Disclaimer: Aquaman is not mine.

Summary: Arthur Curry, King of Atlantis, felt like a fish out of water. For Night on Fic Mountain 2019.

Author's Note: For raktajinos on AO3.

Partners

Arthur Curry, King of Atlantis, felt like a fish out of water.

He forced a twitching smile on his face as he greeted another random noble whose name he forgot and lamented his utter incompetence at this shit.

He knew absolutely nothing about underwater politics. He was aware that he came off as confident and awesome after fighting Orm, but… c'mon! He hadn't even memorized the names of all these kingdoms, for fuck's sake! And now he was expected to take the throne and unite the seven kingdoms with Atlantis? How the fuck was he even supposed to do that? Did he have to sign a treaty? Hold a ceremony? Apparently, according to Mera, he had to throw this accursed gala to celebrate the upcoming union, but other than that… What the fuck?

Okay, no. Arthur really did want to be a good king. He had plans. But he was also about thirty-three years behind on royalty school, and had exactly zero knowledge about what he was supposed to do or how he was supposed to act. Understandably, Vulko had more important things to teach him, like how not to die in a fight.

To showcase just how out of his depth he was, early in the gala, a particularly slimy Fisherman noble drew him into a conversation about a trade deal that Arthur was not entirely sure he understood, but sounded like a damn good idea. Luckily, Atlanna intervened and sent the noble away with one glare. Arthur didn't even know what that was all about until Mera told him about that the noble was trying to manipulate him into agreeing to a trade deal heavily favouring the Fisherman Kingdom and disadvantaging Atlantis.

Which, what the fuck? Weren't they supposed to be uniting now?

Speaking of Mera—thank god for Mera.

Mera, once she saw how utterly hopeless he was at being social with the upper crust, took his arm and started subtly feeding him information about everyone he met. And, hell, there were a lot of people who wanted to meet the new King of Atlantis, many of them of the unpleasant variety. He was seriously starting to regret not inviting his surface friends to this shindig. They could've been buffers. He didn't care that they'd probably drown, he wanted to see Diana and Bruce take these smug fuckers down a notch.

Stressed, he steered himself and Mera towards the food table and started scarfing down a bunch of round, green, flower-like hors d'oeuvre he didn't know the name of. He stopped when he noticed a nearby Atlantean suppress a smirk. Oh fuck, what had he done now.

Mera answered that question by gently taking the hors d'oeuvre from his hand and peeling away the petals and—oohh, he wasn't supposed to eat the petals.

Arthur flushed and he really just wanted to swim to the surface and never come back.

"You okay?" Mera murmured, patting his arm.

"Yes."

"Arthur."

He sighed. She was too damn perceptive. A gala wasn't exactly an ideal place to have a heart to heart, but... "No, I'm not okay. Look… I don't even know what I'm doing. Way back, when I said I didn't want to be king, it wasn't just because I hated Atlantis… Okay, it's mostly that, but also because I have no fucking clue how to be one. You should be the in charge, you know."

Mera nodded her head once. "You are correct. By any traditional measure, I am more fit to rule our people than you…" She locked eyes with him. "However, these are not traditional times. The Amazons are stirring for the first time in millennia, a New God has recently tried to conquer Earth, and the Seven Kingdoms are reuniting into one… The world is changing, and we must change with it if we are to weather the upcoming storm."

Arthur frowned, a bit unsettled by her ominous words. "… You okay?"

"Yes."

"Mera."

Mera sighed. Yeah, he could be perceptive too. "No, I am not okay. A new age is on the horizon, and I cannot help but fear for the future of Atlantis." She held his hand and brought it to her lips. "Which is why I will do my best to support you in your reign. I truly believe that Atlantis needs a ruler who understands the world beyond Atlantis, and that ruler is you. No one else has your understanding of the surface, Arthur, not even me.

He swallowed. This woman… "That still doesn't change the fact that I know nothing about ruling a kingdom."

Mera smiled gently. "Ah, but that is what I am here for!" She twined their fingers together. "Hmm, how about this: I will teach you about Atlantis and how to eat Atlantean dishes properly. In return, you will teach me about the surface world and tell me more about surface cuisine—those flowers really were quite delectable."

"I agree!" Atlanna chirped.

Arthur and Mera, who had been unconsciously leaning towards each other, jerked back and smiled nervously at Atlanna and Vulko, who had somehow snuck up on them and caught the tail end of what Mera was saying.

"Mera, have you tried the sunflowers? Everyone should try the sunflowers," Atlanna continued enthusiastically. "Vulko, have you tried surface flowers?"

"No," Vulko said, intrigued.

"Well, you should, they are absolutely delicious. Roses are quite nice too."

"Oh, I love roses!" Mera exclaimed. She lit up like the fucking sun, and Arthur really, really wanted her beautiful face to stay that way for eternity. "Arthur gave some to me when we were in Sicily. There's nothing like it in Atlantis."

"Because you can't grow flowers underwater," he muttered.

"Anyway, there are still a significant number of nobles waiting to meet you, Arthur." Atlanna gestured at the very crowded ballroom, many of whom were sending him impatient looks.

His eye twitched. Mera nodded understandingly. "We will be there shortly. Can you give us a couple of minutes?"

"Of course." With that, Atlanna and Vulko slunk away to distract the nobles.

Mera turned back to Arthur, who was desperately trying to mind control Atlanna and Vulko into staying. She chuckled at his expression. "See? You are not alone, Arthur. You have friends, family, allies. We are all more than happy to help you when you need it. As for me… I will be at your side always. We are partners, Arthur. Each of us has our strengths and weakness, but together…" She kissed their entwined hands again, and a warm wave of something deeper than fondness washed over him. "We are unstoppable."