Feli swam under the water as fast as he could, he needed to get home and he needed to get home now. He was a fast swimmer, one of the fastest. When he was a kid, he and the other kids would race. Even though he was, and still is, more on the small side, he always won. The kids always taunted him for being so scared most of the time, but his brother always stood up for him.
His brother, Lovino, was the opposite of him. He had a red tail, darker hair, even the curl was on the opposite side of his head. He was very tough and he knew how to make people bite eat their words. While he was only a couple minutes older than him, he acted like he was four years older instead of four minutes older.
The point was proven when he finally got to their cave, he was immediately shoved up against the cave wall. "Where the hell have you been?!"
Feli looked up to see his twin's furious eyes glaring down at him. "Answer me, bastard! Where have you been?!"
"Ve~, hi fratello," Feli answered nervously. "I was out exploring."
"Exploring? Where? You were gone for hours," Lovino let him go but he was holding onto him with his deadly glare. "Grandpa was so worried about you, stupido. What are you going to tell him?"
Feli looked down and ran a hand through his hair. "That I was exploring...I'm fine though, I promise." Lovino looked like he was going to say more, but was interrupted by a voice coming from down the cave.
"Feli? Is that you?" It was their had lived with their grandfather ever since their parents died when they were barely even three. He had always made sure they knew they were loved and that they were safe.
"Si, grandpa, I'm home," Feli smiled down the cave where he swam out to meet them. Their grandfather, Roma, while being their grandfather, was unusually hot. Having a silver tail, he was very muscular and still looked young, even though he was older than most. His hair still hasn't even turned white.
"Where have you been? I was so worried about you." Roma hugged him close. "You didn't go up to the surface did you? You know I don't like you being up there when it's daylight."
Their parents had died from humans. Ever since then, Roma had been very careful with his grandchildren. He did not like when they went up to the surface of the ocean, he felt like something would happen to them again.
Feli gave him an earnest smile and shook his head. "No, I didn't go to the surface today. I was-"
"Exploring. That's the same bullshit excuse you use every damn time you disappear. I want you to tell me what you were really doing, bastard!"
Feli slowly took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, because that's what I usually do."
"But what took so long this time you dummy?"
Roma sighed and shook his head, "Enough you two. Feli, I know you like to explore the beaches to find any shells or something. Did you find anything today?" One of the best things about their grandpa, he didn't push Feli. He made sure he was safe and that he did what he was told, but if Feli didn't want to say something, he normally wouldn't make him.
Feli smiled and held up the shell that he got before the human helped him back into the water. He liked it a lot, it was a normal shell, nothing special, with a few brown lines going down it. Shell collecting was a good hobby of his that he enjoyed doing often.
Roma looked amused when he saw the shell and held out his hand. "Oh, this one is pretty. Are you going to add it to your collection?"
Feli nodded and smiled, "Ve~ Yup!" After an awkward pause, he nodded before turning and leaving.
He swam to his collection across the cave and pretended not to hear the two family members discussing his 'exploring.' He knew that if they found out about the human, he wouldn't be leaving the cave again for a very long time.
To distract himself, he studied his collection. He had to have at least a hundred different shells in his collection, ranging in color and size. He even had a purple one! Granted, he found it in some paint, but it was still purple nonetheless.
Feli looked up from his shells when he heard Antonio's voice coming into their small home. "Hola chicos, how are you doing?" Antonio came up to Lovino and gave him a hug and a kiss on the neck before being shoved off. He just smiled and laughed at Lovino's reaction.
Feli grinned. He liked his brother's boyfriend. He was very pretty and very nice. He was stronger than the two Vargas brothers, but not as fast. He had a green tail, and like them, had fins on his arms.
Though he wished that he had somebody to love as well, he was happy for the two. He had wanted somebody to love for a long time and always thought it would be a beautiful girl with lots of jewelry and long hair. But he seemed to like guys more.
In fact, he thought about the man who saved him. He liked muscular guys and the human sure had muscles. Even though he was dragging him back into the water, he liked being held by him. He loved his eyes, the blue eyes like the ocean. He had such blonde hair that he never seen before. Most of the merpeople where he lived had brown hair, nobody really had blonde hair. Even if they did it always turns darker in the water so it didn't really show.
