Penned Sea Hearts 🫧

[Second place in the Aro Ace Awards]
As a librarian working in an underwater library, Ramos likes his peace and quiet, which is distrubed only a few times a year when an author swims by to do a book signing. This time around, it's Kai, a famous writer of steamy romances going by the pen name Phish Seaman, and despite never reading any of his books, Ramos greatly dislikes the man even before meeting him, the pen name being the majority of the reason.

Once the signing is over, Ramos is relieved that he will never have to see Kai again. Or so he thinks until the library finds itself with no funding thanks to the new, corrupt mayor. With his library in danger of closing, Ramos has to enlist help from Kai, asking him to come by again for another book signing if only to get a few more months to figure out a new plan to keep the library afloat.

Kai does a lot more than that, and the more time he and Ramos spend together, the closer they get, until their tentative friendship turns into something else. Much as Ramos doesn't want to.