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medusapelagia · 5 months

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The restless sea calls back to you - Harringrove Mermaid AU [NSFW]

I'm super in love with this fic and I want to clarify that it's super self-indulgent! I love it because it all started with this beautiful picture, and I love it because that's how I became friend with @lemonhitsu and I had a great time plotting with them and I am very grateful to them for allowing me to use their art as inspiration and for trusting me even if the first story I was writing was not good enough and I had to start back from scratches.😅 I want to thank Lemon for the fun and the incredible support! Nothing of this could have been possible without you! Thank you so much for being so kind and supportive and holding my hand when I was feeling low! 💜 And a special thanks to @applewillowstone and @spaceofentropy for helping me doing some research about monster sex!

That said, I wish everyone a happy holiday season and I am sharing with you this fic which is the present I made for myself and I hope you will like it! Please mind the tags!

Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Merpeople, Merperson Billy Hargrove, mermaid trainer Neil Hargrove, Aquariums, Violence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Sex Change, mermaid trainer Steve Harrington, Murder, Murder Mystery, mention of past Non con with original character, Anal Sex, Human/Monster Romance, Eventual Smut, Blow Jobs, Blood and Injury, Sex, Slow Burn, They/them prononun, Angst with a Happy Ending, Light Angst, Angst and Feels, Enemies to Lovers, Monster sex, Switch Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington Has Bad Parents, POV Steve Harrington, No Beta Read

And because AO3 is not working... get ready for 15k words under the cut!

Steve sighs as soon as his alarm goes off.

He has been working at the Birch Aquarium for a couple of weeks and all his enthusiasm has already died.

He was so happy when they called him back to take the place of the actual mermaid trainer, but two weeks of working with Billy were enough to make him regret his choice.

The blond merman is the biggest pain in the ass ever. He never does what the trainer requests of him and is always glaring and hissing at Steve like a feral cat. The boy has learned on his skin that there is a reason why everyone tells you to not go near an angry mermaid without wearing protection.

Mermaids are rare but not uncommon, the biggest aquariums in the world have at least one, and Steve’s aquarium was so lucky to have a baby mermaid that now became a beautiful merboy.

Steve remembers the day he decided he was going to become a trainer. It was the day his parents brought him to see the baby mermaid that was the main attraction of the aquarium. If he closes his eyes he can still see the little mermaid hiding behind some big black rocks, his little red tail barely visible between the rocks.

A kid punched the glass, trying to get the attention of the little mermaid and Steve saw for a moment a pair of ocean blue eyes big and terrified, and from that day on, every time his parents left him with a new babysitter he asked to go to the aquarium until finally, one day, when Steve and the babysitter were the only visitors of the aquarium, he caught a glimpse of the little merboy. They stared at each other through the glass for a long moment and then a man called a name and dragged the merboy away with a big fishnet. Steve turned toward his babysitter, Angela, and asked her who that man was and she told him that he was the mermaid's trainer.

“So he plays with mermaids all day?”

“It’s a job, Steve, I don’t think that he plays a lot, but yes, he spends his time with the mermaids.”

Now that he is changing in the locker room, Steve is regretting for the umpteenth time having been so adamant about wanting to become a trainer. He sighs. He can’t quit. His father told him really clearly that if he is not able to keep the job he will cut him out once and for all.

Fuck.

He wears the diving suit and gets into the swimming pool where Neil is already waiting for him.

“Go catch him.” He tells him, throwing him a spiked collar. Steve looks at the object with disgust.

“Still too naive, new boy? That monster could kill you in more ways than you think and he is not cooperative, you should know that by now.”

Steve nods, he has a red cut on his forearm that the merboy gave him on his first day, so now he wears the protection every time he has to get to Billy’s tank.

The merboy is brushing his blond curls with his long fingers while resting on a rock, half of his big red tail still in the water.

“Still here, pretty boy? Didn’t I scare you enough?”

“It’s just a scratch.”

Billy smirks “No, it is not, but I appreciate that you came here to bring me lunch. Be so kind and bring it to me.”

Steve knows better than to lean toward the water so close to the merboy so he throws him a couple of fish.

“So stupid. How do you think you can convince me to put on your collar if you already gave me the food?” Billy asks, reaching for the fish that is floating on the surface and tearing a big chunk.

“Asking you kindly?”

Billy bursts out in a laugh “You are funny, I’ll give you that.” The merboy replies, resting on a big rock “Not smart, but funny.”

“Come on, the pool is bigger than your tank and you need to swim more freely or your tail could atrophy.”

“Oh, so that’s it. You are worried for me. No other motives, right?”

Steve sighs “You know that the aquarium is not doing too well, they want to use you as an attraction to sell more tickets, is that a bad thing? I mean, they are still the ones that pay for your food, and your tank, and that make sure that you are healthy and…”

“How kind of them, isn't it? The owners of the aquarium care about my wellbeing so I should repay them by doing some stupid tricks in front of an audience? No, thanks.” The blond merboy replies disgusted.

“A lot of mermaids do stupid tricks in aquariums and they have fun! Maybe you will have fun too?”

“Have you ever been in a tank, Harrington?” The merboy asks, glaring at him.

The boy sighs “You know I have.”

“I’m not talking about giving a walk in the tanks to clean something or sedate some big fish, I’m talking about living in captivity. What do you call it… Oh yes! Living in prison! And be grateful to your captors because they feed you and make sure you are healthy.” Billy glares at him and Steve blushes.

“I know that is not the most perfect place to be but it’s not too bad, you should admit it.”

Some smugglers kidnap mermaids to sell them as expensive pets to rich assholes and only god knows what they do with those poor creatures.

“Have you ever spent a day with Neil? He is no fun either.” The sea creature retorts.

Steve shouldn’t talk badly about his supervisor, but everyone knows that Hargrove has a very impetuous nature and sometimes he gets violent even toward the animals, but especially toward Billy.

“You should try to do what he asks from you for once, maybe he will stop hurting you.” Steve tries to suggest.

Hargrove is no fool, he hits the merboy when no one can see him and he makes sure not to leave any bruises behind.

“Thank you for your kind advice, Harrington, I’m sure everything will be so much better now that you told me exactly how to act when I have to deal with a fucking psychopath!”

“He is not…” but Steve doesn’t have time to finish the sentence that Hargrove is back in the tank.

“What the hell are you doing? It’s not tea time! Get the stupid collar around his neck and come back to the pool. Where is the fish?”

Billy grins, licking his lips “It was delicious, Neil. Thanks.”

“You gave him the fish? Are you fucking stupid, Harrington?! How the fuck do you think to get him off that stupid rock?” The man asks, pinching his nose.

“With some persuasion?”

“This!” Hargrove yells, showing the collar “This is the kind of persuasion that Billy understands and now it’s too far from the shore so you get into the tank and drag him to the pool or I’ll make sure you get fired!” And to clarify the concept he grabs Steve and pushes him into the water without the scuba cylinders or the regulators.

Steve was co-captain of the swimming team but he knows too well that Billy could drag him down and drown him if he wanted to, that’s why every time he gets into the water he makes sure to have the scuba cylinders with him, but now it’s too late, he has his back turned and he knows that the merboy is going to attack him. He tries to regulate his breath and to feel the water break as the merboy reemerges.

As he was expecting the merboy tries to drag him down, but Steve has the lucidity to close the collar against Billy’s throat and yank it hard against the gills the merboy has hidden on his neck.

The sea creature shrieks and releases his grip, freeing Steve who resurfaces and gets back on shore coughing.

“Good job, Harrington. Next time try not to lose all this time.” Hargrove states “I’ll wait for you in the swimming pool.”

Steve takes some deep breaths while the merboy resurfaces glaring at him.

“Come on, Billy. Don’t make me activate it, I know that is already bad as it is.” Steve begs him, showing him the passage from the tank toward the swimming pool, and Billy gets in the pool, always hissing toward him.

Steve takes a look at his clock. Half past nine and he already barely escaped death. Not bad. It could be his new record.

***

When the training ends Steve brings Billy back to his tank. The merboy is tired and he has red bruises where Neil hurt him.

“You ok?” It’s a stupid question, Steve knows that, but he can’t avoid it.

“Are you worried about me, Harrington? How sweet.” The merboy replies, licking his sharp teeth “Maybe next time you’ll get into my tank I’ll keep you.”

“Fuck you, Billy!”

“Are you proposing, pretty boy?”

It’s just their usual bickering but Steve can feel that his cheeks are blushing.

“Oh, so you do have a crush on me. That makes so much sense: that’s why you are obsessed with me. Don’t worry, pretty boy, I’m not going to fuck you… at least not as you are thinking, but I’ll keep fucking with you because it’s the funniest thing that I can do in this stupid place.” Billy replies and then he gets underwater, while Steve stares at his big red tale covered in shimmering scales.

“He has an attitude, I’ll give him that.” Hargrove says appearing from nowhere “But stay away from him. He is still a mermaid and even if he hasn’t had the time to learn the songs from other mermaids he is still capable of convincing you to kill yourself in his tank. It would not be the first time.”

Steve stares at the old man “Did he… Did he kill someone? For real?”

The man nods, walking Steve toward the lockers “You are too young to remember, but there was another girl who trained with me years ago, pretty thing, red hair, sweet smile, the name was Susan. She was even more innocent than you are, she treated him like a kid, not like the monster he is, and one day when I got to the tank to feed him, he was underwater, holding Susan’s body into his arms.

Billy attacked me when I tried to take the dead body from his arms, and the authorities had him sedated and they were ready to put him down, but there was a petition against it and he was still the biggest attraction of the aquarium, so, in the end, they decided to keep him but they moved him to the tank where he is now, in a more secluded area and where no one else could get in a part from me and you, so pay attention if you don’t get killed during your first month of training.”

They are changing together for the first time and Steve sees many claws scars on Neil’s body “Did he…”

“Mermaids are like that. You have to pay attention every single second.” The man gets up “Listen, boy, I know that you don't like my way of training him, but you have to understand that he is not a pretty pet, he is a ferocious monster and our luck is that he was taken from his family too young so he doesn’t really know what he can do and how easy would be for him kill everyone.” Hargrove closes his bag “I don’t pretend that you agree with my method, but I want you to be conscious that he is a menace and you are the only person that stays between him and the visitors. Think about yourself like a sort of paladin. That’s what I do.” They are looking each other in the eyes when Neil asks him “Wouldn’t you do what you can to protect the people you care for?” And then he leaves Steve alone with even more questions.

***

The conversation he had with Neil opened his eyes: the old man is right, the mermaids are dangerous and he was a fool thinking that with some kindness and some fish he could have convinced Billy to do what he wanted.

“Raise and shine, Billy. Are you ready to jump throught some hoops today?” Steve enters the tank but Billy is not on his favorite rock. He looks around and he can’t see him. The merboy is too big to hide in the tank, but from the surface, Steve can’t see where he is hiding, so he takes his equipment and, with a sigh, he gets into the water.

The water is full of colorful fish that quickly swim away as soon as the boy gets closer, he swims toward the rocks when something shining attracts his attention, mermaids are famous for having a passion for shiny things. Steve gets closer to the big rock, the same where the little mermaid used to hide, and reaches out for the shiny thing when he sees it, the big red tail.

In a moment Billy is in front of him, yelling with a voice that has no words but that gets directly into Steve’s mind even if they are in the water.

Steve shakes his head, ripping off his mask and his scuba regulator, trying to free himself from Billy’s tight grip screaming in his head, then he opens his mouth to breathe. Underwater.

***

“Boy? Are you with me? Harrington?”

Steve coughs, holding for dear life to the person who is speaking to him.

“Harrington? Steve?” The voice calls him again, urging an answer.

Steve pukes some water “Fine. I’m fine.”

The man’s grip relaxes while Steve tries to take some deep breaths.

“What happened?”

“You told me! I saw in the security monitor that you got in the tank, next thing I know that monster was holding you underwater and you were drowning.”

“Billy… where is Billy?”

“Oh, he is lucky if they don’t decide to sell him even sooner.” Hargrove hisses.

“Se… Sell him?” Steve asks, still coughing.

“You must have seen that he is no good with little tricks and his care it’s expensive, the owners of the aquari will sell him sooner than later, but after he tried to kill another trainer I don’t think any other aquarium will be willing to buy him.”

“He didn’t try to drown me.” Steve tries to protest and Hargrove looks at him with pity.

“He messed with your head. Didn’t he?” The man looks at the pool “I knew it! They should have cut his vocal cords when I suggested it but no, animal rights activists said that it was too cruel. Cruel. Wasn’t it cruel to let him drown Susan? Or you?”

Steve shakes his head, trying to concentrate even if he is too confused at the moment. Did Billy try to kill him? He can’t remember what happened, just that he saw something shining on the floor of the tank, something that didn’t belong to the aquarium.

“Come with me, I’ll drive you to the hospital.” Neil says, helping the boy stand up.

“I’m ok… I don’t need to go to the hospital.”

The old man stares at Steve, then he helps him back to the lockers “Take a hot shower and change back, you and I are going to have a little chat.”

Steve nods, confused, it’s the first time that he sees Neil worried. Did Billy really try to kill him?

Steve knows that some mermaids have the ability to use their voice to manipulate fish, it’s how they hunt: some of them sing to the fish and the others capture them, but he never knew that they could do something to humans’ minds. And how does Neil know it? He has indeed been a trainer for years but if the mermaids were able to manipulate people someone would have said something, right?

The hot water helps him relax and when he gets back to Neil, all this terrible adventure seems just a bad dream.

"Sit down." Neil says, holding a cup of tea, and Steve sits in front of him.

"A few years ago there was a lovely girl who wanted to be a mermaid trainer like me. Her name was Susan. Susan was a dreamer, just like you, she didn't like to use the collar, just like you, and she was convinced that mermaids needed better care than the one we were providing.

Billy was just a baby fish at the time and I guessed she thought about him like a baby, but not like a baby monster. You see, all mermaids are dangerous, but some of them are more dangerous than others."

"What does it mean?"

Neil sighs, sipping some coffee "It means that some of them can emit some frequency that can drive you crazy, convincing you to do things you would never do in your right mind. And our boy, well he is one of those."

"How do you know it?"

