31 #3
“Yeah,” Adrien confirmed, voice small. He cringed into himself, uncertain if Marcos’ response was positive or not—had he misread the situation? Was Marcos going to be disgusted? Or worse—would he tell someone else?
“You’re a mermaid,” Marcos concluded, tone flat. His blank expression then lit up, like Uncle John’s Tree at Christmastime. “ You’re a mermaid ! Hoooooly— crap ! Adrien, that’s—this is epic !”
“You’re not… weirded out?” Adrien hedged as Marcos dropped into a squat beside him, reaching out towards Adrien’s tail before withdrawing his hand.
“Sorry, I should probably ask before I—what?” He frowned at Adrien, agog. “ Heck no! That’s—you’re—this is so, so rad! You’re so rad! You’re so—”
He reached out towards Adrien, his stunned expression softening. “You’re so beautiful.”
Adrien blushed so brightly that Marcos’ face went awash in the purple and blue glow of his freckles. Marcos gasped, cupping Adrien’s face in both hands and squishing his cheeks together.
“And you’re so cute !” he cooed. “Look at your little glowing freckles! And your ears ! Why didn’t Disney make a movie about you , huh?”
“I—” Adrien squeezed out from his compressed mouth. “I don’t think anyone would watch that.”
“Not even ! They totally would!” Marcos gasped, looking deeply offended on Adrien’s behalf. His gaze fell back to his tail, a look of yearning overcoming his features.
Adrien chuckled. “Go ahead. But don’t pet it backwards. It feels a little weird for me.”
“Oh hell yes!” Marcos cheered, laying the back of his hand across where Adrien’s knees would’ve been and stroking in little movements. He whispered in awe: “It feels so cool.”
“You’re… you’re taking this pretty well,” Adrien admitted with a bashful flutter of his eyes.
“Huh?” Marcos turned back to him. In the low light of his bioluminescence, Adrien could see that he was still vibrating in excitement. “Why wouldn’t I? I mean, you’re still you. You just have this bodacious new tail—well, not new to you , but new to me and—”
Adrien leaned over and kissed him, silencing Marcos’ excited rambling. Marcos made a small sound of surprise, but accepted the kiss all the same. He was still grinning when Adrien pulled away.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“I love you,” Adrien told him.
“I love you, too.” Marcos laughed, his expression taking on a charming quality as he dipped in for another kiss. When they parted, his look was thoughtful. “Not to break the mood, but you were saying something about your dad?”
“Yeah, I—” Adrien hesitated, reaching down to brush his fingertips over his fins, where they were undulating along with the tide. “Our fins can actually be used as medicine when they’re eaten—some people even think that they can make you immortal.”
A look of horror overcame Marcos’ face and he recoiled: “So wait, you mean… someone ate your—?”
Adrien glanced away. “The thing about hunters is that they don’t need the whole merperson… only the fin. They cornered him on the way home from work and threw water on him. When they were done they… left him in an alleyway to bleed out.”
He turned his head so that he didn’t have to see Marcos’ look of revulsion, unable to bear the horror on the face of someone he loved.
It was enough to have to recount the story.
“When his tail turned back into legs, he was missing his feet. Losing his fins meant he lost something in his human form, too, so…” Adrien cleared his throat.
“By the time someone found him and called 911, he’d already lost too much blood. ”
“ God .” Marcos shook his head, reaching out to steady Adrien’s shoulder with a supportive squeeze. “ Jesus, dude, that’s… that’s so awful,” Marcos brought his hands to his mouth. “Like, what kind of monster could hunt another person ?”
“A lot, apparently.” Adrien flashed Marcos a grim smile.
“Enough that my mom’s been paying off this guy to ‘protect’ me from other hunters since Dad died.
I don’t know if he actually does anything to protect me—I’m pretty sure he’s only been blackmailing her.
But it’s been a huge financial burden on her nonetheless. ”
“That’s why you feel so beholden to her, huh?” Marcos surmised, his brow furrowing. “You feel guilty.”
