Archive of Our Own

Luka had suffered from insomnia for as long as he remembered.

It was a little lonely being the only one awake, so after the sun went down and the rest of his mother’s crew retired to their bunks, Luka went abovedeck with his guitar. He curled up in the bow of the Liberty and softly crooned his songs to the sea.

Sometimes he felt like it was really listening.

He sensed a friendly presence out there in the darkness, and it made him feel less alone.

On occasion, he strummed mindlessly on his guitar and talked to the ocean, telling it about his day, his thoughts, his feelings, and his dreams.

“I don’t always want to be a pirate,” he confessed. “It’s lonely out here on the sea. Maman and the crew are wonderful, but…I can’t help but feel like I’m missing out on life. …Like there’s something more.”

A wistful sigh came in response, and Luka thought he heard someone whisper longingly, “Me too”.

Luka gave a start, abruptly stopping his playing and getting to his feet to peer over the side of the ship.

There was a splash, and he saw a tail give a flick as it disappeared under the water.

He stared for a long time, trying to make sense of the experience.

“A dolphin,” he decided. “A dolphin playing near the bow of the ship. And the wind. It’s not the first time I’ve heard a human voice in the wind,” he reasoned, fighting back the part of his brain that still wasn’t convinced.

He sat back down and picked up his guitar.

Soon, a confused, meandering melody filled the air.

Luka must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew, the wind had picked up and choppy waves were rocking the Liberty.

He hastily got to his feet and started to make his way to the stairs below deck.

He was halfway there when he realized he didn’t have his guitar with him.

He bit his lip, quickly taking stock of the condition of the sea and the sky to determine if he had time to go back and still make it to safety.

Making a decision, he turned around, sprinting back to the bow.

He’d just picked up his guitar when the skies opened up and dumped their contents down on him in a pounding rain.

Lightning cracked the heavens, and the ship began to pitch, nearly knocking Luka off of his feet despite his lifetime of experience on the sea.

He ran for cover, but the storm had other ideas.

The waves tipped the ship back and forth, sending Luka stumbling and struggling to see through the rain and the spray.

He tripped, his knee banging roughly against the deck, making him curl up in pain. Before he could bite it back and push himself up to get his bearings, the deck tilted sideways, and he found himself rolling towards the side of the ship.

A savage wave crashed down on the deck, sweeping Luka up with it.

All he could see was darkness, and stinging saltwater filled his lungs. His body reflexively tried to cough it out, but that only made things worse.

As consciousness faded, he felt arms surround him and start to pull.

In his complete disorientation, he couldn’t tell if they were going up to the surface or down into the depths of the sea.

Lips pressed to his, and he was finally able to expel the ocean from his lungs.

He sucked in air greedily even as he continued to splutter.

His vision was splotchy, but he thought he saw a face peering down at him.

He reached up to touch it and found that it was soft and warm.

Luka dreamed of a boy.

A beautiful blonde boy sitting beside him, singing Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid.

Eventually, the tune changed, and Luka recognized one of his own songs.

The boy stroked Luka’s hair, held Luka’s hand, and caressed Luka’s face. He peppered Luka’s palm with little kisses.

“I always wanted to tell you how much your music means to me.” He spoke with the most melodic voice. “I’m alone a lot too. It’s nice to be alone together with you. Even though I’m always too afraid to say anything back, it makes my day when you talk to me.”

When Luka opened his eyes, he was lying on a beach.

Something moved to his right, and he hurried to sit up.

He hurt all over, and moving was a hard job, so by the time he pushed himself up, he only managed to glimpse a large tail with iridescent, peacock blue-green scales disappearing under the waves.

Luka blinked.

“That wasn’t…a dolphin.”

He stared after it for a long time, desperately trying to sew fractured memories together into some semblance of sense.

When that failed, he took a look around, trying to identify his surroundings and get a feel for his location.

He found his guitar by his side, looking remarkably unscathed from its ordeal. Unfortunately, he knew it was only a matter of time before the damage started to show. The wood was probably already warping, and the strings were sure to rust.

It was like a cut flower: already dead but not aware of that fact yet.

Still…it was better to have his old friend by his side than lost at sea where he’d never know what happened to it.

He picked it up and hugged it to his chest.

The crew found him less than an hour later.

