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

“Board? What’s a… Oh! You mean this thing.” Arria pointed to the thing, board that the guy was sitting on.

Carter frowned, “Uh, yeah? Do you not know what a surfboard is?” Something was off, Carter could just tell, but he could figure out what. He squinted at the stranger, “Who are you anyways?”

Arria blinked and shook his head, “Like I said, I’m nobody.”

“You aren’t nobody,” Carter replied, the huffed an held out his hand and said coyly, “I’m Carter. Now you have to introduce yourself.”

“Fine, I’m Arria.” He said, shaking the others hand. He couldn’t believe he was touching a real human.

“That’s a really cool name,” Carter remarked with a little laugh, “and you still haven’t told me about how you got here, Arria,” He pointed out with a stare that had a little glint in his eye, “Maybe we can go get smoothies together, what do you say?”

Arria shook his head and started to back away, “I-I can’t… sorry.”

“Oh, no, we don’t have to go as a date, just as friends,” Carter assured, somewhat dejectedly, but he still did want to hang out with Arria, “It’ll be fun, I promise.”

Arria shook his head again, "It doesn't matter, I still can't go. I shouldn't even be talking to you. Rule one, don't talk to a human is what Farron said and yet here I am, breaking the rule." He put a hand over his mouth to stop himself from talking. Damn him.

“A… human? What do you mean?” Carter blinked once, twice. Something was definitely off, something wasn’t quite fitting. Farron? Not talking to humans? Carter studied Arria’s face, leaning forward slightly, “What are you talking about?”

Arria swallowed and let out a nervous laugh, “See the thing is uh… well I’m a um..” He rubbed at his neck. All Carter had to do was look down and he’d see and know. Arria didn’t know what else to say so he swam further back.

Carter saw it just as the perspective changed. How when Arria moved back, how the expanse of his chest came into view. And lower. Carter blinked, staring, “Oh.” Then his eyes rolled back and his head thunked on his surfboard as he fainted into oblivion from shock.

Arria swam back to Carter and shook him gently, trying to wake him up. He rolled him over and pushed him onto his board before swimming with him to the rock pool. He couldn’t push him to the shore line otherwise he’d be seen by more humans. Luckily, there was a small bank of sand in the pool and Arria pushed him onto that before swimming back into the rock pool, waiting.

Carter woke up in a shock. When had he moved to the sand…? Wasn’t he just…? It took a second to realize and reprocess what just happened. Carter’s eyes widened at Arria, “You’re a- You’re a merman? How on earth…?” Carter stared at Arria, sitting in the rock pool. With a tail.

Arria let out a nervous laugh, “Yeah, Yeah I am…” He swam closer to Carter but not by much in case he scared the other, “Sorry about the shock, is your head okay?” He asked.

Carter rubbed the back of his head, which throbbed slightly, but felt decent, “I think I am.” He scooted closer to Arria, not being able to take his eyes off the tail as he breathed, “How is that possible? How are you possible?”

Arria shrugged and looked down at his tail, “You’ll have to ask a better merman then me,” He looked Carter up and down, his gaze lingering on the others legs, “I’ve never been this close to a human before.”

“Just… wow,” Carter said, getting closer and holding a hand just over the water, “What does it feel like?” He took a second to scold himself for asking a stupid question, but they just slipped out. I’m talking to a merman…

Arria smiled a little and turned so his tail was resting gently on Carter’s hand, “Like that.” He said, leaning back on his arms.

Carter grinned, then let out a laugh, “Oh my gosh, I’m touching a merman’s tail.” He laughed a second time and crawled in the water closer to Arria and jested, “I don’t suppose you’d like to feel my glamorous legs too?”

“I mean, yes…” Arria reached out and touched Carter’s leg, “Wow… I can’t believe I’m doing this.” He pulled away after a few moments and smiled.

Carter let another laugh, “Wow… Just, wow…” A merman. A hot merman. He didn’t realize he had been staring at Arria’s face until his stomach made a quiet growl, and he immediately looked away, trying to change the subject, “Um- So are there more of you merpeople?”

"No, I'm the only one…" Arria said sarcastically, "Yeah, there are. Quite a few in this area but I'm not sure if there are others around the world," He shrugged and drew circles in the sand, "I don't know why Farron thought humans were bad because you're not at all."

Carter tilted his head to the side, “Who’s Farron?” But gosh… other merpeople? And no one knew about them… except Carter, now. He couldn’t help a hint of feeling special entering his mind, that he was in the know. Carter almost laughed at himself for it.

Arria’s tail twitched, “My stuck up, over protective, human hating brother,” He sighed, “If he saw I was talking to you I’d never be able to come up here again.” He didn’t know why his brother resented humans so much. Carter wasn’t at all like what Farron had told him to try and scare him away from humans.

“What’s wrong with humans,” Carter said defensively, trying to scoot closer to Arria and still be suddle. I can’t help that Arria is so hot… “It wouldn’t be fair if you could never come here again, either.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the clouds as he talked, “If it were up to me, I’d think that humans and merpeople should meet each other. You are so cool, with your tail and everything. You wouldn’t believe how many humans dress up as a mermaid or merman for Halloween or whatever!” He exclaimed with a small grin.

“Hallo… what?” Aria furrowed his brows in confusion, his tail swished back and forth lazily, “Anyway, Farron and almost every other merperson I know hates humans. They say they’re evil and will kill us on sight. I guess some do, when they get caught in a net or whatever but…” Arria shrugged, “What’s the hallo… Halloween thing you mentioned?” He asked, looking up at Carter.

“It’s where we -more for younger kids- dress up and go around the neighborhood getting candy from strangers,” Carter laughed, “It sounds a lot worse than what it is. It was a really fun tradition when I was younger. Do you merpeople have any traditions or holidays like that?”

“Well… nothing like that. We celebrate the summer and winter solstices but that’s about it. Mainly because they are such big events so we don’t bother with anything else.” Arria explained, giving carter a smile, “You should see it. The winter solstice is beautiful, the moon shining on the city is gorgeous.”

“The city? You have underwater cities? That’s so cool! I wanna see!” Carter exclaimed, despite the improbable possibilities of it actually happening. He put an arm around Arria’s shoulders, flippant enough to be dismissed as only friendly.