One-shot between Orm Marius and OC. Don't own DC anything just the OC. This is snippets of relationship development between the two. Hope you enjoy! Cheers!

The sun was high, the wind armed with dust and sand, and it was damned hot. Like waddle with your arms held chimp style at your sides hot. Only, given present company and mission, Elda didn't have the luxury of giving in to the temptation to walk thusly. Instead, she had to keep her clothes on, a necessity given the brightness of the sun and the fact that the wind would drive the sand into places best left sand-free. And she had to keep her senses alert as they weren't out of danger yet.

Elda had made sure to make their crash look legit. Lady luck had smiled on them, and she'd even slaughtered and scattered the bits of some nearby wild donkeys the wreckage, in case they scanned for organic traces. They'd only have to scan a bit harder and do a visual check to see that the organics matched wild asses, but by then, her ploy would've made an ass out of them.

Elda looked at her wrist screen then scanned the horizon. They were on the right track. Perhaps ten klicks away still. Given their present speed, they'd make it there before sundown. A muffled curse and the telltale sound of someone stumbling to the ground behind her had Elda sighing. At least, if the great Atlantean oaf behind her didn't stop falling and stumbling around like a drunk frat boy on a Friday night binge.

"What is it now, worm?" Elda turned to glare at the figure, struggling to raise himself off the ground.

You would be hard-pressed to imagine him as a king, or at least former king, or to imagine him as having superhuman strength and other such abilities. Ever since Elda had been given charge of this mission, she'd seen more evidence to the contrary. It seemed with every passing moment the former Atlantean king grew weaker and more vulnerable. Which, of course, made Elda's job that much easier and more complicated. Easier because he would no longer put up as much of a fight as he had the previous handlers. More complicated because IF they were found and attacked, then he would be more likely to die, and that was unacceptable. This whole clusterfuck of a situation was FOR keeping the man alive, whether he liked it or not.

"Why," his voice was gravely, and if Elda didn't have superhearing herself, she would've missed his words, "do you insist upon being so unpleasant?" He managed to roll onto his side and returned her gaze, glare-for-glare. "My name is Orm. Not worm."

Elda snorted, "I have a thing for names." She unclipped her pack and brought it to her side as she crouched down. "Your name is Old Norse for worm, or dragon," setting the pack down she opened it just enough to fish out her intended target, "but given your present state, you're living up to small slimy worm than grandmaster dragon." She tossed him the energy packet, liquid form, of course. "And believe me, I know the difference between the two."

He caught the packet in the face, his hand too slow to catch, but he said no more as his fingers tore open the packet, and he eagerly drank its contents. Elda repositioned her pack and stood, her eyes taking in the horizon on all sides. They'd been lucky so far, but she hadn't survived so long because of a naïve belief and reliance upon luck. She prepared for the worst, expected amusement from the chaos, and then had been blessed with a fantastic set of genetics that defied human logic. Her unique abilities and particular nature were why she'd been chosen to take over this last leg of former King Orm's journey into hiding. If shit went down in the middle of a desert, it was best to go down with Elda around.

"Worst of it over?" she asked without looking at the man. A grunt was her reply, along with the sounds of Orm rising to his feet. "All right, then let's go, my rare and delicate sea flower. We've still some ways to go before we're at the safe house."

Elda waited until she heard his shuffling footsteps before she started her own. She was coy and smart about it, but she did take pains to ensure he didn't fall to his death or fry like an egg on a sidewalk. Yes, she pushed him and was rude and obnoxious to him, but Elda figured if he had someone close by to hate, it would distract him from the necessary misery that he currently found himself in.

Elda didn't know all the details, but what she did know was Orm Marius was a target, and really bad people wanted to kill him or use him, to try and destroy not only the underwater empires but the land empires as well. Against his own wishes, Orm had been forcibly kidnapped from Atlantis and removed to the surface where he'd been playing hop-scotch across the globe for the past six weeks, just barely three steps ahead of whatever group it was after him.

While Aquaman and other members of the Justice League wanted to help more directly it had been decided that distance would be the only thing that gave Orm a fighting chance. Thus his safety had been contracted out to the secret society Elda current held membership with, and she'd been given the last stretch duty.

They'd gotten on like fire and oil from the very beginning. It seemed her brand of humor did not translate well to the Atlantean, and she appreciated his arrogance about as much as one might appreciate a bee sting to the ass. But, she'd held her tongue and kept her peace. Until his health had taken a turn for the worse. From that point on, she'd made it her mission to distract him away from his misery by making him miserable. Surely there was some sort of established research to back that theory up.

To make matters worse, despite him being a part of her job, Elda recognized the fact that he was an attractive man. Even in his diminished state, she could see evidence of what he normally was when in his comfort zone—underwater—and she had always had a thing for bad boys anyway.

He hadn't seemed as enamored with her appearance, however, and that had pricked her pride. She knew she was no Amazon, and she'd met quite a few in her lifetime, but she could hold her own. She was marginally shorter than Orm and carried herself light and free. She had long arms, long legs, long torso, and to top it off, long brown hair that she currently had pulled back into a braid. Her eyes were also a nondescript brown, largish almost to a cartoonish state—though not bug-eyed. She had an angular face, Romanesque nose, high cheekbones, and ears that came to a near Vulcan-like point—she'd endured many years of teasing about these ears but had since grown to like them. She could both blend in and stand out, depending on how she carried herself and how she dressed. And it seemed brown-heads were not his thing.

She didn't REALLY hate him, and she didn't REALLY want him to suffer. She just didn't like the aristocracy of any kind. Brought back old bad memories, and by old, it was going on seven centuries since her birth, and in that time, she'd had to deal with some pretty grade A asshole aristocracy. And Elda resented the fact that the first man she'd found hot enough to contemplate fucking in recent years also happened to be a member of an aristocracy.

