Penned Sea Hearts
Chapter 9

Ramos was even grumpier than usual, but he certainly didn’t feel bad about being snarky with the library visitors. Why would he have any reason to be peppy when Kai had taken his book from him, not talked to him in a full day, and for all Ramos knew might have changed his mind about the whole book signing thing. And as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he missed Kai hanging around him.

Ramos sighed, staring down mournfully at his desk. He needed to do some paperwork, but he couldn’t focus on that at all. Shaking his head, he picked up the box full of returned books on his right, swimming up from his chair and to the bookshelves, deciding to clear his head by doing something more manual.

He flitted off from one bookshelf to another, not really caring about efficiency unlike every other time he’s done this, enjoying the excuse to spend more time on this as it distracted him enough not to let his endless thoughts and anxieties plague him.

At least that was the case until he reached the Phish Seaman books. Huffing, Ramos set the box down on the edge of a bookshelf, turning one of Kai’s books over to look at the illustration of Kai’s face there. And of course it was enchanted to periodically wink.

Glowering down at it, Ramos couldn’t help but scoff. “Why are you so annoyingly likable?” he asked the picture quietly, glaring at it as it winked at him, as if to prove his point. “I don’t want to care that we’re fighting. Or whatever it is that’s happening.”

He let out an aggravated sigh when the picture of Kai winked at him again. It made him feel strange, even though it was just a picture. Any time Kai winked at him, he’d always paused, losing track of whatever thoughts he’d had or whatever they’d been talking about at the time. It made him remember how he used to be with Ormir.

Shaking his head, he quickly stuffed the books in the shelves, not even checking if he was doing it in the correct order, eager to move on. He only took a moment to glare at the last book of Kai’s when he reached it, looking at his portrait once more.

“Why couldn’t you just stay a name on the cover of a book?” he asked softly, not even sure if he meant that. But before he had much time to think about that more, someone cleared their throat behind him, making him flinch and swirl around.

The real Kai was floating there, because of course he was, looking a bit concerned. “Hey, Rami. You okay?”

“I’m fine,” he responded curtly, putting the last book where it belonged. At least Kai hadn’t left yet. He supposed that was good, though he hadn’t truly expected him to do that. Kai seemed too nice and knew very well what was at stake to screw the library over like that.

Which just made things more annoyingly difficult.

“Right.” Kai cleared his throat, waving a small notebook around. “I got something for you. About your book.”

Ramos paused, staring at him warily. He didn’t see the manuscript anywhere on Kai, unless he had it in his satchel. “Have you decided to give it back to me?”

Kai chuckled. “Sure. As long as you prove to me you’ll treat it nicer from now on.”

Ramos huffed, shaking his head in aggravation. “And how will I do that?”

His annoyance was immediately replaced by surprise when Kai patted his shoulder, not used to people touching him like that. “I think we should sit down for that, huh?”

Ramos frowned, watching Kai swim to the front desk again, grabbing the half-empty return box and bringing it with him, unable to pretend that he wasn’t intrigued by whatever Kai had concocted this time.

“Aw, you kept my chair,” Kai cheered, sitting down at the chair he’d put there a few days ago. Ramos had wanted to put it away, especially since it was a bit in the way, but he’d never quite gotten around to it.

Ramos said nothing, only giving a nod as he sat down next to the other merman, raising an eyebrow as he put the box in its rightful place, intent on putting the remaining books where they belonged later.

“You were saying?”

“Always so serious, Rami.” Ramos wanted to be rude, but the smile Kai was giving him was far too genuinely fond for him to manage even a word. Ramos had no idea what to do with someone looking at him like this.

“Anyway.” Ramos blinked, focusing on the notebook as Kai waved it around again. “This took longer than I thought it would. But anyway, I’m finally happy with it, and I can give it to you now.”

“What is this?” Ramos asked, not understanding at all what was happening.

Kai’s eyes went wide before he smacked his forehead. “Right! I forgot to explain. So….” He leaned in. “Promise not to freak out.”

Ramos narrowed his eyes, having a very bad feeling about this. “What did you do, Kai?”

Kai pointed his index fingers at him. “Promise?”

“I do not freak out,” Ramos snarked, annoyed that Kai was making him wait like this. “Now tell me what is happening, already. Did you lose the manuscript?”

“Lose it?” Kai exclaimed, his eyes wide and offended. “Never! I’d sooner die than lose your book.”

Ramos huffed, shaking his head at the dramatics, even though he was very touched Kai cared so much. He certainly cared more about that manuscript than Ramos did at this point.

“Okay, so why would I freak out, as you say?” Ramos asked, trying to stay on topic, now incredibly curious what this whole thing was about.

Kai nods, staring at the notebook which he’d put on the desk and was now pushing toward Ramos, speaking rapidly: “Because I let a bunch of people here read the first chapter and give their thoughts on it.”

