23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Leigh

L eigh had never been as close to death as he was when that bullet pierced his chest, not even when he had been sinking to the bottom of the river, sure to drown. Still, in both cases, Tolly had been there to save him. Leigh wished he could give Tolly the one thing he wanted and say the words, but he needed time. They hadn't even known each other a month. While Leigh might feel it, strange and wonderful as it was, he was not ready to push aside every hang-up he had ever had unless he could do so honestly.

Tolly said it was fine, that he was happy enough simply being with Leigh, but Leigh could tell as the days passed that Tolly seemed quieter, like he was pulling away. He even went out without Leigh a few times, to see Alvin about something he wouldn't tell him the details of.

It was the little things that Leigh could not explain that worried him most.

"Did you change the sheets?"

"Yes, I… like these better."

Not to mention the hesitation Tolly showed when they touched, like he feared he might hurt Leigh when he had never worried about that before.

Once, when Leigh surprised Tolly, grabbing his hand from behind, he pulled back with a start from a cut on his palm. "Shit. Those sharp nails of yours again, huh?"

Tolly looked dismayed, apologizing profusely, but he wouldn't explain why he was so alarmed.

Finally, after more than a week had passed and Leigh was out at a job interview, trying to find something to make ends meet before he ran out of stashed cash and the next rent check was due, he came home to find a stack of papers on the kitchen counter.

It took him a moment to understand what he was looking at, but it was a loan for Tolly Allen signed over to Leigh, everything he needed to get started with a business, as well as the beginning paperwork to purchase the building, though that would take longer, more than Tolly would have been able to accomplish in so short a time, even with Alvin's help, which was obviously how they had accomplished this.

Tolly could be made to look like a perfect candidate with flawless credit and everything a bank could want, because there were no records to say otherwise, even if the records anyone would find would be falsified. They'd gotten everything in motion to surprise him.

His eyes felt hot in gratitude, but before he could call out to Tolly, who hadn't yet appeared at his arrival, he lifted the last of the papers to find a note at the bottom of the stack in Tolly's flowing handwriting.

My beloved Leigh,

I wish things could have been different, but with this, I hope you can finally live the life you want for yourself and remember me fondly. All I ever wanted was your happiness. Please know you gave me much in return.

Forgive me.

-Tolly

"What…?"

Leigh heard the creak of the floor and stepped out of the kitchen to see Tolly setting a pile of neatly folded clothing on the sofa, wearing only his simplest outfit, jeans and a red T-shirt, as if leaving all else behind and ready to walk out the door. He startled when he saw Leigh.

"What is this?" Leigh lifted the note. "You're leaving?"

"I hoped to be gone before you returned." Tolly glanced away. "I must go before the sun gets any closer to setting."

"Why? Tolly ." Leigh crossed to him and hated how Tolly backed away. "What did I do? What changed? I thought you were mine and I'm yours, and you weren't even going to say goodbye? How can you leave?"

"I do not want to leave."

"Then don't ."

"You wish for me to stay?" Tolly looked at him plaintively.

"Of course I do."

"Then tell me."

"Stay." Leigh threw the note on the pile of Tolly's clothes and grasped his hands. "Whatever you need, I'll do it. I'll give you everything you want. You got me the shop, got me out of the life so I can run it like an honest man. You've made everything in my life better since the moment you entered it." Seeing the fond smile grow on Tolly's face, Leigh reached for his cheek and held it. "You're beautiful and warm like a light in the worst pits of this world when I don't think I can stand the dark anymore. You like my cooking and all my favorite movies." He laughed, and Tolly's smile twitched wider. "You love my friends. You're part of my family. I never want to be away from you. Ever."

Tolly nuzzled his cheek against Leigh's hand. "I love you, Leigh," he said with questioning in his eyes, enough that Leigh's heart hardened.

"That's what this is about, isn't it?" He drew his hands away, and with his retreat, Tolly's smile fell and he backed up before seeming to realize that he would have to go forward to get to the door.

"I have to go," he said, trying to move past Leigh.

"I thought…." Leigh clutched after him, catching his wrist. "You… you said it didn't matter. But it does. If you can't want me the same way without it—"

"I want you," Tolly said to the door. "I will always want you. That is not the problem."

"Then what is? Why is it so important? Why are you leaving?"

"Because I am out of time."

As if on cue, the room darkened with the setting of the sun, and Tolly spun, eyes bulging wide in worse fear than Leigh had ever seen. "No… I have to go." He tugged for Leigh to release him, but that only prompted Leigh to hang on tighter.

"Why? What is going on? Tell me!"

