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#but you're not supposed to be allowed to keep other creatures with an octopus
undead-merman · 2 years
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Velo's Story: The (mis)adventures in the semis-isles
Find the Introduction here
You awake to a choke and spitting salty water from your lungs. Your whole body was sore, assuring you that you were somehow still alive.
"Haha, you scared me a bit." a smooth voice seems to echo out.
You painfully peel open your eyes, still stinging from the water. You rub your eyes and groaned as you sit up.
"Not even going to apologize for spooking me?" There is a soft chuckle. "How rude. How are you feeling, Human?"
As you finish rubbing the sting out and your tears flushed out the irritation, you finally see the person before you, though "person" was a stretch. Maroon-skinned and speckled white, and blue-haired man smiles up at you from shallow water, a soft blue light illuminating his smug features. Then, in the inky waters, you could see small dots glowing. It took a minute to register that those were glowing suckers, belonging to many octopus arms idly floating in the water.
"Staring is impolite." Another playfully snide remark. "Can you speak?"
"Yeah." was all you could muster.
"Yes to one or both?"
"Both," you say harshly, your voice slightly cracking.
He smiles and you watch as his legs lift him up to a different part of the cave to retrieve something. Your gaze was drawn up, and you caught what looked like glow worms wiggling around. The creature then swims back up to you and offered you a cleaned conch shell filled with water.
"It’s fresh. Drink." Your dry throat didn’t allow protest. You drank it down, and it was refreshingly cool. You kept your eyes on the monster who just smiled at you. "Do you have a name?"
You let out a cough and gave him a glare. He let out a light-hearted chuckle. "I only ask because some folks around here haven’t had names for a long time."
You give him your name and he rests his head on his hands. "My name is Velo. A pleasure, I'm sure." You feel a small bubble of annoyance, but it seems like he did save you. He seemed to read your mind. "It was an event to see you. Jumping off the ship like that, you really like to make a spectacle, huh?" He found a bug and let it trail up one of his arms, and it circls around one of his own glowing suckers. "You’re lucky, you know."
You already knew it. Those slavers could have gutted you and made a barbaric show to keep the others in line. Not to mention, Velo seems to take some kind of pity on you. "A nasty shark is in those waters outside."
Velo’s smile shifts from one of playfulness to one filled with malice, his lips peeling back to show teeth. "A cold-blooded, disgusting, dirty thing." And just as he finishes, his polite smile came back like the crack of a whip. "Shark thing was waiting for you. Wanting to rip the flesh off your warm body and devour you slowly. I couldn’t just stand by and let you suffer that fate! So I took you in, found a nice deep cove on one of the islands, and used the bark to seal this place up so the storm doesn’t get it."
It took a minute to process it, and his reactions left a bit of a pit in your stomach, but he did save you. You just make a promise to yourself to watch for more red flags. It feels like you weren’t out of the storm just yet. And it feels like you couldn't trust Velo, not yet at least.
Velo let out a soft chuckle and swam into the deeper part of the cove. "Get some more rest. I can get you some food, though I don’t know how palatable it will be for a human like you. There's some driftwood if you want to try starting a fire." and with a small wave, he ducks into the water and swims off. While alone, you couldn’t help but think of your family, waiting for you. It was supposed to be a quick trip. Trade your goods and go back. But now you're trapped here. At least you're alive, and you hope they are too. You hope they can pay for this week's food. The best you can do for them now is survive and hope you can get home soon.
You had a small fire crackling, and Velo was able to find some fish for you. You had to use a sharpened shell to clean and eat it. It was satisfying, and you felt much better. Getting warmed up by the fire as Velo just watched you with a smile. It was quiet besides the wind trying to blow through here and the cracking of the wood. So you decided to break the silence.
"So this shark. Why did you save me from it?"
His smile widens like you asked him his favorite hobby. "Oh that filth?" His voice was loud and filled with a joyous ring. "It’s because I absolutely despise him! He’s such a horrible creature with zero intelligence. A mockery of all sentient life, really. If I can make him starve, it would bring me a lot of joy." He finishes his thought with a laugh.