Neil raises his elbow and replies "I always suspected it. Billy used to play with the fish and the water horses in his tank but he was clever, he only did it by night. Fish don't really sleep, you know? And so do mermaids. But one night I caught him playing with the fish. They were making shapes for him, not the classic shape of a school of fish, the kind he was asking them to do, and I swear to god that I heard him giggle."

Steve closes his eyes, concentrating on the hot cup between his hands. He knows exactly what Neil is talking about. He saw those shapes. Or even worse, he showed those shapes to Billy on one of those days when he and his babysitter were the only people in the aquarium and the girl was too busy chatting on his phone. And Billy made a square of fish for him.

How could he forget that?

"Well, making shapes with fish doesn't sound so dangerous."

"Yeah. Until he doesn't decide that he is tired of making squares and circles and he decides to attack you with some sharks." Neil lifts his eyes to meet Steve's "That's what happened to Susan. He convinced her to get into the tank and the shark attacked her. When we were able to recover the body the merboy was holding it so tight that there were little red punctures made from his claws in her skin."

Steve gulps, trying to keep his heart beating under control "What happened?"

"The coroner said that she fell into the tank and drowned before the sharks attacked her, but I think that he ordered her to jump into the tank and then he kept her there until she was out of breath, then he tried to cover his tracks by ordering the sharks to eat her."

"What about the security cameras?"

Neil smirks "There was a big storm that night. The security cameras were off." Neil gets up "Finish your tea and go home."

"But we still have training..."

"After what I saw I don't think they are going to keep him for long. If you really want to be a mermaid trainer, is it better if you apply to another aquarium." the man replies, leaving Steve alone in the relax area with the quiet hum of the refrigerator in the background.

***

Having the day suddenly free, Steve goes to the local library to do some research. He could go back home but he doesn't want to see her mother's disappointed look when she will ask him why he is at home so soon.

He was her perfect little boy until he started to attend high school and started to party every weekend.

It is not his fault if his parents were always away on some business trip and he hated being home alone! That's how he started drinking and smoking and his grades got worse and worse.

His mother decided to come back after the night he almost fall into an alcohol-induced coma and ended up on the first page of the local newspaper, fucking up his image as the perfect golden boy and definitely fucking up the future his parents were dreaming for him.

Steve hasn't drunk a single drop of alcohol since then, but that doesn't mean that his mother stopped to smell his breath every single time he doesn't respect the schedule so, no thanks, public library it is.

He gets to one of the old computers that has nothing to do with his Mac, he even searches for some link from his smartphone and then he copies the link on the computer to read it more easily.

The first information he looks for is about Neil Hargrove.

His Facebook page has very little information about him, on his profile picture Neil is holding a rifle, he is fifty-nine, if the birth date is correct, and ex-marine with a penchant for weapons.

The profile picture is an old one, as Steve sees as he enlarges the images, he is smiling, standing next to a bullseye, with a cigarette on the side of his mouth while holding a big rifle.

Steve searches for more information and finds a little blurb about his departed wife and how he left the marine and became a mermaid trainer to stay close to her when she got sick.

Perfect husband and perfect citizen, or so it seems. He even rescued his old neighbor from the fire.

A hero, practically.

Then Steve starts to look for Susan.

Even if he doesn't know her surname it's easy to find her given the information he has: Susan Mayfair, twenty-five, a degree in marine biology and a passion for mermaids, deceased after being attacked by sharks while cleaning their tank.

Not exactly what Neil said.

Steve looks for more information and finds an old Instagram page still open. All the pictures are old, and the latest are some selfies she took at the aquarium. There are some old penguin tanks that after the renovations have been moved to another section of the aquarium, and there are a lot of Billy's pictures.

He looks like a human kid, he couldn't be older than ten, maximum twelve, they are playing in the water, Susan is winking behind her mask and Billy's red tail emerges from the water.

In another Susan's hand is holding what looks like an aluminum can tab, the caption says "My prince gave me an engagement ring".

Steve snorts, who the hell would give an aluminum can tab to a twenty-five-year-old girl as an engagement ring? He keeps looking at the pictures and the answer gets too easy: a kid would. Or, to be more precise, a merkid.

Steve keeps looking at the pictures, trying to find any evidence, any sign that Billy is the monster Neil talked about, but all he can see is a happy little fish, playing with the person who took care of him.

He is still looking through the picture when something gets his attention. Something shining in the background, something that he had seen before but didn't understand what it was.

A dog tag.

A military dog tag.

***

This is the worst idea Steve has ever had, even worse than the time he and Tommy decided to jump from Steve’s window into the pool and almost kill themselves in the making.

Steve has a badge that allows him entrance to the aquarium at any time and he knows the night guard, all he has to do is tell Jim that he forgot something in the lockers, and he will not ask any questions, maybe he will mumble something about how he should pay more attention, but he will not stop him, not until it will be too late.

Steve passes his badge and the backdoor of the aquarium opens with a slam that in the silence of the night reverberates like a gunshot.

“Who's there?” The chubby guard asks, walking toward the door with the hand ready over his gun and a frosted donut in the other hand.

“Jim. Hi. I’m Steve. Sorry to bother but I forgot my… my wallet in the locker.” He says, trying to remain calm under the sight of the armed guard.

“Your wallet uh?”

“Yeah. You know… I’m so messy sometimes.”

The man gets closer “So you forgot your wallet. Here.”

Steve shivers for a moment when he repeats “Yeah. My wallet.”

The man is so close that he can smell coffee in his breath.

“I see. Do you want me to get it for you?”

Shit! He didn’t think about that! What now?

“No. It’s fine, I can get it.”

“Are you sure? I know you had a hard day.”

“A hard day?” Steve asks, confused.

“Neil told me about the mermaid. It’s a little piece of shit that one: he keeps turning the camera in his tank so I can’t see shit! But if he thinks I’m going to get inside and let him fucking kill me he is fucking wrong! I’m not going to get close to that monster!”

“He is… he is not a monster.” Steve tries to protest but his voice sounds unsure even to his own ears.

“Are you sure you are ok? It’s not the… mermaid thing? Neil said that they can convince you to do what they want… Oh god. Are you under a spell?”

Steve quickly shakes his head “No, no spell, just a little bit shocked to be honest, but I need my home keys.”

Jim glares at him “I thought you were looking for your wallet.”

Shit!

“Yeah! I’m looking for my wallet because I have the electronic key that opens my house in my wallet, but I call it my home key, you know?”

The man raises an eyebrow “Fancy rich shit, uh?”

“Obviously.” Steve replies with a smile so fake that his cheeks hurt.

The man stares at him for a moment and then he tilts his head “Go, but be quick. I don’t want any problems.”

Steve nods and rushes toward the locker room, he knows that there are no cameras either in the locker room or in the passages behind the tank with access limited to the dedicated staff, when they have to move from one tank to the other, and if Billy’s camera is not working he has at least twenty minutes: not enough time to change and to take all his equipment but Steve was always the best one at free diving. He wears the wet suit and runs toward Billy’s tank, hoping that the mermaid is asleep somewhere.

Mermaids never really sleep, not like humans in any case, they just rest, so Steve really hopes that he is lucky enough that Billy is resting and not ready to attack him.

When he gets into the tank he looks toward the rocks where the merboy usually rests but doesn’t see him anywhere. He takes a few deep breaths, trying to expand his lungs to their maximum; he hasn’t weight around his waist but it’s not too deep, he should be able to get to the floor easily enough, and if he is lucky he will manage to get behind the little rock without disturbing Billy.

Steve dives in, his sight concentrated on the tank floor and on the little rock he saw that morning. He knows that Billy is there somewhere and that he probably felt the water vibration when he dived in but he really hopes that he will be quicker than him.

All Steve’s hope crashes when he sees the merboy swimming rapidly toward him screaming something in the water but Steve has come too far to stop now, he reaches out his hand and catches the shiny thing, military dog tag, and turns it to see the name of the owner, but Billy is screaming pushing Steve against the glass wall.

Steve screams something back, the stupidest idea ever, he realizes when he sees the bubble of air running toward the surface, fuck. He will drown. He has no time to get to the surface. He tries to swim toward the surface, his hands reaching up, but Billy is holding him and he can’t reach it. The boy lowers his eyes and Billy is in front of him, his blond curls waving in the water, so beautiful and so deadly.

But especially beautiful.

Steve is going to die so he finally does it: he slips his fingers in Billy’s golden locks, and now that they are so close he can see that Billy’s eyes aren’t blue. They have golden flakes near the pupil that he has never noticed before.

Billy’s eyes are the last thing that he will ever see and they are so fucking beautiful.

He is still lost in these thoughts when Billy pushes him against the glass wall so hard that he whimpers and in a moment Billy’s mouth is on his, kissing him. No. Not kissing him. Breathing into him!

Steve’s eyes widen, the mermaid is pushing air into his lungs, and then he takes him under his arm and drags him toward the surface.

“What the fuck Harrington! If you want to die go jump from a fucking bridge, don’t come to my tank!” The merboy complains, irritated.

Steve stares at him, touching his lips incredulously.

“You kissed me.”

“It’s not a kiss if you are almost dying. And I’m tired of saving your stupid life.” Billy replies looking at him with flaming eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“This morning? When you removed your regulator? Does it ring a bell?”

“I… I didn’t…”

“Oh, you fucking did. And you breathe water in, stupid moron, I had to push on your stupid chest and breathe air in your lungs. And you are back here, trying to kill yourself!” The merboy rebukes “Don’t you have a life? A girlfriend waiting for you somewhere?”

Steve shakes his head, then he asks “You gave me CPR? How do you…”

“Someone taught me.” The sea creature replies “She thought that I could have helped people one day. Be a lifeguard or something like that.”

“Susan?”

Billy turns his head for a moment, biting his lips as he was fighting with himself, before he hisses “Can you tell me what the fuck do you want from me? Do you want to prove that I am a monster? Is that it? I could have killed you!”

“I know.”

“So why the fuck are you here! And with no oxygen!”

“I didn’t have the time and I wanted to check on something.” Steve tries to explain.

“What?”

Steve opens his fist and shows him the metal tag in his hands.

“That’s mine! Give it back!”

“Can I read the name of the person who owned it?”

“What?”

“It’s a military dog tag.” Steve tells him “It’s a kind of microchip, like the one the dolphins have. They gave this to the people that were fighting in case… in case they die, so that someone could have brought it back to the family.”

“A name? This thing has a name on it?”

Steve nods and the mermaid uses his webbed hands to turn it but then looks at Steve ashamed “I can’t… I can’t read.”

Stupid Steve, Billy has spent all his life in a tank. How do you pretend he could read?!

“I could read it for you.”

“My mum gave it to me when I was a baby fish.” The blond merboy tells him, holding the tag so tight that his knuckles whiten “She said… she said it was my father’s…”

Steve stares at the merboy astonished “You mean… you mean that your father was human?”

Billy nods “That’s what mum said.”

“Where is she? Where is your mother?” Steve asks, getting closer.

“I don’t know. I was just a baby fish when they brought me away from her. That’s all I have.”

“You can hold it, I just need to turn it and read the name under the tag. Will you let me?”

Billy shivers, Steve has never seen him so nervous, he is usually sassy and sarcastic.

Steve gently pries Billy’s hand open and then turns the tag, gasping at the name.

***

The chestnut boy definitely doesn’t have the time to take a shower, so he changes back and runs toward the exit, hoping that Jim will be too busy looking at the last episode of his favorite series to check on him.

“Thanks, Jim! You saved me! Have a good night!” Steve says, while he keeps running toward the door.

“Hey, Steve, everything ok?” The guard asks him but Steve is almost at the door.

“Great! Have a nice night!” He tells him before closing the door behind him and taking a big breath of relief.

He can’t believe what happened: he got into the tank, Billy saved his life, apparently for the second time, and… they kissed. No, not kissed, he was just breathing air into his lungs, Steve repeats to himself trying to slow down his beating heart.

And that’s not even the most crazy thing.

The craziest thing is that Billy is half-human, like literary half-human, like… he has a human father. A father whose name is written on a metal tag that the merboy hid for years. A name that makes absolutely no sense, because if there is someone who seems to hate mermaids it is that man.

Steve gets home and gets in the shower, feeling the wet sensation of Billy’s plump lips on his. He shakes his head like a dog and a million tiny drops fly everywhere.

It wasn’t a kiss! It was a life-saving maneuver. And that’s not even the point! The point it’s that the name on that stupid tag is the one he suspected, but now that he knows that it’s Billy’s father's name he can’t believe that he was right.

He gets out of the shower and, still dripping water, gets to his computer, searching for every article about the aquarium, Billy, Susan, Neil, Jim, every person that he knows has worked at the aquarium, and he finally finds a very tiny article about Billy’s birth.

“Blue Ribbon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Nerea, a young little mermaid with beautiful blond hair, has given birth to a very healthy baby merboy. His name, William, was chosen by the visitors of the aquarium, but the staff of the aquarium affectionately calls him Billy.”

Nerea, the young blond mermaid, is looking with terror at the man who is holding her child in the picture.

And that man, it’s Neil Hargrove.

Steve searches for other information about Neil and quickly finds out that his wife's death and Billy’s birth are suspiciously close to one another and that the men left the aquarium when the veterinarians decided that the merboy was old enough to be sold to another aquarium.

Nerea, the young mermaid, died of sorrow a few weeks later.

Steve keeps searching on every website but there is no info about Billy or Neil after that, only a few news about Susan and her premature death, which was labeled as an incident.

Steve goes back to Susan’s Instagram page, searching for every image with the dog tag; there are just a few, in one of them the caption says “My little prince brought me to see his sacred treasure.”

Could Susan have known about Neil?

But how could she? No one knew that Billy was the son of a human and a mermaid.

Unless.

Unless Billy told her like he told Steve.

Holy fucking shit!

Steve looks at the clock, it is far too early and he knows he will not sleep, but he tries his best to rest a little, tomorrow will be a very interesting day.

***

When he enters the locker room Neil is already dressed in a wetsuit “Are you ready to go? Yesterday was a difficult day, I get it if you don’t want to train with him, especially now that you know that he is going to be sold.”

“And why is that? He seems like a unique specimen.” Steve says, feeling disgust for himself but trying to hide it.

