The Fool By The Seaside | mclennon

7

Chapter 7: A Cruel Revelation

"Do you enjoy working at library?"

Paul hummed, he was laying with his head on John's tail, the merman decorating his hair with pearls and small shells. "I don't mind it, y'know. My friend George works there, he's a crackerbox." He shrugged, "The pay is good, and my boss is nice."

John tilted his head, his hair was still keeping his hair short, since he still felt the sadness and guilt over Ridire's death. "Boss?"

Paul closed his eyes, the feeling of his boyfriend's (Merboyfriend? Merlover?) fingers caressing his hair making him feel drowsy, "Yeah, y'know. The person is charge, tells me what to do, makes sure I get the money."

John nodded, chuckling at his human's sleepy tone. He curled himself up so that Paul's head was still resting on his tail, but John's head was resting on the human's chest. He caressed the guitarist's chest with a sharp but gentle nail, "Sleep," He told him. "I will wake you up in thirty minutes, yes?"

Paul only snored in response, and John giggled in amusement. He kept an eye on the beach, not wanting to be surprised by some human. Paul had told him that nobody visited this part of the coast, it was far from the port and beach days weren't really a thing with all the shit weather. But still, John was cautious. And he wouldn't dare fall asleep on the beach again, the last time hadn't gone so well.

Instead, he wondered about the future. He was with Paul now, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore the fact that they were from different worlds. Paul would have to move on someday, John knew. Get a human mate, have offspring, offspring with legs. John couldn't give him that, he knew. But there was a little bitty bitty small problem, John was falling in love with his human.

John swam into his home with a sackful of shells, he'd gotten lucky today, finding a spot full of large, shiny (empty) shells. "'ello, Mimi!" He shouted, putting his sack on the dining stone. "I'm back."

There was no answer. John frowned, his aunt was usually right in his face whenever he came home. He swam to the kitchen, nope. To her chamber, nope. To his chamber, nope. He searched the whole cave, and found nothing. The he heard a familiar voice calling his name and he hurried to the entrance. "Cyn?" He asked, he tilted his head, "Where's Mimi?"

Cyn grasped his forearms, she looked terribly distraught, "Oh, John! They just came out of nowhere, we were having lunch and they just-"

"Who's they!?" John was getting upset too, where was his auntin?

Stu appeared behind her and it was then that John noticed that a crowd of curious sea creatures was forming around them. Stu said, "The police came, John. Took your auntin, said she was under arrest." He looked forlorn.

John's breath caught, then it began to speed up. Soon his gills were shaking and his chest was rapidly moving up and down. "How, how did this happen? She's never done anything!" He could see that the people around him were starting to feel the effects of his panic, their own breathing erratic. But he could hardly concentrate on that now.

Stu and Cyn were quick to grab him and move him to the inside of his home. "John," Cyn was saying, "You've to calm down."

John just shook his head, he hated police. They always got in the way of his fun, hurt his friends, and now they had arrested his auntin!? The woman was practically a saint, she never broke a law in her life!

Stu's voice interrupted his thoughts, "You gotta go to the headquarters and talk to them, see if you can pay her bail. It was probably a rumour or some shit like that, my Athair was arrested over that and he's all good now, isn't he?"