Hey y'all, can't tell you guys how sorry I am for the wait, but things have been crazy and are getting worse, have less internet than before and less time to give than before! To write the story, yeah I may be able to multi-task but to post I get one day a week of internet, two if I'm lucky! But here it is, as promised, the next chapter of Against All Odds!
The sun was shining brightly through a bay window, hardly a cloud in the sky which was unusual in and of itself in England, but overall it seemed like a perfect day. One would never know of the turmoil coming from inside the house. Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, he knew it was now or never as he picked up his phone and called his youngest brother. Arthur half hopped he didn't answer, but at the same time he hopped he did answer. Either way Arthur prayed Alfred wouldn't ask many questions.
"Hey Iggy, bro, wassup man?! It's been forever since you called me!" Alfred yelled into the phone, causing Arthur to wince at the sudden loud voice in his ear and nearly fell out of his chair.
"Y-yes, but if you please Alfred I would appreciate it if you would not scream in my ear and also to refrain from calling me by those horrid nicknames you give me. My name is Arthur and I would like you to call me as such. But the main reason I called is I was wondering if I could borrow your truck for a bit, I'm moving a boat from the docks to my shed and my car is simply not strong enough and lacks the proper pieces to attach the boat's carrier."
"Uh sure bro, you can borrow my truck, but you need some help? Boats can be pretty heavy and you're not all that strong dude. So the hero can give you a hand!"
"NO!" Arthur yelled too quickly, mind racing for an excuse, "No, I mean, that's fine, I'm stronger than I look and I already have help, I just need the truck, I can leave you my car in exchange if you need transportation and I can pick it up when I give you your truck back, but I will need it again soon in case anything happens to the shed I'll be keeping it in." Arthur hopped his gullible younger brother would buy this.
"Dude why don't you just buy your own truck then now that you got that thing? It'd be easier than loaning you my truck all the time. Or just trade in your crappy car for a truck." Arthur sighed in relief, glad his brother asked no more questions.
"O-oh I didn't think of that, alright, but let me use your truck for now until I can, and my car is not a piece of crap as you so eloquently worded, it's an antique is all." Alfred laughed
"Yeah bro, that's fancy for piece of shit. But sure I'll still loan you my truck for now, when do you need it?"
"Today actually, I want to beat the crowds of people bringing their own boats in and it's such a beautiful day which is rare here so no time like now." He ranted, hoping it was still alright. Much to his luck Alfred agreed and Arthur quickly packed up a few things and left for Alfred's house.
Upon arriving at Alfred's house Arthur tried to make normal conversation but he was too excited so after exchanging keys and loading up the truck Arthur was gone having only talked when needed to be polite. He drove quickly to the beach to meet Kiku, finding him in the cave as usual sleeping soundly with his body half submerged in the cool ocean water. Arthur retreated and went to set up the boat over by the docks and prepared the truck, laying down a tarp in the bed of the truck and made sure it was secure before starting to fill it with water with some buckets he brought with him, he didn't fill it so Kiku could still get in and not much or any would spill over when the merman entered the truck's bed. When he was satisfied Arthur went back to wake up Kiku, gently shaking him,
"Kiku… Kiku darling I'm here, it's time to go before the beach gets crowded." Kiku groaned, opening one eye to sleepily glare at Arthur before sitting up with a yawn.
"Already time to go? Are you sure we must go now?" he almost whined, making Arthur laugh.
"Sadly love yes it's time to go, we don't need beach-goers seeing me haul a, what you would look like to them anyways, a giant fish into my youngest brother's truck and then start fishing like crazy to catch one like it." Kiku sulked again but complied, leaving the cave to swim by the docks and meet Arthur there.
"Alright now just haul yourself onto the dock and I can help you from there, I already have some water in the truck so we'll see if we can get you in and lose as little as possible." Kiku nodded, grabbing Arthur's hands and with the two of them working together they were able to get Kiku onto the deck, from there Arthur carefully picked Kiku up bridal style and hauled him up and into the bed of the truck. Kiku shivered at the cold of the shallow water at first but quickly got used to it, especially with Arthur coming back with a few more buckets of water to add to what was already in the truck.
"Comfortable love?" Arthur asked when he was done, only then noticing the woven seaweed bag of belongings.
"Hai. Thank you again Arthur." Kiku smiled, holding his bag tightly. Arthur nodded, grabbing a second tarp he had brought along to keep the water in the truck and to keep all wandering eyes out.
"I'm going to have to cover the top so the water stays in and no one can see you, and if you give me one moment I can make a handle so if things get bumpy you can hang on to that so you don't slide all around the bed and hurt yourself." Kiku nodded, he didn't like the idea of having to be covered like this but he trusted Arthur and knew that Arthur wouldn't do this if he didn't think it was for the best.
