"You're kind of ugly for a human."

"What?"

"You heard me."

Arthur scowled at the creature in the water with distaste, gripping onto the railing as he leaned over to get a better look. Violet eyes stared back at him with curiosity, and maybe a bit of pride as he watched him, wading in the big, blue ocean.

"Pray tell, why do you say that?" he asked, stepping back a bit and crossing his arms.

Matthew splashed around a bit, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know. Humans are usually pretty. You're just...I don't know, different. Like, your eyebrows are freaking huge, for one thing. And you seem kind of like a sour person. And you're dirty."

The captain rolled his eyes. Why did that always come up? He was a pirate for God's sake, of course he was a little dirty. "Yes, like I haven't heard that before."

"At least you talk more fluently than other humans. Can you speak anything else? Wait, don't answer that. You're English, you probably can't," Matthew hummed, then grinned a bit. "But, at least your eyes are pretty. That's one thing nice about you."

He huffed a bit, pursing his lips. Who did this little beast think he was? The merfolk, all the same they were, thinking they were high and mighty, like they owned the sea. Which, they sort of did, but still, he hated how they flaunted it so much. He sighed, leaning on the railing again. "Are you quite finished?"

"No," but before Arthur could protest, there was a splash, and salt water went straight into his eye.

He yelped at the sudden contact with the water, and his pain was followed by a giggle. "Okay, now I'm done."

Arthur swore at the merman as he ducked his blond curls into the sea, and was gone.

"You're back."

"I am."

The captain watched the boy in the water, smiling slightly at him, as if his mind was concocting some sort of sickening plan that would inevitably lead him to his death. "Why?"

"I don't know. You're interesting."

"I thought you didn't like me."

Matthew shrugged. "I never said that. I said you weren't as pretty as other humans. But I didn't say I didn't like you. Seems like the rum is all going to your head."

The nerve of some people...! Arthur scoffed, glaring at him with irritation. "What are you here for, anyway?"

"You should get in the water with me. I always see you from way up there, but never see you face to face. Maybe you'll be prettier if you come down here."

He stifled a laugh, shaking his head. "You think I'm that stupid? Like hell I'm getting into the water with a little demon like you waiting for me!"

Matthew pouted a bit. "So you think I'm a little demon, huh? Well, if that's the case I could start singing. I'd have you wrapped around my little finger, then. You'd do everything I'd say. Is that what you want, Arthur~?"

The pirate turned away, and then he heard another laugh, one that was softer, like before. "I'm just kidding. I don't want to do that. I wouldn't do that."

"Why not?" he turned back.

The merman shrugged a bit, splashing slightly webbed fingers on the ocean surface again. "I don't like using magic, much. I like being as normal as I can be."

"Well, you've still got a long way to go," Arthur said calmly, looking up to the starry sky with mild interest, as Matthew was silent below him.

"Why on earth do you keep coming back?"

Matthew didn't answer at first, circling around the ship a few times, a light ripple in the water as it was stationary for once. His eyes were far away, lost in thought as he just shrugged his shoulders. He seemed to do that a lot.

"You know, I'm not even supposed to come up here and see you."

"Then why do you do it?"

Silence once more. Then, "I don't know why. I just keep coming back. You're so mean and cruel and sarcastic and shitty, yet here I am, once again."

Arthur smirked a bit. "Yes, I do have a charm to me, I realize."

"Don't let it get to your head."

It was Arthur's turn to shrug, as he turned his back to him, leaning on the railing. "So why aren't you allowed up here?"

"My brother thinks humans are dangerous and destructive and they'll kill me."

"He's right, you know. We are dangerous. Especially us pirates. Get too close and I might kill you myself."

Matthew paused for just a second, and then said quietly, "No you won't."

Arthur didn't retaliate. But he didn't disagree, either.

"How long would it take for your brother to discover that you are missing?" Arthur watched the merman with vibrant eyes, intrigued and waiting for an answer.

Matthew pondered the question for a moment. "Depends. If we're talking right now, at this very second, maybe two days. I'm usually always off doing something or another. But I always check in. So two days he'd probably realize I was gone. If I disappeared in about a week, perhaps a few hours."

"Why's that?"

