PART THREE

Arthur usually used their lighthouse's dock as a way to get from ocean to land, and today was no exception. He shot out of the water a second before Mera did, landing on his toes on the open end of the dock with a splatter of water as he breathed air for the first time in a month. Mera landed gracefully next to him, taking in the scene before them.

It registered in Arthur's mind that she'd only ever seen his home from afar. Her eyes drifted over the simple white house, worn down by years of bad weather, the coal-colored roof that needed to be fixed in some places, all the way up to the connected lighthouse tower. Her eyes lingered on the former.

"It's lets boats know where shore is. Kind of like a warning and a reference all at once," he supplied.

"It's so tall."

"The light will reach farther out into the ocean that way."

"It's beautiful," she breathed, her eyes roaming over the two-story house to its cylindrical attachment.

Arthur shifted on his feet. "Yeah, well. It's home."

Mera looked over at him with a slight smile on her face, her eyes deepening into pools that Arthur could very well get lost in.

"Arthur!"

He shot out of his reverie as his name was called from the direction of the house. He looked up to see his mother, the Queen of Atlantis, waving at him from the top of the steps. She was wearing a simple cream sweater and trousers, her blonde hair snapping in the wind behind her. She looked so normal standing there, hands resting on the wooden railing.

His father came up behind his mother and wrapped his arms around her, both of them grinning down at him and Mera. For once, he felt overdressed. His hair was pulled back by a string, and he was still sporting his Atlantis gear. Trident and all. He couldn't very well leave the most powerful trident in the world just anywhere where anyone could find it. He wondered what his father thought of his new outfit. He'd been itching the past few weeks to put on a comfortable pair of jeans and t-shirt, but they were just too cumbersome to wear underwater. While he could normally go without the shirt while he was underwater, apparently Atlantean customs frowned upon being a half-naked king.

"They look happy," Mera observed, her eyes squinting up at the lighthouse. "In all the time I've known her, I don't think I've ever known Queen Atlanna to look so...free."

He'd been thinking the same of his father. A man so stoic, but good natured and tough looked like he'd been torn out of a dark cave into the sunlight for the first time in decades.

Arthur held out a hand to Mera, and he led them both up the winding staircase up to meet his parents. It occurred to him that he'd never done this before—bring a girl home. He should be nervous, and terrified. For one, the girl was an Xebel warrior. But her grip on his tightened, and he relaxed under the pressure.

"I hear you're a king now!" His father called to him when they were within earshot.

"Depends on who you ask," Arthur yelled back, pulling his father in for a hug. When he pulled away, he could tell that his wet outfit had left traces of water on his father's shirt. He humphed, pointing to the wet spots. "Usually don't have to worry about that."

"It's because you finally graced your parents fully clothed," his father laughed boisterously. "Even if you are a little...shiny."

Arthur heard Mera snort at that. He turned around to look at her, a retort waiting on his tongue, but she was already arm and arm with his mother. He was sure that if he said what he was thinking, his mother might scold him. Instead, he let the comment dry out on his tongue and he kissed his mother on top of the head in greeting.

"You look good, Mom."

Atlanna reached forward to grab his hand with her free one, squeezing it twice. "Thank you, Arthur."

"Well, if it's all the same to you, I'd like to change out of this attire. Or else I'm going to get some weird looks around town," Arthur announced.

"Yes, of course," Atlanna nodded, "Mera may borrow something of mine to wear as well."

Mera straightened her stance next to his mom. "That's very kind, My Queen."

"Please darling, call me Atlanna." And with that, his mother had commandeered his date into showing her the house.

"Alright, then," Arthur backed up, "guess I'll go change while the two of them...talk."

His father shook his head in wonderment as well, both of them not used to so many women around their home. They seemed to both come to the conclusion that it was best to let them do their thing and not interfere.

Arthur followed his father inside, splitting up in the living space so that Arthur could head to his room to change. It'd been a few months since he'd been in his room, and to be honest, he wasn't sure in what state he'd left it in. He hadn't been expecting to leave so suddenly last time, and he highly doubted his dad had ventured inside to pick anything up.

The walls were white and barren except for a few choice photos. There was a small landscape of the ocean hitting the shoreline that his parents had put up in his room when he was a toddler, and he hadn't ever gotten around to taking it down. There were a few of the first articles by a local newspaper on his desk naming him "Aquaman," sitting next to the few books he could find about Atlantis. Those, too, had been in his room for at least a decade. Back when he was still training with Vulko, he'd taken it upon himself to learn as much as he could about the world his mother lived in. Most of it was hogwash, but it made him feel closer to her. Made him feel like he was doing something. That was before he found out his mother was executed in the Trench. Before he took up the vigilante mantle to avenge her death in the best way he could think of: by keeping the ocean safe for humans. Before he knew it, Aquaman was born.