“Because he is a monster, maybe?” The man replies sarcastically “Or because he is too stupid and stubborn to be trained? He is good looking but he definitely has no brain.”

Steve nods, wearing his wetsuit.

“You know, I read some articles about Billy last night. He was born at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, did you know that?”

“Yes.” Hargrove replies.

“His mother died of sorrow when they took away her kid.”

“She probably got some infections during childbirth, they are like animals, Steve, they have no feelings.” Neil insists and Steve does his best to hide his repugnance.

“You worked there too, didn’t you?” The boy tries to make it sound like a casual question but, from the way Neil stiffens, Steve knows that he got the point just right.

“Are you implying something, kid?”

“No. Why should I? I just wanted to ask you how she was. If you were able to train her, maybe you can train Billy too.”

“Billy can’t be trained, I already told you. I tried everything. I tried to be kind, I tried to give him prizes, I tried to hurt him, he is indomitable.” The man growls.

Steve nods but he doesn’t think that it’s a bad thing because that’s exactly what Billy is: he is the biggest and scariest wave of the ocean, the one that can destroy an entire town, but that gives you so much adrenaline if you ride her.

Indomitable.

Sounds like a nice nickname, doesn’t it?

“That’s a pity. As we said, he is a beautiful specimen.”

Neil nods “There are places for creatures like him. Maybe they’ll find a way of making him more cooperative.”

Did Neil say the same to Susan?

Did they fight over Billy’s future?

Steve has no proof but he feels that Neil knows more about Susan's death than he is willing to tell him.

“Come on. No fish this time when you collar him. Show him who is the master.”

“Don't you think he will try to use his scary voice powers?”

“Only if you let him. That’s why we have the spiked collar. If he tries something you can activate it.”

“And what did Susan think about it?”

Neil glares at him “Why?”

“I don’t know. She seemed like a nice girl.”

“You have done an awful amount of research, Steve, I’m impressed. Are you studying for something in particular?” The man asks, glaring at him.

Steve keeps smiling innocently “I would like to find a new way to make the mermaids cooperate without hurting them.”

“That’s a nice idea but it’s not possible. How many times do I have to tell you that they are not like us? They are monsters. Free him somewhere and he will feed himself with human meat.”

Steve follows Neil toward the training pool, then he gets back in the tank where Billy is resting.

“No fish today, pretty boy? Are you offering yourself to be my lunch?”

“Nah, just wondering if you were in the mood for a little swim in the big pool.”

“I hate that fucking pool. And I hate that fucking man.” Billy’s eyes shine gold for a moment.

“Billy…”

“What?”

“Don’t do it.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“He has the collar. He will mute you and he will hit you.”

“Not if I hurt him first.”

“And then what? If you kill your trainer someone will put you down because you are too dangerous, do you understand that?!” Steve hisses, trying to resonate with the sea creature.

“Why the fuck do you care?” Billy growls.

Because I like you. Because I liked you since the first time I saw your little red tail waving in the water and your blue eyes pinned on me.

“Because you are a living creature and…”

“Go fuck your self Harrington!” Billy yells and then goes underwater.

Steve sighs, he shouldn’t have told Billy which name was written under the metal plate.

“Harrington! Where the fuck is my merboy?”

“He is tired. Can we try again tomorrow?”

“You are too soft, Harrington, you will never get him to do what you want!” The man yells and then he gets back to the tank where Billy is hiding “Get out of there! Stupid fish!” He yells again toward the water.

Steve understands what’s going to happen just a moment before it does.

Billy gets out of the water so fast that all that Steve sees is a blur of the red silhouette dragging the old trainer down with him.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Billy! Don’t!” He screams, before diving in the water too.

Neil is trying to escape from Billy’s tight grip but Steve knows how strong the marine creature is, there is no chance that he will free himself without the spiked collar.

Steve swims closer to them trying to free the man but Billy’s screams in his mind.

Back off.

And Steve does, unable to resist the command in that voice.

He sees Neil stopping to struggle and finally stiffens, while Billy releases his hold on the man and gets closer to the boy.

Did you like kissing me so much?

The voice sings and then Billy’s lips are on Steve’s, breathing into him and dragging him toward the surface.

It takes a moment for Steve to come back to himself this time.

“How… how did you do it?”

“I sang.” He simply states, keeping Steve lying on his body while he lazily swims in his tank.

“Neil. You killed him.”

“I did.”

“They are going to put you down. You know that, right?”

Billy nods “I know, but when you told me the name I couldn’t… I couldn't resist anymore.”

“Resist?”

Billy nods “My mum. She said she didn’t want it, but he kept abusing her during her training, tiring her out so much that she wasn’t able to fight back. She always wore the collar, speaking was hard for her, but she told me what I needed to know, that I didn’t have to trust humans, and that I should take revenge for her. And I did.”

“I don’t want you to die.” Steve whispers.

“I know.”

“How do you know?”

“You are the only kid that came every fucking day for weeks. You are the one who showed me shapes. You are the one that promised me freedom. You are the one that lied to me.” Billy glares at him.

“I didn’t lie. I was just six. How could I have freed you?”

“I guess, maybe you didn’t lie. Maybe you finally freed me. Today.”

No, no, no, that’s not how he wanted things to go.

“I don’t want you to die.” Steve repeats feeling tears in his eyes.

“I don’t think there are other options, pretty boy.”

Steve is still lying on Billy’s stomach when he sees it, the sewage canal. Not the cleanest way to escape but…

He points at the grate “I guess you are strong enough to pull it.”

Billy sighs “I’m strong enough, but I have webbed hands, did you forget that?”

“Use me. I mean, use my hands, I’ll grab it and you will pull.”

“I will hurt you.”

“I will not let you die, Billy, so help me or I’ll do it myself.”

They swim toward the sewage canal and Steve grabs the grate with all his strength before Billy grabs his arms and pulls so hard that the grate cedes.

They hear the sounds of steps.

“You can still say that I made you do it. That it was my plan all along and you did what you had to to survive.”

Steve shakes his head, here, in a big aquarium tank with a dead body floating just a few feet away, Steve feels finally useful.

“I will not leave you alone.”

In his mind he is still six years old, asking his babysitter if Billy will feel alone at night.

“No, honey, he will not, can’t you see how many fish are there with him?”

Only maybe he did. Maybe he was just a mermaid child, missing his mum.

***

The loud splash brings Steve back to the present time, he has no fucking idea where the water will bring them, and the flow is strong, Steve is a good swimmer but all the adrenaline of the last few days is getting to him so he is starting to feel tired.

“Let the water carry you.” Billy suggests from behind him. Even in the dirty water, Billy is still the most beautiful creature Steve has ever seen.

His tale is huge in the tight canal, but he seems completely at ease even in this unfamiliar environment.

“Are you not scared?”

Billy smirks “Oh, Steve, I have been scared all my life. This? This is nothing.”

He gets closer to Steve and hugs him “Hold on me.”

Hold on me.

Like… you can count on me.

Like… I’m here for you.

And somehow, while they are swimming in the semi-darkness toward an unknown future, Steve feels that he is exactly where he was supposed to be.

He starts to giggle in the dark.

“Are you definitely going crazy, Steve?” Billy asks, but his words are not harsh, just curious.

“I was thinking about my parents, how proud of me they will be when they find out I helped you murder Neil and escape.” The boy chuckles.

“Are you regretting it?”

Steve’s chest gets tight.

Is he scared out of his mind? Yes.

Does he have any idea of what they are going to do now? No.

Is he regretting freeing the merboy? Absolutely not.

They stay in silence for a long time, then Billy sighs "I wasn't trying to kill you, but you were putting your dirty hands in my den.” he explains, without looking at Steve.

“Your den? I thought your den was in the farther part of the tank.” And then the boy suddenly remembers the little red tail hiding behind that same rock “Oh… that was your hiding place.” The place where he collected and hid his treasure.

Billy sighs “I can't believe that I had the answer under my nose for all this time and I didn’t know it! I knew that the stupid necklace had something to do with my father but I never thought that Neil… He was kind, you know? At least at the beginning. He brought me sweet things and some shiny ones. Mum always said to not trust the human but he was the only person I had any contact with so it was hard not to become attached to the only person I saw every day. I could speak with the fish in the tank, but they would not answer me. Neil did. Neil always had some adventure to talk about. How could I not notice that it was him? My mum was fucking terrified of him! And still, I didn’t understand.”

Steve turns Billy’s face until they are watching each other “Don't get angry at yourself. You could have no idea that he was… that he did… who could have ever imagined all of that?”

“Susan.” It’s Billy’s cold answer “Susan did. She told me that she had a plan and that all I had to do was wait for her. Why didn’t she tell me what she discovered?”

Did Neil kill Susan? That’s what Steve has been thinking about since he saw the pictures on Instagram.

He has no proof but if Susan saw the dog tag and Billy trusted her enough to tell her about his father, Susan must have understood that Neil was Billy’s father and everyone knew what kind of trainer he was.

Steve tries to imagine for a moment the red-haired girl confronting the old man, maybe even threatening him.

“But why did she do that? Why didn't she talk to me?”

“I can't pretend I know why she did, Billy, but I'll tell you why I would have done it: to protect you. I would have faced Neil and told him to quit. There aren't… there aren't laws against the abuses of mermaids so the only thing she could do was pressure him into quitting. She probably tried to blackmail him and he… he killed her.”

Billy remains silent, flapping his fins, keeping Steve close to his body.

“She was kind. I think I liked her.” He whispers “She always made sure that there were a couple of shrimp in my food because she noticed I liked them the most. After she died I have never eaten another shrimp.”

Steve holds him even tighter “I'm so sorry, Billy.”

“She was so young. Maybe a couple of years older than you. I thought she fell into the water, I tried to help her, I really did but… but…”

It was too late.

There are no words that can erase such pain, so they stay embraced like that, following the water.

“Listen. Seagulls.”

***

When they emerge from the sewage canal the sun is setting.

For a moment Steve wonders if they will find the police waiting for them, but everything happened so fast that he doubts that anyone had the time to study the watery system and understand exactly where they would have ended up.

When Billy sees the ocean his eyes get wide and the gold in his irises shines even brighter, his gills open, breathing in the salted air, and in a moment he disappears under the water.

For a few moments, Steve sees the red tail, now almost violet, and then nothing more.

He stays on the shore, wet and shivering for the cold, looking at the blue expense of the ocean in front of him, wondering what he should do now. He definitely can’t follow Billy underwater, no matter what, and he has no equipment to swim with him even just for a few minutes.

The boy stares at the ocean, waiting to see a red tail or something but when nothing appears he lets himself fall on his knees.

It’s ok, they didn’t promise each other anything at all, and now Billy is finally free,

The air is crisp on his skin, he is wet and tired and all he wants to do is rest, just for a moment.

***

Steve lies on the shore, looking at the stars and wondering what he is going to do now.

His old life is gone, he is a fugitive and his parents will never get him back after what he did. He vaguely wonders if the police will inquire, if they will look through his computer if they will come to the same conclusion he did. If they will understand that Neil killed Susan.

A gasping fish falls into his lap and when he lifts his eyes, Billy is staring at him, eating another one.

“You should eat.”

“I can’t eat raw fish.”

“Why?”

“It’s bad for my stomach.” Steve tries to explain “And I have no fucking idea on how to make a fire, but thanks.”

Billy raises an eyebrow but doesn’t comment when Steve puts the fish back in the water and the animal starts to swim faster than he could.

“What can you eat?"

"Raw? I really don't know, honestly, I never had the urgency of eating something raw directly from the ocean." Steve replies tilting his head.

Billy turns toward the ocean "Have you already been here?"

"In this place?"

"In the ocean." The merboy says, looking at the horizon "It's the first time for me." Billy whispers "My mum told me something about it but… it's so big. I could swim in every direction and tired myself before getting to the glass wall."

Steve chuckles "Billy. The ocean has no glass walls."

The merboy turns toward him, his eyes big with wonder "No?"

For the first time, Steve looks at him like he was a child, not the deadly creature everyone said he was.

"No. You can swim wherever you want, with no limits."

Billy stares at him, silently.

"Are you scared?" Steve asks, getting closer to the water.

"No." the merboy denies, and Steve sits on the shoreline.

"It's ok if you are. I will not judge you. I'm scared too, you know?"

"About what?"

"Everything? I mean, I think I technically lost my job, I'm pretty much a fugitive and I can't go back home. All I have right now are the clothes I'm wearing and they are soaked." He confesses with a wry smile.

"Why don't you strip?" Billy suggests.

Steve startles "What?!"

"Why don't you strip? Your clothes will get dry faster."

"I'm not going to stay naked in front of you!"

"Why not? I'm always naked and it makes no difference to you."

Steve blushes "It's different!"

"How?"

Steve can't point out if Billy is being sassy or naive, so he turns his face to avoid Billy and he sees a Lifeguard Towers a few feet away with a white little boat resting at his feet, the word lifeguard written in big bold red letters, and goes toward it: if he is lucky enough he will find some spare clothes.

The boy is not worried about adding breaking and entering to all the crimes he probably committed in the last few hours, so he breaks the lock with a rock and gets into the lifeguard's tower. He finds an old backpack with a pair of bright pink swim trunks, and a long faded tank top, then he takes his wet clothes and throws them inside the little boat and he pushes the boat toward the sea.

"What's this?" Billy asks, swimming around the little boat.

"It's a boat. It's a floating thing that humans use to move in the water without swimming." He never understood how little was Billy's knowledge of the world until now and for a moment he regrets his actions, the merboy is used to living in captivity, how could he survive in the wild?

Steve starts to row but Billy complains loudly about it "Stop it!" He yells, barely avoiding one of the rows.

"If I don't row in some direction I'll go adrift!" Steve complains "I have no map and I'm no good at reading stars, if the water flow will drag me far from the shore I'll be lost." And probably die.

"I can push you."

"Sorry?"

"I can push this thing.” Billy repeats “I'll stay close to the shore, I promise."

"We need to find a cove or something like that, a place where we can both rest but where we can hide." Steve says, looking around.

"Like a den."

"Like a den." Steve agrees, getting the rows inside the boat.