"Family's very important to us merfolk. And in a few days is a very special event for us, a family gathering. If I'm not present, he'll definitely know something is up, and he'll come raging through the sea to find me. Might even capsize your ship, if you're not careful."

Arthur nodded slowly. "Fascinating..."

"I told you about me, now tell me about you."

The captain glanced at him. "What's there to tell?"

"Start at the beginning."

Under any normal circumstance, Arthur would've laughed in his face and walked away, saying nothing about his past, or his present, but these weren't normal circumstances and he didn't laugh.

"Well...about eight years ago is when this whole piracy thing started..."

It became sort of a habit for Arthur to actually wait for Matthew to show up. He couldn't quite pinpoint why. He didn't really desire to see the boy all that much, but it had become such a routine that not seeing him was strange. So whenever Matthew didn't show up for a day or two, he became worried, no, not worried. He was most certainly not worried over a merman for God's sake.

But every now and again he'd stare into the water with anxious eyes, waiting for familiar blond locks to break the surface.

"It seems like you know I'm coming these days."

Arthur tilted his head. "It's just luck, lad. I happen to come out on deck whenever you seem to show up."

"Maybe it's fate."

"I don't believe in fate."

"Okay. But maybe you do believe in the fact that you wait for me."

"I do not."

"Do too."

Arthur scoffed at the accusations, turning away from him again. He felt like a child, pouting because he was on the losing side of an argument. "Do not. And that's final. Shut your trap."

Matthew laughed, playfully splashing the water. "I knew you were special."

This caused the pirate to turn back. "What?"

The merman's expression faltered as he realized what he said, and he swallowed heavily. "Nothing."

"No, what did you say?"

For a moment, Arthur feared that he would duck his head under the water and be gone, but instead, Matthew met his eyes for the first time.

"You're special."

"When will you actually trust me enough to get in the water with me?"

"Never."

"Rude."

"You're the one who is notorious for dragging sailors to their deaths."

Matthew pursed his lips, giving a slight glare as he crossed his arms. "After all of this, do you really think I'd drown you?"

"Yes, I do. This could all be a ploy, a trick..." Arthur mumbled, holding the bottle of rum loosely in between his fingers, looking as if he were contemplating drinking some of it. "Which is why I will never get in the water with you."

Matthew eyed the bottle in his hands. "If you thought I was playing a trick, then why did you tell me your life story, things about you?"

"I could be lying."

"You could be. But you aren't."

He scowled. "And how do you bloody know?"

The merman looked down at the water, staring at his own reflection and then at Arthur's faint reflection. "I know when people are lying. You're not."

"Oh really," the pirate asked sarcastically, finally deciding to screw it and take a swig. "How bloody wonderful of you. I suppose you know everything don't you?"

"How much of that have you had?"

"Who cares?"

"I do. How much have you had?"

"Not enough."

Matthew rolled his eyes now, glaring up at him fiercely. "That's not your first one, is it?"

"Nope."

That should've angered him, yet it didn't. Instead, Matthew's lips twitched into the smallest hint of a smile.

"Arthur..."

"What?"

"Get in the water."

"Never, you little demon."

His smile widened into a smirk. "Are you scared? Or it you can't swim?"

"I'm not scared!" Arthur huffed, taking another swig. "And I can damn well swim, thank you very much. Probably better than you!"

"Want to test that theory?"

"Fine!"

Arthur coughed and sputtered as Matthew hauled him back onto the ship with strength he didn't know was in that boy's body.

"I cannot believe you actually did that!" Matthew said, exasperated by the effort of hauling him up. "Jeez, how much do you weigh?"

The captain let out another cough, shaking a bit from the water dripping off his body. He blinked, trying to line his vision up as he glared down angrily at him. "What was that all about?"

"You were drunk and I wanted you in the water with me! I didn't think you were that drunk, but I wanted to try..." the merman commented, almost as if he were embarrassed. "I didn't know you were lying and could drown..."

Arthur let out a bitter laugh. "That's what you do on the sea. You lie about everything. It gets you in places and it gets you out of tight situations. I knew you'd be the death of me."

"Hey, you're not dead."

"Might as well have killed me."

"Don't tempt me. I might do it next time."

But both of them knew it was a lie.

"Ask me anything."

"What?"