He picked up the newest and cleanest pair of jeans he had and a simple henley top, quickly shedding his kingly attire and pulling on the comfortable clothes he knew so well. It wasn't much, but he felt his stress alleviate with the simple change. He left his trident standing up against the wall next to his window. He really didn't want to bring it out with him and Mera, and he knew his mother would be just as good a protector of it as he was.

When he left his room, his mom was showing Mera around the insides of the house while his father leaned on a counter in the kitchen. Arthur reached inside the fridge to pull out a beer—the same type his dad was already sipping on—and took up residence leaning on the counter next to him. They'd only had each other for so long, that it was a pleasant change to see how his mom already had some influence on the house. It looked cozier and more homely than Arthur ever remembered it being. They stood there in silence for several minutes, both of them mulling over the changes in their minds.

"It's in the Curry blood for the men to fall in love with powerful women," his father nodded towards where Atlanna was busying herself with finding Mera an acceptable outfit to wear on their night out.

Arthur tried to swallow his grin, but dammit, he didn't want to. "She could definitely take me down if she wanted to; and she'd look hot while doing it."

His father rumbled with laughter. "I know how that feels. If it weren't for Atlanna, you and I would both be toast ten times over." His dad shifted closer to him, lowering his voice. "Is this kind of trait in all of Atlantean women or did we just get lucky?"

Arthur choked on his beer, coughing into his hand.

"What are you two talking about?"

Arthur recovered himself enough to find his mother standing in the doorway looking accusingly at both of them. She had sent Mera off to change in his old room, and Arthur felt a little self conscious about what Mera would think about his bedroom. He'd left a few stray object around his room, but otherwise it was clean.

Arthur's dad quickly covered, "we're just admiring you."

"Right," she replied, unconvinced. Turning to Arthur with that no-nonsense tone that left no room for questions, she told him, "Mera's in your old room. I told her I'd send you to her in a few minutes."

Arthur almost choked on his beer again, at his father shot Atlanna a disbelieving look at the implications her words carried. She caught the look, her head bobbing back as if confused.

Arthur slapped his dad on the back before untangling himself from the triangle that he created with his parents. "I'm gonna let you explain that one, pops." He moved towards the door of the kitchen. With a quick smile he boasted, "there's a beautiful girl in my room I must get to."

Tom Curry looked stricken, his fatherly instincts kicking in as his eyes flew between Arthur and Atlanna. Arthur chuckled as left his parents and made the trek to his room.

His room faced East, towards the rising sun that often woke him up before any alarm had a chance to. He had a nice view of the bay, which from the quick look he'd taken as he and Mera walked up to the lighthouse, was still in rebuilding mode. Water damage wasn't cheap or easy to fix. He'd considered sending some Atlantean soldiers up to help with the cleanup, but both Mera and Vulko thought it might hurt relations more than it would help. Apparently a lot of humans were afraid of Atlanteans. It was justified, sure, but unfortunately they couldn't put a sign above Atlantis that said 'under new management!' Instead, they had funneled some money into relief efforts anonymously. It still didn't feel like enough, though. He was a man of action. He wanted to be doing something.

Mera had left Arthur's door cracked, so he rapped his knuckles on it softly before he pushed the door open. Mera stood barefooted next to his window, examining a large conch shell that Arthur had kept on his windowsill since he was a kid. She had on a white babydoll dress that fell from her shoulders all the way to her knees. Her feet were still bare, her drying hair pulled over one shoulder. In the window, she was illuminated by the setting sun, making her glow in such a way that the vision before him could've knocked him over.

Arthur came up behind her, looming over her bare shoulder to watch her turn the shell this way and that, assumedly looking for the animal that often occupied the shell.

"My father and I found it on the beach when I was five. He held it up to my ear, telling me how you can hear the ocean through it," Arthur demonstrated, taking the shell carefully from her hands and placing it next to her ear. She jumped slightly at the sound, and her hands came up to cover his as she leaned into the sound. "I held onto the shell, holding it to my ear for hours, hoping to get a glimpse of my mother's voice. She was, after all, a part of the ocean."

