#oceanmaster x reader

Clean. Sterile. Everything an infirmary should be. The bright lights of Atlantis shone in, the beds empty. The doctor stood with a couple of nurses, scribbling something on the board in front of them. 

“Should we start organising for these to be farmed?”

The holograms beside us of the seaweed’s enzymes spun slowly, “Yes, maybe just a small patch, I still want to perfect it before experimenting in the field”

One of the nurses ran off, but the other stayed, “Should we inform the council? I mean, this is revolutionary”

I couldn't contain my smile, “Not yet, I reckon we should get it ready before we put it on your professional portfolio”

She spun excitedly, “You mean it, Y/N? You’ll give me a recommendation and credit?”

I pushed the board away, hearing footsteps come down the hall, “Why wouldn’t I? You’ve been a great help-”

The doors swung open, two guards entered the practice. Light blue lights glittering from their armour, “Please welcome his majesty, King Orm of Atlantis”

Y/N and her nurse bowed as the king entered the room. His blonde hair perfectly pushed to the back like a fin, purple garments skin tight, the Atlantean lights glowing gently off his muscles. She couldn't suffocate a smile much longer, straying her eyes away from his pale ones. 

“Everyone is dismissed, I need to see the Doctor” His deep voice echoed.

She gently tapped the nurse on the shoulder and with the guards, the room was emptied. Orm stood by the door, she by one of the beds. The hum of Atlantis the only noise between them. Y/N tapped the bed in front of her, a smirk tugging at her cheeks. The King swam over to sit on the bed in front of her. Up close, all those sharp, regal edges softened out. His smile was warmer, his cheek smoother against her hand. 

“What seems to be the problem today?” She mused, running her hand softly along his forehead.

“You’re funny, you know that?” He grinned, holding his hand in hers, pulling her towards him. 

His lips pressed against hers, Orm’s warmth filling her up. His rough hand rubbed against her neck, pulling her even closer. Her hands held against his tight chest, burning the feeling of him into her hands. She lived for these moments. The King's health is the priority she’d say when questioned. A daily priority even. He was her forbidden addiction. Clamouring more and more for the taste of his skin. Only her nurses knew how itchy she got when the sun was beginning to set over Atlantis and the King had not been seen. 

He pulled away, his thumb running over the curve of her lip, “What’s my diagnosis, Doctor?”

She hummed for a second, pretending to look concerned, holding his face in her hands, “I’m afraid you're too hot- your temperature that is”

He laughed, resting his head against her, “What do you suggest for treatment?”

The doctor backed away from him, pulling him to his feet. She adored the space he took up. Even if he wasn’t King, Orm would be a noticeable presence anywhere. She couldn’t get enough.

"Now would you have agreed to this plan if I told you?" Arthur asked.

A pause before Orm looked away, "Yes actually"

"You would've?! I heard you guys hated each other, She doesn't even know you're coming"

"You what?!" Orm roared, pausing his swim, "I promise you half-breed, she doesn't want to see me"

"I don't know what went on between the two of you but she's our only hope" he sighed.

“Are you sure? What have you been told cause I have other contacts-”

“Little brother, please, it’ll be good for you”

“Do not call me little broth-”

Flood lights glared down at them. Bubbles giving them brief reprieve as they turned towards it. Two, crab-like creatures floated towards them. Armoured with roughed, used edges and barnacles adorning their shoulders. Old Atlantian armour from when Orm was a child. They must have pinched it from the dead. 

“What do we have here?” One of them mockingly asked.

“Looks like they’re lost” The other prodded their weapon towards them. 

“We’re here to see the Atlantean doctor,” Arthur announced, looking towards the bright lights of the Sunken Citadel in front of them.

Singing could be heard from within the city's walls, people drifting between stalls and being merry. So this was where she ran off to. She was on his mind ever since that day. Her house was left abandoned for some time until a new family moved in. He hoped she would return but she never did. He wanted her to be happy, even if they were happy with other people.

“Atlantean doctor?” The guard turned to the other, “There's no doctor’s here, I think you ought to turn around before-”

"They're with me, let them through" a voice spoke from the darkness. 

There, in the dark shadows by the walls, came the voice. Orm’s skin crawled with recognition; it was her. Her clothes shimmered, even in the darkness, the bioluminescence was brighter than he ever expected. To Orm, she could wear kelp and still shine. Slowly drifting forward, half of her face was lit up by the blue and red lights of the citadel. 

The two guards laughed, “As if you’re a doctor, Y/N, they’re pulling my claw”

“Tukill, Ordash, would King Fish need to know who I needed to vacate to get you these jobs today?” 

