forum Mermaid romance (one-on-one//closed)

Started September 16, 2018 by @ElderGod-Carrots

tune

Arria knew finding his friends would have to wait, the stitches on Carter's arm more important then anything else. But he couldn't turn down a hug so he nodded, "Of course you can, you can have as many hugs as you want." He honestly needed a hug, hopefully it would make him feel a little better about everything.

(Aww, y’all are really sweet, idk if it could ever get published lol and also if I published a book with gay guys as the protagonists my father might just disown me)

Carter almost tackled Arria with his arms—still wary of the merman’s bruises nonetheless—holding onto him tightly and pressing his face into his shoulder. This comfort was better than the kind of comfort Jackson gave him, this comfort had meaning behind it. This hug was rooted in love. Carter inhaled deeply, re-memorizing Arria’s familiar scent.

(Oof)

Arria made a small oof noise as he was tackled, quickly wrapping his arms around Carter. He'd missed this, missed being held and being able to hold. It'd been far too long. And to think they'd nearly messed everything up completely a few hours ago. Never again. He wouldn't let anything like this happen again.

Carter nuzzled his face into Arria’s shoulder, “I was so scared to lose you again, when I woke up and you weren’t there and they said Maria took you…” Carter subconsciously gripped onto Arria tighter as he spoke, taking another deep inhale.

Arria tangled a hand in Carter's hair, sighing softly, "I know, I get it… At least we don't have to deal with her ever again." He mumbled, pulling Carter even closer if that was even possible. He didn't plan on letting go anytime soon.

“Never again,” Carter whispered, and it wasn’t just Maria he was talking about. Never again would he lose Arria. Never again would he let another man come between them. Never again would he act like he did on the boat.

Eventually, Arria pulled away, placing a kiss to Carter's cheek, "Our next problem is getting somewhere we can both have access too… you can't get to the city with no tail… and I can't go on land without legs…" He bit his lip, looking down at their legs and tail.

Carter looked down at himself and Arria’s tail with a small frown. “I guess I might be able to carry you, but…” Carter shook his head. His endurance and general strength declined dramatically due to his odd eating habits that he developed during the past three years. “I have the snorkel still, but I don’t think I could make it to the city unless you wanted to give me mouth to mouth the entire way,” Carter joked with a small laugh.

Arria smirked a little, “Even if we made it, it would be too hard to keep that up,” He ran a hand through his hair, fingers catching on the curls, “Do you… do you think the old cave would still have some potions left? Unless you took them after… you know, the Incident.” He suggested. It was a possibility that some of them were still there, unless Carter has taken them. He doubt anyone else would have.

“I-… I didn’t go back there. I guess there could be some there, if no one took them,” Carter smiled a little. He hadn’t gone back, he couldn’t… well, physically he could. He had certainly thought about driving out to the land entrance to try to find some kinda of comfort in the memories attached to the place, but… Carter felt like he couldn’t go back there when Arria was in danger. The first few weeks, he had held onto that ideology that he needed to devote his time to saving Arria. Then it slowly developed into shame of not being able to save Arria. From there… it developed into shame for not being able to bring himself to have the energy to keep fighting. Either way, he had never gone back to their old home, and now it might be paying off a little if that meant there were potions there.

Arria nodded, slowly beginning to inch himself back into the water, "Okay, we'll give that a shot then." He held out his hand for Carter to take, offering him a smile. They were going to be okay. Yes, their relationship wasn't what it had been, yes they had both changed drastically over the past few years but… they were going to be okay, he was sure of it. Maybe not right now, but soon.

Carter took a deep breath and smiled back at him, taking the merman’s hand and squeezing it. Everything would be okay. Maybe it wouldn’t be okay today, but one day… one day, they would fix everything. No longer would Carter have to wake up every day and panic a little when Arria still wasn’t there. Maybe things would be a bit broken and awkward at first, but Carter hoped one day they’d be back to how they used to be, in true love.

Arria squeezed Carter’s hand back, tugging him into the water with him. He knew they’d have to stay near the surface so Carter could take breaks to breathe. He didn’t actually know how far away the cave was from here. Whether it was a long swim or a short one as long as they got there quick, quick enough to get their wounds tended to as soon as possible. He didn’t want to defend Carter against another shark, not knowing how much energy he’d have for that.

Carter did his best to help swim, though he wasn’t as effective without a tail. He silently cursed himself for being so useless. But as long as they got back to their cave in the end, everything would be fine. Hopefully, they could find the others after Carter and Arria tended to each other’s wounds, and then they could hopefully get better salves. Especially for Arria’s bruises, which Carter was increasingly worried about.

It took the two of them around fifteen minutes, maybe a little less to reach the cave, having to stop every once in a while to let Carter breathe before they continued on. Eventually the two were swimming up and into the old cave. No one had been there, it seemed, as everything was still where they left it three years ago. Arria immediately pushed himself up onto the rocks, wincing though he tried to hide it. He became rifling through their old bags, trying to find something.