Tolly fought him, struggling as if Leigh's touch burned his skin, but Leigh wouldn't let go without an explanation, and because he wouldn't release him, Tolly reared back and pushed him so hard, he flew across the room with an oomph as he struck the ground, winded.

Looking at him in shock and apology, Tolly spun about to sprint for the door at last, but before he reached it, he cried out in such agony, Leigh thought he'd missed a gunshot ring out.

Tolly stumbled, pawing at the door, but he couldn't stay upright, his legs like jelly, losing their purchase. He dove for the kitchen instead.

"Tolly!"

"No! You must not see!" He disappeared from view like he was going to be sick in the kitchen sink, though Leigh was certain he saw him falter as he crossed the threshold, stumbling forward as his legs gave way beneath him.

"Tolly!" he cried again, lurching up to give chase, not understanding why Tolly would ever run from him.

Then he turned the corner.

And his nightmare lay on the kitchen floor.

"No…."

Leigh retreated, fear paralyzing him before he could get farther than the kitchen door, causing him to sink down on the other side of the wall, trembling and trying to shake the vision away.

"It's not real, it's not real…."

But it had looked so tangible, the monster with Tolly's fin, deep bloodred with dark red hair, pointed ears, webbed hands with claws twice the length of its fingers, large black, empty eyes, and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. It had writhed on the kitchen floor like it was seconds from crawling after Leigh to swallow him whole, and still, he could do nothing more than squeeze his eyes shut.

"Wake up," he hissed at himself. "It's not real."

"I am so sorry," came a whimper, too close, as if right in Leigh's ear. "I never wanted you to see me like this."

"Tolly?" Leigh forced his eyes open, because either he was losing his mind, or the monster was real and Tolly was in the kitchen with it.

He couldn't be as close as he sounded, though. Still, Leigh inched forward to peer around the edge of the doorway to be sure.

The monster was there, only the monster, yet it wasn't any closer. It was turned away from him, fin stretched in his direction but face turned toward the wall. Its shoulders seemed to be shaking like it was… crying?

"I did not mean to lie, to keep this from you, but I never wanted you to look on me with such dread."

"Tolly…?" Leigh repeated, unable to understand, especially with Tolly's voice ringing in his ears. "How? I don't understand. What… what happened?"

"I failed. The spell is broken. I do not get to keep my legs or the form I made for you."

Made for….

All at once, the nightmare parted like a curtain, and Leigh was left looking at the truth. Tolly could not be speaking from anywhere but the figure in front of him.

"This is what you really look like," Leigh said and felt so foolish for not understanding sooner. "It was you. It was always you. Because of our connection, I…. Tolly ," Leigh called as he crawled around the tattered remains of clothing toward the frightening form on his kitchen floor, "look at me."

Only after several moments did Tolly obey with a slow turn of his head, and while Leigh shrank back at first, he told himself to stay strong, because those eyes, black as they were, were not empty. There was love and sorrow, and Tolly was crying.

"It's okay. It's okay." Leigh was afraid, he was, but this was Tolly . He had all the features of the monster, but he was still Tolly; it was still his face somehow beneath the rest. Leigh didn't want to be afraid, so he reached out to hold Tolly's cheek like he had in the living room, and Tolly started to reach up and touch his hand in turn before he remembered his claws.

He opened his mouth as if to speak around his many teeth, but a mournful cry sounded instead, like something from deep in the ocean.

"You can't speak like this, can you? That's why you sounded so close. That's why I didn't remember your mouth opening when I first heard your song. I was hearing you in my head."

Tolly pressed his cheek to Leigh's hand since he did not dare touch him with his claws. We have no need for voices underwater. Tolly spoke without his lips moving. The face you saw was your ideal, part of our magic to entrance potential prey. When I chose to step out of the water, that was the form I took.

"It was an illusion," Leigh said. "But I don't understand. What failed? Why don't you get to keep your legs? What did I do wrong?"

There was such depth of emotion in the red face and black eyes. You did nothing wrong. You simply do not love me.

"What?" Leigh gripped Tolly's face more fervently. "What are you talking about?"

I could not tell you the details of the spell, the magic prevented it, but to keep my human form and my gentler merfolk form, I had to secure a vow of love from the one I left the water for. You did not offer such a vow and now my time is up. I had only until the next full moon, risen now outside with the sunset. I am so sorry I could not tell you. I am sorry for what I might have told you but was too afraid to.

"Vow? You mean because I couldn't say the words?" Leigh felt his heart break as he must have broken Tolly's, all because of three words left unspoken. "I don't say it, I never say it, but I… I love you, Tolly. Of course I love you. I love everything about you." Leigh pressed his forehead to Tolly's, however frightening he might have once found him, and Tolly gasped in his mind to hear it finally.