Disturbing But if this shark is as bad as he says, you can’t say that it’s not earned. Especially if he was trying to eat you. "Is the shark like you?"
"Excuse you?"
"Is he a normal shark or a humanoid like you?"
His sudden glare turned to boredom. "Mmm. I don’t want to answer any more questions."
‘What an ass’ you can't help but sneer. The wind continues to blow against the blockade, creating an echo through the cove.
"Get some rest, little human. Call me if you need anything." Without looking back, he swims deeper.
Your body is sore, and you are tired as well. If he wanted to kill you, he already would have. So you try to find a place to sleep. You can’t find any place comfortable.
"Velo, where the hell am I going to sleep? I can't sleep on rocks."
After a moment, he swims back up, holding some folded cloth. He plops it down right in front of you. "I was gone for mere moments?" He snorts as you took them to make a pillow of sorts. "How did you live without me beforehand?"
You let out a loud scoff. And he grinned. "... Thank you, Velo."
You’re not sure if he knew if that thank you was for everything, not just the cloth, but he pulled closer and hauled himself onto the stone. He then pats your head, "Goodnight." He quickly pulls  his hand back and swam back into the black water again.
With that, you decide that what he gave you was enough to make a bunched up nest of sorts and pass out.
The next few days, the storm outside raged on, if not getting worse, Velo barricaded the entrance of the cove more, but you could hear the horrific winds outside. Velo finally finished wedging more trinkets to brace the entrance and lets out a sigh as he swam back to you and your fire.
"Do you have any idea when the storm is going to end?"
"Not a clue."
The stretch of silence is thick and heavy in the air. He swam up to you and smiles at you. "So human, why did you end up here? Humans avoid this place since it’s known for storms."
"I needed to get back home quickly. Going through the Semis-Isles was supposed to be a short cut, taking off at least a week." You look up and down Velo. "I never understood the name, but I guess I do now."
Velo sneers. "You humans are so strange. Half this, half that." slowly pulled closer. "I don’t like half. Every sense of the word irritates me."
"How so? What about it specifically."
"It’s hard to articulate, but I can give you an example of one reason." You nod. "Humans call my kind humanoid, half human. It’s egocentric. Not everything is centered around humans."
You pull forward slightly. "Sounds like you hate them. Like you hate a lot of things."
A smirk catches his face, like a hook in the corner of his mouth. "Hah, it’s not like you don’t have a point. I don’t hate you." He is now staring at you, right into your eyes, as if he was just taking something in.
You snort at him. "How romantic."
"Well, I can’t say we are." He laughs along with you. It was a nice laugh when it wasn’t directed right at you.
A knock. Velo’s head whips around, and his sucker's glow grow much more intense. You can't see his face, but you could feel anger ebbing off of him as his arms raise in an offensive stance. He didn’t need to say anything. You know nothing good was behind that knock as it grew louder and more intense.
He didn’t even have to say anything, just a turn of his head for a sparse glance and you know to hide. You climb as fast as you can up one of the taller rocks to one of the taller pools. As the knocking becomes ramming, your foot slips from the wet rocks and you can feel your foot slice open, but you keep climbing until you splash into the freshwater pool. You can hear the crack of the barricade and the wind howling inside.
"Fynn, banging down my barricade in a terrible storm is quite rude, don’t you think?"
"Where is it?" a deep, rough, yet monotone voice responds.
"Come now, Fynn. What exactly do you think I have?" Velo’s tone is on edge. You’ve never heard his voice so filled with malice. This must be the shark.
"You know what, hand over the human. Now."
"Now Fynn, what could possibly make you think I would have a human? I’d rather be able to hunt my fish and let you have your rotten humans so I can actually have some food this season. What you and those other humans have agreed to is none of my concern."
"Velo… You’re normally a better liar," a pause, "I can smell their blood." You try to hold your breath, your body trembling ever so slightly. You hope that somehow the howling wind would cover any noise.
Suddenly, you hear violent splashing. You peek to see blood and Velo’s limbs as well as a long shark tail flailing in the water. You can only see brief flashes of their limbs and sometimes faces, but the smell of iron suddenly hit your nose. A claw flings gore against a pillar of stone and splatters against the glow worms.
Without much thought, you yank a nearby pillar of stone, as hard as you could, and when it snapped in your arms, you screamed out. "FYNN!" and throw it. The shark looked up to see the crumbling stone fall.
