9. Chapter 9 #3
“Yeah, uh, dinner would be great first,” Curtis continued to make good on his promise to make a real date with Bradley. Lilo hoped the best for them and that, one day, Bradley might be out here with them.
While he continued to chat, Daren sat on the cooler at the bow of the ship like usual, and Lilo lifted himself up onto the boat’s ledge like usual too.
Usual. Their usual. Which included so much more now, because they could join each other in both worlds, living happily together.
It was all Lilo had ever wanted and had almost lost faith that he could find with a human.
No, that wasn’t true. He had believed he could find it or he wouldn’t have remained behind, happy but lonely in his home, in the hopes of finding a mate among humans someday.
“Come here,” Daren said quietly, coaxing Lilo closer.
Lilo assumed for a kiss, but when he lifted nearer, Daren pulled a small box from his pocket and held it out to him. “Gift?” Lilo questioned.
“In a way, but don’t worry, you already gave me all I could want in return by sharing your coat.” He handed it to Lilo, who opened it excitedly.
“Ring?” Lilo frowned at it, not unhappy, just curious. Then his eyes sprang wide. “One of your parents’ rings?” He hastily reached to pull on the chain to check the rings’ usual resting place safe against Daren’s skin. They were both still there.
“Look closer.” Daren grinned.
Lilo did, inspecting the shining silver object.
Silver, not gold like the other rings, but for good reason, because this ring was made from the elegant twisting and reshaping of what had once been a fork.
The same fork Lilo had given Daren! He could tell by the design engraved into the metal, shined to brilliance now compared to its previous dullness.
But that wasn’t all the ring was made from.
There were bits of pink shell embedded into it too, like a mini mosaic without ruining the intricate lines of the fork.
“Yes, that is the fork you gave me, Lilo. Well, parts of it. But it isn’t the same shell you gave me.
You know, that first gift? That was too perfect to break apart, so I found one of my own.
I hope you don’t mind me using the fork though.
I just liked the idea of the ring being made of things from each of us, because that’s what, well… husband means.”
Lilo felt his eyes welling up with tears, because it was perfect. It was so perfect.
Too perfect.
“How? When?” Lilo questioned. “I only returned to you yesterday.”
Daren glanced back at Curtis. “I know a guy who happens to know all the local crafters, and turns out something like this can be made in just a few hours. I didn’t want to make you wait even a day for an exchange of what you gave me, Lilo, by giving me your coat.
I want to be with you forever in all the ways that it means for humans and cecaelia. If you’ll have—”
Lilo sprang up further out of the water with almost enough force to tip the boat, definitely upsetting Curtis’s footing, who called back at them in irritation, but Lilo didn’t care.
He could have pulled Daren right into the water with him in his jubilation, but he managed to keep his expression of joy to a firm hug.
He also thankfully managed to not drop the ring box.
When he released Daren, he looked at the ring with a small frown. He hated that he couldn’t wear it now, since his fingers were webbed.
“Here…” Daren pulled the ring from the box, then pulled up on the bit of velvet it had been resting on, and underneath was a silver chain.
Daren threaded the ring through the chain like how he wore his parents’ rings and fastened it around Lilo’s neck.
“You can wear it as a ring when you’re human, but this way you can have it with you even when you’re in the water. ”
Lilo was so touched, he curled one hand around the ring where it lay against his chest and felt a few hot tears slide down his cool cheeks.
He didn’t want to risk tilting the boat again, so he was careful this time to only lift himself slightly with his free hand to sweetly kiss Daren’s lips. “I love you, Daren. Husband.”
“Husband,” Daren echoed.
“Wedding?” Lilo asked before Daren could say more.
Daren laughed, but it was his fault for explaining to Lilo what human rituals were like after seeing a wedding at the end of the fishtail woman movie. “We can do that someday if you want. I love you, Lilo.”
“Yeah, well I hate the both of you,” Curtis’s voice broke into their reverie. He was no longer on the phone but was standing not far behind Daren looking put upon.
“We love you too, Curtis!” Lilo ignored that Curtis had not said love. He was just being silly because he was nervous for his date.
“Relax,” Daren added, “he already said yes, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Then the hard part is over.”
“You think that was the hard part?” Curtis scowled in his skepticism.
“Bradley is going to love your tentacles, Curtis!” Lilo exclaimed.
“Whoa now, don’t get ahead of yourselves! But if we ever get that far, he damn well better.”
Daren chuckled. “Show them off already, Curtis. You owe me, remember?” Daren stood to move out of the way, giving Curtis a better vantage point to dive in. He had brought his coat along too.
“Turn around.” Curtis made a little twirling motion with his finger.
“Why?” Daren scoffed. “I’ve seen you naked before.”
“Yeah, almost two decades ago.”
Which was something Lilo knew now but wasn’t jealous over. Everyone had those they had done the act of mating with in the past, and Daren and Curtis were just friends now.
Besides, Daren was Lilo’s, and Curtis had his own potential mate in the works.
“Come, Curtis!” Lilo called, dropping back from the side of the boat to land in the water, floating on his back with tentacles fanning out around him. “Swim with me!”
Curtis sighed as heavily as ever but began to disrobe.
“Fine.” Once he was properly nude, Lilo saw the familial tattoo on his forearm, similar to Lilo's at a glance but with different patterns. Then it was covered as he put his coat around himself like Lilo had and tentatively neared the edge of the boat, like some human child afraid of the deep end, as Daren called it. “You’re sure this area is safe, Lilo?”
Lilo was about to respond that it was very safe.
He had lived here his entire life, and the other sea creatures below were all either friends or food.
No real predators got this close to the estuary or much of anywhere near the coastline.
But before Lilo could say anything, Daren pushed Curtis out of the boat.
DAREN
Daren felt a little bad about pushing Curtis into the water, but it was like a bird needing to be pushed out of the nest. It was the only way Curtis would get over his fears of the open water. Plus, he had Lilo to help him.
And Daren really wanted to see those tentacles.
The way the coat became a magical clinging of new skin, forming over him and expanding into tentacles, taking away his legs and utterly changing his anatomy, was truly fascinating.
Beautiful too, almost like the spreading of paint in water when cleaning a brush.
Whoosh, and suddenly, everything beneath the surface had changed.
Curtis’s tentacles—and now his skin—were as coral colored as his coat had been. When he surfaced with a sputter and angry cry of, “Jerk!” his usually blond hair had a touch of rosy pink to it, though his beard, strangely enough, wasn’t hair at all but made up of scales now like those on a fish.
Wild. Could Lilo grow a beard like that? Daren wasn’t sure if he’d want him to, but it was incredible, nonetheless.
Curtis’s eyes were the same dark pools as Lilo’s, but not quite as black. They were more navy upon closer inspection, harkening to Curtis’s human blue from his mother. His teeth were sharpened points, hands webbed, ears pointed in three places like a bat wing, and on his neck was a set of gills.