Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The wind softly blew your hair in your face, the sound of the water clashing against the sand, desperately trying reach further. You’re just 7 years old, and playing on the beach that day. Finding shells and rocks that looked pretty cool. Sometimes even finding a giant kelp that if light enough, you’d drag along and use as a sword. It was a bit cloudy but to you, that was perfect. That meant a lot less people or even no one would come to the beach today, and it would be all yours to explore. The sand felt soft under your feet, and when it came to the wet sand, you loved it. You were able to make pictures in the sand of faces and such. Currently, you walked down the beach with a giant smile on your face with a bucket at hand. You wore a swimsuit with mermaids imprinted into it, as you looked out to the sea letting out a sad sigh.

“ Why couldn’t I be a mermaid? Or anything else! “ you slightly pouted before hearing something unusual. At first you shrugged it off to the wind or the sea but it didn’t sound like wind or sea. Then you get an idea “ maybe it’s a seal! Or even a selkie! Ooooh I wonder if the selkie is pretty. Of course the selkie would be pretty- “ you continued your ramblings while following the sound. But the sound didn’t sound like a seal… actually, you could see a figure in the distance. It could’ve been mistaken for a seal if it wasn’t for the fact that the top looked… human like. Your smile widen, as you gasped revealing a couple missing teeth. “ A REAL MERMAID! “ you screamed, making the figure looked to you. You then freeze up as the supposed mermaid stared at you with a white pupilless eyes. The figure was also frozen up, as you both just had an intense stare down. You cautiously and carefully make your way over to mermaid, and sat down a few feet from it. Your eyes widen, it was very pretty. It didn’t look like Ariel in looks but still very pretty.

The mermaid was an orangish-yellowish color, and indeed, with a light underbelly. The fins were pretty… shark like. It bared at you, showing sharp teeth making you slightly tense up but relaxed. The fins around its head made it look like the sun you often drew. You also looked at the face, and realized that it was probably no older than you were. A kid mermaid! How cool! You could tell from the baby fat (a term you learnt from the adults in your life when they described you). You also unfortunately noticed that the tail, which was stunning and large, had a spear through it “ Oh no! You’re hurt! Don’t worry, I get hurt a lot so I have bandaids on me! “ it watched you with such intensity as you dug through your bucket which also had seashells and rocks. You grabbed the now dirtied roll of wrap bandage and look at the mermaid. “ I will be your doctor today! My name is Y/N and I’ll fix that boo boo up right away! “ you go to reach for the spear (and taking this once in a lifetime chance to pet a mermaid) before feeling something bite down on your arm. Hard.

You look over and see another mermaid! How cool! You were so distracted by this new mermaid, you couldn’t really feel the pain. It looked like the orange one except it was a deep blue. Or at least the left side was. The right side was an off white that happened to be a light silvery blue. It’s eyes were different however, being more black with red pupils. It also had baby fat face, and had a fin on its head that looked like a night cap. It has the same teeth as the orange before you look back and forth from the two and made a connection. “ SIBLINGS! COOL!!! “ you were so giddy before looking down at your bite wound. Bad idea. You now suddenly felt the lightening like pain jolt through your arm as you bite your lip. Your a big kid, and a makeshift doctor. And those two don’t cry so you couldn’t cry. But your eyes betrayed you, as you could feel tears and set the bandage down and gently put your other hand on its head. “ Please let go! I’m just trying to help! I’m no harm I promise! “

The darker mermaid growled as, the orange one curiously watch as its sibling only bit down harder. You grabbed the bandage after you finally get the darker one off you. Your arm shook and bled a lot. So quickly (and messily) you wrapped your arm up while tears fell down your face. The orange one looked at its own wound and then the bandage you were using. It then snapped at its sibling, as you look up from the sudden sound. The darker one climbed backed into the water and made a grumbling sound, causing bubbles to rise up. The orange one looks at you, tilting its head before pointing at your bandaged arm and then to wound. It takes you a minute but you realized what it was asking if you. “ Yeah! That’s what I was gonna do! I was gonna bandaged your boo boo “ you noticed that it was still defensive, it relaxed greatly. So taking the bandage wraps, you move yourself closer to the mermaid. You made sure to be cautious to show that you were no threat.

You could feel the glare of the other sibling but you could hear the orange one growling at its sibling when it tried to approach. You took your tiny hands and tried to pull it out but struggled. You stood up and tried a new position but heard a whimper and immediately let go. You started to get frustrated, the orange mermaid staring at you until you see the darker one’s arms come out of the water and pull out the spear before going back in the water. You make quick work of the wound, the pain in your arm was still pretty prevalent. You look at your work with accomplishment with pride. The orange mermaid clapped its hands and looks at you with those white eyes. With a wide smile, you go to thank it as you don’t think they could speak but you were wrong. “ Than ou! “ it came out a bit raspy and almost inaudible. Your eyes sparkled before a wide grin crept on your face. You squeal before using breathing practices to calm down. “ Oh!!! You’re welcome! “ you watched as the orange one joins its sibling in the water and swims off. Not before the sun looking one raises its hand out of the water and waves at you before it pulls it back.