"Why YOU?" his voice interrupted Elda's thoughts, and she glanced at him with her peripherals. She remained silent, figuring he was about to continue into a tirade of insults against her. She was fully ready to be entertained by them. "You don't have a firearm. You only have a field knife that I've yet to see you use. You crashed our plane and appear to wandering aimlessly in this desert. You're obviously not an Amazon, so I doubt you have superhuman strength." Orm tripped on a rock but held himself upright. Elda smiled. Apparently, doubting and insulting her gave him the strength to stay on his feet. Good. "You're more mouse-looking than warrior. I'd be better off with a blobfish."

Elda laughed. It was a genuine laugh, and the sound seemed to surprise Orm as he hesitated in his steps and looked at her. Elda stopped and put her hands on her hips, giving in to the temptation to have a belly laugh. The mental image of a blobfish in this desert was ludicrous. That image, along with the creative rendition of Orm as a blobfish, had Elda gasping in air between laughs.

"Have you gone mad, now, too?"

Sobering up, Elda shook her head, "I am a very visual person. That image," she tapped her head and chuckled, "it was priceless. Oh, gods, that was grand." A distant hum had her stiffening. Elda knew they'd been pushing their luck. She tugged at his arm. "Come on, blobfish, we need to move faster."

They moved together then, and while Orm had detected the note of seriousness in her voice and had intended to comply, his Atlantean physique did not wish to do so. He'd been too long outside the ocean, outside any body of water, and this desert was draining him even faster than either of them had expected. The hum was obviously an engine now, and looking over her shoulder, Elda could see a caravan of hover crafts speeding over the desert sands towards them. She looked back at her wrist screen and cursed. Five klicks still.

Elda stopped and looked around. Now that they were getting closer to the old mining town that was their intended target, more rocky outcroppings were littering the landscape. Grabbing Orm's wrist, she tugged him towards the closest rock formation. She shoved him and the pack down behind the rocks.

"What are you going to do? Glare them into submission?" Orm tried to stand again, but without Elda needing to aid, gravity took him back down. He was getting to a critical state even without their unwanted followers.

"Behold," Elda held out her arms as she walked backward, "the blobfish transforms."

She gave him a wink before turning to face the still fairly distant but quickly gaining hovercraft. There were eight total, and Elda wouldn't be surprised if they were just the scout force with air support or artillery support coming in from satellite coordinates called in. Either way, shit was about to get real.

Humming her favorite cartoon theme song—Transformers, of course—she closed her eyes and concentrated on the transformation that was to happen. Thankfully it was near enough a full moon that the change would happen more readily, and she'd assume her complete form. Elda also hadn't had to shift in quite some time, so depending on how long she had to fight the bad guys in her transformed state, she should be able to shift back to human form within several hours after the fight. If this had happened during the new moon, she'd remain in human form but with some nice additions—superhuman strength, speed, durability, and similar ilk. If she'd shifted more recently, it would take longer to shift in and out again, leaving Orm more vulnerable. In all, Elda smiled as she felt her body begin its change, this attack was well-timed and in HER favor.

Orm resurfaced and leaned against the side of the pool. His eyes took in the sight of the room again as he relaxed and let his cells drink in their much-needed fill of water. It was a modestly decorated room with all the necessary amenities for an Atlantean to survive, hence the pool he now floated in. He never would've guessed that this safe house existed on the outskirts of an abandoned mining town in the Atacama Desert. There were no indications whatsoever to denote its whereabouts, and it was only thanks to Elda that he'd been brought here.

And just in time too. Orm had felt death creeping up to his side even during the fight. He'd been helpless to protect or defend and had been capable only of watching. Orm closed his eyes as he sunk to the bottom of the pool. In his mind's eye, he replayed the events that had brought him here. The vision of Elda's human form breaking apart and reforming into that of an honest-to-goodness dragon had Orm shivering. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd been surprised to that degree in his life. Seeing the formerly nondescript obnoxious female grow a long and viscious tail with a lethal spike at the end, her feet turning into powerful claws, her arms morphing into leathery wings with five talons at the tips, with her ears becoming two spiky horns and her mouth sprouting flesh-tearing teeth had been more shock than surprise to Orm. Her scales were brown and apparently impenetrable to bullets as she faced off against their would-be attackers without so much as a glancing blow. With a mighty swipe of her tail, Elda took out two hovercrafts, spearing at least three men with one tail-thrust. She used her wings to raise herself off the ground just enough to free up her claws, seizing hold of the edge of two other hovercrafts and dumping out their occupants. Then, not to disappoint Orm's expectations for a dragon, a fireball exploded from Elda's mouth and took out the fifth hovercraft. All this within the span for forty-two seconds.

Orm had almost felt sorry for their attackers, especially those that Elda ate. That had been the second shock, seeing Elda, in dragon-form of course, eat men in full battle gear. Even from his distance, he could hear the crunch of gear and bones being mashed to bits in her mouth. One hovercraft had tried to retreat, but after a few minutes of toying with them, letting them believe they could escape, Elda finished them off with another fireball—only the second for the whole of the fight. She then used her talons and tail to slash to bits the other crafts and any survivors that dared to let it be known they still breathed. Orm hadn't seen such swift brutality in years, and though it shocked and disgusted him, he found that he admired Elda for it as well. She wasn't fussy about getting rid of these people who'd been so intent upon getting rid of them, and when she did find wounded, she killed them quickly. Mercy kills really, considering the elements.

When the fight was over, and Elda satisfied herself that all were dead, she'd walked back over to Orm. She didn't transform back into human form but instead, using her tail, snatched up the pack before rising up off the ground and taking hold of Orm in her claws. He'd yelled at her, more in confusion than fear, but her sharp claws didn't even break the skin as she flew the rest of the way to their destination. Orm wasn't sure how long it took them, he passed out partly through the journey and woke up alone in this room.

It had been about three hours since he'd woken up, and while he had fully recovered thanks to the pool and food he'd found, he was curious about Elda. Orm resurfaced and stepped out of the pool. He found a pair of black jogging pants and pulled on a black t-shirt. The door was unlocked, and upon opening it, he emerged into another room, larger, oval, and that appeared to have several other rooms opening off it. Orm wondered if they were all fashioned for Atlanteans or if they were each tailored to another species.