Steve wonders if it is crazy to entrust his life to a killer merboy who could literally eat him, and the answer is probably yes, but he is too tired, and the gentle rocking of the waves is so soothing that he falls asleep.

***

An unusual weight on the chest is what wakes up Steve, who yells when he sees a big seagull resting on his chest.

"You ok?" A familiar voice asks.

Steve turns and sees the merboy resting on some rocks nearby while the boat is resting on the shoreline.

"Where are we?"

"In a den, like you said."

Steve looks around him, they are in a little cove, the water is bright green where the boat rests, but it gets darker and darker a few feet away.

"A sea cave." He whispers astonished.

"Do you like it?" The merboy asks him, jumping into the water and reemerging just in front of Steve "We could live here."

Steve's stomach grumbles.

"I can get you some fish." Billy proposes and Steve starts to look in the old backpack to see if there is something useful and finds a crumbled packet of crackers and half a bottle of water.

"Thank you but I'm good." The boy replies.

That is a limited-time solution, he will have to get back and Billy will swim away soon, but all he can do right now is let himself enjoy the moment.

His feet hit something, and when he looks down he sees many colorful little rocks, some of them are bottle glasses that the waves transformed in little gems, but there are also some shimmering shells.

"What are those?" Steve asks, confused.

"Presents. For your treasure."

"I don't have a treasure, Billy." Steve tries to explain to him.

"I know. But you need one. A big one. I know you are not strong enough but I'll help you guard it." The sea creature replies, smiling with his sharp teeth.

"Billy… I don't need it."

"You do. My mate needs to have the biggest treasure ever!" The merboy declares proudly.

"Your what? Billy, are you ok?"

Now that Steve notices it Billy's tail is even brighter and he is almost dancing around the boat, like the sea lions do before mating.

"Billy?" He calls again, but Billy's eyes are golden than ever, with no blu in his irises "Billy I don't know what you are thinking but you are not in your right mind, ok? I understand that everything that happened was overwhelming, but please, look at me. I'm Steve. I'm your trainer."

"We kissed."

"We… sort of kissed but it wasn't a real kiss, ok? You were giving me air to breathe, do you remember that?"

"I want to give you more air." Billy's voice is so musical, and even if he is not singing to Steve, he definitely could.

Steve shakes his head, he must remain lucid, they are still in danger… Billy's lips look so nice and all Steve wants to do is feel them on his own.

"Steve…" that’s music. Not the kind he experimented when Billy gave him the order to say back, but is still a song, a song about a kid who preferred to stay at the aquarium all day instead of going to play at the park, a song about a boy who was lost, a song about a mermaid child that was scared and alone, a song about a powerful creature willing to kneel for one person alone: Steve.

The boy is leaning toward the merboy, their faces so close that he can feel Billy's breath on his skin.

It's wrong and it's perfect.

The water opens for him when he falls from the boat, but his beautiful merboy is there to cushion the fall and to share air and spit with him; his webbed hands at the side of Steve's neck are drawing swirls that make Steve shiver and for the first time Steve's hand touch Billy's skin.

It's a strange feeling, Billy's skin is cold and a little bit slimy, but his lips are warm and welcoming.

Steve.

He knows that it's his name but somehow is not his anymore.

Billy reemerges, holding him tight.

"Steve." He calls again, and Steve's decision shatters under the merboy touch.

The sea creature swims toward the shore, letting the boy lie on the sand.

"I want you." The merboy whispers on his lips, licking the salt from Steve's skin and Steve can’t suffocate a moan when Billy’s lips stop just behind his right ear and start to kiss and bite playfully his ear.

“Sing for me…” Billy murmurs, grinding against him with his entire body and it feels like an electric shock.

Billy’s hands are cold and Steve’s skin is far too hot, he struggles with the tank top, and finally Billy tears it, freeing Steve from the offensive piece of tissue, while hovering over him.

The merboy could crush him, but he doesn’t, he is gentle and handles Steve with such care that he thinks that no one has ever treated him as such.

They kiss again, still hungry for each other's taste, Billy pushes Steve against the sand but Steve is not going to stay there and take what the merboy is going to give him, so he turns them, leaving the merboy lying on the sand and straddles him.

Billy’s eyes are wide, his entire body is driven by the oldest force in the universe: lust.

His scales open a little and Steve sees it: a huge red dick pouring a clear liquid.

“What…?”

“I wanna mate you.” Billy whispers, like a plea on Steve’s skin, and there is no doubt about what the merboy is more than willing to do.

“Billy…”

“I’ll be gentle.” He promises, but Steve knows that he can’t trust him, at this moment Billy is just an animal driven from the primal force of reproduction and Steve’s body is not made to take something so huge.

“I can’t. Billy, I can’t. It’s too big!” Steve protests.

“Gentle.” Billy repeats, while he darts his tail and makes Steve slip closer to his chest, his huge dick between them “Touch it.” He asks him and Steve moves his hands to touch it. It’s different from Steve’s dick, bigger but softer, wet and so flexible, and it seems to move almost like a hand.

“How…?”

“It will not hurt. I promise you. I would never hurt you, you know that.”

Does Steve know that?

“How… how do you want me?”

“Close.”

Steve moves Billy’s dick out of the way, the merboy's dick just behind his back.

“What now?”

“Relax.” Billy whispers while he takes Steve’s wrists and pushes him against his chest.

“No, no, I’m not ready!” Steve tries to protest, but Billy’s dick is grinding against him leaving a wet trail that tingles.

“You’ll be ready in no time. And my dick is softer than what you are used to.”

“How do you know?”

How do you know that I have been fucked?

“I scented him on you. Didn’t like it. You smell so much better now. Sea, salt, sex.”

Steve can’t deny that his dick is leaking on Billy’s chest.

“Will you stop if… if I ask you to?”

“You will not ask.”

“But if I do?”

“I will.” the merboy promises, and then, with a sudden movement, he starts to push inside Steve’s rim.

The pressure is gentle but relentless, Steve feels so full as he has never been before, but Billy is right. It doesn’t hurt. Not at all.

“Oh god… I fill you in my throat…” he moans.

“Would you like that? Would you like to feel my dick into your throat?”

Steve can’t answer because Billy is dragging him down on his monstrous dick while kissing him, licking with his tick tongue every corner of Steve’s mouth, eating every moan, every sigh directly from the source.

Then he starts to move inside him.

“Harder! I want you harder!” Steve asks and he will cry if Billy denies him, but he doesn’t, the merboy is ready to satisfy him and he keeps moving inside him harder and harder, making Steve bounce on his slippery tail, his legs spread around his muscled boy.

“Will you show me the most beautiful of your expressions?” The sea creature asks him and Steve nods, he doesn't even know what Billy means but whatever he wants he will give it to him.

“Come. Come for me, my treasure.” He whispers in his singing tone of voice, and Steve clenches so hard around his huge dick that it almost hurts, but it’s just a moment, and then he is falling from the biggest height ever.

When he opens his eyes the mermaid is still deeply inside him, jolting just a little inside him.

“You ok?” Billy asks him, his eyes back to blue.

“What happened?”

“You came for me.” Billy explains to him easily and Steve nods.

“Yeah but… after?”

“You passed out.”

Steve has read in some porno magazine that it could happen, but he thought that it was just an exaggeration, instead, he came so hard on Billy’s dick that he blacked out.

“What about you?”

“I need more.” The merboy tells him.

“More like what?”

“Will you let me come inside you? Paint your inside with my cum? Make you drip?”

The answer is so obvious that Steve doesn’t waste time answering and just nods.

“Give me your hand.” Billy asks him, taking three of Steve’s fingers and sucking hard on them while he keeps thrusting harder and harder. Billy’s teeth are very sharp and he could easily chop off Steve’s fingers, but they are looking at each other, Steve’s body still covered in sweat, and when he feels Billy going rigid Steve pushes his fingers even deeper, not caring for his own safety, and it’s the right thing to do because Billy opens his mouth, moaning something that sounds like a song and comes into Steve. One time, two times, three times, he comes so much that Steve feels his stomach bulge and the merboy’s cum dripping from him.

“So beautiful.” He whispers, lying on Billy’s body and the merboy holds him even tighter.

“Rest.”

“You need to rest too.”

“Mermaids don’t rest.” that’s incorrect, but it’s true that they don’t sleep like humans so Steve doesn’t complain “I’ll protect you.” Billy assures him, and for a moment, before falling asleep, Steve thinks about how quickly their role reversed. He was the kid that promised to free him, he was the one that helped him escape, but now, in their den, it’s Billy who is taking care of him.

Their den.

It sounds nice.

Doesn’t it?

***

Steve hears them before he sees them: angry songs rise from the boiling water. Steve is still on the shore and Billy is in the water, moving back and forth protectively in front of him, hissing.

“Who are you?!” One of the mermaids asks him, and Steve notices that they are all old and female.

“Who are you?!” Billy growls, hissing again.

“If the guppy wants to play, let him play, Muriel.”

Steve can understand what they are saying even if they are not really using words but a strange kind of subtle melody, and the mermaid with the black hair that just spoke doesn’t seem too friendly.

“Go away from my den!” Billy hisses again.

“How sweet is that, the guppy is trying to defend his territory!” Another laughs, and Billy keeps hissing, trying to shield Steve from their view.

“Oh… I see… the mating season made him crazy. He thinks that the stupid human is his mate.”

“Go away!” Billy sings to them but the order has no effect.

“Your mum didn’t teach you how to sing, little guppy?” The one called Muriel asked again.

“Don’t talk about her!” Billy growls, but then he freezes, seeing a mermaid with blond hair getting closer “Mum?” He asks confused and astonished “Mum… I thought you were still at the aquarium!” Billy says with a wet voice.

“She is not your mum Billy!” Steve tries to tell him, running toward him.

“Maybe she escaped like I did!” He replies, still looking at the beautiful mermaid, but Steve gets into the water, trying to shake him.

“It’s not her, Billy. It’s not your mum. Nerea… she died. She died after they brought you away from her.” The last words are almost a whisper and for a moment everything stills, then, something drags Steve underwater and he feels a sharp pain at his waist. He looks down and a red-haired mermaid is biting him.

He screams, trying to free himself, but it is only Billy’s intervention that makes the other mermaid release her grip and then he drags Steve safely toward the shore.

“You ok?” He asks, looking at the red blood that is pouring from his pierced skin.

“I’m good… I’m good.”

“Did you know Nerea?” The blond mermaid asks, getting closer.

Billy grits his teeth, so Steve answers for him “She was his mum.”

“Nerea… Nerea was your mum?” She asks again, and now that she is so close she has something familiar, long blond hair, blue eyes…

“She was… she was my sister.” The mermaid says “Are you really her son? She was too young when they captured her! How… How did that happen?!”

“My mate is injured!” Billy growls “I don’t have time to chat!”

The blond mermaid turns toward the other mermaids “Go get some seaweed to cover the wound.”

“But Onda…”

“Do it!” She sings and the order is so fierce that Steve would have been ready to go too if Billy wasn’t holding him so tight.

“Can I look at your wound?” The blond mermaid asks and is not an order, Steve could refuse, but it hurts a lot, and if she can do something to help him with the pain he will gladly accept the help she could give.

“It’s not too deep and Shui didn’t use any venom. You’ll be fine in no time, little human.”

Steve is not used to feeling little, but between these two creatures, he really feels just a kid.

“Are you really my mum's sister?” Billy asks without looking at her and the mermaid nods.

“Can you tell me what you remember of her?” She asks, and Billy is ready to tell her but she shakes his head “Not like that. Sing it to me.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Close your eyes, concentrate on her image, and let the music flow.”

It’s a sweet and sad song and even if Steve can’t understand a single word, at the end of the song his eyes are full of tears.

The blond mermaid addresses his wound and looks around the sea cave.

“You find a nice spot Billy, but you can’t stay here forever. Would you like to come back home with us?”

Billy’s fins shivers and Steve knows that he has never had a home, but then he looks at him.

“You have to go, Billy. They are your people.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be ok.”

Onda nods “I will personally erase his memory and make sure that he gets back to his home safely.”

“You want to take him away from me?!” Billy snarls and Onda seems to scent Steve.

“I see. You already mated him, didn’t you, little guppy?”

“I’m not a guppy! And he is my mate! I will not leave him!”

She laughs “And what are you going to do, uh? He has no tail that I can see, and no gills either.”

Steve smiles, playing with Billy’s hair “It’s ok. You have to go with them and I have to go home. It’s ok.” He tries to comfort him but Billy is crying into his arms.

”I don’t want to leave you. You are my mate.” The merboy whispers.

“I am not, baby. You just imprinted on me. It happens. And I think I did it too. But you’ll be ok. I’m sure that there are a lot of pretty merboys waiting for you.”

“Steve…”

“It’s ok. Do what you have to.” He tells the blond mermaid and the mermaid nods.

“Thank you for keeping my prince safe.” She whispers, but before Steve can ask any questions a sweet song is already making him sleepy.

***

When Steve opens his eyes he is at a hospital and a policeman is asking him questions about what happened at the aquarium, but Steve can’t remember anything at all. A month of his life has gone completely lost.

He doesn’t know who Neil Hargrove is and he has no idea how he died, in his mind he is still waiting to know something after the interview that he made for the position of mermaid trainer, but the aquarium hasn’t a mermaid anymore so it seems that he is out of a job.

Steve joins many TV shows where they interview him trying to make him talk about his experience. He attends every single one with his mother, always eager to parade him around and ready to play the part of the worried mother. They take the money but the interviews are all the same, an infinite series of “I don’t know.”

Did the merboy threaten you?

Did he try to kill you?

Did he bite you?

Steve doesn’t know.

Public opinion is divided into a group that thinks that mermaids should be protected and left free, while another part thinks that what happened is proof that they are far too dangerous and that they should be exterminated once and for all.

Both of them ask Steve if he wants to be their ambassador and it doesn't matter how much money they offer him, he always refuses.

Every morning he runs three miles and ends his run on the beach, looking longingly at the sea, feeling that he misses something that was really dear to him, but he keeps running and goes back home, takes a shower, and sees the red sign of the bite on his skin, tangible proof that mermaids are, indeed, dangerous.

A mermaid killed Neil Hargrove and maybe even Susan Mayfield.

A mermaid bit Steve.

