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

"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?"

I could really stay here all night, no one would know… “I don’t really have to be home by any specific time. Are you- Well, are you sure you don’t want me to leave?” Carter tilted his head to the side as he asked the question.

Arria smiled and kissed Carter, "Carter, I'm sure. Although my only problem is you drowning in the middle of the night…" He sighed, "What if… what if I gave myself legs… now? Farron isn't going to care as long as I'm safe and that way you're not going to drown in the middle of the night."

“You can give yourself legs?” Carter’s eyes widened as he glance at Arria’s tail. “And you’d come to land with me?” Carter asked in slight awe. Arria with legs… I could show him my house, the city, we could look at the stars together…

Arria nodded, "Yeah, why would I give myself legs and not come with you? And if I can give you a tail I can give myself legs." He swam over to a shelf and grabbed a book, flicking through the pages quickly.

Carter swam over to look of the merman’s shoulder, “Can I help with anything?” He glanced again at Arria’s tail… He’s gonna have legs… It’ll be so different. Carter couldn’t suppress the small smile appearing on his face at the thought of him and Arria up on land together, this time with the police not involved.

"Uh… can you go to the shelf over there and grab the blue and purple bottles, please?" Arria asked, grabbing a couple other things and headed to a pot in the middle of the room, putting the ingredients he had already collected in it.

Carter swiped the bottles of the shelf, swimming next to the pot and holding them ready for whenever Arria needed. Carter smiled a little. Arria is adorable… “You’re cute when you look focused.”

"Hm? What no I'm not…" As Arria spoke his voice became quieter and he blushed a little as he gently took the bottles from Carter and added them to the pot, a small poof of smoke erupted from the pot and Arria waved his hand over it.

Carter smiled a little as he watched Arria work, floating happily. But then… Carter just felt a strange shift within him, and when he took his next breath, water was sucked uncomfortably down his lungs. His eyes widened, and he started coughing air bubbles. His tail was already slowly shimmering away to reveal his bare legs.

"Carter!" Arria grabbed Carter's hand and swam out of the house, "I'll finish the potion once you're at the surface, just hold on a bit longer." He swam faster and made a b-line for the surface, pushing Carter up towards air as soon as he could.

Carter turned a deep red, trying to hide himself as Arria pulled him to the surface. My air is running out… Carter tried to mentally apologize to Arria as he did the only thing he could think of. He leaned closer, pressing his lips against Arria’s and hesitantly taking a little bit of the merman’s breath to get some relief on his lungs. I’ll just beg for his forgiveness when we get out of the water…

Arria was a little shocked at first but gave Carter a little more of his air before they broke the surface and Arria pulled away to allow carter to breath properly, "Are you okay?"

Carter coughed a bit, then winced at himself, then trying to get all of what he wanted to say at once, “I’m sorry I did that- I didn’t mean to be forceful or- I’m sorry, Arria-“ Carter coughed again, spitting up salty water as he tried to tread water.

“Hey it’s okay, I forgive you. You’re alive and that’s all that matters.” Arria said gently, rubbing the humans back to help him while he coughed up all the water.

“I just-“ Carter began, but winced as he looked down at himself, then turned a deep shade of red, “Shoot. This is humiliating.” His squeezes his eyes shut, wished he had thought it through better and brought an extra pair of shorts. “Oh geez…”