Even though you see me as I am? Ugly and terrible?

How did Leigh keep ruining everything, that Tolly could ever believe that? Now that Leigh had pushed past his fear, knowing that the creature he'd thought would devour him was simply Tolly in another form, he saw how beautiful it was in its own way.

"You're fierce, and I was afraid, but you could never be ugly to me. I still see you. This is still you. And I love you. I love you ." He pressed his forehead to Tolly's again for want of a kiss he wasn't sure he could risk with those fangs, but this was enough. Tolly was enough.

It is too late. Another mournful cry left Tolly's mouth. The spell is already broken. I must return to the water to accept retribution.

"Retribution?" Leigh snapped back.

My kin will come to slay me now that I have failed, drawn to me from the trail of broken magic no matter what body of water I inhabit.

" What ?" Leigh realized the horror of what his insecurities had caused and couldn't accept it. "No. I won't let that happen. We just… won't put you back in the water."

I must return to the water. With my legs, it was not as dire. I could have gone days without submerging. But in my true form, I will not last long before I perish. I can already feel myself weakening. If I do not return, they will know me dead on land; if I do, they will slay me.

No, Leigh couldn't let them win and take Tolly away from him. "We'll… put you in the tub. You said all water is connected because of your magic, but the tub would be too small. They can't get you there."

It would not be large enough for me. I must be fully submerged as often as possible.

"The pool then!" Leigh grasped at whatever options he could think of. "It's not a real body of water. Maybe they can't reach you there either."

I… I do not know. I had never attempted to connect to a pool before. But even so, it would not be a long-term solution. I cannot stay in the pool forever. Other humans would find me, see me, and they would not be as understanding.

They'd kill Tolly the second they got a look at him.

"There has to be something we can do," Leigh said, still stroking Tolly's face and holding him close. "I can't lose you just because I was too messed up to say the words."

Tolly smiled, and even with his fangs, it was somehow sweet. To be loved by you is all I ever wanted. It is enough.

"No, no, I can't accept losing you. I'm going to take you to the pool and we're going to figure something out. There has to be something ."

He tried to gather Tolly in his arms before realizing he couldn't risk carrying him down to the pool like that, visible for everyone to see. He hurried to grab the sheets from his bed, and Tolly told him to look in the back of the closet.

The old sheets were there, bundled into a ball. As Leigh unfurled them, he saw slash marks as if from… claws. That's why Tolly had been pulling away from him all week; he was succumbing to his more fearsome form, and he hadn't believed Leigh could handle the truth.

Leigh almost hadn't.

But it didn't matter now. Tolly was Tolly , and Leigh would not let him go. He bundled him in the sheets and lifted him, struggling with how much heavier he was with his tail, but he could manage. He made it to the pool without anyone seeing him, locked the door, and carefully set Tolly in the water.

He was still beautiful, the way he swam, the glitter of red and gold, the extra spots of darker red all over his body like freckles. Leigh felt silly for having ever thought this creature could be scary. He was dangerous, he was everything Tolly said his kin could be, but he had gentleness in him that belied any ferocity.

The pool was as clear as it had ever been after Sweeney's men cleaned it last week. Leigh took off his shoes and socks like usual, rolled up his jeans, and sat on the edge to dangle his feet in the water.

You are not angry with me for lying? Tolly asked before long.

"After the way I talked about the ‘monster' in my head, of course you couldn't tell me. It's okay. It doesn't matter now."

Tolly nodded. The red hair was becoming on him, but more Little Mermaid red than anything natural, so black made sense for his other forms, rather than ginger or looking like some punk with a dye job.

Alvin knows , Tolly said. He saw most of this form after that man shot you. I got rather… angry.

That's why they'd had their hushed conversation, and why Alvin was the one Tolly had turned to this past week. "He still hugged you. He loves you, Tolly. Any of them still would if they knew the truth, because they know you."

Again, a sweet, fanged smile replied. Although Tolly had to disappear beneath the water every so often, he always came back up. It was not you who failed. We were given such terrible odds to face. When I am gone, promise me you will still open the shop and live the life you want.

"You're not going anywhere," Leigh said. "There has to be a shelf life for this. If you don't die on land and they can't find you, there has to be a reset button so you can step out of the water again, and this time I'll say it. I'll say it every day. I thought it would sound broken because I'm broken. I didn't want you to hear it like that when you deserve better. But saying it… saying it to you feels different than I expected. I love you, Tolly. I'm sorry."