One of the lifeboats Anarka had dispatched to search for his body got close enough to the island to spot him on the shore.

“It was the strangest thing on God’s green earth,” Thierry, still mystified, reported to the captain when they brought Luka back to the ship. “It was like somethin’ was pullin’ our boat under the water. The ocean led us straight to ‘em.”

Luka spent the rest of that day considering sea creatures with peacock-colored scales and tails like a dolphin.

Several days later, the crew was fishing for food and profit when they pulled in an unexpectedly large catch in their nets.

Frenzied whispers and frightened gasps buzzed among the crew as they gawked at their haul.

“Captain!” Maupin shouted. “Captain, come look!”

Anarka made her way through the crowd and then stopped short. “…Well, I’ll be…”

“What is it?” Luka asked one of the deckhands near the back of the crowd.

The deckhand merely shrugged, craning his neck to see.

Curiosity piqued, Luka started to weave his way through the mass of bodies.

“I didn’t think they were real,” Anarka marveled, already seeing euros. “Some rich eccentric will pay a fortune for this.”

Luka finally made it to the front and froze when he spotted what all the fuss was about.

On the deck, tangled in the net and visibly having a panic attack was a merman.

Terror-stricken peridot eyes met Luka’s, and Luka could have sworn he saw the boy mouth “help”.

“Everyone get back!” Luka snapped, startling the crew and his mother.

“Luka, what are you doing?” Anarka stepped forward, grabbing her son by the arm to stop him from approaching the merman. “Stay back. That thing could hurt you. I already almost lost you once this week. We don’t need a repeat.”

Luka shrugged out of his mother’s hold, boldly striding towards the captive.

“Can’t you see that he can’t breathe?” Luka growled, kneeling beside the boy and fighting to untangle him from the net. “I’m getting him back in the water.”

“Absolutely not,” Anarka growled. “Luka, there are people willing to pay a boatload for creatures like that.”

Luka ignored her, pulling out his knife.

“Hold still,” he directed softly and reassuringly to the boy. “I won’t hurt you. I’m going to get you out.”

“Luka, that money could mean everything for us,” Anarka chided with a stomp of her foot.

Luka focused on sawing at the ropes.

“Hang in there,” he whispered to the boy. “You’re doing a good job. Just try to breathe, okay? You’ll be back in the ocean soon.”

“We could turn honest sailors,” Anarka continued. “No more moving around all the time. No more sneaking into port and being run out of town. No more being hunted.”

Once Luka had made a big enough hole in the net, he carefully worked to slip the merman through it.

“There you go,” Luka encouraged with a soothing smile. “I’m going to try to pick you up and carry you over to the edge of the ship now, okay?”

The boy nodded, eyes filled with relief, gratitude, and something else that Luka might have mistaken for affection.

Luka took a breath and carefully lifted the merman into his arms.

“Stop!” Anarka commanded, and several crew members moved into Luka’s way.

The boy trembled, holding on to Luka tighter.

“Luka, think of your future,” Anarka entreated. “I know you don’t want to do this forever. I know you want to go to the city and make friends and be a musician. You’re trading its freedom for yours.”

Luka’s step faltered, and his brow furrowed in confusion as he turned to his mother. “What do you mean?”

“If we sell it, we can all do whatever we want,” she tempted. “There will be enough for us all to live comfortably. You can leave the sea. You can settle down. You can live the life you’ve always been dreaming of.”

Luka’s moment of hesitation had made the decision for him.

More crewmates, enticed by Anarka’s vision of the future, stepped into Luka’s way, putting a wall of flesh between him and the ocean.

He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, reconsidering his plan. “…I’m…I’m taking him to my cabin. He needs to be in water.”

A satisfied smile slithered across Anarka’s lips, and she nodded. “Excellent idea. Jerry, Gomez, Lucia. Help fill Luka’s bathtub with seawater.”

The heartbroken look of abject betrayal on the merman’s face cut into Luka like a shard of glass.

“Sorry,” he whispered as he carried the boy below deck to his room.

Guilt gnawed at Luka’s ankles like an angry cat.

Half an hour later when Luka lowered the listless merman into the bathtub, his conscience still hadn’t recovered.

“Are you thirsty?” he inquired, anxious to improve the situation even if just by a little bit.