“What?!” Ramos exclaimed, his insides twisting in horror. Barely anyone here liked him and he liked barely any of them. Why would Kai think it was a good idea to let them read his book? They’d hate it on principle. And he’d done this without permission, too.

“Shh, calm down,” Kai said, grabbing his shoulders, once again surprising Ramos too much to keep yelling. “I didn’t tell them who wrote it, okay? I said my friend did.”

Oh. Ramos swallowed, anxiety still twisting his insides around. He wasn’t sure what exactly he was anxious about right now, but he felt sick to his stomach, anyway, his hands shaking a bit.

“And all this feedback is positive, okay?” Kai patted the notebook. “They love it. And they wanna read more.” Then Kai glared. “Except for that one jerk that said he’s too busy to read a single chapter. Ugh.”

Ramos meanwhile had managed to pull himself together a bit, taking this all in, still feeling like he didn’t understand anything. Maybe Kai was too chaotic to understand for him. “Why…why would you do this?”

Kai raised an eyebrow, looking at him as though Ramos had asked what fins were for, or something other, equally as obvious. “Because I wanted to show you your book is good. Doesn’t matter what some publisher says.”

Ramos stares at him, his heart stuttering as he finally realizes that Kai had done this simply to make Ramos feel better. That realization made his eyes sting, but he quickly blinked, trying to not show how emotional this whole thing had made him.

“You….” Takes a breath, his gills shuddering too. “Oh. That’s…so nice.” He watched Kai spread his arms, clearly about to hug him, but he stopped him with a single question. “Why do you care so much?”

Kai rolled his eyes, leaning on the desk as his expression turned very serious. “Because I like you? I think that explains the whole thing.”

Ramos nodded, not sure what to do with that. It seemed too easy, somehow. Kai simply liking him for nothing he’d done, but rather his prickly personality? It didn’t seem like an actual thing that would ever happen.

“Also, I hate seeing another writer in distress because of the stupid publishing industry.” Kai tapped his finger on the notebook. “Here’s your proof you are good at writing. And that throwing out your work is really dumb. Right?”

Ramos ducked his head, sighing. He’d already figured that out on his own. “It…wasn’t my brightest moment.”

Kai nodded in an exaggerated way, pulling him into a hug, which made Ramos freeze, but Kai didn’t immediately let go of him. And it was just enough time for Ramos to relax a bit. He wasn’t given enough time to hug back, though, Kai already pulling away before he could do so.

“Great, then I believe this is yours,” Kai said as he reached into his satchel, bringing out the manuscript, the title page of it missing, the first page being the actual book. Before Ramos could ask, though, Kai explained. “Sorry, had to take that off. To protect your identity and all.”

Ramos almost chuckled at that. Kai was talking as though the locals finding out who actually wrote the book would cause unbelievable problems.

“That page is in my hotel room. I’ll swing by later and give it to you, I just forgot about it.”

“No, it’s fine,” said Ramos, taking the manuscript from Kai and running his eyes over the first few lines of the book. He’d not read it in a long while. “I didn’t like the title, anyway.”

“Oh? I thought Paint me a Dream was a really nice title, actually. Pun fun!”

Ramos chuckled, a smile tugging on his lips, his heart fluttering with fondness. Which was apparently a thing that happened now. “That’s exactly the problem. It’s not serious enough. And besides, I can do better.”

Kai smiled, a true, genuine smile that made Ramos smile at him back without meaning to. “’Course you can.”

Kai seemed so sure of Ramos’ writing abilities. After reading a single chapter? Rationally, it didn’t seem genuine to him, but the way Kai was talking was painfully so. And if he accused Kai of lying, that would be too rude even for him.

“Anyway,” Kai said as he lazily floated up off his chair, heading to the door. “I’ll leave you to read the reviews now.” He chuckled, grinning back at Ramos. “Try to guess who wrote which.”

“Kai, wait!” he called after him immediately, pausing with the other merman, not sure what else to say. Kai probably had better things to do than stay here with him. Like writing his latest book.

“Yeah?”

Ramos grimaced, not sure if he had the right to ask him to stay, but he did so anyway, having missed him, as much as he didn’t want to admit it. “Would you maybe…stay for a bit longer?”

“You want me to hang out with ya?” Kai asked, beaming, absolutely delighted apparently. “Sure thing! I’ll just go to my room to grab my own manuscript and be right back. Maybe bring you back a snack.”

And with a wink he was gone, the door sliding shut behind him. Ramos shook his head at the whole thing, but his insides fluttered happily that Kai had agreed to be here. He just had to watch out not to get too attached. Kai was leaving soon after all, the signing taking place in just a few days.

Still smiling, Ramos grabbed the notebook, opening it, a little nervous as he did, but unable to contain his curiosity anymore. He had never gotten that much feedback, aside from publishers telling him it was not a good fit for them, but he trusted Kai when he’d said it was mostly positive.

And so with his stomach fluttering with anxiety, he started to read.

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