A moan coming from the room just to the left of his had Orm abandoning his thoughts of exploration in favor of finding Elda. He tested the door and, finding it equally unlocked, Orm quickly opened it. This room was fairly typical of any room to be found on earth save for the concave nest-like area towards the back of the room. The moans came from the bottom of the nest. As Orm moved closer, he saw that the sides were softened with pillows and blankets and what looked to be a soft pad underneath all of those layers. He stopped at the edge. Nearby was a slimy pile of what looked to be the gear of the men Elda had eaten earlier. Orm shuddered before letting his eyes travel over the edge of the nest.

There, at the bottom of the nest, was a naked and moaning Elda. Her body was shivering, covered in a sheen of sweat, and as Elda tossed her head back and forth, Orm could see that her ears seemed yet to reform into regular ears fully. They still seemed a bit more spike than an ear. Her eyes weren't open, and he wasn't sure if she knew he was here or not. She looked to be in pain and, not knowing what to do, Orm moved into the room's bathroom. He dampened a towel and filled a glass with water before making his way back to the nest. He was cautious about sliding down to her side, not wanting to spill the water or fall on top of the woman either.

"Elda," Orm laid the towel across her brow as he called her name, "It's me, Orm." He saw a sliver of her eyes open, but they readily closed again as she continued to writhe. "I have water." He slipped his hand under her head and raised her into his arms. Her body continued to contort, and moans continued to rumble from her chest, but at least he was able to get a few trickles of liquid down her throat before she turned her head away.

Orm made a small barrier of pillows to protect the glass within arms' reach but out of danger from Elda. He then took up the towel and began to mop her brow. It took only a few motions of this to prove that the ministration was soothing as Elda's movements grew less erratic under his care. Finding confidence in this, Orm trailed the towel over her neck, behind it, and across her upper chest. He continued this new routine—face, neck, chest—until Elda's moans stopped, though her body continued to jerk and writhe on occasion. After giving her another sip of water, he moved the towel down her arms and over her belly, adding these areas to his routine. After some time her body grew still and he heard an occasional snore as she slumbered. Orm smiled, taking note that her ears were back now, and continued to towel her brow.

When she wasn't obnoxious, Orm had to admit that Elda was pleasant to look at. So used to the beauty of Mera, his former intended, and other Atlanteans, Orm hadn't been ready to see any merit in the woman tasked with his protection. This dragon woman was a rarity for certain. In dragon form, she was fierce and almost frightening, at least if you were on the wrong side of her claws. In human form, she was average, but now that he looked at her, there was still a hint of mystery in the shape of her ears, the size of her eyes, even in the way that she carried herself and spoke—as he recalled their days' worth of companionship. He understood now why she'd been given the harder part of his journey, and he respected her for holding her tongue when he'd berated and doubted her. At any time, she could've released her dragon's wrath on him, but she hadn't. She bore his dissatisfaction and doubt with amusement and her own bit of insults back at him. How right she'd been when she'd said she'd known the difference between a worm and a dragon.

Orm yawned. Seeing Elda shiver a bit, he pulled a blanket over her body before settling in closeby. He wasn't certain if she would relapse or need something further, so until she told him otherwise, he'd stick close. She'd saved his life, so it was only fair that he return the favor. Orm's mind filled once more with the images of Elda's dragon form fighting, and he fell asleep with a smile of admiration

Elda woke with a gasp. The shittiest part about transformation was waking up horny as hell. Well, it wasn't exactly horny. It had her every nerve on-fire with sensitivity and a growing sense of adrenaline and serotonin and even dopamine. Elda was on a natural chemical high, and she was ready for anything.

She didn't have to open her eyes to know that he was nearby. She could smell him on her skin, and she could smell him where he lay close to her. Elda even felt the warmth of his body as he shifted in his sleep, his shoulder pressing against her arm and his face parallel to her neck. Elda clenched her jaw. She wanted nothing more than to tip her head to the side and submit it to his kisses, backing her body up into his arms as his hands cupping her breasts and his hips pressed into hers.

"Shit." She sat up. She moved so quickly she jostled something behind her, and soon enough, she felt cold water soak the pad where she'd been laying. "Fuck."

Orm stirred, and Elda fisted her hands together in her lap to keep herself from reaching out to him. His hair was sleep-tousled, and he looked so downright fuckable she didn't know how much longer she'd be able to hold back. He opened his eyes and sat up.

"You're awake." His lips began to pull back into a smile, but then he seemed to remember something, and he averted his eyes, and his smile fell. "I didn't know if you'd-I mean I wanted to make sure-that is to say-"

His words continued to interrupt themselves, and it was then that Elda realized he'd averted his eyes because she was naked and she hadn't tried to cover herself. Well, that just confirmed things, brown-haired dragon women just weren't his thing. Elda pulled the blanket up to her chest and wrapped it around her. She shifted to face Orm more fully, making sure to keep her hands to herself.

"Thank you for," she glanced at the damp spot, the now empty water glass, and the discarded towel, "helping me. I think it helped to lessen the typical pain of reshifting."

Orm turned to look at her again, "What are you? I mean, I know you're a dragon but," Orm let the sentence end prematurely, obviously hoping she would supply the information.

"I am part Taninoui. My father was fully Taninoui, and while in human form, he married, and I am the result of that. From my knowledge, if I decided to have children, they would continue to have some of the character traits of my father."

"Taninoui? I have never heard of this race of beings. Where are they from?"

Elda inwardly sighed. She appreciated the distraction from the growing wetness between her legs, but it would all be much easier if they weren't sitting so close. Only she knew she couldn't get up without falling over, and if she fell over, he'd tried to assist her, and if he tried to assist her, she'd probably start making out with the poor, unsuspecting man.

"Taninoui are what humans consider dragons. There are many different sizes, shapes, forms, just like there is a variety of looks and culture among humans. But they are all Taninoui. My father told me that they originally arrived on Earth millennia ago, their eggs buried in the heart of a great meteor. Only a few grown Taninoui from the old world had survived the trip, but they had been the ones to teach the Earth-born Taninoui how to survive and about their heritage."

