Claris knocked on the med bay’s door, wondering if Nemo and Yuki had finished. From all the things that’d been cleared today, one thing remained to be figured out. Evan’s Nemo knew about Luna even when he was born a slave. He’d also managed to keep the poison from the death net from killing him, making this particular Nemo too versed in magic to be some simple slave.

“It’s okay! I already unlocked the door.” Yuki called from the inside, Claris opening the door and finishing the couple snuggled in Nemo’s small bed. “Oh! Hello, Claris! Here to see how Nemo's doing?”

The prince stopped dead on his track, surprised Yuki was talking in fluent Common Tongue.

“How did you…?” Claris looked at Nemo, whose silver eyes sparkled with an immense level of mischief. “Well, yes. Hi there. I’m Claris Azure, from Luna?”

The merman sat up on bed and looked at Claris with surprise riddled in his expression.

“You smell funny, like mer but different?” Nemo explained, his eyes showing confusion. Yuki sat up beside him and gave him a questioning look.

“I’m royalty, we have a ‘spicier’ scent so to speak?” The mer walked closer to their bed, his arms crossed and wearing a friendly smile. He’d stored the crystallum in his pocket since he wouldn’t need it around them anymore. “May I ask, do you know what kind of mer you are?”

Nemo vigorously shook his head raising his hand and wincing once his skin started gaining glimmering green scales. Claris took Nemo’s hand and examined his scales, he took a sniff of Nemo’s scent scrounging up his nose at the strange smell.

“…green scales, a scent I don’t recognize… silver eyes, silver hair, bronze skin…” There weren’t many species of sea weres that he hadn’t come across. There was one in particular he’d heard of that fit Nemo’s description. “Your tail is fully green right? No patterns? Maybe something you were told was unique about you?”

“Yes, and I umm… when I entered heat I was kept away from the others. Shiryou told me I was still too young to be spoilt.” The silver haired mer, lolled his head, Yuki placing a caring kiss on the mer’s shoulder.

“He wouldn’t want unwanted half-breeds. You’re a young Emerald King after all.” Claris replied letting go of Nemo’s hand. “You can have children regardless of your dominant gender.”

“What…?” Yuki straightened up, blood had washed out of his face and the man looked spooked.

“Relax, he has to be in his mer form AND in heat to get pregnant.”

“Oh. Well that’s good to know.” The blond seemed relieved at the news, Nemo giggling at his reaction.

“Were there more of you? What about your parents?”

“I was the only one that looked like I do… I never met my dad but I was told my mom died giving birth to me.” The silver haired mer lowered his head as he closed his hands, the scales on the one he’d offered Claris turning to green dust.

“Emerald Kings used to be a clan of mers that lived in the fallen Kingdom of Lacrimosa. My grandmother decimated that kingdom when she was Queen of Luna, the Emerald Kings had become scarce by then. By the time my mom was born, Emerald Kings had been thought of as extinct.” Claris took a hand to his chin, he was trying to make sense out of Nemo’s existence. By all standards, there shouldn’t be any of Nemo’s kind, they’d gone extinct before pirates even dared interfere with the mer kingdoms of the Sea Lands. “We really need to get our hands on those logs…”

“Am I interrupting?” Evan walked into the medbay, Yuki almost falling out of Nemo’s bed when his captain gave him a mischievous, knowing look.

“No, we just figured what Nemo is… umm, did you two talk about what he knows about the Ryuusei?” Claris was doing his best not to laugh. Evan pulled him to his side and the prince managed to hide his giggles against Evan’s shoulder.

“He confirmed they are the Ryuusei. Someone powerful in their ranks is named Shiryou, he wanted Nemo all to himself.” Yuki explained, Nemo nodded at his side.

“Yuki, are you speaking fluent Common Tongue?” Evan asked, Claris tapping his back reassuringly.

“Emerald King ability, a kiss is enough to share knowledge. I don’t think Nemo did it consciously but it’s definitely why Yuki can speak Common Tongue now.”