The splash was loud. You could see Velo yank his limbs away and crawl into the bank. He leaves a messy trail of water and blood. You stand tall, ready to drop another. Bubbles and foam collected at the spot, but the glow worms' light was not enough to see what happened.
Then blood reached the surface, just a hint of red before the shark’s face breached the water. Silver gray skin with blood pouring from one eye as a single gray eye narrowed on you. Velo raised himself higher on his battered limbs. "Leave now Fynn. This human is mine."
You could feel the tension in the room as blood pooled down in the water. "That human belongs to me, rightfully so."
"I don’t belong to anyone!" You hissed out as you placed your hand on another piece of rock. Fynn’s frown deepens, and the light made his teeth much more noticeable. "I’ll be happy to rip you apart even more!"
Velo laughed. "No, you're wrong." You see Fynn’s head turn to Velo with a scowl, and even you couldn’t help your gaze quickly switching. Velo’s grin was wide, and all of his teeth could be seen. "You are mine. And I won’t let you fucking touch them Fynn. They belong to me. If anyone gets to eat them, it’s me! I’ll kill you if you even take a bite! Go back to your trash pit!"
Fynn let out a huff and a growl before turning his eyes back to you. "You’ll pay for this." Before turning with a powerful flick of the tail before darting out of the cave as thunder rumbled at his exit.
You slipped down from your vantage point to Velo, who was slowly lowering himself into the water with a shaky breath. You could see bite marks in his web, scratches all over his body, and even a chuck out of his arm. His breath was labored.
You limped up and he slowly looked at you, his eyes drawn to your foot. "Broken and battered yet again. Seriously, how did you ever live without me beforehand?"
"I had a lot of practice." He offered a breathy laugh. But he just floated there. Blood still seeping out of his wounds. You limped over to the cloth you'd been sleeping on and began to tear at it. Velo didn’t move, didn’t even look up. But as you finished, you stepped into the water and pulled Velo close.
His face was inches from yours and his breath was labored, but his eyes were focused on you. "Finish the cut."
"Finish?"
Velo nodded. "Yeah, just lop off the leg with the bite, it’ll heal."
You held him close as you nodded back to him and grabbed the closest and sharpest rock. You gave him a small cloth to bite down on. He took it and bit down on it with a cocky smile. You readied the stone.
Velo had his head in your lap, eyes closed. You found your hands on his head, feeling his fin ears. "Thank you…" he breathed out.
"You saved me. It’s the least I could do."
"The second time now, huh?"
You offered a light laugh. "Hey, I saved you this time. Did you see that hit?"
"Oh yeah, I had front row seats when it nearly crushed me too." He scoffed as one hand took yours. "I'll say you paid me back for the first one."
"Whatever you say, seven legs."
His eyes opened and he looked up at you. "Wow, don't you think it's a bit soon?" He was grinning, just as you knew he would.
"You made it out." There was a comfortable stretch of silence, not a word spoken, just enjoying each other’s company. But that question still lingered in your mind.
"Back when Fynn broke in. What did you mean?"
His brows immediately furrowed. "Why do you have to mention the shark's name now? I’d rather talk about my missing leg." You stared at him, and he stared back for a moment before letting out a sigh and smiling. "Also I have no idea what you’re talking about. You have to be specific. I said a lot of things"
You gave him a sharp look. "You said you were going to eat me."
He smiled as if pleased with himself. "Ah, that." So casual, it made your stomach churn. "I do want to eat you. Your plush, soft skin-"
His hands still stroked yours. "Who wouldn't? Who wouldn't want to kiss it and watch your face twist up with pleasure." You could feel your face heat up. "Ah, did you misunderstand me? That's okay, I can tell you how much I would love to grab your ass and pull you in for a kiss, kiss you so hard until you can’t breath and-"
"T-That's enough!" You rarely get so flustered. But damn… you didn't know he felt like this.
"Aw, I was getting to the good part." He just stared at you. And you couldn't help but be aware of his eyes. How dilated his pupils are and how deeply focused he was on you. "I understand if you don’t feel the same. We're different creatures. Compete with different bodies, needs, and even goals."
And his hands never stopped holding yours. "But I've never been so interested in a human, never felt minnows in my stomach like I did when I saw you up on that ledge. I-"
And right then. You silenced him with a kiss. His lips were salty. He wrapped his arms around your neck and pulled you closer. You felt warmth spreading through your chilled body before he slowly pulled away. A small strand of saliva dripped down on his cheek as he smiled at you.