The two looked to each other before swimming away, letting the two brothers through. Arthur reached out his arms in triumph with a cheer.

“Do not get any closer” She warned, “Follow me and do not attract attention or I will give you to this royal hating savages myself, understood?”

The hatred in her voice. Orm had never heard anything like it. It was like she was cursing him with each word. The glittering lights of the Sunken Citadel seemed like the last place she would have ended up. Softer, warmer- the city comforts of Atlantis was a match for her. Now? He wasn’t so sure. 

She led them down multiple alleyways, crab-like creatures nipping them if they swam too close. For what felt like forever, they came to a small, dark end. Two doors, each barnacle covered and gently flowing with kelp and sea moss. 

“You struggling to pay rent this month dearie?”

An elderly woman cackled, sitting by the opposite door. Her gills adorned with moss and small fish circled her chest for any crumbs that fell from her mouth. Scales adorned her arms; cheap, green land-dweller jewellery laid upon her fingers, swirling with the breeze as they loosely hung off her. 

Orms blood boiled with the accusation. If not for Arthur staring him down, he would have. Not as if anyone would have called Atlantis about their war criminal royalty causing a fight down here. The door clicked open and he rushed inside before he could choose otherwise. She slammed the door behind them, bubbles flooding the area on impact. 

They sat down opposite her on her makeshift couch. A small, rickety coffee table was held down with anchors from blowing away in the water. One room, so many cracks in the walls she didn’t need lamplight most of the time. Everything was salvaged or stolen from what they could see. A spear laid by the small bed, the only valuable thing inside. Her hair was tied back, no longer flowing around her like he fondly remembered. Clothes dark, torn in small spots from what looked like daggers or bullets. The woman Orm knew was gone. The only hint that she was not an impersonator laid upon her neck. Just a glimpse, as the neck of her shirt flowed, Orm saw the necklace he gave her, a plain silver chain adorned with a small purple gemstone. Innocent enough to look like she bought it from the markets, significant enough to know it was his. She still wore it, after all this time. 

“You have one minute before I call up the Fisherman Kingdom” 

“I- we need your help. Black Manta’s got some hideout- burning Orichalcum to destroy the atmosphere. He used to come here as a mercenary- someone here could know where he’s hiding out” Arthur explained.

She stayed silent, staring down at the king, “So?”

“Are you a mercenary now?” asked Orm, his eyes leading back to the spear. 

One dry chuckle escaped her, running her tongue over her teeth, “When the King of Atlantis fires you, you have to make ends meet some how”

“You fired her?”

“I did not send you here, out of all places Y/N-”

“Don’t make me laugh Orm, trying to cover up what you did in front of your replacement”

Orm sat back, looking between the two. He would admit that he fired her- but sending her here? No, that was not what he said. Before he could speak up to his defence, the moment left:

“What do I get for helping you?” She turned to Arthur. 

“You can come back to Atlantis, chief medical position, back to your original job” 

She sighed, cracking her fingers sitting back in her chair, “By Atlan, you really think I want to go back to Atlantis? I doubt the high council would let you bring me within a miles of the walls, surrounded by memories of-”

She cut herself off. Her gaze stopped at Orm. The first time she had really looked at him. He was edgier than she remembered, being cast out and imprisoned had made him relax his look a little bit. Rougher but a bit more approachable, more relaxed. The opposite could be said for her. Scars where there once wasn’t, razors in her gaze where there was once love. A cruelness that made waste of her heart. 

“The high council?”

She stood up, the chair nearly breaking through the timber walls, “Don’t be so daft Orm, I know you sent them”

“Hey, hey, hey” Arthur put his arms between the two, “Whatever you want Y/N, I can ensure you I will look after it”

“I want to never see him again” She sneered. 

Orm stood, dangerously close to her, “Consider it done”

She stared at him for a second more, her eyes drifting down to his lips. Before anyone could say anything, she swam over to the spear, sitting back down with it leaning over her lap. 

“Sit, sit” The doctor smiled. 

They both sat back down, sharing a look. Harm and heal, a balanced coin personified in the woman he once loved. 

“Rumours say he’s on an island, shielded from land-dweller satellites” She ran her nail down the edge of the spear, “Was a rocky barren but they say it's been transformed into a jungle paradise- Devils Deep they’ve been calling it”

“Sounds perfect” Arthur slapped his thighs, “Let’s get going”

Orm was the last out the door. The old croon was still sitting there with a grin on her face. He paused, watching the other two swim ahead in hushed whispers.

“Didn’t you have a good ti-”

He grabbed her by the collar, yanking her up “If you dare think about her ever again, I personally feed you to the creatures of the trench, understood?”

Letting go, she sank down slowly, the fish coming back to feed around her.