Still, his heart is mourning.

He dreams of oceans, colorful fishes, and shiny shells, and he dreams of songs with no words but that fills him with emotions and when he wakes up, in the morning, he feels rested, loved, and cherished without any real reason.

After a couple of months, all the interest in Steve has diminished and one more time he is the failure his parents can’t accept.

They tell him to find himself a job and he changes from one minimum wage job to another, trying to find his place in the world, telling himself that when he will find the right job, the right house, the right girl, everything will be ok. He just has to wait, the universe will give him what his heart longs for, he knows it, and he is not wrong.

***

Steve always loved diving, so when the longing for the sea becomes unbearable he takes his equipment and goes to the beach.

He shouldn’t go diving alone, it’s dangerous and he knows it, but he can’t wait anymore.

The boy changes into his wetsuit, which feels like a second skin to him, he wears his diving mask, takes the oxygen and his fins, and gets into the water.

The deeper he goes the colder it gets but he keeps diving, searching for a thermocline where he knows he will find some fish.

He has the impression to have seen something violet in the distance, but when he turns to look with more attention there is nothing.

When Steve reemerges, ready to go back home, he sees a little white boat rocks near the shore, inside it there are many shiny things: pieces of glass, shells, and little jewels.

It’s a present for him, a proposition, and there, when the sun is setting like it was months ago, Steve makes a decision. He grabs all the little trinkets and puts them in his backpack, then he goes back to his sad one-room apartment, grabs some food and some clothes, and goes back to the beach as fast as he can, wishing so hard that the boat is still there waiting for him, as it is.

He gets on the boat and starts to row toward the open sea.

A little voice inside his mind tells him that he will get lost and he will die a horrible death in the middle of the ocean, but another part of him urges him to keep rowing so he does, until he hits a rock. Or maybe not.

“Going somewhere, pretty boy?”

Listening to Billy’s voice is enough to dissolve the enchantment that the blond mermaid did on him.

“Billy!” The boy calls, diving into the water, and the merboy catches him with no effort.

“Hey there, pretty boy. I knew you would have come.”

“Did you sing for me?” He asks, putting together all the little things that happened to him: the dreams, the pull toward the sea, the shiny treasure.

“I sang for you every single day.” He replies, peppering his face with kisses “Onda told me that if you really were my mate you would have felt the pull even if you didn’t have your memory. And you did, didn’t you, sweet thing?”

Steve smiles, but they are still in the middle of the ocean.

“What now?”

“Now I’ll bring you home.”

***

Home, Steve discovers, is a little island uninhabited, or at least with no humans. There are a few animals and a big underwater cave that leads to an entire submerged town. Even if Billy did his best to share oxygen with him, Steve wasn’t unable to visit it, he just saw a big palace nestled between the rocks.

“I hate that you can’t see it.” The merboy says while they are resting on the beach.

“I’m sure it’s beautiful.”

“I could sing it to you.”

“Do you want to?”

“I want to share everything with you.” Billy replies, and then he starts to sing while playing with Steve’s hair, but in his song, there is more than just a castle between the rocks: there is pain and sadness, there is hope and fear, there is a hole that has Steve’s shape, and there is love. So much love.

“I’m sorry.” Steve says, turning away to hide his tears “I’m so sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, baby.” The merboy replies holding his chin and making him turn toward him “Nothing.”

“I left you.”

“You did not. You were hurt and you needed help. And you came back to me. You came back for me.”

Steve nods, while silent tears fall from his eyes and the merboy licks them.

“No more tears, I want to see you wiggle.” He tells him and then he kisses him and Billy’s foreign mouth is the closest thing to home that he has ever tasted.

The blond merboy keeps kissing him, biting the side of his jaw, and then he goes down, and down, until he is breathing just above the tent in Steve’s swim trunk.

“Can I taste you?” Billy asks him, and when Steve nods he lowers his swim trunks and takes him into his velvety hot mouth. His clever tongue insists just under the head of his dick and Steve grabs Billy’s hair, trying to resist the impossible pleasure that is filling him.

“I’m going… I’m going to come…” he mumbles, and Billy sucks even harder, ready to swallow Steve’s release.

With a few hard thrusts, Steve comes with a moan into Billy’s mouth.

Billy smiles like a shark before kissing Steve and sharing his own cum with him and even Steve’s cum tastes like the sea.

Steve’s body is so lax after the orgasm that Billy’s dick finds no resistance when he gets inside him.

The boy whimpers a little when Billy’s big dick brushes against his prostate so soon after his first orgasm, but he doesn’t complain when the merboy keeps moving inside him, boxing him and kissing him until he is a whimpering mess under him.

“So good for me… So perfect…” he praises him and Steve comes again, painting both their stomachs white.

He gets ready to relax and feel the merboy filling him until he is dripping cum, but after the first shot, Billy pulls out and comes on Steve’s body, mixing their cums on his skin.

“Mine… My mate…” he whispers and Steve nods, unable to speak.

***

“You know how important you are to him, right?” Shui, the red mermaid that bit Steve months ago asks the boy.

“I love him.” He replies.

“I know you do but I don’t think you get what it takes to fall in love with a mermaid. And with a special one like Billy.” She tells him looking at him with condescension.

“He has always been special to me, even before you found us in that stupid cave.” Steve retorts angrily.

“Don’t be offended and listen to me, stupid human. He is a Prince. Do you get that?”

“Onda is the Queen, his title means nothing.”

“It means nothing now. It will mean a lot when he changes.”

Steve turns toward the red-haired mermaid.

“He what?”

“Have you seen him today? Are you wondering why I am here babysitting you and not eating shrimp with my sisters?” She points out, annoyed.

“Where is he? What is happening? Can you bring me to him?” Steve asks anxiously.

“Calm down, little human. He is fine. He is just going through a transition.”

“I don’t understand. Is he ok?”

The mermaid nods “He is. It’s a natural process. Some fish do that, didn’t you know?”

“Some fish do what?”

“They change sex when they get older.”

They do. Groupers do it. Clownfish and other fish do it too.

“He is changing sex?”

“Didn’t you notice that all the old mermaids are females?”

He has seen a few other merboys… but no merman.

“Will he be ok?”

“They. And of course they will. They are with their sister, they will take care of them and I promised to take care of you. I just wanted to warn you because I don’t want you to be mean to them when they come back. They have human blood and we don’t know how they will change.”

“It doesn’t matter. I love Billy and I will love them whatever it happens, but are you sure they’ll be ok?”

The mermaid stares at him and then she silently nods.

***

One week.

The entire transformation lasted one week, and in all that time Steve's only company was Shui and his own fears, so when he finally sees a mane of blond hair he runs toward the water.

Billy doesn’t look too different, the only difference that he can spot is “Your tail!”

It’s not bright red anymore, it’s more lavender.

“Did Shui…”

“She did.”

“And you are ok with that?”

“Me?” Steve asks, confused.

“I’m not… I mean I am still me but… different…”

This time Steve is holding them tight “I don’t know what happened and I don’t want to know. I’m just glad that you are ok.”

“I am not ok.” Billy replies, avoiding Steve’s eyes.

“What do you need? Can I do something for you? I can ask Shui…”

“I’m not… complete.” Billy replies with humiliation.

“You are not… what?”

“I don’t have any fucking tits, Harrington! Didn’t you notice?”

Steve blinks a few times, his mouth open in disbelief. He did not notice.

“And is it a problem? Is it hurting?”

“I’m good at nothing!” Billy yells, punching the water and splashing salt water everywhere “All I had to do was transform like every fucking mermaid and I did it wrong.”

Steve gets deeper in the water, holding Billy’s face in his hands “You are fucking perfect. You got it? You are all I ever wanted and all I care about is if you are ok.”

When Billy turns toward him Steve stares at them unashamed: it’s not true that they have no tits, it’s just that they are smaller than the other mermaids. Steve gently cups one of them, weighing it in his hand.

“Can I… Can I kiss them?”

He has never thought about a female version of Billy but now that they are in front of him he wants to discover every part of this new body.

“Aren’t you horrified?” Billy asks.

“I think that the word you are looking for is mesmerized, and I am.”

Billy’s tail winds around Steve and drags him toward their chest “I’m still going to fuck you. You know that, right?”

***

They are on their honeymoon, that’s what Onda called the period they gave them before dragging Billy back to work at the palace now that they are officially the second in line.

Billy’s body is softer and their tail has a different color, but for the rest, they are still sassy as they used to be.

They haven’t had sex since Billy transformed and Steve is determined to put an end to their period of chastity.

“You know, humans have sex during their honeymoon.” He says, caressing Billy’s shoulder while they are resting under a swaying palm tree.

“Oh, do they?”

"Definitely."

“And what’s your plan? Convincing me to have sex with you talking about human customs?”

Not the brightest plan ever, but at least they are addressing the matter once and for all.

“Are you in pain? That’s why you don’t want to have sex with me?” he asks and Billy shakes their head “Are you worried you will not like it?” another nod of refusal “So what?”

“I’m worried I’ll get pregnant.”

Steve almost chokes on his own spit.

“You what?”

“Oh, Steve, do I really have to be the one who tells you? When two people love each other very deeply, sometimes they have a baby.”

“No, I get that, I mean I didn’t think that…”

“That you could get me pregnant?” Steve’s mouth feels too dry so he just nods “You could. Just like Neil did with my mum, and the younger the mermaid is, the easiest is to get pregnant.”

Steve nods “Oh, I get that, you don’t want a child from me. I mean, it’s ok, it wasn’t really in the cards when we met so…”

“Would you like that? A child? Our child?”

It’s a tricky question.

Short answer? Yes.

But he is respectful of Billy and their choice so he says “All I ever wanted was a family, and you are my family.”

“That means that you hate the idea of having kids?”

“No! I… I… I’d like to have them. With you. But if you don’t want them I get it. I mean, our life is pretty complicated as it is, right?”

He is not wrong: Billy has many responsibilities and Steve can’t exactly follow him underwater.

“I want them. But I’m scared. What if they are damaged, like me?”

No, Steve is not going to have any of that.

He pushes Billy until they are lying with their back on the sand and their arms over their head.

“You are not damaged Billy, and our hypothetical kids will not be damaged either. And if you will never want them I will never ask, but I can't stand listening to you talking like that about yourself.”

“You are really in love with me…” the mermaid grins.

“I really am.”

“Maybe I should fuck you, just to know if you are still a good partner.”

“You are such a brat!” Steve complains, but after a moment it is he who is trapped with his shoulders on the warm sand.

“Do you think that your human dick is good enough to fuck someone? It seems so tiny, doesn’t it?”

Steve’s dick is far smaller than the one Billy had “Do you think it is too small?” The boy asks, blushing at the humiliation.

“Oh, I think that with such a tiny dick I will barely feel it, and I really don’t think it will catch.”

“There is just a way to find it out, what do you say? Are you ready to let me try to knock you up?”

Billy’s dick is smaller than it was but is still there, so Steve takes it in his hands and finds it even more flexible now that it’s smaller.

He rubs his dick on Billy’s and when the tip of Billy’s cock gets into the slit of Steve’s dick he whimpers.

“Oh fuck, I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

Steve shakes his head “It’s just… intense. And strange. But mostly intense.”

“Does it mean that I could still fuck you, pretty boy?”

“Oh, I think you could even if I was inside of you but this… this feels…”

“Good?”

“So fucking good.”

Billy’s dick keeps thrusting inside the tip of Steve’s cock and when it withdraws with a quick movement Steve comes copiously on the mermaid.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” he moans, trying to stabilise his breath.

“Harrington, I thought that all of that was supposed to get inside me, not on me.” Billy teases him.

Steve rests at Billy’s side “Give me a moment and then I’ll fill you until you beg me to stop.”

“Do you really think you could?” The mermaid keep teasing the boy, but Billy let Steve rest a little while they go back in the water to keep themself hydrated; when they get back from their swim Steve is more than eager to show them that he can be a good lover.

Billy tries to play with Steve’s dick again, but the boy grabs Billy’s sex with his hand and starts to jerk them off while he slowly penetrates inside his partner for the first time.

Billy’s body is wet and warm and when they whisper on Steve’s lips that they want it harder, Steve doesn’t hesitate, thrusting harder and harder, listening to the watery slaps sound and to their moans.

“You are so warm, baby. So velvety and warm. I wanna bury myself inside of you and stay like that forever.” Steve whispers while Billy keeps repeating that they want it harder. “If I keep going like this I’m going to come in no time.”

“I’ll fucking kill you if you stop now!” Billy almost yells while they keep moaning under Steve and when the boy feels that he is close it takes Billy’s dick in his hand once more and starts to jerk them off quicker and quicker, doing his best to get them off before coming inside of them.

“Let go. I’m here. I’ll get you.” Steve reassures them and finally, Billy comes with a moan that reverberates inside Steve’s soul, clenching so hard on Steve’s dick that he comes too, filling Billy’s inside.

They hug each other, Steve still inside Billy “I want to keep you inside me a little more.” They tell him and Steve couldn’t deny them if he wanted to.

“You ok?”

“It was… intense.” They reply and Steve smirks.

“Was it?”

“I think I’d like to do it again.”

“I’m your humble servant.” Steve replies with a smile, brushing away the blond locks “You are so fucking beautiful.” He whispers, kissing their cheeks, and somehow it feels more intimate than the fact that Steve is still buried deep inside Billy.

Steve sighs, content, if Billy want he will try to breed him again, and again, and again, but for the moment holding them in his arms is more than enough.

#stranger things fanfic #steve x billy #harringrove #Christmas presents 2023 #mermaid AU #merman billy hargrove #mermaid trainer Steve Harrington #my fanfic #medusapelagia #medusapelagia fanfic

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starkstruck27 · 1 year

Text

We can all have a little harringrove mermay ficlet, as a treat.

Ever since the move to Indiana, Billy kept away from the water. There were no oceans to surf in the middle of butt-fuck, nowhere, so there really wasn't a point. Not only that, but with his father watching his every move and all the small town gossip, there weren't any opportunities to sneak off with the cute boys on the swim team after practice, so there was no point there, either.

