John pov~

I pulled Laf outside after filling up a page of my notebook with what Alexander told me. There had been a thought lurking in my mind.

What if I didn't bring him back?

"Hey Laf?"

"Quoi?"

"What did you say to get him to agree to the questions?"

"I told him I swear, and I think he just realized he's not going anywhere unless he opens up." Lafayette shrugged.

"I have an idea, it's a low blow, but it is a thought."

"Hmm?"

"He's the prince."

"I caught that."

"We could potentially use him to bargain with the king." I said, shrugging.

"That could work mon ami, but do you really want to?"

"No. Not really. It was just a thought." I shook my head. "I'll take him back to the ocean tomorrow night."

"Well, it's 5 and I have morning classes, so I'll be leaving now to get a small amount of sleep." They headed towards the door.

"Wait, Laf, one last thing?"

"Oui?"

"Did you catch that on film?"

"Yes." They tossed me a camera and I frowned, noticing it was mine.

"Did you steal this?"

"Would you rather have no documented evidence?" They raised an eyebrow and smiled at me, standing by the door so I could unlock it.

I pulled out my keys and unlocked the door, waving goodbye to my friend as they made their way towards the elevator. When they were gone, I headed back to the bathroom before deciding Alexander was fed up with me and I should just go to sleep.

I walked into my room and changed, then lay down and pulled the covers over me. I rolled over again and again, trying to get comfortable.

Once I was finally comfortable, I grabbed my notebook and was immediately not comfortable. I flipped through my notes, reading over what Alexander had said.

- They have hierarchy: king, noble, knight. Certain jobs < others.
- Alexander is prince
- Village and palace
- Maria Reynolds. Peggy, Eliza, Angelica Skylar (correction, Schuyler)
- King George current reigning king
- Need contact with water or their gills start to dry up and they'll die
- Lots of different color of tail
- Have the same languages as humans (could have connections? Alexander doesn't deny  possibility)
- Sexaulities and genders? LGBTQ+ present, often not welcomed
- Alexander bi, Maria gay, Peggy gay (closeted)
- Humans are feared and hated
- Some trauma in Alexander's past with humans, he won't say
- He says Heathers sounds cool
- Shore is forbidden
- Alexander has to find a wife soon; tradition
- Can more or less communicate with sea creatures

I nodded, skimming along the rest of the page, taking in all the information again. It was pretty interesting how similar humans and Alexander's kind were. I'm pretty sure the two species had connexions at some point. That would explain why the languages have a direct parallel, and why he responded to 'merman' despite insisting that was not what his species was called. It might also explain why his kind looked so human-like. Or maybe we looked so... them-like.

I thought about that. Had a human slept with a fish? I stopped thinking about that.

I started thinking about when I was supposed to let Alexander go. Was I ever going to see him again? Probably not. If I were him, I'd never go to the shore again. But I kinda wanted to see him again, in his own element where he wasn't really angry and standoffish. Maybe he's just an angry and standoffish person? ...merman... Fish Guy? I'm just going to say he's a Fish Guy, because he doesn't know the name of his kind. It's always just been 'his kind' and 'humans' for him.

I sighed and leaned back in my bed, trying to get comfortable again and failing miserably. I got up and went to the kitchen to make myself some tea. I poured water in the kettle and listened to it boil slowly. I decided to go check on Alexander while I waited for my water to boil. I opened the door to the bathroom and looked in. Alexander was curled up under the water, emitting a few bubbles every now and then. I thought over his complaints and decided I should probably change the water, which I honestly should have done a while ago. I moved Alexander's tail aside to reach the plug, and his eyes shot open suddenly.

"What are you doing?" He snarled, and he can be pretty scary.

"I'm going to replace the water." I told him, pulling the plug for the tub and watching the water start to get sucked down.

I turned on the faucet again, making sure it was at the same heat, because he never complained about the heat. Once it was full again I made my way out of the room, not expecting Alexander to say anything.

"Thank you." He breathed as I was exiting.

"What?"

"It's called basic manners. Shockingly, I have some." He grumbled, sinking back under the water.

I blinked rapidly, walking out of the room. I was not expecting a 'thank you' of all things. I made my way to the kettle, which was hissing now, and poured myself some tea. I took my mug and made my way back to my room.

I laid down on my bed again, grabbing a light and a book, and putting the steaming mug of tea on my bedside table. I was going to read, but couldn't bring myself to get lost in the plot. I had too many thoughts crowding around my head. I yawned, but couldn't get to sleep.

Thirty minutes later, I was really glad I had evening classes, because there was no way I was going to get enough sleep to be in a proper mental state for tomorrow. I started worrying in advance about getting Alexander back to the ocean. What if everything that hadn't gone wrong tonight went wrong when I tried to bring him back? What if someone stopped by my place and stayed later than expected? Then Alexander wouldn't think I'd kept my word. Or what if-- I cut my own thoughts off by grabbing my phone and playing Mean Girls, because I'd been listening to Heathers the whole day and I felt like switching it up a bit. There's still Barrett Wilbert Weed in it, and both musicals give off similar vibes. I leaned back in bed and inevitably started to worry again, because that's just what I do all the time. I laughed when 'stop' came on, and set my worries aside, doing my best to follow Damian's advice.

Approximately two hours later, I'd gotten through three mugs of tea and the Mean Girls soundtrack twice. I pulled out my laptop and turned on a Ghibli movie, because at this point, I'm not going to sleep anyways.