Orm leaned forward, obviously fascinated, "And are there more, like you, part Taninoui?"

"Yes," Elda let go of the blanket just long enough to shift some pillows around so she could lean back against them, giving further distance between herself and the temptation that was Orm, "there are more half-Taninoui, and every quarter, and so forth. My father only sired me, and after my mother died, he raised me for a few centuries before he went into hibernation. I-"

Orm held up a hand, "A few centuries?" Elda nodded. "How old are you?" He asked.

"Don't you know it's not polite to ask a woman her weight or her age?"

"I figure we can make this one exception to that rule." Orm again looked ready to smile, and Elda found herself returning the sentiment.

"I've been around the block for around seven centuries now. My father has been in hibernation for the past three centuries, so I would say those have been the hardest for me. I've met some of the other full-blooded Taninoui, but most of them are cranky bastards or arrogant cunts, so I've steered clear of them for the most part. I've pretty much occupied my time with being useful, given my particular set of skills." Elda smirked, "Though some people have compared me to a blobfish before."

Orm chuckled and shook his head, "A magnificent flying, fire-breathing blobfish." He mirrored her actions and also leaned against the pillows closest to him, and thankfully leaning opposite her direction. "Care to regale me with some of your blobfish stories?"

Elda's stomach growled. "While we eat. I'm damned hungry. Always am after the change. Hungry and hor-" She cut herself off.

He didn't need to know everything. But it didn't hurt to let him know some things. She didn't often get the chance to talk to people about her true nature, and to relieve some of the more precious of her memories was a welcome change. And it seemed the sharing, and perhaps her saving his bacon or his caring for hers had allowed another change. A change between them. He seemed more apt to be cordial and civilized, and Elda no longer found it necessary to be annoying to him—he was, after all, fully recovered.

And it was that full recovery that had Elda mentally groaning even as she smiled on the outside and set about showing Orm to the kitchen facilities. She'd been tasked to get him here and keep him here until further notice. Neither one of them knew when that further notice would be, and so they would be forced to live with one another in this underground facility for who knew how much longer. While the facility offered a well-equipped gym, an Olympic sized pool, an underground greenhouse and "forest" with a simulated sun for UV therapy, among a plethora of other things all geared to make life more comfortable and tolerable while forced into hibernation, it still didn't fix the main issue for Elda. She was forced into close quarters with an attractive man and would, at least for the next few days, be about as horny as an in-heat lioness, about as docile too. Things were most assuredly about to get dicey, in an entirely different way from before.

Orm found his eyes following Elda's figure even without meaning to. She had headphones in and was moving through a series of semi-acrobatic, dance-like moves that were of a fashion a martial art but more so just Elda playing around to keep from being bored and to get some training in at the same time. Orm dipped back below the water and pushed away from the pool's wall. But even as he drifted back, his eyes strayed to Elda.

They had been in the shelter for close to a week already. With each passing day, he discovered a new facet of her personality and character that had him mentally berating himself for his first impression of her. Yes, she was still capable of being coarse and obnoxious, but he now understood her enough to recognize that she'd been that way, in the beginning, to distract him away from his misery. Orm still didn't know if he agreed with the tactic, but it had worked well enough. She did it now as a teasing tactic, and he had since grown comfortable enough in their camaraderie to return the same amount of teasing. It was strange, a form of communication he'd never used before, but he found he rather enjoyed it. At least with Elda. He vaguely remembered some phrases and behaviors from Arthur that he now knew to be sarcastic teasing remakes, and Orm couldn't help but wonder how things might be different now if he'd only had a greater sense of humor.

They'd agreed early on to share meals and to share the burden of cooking and cleaning after them. Orm had at first balked at the idea as he had no notion of how to cook surface food, but Elda hadn't allowed him to use that as an excuse and had taught him how to make at least three dishes so far and each was passably fair in taste and design. She also hadn't allowed him to use his upbringing and royal background as a reason not to know how to clean dishes or even a toilet, and now Orm felt—if or whenever the time came—he could compete with his servants for best cleaning job. It was no thanks to his own efforts; however, Orm knew it was because Elda wouldn't have allowed him to do anything other than a stellar job. At least not without making Orm feel like a fool for doing a subpar job.

Aside from meal sharing, they couldn't very well invent reasons to be with or away from each other and so often took to training in the gym at the same time, or swimming at the same time, or wandering through the UV therapy room at the same time. The only times they were apart were during the night, and these were the times Orm couldn't invent a reason to be together. But it seemed Elda could. There was an entertainment room in the facility, and in it were several surface games that Elda taught him—billiards, air hockey, darts, bowling—as well as a large screen with a whole library of films to choose from. Already they'd managed to watch the entire "series" of one of Elda's favorite cartoons, a story about robot aliens that for whatever reason tried to pass off as surface vehicles, and Elda had tasked him with find their next series to watch. Orm had procrastinated.

He used his Atlantean speed to race around the bottom of the pool, as was his habit. It wasn't perfect, but at least it was something. He wasn't dead, but neither was he quite able to live fully either. He'd been deposed by his half-brother and had since lived a half-life. Then he'd been forced from his home because of a threat against Atlantis and the surface world both. Now he had no notion of when he would ever return to his home, or if there was a home to return to. He was stuck on the surface, well below the surface, until further notice.

Orm stopped when he saw Elda drop underwater at the far end of the pool. Though she was no Atlantean, she was a good swimmer, and Orm always felt a degree closer to her in a somewhat intimate fashion whenever he interacted with her in the water. She could hold her breath for far longer than the average human and could also withstand more water pressure, which she said was thanks to her genetics. More than once, these facts had had Orm wondering if she could hold her breath long enough to make it down to Atlantis. But he'd quickly diverted his thoughts, for why would she want to go, and why would he want her? There was no need. And after this ordeal was over, he would most likely never see her again.

Orm looked up to see Elda motioning him to the surface. He joined her within seconds and circled her as she bobbed in the water.

