Written to: The Bird and the Worm - Owl City, crosspost from AO3
Murr-ma: To walk along in the water searching for something with your feet.
"Oh, forget about it," Darcy calls out to Helblindi, but Helblindi pays no attention, wading out further into the Atlantic Ocean and privately thinking that the temperature of the water is quite nice. Darcy, on the other hand, refuses to get anywhere near the surf and spray of the water, claiming the 10C water is far too cold; to Helblindi, it feels like a nice relaxing bath. "I can get you another one! Come out, already, you're going to catch your death of frostbite."
Helblindi snorts, wading waist deep into the ocean, searching for the necklace Darcy had bought for him, searching with his toes for the sleek metal clasp that had taken it upon itself to shatter at the slightest provocation. He is so far unsuccessful, his feet meeting the solid comfort of wet sand, the sharp coldness of seashells, the slimy wet of kelp.
"It's just a necklace!" Darcy shouts from the shore, and Helblindi reluctantly turns to march his footsteps back towards her.
"Why is it so important to you?" Darcy pouts, rubbing her hands together to warm them up, blowing on them with lips that are turning blue at the edges. Helblindi wants to reach out, rub her hands together with his own, but his own hands are probably colder than hers at the present moment. "It was just a cheap necklace, and it irritated your skin. Look, you still have the rash," she says, reaching up to rub at his neck where the silver had rubbed against his skin; her hands feel blessedly warm against his skin. "You're freezing."
"It's important to me," Helblindi says as he towels himself off, reaches for his clothes. "Because you got it for me, and I shouldn't have lost it."
He doesn't see her blush.
When he turns back around to her, her lips are no longer blue at the edges, and she tosses a strand of kelp at him. A bulb lands smack in the middle of his throat as the seaweed wraps itself around his shoulders. Darcy laughs.
"There, I gave that to you, too, so are you going to keep it?" she asks, teasing.
Helblindi smiles a bit, reaches behind himself to knot the seaweed together, arranges it so the bulbs dance across his collarbones.
"Yes, of course," he says, teasing back and grinning as he walks over to wrap an arm around her.
Later that night, after Darcy falls asleep with a half drunk mug of hot chocolate on her nightstand, Helblindi reaches behind himself, unties the knot of seaweed, and places the strand of kelp in his nightstand drawer carefully.
Darcy snuggles up to his thigh, mumbling something about cold and winter, and Helblindi smiles and ruffles a hand through her hair.