"How devilish. Are you sure you want to? I’m not sure I can stop myself if you let me love you. My kind tend to love their partners to the grave. I know it’s a big thing for humans."
"When did you become so serious? Where is that smart mouth of yours?"
He chuckled at you before giving you a toothy grin. Joyous and bubbly laughter filled the cave. "You're right," he said as he turned to examine his wounds. "I’ll put my mouth to better use then."
You woke up surrounded by the cloth, as if you were wrapped up in your nest. You took a second to just lie there as you rubbed the sleep from your eyes. It’s the first time you've slept so well, even though you're sore. You sat up and noticed it was quiet, and not only that, the cave seemed much brighter. It took a moment to realize that the wind and rain hum was gone.
You quickly stood up and noticed your foot was nicely wrapped up and in much less pain. You limped through the water, sloshing the water for a bit before turning the corner and seeing the entrance open and what looked like blinding heavenly light. You had to squint and shield your eyes as you slowly stepped out.
A beautiful scene of the purest blue waters, reflecting the sun. The white sand is soft on your feet and with a cluster of different islands around you, you were sure they would be just as pretty as this tiny island. A paradise you were unaware of. You didn’t even see how lovely this place was sailing through before.
"What are you doing up, darling?" There is a breach of water and you see Velo carrying a wound up rope.
"I woke up and you weren’t there."
He smiled and he looked so much more handsome in the sunlight. "You really can’t do anything without me, huh?"
"Aw, knock it off," you said as you kicked water at him, and he laughed, not even flinching from it. "Your home is beautiful. I’ve never seen such blue waters."
"It looks much better with you standing in it." You could feel yourself flushing before you looked at the horizon. "What are you thinking about?"
"How can I get home, if I can get home. Everyone is waiting for me… I hope they're okay. You couldn’t help the crack in your voice. "But I don’t want to leave you either… I don’t know what to do."
There was silence between you both. And Velo swam up, pulling you down into your lap, soaking your clothes as his arms wrapped around you. "Like I said, I won't leave you." There was a pause. "But the shark is still out there. Even if we try to return you home, it will try to hunt us. He won’t stop until he’s dead or he’s ripped you to pieces… I can't protect you out there. There are no rocks to throw at it, no solid ground to keep you away."
You could feel more emotions bubble up. You knew it was true. The words Fynn said still echo in your mind. You had no way home… but it still hurts to hear. Velo held onto you tighter. You felt just a few tears fall down your face, but you tried to hold them back as much as you could.
"But I can take care of you. I’ll support you. And I'm sure those who are waiting for you will be fine. Humans can be adaptable and tenacious when they need to be. After all, look at you. You’ve done well for yourself so far." You took hold of his arms, holding them closer. "We make a great team. We can do this one step at a time. Live on, do it for them."
You felt more and more tears drip down your face. And you ducked your head down, openly sobbing. He slowly turned you around and took your face into his hands. "I love you." His tone felt so vulnerable, so loving, and his hands felt like the only thing holding you up. He gave you a gentle kiss before you started kissing back with fever. You could feel a smile on his lips as his arms coiled around you. The sounds of the ocean echoed in the air as you closed your eyes.
There's a NSFW scene available on Patreon, as well as more Mer's stories in Semis-Isles, uncover more of the story.
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bowansparrow · 3 years
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octopus machine broke
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waywardfangirl · 3 years
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I was incredibly fortunate to get to write for the wonderful @fight-surrender in the Carry On Secret Snowflake exchange, and she gave some of the best prompts I've seen. I ended up choosing to write a meet-cute (a meet-ugly, really) that takes place on the beach and centers around Simon's new fixation on the supposed dangers lurking below the waves.
I have to give a giant thank you to @foolofabookwyrm and @caitybuglove23 for being excellent betas, cheerleaders, and for helping me get the fic formatted and posted when my computer stopped working - you guys are the best! 💜💜💜
You can read the fic below, or on AO3!
Simon
 
