Antonio didn't want to let the previous night's escapades slide very easily, but with the painfully growing tension between father and son, it was hard to enforce any concrete punishment or even talk things out. Gilbert knew that. So instead of a full day of bickering and possibly getting confined to his room as a result, the prince took advantage of that tension and spent the majority of the day staying the hell away from his dad. Which was easy enough to do, since the king was still the king and therefore had kingly responsibilities to uphold. The daily lesson was the only thing Gilbert had to stress over, and that even turned out to be painless and tolerable.
However, he knew his father would soon do one of two things: either corner him and force him into a chat to get rid of the unresolved tension―where he would most definitely enact some restrictions on Gilbert―or, he would let the conflict fade out and act like nothing had happened. He would probably even plan some more "dates." The prince desperately hoped for the second option.
After a whole day of successfully avoiding his father, Gilbert sat on his windowsill, watching the water slowly fade to black. It was almost showtime.
He was just about to leave through the window when he heard a knock at his door. Four knocks in a row, the last one a little softer than the others. Eighteen years of life told him that specific knock belonged to his father.
"Gil? Are you in there?" Antonio asked, his voice hesitant.
Gilbert didn't want to respond; but if he stayed silent, his father might assume he ditched again. Which, granted, was his plan anyway.
"What?" he said briefly.
His father thankfully didn't barge inside, instead choosing to talk through the closed door. "Listen, we've had our disagreements recently, and I know you're probably still upset, but I want to talk things over. I'm meeting with someone tomorrow, but we can talk after that. I want to clear everything up with you."
Gilbert honestly wasn't expecting that. Sure, Antonio was known to be pretty lenient about things in the past, but he had been overly strict about this whole marriage ordeal. Was that even the subject of last nights argument? Gilbert couldn't remember. It seemed like he had only blown up in frustration. He still felt like he had every right to be upset, but it would be exhausting to refuse his father's request and end up arguing again.
"Fine," he said after a few moments of silence.
"Alright," Antonio said, sounding relieved. "Well then, goodnight."
Hearing nothing else afterwards, Gilbert sighed and turned back to the view outside. He had a feeling tomorrow wouldn't solve anything, but it was probably best to go. And maybe something would change if they talked.
But, putting that thought aside, he had somewhere more important to be.
"Fake suns!"
Heracles squinted as seawater hit his face. "Gilber―"
"Big explosions in the sky!"
"Someone's going to hear you," Heracles said, watching his overexcited friend splash the surface of the water.
Floating in the bay a ways ahead of them were at least a dozen anchored ships, all adorned with yellow lanterns and barely visible in the moonlight. Beyond them, the coastal human town glimmered faintly while music drifted through the air. Neither of the mermen could be spotted at their distance, but it was still the closest they had ever been to humans. Gilbert was already filled with energy from anticipating the explosions in the sky; being within earshot of humans made it even more exciting. No one else could boast about that. It was definitely the most dangerous thing he'd ever done...which meant that they needed to get closer.
"We need to get closer," Gilbert proclaimed.
"What?"
But the prince was already underwater, swimming his way to one of the ships. He resurfaced a minute later, staring up at the foreign structure just mere meters away. The whole ship loomed over him, casting a dark shadow. He could easily touch it if he wanted. Having finally caught up, Heracles popped out of the water next to him, taking in a breath of air before gaping at the ship.
"Before you say anything," Gilbert said in a hushed voice, taking advantage of his friend's constant pauses, "This is a perfect, once-in-a-lifetime chance to see humans up close. Without them seeing us! I bet even Kiku can't say he's been this close."
"I don't know..." Heracles started. "How do you know they won't see us?"
"We'll just dart away if they do! They can't swim after us. We'll be fine."
"I heard that humans hunt entire whale pods," the younger merman recounted as the ship creaked beside them. "They get harpoons and stab them through the heart and then eat the whole thing. They might even...eat us, too."
They both stared at each other, deadly silent as waves slapped against the wooden hull.
"...Wanna look inside?"
"Yes," Heracles said without hesitation.
After struggling to grab the edge of the algae-slicked ship, Gilbert was able to hoist himself up on slats and, in turn, help his friend up. They both sat perched on the side of the ship, listening to the music for a moment before working up the courage to look. The gap in the railing was small enough for the two to go unnoticed as they peeked in.
There were more than twenty humans spread out on the large deck. They wore much more clothing than Gilbert had been expecting. The skin that he could see was all one colour, too, instead of the multiple colours and patterns merfolk had. Some humans danced in the center of the deck while others stood off to the side, clapping their hands together while singing. One sat on a crate, playing a brownish coloured instrument neither of the mermen had ever seen before. It was firmly pressed under his chin as he quickly slid a stick against it, but it made the sweetest, liveliest tune. The dancers thumped against the floor so much that Gilbert felt it like thunder in his fins. Seeing humans like this, he wasn't even afraid. They were all so jovial and the song so catchy, he couldn't imagine them eating merfolk. He even felt the urge to join in. Mimicking their hands, he clapped along with the music for a moment before something lightly smacked his shoulder. Heracles was too busy watching the crowd to say anything, but his message was loud and clear: Don't bring attention to us.
Gilbert reluctantly stopped, instead using his hands to hold onto the edge of the deck. He marveled at seeing so much wood in one place. They barely ever came across it, but humans seemed to use it for everything. From the looks of it, even the instrument was made of wood. His eyes trailed down to the legs, wondering if they could even swim with those twigs. That was doubtful. The view was suddenly blocked by someone standing nearby, and the two mermen recoiled and pressed themselves against the hull. Gilbert couldn't tell the reverberating music apart from his sped-up heartbeat. But the fear passed as the human seemed to only place a glass container on the railing before rejoining the party.