The boy didn’t respond.

“Can I get you something to eat?”

Nothing.

“Can you talk?”

Suddenly, a spark of life came back into the merman’s eyes, and he raised a hand out of the water, sullenly flinging droplets at Luka.

Luka sighed, wiping the water away. “Okay. Yeah. I deserved that.”

“Yeah, you did,” the boy growled, making Luka jump.

“So, you can talk,” he breathed in amazement.

The merman flicked more water droplets Luka’s way.

Luka wiped them away, remaining undeterred. “I’m Luka. What’s your name?”

The boy crossed his arms and looked away, not deigning to speak again.

Luka bit his lip. “Maybe I can guess it?”

The boy snorted.

Luka tried not to be discouraged.

He took another cleansing breath and started at the beginning of the alphabet with A names.

“Adrien?”

The boy’s head whipped around so fast, it startled Luka all over again.

The two stared, wide-eyed, at one another for a moment before Adrien remembered to be angry.

“Adrien?” Luka repeated in astonishment. “Did I really get it in one? Is your name Adrien?”

“No,” Adrien sulked, hunching up to make himself smaller.

“It’s a very nice name,” Luka offered. “I like it.”

Adrien cupped his hands, scooping up a whole handful of water and flinging it at Luka.

“…We’re going to have to refill the tub if you keep doing that,” Luka observed.

Adrien made a hand gesture and flicked his tail.

Luka got the impression that he and many generations of his family had just been insulted.

“I hate you!” Adrien snarled, tears beginning to bead in the corners of his eyes. “My father was right about you. Humans are cruel, heartless killers, and I never should have…”

He looked away, wrapping his arms around himself as he started to tremble again. “…I should have listened to him.”

“Hey.” Luka spoke softly, stepping in to rest one hand on Adrien’s back and the other on his upper arm. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get you out of here somehow. I’m not going to let them sell you as some curiosity, alright? I’m going to get you home.”

Adrien turned a disillusioned glare on Luka. “No, you’re not. You don’t care about me. You’re going to sell me to some monster who believes the rumors about mermaid flesh granting immortality, and I’m going to be killed and eaten,” he spit.

“Then, you’re going to use the money to buy a little café by the seaside where you can meet lots of interesting people and play them your music, just like you’ve always wanted.”

Luka stared at Adrien in shock and bewilderment. “How did…? How did you know about that?”

Luka had only ever spoken those wishes to the sea at night when everyone else was off in dreamland without him.

Adrien looked away, giving Luka another half-hearted splash.

“I’m not talking to you anymore.”

Slowly, Luka got to his feet and backed away towards the door. “I’ll…um…I think I’ll leave you alone for a bit. I’ll be back later.”

Adrien didn’t eat or talk for several days after his capture.

Luka brought in food and tried to encourage Adrien to take a bite, but Luka mostly got smacked with Adrien’s tail for his efforts.

“Could you not do that? That kind of hurts,” Luka grumbled, gradually losing his patience after several days of this treatment.

“You hurt?” Adrien snapped, finally breaking his silence. “My whole body hurts! You’ve got me crammed in this little tub with my spine all out of alignment. I’m sitting in my own waste. I’m bored out of my mind. My skin is dried out. I feel disgusting, and I’m pretty sure my muscles are atrophying from disuse! I’m a big fish; I need space to swim around, and you’ve got me stuffed in here. Let’s shove you in one of those barrels I saw in the hold, and we’ll talk about pain in a couple days.”

With a snort and a toss of his head, Adrien went back to silently sulking.

Meanwhile, Luka gaped in horror, mind reeling. “I…I am so sorry. I didn’t realize…”

He fluttered his hands uselessly, not sure of what to do with them. “I…let’s get you out of there. I’ll take you abovedeck, and you can at least stretch out and move your limbs around.”

Adrien blinked, slowly turning to quizzically incline his head at his captor. “What?”

“May I lift you and carry you abovedeck?” Luka asked permission. “While we’re up there, I’ll have someone change out the water in the bathtub. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it got stagnant. We’ll get you what you need to clean up too. I really am very sorry about this.”

Adrien studied Luka in suspicion for a moment before giving the nod. “Okay. You may carry me.”

Carefully, Luka scooped Adrien up and carried him abovedeck.