Now Leigh was the one crying, and when Tolly floated closer to him, it was insult to injury that he could not touch Leigh or hold him because his claws were too sharp. Instead, he carefully rested his palms on Leigh's thighs.

Our skin and scales are tougher than a human's. Our claws do not hurt one another unless we use force. But I hate how easily I could cut you. There is no end to the magic, Leigh. Even if they never found me, I cannot grow legs again. I can never change from this form again. I could show you a false face, an illusion, but you could not touch it. You deserve better than a monster you would have to keep hidden from the world that could never hold you again.

"You're not a monster," Leigh said, because he'd said the opposite too many times when he didn't know any better.

There had to be something they could do. Leigh was a planner. He was a good planner. But from juvie to a life of crime, magic didn't play a role. All he could think to do was place his hands over Tolly's and lean forward to kiss his forehead.

Then the tip of his nose.

Then his lips, even if Tolly had to keep his mouth closed or risk cutting him on the edge of his teeth.

Tolly pulled back with a start, and Leigh's eyes sprang wide.

"What?" he asked, but even as he did, he saw something happening in the pool, the water starting to swirl and darken, with a strange light emanating from the center.

You must leave. Now, Tolly said, pulling away and swimming out of Leigh's reach. They have found me. Please remember me as I was.

" No ." Leigh shook his head as fresh terror filled him. "I'm not letting them take you. Who are they? How many will there be?"

Two. They are hunters.

"Only two?"

Two is all they need.

Moments passed before two dark figures appeared, swimming with the swirl of water like circling sharks, one in shades of yellow with edging in red, another nearly completely black. They circled wider, intent on trapping Tolly between them.

Leigh, please! Tolly stayed in the middle as if accepting his fate. I recognize them. I grew up with these kin. You must get away from the pool!

Leigh wouldn't. He couldn't. He didn't have a weapon, didn't stand a chance against even one being like Tolly, but he didn't care. As soon as they expanded their circle to encompass Tolly and would soon pounce to drag him away, Leigh pushed from the edge of the pool to drop into the water.

Leigh!

If they're taking you, then they're taking me too. But I'm not letting either of those things happen without a fight.

Opening his eyes under the water, Leigh took in the full sight of the other merfolk. In general, they were much like Tolly, only larger, one blond, mostly canary yellow with red-accented scales like the reverse of Tolly, and the other, larger still, had dark hair and was almost entirely black, trimmed in midnight blue.

Leigh, you don't understand! Tolly swam to him, trying to guard him from the others. The spell has broken. You can no longer breathe underwater.

Leigh thought something felt different. That certainly made things harder, but he was not deterred. He could hold his breath long enough, even if the time they had left meant they would simply meet their end together as the others circled closer with their maws open and claws outstretched.

Don't accept this, Tolly. Don't let them win. Go out fighting. You're allowed to defend yourself. It doesn't make you like them. You hear me, assholes! Leigh wasn't sure if they could, but he shouted in his mind anyway. If you want him, you're going to have to go through me.

Dark, foreboding laughter filled Leigh's mind in two overlapping voices as he swam to be back-to-back with Tolly and fought against the natural inclination to swim up for breath.

You wish to die? the yellow one said.

And the black one completed the thought. Then we will gladly grant your desire.

They shot forward in unison, Black toward Tolly and Yellow at Leigh. The strange center of light at the bottom of the pool remained with the swirling water, but Leigh paid it no mind and focused on every episode of Shark Week he'd ever seen and what parts of a creature from the deep might be vulnerable.

There were gills on this form along the rib cage, so when Yellow came at him, fangs bared, Leigh kicked as hard as he could right at that spot and the merfolk sank with a gasp.

Tolly had pivoted away and came up on Black's side to take a bite of his shoulder. Black might be larger, but Tolly was faster.

Diving down to attack Yellow before he could recover, Leigh grabbed him by the back of the neck and swam down, pushing with all his strength until Yellow's face slammed into the bottom of the pool.

I am going to rip your throat out! Yellow raged in the aftermath, but Leigh got his feet on Yellow's back and pushed off toward Tolly.

Tolly was fighting hard, slashing and biting and constantly moving to stay out of Black's grasp. While Black's back was to Leigh, he swam faster to grip him around the middle and held him in place for Tolly to strike.

Fool! Black hissed as he struggled to dislodge Leigh. We will rend you both to pieces!

Starting with you. Yellow came up on Leigh quicker than he'd anticipated, and Leigh was wrenched downward, pulled by stinging claws slicing his ankles, then dragged down farther and farther, deeper than the pool could possibly be, until he hit that strange light at the bottom and everything went white.