I've always wanted to go to the beach. Growing up in care, I never had the opportunity to, but now that Penny and I are done with university and enjoying weekends without the threat of homework hanging over our heads, I finally can. Of course, we don't live close to the beach, so our day trip took some planning, but it gave me time to look up all the best places to eat, and it gave Penny time to watch every possible documentary about the ocean. I watched a lot of them with her, and while I know I probably won't see all of the tropical fish that swam across our TV screen, I'm still really excited to see the ocean. 
 
Unfortunately, I also happened to be in the room while Penny watched some show called “Predators from the Deep”, or something along those lines, so my excitement is also tinged with trepidation (or outright fear) of some of the things lurking under the waves.
“Sharks aren’t anything to worry about, Simon! They don’t want to attack you, and the likelihood of even seeing a shark here is extremely low.”
 
“It’s not the sharks I’m worried about, Pen! It’s all of the other stuff, all those little parasites, and the poisonous things, and the spiny ones.” The documentary was filled with shadowy shots of spiked balls and spotted tentacles just waiting to attack some unsuspecting wader.
 
“Don’t eat any of it then,” she replies, hardly even paying attention to me as she smooths out her blanket and sets up the umbrella.
 
“What?”
 
“You said you were worried about the poisonous things, so just don’t eat anything you find in the ocean.”
 
“They can hurt me even if I don’t eat them! What about that one octopus?”
 
“That was venomous, not poisonous, there’s a difference.” She squirts sunscreen into her palms and then slaps them lightly onto my cheeks, not allowing me time to squirm away.
 
“Whatever, venomous then, there are still things to be scared of in there!”
 
Penny ducks under the arm I have flung out to point at the ocean with, and grabs two waters from our cooler.
 
“You’ll be fine Simon, I promise.” She shoves a bottle into my hands. “Rub in your sun cream, and let’s walk by the edge of the water, alright? You’ll like it, we can find shells!” She starts off, picking her way through the sand and looking back only once to make sure that I’m following her.
 
It turns out that the water feels quite nice, even soothing. The sounds of the waves and the feel of cool water splashing my ankles combine to make me feel safe. They make me forget about the horrors lurking off-shore.
Penny has a handful of shells and has started handing me others to put in the pocket of my swim shorts. I’ve found a few shells of my own too, but I stopped paying such close attention to the ground about ten minutes ago, when I noticed a man about our own age playing in the waves with his younger siblings.
 
He has dark hair, originally falling around his face but now wet with seawater and slicked back to emphasize his widow’s peak. He’s still too far away for me to tell what color his eyes are, but as Penny and I walk closer I’m able to make out more of his facial expressions. He seems to be putting on sneers for show and occasionally gives bright smiles for the younger kids swarming him. He’s wearing one of those long-sleeved swim shirts, but it’s clinging tight to his body. He looks like he could be a footballer with all of the muscles I can see, even at this distance.
 
I’ve been trying not to stare too openly at him, but I can’t really help it - there’s just something about him that keeps drawing me in.It’s almost as if I’m under some sort of spell or thrall. Right now though, I’m extremely glad I’ve been so captivated by him, because I seem to be the only person on the beach who realizes the danger we’re all in.
 
Curling around the man’s left ankle are the tentacles of an octopus, surely about to stick its fangs into him and inject him with its venom (or whatever it is octopuses do to kill people).
 
"Octopus!" I yell. I’m at a loss for any other words, but I’m desperately trying to warn Penny as I sprint off to rescue him.
 
"Ooh, where?" She doesn't sound nearly concerned enough for the looming threat of death hanging over us all, but I'll talk to her about taking proper safety precautions later. Right now, I have to go save the life of the prettiest person I've ever seen.
 
"Octopus! Octopus!" I can't seem to make any other phrases come out of my mouth, but eventually the man looks up to see me barreling towards him, flailing my arms and yelling at the top of my lungs. He raises an eyebrow at me, staying far too calm considering the mortal peril he's in, and glances behind him to see who else I could possibly be talking to.
 
Unfortunately, that means he's not paying attention enough to sidestep me when the combination of my momentum and adrenalin send me toppling into him. We both splash down into the small waves lapping at the sand and I scramble to extricate myself from his long limbs as quickly as possible, crawling down to examine his ankles and prepared to risk my own life if I have to pull the octopus off of him.
 
"What are you doing? " His voice is lovely and posh, the vowels round and smooth and expensive.
 
"Saving your life, mate, you're welcome by the way," I grunt as I make another unsuccessful grab for the tentacles.
 
"From what? All you've done so far is endanger me, pushing me down and holding me in the water." He pauses. "If this is your attempt at murder by drowning, I think I pity you. First, you caused a scene by yelling the whole way down the beach before you assaulted me, and now you're not even bothering to hold my head under this truly pathetic amount of water. You're an absolute disaster."
 
