AUTHOR: Anonymous

August 5th, 2014 - Part of Your World

Alfred loved Disneyland, but he liked some parts better than others.

The Mermaid Lagoon from Peter Pan didn't interest him much because it was usually filled with half-naked girls with seashell bras, and Alfred had realized he was gay by the time he was seven. So he walked briskly on his way to another exciting ride and had to do a double-take when he spotted a merman. The poor guy wasn't getting anywhere near the same fawning attention as the mermaids, but he was a real cutie, with a slim build and a bright green tail. Alfred changed his path without a second thought.

"Hey," Alfred said as he approached the edge of the water in the merman's secluded corner. "You're new."

The merman gave Alfred a frightened look and ducked into the water, leaving only his wide green eyes visible above the surface.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Just wanted to say that I'm really glad Disney is branching out into mermen."

"Disney?" the merman asked in confusion as he lifted his head above water.

Alfred laughed; he was always amused when employees insisted on keeping in character. "Nevermind. It's just nice to see a guy here in the lagoon. I hope you stick around," he added with a wink.

"I was searching for others of my kind," the merman said softly, his breath making small ripples in the water.

"You must be happy to have found a full lagoon!" Alfred replied, playing along with the merman's backstory. It seemed as good a reason as any for the new addition, especially since he clearly had a foreign accent.

The merman swam a little closer to Alfred and he looked even more amazing now that Alfred could see the way the green in his eyes perfectly matched his green tail and both sparkled in the sunlight. It was such a stunning costume that Alfred could almost believe he was talking to an actual merman. The handsome young merman leaned closer to whisper a secret. "These aren't real mermaids," he confessed.

Alfred laughed. "Nope!"

"You knew that?" The merman gaped. "But if you know they aren't real then why does everyone gather to gawk?"

"Because Disneyland is all about making you believe in things that aren't real."

"You... you don't believe in merfolk?"

Alfred paused and frowned slightly. "Wait, I'm confused. Are we still pretending that Disney isn't real? Because if you're going out of character I want your name and I'm totally going to give you my number."

"My name is Arthur," the merman replied, "but how will your number help me?"

"Ooh, burn. You could have let me down a little easier, man!"

"I don't understand your strange phrases," Arthur admitted. "Please, if you're willing to help me, can you tell me if there are other merfolk here?"

Alfred rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, there's the Little Mermaid. And Pirates of the Caribbean has some mermaids, but they're scary as shit."

"Are they real?"

"Dude, you need to work on your training. I mean, your costume is fantastic, but you're not gonna convince anyone you're a merman if you keep bringing up this Disney stuff."

"But I am a merman," Arthur said in confusion.

Alfred grinned. "That's the spirit! Well, it's been fun, but I've only got an hour left for rides. And you probably wanna do mermaid stuff like brush your hair or something."

"My hair is fine! You're not swimming at all and you have that strange curl!"

"I call it Nantucket," Alfred replied as he touched his gravity-defying cowlick. "You should see what I call Florida," he added with another wink.

Arthur refused to take the bait. "I thought we were in Florida?"

"Oh no, it's the other way around. My Florida goes in you!" Alfred joked.

"Are there merfolk in Florida?"

"No, but it's got seamen."

"Then I don't think I'm interested."

"Dude, you're really good at keeping a straight face," Alfred admitted with a dry chuckle. He wondered if it was worth trying to give the guy his number again. "Would you be free afterhours to get dinner and a movie?"

"I'd like to leave," Arthur admitted, "but I can't walk. The fairies helped me get here and now I can't find any."

"Hey, I can help you! Some people call me a fairy."

"Really?" Arthur looked up at him with a beautiful smile and Alfred felt his heart go pitter-patter. He listened to the merman's instructions carefully and, when no one was watching, bent down to lift Arthur out of the water. The tail felt so solid and real in Alfred's arms that he paused in shock for a second.

"Stop, sir! You can't just run off with one of the mermaids!"

Alfred kept running, grinning madly in excitement. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this much childish glee at Disneyworld! Nothing beat the rush of helping rescue a real merman from the tourist trap. Sure, Arthur was a little heavy, but Alfred had a head start on the guards, so he easily lost them and slipped through the employee exit.

In the end, Alfred ended up getting banned for life. But he didn't care. He didn't need a Magic Kingdom when his boyfriend was a merman.