Merman In The Water - Larry Stylinson AU Merman!Louis

Chapter 18

[E/N]: HELLO ONCE AGAIN AUDIENCE. Thanksgiving break... ah, it's been so unproductive xD BUT THAT TIME ENDS NOW. WE WILL WRITE THIS FOR MOTHER RUSSIA.
[S/N]: FOR MOTHER RUSSIA. But yes, very unproductive. xD

"You boys remember Edgar, right?"

Harry stiffened in horror, noticing as the atmosphere shifted from happy to tense. Louis and Niall seemed nervous, but they seemed a bit calmer than everyone else. The curly haired lad finally managed to croak, "Yes. Hello."

"The merpeople hunter, right?" Louis asked, a disapproving look on his face.

Harry slipped an arm around Louis' waist and gave it a tight squeeze, hoping to stop him from continuing. Luckily, Edgar nodded, "That's me. Hunter and researcher."

Almost instantly Zayn and Liam positioned themselves protectively around Niall, who glanced to Louis. Louis nodded once at the lad before he allowed Harry to pull him close. Paul gave a forced chuckle, "Edgar is here to visit and tell some fishing stories..."

The two older men dragged over logs, sitting on them instead of on the sand like the younger lads. While they had walked away, Harry looked to Louis and Niall in a panic, "Don't- don't correct him or anything, okay? Don't like... don't say anything smart, or sassy, or... just don't let him guess you're mermen. Please."

"Relax, Harry," Niall soothed. "We can barely walk but we kept it from Liam and Zayn until they overheard, remember?"

"That took like... a day," Harry groaned, hiding his face with his hands.

Louis patted soothingly at the younger lad, "We're alright..."

But then Edgar and Paul were back, and Harry couldn't bring himself to tear his gaze away from Edgar. Edgar was a threat to Louis and Niall, and Harry wasn't going to just put down his guard and let the man hurt his merboy.

"So lads..." Paul murmured to break the awkward tension. "You all ate dinner I'm guessing? Or does your dinner consist of s'mores?"

"Oh yeah, we ate at... in town," Niall nodded. "Harry got that red stuff on his pants."

"Red stuff?" Edgar lifted an eyebrow.

"Ketchup," Harry supplied frantically. "It's an inside joke! Cause ketchup is... it's red? And-"

"Harry..." Liam interrupted. "He get's it."

"You've got quite the interesting bunch here, Paul..." Edgar murmured, tilting his head as he examined the close proximity of Harry and Louis sitting a few feet apart from the other lads. "And what's this? Are you two... oh..."

"They're together," Paul nodded slowly, a bit of a protective tone slipping into his voice. He kept the mood light, however. "No problem with that, though, right?"

"No, no," Edgar agreed. "No problem at all. I was simply curious. Let's move on shall we? Would you all like to hear about something I'm most educated in? I figure this is a good spot to discuss it, being on the beach and all."

"Does it involve mathematics?" Zayn asked hopefully.

"You're a silly lad," Edgar chuckled. "Goodness no, try merpeople. I am a hunter of them after all. I have to know them well if I plan on ever discovering one."

Harry fought back a groan, and he felt Louis grow rigid in the arm that he had wrapped around the merprince. He was terrified the older boy was going to snap at Edgar or speak out, use his princely ways to do something crazy like order Edgar to leave his people alone.

"Go ahead, Edgar," Paul murmured hesitantly, shooting apologetic looks to Niall and Louis.

"First things first... I believe I've told blondie and fringe here that merpeople were quite ditsy," Edgar chuckled.