“ I feel like a Disney princess. “ and with that wide grin on your face, you grabbed your bucket and started running back home. I mean, you just saw mermaids. “ or were they sirens? They looked more like sirens… “ you pondered aloud as you dodged rocks with dead clams on them due to the pointyness of them. And you didn’t need to be more injured than you were. You come up to your house, just a small house that was a light blue in color. It wasn’t fancy, nor was a beach house. It was like one of those little houses you’d find in small towns. Opening the door with your uninjured arm, you panted a little with how fast you got here. “ MOM! I GOT SOMETHING TO TELL YOU! “ you yelled before your mom comes out. She was a very pretty woman, who was in her early 30’s and had a job at home. She looks over with a little bit of irritation on her face. “ Y/N. I’ve told you before that you can’t just be yelling in the house- “ she stops when her eyes landed on your bloodied bandaged arm.

She makes her well over quickly and examines your arm with worry in her eyes. “ How did this happen? What did you do?? “ you suddenly frown as you look away some shame. “ well I was helping a mermaid, or well I actually think it was a siren, and it’s sibling attacked me- “ you could hear you mom make an exasperated sigh and stopped talking. “ Y/N. Mermaids and sirens and selkies and everything else that fits in that category don’t exist. They’re not real. Now since you won’t tell the truth, let’s just get you cleaned up and ready for grandpa. “ you remembered that you were going boating with you grandpa today and smiled. But you still felt down from everything your mom said, as you really did see and interact with the siren siblings. Your mom had lead you to the bathroom and once she undid the bandages, she had thought that some sort of dog bit you. But the strangest thing was that it looked like an old wound now, as it was already scabbing. Your mother thought you hid such a wound but you were astonished. “ They have magic! “ you smiled before frowning as your mother gave you a disapproving look.

You got all dressed, and grandpa had arrived to pick you up. You always love boating with grandpa. You’d fish with him too, looking down at the waters below to see if you could find something. You were on the boat now, swinging your legs as you looked down at the water below. When grandpa found a good spot, he anchored the boat and sat next to you, getting his fishing pole out. “ I heard you met two sirens. But yer ma thinks your imaginin’ again “ his gruff voice hums as you looked up. “ I did! Look! One bit me! I swear it was bleeding earlier… “ you showed him the scarring as he gets his glasses on and hums. “ A quick healing means the siren misunderstood yer intent and is fixing its mistake. “ he smiles as your eyes sparkled and look down at the wound. Was the dark mermaid really that sorry? It didn’t seem like it but you knew a kid at school who acted the same way. Grandpa rested, waiting for his line to get a catch as you continued to watch the water while dangling your feet off. You swear you could’ve saw something dark under the boat before another dark figure did the same. That was until you saw a familiar orange face pop up and smile at you. You smiled widely and wave at the siren who suddenly frown and looked up before going under. Strange…

“ Hey grandpa. Why do sirens frown when they look at the sky and then go away. “ at first, he stirred before suddenly jumping up to a sitting position. “ A STORM! They be sensing a storm! We gotta go before we get caught up! “ he takes out his line and heads his way up to control the boat. You pull your legs up and look over one last time but it was gone. The storm was now visible, and close, as you start grabbing your stuff from the deck. You didn’t hear your grandpa yelling for you. It was all so sudden, you were knocked off the boat not without hitting your head against the railing. Hard. Before you blacked out, you swore you could see an orange hand reaching out to you from the aggressive waves.

When you woke up, you were in your bed and you didn’t feel so good. Actually you felt very sick as you sit up, your head hurting badly. You put a hand on your head and look over to your window. The sea was calm and it was nighttime, but you didn’t want to look at the sea. Your mom opens the door and when she saw you, she rushed over to your side sobbing. Ever since you ended up almost drowning that day, you never stepped foot on the beach again. Nor did you on a boat. Your old man had apologized for every waking moment of his life since, saying he was fortunate to save you. But he died with a grief in his heart that he hurt you in so many many ways. Once you were 18, you moved more inward in the city as you didn’t like the view of the ocean anymore, and you got rid of any seafolk memorabilia you had as a child. You go to a collage and currently go to a good job. You currently were in your senior year of collage, being 23 years old. And at the moment, you are irritated with your roommate.

“ I’m not stepping a single foot on that goddamn boat. You KNOW I’m terrified of those things! I’ve told you the time I almost DIED as a child. “ you slammed the fridge door shut as your roommate sat hunch over on the couch, texting his buddies. “ But, Y/N! You’re the life of the party! Everyone loves it when you arrive! And I’m making sure to take safety precautions when it comes to this boat party. Also, we’ll be going to an island and mostly spend our party there. “ you groan, as you didn’t want to deal with this shit at the moment. You’ve grown to realized that you had a little something called Naviphobia, or the irrational fear of boats. Being on a boat will send you into a fit of paranoia and in more extreme cases, you’ll start sobbing and screaming to get off and onto land. And you’ve told him this before but he just won’t listen. “ Y/N. Please? You know this party will be important to me. I’m turning 21! I’ll finally be able to drink until I pass out! Please, just do this for me? “ he smiled, his 2000’s looking hair covering his eyes slightly. You tried to ignore him as he was using your loyalty to win you over. But you lost, and you couldn’t help but to look over to him with a glare.