“What are you doing with that mermaid?” Gomez demanded, barring Luka’s path up the stairs.

“He needs some fresh air and some space to stretch out,” Luka explained. “You can chaperone us to make sure I don’t toss him back into the ocean or anything, but I’m taking him abovedeck. I’ve accidently been very cruel to him, and I need to right that injustice.”

Knowing better than to stand in Luka’s way when he had his mind set on something, Gomez stepped aside, following Luka up and giving some of the other crew members instructions to stand guard.

Luka took Adrien to the bow of the ship and gently set him down on the deck. “There you go. It’s not the open ocean, but at least you have some space to move now.”

With a sigh of relief, Adrien stretched out to full length, tractioning out his back. He moved his tail up and down and then gently twisted his hips from side to side. He did a whole yoga routine of stretches before rolling over onto his stomach and making movements like he was pretending to swim.

“Will you be okay here by yourself while I go get someone to clean out the bathtub and change your water?” Luka inquired.

Adrien shrugged. “I doubt anyone will hurt me, since they’re so set on selling me for profit. And it’s not like I’m going anywhere.”

Luka smirked. “I don’t know. I’ve seen seals and sealions move pretty fast on their flippers. You might make a break for it.”

Adrien shook his head and went back to swimming on the deck. “I’m not built like that.”

With a nod, Luka went to give instructions. He came back a little less than ten minutes later with his violin, taking his customary seat in the bow and starting to play a meandering tune that sounded a little like dolphins frolicking in the waves.

Adrien looked up curiously. “Where’s your guitar?”

Luka smiled sadly. “It’s down in my cabin. Unfortunately, it got waterlogged when I went overboard last week, so I can’t play it anymore.”

“Oh,” Adrien whispered, expression falling. “That’s sad.”

Luka nodded. “It’s okay, though. I can make another one. I’m just happy I didn’t lose that one in the ocean. It means a lot to me, so just having it is enough. It was the first one I made all by myself.”

Adrien pursed his lips, considering for a minute before he responded so softly that Luka almost thought he’d imagined it. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t lose it, then.”

They stayed up on the deck for several hours with Luka periodically pouring a bucket or two of seawater over Adrien so that he didn’t dry out.

“We’ll do this every day from now on,” Luka promised. “I really am sorry for not realizing I was hurting you before.”

Adrien looked away with a light blush on the apples of his cheeks. “It’s…in the past. Just do better now.”

“I promise,” Luka swore.

Later that evening, Luka tentatively poked his head into the bathroom. “Adrien?”

Adrien looked up from the book of fairytales Luka had given him to pass the time.

“Do you think you could tell me what you eat so I can get you some food?” Luka ventured. “You need to keep your strength up.”

Adrien’s eyebrow arched. “Why? Does your mother think she won’t get as good of a price for me if I look weak and sickly?”

Luka cringed. “This isn’t about that. How are you going to escape and make it home if you’re dehydrated and half-starved?”

Adrien averted his gaze, mumbling, “I’m never going to see my home again. I’m going to be killed and eaten. You’re trying to trick me, and it’s cruel, Luka.”

Luka knelt beside the bathtub and took the book from Adrien, setting it on the side table so that he could take both of Adrien’s hands in his.

He stared straight into Adrien’s peridot eyes and insisted, “Adrien, I promise I’m not trying to trick you. I want to help get you home, but you need to eat so you can make it there.”

Adrien held Luka’s gaze, searching intently.

“…Swear on your sister’s grave that you won’t betray me.”

Luka gave a start, struck to the core by Adrien’s words.

It took a minute for him to regain his composure and remark, “You…know a lot about me. …Much, much more than you should.”

Adrien shrugged. “Do you swear on Juleka’s grave or not?”

Luka gulped and gave Adrien’s hands a squeeze. “I swear on Juleka’s grave that I will do everything in my power to get you home safe.”

Satisfied, Adrien pulled his hands out of Luka’s and looked away self-consciously.

“…I like seaweed best,” Adrien whispered. “Coconuts too when I can get them. Shrimp and clams and crabs and fish are good too.”

Luka beamed as he scrambled to his feet. “Thank you, Adrien. Thank you for trusting me. I’ll be right back.”