Feli quickly shook his head and tried to focus on anything else. What fish is the fastest, how hard is it to get out of a current, where do the dolphins like to play, anything to distract him from thinking about the human.
After all, his parents were killed by humans. He felt like he broke an unspoken law to never allow a human to see you, which he had. To like one, even a little, was ten times as worse. What would his brother say? What about his grandfather?
No. He can't see the human again, he shouldn't. But Feli knew that he would see him again, he had to.
Ludwig was confused. And that was putting it very lightly.
After he got out of the water and caught his breath, he called his dogs back. Then they jogged back to his house. It was only a mile from where they were now, so it wasn't such a feat. His house was bigger than most, some would call it a mansion, others would just say it was a vacation home. To him, it was both. It was much larger than his old home and it was right by the ocean, so in a way it was a vacation home.
He was still wet from the ocean water when he walked through the door. His brother, who was usually very loud in every way possible, was quiet tonight. It frightened him to no end when it was like this. "Gilbert," Ludwig called through the house. "What are you doing?"
"I'm in the kitchen, bro," Gilbert called back. Gilbert was a very obnoxious man, but he had his times. When the accident happened, Gilbert managed to not only save him but help him through the rest. The funerals, where the two would end up, even holding him when he had nightmares. Older brothers were useful when it comes to that stuff.
Ludwig sighed and went into the kitchen to find his brother with his pet bird. Gilbert had named the bird, after his 'awesome self,' Gilbird and the two were always good buddies. He had gotten him a few years after they moved in and Ludwig had to admit they were a cute pair.
"Is grandfather home?" Ludwig asked his albino brother, who scoffed at the question.
"When was the last time he was? Three months ago?" He shook his head. "No, he isn't home."
Their grandfather would leave at random times without a goodbye for months, sometimes even years, without a word and then show up out of the blue as if he never left. He never spoke about where he went, what he did, or who he was with. Ludwig and Gilbert thought that when he taken them in he would actually get close to the two, but he left a week after they arrived to his house.
They didn't see him for three years. He always supplied them with money and the bank automatically handled the bills. Mostly, it was just Ludwig and Gilbert at the house.
He wondered what Gilbert would have done if he was with him when he saw the...what was he anyway? A mermaid? He didn't have any uh...chest...stuff...so he was male then? Was there a thing like that? A merman? He didn't recall any stories about it. But he supposed that they had to reproduce some way. Even so, it was just fairytale stories, right?
Ludwig absentmindedly blushed as he thought of the merman. He was cute, even if he was out of breath. Why was he so heavy though? He didn't seem to be that heavy, but he weighed about as much as he could bench press, if not more. Ludwig wondered if he would ever see him again, would he remember him? Could he come onto land?
"...Ludwig? Did you hear me?" Gilbert was suddenly in front of him, waving his hand in front of Ludwig's face.
The blonde snapped out of his thoughts, sighed and pushed his hand out of his face. "Nein, what did you say?"
"The awesome me asked why you're so wet." His brother studied him before returning his attention to the bird. The bird chirped and flew up into his master's hair, seeming to like the nest it made.
Before he could filter his words, he babbled out,"I went to the ocean today and I had to help-" He stopped. Did he dare tell his brother? Would he try and hunt him down? For an unknown reason, he felt like he had to protect the merman from other humans. It didn't seem to trust him when it first saw him. It seemed frightened of him, actually.
Gilbert stopped playing with the bird and looked at Ludwig. "You had to help what? Was somebody drowning? You don't go into the water, ever since-"
"JA," he snapped, then cleared his throat. "Ja, I know. I had to help a uh...dolphin back into the water. Nobody was around and it had washed up on shore." It was the only thing he could think of to say on a single note and it was somewhat believable.
His brother only watched him for a minute before shrugging. "Whatever. Hey, later, I'm gonna go out drinking, you wanna come?"
Ludwig shook his head and quickly went to his room, "No thanks, Gilbert. Tell everybody I said hi though."
He shut the door to his room and sat down on the bed. With just a glance, he was able to see where exactly he had helped the merman back into the ocean. Was he okay? Did he get washed up somewhere else?
With a shake of his head, he laid down and crossed his legs. Whatever the case, he wanted to see him again. It was very crazy, but he seemed drawn to the creature. He would do anything to protect it from getting hurt.