Leigh!

Leigh was still in the water, but he had no idea where when the light dimmed, and he found himself disoriented and adrift. He struggled not to breathe in as he had grown accustomed to, but his lungs were starting to burn. He needed air. He wouldn't last much longer, and he didn't know where Yellow had gone.

Then he felt arms encircle his waist, with a shock of panic spiking through his chest, until they shot upward with impressive speed and broke the surface. Leigh gulped in air as quickly as he could. It was Tolly who had saved him, and they were definitely no longer in the pool.

It was dark, but Leigh recognized the river by the docks. Their magic had ported them out to the nearest body of water.

Leigh, please, you must—

But Tolly did not get to finish before he was yanked back under the surface.

"Tolly!" Leigh cried, trying to stay afloat while unable to see anything. The water was too dark. The other merfolk could be anywhere.

A splash alerted Leigh to the flick of a yellow tailfin at his right. A moment later, another splash and flick of the fin was at his left. Yellow was toying with him, taunting him, while Black must have Tolly.

"Come and get me, you bastard!" Leigh yelled, running on pure adrenaline now.

Nothing happened for far too many seconds, and he worried it was already over, that Tolly was gone. Then, just as he'd been about to sink down in the hopes of seeing something , Yellow's arms clamped around his middle and held tight, one hand coiling loosely around his throat to tap his claws along his jugular.

Not to worry. I will wait so that Tolomeo can watch.

Perhaps you are the one who needs to be watching, Tolly's voice came next, and Leigh looked up to see him surface not far in front of them, holding Black the same way Yellow had Leigh, claws deadly and ready to sink into his throat.

Yellow hissed by Leigh's ear with his true voice, resonant and threatening.

I remember you , Tolly said. Both of you. You are mated now, are you not? I can tell. I will kill your mate if you do not release him!

Yellow squeezed Leigh's neck in return, before he chuckled darkly.

You are no killer, runt. That is why you fled like your weak parents.

Too often these past few weeks that Leigh had known Tolly, he had seen him have to be brutal, but he wasn't like his kin. He was stronger because he'd had to be a survivor.

I will kill him to protect my beloved, Tolly threatened.

Beloved? Black sneered. You still call him that? He shunned you. That is why we are here. He offered you no vow!

"Because it was about words," Leigh said, staring at Tolly, only Tolly, not caring that he bobbed in the water with death at his back. "Words I should have said but didn't. I love you, Tolly. I'm sorry I said it too late."

I love you too, Leigh. Tolly smiled, though it was a sad smile full of terrible grief. So please forgive me for what I must do. Release him— he turned his attention to Yellow— and I will stop fighting. I will surrender for you to slay me.

"What?" Leigh cried, feeling the claws slice his skin in his struggle. "You can't! Just swim! You always said others weren't fast enough, but you are, that's why you escaped them for so long. You can outswim them, Tolly. Just go!"

If you flee, Yellow warned, I will bleed your beloved dry and feed his corpse to the young ones.

Leigh believed that, and Tolly's eyes proved he did too.

Release him, Tolly said again, and I am yours.

"No…." Leigh tried to catch Tolly's eyes again, but he wouldn't look at him.

Before Leigh could beg him to reconsider, he found himself airborne and could hardly breathe for how quickly he shot out of the water toward shore. They had only been just off the docks, but still Leigh had a long path to fall before he landed hard and rolled up onto the sand.

As dazed as he was from the force of hitting the beach, he clambered to the river's edge as soon as he caught his breath. Tolly offered him one last longing look of farewell, before the others descended and dragged him into the depths.

Leigh pulled the gate up on the front of the shop, the sun just barely up, signaling the start of his day. It wasn't officially open yet, but the new sign was neatly painted with a date for the grand opening hung on a vinyl sign beneath it.

Leigh's Fix-It Shop—We can fix anything but a broken heart.

Alvin had frowned at him when he requested it, but it seemed like the perfect kind of middle finger to the universe since none of this would have been possible without Tolly.

It had been a month since Tolly was taken away to be killed. The first week had passed in a daze, not feeling real or at all fair, even as Leigh did as Tolly told him and continued to set in motion all he needed to finish buying the shop on the corner.

That night after Tolly disappeared, Leigh wandered—still barefoot and drenched—to Alvin's place. He didn't try to hide his tears or his distress when Alvin answered the door. It was one of the few times he let Alvin hug him, and he crushed his friend just as fiercely in return, needing the contact and comfort. After a hot shower and change of clothes, Leigh explained everything.