He felt Mera lean into him, and he continued. "I would fall asleep with this shell next to my ear. Finally my father figured out what I was doing, and told me all about who my mother really was and where she was from. I keep this to remember."

"Arthur," she spun around, sympathy lacing her tone. But he cut her off with a shake of his head and a simple kiss to the bare strip of skin that showed on her shoulder. He didn't want her to respond. He just wanted to share it with her. A glimpse of his past. He slowly removed the shell from her ear, setting it down where it had always stood guard in front of his window. He replaced the shell with his hands, cradling her small face in his large hands.

"I don't regret anything. It led my parents back together, it led me to my destiny as King, and it led me to you."

Mera's eyes shone as she reached up press her lips against his. Her arms wrapped around his middle, his hands gently stroking her cheeks and jaw, as he surrendered to her kiss. Like the strike of a match, he felt his body alight in flames at her touch. Her soft lips pressing insistently to his, her hands grabbing the back of his shirt. He felt every part where their bodies touched, and it was as if she were melting into him. Her soft curves and his hard lines mixed together until he didn't know where he stopped and she began. Lines blurred and he wanted more . More of her, more of these kisses.

They definitely didn't do this enough.

Of course, they couldn't do this all the time. Council meetings would get a little weird if they did. But dammit, they didn't have enough time together, just the two of them. He was king, dammit, and he made the rules.

He pulled back just far enough to speak on her lips. "I'm going to sign a law that says we have to do this everyday. Twice a day, actually."

He felt how her lips quirked up. "Only twice?"

"Oh," he growled, winding his arms around her waist so that he could pick her up. Her legs automatically wrapped around his middle like a vine. At this new height difference, she lingered over him, her bright hair cascading around them like a curtain of silk. She lowered her lips down to his again, holding his head at exactly the right position for her access.

Blindly, he moved in the direction of where he instinctively knew his bed was, lowering himself down to sit on the edge. As he sunk down onto the mattress, Mera shifted her position to neatly sit on his lap, a leg on either side of his.

They were now at the same level, and as Arthur took control of the kiss, he gently nibbled on her bottom lip, gently caressing her mouth with his. She sighed into his mouth, and Arthur took that as a sign to continue his sweet kisses, leading him from her lips to her cheeks, eyelids, ear. He could spend hours just kissing her face, lavishing her with all the attention she deserves.

She moaned when he hit a particular spot underneath her ear, and his answering groan was enough to cause Mera to pull her body impossibly closer to him. Her hands ran over his shoulders, down his torso, seeking skin as he lavished her throat.

"Arthur," she said, her voice becoming so low and breathy he was pretty sure he was going to lose his damn mind. Her fingertips traced over the skin between his jeans and the bottom of his shirt and he forgot his name.

"Arthur!"

That wasn't the voice he was expecting. Following the shriek, there was quick knocking at his door. He pulled his lips away from Mera's skin, resting his forehead on her shoulder and groaning.

"Arthur!" Atlanna spoke again, her knocking growing increasingly frantic. There were rumbles outside the door. Most likely his father trying to talk to Atlanna.

Mera had gone stiff in his arms. He looked up at her and recognized the steely expression that had settled on her face. She was ready for battle. She looked to the door as if a threat waited on the other side. "Is she alright?"

Arthur chuckled, imagining Mera running off to fight the unknown terror that had come over his mother. "I'm sure she just found out what we could be doing in my bedroom alone, and came to stop it."

Mera relaxed in his arms, and Arthur noted the tips of her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink as she came to the same realization as Atlanna did. "Oh."

Arthur wrapped his arms around Mera's middle as he stood up, placing her on the ground gently beside him. He faced the door to his room and yelled, "we're all right, Mom. Be out in a second."

Gratefully, the knocking stopped shortly after that. He was pretty sure that his father was a big reason why Atlanna didn't barge in on them.

His eyes swung back to Mera as she patted down her dress in areas it had wrinkled. He cleared his throat, an emotion he could scarcely name clouding his thoughts. "You look amazing, by the way."

The pink was back, coloring her cheeks, and Arthur felt a thrill of pleasure run through him at the response. "It's shorter than what I'm used to wearing, but Que—Atlanna—said that it was the style for humans."

"Do you like it?"

Her lips pressed together as she considered. "It's more...loose than what I'm used to. But also more freeing. I feel like I could drift away on a sharp wind."

He held a hand out to her, and she took it without hesitation. "I won't let you drift away," he promised. "Ever."