“…okay. Shiryou. Anything else you might remember, Nemo?”

“My family might still be alive. They’d normally keep us drowsy… he wanted me as awake as possible so I think I remember more than most. There’s a man you should be wary of apart from Shiryou, we called him Keeper. He’s the one that handled the death nets.” Nemo explained, he made as if he wanted to get up, and Yuki hurried to help him. Both men had gotten their hands on pants, which saved them an awkward moment of sorts. “I’m better, I don’t know how to fight yet… but I want to help. I want to save my family.”

“It’s okay, we got this.” Evan’s face showed off a very serious expression. “I promise, we’ll get them back and we’ll put a stop to these people. All you have to do is wait and cheer for him,” Evan looked at a blushed Yuki while the blond scratched the bridge of his nose.

“…but I—”

“I'll teach you how to fight. But for now, facing them is too dangerous for you. You just learned how to walk…” Yuki placed a hand below Nemo’s chin and pulled his face towards his just so he could press their foreheads together. “That you’re safe is the best of helps.”

Evan and Claris felt a little awkward standing there staring at the couple give each other cuddles and looking overall super cute.

“So umm… yeah, we’ll leave you guys to it? I have some things to talk with Claris in private.” Evan interrupted, taking Claris’ hands. The prince gave him a confused look before shrugging and pulling him away from the lovestruck couple.

The couple walked back to the Tiamat’s deck in utter silence. They stood staring at the beach on the other side of the pier for a couple of minutes before Claris got brave enough to speak.

“Hey, uh… what did you… want to talk about?” He mumbled, trapping a flock of hair behind his ear.

“How are you feeling?” Evan didn’t look at Claris, he fumbled with his fingers.

“Better. I still really want to kiss you…”

...or bang you senseless, either one’s okay. AH! What am I thinking?! Centered thoughts. Centered!

“Then let’s do it?” Evan meant to sound sure, but it came out as a question. He tried to look at Claris, but he found himself looking at anywhere else but his crush’s face. “Claris, I like you. You like me. Let’s not keep looking for excu—”

The prince pulled Evan in for a kiss. He closed his eyes tight, his heart beating fast but not in a painful way. The pair had butterflies in their stomachs, Evan’s legs felt weak while Claris’ could feel his ears burn.

“That was nice…” Claris whispered, his lips still close to Evan’s.

However, whatever afterglow that remained from their kiss was crushed when the merman flinched all of a sudden. He placed a hand on his chest as he doubled over, seeming in a world of pain. Evan held him, he didn’t exactly know what to do or what exactly was happening. The only thing he could do was hold him as Claris breathed hard, apparently trying to calm himself.

“Do you need something?” Evan asked desperately. “What’s wrong?”

“…it’s… heat…?” the prince managed to say before having to smother a pained moan. “I think it’ll pass… augh.”

What the heck? I’d never felt something like this before!

“Do you need to rest? I can take you to my room.” Evan picked him up, Claris sorta curling up into a ball in his hold.

“…I need  you…” Claris had teared up, he was wincing with every wave of pain that hit him. Thankfully they were receding for now, but he knew that from now on things would get worst. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to ask. Everyone’s told me to just do it—”

The mer winced again as he felt like his heart was getting crushed, a maddening heat pulsing through his veins with every strained heartbeat.

“Evan… please… will you help me?”

“Of course.” Evan’s reply was full of affection, his voice trembled though. He hated seeing Claris like this. If he could take it all away, he wouldn’t hesitate.

“…date, tomorrow…” The pain completely vanished, as brashly as it’d come.

“You sure it can wait?”

“Yeah… I at least want to take you somewhere nice... and I need to change forms.” Claris chuckled. “For now… I think I need to rest…”

The prince cozied up to Evan in his arms, closing his eyes and just getting high on the captain’s scent.

“Let’s go back to my room.” Evan readjusted his grip on the prince. “I’ll work from my room and keep watch, is that okay?”

“Mhmm.” Claris smiled, rubbing his face against Evan’s chest. “I’d love that.”