When all was said and done Arthur drove a bit faster than he usually did in his eagerness to get Kiku to the lake but was overly cautious in turning and stopping, frequently looking back to where Kiku was hiding worriedly. Kiku knew from the start he didn't like this kind of travel, the water was always moving as if a storm was going on outside and the noises of the traffic and the smell of exhaust made it that much worse. The jostling and hitting the sides of the truck even with the handle Arthur had put in for him didn't help either, he wanted this journey to be over as soon as possible. But the worst part was when the truck had to go over the uneven surface of Arthur's lawn to get to the lake. It was so bumpy Kiku thought for sure his tail would be badly bruised by the end of it all but finally it was over.
"Alright, we're here, I've parked as close as I can get to the lake without getting the truck stuck in the mud. Are you ready?" Arthur asked tentatively as he pulled back the tarp to see a very distressed looking Kiku still gripping the rope handle for dear life with his bag over his shoulder.
"Hai. Please get me out of here." Arthur tried not to laugh, he knew it was mean but just the way Kiku looked was adorable and to be honest he couldn't blame Kiku for hating the ride even though he tried to be careful. Arthur nodded and carefully unhooked the tarp Kiku was on top of and that kept the water from leaking out of the truck.
"Okay then, I'm going to have to let all the water drain out first so hang on to that handle until I tell you, then I want you to ease your way down to me and I'll carry you to the lake." Kiku nodded and gripped the rope harder until his knuckles were white but was still almost carried away by the force of the water leaving the truck and soaking the ground.
"It's cleared now Kiku, try easing your way down now and I'll catch you." Arthur calmly instructed the merman. Kiku opened his eyes and let go of the handle with one hand and grabbed the side of the truck before doing the same with the other hand, almost losing his grip but he somehow managed to keep his hold and slide down to Arthur. Carefully grabbing the merman's tail to pick him up bridal style again Arthur was awestruck by the feel of Kiku's tail as he struggled to bring him down to the lake's edge. To feel the bright red scales beneath his fingers, sliding easily when he followed their downward path they felt almost silky and he didn't ever want to let go, and the merman's skin was impossibly smoother. Arthur's hand discretely and gently fingered the flesh at the small of Kiku's back with admiration and fascination at the feel of it. Kiku was in a similar state at feeling the dry texture of Arthur's own skin and hair as his arms where locked tightly around Arthur's neck. Both men were so in their own worlds to the point Arthur almost slipped when he came up to the lake and almost dropped Kiku. Kiku clung tighter to Arthur out of shock when the human slipped and finally did fall into the murky shallows. The two men looked at one another and laughed before Kiku drifted a bit further into the water, giving Arthur a look and motioning for him to follow.
"Alright I'll come but at least let me get my swim trunks on first!" he laughed, more so when Kiku pouted cutely but nodded as Arthur turned to go to the house so he could change as he had stupidly forgotten to do in his haste.
Kiku sighed and swam about the lake, it had gotten a bit smaller since he had last been here but decided to get settled while Arthur changed. As Kiku was searching for a comfortable spot for his belongings something caught his eye. A bit of broken glass had caught a ray of sunshine somehow even at the bottom of the lake and Kiku's curiosity got the best of him as he decided to take a look but was amazed at what he found. It looked like a picture, and an old one at that so how it had survived under the water for any time period was fascinating for Kiku. Enthralled Kiku picked up the old photograph and gasped. The photo had four boys on it, three with varying shades of red hair and one with blonde hair. Kiku could have sworn it was Arthur but this boy was several years younger and had his ears pierced in several places and wore a torn Anarchy shirt(which Kiku didn't understand anything about besides it being an A in a circle). One of the tallest boys seemed to be trying to use the blonde boy as an ash tray while the second tallest one seemed to find both of them annoying while the third red head didn't seem to care about anything that was going on while a male and a female stood in the background smiling. The woman had blonde hair and blue eyes with a slender frame and face much like the blonde boy while the man was large and scary looking with red hair and green eyes. Kiku hadn't even realized how much time had passed while he was staring at the picture until he heard Arthur calling him and felt the ripples he created as he waded clumsily through the water. Kiku smiled and quickly swam up to Arthur with the photo excitedly hoping he would know the people in it or if the blonde boy really was Arthur and if it was why the picture was at the bottom of the lake.
Okay y'all so I know this is so not cool, I don't update for a year and then I give a short little shit of a chapter I'm sorry but I just wanted to have something up right now and I'm not feeling the greatest right now I had planned on doing more but I realized I was already a year late so I didn't have time for anything fancy, and just to get something up would be better than nothing. I will update before a year this time I swear it