"I have a crazy idea."

Orm raised his eyebrows, "Oh? This is nothing new."

"Right, but this idea may make you uncomfortable."

"And when did the others not?" Orm laughed at her faux petulant expression, "What is it?"

"Can I ride on your back while you run around on the bottom of the pool?"

Orm was taken aback. He'd never carried anyone on his back like that, not that anyone had ever asked. While the idea was not a difficult one to grasp, it had Orm pausing. He couldn't recall anyone in Atlantis ever subjecting themselves to the role of the steed. At least not among the royalty. So there was the initial shock at the request. He knew she didn't intend to insult him or demean him with her request and so actively fought against the indignation that was so connected to his royal upbringing.

The true cause of his hesitation had little to do with his aristocratic sensibilities and more to do with chemistry. Aside from that first night when he'd all but held her in his arms while she recovered from the shifting, they'd not really touched each other. Orm was glad for that as, with each passing day, he found himself more and more aware of the fact that she was an enigmatic, attractive, and unattached female. That she was a surface dweller, and half dragon, had Orm seriously doubting his sanity for his persistence at finding her appealing. Perhaps it was the close quarters and the fact that he'd been without female companionship for nearly a year. His own hand and fantasies were growing too dull to slack off desires, especially with Elda in the room next door.

"Orm," Elda splashed water at his face, momentarily bringing his attention away from the reality that increasingly so, Elda's face was becoming a feature in his sexual dreams. "You don't have to be so serious. Surface dwellers of all ages do stuff like this all the time." She used her fingers on the surface of the water to mimic the act she'd asked him to perform. "This could be a chance for you to get over your pompous Atlantean attitude and relax a little."

"You think it'll be relaxing to carry you on my back as if I'm your seahorse?" Orm found himself smiling despite the initial discomfort. Elda was truly incorrigible.

Elda rolled her eyes and, without asking, moved behind Orm. She must've grown comfortable enough with him to see through his questions and hesitation to the fact that truly he had no real problem with the idea. His concerns over the physical touch came back to haunt him, however, when her legs came around his waist and hooked together near his belly and her arms wrapped around his neck. He was wearing only the "swimming trunks" supplied in his room, and she wore a much more form-fitting "one-piece" suit that left very little to his imagination. There were plenty of areas where their skin touched, and this immediately had his mind firing off scenarios of other ways they could touch, and more.

"Ready?" He asked just milliseconds before he took off. He didn't dare stay stationary for too long, or else he'd give in to the temptation to initiate something that would inevitably make this whole thing more complicated. Not to mention, he highly doubted Elda would be receptive to his advances.

Elda was silent and clinging for the first two laps, but by the third, he heard her laugh next to his ear, and her grip on him relaxed, though not enough to fall off. She had her head dipped down, her face tucked into the groove of his neck, and Orm realized then that the fast pace would be uncomfortable against her eyes. He started to slow down, but Elda tightened her grip a bit and spoke next to his skin, "Don't stop yet." Orm felt a wave of heat ripple through his body where her lips all but pressed against his skin. He gritted his teeth and ran faster.

Elda laughed as the movie title splashed across the screen. She looked over to Orm, where he lounged next to her on the couch, clad in his pajama bottoms and nothing else. He looked back at her, entirely innocent, popcorn halfway to his mouth. A month and a half into their hiding and a routine had most assuredly sprung to life. Every Saturday night was movie night, every Tuesday and Thursday night was game night—be it a card game or a board game or even a video game—and every Monday and Wednesday night was reading night. On those nights, Orm typically busied himself with political science and history and other such boring nonsense that Elda had lived through and so had no reason to read. At the same time, Elda typically moved through the fiction and DIY hobby books. Sunday nights were open, and they traded between the two of them who got to choose how they would spend their evening. When Elda got to choose, they typically spent the evening building and crafting things she'd read about earlier in the week. When Orm chose they ranged from another movie to more reading, to just sitting and enjoying a glass of wine. This had been Orm's Sunday special, and he'd chosen to watch a movie.

"I'm sensing a trend in your movie choices." Elda leaned back against the couch cushions and shoved her hand into the popcorn bowl alongside Orm's. "Although this is the first romance out of the lot." Orm had consistently chosen films that had to do with the ocean. Movies ranging from submarine thrillers to cruise liner disasters and near everything in between. This evening he'd gone for a classic Tom Hanks film featuring a mermaid. "I suppose you're going to tell me all the ways the filmmakers got mermaids wrong, too, aren't you?"

Orm waggled his eyebrows but said nothing, content to munch on popcorn as the movie's story flickered on the screen. Elda shifted on the couch to get a more comfortable position that also allowed her unfettered access to the snacks, not caring that it caused her to lean a bit more heavily on Orm. The initial tension that had burned between them had dissipated into a casual awareness, at least so it seemed to Elda. She still found Orm attractive and a damn temptation, but she'd also managed to work through her own hormones and take off some of the tension herself and now could function without threat of ravishing him.

In the time that they'd been stuck together, Orm had proven to be more than a pretty face. Yes, they'd gotten into more than one heated debate about politics and rights and who was to blame for what regarding the relations between surface dwellers and Atlantis. But the fact that he'd been willing to listen as well as share proved to Elda that he was more of a man than a child than she'd been led to believe, or at least he was growing into one. She still didn't agree with much of his beliefs on blame and how to fix things, and he didn't agree with much of her take on things, but they were able to dialogue and listen and maintain the friendship.

Elda accepted the glass of wine Orm grabbed from the coffee table with a smile. She would consider him a friend, and not just because he was thoughtful enough to get her wine while he got his own. Unless he proved to be an excellent chameleon and after they got out of here turned around and stabbed her in the back with trying to take over Atlantis and destroy the surface world, Elda believed they'd grown close enough to call each other friend. Certainly, if he needed her help after this, she wouldn't need to get a paycheck to lend a hand. She wasn't quite certain if the reverse was true, but she'd like to think so.