Matthew leaned on the dock Arthur was sitting that, actually getting a good look at his face for once. He smiled, only faintly, as he hummed. "Ask me anything. I know there are questions you're dying to ask me."

"Why would I have any questions for you?"

"Not for me, specifically. Just for a merman in general. What does your heart desire to know, oh pirate captain of mine?"

"Not yours."

"Whatever."

Arthur did take his question into consideration, however, and paused for but a few moments, before asking, "You know magic, yes?"

"Obviously."

"What can you do?"

Matthew shrugged. "It depends. I can do a lot of things. I can sing songs that make people fall to my will, which you have heard in stories, I'm sure. I can allow people to breathe underwater for...maybe an hour, with a single kiss. Would you like to try?" A mischievous glint lingered in his violet eyes.

Surprisingly, Arthur blushed faintly, but stood up in a rush, scowling. "No. I don't. I best be on my way. We set sail tomorrow."

"So soon?"

"So soon."

"Remember how I said you were ugly?"

"Yes..."

"I don't, really."

"What?"

Matthew closed his eyes, laying back in the water. "You're not ugly. You're really attractive, actually."

Arthur swallowed, and then looked up to the sky. "What makes you say that now, all of a sudden? And if that's the case, then why did you say it to begin with?"

"I don't know. I do weird things when I don't understand my feelings. I say the opposite of what I think."

"...What do you think, now?"

If the pirate didn't know any better, he would've said the merman's cheeks were pink. Maybe they were. It was hard to tell in the dim moonlight, but he raised his eyes again, vibrant as ever, almost as if they were glowing.

"Something that's so wrong, it feels right to do it."

He didn't speak another word as he ducked his head under the sea's surface, and was gone from sight.

Matthew didn't show up for another two days.

It killed Arthur a little inside.

"They say that if you put a letter in a bottle...the letter will find its way to whomever your heart desires..." Kiku hummed, glancing over at his captain, who stared at the water intently, waiting for the surface to reveal a familiar face.

Arthur grunted lightly in response, acknowledging the words, and maybe, just maybe, even accepting the advice.

A bottle floated on the shoreline, three days later.

"You've been gone a while."

"My brother got mad."

"Is that all?"

Matthew was silent.

Arthur clenched his fists, suddenly irritated for a reason he didn't understand. He glared at him. "Is that all?"

"No."

"Then what's the rest?"

"You don't want to know."

Arthur swung his legs a bit on the edge of the dock, releasing the tension a bit. He didn't even know why he had gotten tense like that to begin with. "Maybe I do."

"Even if I said that I was falling in love with you?"

There was an uncomfortable pause, and incredulous look, and the splash of water as Matthew retreated away.

Matthew found the bottle a day later at the shoreline.

It was short, and scrawly, but it made him cry.

Come back, I do miss you.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

"I didn't think you'd come back to the dock."

Arthur huffed a bit, drawing his legs up and away from the water. He didn't honestly know what to say, until a wet hand dropped the bottle, with the letter inside, onto the dock. He stared at him for a moment, emerald clashing with violet.

"Did you read it?"

"Yes. It was washed ashore."

It was his turn to be quiet for once. Though, it didn't last long. "And?"

Instead of responding directly, Matthew jumped up and grabbed him by the collar, yanking him backwards and pulling him underneath the water. For a moment, Arthur panicked, struggling to get back to the surface, when he felt a warm pair of lips against his own.

It lasted for only a few seconds, but in those few seconds, some sort of sensation shot through his body, something odd and strange, something he'd never felt before. Matthew pulled back, and he held his breath, trying to break free from his grasp again when Matthew smiled, and then said, though for a second, his voice was distorted, "Breathe."

There was such a trusting look in his eyes, that for once, he listened.

He could breathe.

Originally he thought that his lungs would just fill with water, but they hadn't, and Matthew beamed at him, and Arthur looked at him with a quizzical look, and then Matthew winked.

"Magic. We've got an hour or so."

But Arthur just pulled him close again, locking their lips once more.

Ummm, so this is just a little something.

It was actually a present for a very dear friend of mine. I just figured I should post it here. This is actually a few weeks old, I wrote it on the 7th and posted it on the 9th on deviantART, but haven't gotten around to posting it here until now.

Either way, Merry Christmas guys!

-IchigoMelon