That night, after everyone else was asleep, Luka went up abovedeck to play music on his harp and talk to the ocean…but the sea was dark, and there was no reassuring presence to make Luka feel less alone. No one was listening.

With a heavy heart, he retired early, going back below deck to his cabin.

He paused when he heard a soft, melodic sound coming from the bathroom.

He stayed still, listening for a while before he went and knocked on the doorframe, poking his head into the bathroom.

Adrien looked up at him expectantly. “Yes?”

“Are you…humming Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid?” Luka asked, baffled.

Adrien scrunched up his shoulders, averting his gaze as he bashfully inquired, “Do you want me to stop? I’m feeling homesick.”

“No,” Luka rushed to assure. “Go right ahead. I…I was just surprised. …You know The Little Mermaid?”

Adrien shrugged. “During the summer, they have movie night on one of the beaches up north a bit. I loved everything about Little Mermaid.”

His expression darkened as he added, “It led me to have unrealistic expectations about love and human beings and inter-species relationships and happily ever afters, though, so I’m kind of bitter about that.”

Luka nodded dumbly, still trying to absorb the reality of a merman watching The Little Mermaid.

“I fancied myself an anthropologist like Ariel,” Adrien snorted. “Things aren’t working out so well.”

“I’m…sorry,” Luka replied, completely at a loss for words.

Adrien shrugged and flicked his tail listlessly.

Abruptly changing gears, Adrien took a deep breath and smiled up at Luka. “So, what are you up to? Not playing music and singing your songs tonight?”

For the nth time, Luka found himself caught off guard by the merman’s familiarity with himself.

“I…uh…It feels kind of lonely topside tonight,” Luka struggled to explain. “Usually, when I’m up there, it feels like the ocean is listening and keeping me company. …She hasn’t had time for me the past few nights, though, so…I thought I’d come back down here.”

“I could keep you company, if you’d like,” Adrien offered.

Luka quirked an eyebrow. “Aren’t you tired? I wouldn’t want to disturb your sleep.”

Adrien gave a dismissive wave. “We keep similar schedules. I used to be an early bird, but…”

His voice softened as something precious and secret came to mind.

“…a few years ago, I found a reason to stay up late.”

Luka nodded and went to grab a stool to sit on out of his room. He settled in and quietly began to play his harp.

Adrien listened silently for a while, closing his eyes and soaking up the sound.

Gradually, Luka relaxed and was surprised to find that the quiet companionship he’d enjoyed with the ocean was back.

“…I’m sorry about your sister, by the way,” Adrien whispered about fifteen minutes later.

Luka’s fingers momentarily fumbled on the strings, but a second later they fell back into the melody.

“You did everything you could,” Adrien assured. “If you’d tried any harder, you would have drowned too.”

Luka swallowed thickly and nodded, deciding to take it for granted that Adrien knew all of his secrets. “Thanks.”

“…I lost my mother at about the same time,” Adrien confessed. “It was an accident too. …It’s hard when you lose them so suddenly. You’re not ready for it, and then it hurts so bad, and you don’t know how to process it, what to do about it…and the person who’s supposed to be grieving with you and helping you through it cuts you off.”

Luka set aside the harp and blew out a sigh, confirming, “Maman hasn’t been the same ever since. …Are you talking about your father?”

Adrien nodded.

Luka tentatively reached out and took Adrien’s hand.

Adrien gave Luka a soft smile and squeezed.

They sat in commiserative silence for a while until Adrien spoke up once more.

“Could we sing that song about the unicorns? I think I remember how it goes.”

Luka burst out laughing. “Of course you know the unicorn song.”

“What was the name of the little girl from that port city?” Adrien asked. “The one Juleka had a crush on. They made up the song together, right?”

Luka nodded. “Rose.”

It felt good to talk about it. Even though he sharply felt his sister’s loss, the memories were strangely comforting. It was like a part of her was coming back to life, like he was speaking her back into existence.

Anarka never spoke about Juleka, and it felt like losing his sister over and over again. Speaking her name and recalling memories of her felt like a bandage over the wound, helping it to heal.

“Ready to sing?” Luka prompted and then counted them in.

He nearly cracked up when Adrien began to belt the lyrics.

Not to be outdone, Luka raised his voice, singing at the top of his lungs along with Adrien.

When they finished, they laughed, smiling at one another like coconspirators.