Orm didn't disappoint. Throughout the movie, he did point out to Elda all the ways the filmmakers depicted underwater scenes correctly or incorrectly, as well as the legitimacy or lack thereof for the mermaids. His concern for accuracy made Elda laugh, and she suggested that, if he had to take up a job on the surface world, maybe he should be an advisor to filmmakers for the sake of accuracy. This only made him roll his eyes and drink more wine.

Elda had already been tired when they'd started the movie. She'd trained harder than usual that day in addition to spending some time in the greenhouse weeding out some unwanted and planting some needed. The mixture of the wine, the relaxed atmosphere, and the low-lighting had her eyes growing heavy. The last part of the movie she remembered was the mermaid being found out on the streets of Manhatten with reporters all around. Then nothing. At least until some jostling had her eyes open and she found herself suspended in the air, cradled against Orm's chest as he carried her from the entertainment room back to her room.

"Is it over?" she didn't try to get out of his arms. He was warm, smelled nice, and she was quite comfortable.

She heard and felt the vibration of him humming the affirmative. "I could've left you on the couch." He nudged her in his arms to make his point, and Elda woke up enough to wrap her arms around his neck and hold on tight. "But then I figured you waking up with a crick in your neck and being cranky tomorrow would do me no favors."

"My hero," Elda smirked at him before cuddling back against his chest.

"You're not going to walk, are you?" Elda shook her head. "Will you at least get the door?" Elda turned her head to see they were already at her room, and she sighed as she reached down and opened the door. To her surprise, Orm didn't immediately move to drop her to the floor. Instead, he walked to her nest-bed and stopped at the edge. "This is much more complicated than a regular bed."

Elda grinned. Without warning, she jerked around in his arms just enough to unsettle his stance, causing him first to drop her onto the cushions before he too toppled forward. Because of the concave nature of the nest, they both rolled down the soft edge. At the bottom, Orm landed on his back with Elda at his side. Before Orm could protest, Elda rolled over and placed her head on his chest and swung her arm over his body, shifting her torso and hips until they were flush against his side. Orm didn't move. He didn't relax either. Although Elda was relaxed and content, she could tell that Orm was far from it.

"How much wine did you have?" He asked a few moments after Elda had gotten herself comfortable using his body and the surrounding pillows.

Elda chuckled and patted his chest, "Not enough to do this and regret it in the morning." She smoothed her hand over his chest in a soothing manner. "I was just thinking earlier, before I fell asleep and probably drooled, about the movies you've been choosing." She raised her head to look at him and waited until he stiffly turned his head to look back. "You miss your home." His eyes widened just marginally in response to her comment. "I don't know if you had any friends or close family members back in Atlantis to miss, and I'm not trying to sound like a bitch, but you are a former tyrannical king who murdered a few ruling neighbors-" Orm brought his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her into his side, effectively cutting off her air and her sentence. She swatted his chest, and he relaxed his grip enough for her to breathe again. "Twerp. In any case, I just figured you needed a hug."

"A hug?" Orm glanced down at his body and at hers then around them at her nest. "This is your rendition of a hug?"

"Ok, then," Elda used her feet to grab hold of a blanket and shimmied it up her body until she had it over the both of them. "A snuggle. I figured big oafish Atlantean exile needed a snuggle."

Orm continued to lay stiff and still for some time as his thoughts Elda most likely ran into 20,000 leagues worth of directions. Elda took advantage of his distracted state and continued to enjoy the shared warmth and skin-to-skin contact. She wore her pajama shorts/tank top, and so had plenty of surface area to rub against in her eagerness to relish the moment. She hadn't had this kind of contact in a very long time. In fact, Elda also grew still as she thought on it, she hadn't actually snuggled with a man in years. Oh, she'd had sex within the last year, but that had been a colleague and a one time thing after they'd both survived horrible odds. More of a "fuck yeah we survived" encounter than anything else. This was the closest thing to a snuggle and affection as she'd shared in years, and though it seemed Orm had yet to warm up to the idea, or even return it, she would appreciate it while she had it.

"You are not wrong," Orm spoke softly, and with each word, it seemed his body relaxed just a smidgen more. "The only person in Atlantis who holds any affection for me would be my mother. Arthur and I," Orm took a deep breath and slowly let it out, causing Elda to smile to herself as her head moved up and down with the movement, "we are complicated. I understand his personality enough to know he wants to have a brotherly relationship with me but," Orm would've shrugged, but their positions barred that, and he again sighed, "there are so many things I learned from my father, so many things that were taught to me and that I still find myself instinctively believing, that makes it near impossible to give my…brother a chance. Or to 'give up' my ideations for becoming Ocean Master and taking a more direct stance at protecting our realms than what my brother appears to be doing."

By the time he fell silent, Orm's whole body was relaxed, and his arm over her shoulders was more supple, and his hold on her more welcoming. Elda smiled. Snuggles always helped.

"Do you think you would be willing to work with different surface organizations? Educate and train them instead of destroying them?" Elda's fingers took to tracing patterns on his skin, and she felt an initial wave of goosebumps dot his skin in response. This made her smile as she continued her ministrations "Your love for your people and your home is strong and worthwhile. I admire it." She felt him squeeze her a bit in response. "But the seeming inability to dialogue with the 'others' and the apparent inability to see 'them' as people worth talking to and negotiating with, well, frankly, I can understand Arthur's reluctance to let you loose so you can assume the Ocean Master title again. The surface is as much his home as Atlantis, and he's trying to find a balance between the needs of both in his own bumbling way. I wonder what might happen if he could count on you to be his ally and an advisor instead of having to worry about looking over his shoulder at any possible attempts at a coup? I wonder how much more you could accomplish on your own and how much you both could accomplish together?"

Orm didn't say anything, though his hand began to rub up and down her arm. Elda snuggled more readily against him and felt sleep begin to tug at her mind. She wasn't about to warn him that if he didn't want drool on his chest, he should leave. She hoped that he would stay.

"Thank you," she opened her eyes just enough to see Orm's smile, "for the snuggle." He kissed her forehead before extracting himself from her arms.

