Arria turned around and when he noticed Carter wasn't there his smile faded, "Carter!" He swam back to the tunnel and gasped, "No, no, no, no, no." Quickly, he swam closer and tried to push at the boulder, it didn't move much and Arria tried again and again.
Carter choked, then instinct took over and he sucked in water. No, no, no, gosh, no. Carter pushed at the rocks, but nothing was moving, he couldn’t get out. He sucked in another breath of water, coughing and coughing in a catch twenty two. His hand grabbed Arria’s with a panic, holding tightly. I’m dying.
"Carter no… I'm sorry, don't die on me, please." Arria used his tail to try and move the boulder and it did start to move but not by much, "Come on…" Arria was about to give when out of the corner of his eye, he saw something fast approaching. When it drew closer, Arria recognised the face and the green and gold tail.
"Arria what the hell happened?!" Farron asked, immediately coming to help, the boulder started to move more with the force of two merman moving it.
"I'll explain later, just push!"
Black spots started to cloud in on Carter’s vision. His grip loosened on Arria’s hand as weakness started to drag at him. Carter vaguely felt his foot come loose, but he barely got a few meters out before being thrown into unconsciousness.
Arria grabbed Carter as soon as he was free and swam for the surface, breaking the water and swimming to the rock pool, "Please don't die on me…" He placed him on the sand and tried to wake the other up again.
Carter’s head lolled to the side, some water spilling out of his mouth. Salty still filled his filled his lungs like a tank. He had breathed in so much when he had been trapped… His chest no longer moved up and down in that rhythmic beat of breathing.
Think Arria think. What would… Arria remembered something he learnt about bringing a human back to life. He moved Carter's head back a little, then placed both his hands over his chest and pushed up and down, Restart his heart and he should cough up the water… right?
It took a few moments, but then Carter was coughing up ocean water. He rolled on his side, spitting it up and trying to get air in at the same time. But he was alive. Carter was about to turn, but he choked up more water onto the sand, coughing harder. But he was breathing. He finally turned to look at Arria with bleary eyes, trying to joke ithe near death experience away, “Gosh, I’m really stupid.”
Arria hugged the other tightly, "You're alive, don't ever do that again Carter or I'll…I'll…" He pulled back and wiped his eyes to stop himself from crying anymore. It was only when he heard a cough did he winced, roll his eyes and turn around to see his brother.
"Uh… thanks for the help back their Farron." Arria muttered.
"Can one of you explain what's going on?" The older merman asked, crossing his arms.
Carter sat up, squinting his eyes at the newcomer, “You’re Farron?” Another merman… Arria was definitely cuter, though. Carter instinctively grabbed Arria’s hand and said defensively, “Arria was just saving my life.”
"I know, what I would like to know is why he was helping you? You're a human." Farron raised an eyebrow.
"Look, a couple days ago, Carter was stung by a sting ray and I helped him," Arria said, giving the humans hand a squeeze, "He hasn't outed the mer-world, if he did, I wouldn't be talking to him. Please Farron, please don't do anything stupid."
Farron looked to Carter, "You haven't said anything to anyone, truthfully?"
“Of course not!” Carter frowned slightly, “Besides, no one would believe me. You are supposed to be myths,” Carter clarified matter-of-factly. He subconsciously leaned closer to Arria, “I would never hurt Arria, either.”
Farron noticed how the two of them were comfortable with each other, probably in way more then friends were. Eventually, he nodded, "Alright… but if you do then watch out." He said before swimming away. Arria released a breath, "That went better then expected."
Carter couldn’t stop himself from smiling. It was okay. He laughed lightly, coughing once, then put his whole weight against Arria and closed his eyes as he complained, “It hurts to breath. And my eyes are stinging again.” He let out a few more coughs for emphasis.
"I know, I'm sorry that happened to you." Arria kissed the other on the cheek, "You've still got water in your lungs, that's why it hurts to breath. Coughing it up is the only thing that will help."
“Serves me right for swimming in an underwater cave,” Carter laughed, which turned into furiously coughing. The taste of salt throughout his mouth left him parched. He closed his eyes again for a second, trying to let the feeling pass. “Second time I’ve almost drowned in the week, I’m beginning to think you’re a bad influence on me.”
"Sorry…" He muttered, rubbing the others back, "Maybe we shouldn't go swimming so deep next time." Arria wrapped his arms around himself and sighed.
“Hey, I’m kidding. It wasn’t your fault,” Carter said, curling around Arria lovingly, “You saved me, remember?” Carter kissed Arria’s cheek slowly, lingering close.
"I-I know I just… feel bad since I thought it was a good idea to swim through the tunnel…" Arria muttered, taking a deep breath.
“It was my poor judgement, though, that ended me up almost drowning,” Carter pointed out, his hand rubbing soothing circles into Arria’s back, “And it won’t happen again, that’s all that matters.” He kissed the merman gently on the lips as if to affirm it.
Arris kissed him back, "Sorry… you were the one who almost died. I should be helping you not the other way around." He said, frowning at himself.
Carter laughed a little at how amazing the merman was, smiling against Arria, “I love you,” Then Carter pulled Arria basically on top of him, bits of sand spraying. He buried his head into the merman’s neck, “I really love you.” The fact that Arria was just so sweet like that… Carter smiled again into Arria’s skin.
Arria smiled and rested his head on the other. His heart rate and picked up slightly and he willed it to return to normal. "I love you too." He said quietly. Carter was going to be the death of him but Arria accepted that.
Carter lovingly kissed Arria’s neck, moving upwards to the merman’s jaw with a moan. His leg wrapped around Arria’s tail, toes tracing over the scales. A merman and a human in love… what a story…
Arria let out a shaky breath and a small moan, relaxing into Carter as the human kissed him. Gods… His tail curled around the others legs carefully.