"I didn't know he was planning to leave, I swear," Alvin said, handing cocoa to Leigh like the silliest, most wonderful of comforts. "I thought he just wanted to surprise you with the shop coz he was afraid to tell you about his other face."

"It doesn't matter. He couldn't tell anyone what he needed from me because of that stupid pact and its rules. I was supposed to figure it out for myself, but I didn't. He needed the words and I couldn't say them."

"It's bullshit." Alvin shared Leigh's anger. "All that matters is what you felt, and you loved him like crazy. He knew that."

"I know. But it wasn't enough to save him. He gave up everything to save me."

"I'm so sorry." Alvin hugged him again, more freely than he ever did, and Leigh snuggled into his friend's arms, wishing it could somehow make the sting hurt a little less.

They fell asleep like that on the sofa, something they hadn't done since they were brats in juvie. It felt nice and safe and more than Leigh would ever ask for from his friend, but it didn't make the trek home to an empty apartment the next day any easier.

Tolly's shredded clothes were still on the kitchen floor. His folded clothes and other belongings still neatly piled on the sofa. The forms and the goodbye note from Tolly's last sweet, selfless act….

Leigh put it all away, back in Tolly's claimed drawers and part of the closet like maybe, somehow, someday, Tolly would come back for them.

Telling Alvin the truth had been the easy part, but with everyone else, Leigh couldn't explain the horror and didn't want to relive it again. So he told the members of their strange, extended family that Tolly had gone home. Everyone was sad to hear it, gave their condolences, wondered at why, to which Leigh simply said it was time and Tolly wasn't able to stay. He thought maybe some of them could tell he was lying, Ralph especially, but no one called him on it.

"I'm really sorry, Hurley," Ralph said. "You were great together."

He was going to be Leigh's first employee at the shop, helping him open in the morning before school and working when he got home until closing time. It would help Leigh ensure Ralph didn't get caught up in any other nefarious dealings or unsavory groups. He hoped spending that much time with the kid wouldn't be as annoying as he feared.

For now, all that remained before opening day was to keep stocking shelves, filing paperwork, advertising, all the little things that came with starting a business. Leigh would mostly repair things, but he also had a few things patrons could buy, like batteries and cords, with a growing list of things to add. He'd order anything anyone needed and play it by ear what he had to make permanent fixtures. It would keep him very busy, busy enough, he hoped, to move on.

A month. A whole month without Tolly, which was longer than he'd known him, yet life would never be the same without him. Leigh dreamed about Tolly constantly, almost every night, in all his forms. Everywhere he turned was a reminder.

In fact, he was fairly certain the full moon had been just last night.

The door chimed and his ears perked at the sound, realizing he had left it unlocked while he busied himself in the storeroom.

"Sorry, not actually open yet! Come back in a week!" he called.

"Anything but a broken heart?" an impossibly familiar voice answered. "Rather dramatic, is it not?"

A chill tingled beneath Leigh's skin to hear that voice and then to see him in the flesh when he emerged from the back.

Tolly . Standing there just inside the door like the most beautiful mirage. Dark hair and eyes. His wide, brilliant smile. Wearing clothes Leigh had never seen before.

"I'm dreaming." He closed his eyes, unable to handle the cruelty.

"No, my love," Tolly said, coaxing him to look, because soon he was right there, reaching to touch Leigh's face, "you are not."

Leigh sucked in a breath, but he couldn't deny that he felt the touch, and when a shaking hand of his own reached up to touch Tolly's, he felt that too. "Tolly," he said aloud, and Tolly smiled at him before drawing closer.

"I have missed you so much."

The press of Tolly's lips couldn't be a mirage, or his warmth, or the weight of his body pulling Leigh in. Tolly wrapped his arms around him, and Leigh clung tightly in return to be certain this was real.

"How?" he sobbed when they finally parted. "They were going to kill you."

"They planned to," Tolly said, "but their mistake was hubris. They wanted to gloat and further humiliate me, so they took me back to our kin to parade me through the colony before my death, speaking in scorn of my love and my loss. They did not realize that telling of your heroics would be their undoing. You were right , Leigh."

"Right?" Leigh was still in a daze, unable to look away from Tolly now that he had him.

"There are others like my parents," Tolly said with excitement. "Many, it turns out. I was the first in hundreds of years to make a pact with a human, and though it failed, even the hunters who spirited me away had to admit that you loved me in return. When they made to slay me, others came to my aid."

With a gentle touch, Tolly sat Leigh down in the chair behind the counter and told him of a fierce battle that had erupted, brewing for decades.

"Our love was what inspired the resistance to act."

"Our love inspired a rebellion?"