Fighting disappointment as well as sleep, Elda called after him as he retreated from her nest, "Anytime Ocean Master."

The end came so suddenly neither one of them had time to prepare mentally. They were entering into their almost fourth month together when Elda's communication device crackled to life, and they'd heard the news. The Justice League had been successful at routing out the society seeking to destroy both the surface world and Atlantis, and as far as they could tell, Orm was free to return home. It had actually been about a month since the last of the society's members had been caught, but they'd wanted a buffer to ensure all was truly well. A rendezvous helicopter would be en route to a specified location about forty-five klicks northwest of their current location within three days' time.

Both Orm and Elda worked quickly and, for the most part, silently at gathering together what supplies they'd need to make the journey. They made sure to include even more water rations and liquid energy packets than their first unexpected trip, and this time, Orm armed himself with his own field knife that he found in the facility. There had been no firearms; otherwise, he would've been tempted to take one of those as well.

It was a Wednesday night, reading night, and they agreed to leave at first light the next day. Elda handed him his glass of wine and patted his shoulder before retreating to her chair parallel to his own. She picked up her most recent endeavor, a book on knitting, and continued to paw through it in her own haphazard way that she considered studying and memorizing. Orm smiled to himself as he sipped at the wine. He held a fiction book based on political intrigue, recommended by Elda, but didn't immediately go back to reading. For the moment, he was more interested in reliving the past nearly four months of his life.

If someone had told him he'd spend four months in isolation with Elda before this endeavor, he would've cursed them. If they had told him he'd get to the end of four months with a sense of melancholy at the thought of not having more time with her, he would've laughed and cursed. But it was true. Elda had saved his life and all but forced him to see matters from different perspectives with her probing questions and challenging points of view. She had taught him sarcasm and how to tease, as well as helped him develop an appreciation for this communication art form. Through his friendship with her, he had also developed a greater affinity for physical affection. After that first night of forced snuggling, Elda had been much more giving with her physical affection, and over time Orm had not only readily accepted it but had reciprocated on several occasions.

Within the past week, in fact, they'd slept the whole night together. Not on purpose, of course, but they'd talked long into the night while lounging on the couch, and the next thing either of them knew it was the next morning, and they were tangling together comfortably on the couch. His morning erection had discolored the encounter slightly, only because he hadn't wanted her to feel sexually pressured, but either she hadn't felt it or had ignored it for his sake. That had been Sunday night. Monday night, without asking, Elda had crawled into Orm's lap during their reading time and doodled in a notebook while he tried to keep reading. It took some time, but soon enough, his body and mind grew accustomed to her presence, and he had been able to read a few chapters before they both grew tired. On Tuesday night, Elda had run into Orm's room without warning and launched herself into his bed, snuggling down under the covers on one side of the bed before he had a chance to ask her what was happening. He'd stood there mutely for a long enough time that Elda had sighed and begun to extract herself. But by then Orm had shaken himself out of the confusion and shook his head at her, crawling into bed beside her and waiting until she'd snuggled up to his side before he'd relaxed. He hadn't slept deeply that night, unaccustomed to sleeping with another person in bed with him all through the night, but it had been pleasant to feel her at various intervals in the night sleeping close by and to wake up in the morning to the sight of her hair splayed across his pillow—though its tickles to his nose had been what had woken him up.

"Are you ready to go back?"

Orm set his now empty wine glass aside and looked over to Elda. She'd stopped pawing and sat staring at him.

Orm nodded, "I am. I have you to thank for maintaining my life as well as for an interesting education under your tutelage which I believe will help me communicate better with my brother."

"I bet." Elda laughed. "Are you going to talk to him about your ideas on becoming Ocean Master again?"

Orm shifted in his seat, closing the book and setting it beside his wine glass. They'd revisited this topic numerous times since their first snuggle and each time Elda had encouraged him to open dialogue with Arthur. She wanted him to be able to exert some power and influence over the realms, though as Arthur's ally and aid and not his rival. He appreciated her support, though he had yet to see for himself if it was what he wanted.

"Perhaps. I have no doubt that the first few days of being home will be spent with him regaling me with all the things he did to save me while I was here." Orm smirked. "And only after I give sufficient thanks may we move on to other matters."

"You sound a bit petulant." Elda finished off her wine with a smile. "A very much like a little brother. That's good."

Orm smiled. He let his mind carry him around a bit before a sudden question came to mind. He looked back to Elda, "What about you?"

"Hmm?" She had returned to looking through the book. "What about me?"

"What will you be doing after this assignment is over?"

Elda stopped her studying and leaned her head back. Her eyes closed and she seemed lost in her own mind for a time. When she did speak again her eyes remained closed.

"I'll receive payment, go on a binge shopping spree for all these new hobbies I want to try out, and probably spend the next few months hibernating in my cabin just living life until the need for money or adventure drives me back into doing stupid stuff again." She opened her eyes and gave him a smile. "If my father has woken up then he'll come find me and maybe we'll go on some adventures together. But if he's still hibernating then yeah, I'll probably just hang out at home for a bit."

"Where is your cabin?" Orm found himself asking before he could think through the ramifcations of asking.

Elda raised her eyebrows and opened her eyes, hesitating a moment before shrugging and answering, "It is by a very large lake in the middle of nowhere Russia. I find that only really determined people who really care about me or need me make the effort to find me by living out there. Plus, I don't like noisy neighbors."

"I somehow get the feeling that some of your hobbies make YOU the noisy neighbor." She'd told him before of some of her hobbies that entailed explosives and other such nonsense. Elda grinned with a shrug and returned to her book.

They continued to read until the clock struck nine. Orm put his book back before Elda and paused by her chair on his way to the door. He placed his hand on the back of her chair, his fingers tempted to touch her hair.

"Are you going to jump into my bed again tonight?" He tried to ask the question in a casual way, not wanting to put pressure or reveal too much that he hadn't even processed through yet.

Elda laughed and looked over her shoulder at him, "Is that what the Ocean Master wants?"