“It’s… it’s definitely part of it,” Adrien admitted. “There’s—I mean she’s my mom…”
“I love you, but that’s a totally bogus argument.” Marcos countered. “Who cares if she’s your mom? If someone else treated you like that, you wouldn’t stick around, right?”
“Right,” Adrien agreed softly.
They lapsed into a contemplative silence before Marcos broke the tension: “Dude, sorry to change the subject, but if I don’t get out of the water, I’m gonna get hypothermia.”
Adrien glanced up to find his boyfriend shivering in the water, looking at him apologetically with his arms folded over his chest. Adrien chuckled despite himself.
“Fair enough, sorry about that,” he said, forcing himself to change back. “I stop noticing those things when I’m transformed.”
He eased himself out of the surf, struggling with his clothes for a moment while Marcos did the same.
With a frown, he realized that he’d ripped through his underwear when he’d transformed—Marcos was politely averting his gaze, but Adrien still caught him catching glimpses every now and then, a mischievous sparkle in his eye.
“Don’t think I don’t see that, Marcos Flores,” he accused, doing his best to scrape water off his exposed skin. Now that he was back in his human form, the chill of the night air was beginning to set in, gooseflesh prickling his arms.
“See what?” Marcos grinned, now unabashedly staring behind Adrien. The merman responded by swatting his arm.
“Save that for the bedroom.” He smirked. Marcos cackled.
Once they were dressed and tucked warmly in Marcos’ car, their conversation continued.
“I still can’t believe you’re a mermaid,” Marcos repeated, looking moonstruck as he pulled out onto Marina Boulevard. “That is so impossibly boss.
“Also, back to what I was saying earlier: forget your mom. And forget her weird blackmail-bodyguard-guy, too! Come to Austin with me and I’ll keep you safe from whatever weird-ass freaks are trying to make you into ceviche. Wait… sorry, is that too insensitive, or…?”
Adrien laughed. “No, you’re fine. And thank you, Marcos. I really mean it. But…”
He leaned back into his seat, watching the beach houses roll by. In the middle of the night, their windows were dark, reflecting only the headlights of the Escort as they passed.
“What about Jessica and David?” he asked. “The second I leave, I know my mom’s gonna start pulling that crap on them. She’s already been taking Jess’ babysitting money.”
“She’s been taking her—?!” Marcos balked. “Dude, she’s like twelve. That’s criminal.”
“I know,” Adrien groaned, pressing his palms into his eye sockets.
“I try to reimburse her with what I can. But… but I worry what will happen to them if I leave. Jess can’t support the family just from watching the neighbor kids after school, and God knows David struggles as it is. What if they end up homeless?”
Marcos shook his head. “My parents would never let that happen, you know that.”
Adrien grimaced, guilt eating at the pit of his stomach. “I know, but they already do so much for us as is. I mean they bought me a motorcycle, for Christ’s sake! I couldn’t ask them to take Jess and David in.”
“Well, why not?” Marcos frowned. “My folks love those kids to bits and they’re definitely not hurtin’ for cash. If we ask them to, I bet they’d be more than happy to take them in if you come to Texas with me. That way you won’t have to worry about—”
“No.” Adrien continued to shake his head. “I couldn’t ask that of them, Marcos. It’s too much.”
“Okay, I’ll drop the subject,” Marcos said in a soft tone. He reached across the center console, laying a comforting hand on Adrien’s knee. “But you and your family aren’t burdens. I want you to remember that, okay?”
“Okay.” Adrien allowed a small smile to curl at the edges of his mouth. “Thank you, Marcos.”
Marcos smiled back before returning his attention to the road. He was about halfway to his house in the Sunset when he dropped his head to the steering wheel at a stoplight.
“Babe?” Marin asked, staring at him in shock. “Are you okay?”
He noticed that Marcos was grinning down at his shoes, looking a little manic.
“A mermaid ,” he whispered, enchanted. “I can’t believe I’m dating a mermaid !”