Royce

I was having a small freak out. There really wasn’t any other way to explain it. Troller had kissed me, I’d kissed him back and it was amazing, but I felt guilty about it too. There’s so much for him to learn and I shouldn’t have taken advantage of the moment. I should have stopped him, but by the sea, I wanted to kiss him before today, after he rescued me. The whole thing was a dream played out in front of me until Pete showed up. 

I got myself under control and walked out onto the deck where Pete was organizing gear. “Um, sorry about that.”

“What do you have to be sorry for? I was the one that interrupted,” Pete replied. The tone of his voice sounded off. I’d expect him to joke about it. 

I glanced down at my feet then back up at Pete. He hadn’t stopped what he was doing. He was tense and I wasn’t sure why. “Is there something else I should apologize for? You seem upset.”

He stopped moving. “No, damnit, you shouldn’t have to apologize. It’s your boat. You should be able to kiss whoever you want on your boat. Because it’s your boat.”

“Okay.” I watched as he became more frustrated with his work. “It seems like we’ve established that, Pete. What do you…” Before I could finish my sentence Pete grabbed my face and kissed me. I wasn’t sure what to do with that either. It didn’t give me the same feeling as Troller’s kiss. I held still and eventually Pete let go.

“Okay, so um, that…” Pete grasped for words. 

“Didn’t work.”

“No.”

“How long have you wanted to do that?”

“Years.” Pete nodded. “Since I was a deckhand.”

“What about Marcy?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I love Marcy. I’m going to marry her. But we worked together, so I didn’t act on things because I liked how we worked together. And that was probably a good thing, considering.”

“So what changed?”

“I wanted to make sure, you know? Like double checking. Because, you and um, your merman. Wow, boss. That was um…”

“Hot?”

“Surface of the sun, my friend,” Pete said with a kind of smirk on his face that made me wonder if it was a little bit of envy. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Are we alright?” I looked at him and watched the tension ease out of his shoulders as he relaxed a bit. I held out my hand and he took it. I pulled him into a hug. “You’re my best friend, Pete. No matter what.”

“I know,” he said as he patted my back. “Go take care of your guy. I’ve got the boat.”

“Okay.” I let him go with a pat on his back. “Sorry about the pastries, it seems Troller ate them.” I gave him a shrug and Pete finally, finally laughed. It was a start at least. 

“You owe me dinner then. Bring back some hogies or something.” Pete gave me his usual lopsided smile and I smiled back. 

“You got it.” I left Pete with the gear and went back to my room to find Troller dressed, and finger combing his wet hair while sitting on my bed. “Can I help you with that?” I pointed at his hair. 

“Yes please, if you could? What will you do?” Troller was sitting with his legs to the side again. I wondered, not for the first time, if that was a habit or more comfortable for him. The kiss he gave me earlier was in clear juxtaposition to his current shyness and the posture that was deceptively demure.

“Hair is like rope. I can braid it.” He looked at me and I grabbed my brush and a leather binding I found on my desk. “Here, I’ll show you.” I settled myself behind Troller and began smoothing out his hair with the brush. With Pete’s kiss still fresh on my lips, I felt a little guilty.

It occurred to me that he and Troller were about the same size, and probably about a hundred pounds or so less than me. Troller had more muscle mass, likely from swimming. While Pete was tan, Troller was pale. Pete was a good looking guy, with short brown hair, and green eyes. Troller was good looking as well, but built for swimming, with his broad shoulders and narrow waist. Though if you saw him, you could tell immediately that he probably wasn’t human, if the black eyes and long blood red hair didn’t give it away.

Troller made soft, pleased noises with each stroke of the brush. It was utterly amusing and it made my stomach do flips with each sound he made. I separated his long red hair into three parts, then handed him my brush as I began to braid it.

“Brush,” Troller stated. “Is it magical? It felt magical.”

I smiled as I continued to braid his hair. “No, it’s not magical. But I’m glad you liked it.”

“I did.” Troller tried to glance at what I was doing, and I gently pushed his head forward again, but I caught a smile before it disappeared. “You are weaving my hair.” He sounded a little surprised. 

“I suppose, though we call it braiding when it’s hair.” I finished with the last twists and added the binding to hold it together. “There. That should make it easier to manage.”

He stood up and I took him in. He wore another band shirt that clung to his well defined chest. The button up jeans did nothing to hide the tone of his legs nor the power of his thighs. He’d also managed to put on a pair of sandals I’d found. His braided hair hung over his right shoulder. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.

“Did you need to shower, Royce?” The question broke my blatant staring. I felt heat creep up my neck from being caught. 

“Ah, yeah. I should.” I cleared my throat in a very failed effort to hide my frustration with myself and the erection that was growing more evident the longer Troller stood there. 

Troller nodded. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

I nodded and watched him leave, admiring how the jeans framed his ass. I covered my mouth so he wouldn’t hear me groan. I jumped up from the bed and stripped as quickly as I could. I managed to handle myself, take a shower, and change my clothes in less than fifteen minutes. 

When I went on deck, Pete and Troller were speaking quietly and the sun was shining on them. I couldn’t imagine a more perfect moment. It’s an image that will stay with me for the rest of my life.