willcarlyle
“I hope so or I’m going to be sorely embarrassed,” he admitted. There was no way he was going to out swim a mer-person but he hoped he could swim well enough to give Marinus a bit of a challenge. “What do you wanna show me?” Willow asked before taking another sip of his chocolate. The drink felt like the liquid version of a warm hug or the sensation of warm fur brushing against his skin from an animal seeking out affection. Unsurprisingly, Willow was more familiar with the latter. Now, he was curious to see what Marinus had in store for him. He always wanted to ask more about the male’s ocean life but considering it was closely related to his family and that seemed to be a sore spot lately, he held his questions back until the prince brought up the topic himself.
Marinus a few months ago would have slapped himself just at the thought of bouncing in his seat out of sheer giddiness, even for a second. Given his present company, Marinus now didn’t care and did just that. “It’s a coral reef,” he answered, heart thumping in his chest. “I mean, not just any, it’s actually really cool. I go there every once in a while to hang out if I feel like, y’know, getting away. I think you’d really like it, babe.” It was the first time he’d mentioned the spot to him - or, well, anyone really. It was special to him, and the possibility of sharing it with Willow filled him with warmth. Or maybe it was just the hot chocolate. Yeah. Though that didn’t explain his slip of the tongue.
“Hey, you ever talked to crabs before? They’re hilarious, one time Melody and I-” At that moment, one of the baristas - one Marinus didn’t recognize - that had emerged from behind the counter to clean some around the seating areas approached them. The merman did a double take as the tall, blonde, muscular fellow raised a hand in greeting and gave a bright smile, glint matching that on his ‘I’m New!’ pin on his apron. “Hey there, how are you two enjoying your drinks?” Marinus glanced at Willow, his eyes narrowed somewhat to show his displeasure with the interruption, but answered. “They’re great, thank you. You guys make awesome stuff.” Hearing this, the guy laughed - a deep, but pleasant sound, and folded his arms, the pink t-shirt straining around his biceps. “I hope so, made those two myself. Anyway, just wanted to stop in to thank you for your patronage - especially you, Willow, right? I’m Brad. Here,” he paused to hand them each a specialized cafe gift card, decorated for the holiday.
“Uh, thanks, dude. We’ll use these up real quick,” Marinus said, and as he said this Brad’s smile softened a little, his eyes taking in Marinus’ features. The merman just sort of stood up stiff in response. “I hope so. Come back soon so I can make more for you guys, yeah? Have a good day, Happy Valentine’s!” He waved and returned to his duties, while Marinus rose a brow, turned to Willow and said simply. “That dude’s horny as fuck.”