"I told you—" (why are these tentacles so hard to grab,) "I'm not trying to kill you, I'm trying to save you."
 
"Save me from what, exactly?"
 
Ha! I've got you now, evil cephalopod!
 
"This!"
 
I hold the octopus up in triumph, feeling the water drip onto my sodden hair.
 
"From… a clump of seaweed?"
 
"What? No. No, it's an octopus."
 
Slowly, I lower the mass in my hand down to eye level, and immediately I feel my cheeks flame in embarrassment.
 
"Oh. Right. Sorry, then."
 
I try to push back from him and stand up, but my hand won't release the seaweed (it really did look like an octopus!). When I try to move a wave hits me, washing the sand out from under my foot and making me flounder for a few moments, only compounding my embarrassment. When I finally look up at the man I accidentally assaulted, he seems entirely unbothered by anything. He's lounging back on his elbows, somehow managing to look down his nose at me even though I'm sitting up fully now, and it's simply unfair how defined his abs are, even under his shirt.
 
"Do you make a habit of doing things like this?"
 
His eyes are too intense for me to look at any longer, they're a grey color that seems to be shifting to reflect the ocean behind me, and I have to busy myself with peeling the green fronds of seaweed away from my fingers.
 
"Like what?"
 
"Attacking strangers or playing the hero, take your pick."
 
"Sorry. I thought it was an octopus and I didn't want you to die," I mumble. This prick should be grateful, where does he get off being so smug anyway?
 
"Why on earth would I have died from an octopus touching me?"
 
"Because they're one of the most deadly creatures on earth!"
 
"What? No they're not. Not the ones around here, anyway. The blue ringed octopus is incredibly deadly, but it lives in the Pacific Ocean."
 
"But, couldn't they-"
 
He levels me with a look that could probably set me on fire.
 
"Mordelia!" One of the children comes running over from where they fled when I tackled their brother. She looks to be about twelve or thirteen, and while she isn't quite as dark and villainous looking as her brother she still has his same air of superiority. "Does this gentleman need to be worried about being attacked, maimed, or killed by any octopuses while swimming today?"
 
This kid - Mordelia, I guess - levels me with the most condescending look I have ever seen, and just scoffs . Actually scoffs at me, like I'm an imbecile. (Although, I still have seaweed stuck to me, so she may be onto something there.)
 
"No. Most accounts of cephalopod attacks can't be proven, and the few that have been entirely substantiated occurred in vastly different habitats or under circumstances that this beach couldn't support."
 
With that, she turns and runs back to the rest of her family, leaving me with only a parting eye roll.
 
"She's going through a marine biology phase."
 
It's the first thing the dark haired man has said to me in a casual manner, and I startle a bit. 
 
"Did you also have a marine biology phase?"
 
I think my question catches him off-guard, and I smirk.
 
"Perhaps," he answers after a beat. "But Mordelia's has been going on for three years now, so we think it may actually stick. Mine dried up after only a few months."
 
He smiles at me for the first time since I knocked him over, and it's almost painful how handsome he is, sprawled out elegantly on the beach like he's in an ad for expensive watches or cologne or something, and I can't believe I tackled him because of some stupid seaweed.
 
"I had a dinosaur phase," I confess, smiling back at him.
 
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" I reach down to help him up, and I'm shocked at how cold his fingers are, and how much I want to warm them up in my own. It's too bad I made such a horrible first impression, I would otherwise be sorely tempted to ask him out on a date. "What's your name, by the way? You've already attacked me, had we been in cars we would have exchanged names and proofs of insurance by now."
 
I’m such a mess. I didn't even think to ask what his name was.
 
"Simon. I'm Simon."
 
I go to shake his hand, and then realize that we're still holding hands, and I feel my cheeks grow redder still.
 
"Hello Simon, I'm Baz. It's nice to meet you, although the next time we meet I sincerely hope you can refrain from throwing yourself quite so bodily at me before we've even said hello."
 
"Yeah, umm, I'm sorry, really, I-" My brain catches up with my mouth. "Wait, did you say next time? "
 
His mouth curls up into a grin, and he gives my hand a squeeze as I try to figure out how I messed up so badly and things still worked out so well.
 
"Of course. For our first date, perhaps we can go to the aquarium and you can see what an octopus really looks like."
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