"Yes." Tolly gazed on him as though Leigh was the miraculous one. "And now kinder leaders have taken control, and those who wish to be more than killers outnumber the rest. Very few of the crueler ones were killed or fled. Most are willing to hear the rest of us out. The tides are changing, truly, and it is all because of us.

"When the battle ended, dozens of my kin, so many, gathered all the magic they had in order to find a way to bring me home to you. It simply needed to wait for the next full moon."

Leigh was living in a fairy tale, and his prince knelt before him like the happy ending he never thought he'd get. "You can stay?"

"Forever. We have already sealed our pact with a kiss. All that's left—"

"I love you," Leigh said in a rush, afraid he'd miss his chance again.

Tolly laughed. "And I love you. After all, it was merfolk magic that made such pacts possible in the beginning, because there were precious few of us who fell in love with the beings we were told to drown, so we had to create our own ways to be with them. The right magic can be rewritten if you have enough of it, and it was not as hard as I feared once it was discovered what a powerful tether there is between us, still binding me to you."

"I kept dreaming of you."

"I am sorry if that made you mourn me all the more, but I am here now, if you will have me."

" Always ." Leigh pulled Tolly into his lap to kiss him again, then had to laugh. "We're going to have to change that sign. Alvin will be thrilled."

"Actually, he already is," Tolly said.

"You mean you—"

"When the moon was at its highest last night, I stepped on land once more. But I did not want Miss Maggie to discover me in the nude again."

Leigh laughed in near delirium now, but even that was joyous. "You knocked on Alvin's door instead? He was always trying to sneak a peek, you know."

"Perhaps, but Cary was the one who answered, and he covered me quickly. I asked only for clothing, a place to rest my head, and where to find you in the morning, and they gave me all I needed."

Those assholes. Those wonderful assholes.

"So." Tolly settled in Leigh's lap, straddling his thighs and coiling his arms around his neck. "Shall we change the sign to: We can fix anything— even a broken heart?"

We . It felt so much better now that it meant something. "Seems so," Leigh said, resting his hands on Tolly's hips.

"I cannot wait to open the shop with you, but perhaps you could delay your work this morning. There is something I wish to show you."

Leigh spared no time locking up. He was with Tolly . He had Tolly back. He would follow him anywhere.

Which was back to Leigh's apartment building, though not upstairs. Tolly led him to the pool. It was too early to run into anyone, which Leigh was grateful for, because he wasn't ready to share Tolly yet, especially since Alvin and Cary already knew.

Leigh snuck a text to Alvin as they entered the pool room and locked up tight.

I hate you .

Love you too!

Alvin sent the reply with a flurry of kissy emojis.

"Now, you do not get to refuse me this time," Tolly said playfully as he pulled his shirt over his head. "Will you join me in the pool, Leigh?"

Leigh pulled his shirt off too. "Never planned to step foot in that thing again, but I will for you."

They stripped, got into the water, and Tolly let out his tail while keeping his human upper half.

"You know you don't have to hide your real form from me anymore," Leigh said.

"I am not hiding. All three forms are me, but this is the one that combines the part of me I always loved and the parts you first fell in love with. It is the form I prefer, not shame."

"Okay." As long as it was what Tolly wanted.

Tolly drew Leigh out to the deep end and started to pull them under.

"I can breathe underwater again, right?" Leigh asked with a start.

"Yes," Tolly assured him. "You most certainly can. Come."

Leigh always felt a little awkward being naked in the pool with his legs sprawled about while Tolly looked so elegant with his tail. With effortless ease, Tolly drew him close beneath the surface and held him in his arms. He kissed him, and this kiss was different somehow, because Leigh felt something exhilarating flutter through his chest the whole time they were in contact.

Now we have a new pact, Tolly said. An option, but only if you want it.

Want what? Leigh asked, and Tolly smiled ever so sweetly.

Why, would you grow a fin for me, dear bird, so we may live wherever we wish?

What? The request caught Leigh by surprise. Tolly, I can't—

You can. If you will it.

I…. Wait. You're saying…. Right now? How?

Will it, want it, and believe.

He said it like it was so simple. Breathing underwater was simple with magic involved, Leigh supposed. Being with Tolly, a merman, was simple. Well, not a simple road, but a simple destination. Of course Leigh had to try.

It wasn't painful. It wasn't instantaneous, but it wasn't grotesque to witness either. It was… magic that one moment his legs floated beneath him, and only a handful later he was something new, something elegant like Tolly that shocked him with how comfortable it felt, not at all horrifying to have such a drastic change overtake him.