Every time she called him that he felt a thrill go straight to his groin. Orm laughed and walked away before he gave in and kissed her. If they were going to have a fling, the time for it had passed. If they did anything now it would be much more complicated because there no more convenient excuses to be had and far more emotions involved.

Orm was settled in his bed with the lights out by the time Elda joined him. They assumed their "positions" against each other, and both lay awake for some time. Orm drawing his fingers up and down her back and Elda tracing hers across his chest. Orm could grow used to this, even with a surface dweller. Especially with Elda. But, without meaning to, they both fell asleep and Orm's unasked questions to himself lay dormant.

Elda let out a cry as her body dipped beneath the lake's surface. Not giving it a chance to give up, Elda quickly kicked and stroked, bring her body back to the surface and driving it through the water in a straight line. She did this every morning, no matter the weather, for as long as the lake wasn't frozen. It was already November, some six months since she'd gotten home from her Ocean Master adventure, and the lake was fucking freezing. But, Elda found the temperature change from her swim to the sauna she'd built by the lake's edge worked to invigorate her immune system and kept her energized for the day. She gritted her teeth and swam faster.

The trip over the desert to the rendezvous point had been uneventful. They would travel all morning, rest in a self-made shelter until the evening, and travel for a while during the night before stopping to sleep. They didn't bother attempting to sleep anywhere but at each other's sides and that fact had both cheered Elda as well as annoyed her. Of course, now that they were getting ready to say goodbye, Orm would finally be comfortable enough to seek her out and return her affection. That was just her luck. Not to mention the fact that her initial attraction to him physically had grown to include mental and emotional components as well and Elda realized she could very easily fall in love with Orm. To realize that, and not have the opportunity to act on it, pissed her off.

Arthur himself had been at the helicopter to meet them and they'd spent the ride to the aircraft carrier listening to all the events they'd missed while in isolation. Although Elda had never seen interactions between the brothers prior to this one, it seemed that Orm was more comfortable and at ease in his brother's presence. It appeared Arthur picked up on that and by the time they'd disembarked on the carrier he'd begun slapping Orm's shoulders and punching his arm good naturedly.

Only a few other members of the Justice League were also on the carrier, namely Wonder Woman and Batman. It seemed they wanted to make sure Orm was not going to become a problem before releasing him back into Arthur's custody and back into Atlantean waters. Elda had left him in their hands, retreating to contact her own member group to inform them of success and to arrange payment. By that evening Arthur and Orm were ready to depart and Elda met them at the edge of the carrier.

"Thank you," Orm had thanked her again as they stood a pace away from Arthur and the other members of the Justice League, "I will-"

When he couldn't find the words, Elda had taken advantage of the moment and kissed him. Full on, lip-to-lip kiss. She hadn't made an attempt to open her mouth and deepen the kiss, but she'd made sure it was firm and warm and her hands had come up to cup his face without her meaning to. When she'd pulled back, she'd found his face a mess of confusion and perhaps happiness and she'd returned the smile. Orm had looked ready to kiss her back but then Arthur had yelled out something about losing the tide and Orm had stepped back.

Elda pulled herself from the lake's frigid waters and ran into the sauna, her whole body shivering and her teeth clacking together like a maraca. More than a few of her sex dreams had taken that one kiss between them and gone a whole hell of a lot further. But even beyond the unconsummated lust she felt for Orm, Elda found that she missed him. Missed the routine they'd set up, the comfortable atmosphere they'd created together in that facility. She wondered how he was doing, readjusting to Atlantean ways after so long on the surface. She wondered if he'd fallen back into priggish habits or if he'd managed to stay a wee bit less arrogant. Elda also wondered if he missed her at all.

Finished with her sauna, Elda hurried back to her cabin to wash off and get dressed. She was nearly finished with the tapestry she'd set her mind to creating. It depicted sea dragons, blobfish, and mermaids. More silly than serious but at least she'd used rich colors for her fabric. She didn't know how she could do it but she had hopes of sending it to Orm.

Elda hummed to herself as she came out of the shower and back into her bedroom. Her every nerve caught fire then and she lashed out instinctively. She grabbed hold of the figure that had been hovering at her door and threw him over her shoulder onto her bed. Next, using her towel, she straddled his body and tangled up his arms in the cloth and shoved his now restrained arms over his head. Her instinctive fight dissipated immediately upon recognition of her would-be attacker.

"Orm?"

His smile, both confused and amused, greeted her from underneath her wet hair as it cocooned them both. "Long time no see, Elda." He flexed his hands and, because of his superior strength, managed to disengage her restraints and brought his hands to rest of her hips. "You're looking well."

Elda opened and closed her mouth in shock. Was he real? Had she gone mad? "Orm?" She asked again, only partially aware of the fact that she was stark naked, straddling his hips, his hands were on her skin, and he seemed content to lay there beneath her.

"Yes, Elda." He smiled as he pulled one hand away from her shin to help readjust her hair. "I'm really here."

"Wha-why-how, Orm?" Elda sat back on her heels, still not quite remembering the fact that she was really very naked and Orm was getting quite a show.

Orm laughed as he raised himself on his elbows and studied her. His eyes were warm and she felt warmed under his gaze as it traveled from her face down her neck, over her chest, and all the way down to where she sat over his hips. She felt a stirring beneath her and only then, as he grew aroused, did she remember just how naked she was. Her first thought was to pull away and cover herself but then, she remember her kiss and how he'd looked ready to reciprocate, as well as their mutual snuggles, and she figured he wasn't as put off with her looks after all. So she opted to stay and relaxed her shoulders.

"Do you want me to explain now," he drew a finger down her jawline and neck and across her collar bone, "or later?" He raised himself up and wrapped her arms around her so quickly she gasped. His lips were close to hers, the warmth of his body mingling with hers even through his clothes, and Elda felt herself falling.

She returned the favor and wrapped her arms around his neck as she pressed herself more firmly against his erection. They both sighed at the contact and leaned foreheads against each other. Elda kissed his temple and whispered in his ear, 'Definitely later."