Luka hesitated before he remarked, “You know, it’s really nice talking about Juleka. I don’t get to do that…and I was wondering if maybe you’d want to talk about your mom. Maybe you don’t get to do that much either.”

Adrien’s eyes lit up, the beginnings of tears shining in the dim light of the cabin.

“You wouldn’t mind listening?”

Luka shook his head. “I’d be honored.”

He gave Adrien’s hand a squeeze.

With a shy smile, Adrien squeezed back. “…Her name was Émilie. She looked a lot like me.”

A week passed quickly with Adrien and Luka lying out on the deck by day, side by side, talking in low voices. They were in their own private world as they gradually opened up to one another and shared secrets.

At night they’d stay up late talking some more as Luka strummed some instrument or another. Sometimes they sang, and sometimes they sat in silence, just holding hands.

One day, Luka and Adrien were curled up on the deck watching and commenting upon the clouds when Anarka strode over to them, a disapproving scowl etched into her face.

“Luka, you’re looking awfully cozy with that siren,” she accused.

Luka sat up, resting a protective hand on what would have been Adrien’s thigh if he’d had legs.

“So what if I am?” Luka challenged. “He’s a very likeable person. You’d know that if you tried talking to him.”

Anarka clicked her tongue. “Luc, that’s not a person.”

Luka shrugged. “Your definition of humanity is too narrow. He may not be a human being, but that doesn’t make him a soulless object.”

Anarka gritted her teeth. “It’s bewitched you. That’s why you’re acting like this. The sooner we get that thing off our ship, the better.”

“I’d be happy to help him over the side of the boat now,” Luka offered.

Anarka was just about to retort when Adrien cut in.

“If I may, I’d like to propose a solution to our problem.”

Both Couffaines turned and blinked at the merman.

“Where I come from, I’m what you would call a prince, like Ariel from The Little Mermaid,” Adrien explained, hoping Anarka had at least heard of the movie. “My father is the ruler of Atlantis, and we have a lot of gold back at the palace.”

Anarka’s eyes went wide, and she leaned in closer.

“If you let me go, I could go get some for you and bring it back,” Adrien proposed.

Luka eagerly looked to his mother, urging, “What do you say, Maman? That way everyone wins.”

“Bah,” Anarka scoffed. “Treachery. You’d swim off and never look back.”

Adrien flinched. “I promise I wouldn’t.”

Anarka waved Adrien’s promises away. “Your word is no good here, fish.”

Luka deflated, disappointed as his mother turned and stormed off.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered to Adrien. “She wasn’t always coldhearted like this.”

Adrien shook his head. “It’s okay. I know how grief can change people, calcify their hearts.”

Adrien laid back down, sighing, “I don’t even know if my father would care enough to ransom me.”

“Oh, Adrien,” Luka breathed, lying down and snuggling up to Adrien, draping an arm over him.

Adrien closed his eyes, touching his head to Luka’s.

“Is that one of my songs you’re humming?” Luka inquired several nights later, coming to lean in the doorway between his bedroom and Adrien’s bathroom.

Adrien beamed when he saw Luka, and his tail did a discrete little movement that Luka had come to recognize as joy, like the wag of a dog’s tail only subtle.

“One of your old ones is stuck in my head,” Adrien explained.

Luka frowned. “I haven’t played that one in forever.”

He wracked his brain, trying to recall the last time he’d played it.

Adrien shrugged. “You played it a lot two years ago. I took a liking to it, and I used to dance around the palace belting it into a conch shell, pretending it was a microphone. Plagg hated it.”

Luka slowly shook his head as he took a seat on the stool he’d permanently relocated to Adrien’s bathroom. “Okay. You really need to tell me how you know all this stuff about me. Have you been, like, stalking me or something?”

Luka had meant it as a joke, but Adrien’s cheeks pinked, and he looked away.

“Maybe a little bit?”

Luka’s mouth dropped open. “Wait. What?”

Adrien shifted uncomfortably. “Okay. So, like I’ve said before, I like peoplewatching. Sometimes I hang around beaches or get close enough to ships so that I can see what the humans are doing, and one time I spotted your ship.”

Adrien’s cheeks turned a darker shade of crimson, and he squirmed as he continued. “It was late at night, and I was upset, so I’d come to the surface to get away from everything…and I heard you singing and playing guitar. It was beautiful.”