"I...can't see very well and uh...I'm going back in the water," Heracles muttered. It was true that the view on his side was partially obscured by a crate, while Gilbert had a wider scope. But the prince had a feeling his friend was shaken up from the sudden encounter.
"Go ahead," Gilbert agreed. It was best to play it safe, after all. Not that he would be following suit.
He barely heard Heracles slide back into the water, quiet enough not to be heard on deck.
"I'll just stay down here," his voice drifted up from below. Gilbert vaguely waved in his direction to show he'd heard him, red eyes fixed on the action.
A human standing off to the side caught his attention. Well, a lock of brown hair did. It awkwardly stuck out from its owner's head and was a sharp contrast to the serious face below it. In the midst of the celebration, the human—who seemed about Gilbert's age, but who knew how they aged anyway—was busy leaning against a wall, crossing his arms in silence as he watched everyone. Someone came up and tugged his arm, boisterously waving a cup of liquid around, splattering it onto the deck. The brunet hastily took the cup before anything else spilled, but refused to move from his spot. Gilbert chuckled at the oddity, and then it occurred to him that the glass was still on the railing above his head.
Making sure no one was looking in his direction, the prince moved his arm lightning fast as he reached up and stole the container. It had a small amount of liquid in it, something that smelled sour and awful. Gilbert sipped it anyway, gagging at the taste. He didn't know what he expected.
"Yo, Hera," he called down. "Catch!" He dropped the glass, hearing it splash rather than hit a pair of hands. He winced, glancing at the scene on board to make sure no one had heard.
"What is this...?" Heracles asked, examining it.
"It's for holding this really gross stuff." Gilbert looked down to catch a glimpse of his friend sniffing the container and wrinkling his nose at the foul smell. The prince laughed, quickly clamping a hand over his mouth to muffle it. A flurry of noise came from the ship, and for a brief moment, the two feared they were going to get skewered. But instead, humans were hurrying towards the middle of the ship as others took out more instruments, ones that jingled when shaken. Gilbert sat entranced, wondering what all the excitement was about.
The brunet from before was being ushered forward by others, who goaded him on. "You know this dance!" "Come on, Romano, don't try to run away!" Reluctance etched into his face, the brunet named Romano nonetheless followed the group, grabbing a jingly instrument as he went. The music was much faster this time, and Gilbert could have sworn Romano was trying to fight down a smile underneath that frown.
Then, the dance began.
Grouped into pairs, the humans moved their legs and shook their instruments so fast that Gilbert's eyes could barely keep up with it. Their synchronized footsteps made the whole ship shake along to the rhythm. The merman leaned forward, a half smile tugging at his mouth as he was swept into the music.
"What's happening?" Heracles' faint voice could barely be heard through the commotion.
"You gotta see this!" Gilbert craned his neck back to look down at his friend. "This dance is amazing; I've never seen anything like it!"
When Heracles only sunk deeper into the waves in response, the prince turned his attention back to the group. His eyes settled on the brunet with the stray curl. The human's body was moving fluidly as if he was dancing underwater, not on land. Bare feet were stepping perfectly in sync with the tempo, and he maneuvered around his partner as if it was the easiest thing in the world. No wonder the others wanted him to join in—he was the best one there.
Much to Gilbert's disappointment, the song finally came to an end, quickly replaced by cheers and merriment from all around the deck. The merman pouted. Music up on land was completely different from the type played underwater, and he had really been getting into it. But, surely there was more to come. He lost track of that human named Romano, too, so his eyes scanned the many faces on board. But when he finally located him, he couldn't look away.
The sour face from before was now replaced with elation. He was laughing. And suddenly the lighting behind him changed, enveloping his face in reds and greens and blues, giving him an ethereal look, as if Gilbert had suddenly died and gone to heaven.
"Hey, the fireworks are starting!" someone shouted as the air was punctuated with pops and bangs in the distance, and Gilbert reluctantly tore his eyes away to stare up at the bright colours that now filled the night sky. He remembered now. These explosions were the things he was looking forward to all day.
He dived back into the water, resurfacing next to Heracles to watch the show. A smile was plastered onto his face as the multi-coloured lights reflected off his eyes. Nothing Kiku said could have prepared either of them for this breathtaking sight.
"They really are like...loud suns," Gilbert said, not knowing how else to describe them.
"Someone called them fire-works," Heracles remarked vaguely, being drawn in by the sight himself and unable to look away.
"What's fire?"
"Man overboard!"
Their conversation was sharply halted by a human leaning over the ship's railing, pointing in their direction. The two mermen immediately ducked underwater, swimming away as fast as their fins could take them, images of harpoons threading through the water playing in their minds. But nothing happened, and they safely reached deeper waters without being pursued.
They took a few moments to calm themselves, clutching at their stinging chests as their bodies got used to breathing water again in that high-stress situation. Gilbert let out a nervous laugh, breaking the silence.
"That was, uh...close." He couldn't have possibly said anything more obvious.
"But..." Heracles looked upwards, unable to see more than a dim light pervading the surface of the water. "We did it. We saw fireworks...and humans."
That brightened Gilbert's expression considerably. "That's right! Yeah!" He did a small victory dance, spinning in place while pumping his fists."We're the only ones who can brag about something as awesome as that!"
"Please don't actually brag about this, I'll go to jail forever."
The prince laughed, and they enthused about all of the details of this latest adventure before parting ways. But on his way home, despite everything he'd seen, Gilbert had difficulty thinking of anything except for that human's smiling face.
[[Authors Note: Yes his name is Romano, no that is not a typo.]]
[[Also: "Fireworks" in Italian is "fuochi d'artificio" which means artificial fires and that's just awesome]]