So until the summertime, he didn't go anywhere near the water. He only did it again because his father demanded he get a job, and he figured that with the humid Indiana heat, a job without a strict dress code would be perfect. Plus, there was the added bonus of fewer physical injuries if pretty much the whole of his body was going to be on display. So getting a job as a lifeguard at Hawkins Community Pool was the clear choice.

It was an easy job. Keep his eyes open, blow his whistle a few times, make sure all the floats and shit were returned by closing, it wasn't rocket science. And showing up an hour early every Friday and Saturday to teach little kids to swim wasn't hard, either. Dealing with their mothers was worse, but thankfully, it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. As long as he flirted back and stroked their egos but cut things off before they got too out of hand, it was fine.

It got worse when Max started showing up at the pool with all her little friends. No matter how many times he blew his whistle and shouted at them to stop running, stop dunking each other, stop bringing food and drinks with them into the water, stop pushing each other in without warning, stop splashing the people who didn't want to be splashed, etc., etc., etc.... it all just seemed to go in one ear and out the other. And pretty soon, Billy was pulling Max aside and threatening to ban the group of them from the pool if they didn't get a parent or some other adult to keep an eye on them while they were there.

"I can either manage the pool or I can manage your asses, but I can't do both, so if you're here and someone else drowns because I'm too worried about yelling at you brats, it's gonna be your fault. Get a parent or some other adult to keep an eye on you, or don't bother coming back, cuz I won't let you in, understand?" He said to her and the rest of them, glaring with more heat in his eyes than the sun at noon.

It shouldn't have surprised him that within a day, they had found a loophole.

The day after he had threatened to ban them, they showed up again, dragging Steve Harrington along behind them. Like, actually dragging him. He didn't even have swim trunks on, he clearly did not want to be there, but once they had gotten him through the gates, there was no turning back. He sighed and resigned himself to a lounge chair, pulling out a book and some sunscreen, and slathered the cream on his pale skin before putting on a pair of reading glasses and starting to get comfortable. Billy barely had time to think about how cute the glasses looked on him when the kids started up their antics, and by the time he'd scolded them, made Henderson take a ten-minute time out, and looked back up at Steve, the other boy was out cold.

Somehow, even with the terrible heat, the constant shrieks of kids, and the loud cracks of thunder that started approaching, Steve stayed asleep for the rest of the day. Finally, after he blew his whistle a few times and told everyone to get out of the pool because of the storm, Billy got down off his chair and approached Max again, almost tempted to grab her by the scruff of her neck like a misbehaving kitten, and glared at her again, leading her and the rest of the brats over to where Steve was still peacefully napping. He shook the other boy awake and turned his glare onto him, if only a little softer.

"Wakey wakey, Harrington," Billy said, standing straight and crossing his arms again.

"What time is it?" Steve asked as he sat up, yawning and rubbing his eyes, knocking his glasses askew.

"Time to take your little hellions home. Pool's closing," Billy replied, trying not to get absorbed in the other boys pretty brown eyes. They had flecks of gold in them, and it was taking everything in Billy not to stare.

"Shit, did I really sleep all day?" Steve mumbled as he and the kids started packing up their things to leave. Steve handed the keys to his car off to little Byers and the kids went to put their things in the car and wait for Steve.

"Yeah, but to be fair, you were only out for about three hours. We're closing early because of the storm coming in," Billy shrugged, and as if it were waiting for a cue, it began to drizzle.

"Shit, uh, fuck, I gotta go," Steve said as the rain began, his face going white and his body stiffening up, "I, uh, I'm a little hydrophobic. Rain, um, bothers me if it gets on me, so I have to go. Bye, Billy."

Billy was about to ask if he wanted an umbrella, but Steve never gave him the chance. He tossed the rest of his stuff into his bag, tossed it over his shoulder, and booked it to his car, making it inside just moments before the sky opened up and it began to downpour.

Billy put it out of his mind. At least it explained why he showed up to the pool in jeans and a polo. But the fact that Harrington ran out so fast yesterday annoyed him. He'd wanted to ask him to either stay awake next time to keep an eye on the kids or get them to come with another adult who could, but he was never able to. Maybe if it was still raining tomorrow he could go over and have a talk with him about it.

The next day, his manager at the pool called Billy an hour before the pool was to open and told him not to come in. It was still thundering and pouring down rain, so he figured it would be closed, and now that it was confirmed, he started to make his plans for the day. Since his dad had already left for work, he ate some breakfast with Max and helped Susan with the dishes, then went to his room to get some clothes before taking a shower. It only took him ten minutes, and by the time he got back to his room, toweling off his hair, the sun was out, bright and shiny, not a cloud in sight.

Billy hardly had time to laugh about it when the phone rang again, and again it was his manager. He told Billy that he was opening the pool now, but that he didn't need to come in, the other lifeguards had it covered. Billy thanked him and was told to enjoy his day off, and he was planning on doing just that after he stopped by Harrington's place and talked to him about the situation with the kids.

He pulled up to the giant house just before lunch time, after dropping Max off at the arcade for the day and grabbing a bite to eat. He went up to the door and rang the bell, but was growing impatient as he stood and waited for it to open. Steve's car was parked in the driveway, so he knew he was home, but he couldn't hear any noise from the inside or see any people behind the curtains. He could, however, see the sunlight streaming onto the living room carpet from what looked like a back door, so he figured that now that the rain was over, maybe Harrington was just outside enjoying the sunshine and couldn't hear the bell. So he walked around the side of the house, fixed his hair one last time in a window's reflection, hopped the fence, and strutted onto the back patio like he owned the place.

And what he saw nearly made his heart stop in his chest.

First off, the Harringtons had a pool. A big one with lights and temperature controls and everything. Secondly, Harrington himself was in said pool, relaxing on an inflatable lounger. Thirdly, and probably most importantly, was that Harrington was completely different. He had a long, golden-yellow tail in place of his strong, slender legs, and the scales of the tail shimmered like pirate treasure in the bright sun. His brown hair was wet and wavy, and it tangled up with the little fins stretching up from behind his ears. His skin was more tan than usual, and it looked as though he'd been dipped in bronzer with the way it glimmered. There were thee deep looking gashes on each side of his neck, though they weren't jagged or bloody like fresh wounds would be. They seemed to flutter a little as he breathed, and Steve didn't seem at all bothered by them. His fingernails had grown into sharp claws that looked as though they had been painted to achieve the buttery golden color that they were, and his fingers were all connected by some kind of extra skin, like the webbing of a frog's feet.

Billy could do nothing but stare at the other boy, confusion and intrigue battling for dominance inside his brain. He knew that Hawkins was an ass-backwards town, but this was something else entirely. He genuinely had no idea how to wrap his head around this, other than the idea that maybe the eggs Susan served him earlier were laced with some kind of hallucinogenic drugs and he was just seeing things. But other than that, he could come up with no plausible explanation for why Steve was in his pool after he told Billy he was afraid of water and turned into some kind of... mer-creature.

"Holy shit!!" He heard Steve shout, followed by a loud splash, and that was what finally drew him out of his own head. He was still gaping as Harrington poked just his head out of the water, fear in his eyes as the sunglasses he'd been wearing drifted and sank to the bottom of the pool. Billy was startled as he saw those eyes, they weren't the same as they usually were. They were no longer brown with flecks of gold, they were entirely gold, the color of warm honey and tropical flowers. Billy was so focused on them that he almost didn't realize it when Steve started speaking again.

"Y-you shouldn’t be... what are you d-doing here?" He asked, still refusing to make any part of himself other than his head visible above the wall of the pool.

"I-I, uh, I came to talk to you about the kids since I didn't get to yesterday," Billy said, moving closer to the edge of the pool to try and get a better look at the other boy, "but now I just kinda want to know what the hell is going on here. What... what happened to you?"

"Um, would you believe me if I told you that I was cursed?" Steve asked, finally letting himself drift away from the wall and expose his upper body. Billy did his best not to stare, lest his awe and amazement be misconstrued as digust or scorn.

"That depends on the story you tell me after to explain it," Billy replied, finally starting to get his wits about him.

"It's kinda complicated," Steve said, swimming over to the ledge again and hoisting himself up to sit on it, his long tail still dangling in the water. "But here goes, I guess. You know about all the freaky shit with the upside down, right?"

"Yeah," Billy said, though he didn't know the full extent of it. He knew that there was a weird dimension that was just like their own, and he knew that there were fucked up monsters that escaped from it sometimes, but that was about it.

"Well, it was just after all that started. I didn't know anything about it, just that some of my friends were in trouble and I had to help protect them. So I went into the upside down to try and do that, but something happened to me. It was like a bomb went off, I had thrown my lighter at some creature because they hate fire, but then it exploded and I must've gotten knocked out. I woke up a few minutes later covered in monster goop and once everyone was safe, we all came back home and started to try and patch up wounds and clean up. Only, when I finally got home and turned on my shower, as soon as I was under the water, I started to change. My legs fused together and I fell, but even with a face full of water, I wasn't coughing or splattering, I was just breathing like normal. I looked down and saw the tail and I freaked out, but I guess once I was able to flop my way out of the bathroom and dry off and I found I could change back, I was okay. Still freaked out, but okay. And I figured out that any time I come into contact with water, whatever part of me that it touches transforms. The only time it's different is if it has something in it that changes it. Since this is still just water, even with the chlorine, it works, but if I were to drink a water bottle with kool-aid mixed in, that doesn't count. Drinking plain water doesn't affect my whole body, either, just my mouth, it turns my tongue green and it goes forked. But other than that, I'm usually fine unless I get hit with a lot of water. That's why I freaked when it started raining yesterday. And why I quit the swim team and never swim with the kids. And I don't want to make anyone else freak out either, so you're actually the only person who knows other than me."

Billy was flabbergasted. That spooky place apparently could change people? With magic?! It was like he was living in a goddamn fairy tale in reverse, and he didn't know if he liked that, since fairy tales typically didn't end well, especially when they centered around humans and mermaids.

"So, is there like... any way to get you back to normal for good?" Billy asked, slipping off his sandals and going to sit next to Steve on the edge of the pool, dangling his feet in the water.

"If there is, I haven't found it. I know what it says in the fairy tales, the 'true love's kiss' and all that, but I doubt the upside down follows the same rules as the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen. So until I cam find somebody or something to figure this out, I guess I'm stuck like this." Steve replied, examining his abnormally long nails and frowning. It made Billy’s heart sink.

"Can't that psychic girl try and help? She has some kinda link to that place, right? And I doubt she would freak out. Every little girl dreams of meeting a mermaid in real life, she'd probably think it's the coolest thing ever." Billy suggested, shrugging and nudging Steve's shoulder with his own. His scaly skin was cold, but on a hot day like today, it felt nice.

"She might be able to help, but I don't want her to. Sometimes it hurts her to use her powers, and it can be hard for her to figure out what to do if she's never done it before, so it could end up worse than it started. I don't want to put that kind of pressure onto her, especially since she'd blame herself if something went wrong. She's already been through so much, I don't need to traumatized her more. Besides, I've been hiding it pretty well so far, so I can keep hiding it until I can find someone else. And it's not like it's that bad a situation. As long as I keep out of the rain and away from pools, I should be fine." Steve said, shrugging himself and making their shoulders brush again. It felt warmer this time, though it may have just been Billy's imagination, because everything felt warmer to him when he was around Steve, mermaid or not.

"Well, if it means anything, I'll be here to help you while you're like this. And I'll keep your secret," Billy said, his mouth turning up into a tiny smile.

"Thanks," Steve smiled too, and his face turned from tan to bright, shining gold. He must've been blushing. "It does mean something. A lot, actually. There aren't many people who'd be willing to do that."

As he said it, Steve did something that Billy didn't expect. He took his webbed, golden, scaly hand and reached for Billy's, intertwining them as best he could. It didn't work that well, but the sentiment was there, and as Billy looked from their hands back up to Steve's face, he saw him grinning brightly.

And he wasn't sure if it was some kind of mermaid magic or what, but all of a sudden, he couldn't control himself. He leaned forward, close enough that he could feel Steve's breath on his cheeks, and once he saw the tiniest nod of the other boy’s head, he kissed him.

And to his genuine surprise (and pleasure), Steve kissed back.

He sealed their mouths together and while Billy couldn't exactly say the taste was pleasant (like chlorine and sunscreen and something slightly fishy), the way their lips slotted together, as if they'd been made to, absolutely was. Kissing Steve was addicting already, even though he'd only done it once, and he never wanted to stop. He wanted to hold Steve forever and keep him safe and protect him from everything and help him figure out a way out of this mess he was in. He never wanted anything bad to happen to him, and he wished he had the power to make all his problems go away. He didn't have that power, but if he couldn't fix things, he was damn sure he wouldn't let Steve struggle on his own.

"Wow," Steve said as the kiss ended, his eyes big and dreamy and his lips turned up into a bright smile. "You're really good at that."

And Billy couldn't help the giggle that escaped him when he heard how amazed Steve seemed to be, nor could he help it when he leaned forward and kissed him again. By now, Steve was drying off, and his upper body was slowly going back to normal, so Billy was able to properly lace their fingers together and the fishy taste was gone from Steve's mouth. Now it just tasted like sunshine, like Steve.

"You're not so bad yourself," he replied once he pulled back enough to speak, though he remained close to the other boy. It was Steve's turn to giggle as he nudged his nose into Billy's, just wanting to keep him close.

"And I promise," Billy continued, suddenly serious, "as beautiful as you are like this, I'm not gonna stop trying to find a way to fix this for you, okay? I'm gonna help you, no matter what."

"I know you will," Steve said, leaning his forehead to Billy's and closing his eyes with a tiny smile. Billy did the same, and as his feet remained dangled in the water, he felt a soft, scaly tail wrap around his ankles and a few soft fins tickling his toes. His grip on Steve's hand tightened, and for the first time since moving to Indiana, Billy felt completely at peace in the water.

#harringrove #steve harrington #billy hargrove #stranger things #mermay #billy hargrove x steve harrington #ficlet #merman!steve #lifeguard billy #magic #spells #who knows what the upside down is capable of #in this case its mermaids

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neonponders · 10 months

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A Merman themed part 38 for @wrecked-fuse ‘s pocketverse 🧜🏻‍♂️ ~ marine biologist!Steve x shark!Billy with his pilot fish guppies 🍣

Part 37 (merman!billy pt.1)

Part 36 (main plot)

Part 31 & 32 (werewolf!Billy chapters haha)

( pt. 7′s art 🎩 ) ( pt. 9′s art 👀 ) ( pt. 14′s art 💨 ) ( pt. 19′s art 🦇 ) ( pt. 20′s art 🍳) ( pt. 27’s art 🦦 )

~ on ao3 ~

• • •

“Deep breath...good! Other side.”