Luka could feel his own face burning at the admission.

“You were the one who ‘siren songed’ me,” Adrien accused. “The lyrics really clicked with me, so I got closer to the ship so I could hear the music better. Then, you started talking, and I…I pulled myself up onto one of the canons and just sat and listened. The next night, I came back…and the one after that…and the one after that.”

Adrien looked up with anxious eyes. “I didn’t mean to stalk you. I just felt this connection, like you got me, like we were the same. And you seemed to like talking to me. You always used to say, ‘thanks for listening’. I knew I should have said something, but I never found the courage to speak.”

“Why not?” Luka wondered, mesmerized by Adrien’s tale. “Did you think I was intimidating or something?”

Adrien shook his head. “I don’t know. Sometimes I hear my father’s voice in the back of my head telling me humans are dangerous, that they’d kill me like they killed Maman if I got too close. Part of me believed him. Part of me thought you’d think I was a monster, and then I’d never get to be with you again. I didn’t want things to change. I didn’t want to lose what we had because sometimes you were the only thing I had to hold onto.”

Luka slipped his hand into Adrien’s. “I felt the same about you.”

Adrien’s eyes went wide.

Luka nodded. “Even though I didn’t know it was you, I always felt a friendly presence when I went out to play at night. You made me feel less alone. You kept me sane too.”

They stared at one another for a long moment before Luka tentatively asked, “Adrien, in your culture, when two merfolk love each other, how do they express it?”

Adrien’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean? Like, snuggling and holding hands and saying ‘I love you’?”

Luka gulped. “Okay. So, when two humans love one another, they press their lips against each other’s.”

Adrien nodded. “Kissing? We do that too.”

Luka blew out a breath in relief. “Okay. Good. Because I’m in love with you.”

“W-What?” Adrien gasped.

Slowly, Luka leaned in, telegraphing his intentions so that Adrien could stop him.

Instead, Adrien leaned in, gently brushing his lips against Luka’s.

Pulling back, Luka rested his forehead against Adrien’s giving a contented sigh. “I’m really happy I got the chance to do that.”

“Me too.” Adrien hummed blissfully, giving Luka’s nose a nuzzle.

Luka pulled away, and his smile vanished. “I need to get you out of here now.”

Adrien blinked in surprise. “What do you mean? We’re going up on deck?”

Luka shook his head. “You need to escape. I’ve been so happy with you this past week that it completely slipped my mind, but we’re heading inland to Paris where Maman wants to sell you. We’ll be leaving the open ocean soon, and I need to get you off this ship before that happens.”

Adrien slowly started to nod, thoughts a confused whirlwind. “How long do we have?”

Luka winced. “We need to go tonight.”

Adrien’s jaw dropped. “So soon?”

Luka nodded.

Adrien looked away. “But, I…I don’t want…”

He looked back to Luka.

“I love you too,” Adrien whispered sadly. “I don’t want to say goodbye.”

Luka leaned in for another kiss, longer this time, savoring the feeling.

“I don’t want to lose you,” Adrien sniffled as Luka pulled away.

“I don’t want to lose you,” Luka stressed. “That’s why I have to send you away.”

“Do I have to go now?” Adrien pouted.

“Yes, Love.” Luka gave Adrien’s head a pat. “Come on, Little Fish. Time to go home.”

“You’re home,” Adrien whimpered but obediently hooked his arms around Luka’s neck, letting Luka lift him.

“I know, Adrien,” Luka whispered as he carried the merman topside. “Trust me. I know what you’re feeling. I’m sending my heart along with you, just like you’re leaving yours here.”

Luka helped Adrien up to sit on the railing, and they stared at one another for a long while.

“You need to go now before someone wakes up and we lose this chance,” Luka reminded them both.

Adrien pulled Luka into one last kiss and then pushed himself over the edge.

Luka watched him go and then stared out at the ocean for a long time afterward.

He could feel something missing inside of his chest.

Luka didn’t get out of bed the next day.

When some of the crew came to check on him and change Adrien’s water, Luka remained silent as they demanded to know where their cash cow had gone.

Anarka was furious.

She didn’t speak to Luka for days.

