushed, leaning his head to rest on Arria’s shoulder, “Well what do you want to know about me? I, myself, have want to get to know my sea boy’s friends,” Carter tested out the pet name, smiling a little as he said it.
All three mermen raised there eyebrows at the name but didn't mention it.
"How about an answer for an answer. We'll tell you something about us if you tell us something about yourself, how about that?" Gallion grinned, "And if so let's head back to Arria's."
"Why mine?" Arria piped up.
"Because we all have family that'll be home and Farron is never home."
"Fine fine, I see you point."
“Alright then,” Carter smiling, interlocking his hand with Arria’s with a smile as he started to swim.
Arria smiled and swam the way to his home, his friends following close behind. Once there, Arria sighed and sat down on one of the seats, "Alright, Carter, you ask a question first."
“Well… What kind of things do you do with Arria? Like, um, how do y’all hang out?” Carter tried to make the question sound more casual, and less like ‘I’m-a-human-wanting-to-know-what-merpeople-do-on-a-typical-day’.
Gallion shrugged, "Eh, usual stuff. We all work so we try to get together on breaks, which all happens to be around the same time so mostly we go to the crystal caves. Or shark scaring,"
"Why do we do that? That shark thing? Mulir nearly had his tail bitten off last time!" Herla crossed his arms and frowned while the others laughed.
"You're just scared Herla." Arria grinned.
"Alright, when did you first meet Arria?" Gallion asked.
“Um…” Carter glanced at Arria, blushing a little. He couldn’t possibly tell them they’d only met a few days ago, so he exaggerated just a tiny bit, “A week ago, actually. Though it feels like I’ve known you for a lot longer, Arria.”
Arria nodded and rested his head on Carter's shoulder, "Yeah it does feel longer."
"Ah, well, it's nice to know Arria finally has someone." Herla said gently, smiling at the two.
Arria blushed and looked away.
Carter smiled, then looked at the mermen and asked while he chewed his lip, “What jobs do you have?”
"Gallion is a palace guard, Mulir is a cook and I just work in a shop in the city." Herla said.
"Boring stuff, doubt you'd wanna here about it." Gallion said, yawning over dramatically, "Do you work, Carter?"
“I work in the winter months,” Carter answered vaguely, keeping himself from saying his job. He doubted they had a McDonalds in the merworld. Instead, he asked a question that had been egging at him ever since the palace, “So when did you meet Yuri? At least, I’m assuming you all knew each other.”
Arria stiffed a little and the guys exchanged a look.
"So, you've met him then? Yeah, we all know him, used to hang out with as all the time," Herla explained, "Then him and Arria got together and we saw him even more but," He looked at Arria who looked like he had zoned out, "After a while, things started to get… weird between us, he got more possessive of Arria and didn't like us all hanging out together. We haven't spoken since… since him and Arria ended things."
Carter nodded, leaning closer to Arria and saying quietly, “I’m glad you’re safe now.” He hesitantly interlocked his fingers with Arria’s, drawing soothing circles with his thumb onto Arria’s wrist.
The guys exchanged a look before saying to Carter, "We should get going, take care of him, Carter. We'll see you later." Mulir said gently, giving Arria a worried look before leaving with his friends.
Once they were gone, Arria squeezed Carter's hand, leaned into Carter before he starting crying.
Carter’s breath caught for a second, and suddenly he realized his fault. His arms couldn’t wrap around Arria faster, he couldn’t have held the merman any sooner. “Arria… I’m- I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to- I’m sorry,” Carter tightened his grip around Arria. How bad had it really been?
Arria shook his head, "No, no i-it's not your fault… never your fault. Sorry… I-I'm acting like a child." He said quietly but he couldn't stop crying. He buried his head in Carter's chest to try and calm himself down.
“You are not acting like a child,” Carter said firmly, holding Arria closer, “I didn’t know- How long ago had this happened?” Carter asked quietly, drawing soothing circles with his thumb on Arria’s back.
"Uh… we broke up m-maybe three months ago. I-I can't remember," Arria replied, his voice no more then a whisper, "I should never have gone out with him but he was so… sweet and kind at first," He took a shaky breath, "A-And then he changed and I don't know why…"
Three months… Carter was burning on the inside. He wanted to storm up to that snotty merman and punch him in the jaw. But he managed to keep his tone comforting and soft as he said, “I’ve got you. That’s never going to happen again, I promise Arria. Never.” Carter continued to draw soothing circles on Arria’s back with the pad of his thumb.
Arria nodded and looked up at Carter with a tiny smile, "O-Okay, I trust you," He sighed and wiped his face of his tears before resting his head back on Carter's chest, "I love you." He took Carter;s free hand in his own and held it tight.
Carter held Arria tightly, closing his eyes and trying to get the rage to pass. Next time I see that a—hole… Carter tightened his grip on Arria’s hand. Never again. “I love you too, Arria.”
Arria gasped, "The potion's going to run out soon. If you want to stay longer then you're going to have to take another." He sat up straighter and look at Carter.
“I-“ Maybe it would be better if I left… So Arria could have some space… Or I could hunt down that a—hole… Carter chewed his lip, looking at Arria, “What do you think? I can leave if you’d want to, um, get some sleep.” Carter didn’t want Arria to feel guilty for Carter leaving, so he tried to give the merman an excuse to tell Carter to leave.
"I um…" Arria sighed and rubbed his face, "I mean… yeah I'm tired but I don't what you to leave though," He groaned and rolled off of Carter, "This is a hard choice. When do you have to be home by?"