The littles rolled over in the lagoon between Steve’s hands. He had to use magnified bifocals that dentists used in order to see their gills expand between their tiny ribs, but they looked clean and healthy. “You guys look beautiful.”

“Heh, hearw that, Biwwy?” the blond fish said proudly, “Bewtifuwl.”

“You think so, Stevie?” his own asked, swimming over his palms excitedly.

“I say it every time,” he confirmed. “Now let me see those teeth.”

There really wasn’t anything he could do if there were something wrong with their teeth. They were simply too small for dental care, so Steve hoped they had the perks of sharks and that their teeth could grow back if they fell out. As things were, he held a micro cotton swab for them to at least brush some of the fish smell out of their mouths.

Speaking of sharks, he thought to himself and turned -

Billy lounged eerily close to him. Within kissing distance. My turn? he asked inside Steve’s head, and caught his body when it sagged under the weight of his siren’s song.

“Biwwy,” the littler Billy groaned.

“Stevie can’t take carwe of us if he’s sweepy,” little Steve seconded.

“Use yourw out-here voice.”

Big Steve mumbled, “Do you have one of those?”

Billy hummed something like a laugh in his throat...not in Steve’s head. His brown eyes widened as Billy’s large, clawed hand adjusted the baseball cap on his head. Steve didn’t like the thought of sunscreen steadily seeping off his body into the water when he was with these guys, so he’d donned the hat to protect his face. Every time he wore it, the guppies laughed and laughed, calling him a funny looking bird.

“Fix his beak, Biwwy, and wet him see you,” little Steve coached.

“My turn?” Billy repeated, this time out loud. It was the same voice that he swamped Steve’s brain with, but something about hearing it on the air tickled Steve’s ears.

“Yeah. Uh. Yeah,” he stammered, fixing his crooked glasses. Billy poised an arm in the shallow sand, holding himself on his side as he inhaled and spread his ribs and gills wide. When Steve declared, “This side’s good,” he rolled over while the littles swam around his head, sometimes holding onto a lock of hair for anchorage.

The strip of green fluttering out of Billy’s gills was not hard to find. Steve ducked an arm under Billy’s waist, as if he needed the help staying up. “You’ve got some seaweed on this side. It should come right out.”

With impressive speed, the littles swam over to see. Like a tug-o-war rope, they grasped the end and Steve kept an eye on Billy’s gills -

“Wait. You’ve got a couple of seed pods stuck in there. Just breathe normally for a sec.”

Steve’s floating tool bag drifted a little in the mellow surf, but its dumbbell anchor kept it close. Steve found his long tweezers and warned, “This will probably itch. Big breath this time.”

He followed the green line all the way to the small golden pods, doing his best to play Operation and not touch the metal tweezers to Billy’s gills. The effort totally failed when his ribs closed around the tweezers because the pods brushed against the soft, frilly gills. At least Billy didn’t smack him with his tail this time.

“I got it. Pull,” Steve narrated, and could hear the muffled war cry of the littles underneath the water as they got the debris out of their shark. “Good job. Everything looks great.”

Billy rolled onto his stomach...and swam a lazy circle around Steve and his pilot fish. Steve’s brows furrowed since this usually meant a shark was hunting. Then in a fast, graceful turn, he caught Steve in his arms and tackled him under the water. Even down below, he could make out the littles’ laughter clear as a bell.

“Heh heh, check up’s all done!”

“Swim with us!”

“Check up for Stevie!”

Steve kept calm so he could hold his breath a little longer. His pink shirt ballooned around him and he smiled at the tickle of the littles swimming around his ribs. He did come up to put his glasses and soaked hat in the tool bag, staying topside long enough to whip his hair off his face and earn the littles singing in the spray, “Wain! Rain wain!”

Steve took his tool bag back to the beach. He gulped down some water pressed on his skin to test how far he was burning, and then grabbed his goggles, flippers, and snorkel. He checked the time on his diver’s watch and finished the impatient circle Billy swam.

“You wook so siwwy,” small Billy said, knocking on the goggles lens.

Steve emerged just enough for the top of his face to be above water and shoved the goggles over his hair. “I can see you better with these on.”

“You can’t see us?” small Steve wondered.

“Up here, I can. If the water’s directly on my eyes, you’re blurry. I don’t know where to kiss otherwise.”

Small Steve screamed with glee as Steve trapped him in another lagoon of his hands and kissed his head. It was short lived, though, as Steve jerked back and rubbed one of his ears. “Wow. You have pipes of your own.”

“Hey!” small Billy demanded as he jumped in a clean arc over Steve’s fingertips to join the lagoon. “What’s goin’ on in herwe?”

“Kissy fish!” little Steve sang.

Small Billy blushed pink all the way to his tail. “What! I didn’t know we were pwaying!”

“Head start,” Steve caught off guard, smooching his blond head.

Why a fish needed such thick lashes, Steve didn’t know, but his eyes batted dreamily until he recovered with a feisty, “You pway dirty! Biwwy! Attack!”

“Wait a min--” Steve started, but the shark was already on him. Billy had difficulty separating uses for his lips, teeth, and tongue, so they all blended together on the bend of Steve’s neck and shoulder. He winced, but let Billy tackle him into the water, taking his time swooping back up to the surface. Steve knew there’d be a red crescent on his neck later, as if Billy licking the wound wasn’t confirmation enough.

Billy had far more skill in swimming without kicking up sand; Steve let himself get handled since his flippers caused more disturbance in the water. Gingerly touching his neck to gauge the damage, he estimated it would be a hell of a bruise but the skin breakage didn’t feel too bad.

Donning his goggles once more, he said, “Let’s swim.”

Steve often wondered if Billy could do more than talk directly inside his head. Sometimes he looked at Steve as if he’d heard an internal idea, or smiled at whatever emotion Steve felt. He wore that smile as he swam in tandem with his pilot fish. It was beautiful how they knew his movements as he did them; they were so little but flitted around his head or shoulders like they were a part of him. Chatty little jewels who sometimes swam into the cloud of sandy blond hair to rest or hide.

Steve had been taking lessons in free-diving. He could hold his breath in repeated six minute increments, but eventually he did need to resign to snorkeling above the littles as they explored shells and the occasional rock.

Steve had a vague idea of where Billy lived, but he’d never asked. He left the opportunity open with prompts like, “Show me something,” and, “Where is your favorite place?”

Billy had taken him to a rocky shore - far too much trouble for tourists or even natives to get to - that hosted a beautiful reef. Regular black-tipped reef sharks had been there, swimming in their calm way and paying them no mind, but Steve did take note when the littles hid within Billy’s hair. Sometimes Steve was closer, so they went inside his t-shit. However much they liked the reef, it wasn’t safe enough to live full time.

Billy did not take Steve there today. Probably because the last time they’d gone, a barracuda had swum too close. He hadn’t seen any quick movements that might’ve suggested hostility in the fish, but Billy had snatched it and ripped its head off in one movement. Steve knew the predator and prey part of nature meant that an ecosystem was thriving, but it had been a humbling encounter.

It was with this memory floating through his head that Steve removed his flippers and started trudging through the shallows to the beach.

“Bye bye, Stevie!”

“We’wll see you tomowwow?”

He turned around to smile at the little ones, but it faltered at the solemn look on Billy’s face. As both a question and a promise, he nodded, “I’ll be here tomorrow.”

Then, in full force, he heard, Bring a boat.

Steve didn’t know how he was still standing, much less with the wherewithal to blurt, “Boat?”

A quiet boat, Billy confirmed, and then all Steve had was the blur of silver and all the greens and blues that reflected off of him, and he was gone.

#harringrove #neonponders #wrecked-fuse #merman!billy #marine biologist!steve #guppies 🥺😭#pocketverse #pocket!au #like magnets

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fizzigigsimmer · 2 days

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WIP: All The Kings Men

I dusted off my WIP folder this weekend and realized that this draft has been sitting for over a year to the day and that's a shame. I really love this story. It was really nice to get back to this world and I want to keep at it. I am hoping to stay inspired.

Background: Prince!Steve X Pirate!Billy also, Prince!Steve x Siren!Billy because I absolutely will have my cake and eat it too.

Basically this is a dom/sub au in a fantasy world. Steve and Billy fell in love when they were kids, only to be separated. Years later Billy decided to come back and get his man and ran off with him. Now a war for the crown is brewing on the exterior while Steve and Billy fight an interior battle for dominance - and to the victor the spoils.

~*~

The sky was still a dark blanket hanging over the city of Ashae when two spots of light appeared, like stars burning bright.

Within moments a deep groaning, like those of bullfrogs, filled the air as the eyes upon the watchtowers blew their conches to warn the city of the oncoming danger.

“Min Primena!” the frantic voice of her serving woman called through the doors of the bedchamber in the old tongue, and then once more in the imperial standard. “My princess, you must wake!”

But despite the earliness of the hour Princess Ingrid was already awake, dressed, and marching through the doors of her bedchamber before the shouting of her personal servant could even finish echoing down the stone corridor.

She’d woken at the first blast of the warning shells. Their throbbing notes had vibrated in the stone beneath her feet as she leaped from her bed and reached for her dressing gown. Their sound filling her heart with dread.

The bone men had come.

It had been many years since anyone from the empire had been to the castle. Ships came from distant ports for trade but only as far as Korallö, the first of the northern islands. To maintain peace, delegates and diplomats had been sent to Teru as necessary, but neither the Bone King or any of his emissaries had set foot on Ashae or its citadel in going on a decade. And that was by design.

Ingrid’s father the king was not well.

“What has happened Nadia?” Ingrid asked her serving woman, tightening the ties on her dressing gown as she strode down the empty hall towards the center of the castle. Whether their unexpected guests had been brought to the throne room or the dungeon, the center of the castle was where they’d be.

Nadia scurried to keep up with Ingrid’s purposeful stride, her large chest heaving under her gossamer top. She had not seen her stoic serving woman Nadia so ruffled, even on the day Ingrid’s father had collapsed. If not for the warning shells she would have feared it meant the Prime was dead.

“Primena, two airmen from the badlands have come.”

“Ah, that explains how they had made it to the castle without being stopped.” Ingrid mused, frowning.

There was no one who could challenge Noreda in battle by sea, but they were vulnerable by air. However, it did not explain entirely why they hadn’t had prior warning.

The princess had made good use of her time as a captive in Teru. Her friends in Sereni were few but they were well placed, and loyal to her. Or more aptly they were loyal to the peace that was promised and the order of Divinas from whence the prophecy of the promised prince had come two hundred years before. Loyal enough even to risk their lives divulging court secrets to the enemy.

Their silence now was troubling, but Ingrid pushed aside her lingering questions and focused her mind on the more important task at hand. She must protect her own secrets now.

“Where is my father?”

“The prime is secure below, min primena.” Nadia answered and Ingrid released a quiet breath of relief, some of the tension in her chest loosening. Thank The Father for small mercies.

“Send word to Tal-Munson.” she instructed. “No one is to enter the southern gate until he hears it from me.”

The serving woman bowed her head once in submission before hurrying off to do her mistress’s bidding. For she knew as well as Ingrid, that it would spell their ruin if the Bone King were to discover the truth behind their king’s ill health. Her father was more than ill he was depleted, robbed of the ancient power that had been at the heart of her family’s power since the day they’d risen from the sea.

Without the power that had been passed down from prime to prime for thousands of years, Noreda was crippled and would not be able to withstand attack from their enemy in the south.

But there was no evidence of weakness on Ingrid as the doors of the castle opened and she descended the great white steps, down to where the castle guard waited with the intruders: two men, sat atop giant feathered beasts with wicked yellow eyes.

The airmen hailed from Egnill, home of the fyre lords, and were clothed in the distinctive dress of their people – long tunics with the symbol of the phoenix embroidered upon the chest. It was no doubt made from the flame resistant leathers that their ancestors had crafted for centuries and exported to other nations at a hefty cost. But it was to the green and gold bands around their throats that Ingrid’s eyes went, bands that established them as part of the Terun empire and under the Bone King’s heel.

Her lips curled in a sneer. She would not be intimidated by a pair of collared dogs.

The two men sat on the back of their fyrebirds surrounded by a circle of her father’s warriors, their deadly cortans drawn and open at their sides ready to slice through flesh and bone at the first provocation.

The riders wisely refused to give up their only exit of escape by leaving their mounts. On their taloned feet their beasts stood nearly fifteen hands high. Although the massive plume of brightly colored feathers atop their heads made them appear taller.

Piercing eyes tracked Ingrid like prey as she approached. The breeze tossed her golden hair and the gossamer robe fastened between her breasts until it floated around her pale legs as if she were in water. The pearls in her diadem glinted in the firelight from where they rested against her brow.

Armored only with the power in her blood Ingrid strode to meet them and the alphas surrounding the airmen parted for her, lowering their eyes in submission.

“Milady.” The braver of the two riders, a man with hair as russet as his beast’s tail feathers, cleared his throat and spoke a greeting in imperial standard. “I am Nathanial Cunningham, Captain of the wing-guard and I would see your king.”

Ingrid smiled at the impertinence, showing her fangs.

“You are nothing.” She corrected softly. “And I would see you dead for trespassing on these lands.”

She enjoyed watching the way the foreigners faces paled, the scent of their fear souring the air. The brave one’s eyes narrowed speculatively on her however, before turning and sharing a meaningful look with his partner. He had drawn all the correct conclusions from her presence there and the absence of her father she was sure. There would have been no reason for the king to bother with them or for her to show her face at all, had he still had the full power of poseidon behind him.

Ingrid sought out the highest ranking of the guard and locked eyes with him, giving the alpha a subtle nod.

“Are you Lady Harg-” Captain Cunningham’s companion did not get a chance to finish before the sharp end of an arrow grazed across his cheek, slicing through the flesh before embedding itself into the sandstone a few paces beyond.