On the third day of Luka not getting out of bed, she did, however, bring him food and sullenly set it down on his bedside table.

On day five, she said, “Your fish would be upset if he knew he was making you so miserable.”

Luka wasn’t sure if she was just trying to manipulate him, but he realized that she was right, so he sat up and began to pick at his food.

Three weeks passed, and Luka was still depressed, but he was at least making an effort to get up and move to different spots around the ship where he sulked openly, not really caring who saw that he was wretched.

One day, Luka was lying on the deck, halfheartedly watching clouds while the crew fished.

They struggled to pull in their nets due to the large catch, and Luka braced himself for the smell of fish.

A cry went up among the crew.

Luka’s head snapped up when he heard Maupin shout, “The merboy’s back!”

Luka ran, shoving people out of the way like a lunatic.

Sure enough, there was Adrien, trembling in the net.

“Everybody back,” Luka growled, rushing to his beloved’s side and pulling out his knife to make quick work of the ropes.

“Luka,” Adrien breathed as he squirmed through the hole Luka had made. “Luka.”

“Adrien,” Luka answered, voice cracking with emotion.

Their lips found one another’s in a desperate kiss that conveyed just how much they had missed each other over those long three weeks.

“My Love, what are you doing here?” Luka demanded as he caressed Adrien’s face. “You were supposed to go back home and be safe.”

“I know, but I missed you,” Adrien whimpered, running his hands through Luka’s hair again and again. “It physically hurt to be separated. I had to see you again. I had to know you were okay.”

“I’m not okay,” Luka confessed. “I missed you too. It was torture, Adrien. I wanted to see you so bad.”

Luka pulled Adrien into another fiery kiss.

“Come with me,” Adrien begged against Luka’s lips. “Come home with me. We’ll never have to be apart again.”

“Adrien, I wish I could, but humans can’t live underwater,” Luka explained, tears of frustration breaking down the dam and streaming down his cheeks.

“You could for a while,” Adrien argued.

Luka shook his head. “I can hold my breath for maybe a minute.”

“You don’t need to,” Adrien informed. “You’ve kissed me, so you should be able to breathe underwater.”

Luka gawked at Adrien. “I can? I can go with you?”

Adrien nodded vehemently. “Please? I can’t stand to be away from you.”

The moment was interrupted by Anarka clearing her throat.

The lovers gave a start, and Luka wrapped his arms protectively around Adrien.

Anarka sighed, holding up her hands placatingly.

The gathered crew members who had been trying very hard not to gawk at their captain’s son and his half-fish boyfriend turned to Anarka for their cue.

“I’m not going to stop you, Luc,” she informed. “I’ve seen you these past few weeks, completely lovesick for your fish over there, and I know better than to stand in the way.”

She looked at Adrien. “I just want your assurances that my boy will be safe.”

“I’d die for him,” Adrien pledged, a fierceness in his eyes.

Anarka nodded. “Very well.”

She turned back to Luka, opening her arms. “Can I at least have a hug before you go?”

Luka hurried to his feet, dashing over to his mother and catching her in a tight hug. “Thank you, Maman.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she sighed, embracing him just as hard. “It killed me to see you hurting so much. God knows I’ve slept with uglier men than that, so I guess I have no room to talk about your taste in mates. Go be happy with your fish.”

Luka let go, shaking his head. He leaned back in and placed a kiss on his mother’s cheek. “Thank you, Maman. We’ll come visit sometime.”

Adrien nodded. “So long as you promise not to try to sell me or cook me or anything like that.”

“I think that’s a price I’m willing to pay to see my son again,” Anarka agreed.

With one last grateful smile for his mother, Luka turned back to Adrien, scooping him up and helping him to sit on the railing.

Luka climbed up beside him and looked down at the sea. He gulped, suddenly getting vertigo.

“This is kind of terrifying.”

Adrien took his hand. “I’ve got you. I didn’t let you drown in that storm, and I’m not going to give you up now either.”

Luka turned to gape at his boyfriend. “That was you? You saved me?”

Adrien blinked. “I thought you knew?”

Luka shook his head. “I’m an idiot.”

Adrien laughed. “My idiot.”

“Your idiot,” Luka confirmed. “Jump on three?”

“Three!” Adrien shouted gleefully, pulling Luka over the edge.

The

       End