Ron x Formoso

     “What’s that?”

     “Pardon?”

     Formoso leaned closer to Ronald’s torso, his hands gently reaching to touch his side. Normally, the sailor would back down from the contact, feeling sudden and intrusive to receive such a personal contact without announcement. This time, however, there wasn’t a feeling of hostility when the merfolk crossed into his personal space. Instead, there was comfort, and Ron lay peacefully as Formoso tugged on the seam of his shirt.

     High tide had neither come nor gone, so the pair had found themselves in a great spot for a leisurely soak under the sun. There was a certain spot on the bay, once you climbed down from the side of a minor cliff, that went way to an assortment of rock formations that poked out of the water. It was like a small set of islands, each their own little paradise, none bigger than six feet. In short: perfect for a couple to sit down and relax. Ron had been the one to suggest the spot in one of their usual meetups, just because of how private it was. Despite the isolation, there was an open view of the sun as it set, golden, down into the horizon. It was a lovely view, and Ronald had found himself seeing it more and more as he met with Formoso on days of rest.

     Formoso, on the other hand, saw their meeting spot as a trove of curiosities rather than a place of leisure. With the cliff behind them, many human artifacts would scatter across the rocks then scatter into the water: small treasures for him to find. Ron called them trash, but Formoso wasn’t so sure why a human would ever dispose of trinkets he himself considered treasures. From broken necklaces and their beads, torn shirts, chairs missing a leg or the wheel of a carriage, Formoso had found it all to be a product of this collection of rocks. All his treasures originated from the human world, including Ron. In this spot, he was free to treasure him as much as he wanted.

     Moments like this, of looking at him with love in his gaze, was when he was the most aware of Ronald’s figure– That’s why he had to speak up when he noticed a scar on the side of his body.

     They had been laying on that rock together, talking about nothing and everything all at once. Ronald’s arms were up in the sky as he looked at the clouds, gesturing to showcase the moves he had made with his sword when defeating a particularly nasty enemy soldier. He recounted all of this with prose and poetry, as well as his grasp of the language could manage. For Formoso, grammar didn’t matter, as he listened with an open heart and wonder in his eyes. For him, Ron was a poet, soldier and a king all at once.

     “Are you hurt?” Formoso  asked, more concerned than anything, but rather confused as well. He pulled on the side of his shirt to properly access the wound.

     It was only then that Ron flinched away. “I… it is nothing,” he said, voice quiet.

     “You are hurt,” Formoso insisted, growing more upset by the second. He went to examine the wound again, but Ron’s hand fell on his own.

     “Was,” he corrected, taking a deep breath. “I was hurt, long ago.”

Formoso only starred, coral eyes locked on his features as he was looking for an answer. How had he been hurt, so badly, to leave such a scar? Why had Formoso not noticed before? Could he have done something to prevent it?

     “Hey, I’m okay now, you see? I…” Ronald let out a sigh, painfully aware of the concern in his lover’s eyes. He took a second to form the words in his mind before continuing, “This was before I met you. An enemy ship crossed our path at night. There was no stakeout at the time, as there was a storm brewing on the horizon. We got careless.”

     Formoso was all too aware of the dangers of a storm, and the destructive nature it posed to a man-made vessel. Even under the water, the shift in temperature, the violent rock of the water, the push and pull of ice cold rain falling like rocks from the sky. He could only imagine what it would be like on top of a boat, let alone if one was forced to fight through it. 

     “The enemy didn’t care about the storm,” he continued. “If they were that desperate enough to pursue the merchandise on the boat, or if they were inexperienced with what a storm meant, I do not know. But when we lowered our guard and focused on keeping our ship afloat, they did not. We were tired, completely unprepared, and their men were merciless. There are many casualties in a battle, and well…” 

     “You died?” Formoso asked, horrified, even though the idea was absurd with his breathing lover in front of him. Ron chuckled, an amused but empty sound.

     “No, my love,” he whispered instead, his eyes avoiding Formoso’s to focus on the sky. “But by the enemy’s sword, I nearly did. I was wounded,” his thumb traced over Formoso’s knuckles, squeezing his hand tight. “but the ocean was kind and spared my life. The waves and the storm forced them to crawl back where they came from, and get away from us. That time, I lived.”

     “... that… that time?”

     Formoso’s voice was trembling. For all the stories of victory and heroics, of defeating pirates and helping the weak, he had never truly pictured the dirty side of a human disagreement. Maybe it had been a sense of trust, or just being blind to the violence, but he had never imagined that there was ever a time where Ron could lose. And that terrified him. 

     That’s when Ron finally turned to his lover, gazes finally meeting. The moment they did, he noticed that Formoso was crying, eyes puffed up and wide open. A very innocent fear, of the what ifs of battle, that Ronald had long ago blocked from his memories. But in front of him lay a wondrous creature, naive to the duty and mechanics of a war, and wanting nothing but the one he loved to be okay. 

     “I am here, I am here now” Ronald whispered, pulling Formoso closer to his chest. “And I promise you, a sword will never take me away from you” 

     Formoso held him back, closer than before, “I just want you to be okay,” he whispered.”

     “I know,” Ronald replied. “For you, I will be.”

     They stayed together, warm bodies curled up against each other, until the sun set at last over their little paradise.