The captain drew his sword as his second let out a cry – more from shock than pain. The feathered beasts they rode puffed out their breast and flared their wings, the captain’s mount opening its large slightly curved beak to screech a furious warning.

Ingrid tensed, painfully aware of her own vulnerability, but no flame appeared from the creature’s mouth. More arrows rained down from the open arches of the castle, and the captain leaned over in his saddle to reach across and grab the reins of his companion’s mount delivering firm commands for it to settle.

When the beast had calmed and its rider had regained control, Captain Cunningham turned burning eyes toward Ingrid, full of fury and hatred. Ingrid’s smile stayed exactly as it was. She raised her hand and the volley of arrows ceased.

“I am Princess Ingrid, daughter of The Tuninri.” She corrected the man again, lifting her head with pride. “And you bore me. Deliver your message and be gone.”

“You speak of trespassing when you have invaded our capital and made off with the king’s blood?” Captain Cunningham seethed, all pretenses at civility abandoned. He resembled his feather pet as his eyes pierced her. It was a struggle for Ingrid to keep her face still, at the revelation that the capital had been invaded, though she was sure a practiced eye would have noticed the twitch of shock she quickly suppressed.

To hear that Sereni had been attacked was shock enough. That anyone would dare risk harming one of the kings own blood was almost unfathomable.

“Is the Bone King dead?” she asked the only thing she cared to know and watched the captain’s face as he answered.

“He is secure and in good health.” The young captain’s face betrayed nothing but his scent was bitter. He was lying. But about which part?

“We are glad to hear it. But why do you blame Noreda for this?”

His lips curling in a snarl, Captain Cunningham reached inside the satchel hanging at his side and tossed something swaddled in stained rags down onto the ground. As the object rolled to a stop near Ingrid’s bare feet it came unraveled, revealing the severed head of a Gorgan warrior. An icy fear speared Ingrids chest at the sight of it.

“I see.”

This was Creel’s doing, but she could not say so and risk revealing to the enemy the extent to which her father had lost control over the Gorgan tribes. She raised her eyes from the bloodied head and back to Captain Cunningham.

“My Father knows nothing of this attack. We shall have it investigated.”

“Of course. And I suppose it was merely a coincidence that on the very same day, Billy the bastard betrayed his liege and disappeared with the king’s ship?” the captain sneered in reply and Ingrid’s breath shook.

Billy.

Her heart squeezed in her chest, thinking of the child she’d left behind in Teru. The Divinas had promised her he was on his way home to his people at long last. She’d believed, but to hear it echoed so plainly from her enemy’s lips made it suddenly more real.

“I have not seen William since he was a boy. Are you searching for him?” she asked calmly.

She would not let them leave if they were. Two fyrebirds could bring down a ship in a matter of minutes.

“Our search is for Prince Steven, and the message from our king is this: we will find him.” Captain Cunningham warned darkly. “And when we do, we will build our homes upon their ruined halls, and drink the blood of those who dared to test the strength of Teru.”

A terrifying promise to be sure, but Ingrid did not wince. Little terrified her after the years she’d spent shackled to her terun husband, a brute of a man and far from the worst of his kind. Her suffering had only hardened her resolve. There was no pain she couldn’t weather and no indignity she couldn’t face when she knew that all of it would be to the glory of Noreda.

“You will not find your prince here. Begone now.” Ingrid smirked, before she turned her back to them, confident in the strength of her father’s men. She spoke over her shoulder as she walked away, making a promise of her own.

“If you return uninvited as you did today, we will drag you into the sea and it shall be our children who suck succor from your bones.”

~*~*~*~

‘I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls…’

Steve glanced back at the mouth of the cave where a ring of daylight illuminated the sand disappearing beneath the encroaching waves. The tide was coming in and Jonathan was not a strong swimmer. The butcher’s apprentice hung back, pacing at the opening, his fretful calls nearly becoming lost within the cavernous space as his voice bounced along the walls. Steve did not need to hear Jon clearly to know what he was saying. Come back. The tide is rising. It isn’t safe.

But Steve pressed on into the darkness, away from the light, venturing into the back of the cave. He was not afraid of the dark, or of the strange music only he could seem to hear. It swelled louder with each step he took as if to assure him he was taking the right path. Even if the cave had not been discovered by anyone else for a hundred years or more, they were still in Hawks Landing. This was his home.

‘I had riches all too great to count.’

He kept a hand pressed to the wall to guide his steps as the carven narrowed into a tunnel, the ground beneath his feet slanting downward. He paused when the rock beneath his hand became less rough edged, smoothing out until it felt polished. He ran his hand along the cool surface, wondering at it, pausing again when his fingers encountered something protruding from the wall. As his fingers grazed it, he felt a subtle vibration - a gentle hum. The shell, for Steve could see it now where it was embedded in the wall, began to give off a soft light bathing Steve and the walls around it in a golden glow.

The light glimmered upon the surface of a wide pool of water resting just a few steps from where he stood. Had he kept going in the dark he would have fallen right into it. It was here the cave ended in a rounded chamber, not caused by the passage of time and erosion but chiseled with tools. Tiny colorful shells like the one he’d accidentally touched were embedded into the walls along with polished stones of differing sizes. They formed a mosaic he realized, as more of the shells began to pulse with light until the rendering of waves spanning the curvature of the chamber appeared to move.

The music was all around him now. He could hear the plucking of a harp strings and the low throbbing notes of a fluted instrument for which he had no name for, and there were voices too. They rose up from the water as he drew closer.

The pool was deep and black. He could not see a bottom to it, and yet it seemed to beckon him. Those voices were so beautiful, singing in a language he’d never heard spoken outside of his own mind, but that he knew was real. And ancient.

‘But what I dreamt which pleased me most, twas that you loved me still the same.’

Steve wanted to follow those voices. They understood what no one else could. They would make the pain go away…

“Steve!”

Steve woke gently to the sound of his name. Unlike the frantic way Jonathan had called him all those summers ago, Billy’s voice was calm and steady as it drew him from sleep. He blinked his eyes open. It was growing dark within the cabin. The sun outside the open window already sunk halfway bellow the horizon. It bathed the room in hues of bronze. How long had he slept?

“Murray will be ringing the bell for supper,” Billy answered, reading the question in his expression. Steve turned his head slightly to look over at him, his breath catching as his gaze wandered over miles of golden skin and the firm wall of Billy’s chest. In the dappled glow that filled the cabin he made Steve think of the marble statues of past kings that decorated Sereni. He used to look up at them when he was a boy and marvel at their greatness: the size of their arms and legs, the breadth of their shoulders, the superior way with which they held their heads, frozen in poses of dominance.

I will prove my blood. I will be great, and all of Teru will know it. He used to vow whenever he looked upon the likenesses of his ancestors, doubling down on his efforts to rise above his royal cousins. And after he’d earned his sword and had been knighted, bent inside from an invisible injury but not broken, he had added: One day, he shall beg for mercy at my feet.

Steve smiled to himself before masking it with a tired groan.

“Never did I think I would come to dread supper.”

Billy huffed in his ear, more amused than annoyed.

“I forgot what a princess you are. You of all people, has no right to complain.” He reminded Steve with an arched eyebrow. His frown was stern, but there was a certain glint in his eye that Steve knew. Loved, if he were being honest.

“I am the king’s blood. I define what is right.” he replied as haughtily as he could manage without having to laugh at himself. “And what of you? You move heaven and earth to get a prince in your bed and then act surprised when he believes himself faultless.”

He’d hoped to draw a laugh from Billy with his teasing, but Hargrove only continued to stare at him, his expression growing more pensive.

“Billy, what’s wrong?” Steve finally questioned, beginning to worry a little.

“What were you dreaming about?”

Instead of answering, Billy asked a question of his own. Steve hesitated, wondering why Billy was suddenly interested in his dreams. Not that he minded - it gave Steve a thrill, not knowing what pieces were on the board and what Billy’s next move might be. He’d missed this. Nobody ever played the game the same way or gave him the challenge that Billy did.

He was happy, feeling the evidence of Hargrove’s strength pressed against his body, knowing it wouldn’t save him. Steve would be his undoing, and there was no more powerful feeling than that.

“If I said I was dreaming of hearing you beg for mercy, what would you say?” Steve asked, his eyes searching out the bite he’d left on Billy’s shoulder. His heart quickened just at he sight of it, a spark of heat lighting deep in his belly. There was an answering spark of desire in Billy’s eyes before he answered.

“I’d say that’s an admirable dream.” Billy’s lashes lowered as his own eyes found the bite he’d left on Steve’s throat. “But unless you forget, it was you who begged for my cock only hours ago. Intend to hear that sound every day for the rest of my life. ”

“Strange. I remember you swearing to fulfill my every want only hours ago. But if you’ve decided not to keep your vow…” Steve huffed and began turning his body away, but Billy grabbed him around the middle before he could complete the motion and hauled him back in until they were chest to chest. Steve glared, but Billy just smiled.

“You don’t want me dead. And you don’t want to test my patience either, omega.” He warned.

Steve’s chest filled with warmth at hearing Billy call him his omega again, a quiet sound of pleasure chittering in his throat. It felt right. Their bond was stronger, and Steve felt stronger for it, and yet he was unalarmed by it. He ran his tongue over his teeth and wondered if it had something to do with the bites they’d exchanged.

“I was dreaming of home,” Steve answered truthfully this time. “The time I explored the coast with my friend Jonathan. Why do you ask?”

Instead of answering Billy lifted a hand to Steve’s cheek and rubbed the pads of his fingers over the surface. An achingly soft touch that sang through Steve’s starved skin like a reward. He leaned into it, curling into Billy’s body until his warmth was pressed all along his skin and Steve could feel the rise and fall of every breath he took. The itch and ache of yearning that he’d lived with while Billy had been avoiding him, refusing to touch him, might feel like a distant memory in the afterglow of sex and sub care, but it wasn’t. Not to either of them.

“There were scales on your skin. You were glowing, here...” Billy’s hand drifted down to Steve’s neck and pressed gently against the side of his throat. “And here.”

His voice was steady but Steve clocked the tension in him through his tightly controlled breaths.

Steve considered it slowly, shivering a little. It wasn’t the first time he’d dreamed about finding the cave, but it couldn’t be coincidence that he’d been dreaming about that when he grew scales and started to glow.

“My teeth grew sharp earlier, like yours do.” Steve admitted though it would have been hard for Billy not to notice when he’d bitten into him like a flesh eating eel. What he really wanted to know was, “Billy, do you ever hear voices?”

“Voices?” Billy’s had gone tight. He had his answer but Steve pressed on for more detail.

“The ones in the water.” Steve nodded his head toward the open window, confessing. “My room at home faced the sea. At night I could hear them singing in a language I’d never heard, but I understood every word.”

He waited, unsure how Billy would answer. He could not be sure that Billy would be truthful when that truth made him vulnerable, but it was not just himself anymore that Billy had to worry about. Steve was tangled up in the secrets locked within Billy’s blood.

‘There is no weakness like loving someone. Never forget that’. Steve’s father used to say, but it was Billy who had taught him the lesson.

“Now and again.” The admission was gruff and quiet. Steve laid his head on Billy’s shoulder, smiling to himself as the alpha’s arms tightened around him. “And when I do I have the helmsman change course.”

“Why?” Billy looked at him askance and Steve grinned. “I understand why you would fear for your men, but when you are alone, why not go to meet them?”

“They are sirens Steve. They lure sailors to their death.”

“But you are no ordinary sailor. Perhaps they only want to greet their prince.”

Billy’s face darkened, predictably, his scent souring.

“I am no prince. And I don’t care what it is they want.”

“Bollocks. You’re scared.” Billy’s glare turned sharp and Steve tilted his chin up in defiance.

“Are you calling me a coward Harrington?”

The red glow around his pupils was warning enough, how stupid Steve would be to say another word that wasn’t a denial.

“A fortnight ago, definitely. Tonight?” Steve paused, bringing his hand up to graze Billy’s bared shoulder, just above the mark his teeth had left. Billy’s gaze followed the movement of his hand, his throat moved as he swallowed, before he lifted his gaze back to Steve’s, penetrating.

“Tonight, I find myself feeling very human.” Steve continued, hushed. “Despite all indications that I am not. You cannot hide from who you are Billy, any more than I can hide from who you’ve made me.”

It was silent for a long drawn-out moment with neither of them speaking. Billy breathed in tandem with the slapping of waves against the sides of the ship.

When he finally spoke, his grip around Steve changed with the command that entered his tone. “If you hear them again Steve, you’re to tell me. And you are never to answer their call.”

This was as far as Steve could safely push Billy tonight, Steve knew it even though he could tell that Billy was expecting resistance. Which was good because if he had expected anything else Steve would have been insulted.

“I would not want to follow them anyway.” Steve answered with an easy shrug and took private delight in the wary confusion that furrowed Billy’s expression. “I am no prince of the sea or child of the gods. I like my chances better on land.”

Slowly the confusion cleared from Billy’s face, replaced by a small hopeful smile.

“That is a very petulant way to say yes alpha.”

“That’s not what I said at all.”

“Isn’t it?”

Steve heaved a great put upon sigh and began talking to himself, not bothering to lower his voice.

“He’s got a magnificent cock, yes, but if he’s a mad man is the fare really worth the price of – Ah!” Steve laughed as Billy growled and rolled on top of him, driving the breath from him as he wedged his thigh between Steve’s legs. Laughter melted into a moan as the pressure against his cock made Steve stiffen.

He grabbed onto both Billy’s shoulders holding on, but Billy held himself still. He stared down at Steve with such a smirk, Steve wanted to smack it off him. And then kiss him. Suck those soft lips between his teeth until he whimpered and moaned. I hate him so much. Steve tightened his grip on Billy’s shoulders.

Billy laughed, smug as he rocked into Steve too slow and infuriatingly easy. Bastard. I love him so much.

I obviously haven't updated in a while but you can read up to this part on AO3

#wips #all the kings men #dom/sub #dom billy hargrove #sub steve harrington #sirens #merman billy #mermate Steve #alpha beta omega #in the most non traditional sense #Harringrove fics #Fizzi writes fic #billy hargrove #Steve Harrington

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