Still though, I'm gonna be able to change back, right?

Tolly didn't respond initially. He stared at Leigh's tail like he had never seen anything so beautiful. Leigh supposed it was beautiful, and he dropped down lower in the pool to flick his tail outward and really look at it.

Unlike Tolly's tail, which was mostly red, Leigh's was an icy blue with trim around his scales in shimmering silver as though he was covered in frost.

Like your eyes , Tolly said. Oh, I never imagined you would be so lovely.

Never imagined, huh?

Tolly's eyes snapped up to meet Leigh's smirk with a startled expression. I only meant—

Come here. Leigh let him off the hook since he had only been teasing.

They were like fire and ice, though the pleasant shock of Tolly's touch and kiss felt more like lightning. Strangest of all was how their tails coiled so naturally around each other.

If Leigh had a tail, that also meant—wow, that was weird to think about, yet it didn't shake his psyche, only intrigued him, as if this combination of beings was what he had always been intended for.

May I have you inside me now, Tolly said, purposely reminding Leigh of many times before, though this would certainly be different than any of those.

Should have known you had ulterior motives, Leigh said.

Only to be with you. And yes, you will be able to change back whenever you wish. Perhaps one day I can take you to visit my kin.

That was a strange thought, since until now, Leigh had considered merfolk the most terrifying creatures of the deep. As long as you trust them, you can take me anywhere.

He pulled Tolly in for another kiss. Leigh would never tire of kissing him, touching him, feeling his tail— their tails—gliding around each other, smooth and tingly with the scratch of their scales.

Let me touch you, Leigh, and coax you out, Tolly said, nuzzling him cheek to cheek as he slid the fingers of one hand down the front of his chest and lower to the beginning of his tail.

Leigh could feel stirrings of arousal, and when Tolly traced the slit at the front of his scales, he gasped at how easily they parted for Tolly to press inside. It was and was not like having Tolly inside him when he was human. There was still the same warmth building low in his belly, just originating from somewhere else.

I can feel you, Tolly said, pressing his fingers along a part of Leigh that twitched in response and started to extend. Tolly drew his fingers out with an enticing, gentle tug, and Leigh's sex, changed to be like Tolly's, revealed itself, icy blue like his tail and eager to flex.

Whoa this is strange….

Bad? Too much?

No, Leigh said quickly, looking away to take in Tolly's face.

Tolly touched the newness of him with tender curiosity before wrapping his fingers tight. A moan tried to leave Leigh's throat, forming bubbles between them in the water. It was the same yet so different again. Tolly explored his new form, always watching to be sure he enjoyed what was done, and soon had him eager to find a harbor.

I am wet and ready for you, Tolly said, guiding Leigh forward, ever with his lines straight out of a porno. Leigh loved it. He loved this. He loved Tolly.

The slick slide of Tolly in this form was something Leigh was used to, but never when he also had two halves of a whole to flex and grasp with. When he entered Tolly, it felt as though he found Tolly's sex inside him and clasped on with the first sweet thrust. Only with Tolly could he imagine anything so strange feeling like everything he'd ever wanted.

They spun in the water, tailfins fluttering, swimming together in a whole new dance. Tolly's voice whimpered and gasped in Leigh's mind, and when the moment came to bite and claim, Tolly arched his neck to the side and asked for it.

Please….

Leigh didn't break the skin, that wasn't the point, but he dug in deep to mark Tolly, then licked and nuzzled the spot as Tolly had done to him. It probably meant more than a sexual ritual, something deeper and permanent, like mating, like marriage , yet it didn't strike Leigh as anything greater than exactly what they were to each other.

It was so easy to reach an end together, wrapped in each other, unique and whole.

I do, you know, Leigh thought when they floated there beneath the surface, blissful in the afterglow. I didn't only say it to keep you. I love you. Maybe it is a terrible, cruel word and thing to feel for someone, but with you, it's worth it.

Tolly held Leigh's face in both hands and kissed him soundly. I love you too.

It was several minutes later that they floated upward, breaching the surface while Leigh still had his tail. He liked it. He really did. He wondered what it would be like to swim far out into the ocean with Tolly at his side.

" Dude ." Alvin startled him as soon as they reached the air. "Were you two having freaky mermaid sex down there? Love the tail, by the way, and only slightly jealous."

"Alvin!" Leigh gasped as he crushed Tolly to him, bobbing in the water to see that Alvin had once again broken the lock to the pool room and had Cary with him. "I hate you so much right now."

"Aww." Alvin grinned from where he crouched at the pool's edge with Cary standing smugly behind him. "Come on, losers. Let's go get breakfast."