Summer Secret •Joshler•

Mates

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Tyler was untying the speed boat he had rented from the dock as Debby climbed in. Josh was in the water beside them, ready to guide them over his territory.

The moon was high in the sky with streaks of fluffy clouds laced the dark blue sky. Josh's eyes glinted in the moonlight as Tyler noticed him staring at the sky.

"Ready?" Tyler asked tossing Josh the rope to pull them. The motor was too much of a noise risk.

Yupp." Josh said snapping out of his moonlit trance, shoving the boat away from the peer as he dove back under the water.

Debby tapped her fingers on her knee as she looked out into the ocean. It had been a while a neither of them had talked, either out of fear of noise or just awkwardness.

"You love Josh right?" Debby asked suddenly catching Tyler off guard.

"Yes of course I do." Tyler said unashamedly quick. Debby grinned.

"Of course you do. Are you getting married?" She said jumping up and down and little in her seat with excitement. Tyler's face paled.

"I-I don't know it's a little soon don't you think?" Tyler said nervously and Debby rolled her eyes.

"You've already mated right?" Debby said and Tyler choked on air. She laughed. "Don't act so surprised. To be honest I've already mated too."

Tyler kept coughing.

"That's one of the main reasons I didn't want to marry Josh. I'm already in love with someone, but my dad won't ever approve of her so..." Debby sighed and Tyler stopped coughing, clearing his throat.

"I think you should just say screw it and tell your dad." Tyler said, his voice a bit raspy from coughing. He opened his water bottle he brought and took a swig.

"You know what I really should. So what if she's so called a peasant, she's my princess and I love her." Debby said crossing her arms determinedly.

Tyler smiled at her. "What's her name?"

"Jenna and she's so beautiful. Her hair is golden and so is her tail and her eyes are bluer than the ocean." Debby rambled on and on about Jenna and Tyler smiled and began telling her things about Josh. The ride didn't seem to take so long anymore.

The boat stopped at floated momentarily before Josh peeked out of the water. "You guys ready?"

Tyler examined his wet suit one last time before slipping on his plastic fins. Debby handed him a jar filled with human-gill. "As ready as I'll ever be." He sighed before plugging his nose and downing the slimey plant.
He dove in the water along with Debby and began their decent into the dark water.

Tyler latched his arms around Josh's neck as the three approached the giant fish grounds. Plants swayed gently below as hundreds of fish swam around him. The brunette almost screamed when he saw a shark zip in and out of the fish above.

"Don't worry Tyler they won't bother us." Josh said taking his hand and squeezing it gently. "Trust me."

Tyler exhaled slowly and nodded as they began diving deeper into the parts where there were caverns. It was really dark, only slivers of moonlight cascading through the inky ocean.

"What does it look like Josh?" Debby asked and Josh closed his eyes for a moment in thought.

"It looks normal, except that it's pink and glows slightly. That's why it's better to search for it at night." Josh said and they began the search.

Debby took one side, Josh and Tyler on the other. Around two hours passed and they both came back exhausted.

"I don't see anything Josh. Did it say anything else in the book? Anything at all?" Debby said desperately, trying to get Josh to remember. She was slightly stressing Josh out though.

"Breath Josh it's okay." Tyler said softly, rubbing his thumbs against the merman's collar bones. It was oddly comforting.

"We can check right off the drop off." Josh said and Debby's face instantly paled.

"No Josh nobody goes to the drop off. You can't even tell where it ends." Debby said with obvious fear in her voice.

"That sounds like a pretty good place for it to be right? Right where nobody goes." Josh said and Tyler nodded.

"A-alright come on. It's this way." Debby said and they began swimming until they could see the drop off's horizon. It was basically a giant hole in the sea, you never knew how deep it went or what was hiding inside it. It was always joked about with young merpeople that the kraken lived in there. Kind of like how parents used to say that if you didn't come home at night the boogieman would get you. It was a scare tactic.

Debby stopped and stared out where the hazy blue slowly turned into a deep dark pitch black. "I'm not going." She stated simply.

Josh rolled his eyes and began detaching himself from Tyler.

"Woah what are you doing?" Tyler said as he now floated beside Debby.

"You're not coming with me. It's too dangerous." Josh said and swam out over the giant abyss. Tyler tried to grab him but Debby grabbed his wrist.

"Tyler trust him remember?" Debby said regaining some confidence when she thought of Josh's words. She'd always trusted Josh.

Tyler didn't pull away, instead laced his fingers with Debby's before nodding.

"Be careful!" Tyler said and Josh grinned before swimming deeper into the darkness before his red tail was completely out of sight. Debby squeezed Tyler's hand.

******

Josh's anxiety was not doing any favors for him at the moment. The darkness surrounding him felt like it was gripping around his neck and seeping into his lungs but he had to do this.

He had to do this for Tyler

Josh would be utterly lost without Tyler now, or in an awful marriage that he couldn't get out of.

Josh's mind eased when he thought about Tyler and his voice, his smell, his eyes. Every aspect of Tyler made him feel better.

Suddenly something caught Josh's attention. It was something glowing a pale pink a little further in the distance. Josh darted towards it and saw a small batch of them, just enough to fill the net he had brought. He began picking them and shoving them in as fast as he could, his anxiety fueling his speed.

Tyler and Debby still were floating nervously at the top, waiting for him. Suddenly Debby whispered "get down" and dragged him to lay flat across the ocean floor. Tyler was about to protest when he noticed two guards in the distance. Debby and Tyler slowly swam behind a small rock, sticking to it like glue.

"Who's are they?" Tyler asked and Debby sighed in relief.

"They're Josh's." Debby whispered back and Tyler exhaled. They both didn't speak another word as they watched the guards swim over the abyss, chatting aimlessly to one another. Of course Josh's dad had put guards out here. Why wouldn't he?

Josh stopped as he saw two figures in the water above him. His eyes had adjusted to the dark so he could see them before they could ever see him. So Josh hovered for a moment wondering what to do. Thankfully they hadn't seen Debby or Tyler so he hung back. How long would he have to be down here though? Suddenly he thought about Tyler.

How long could Tyler survive down here?

******
a/n: sorry if the gif isn't working. Dealing with shitty data atm