“ Okay. I’ll come. But as soon as I pass out, I will be blaming you for this whole thing. “ he chuckles nervously and nods. You could be stern and terrifying to others at times with how cold you could act. However, it was just a case where your bark was just worse than your bite. You’re a pretty sweet person once someone got to know you. A couple weeks later, when spring break finally arrives, your roommate and yourself starts driving to the beach, well it’s the dock but still. You felt nervous as you sat in the passenger seat, fidgeting your fingers. It’s been so long since you have been anywhere near the ocean. You haven’t even visited family, which you were kinda angry at yourself for not doing something that important. The car gets near the dock and parks in the parking lot. There’s people surrounding this nice yacht, assuming all the friends that your roommate had called up. You take your mini backpack and felt the sketchbook inside, something you’re hoping will keep your mind off being on a literal boat. The both of you get out and your roommate greets everyone as you also did the same. You kept your cool but your hands were already shaking as everyone gets on the yacht, you being the last person to get on.

You hated the ride, as you mostly stayed inside and kept yourself from looking out the windows. You kinda just ended sitting on the floor as you started to drawing, hating the movement from the ocean. But you try to block it out as your focus on your sketch. It was of the siren siblings that you imagined as a kid. You were a lonely kid, having only a few acquaintances. “ I could make a book. A children’s book… “ you muttered under your breath. You ate some snacks and kept drawing as the hours passed. You seriously did not want to go while the boat was moving. As soon as the boat docked, you quickly got off; well as quickly as you could. You trembled when the stairs would wobble a little. You can’t swim, so falling in would be not good. You sat on the sand, having stole a bottle of Pendleton whiskey from the boat. “ You coming? There’s a nice vacation house just a bit away? “ Sarah, your roommate’s girlfriend, had asked you. “ Nah. I need some time to calm my nerves. That boat ride was awfully. “ she frowns but shrugs it off and leaves with your roommate. You continue to draw multiple sketches of the siren siblings, unable to stop for some strange reason. What you failed to realize was that there was a shadow in the water, some bit away from you… watching.

Chapter Text

You had taken off your shoes at some point to dig your feet against soft sand. The sound the wind calming you as you continued to sketch. It was nothing much, just the ocean. You planned on using it as a reference for a painting. Taking out your phone, you lifted it and took a picture to know what colors to use before getting distracted once more. Well until you heard a splash. You jolted immediately, guard pulling itself up as you looked out to the ocean in front of you. You were breathing a little bit heavily, nervously clutching at your chest but decided to use some breathing techniques so as to not scare yourself even more. “It was probably just a fish, don’t be such a scaredy cat.” you let out a groan of frustration directed towards yourself.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see something sparkle and shine in the sunlight. You couldn’t help but to look over to satiate your curious hunger. There, in all its glory, was a beautiful yet intact jingle shell. You reached over and nabbed it as to take a closer look. It was wet, like any shell would be but you were still some ways from where the water touched land making you furrow your brows. “That’s weird.” you mumbled to yourself before tucking away the jingle shell into your pocket and bringing your sketchbook back up. After sketching for a few minutes, you hear a ‘pa-uth’ sound and look back over once again. This time, it was a fully intact sand dollar. 

“Okay, what the fuck is happening right now?” You pick up the sand dollar and also examined it too. 

It’s wet. 

“Okay, really funny guys! You can come out now!” You wait for a few minutes as you listen to the way the waves softly push themselves into the sand, making such a soothing and relaxing sound. However that's not what you wanted to hear, you wanted to hear some drunk giggles that state that they thought it would be funny to mess with a weirdo like you. But… there was nothing, just emptiness and quietness. Eeriness falls over you. “Okayyy… if one more shell appears, I’m officially out of here. I didn’t sign up for a haunted island.” And you go back to drawing, being on edge. 

You hear another ‘pa-uth’ sound again and angrily close up your sketchbook. “That’s it, I'm not dealing with this. I don’t need to be bullied by the ghost who throws shells at me!” As you put your slides on and start to make your way towards the little beach houses more inwards on the island where the party was happening. You didn’t notice the yellow clawed hand that snagged the last wet shell back towards the sea. 

When you got closer to the party, you could hear how loud it was. Not very friendly to the ears, or well your ears, but it’s not like you had any control over that unfortunately. Other than how loud it was, you could tell there was quite a bit of drinking happening too. You yourself weren’t much of a drinker, sure you brought a bottle of whiskey with you but you probably weren’t even going to drink. That’s… what usually happens, you’d buy packs of beer or some bottles of alcohol but end up forgetting it and your roommate gets his hands on it. It’s fortunate you didn’t have the bad habit of drinking yourself to death. But it led to another bad habit: smoking. 

You try to move past through the crowd, tugging at your mini bag straps to bring it closer to you. It felt nauseating, and you felt claustrophobic as the air seemingly created hands for itself as they wrapped themselves around your neck. It left you breathless, making you wonder why you even took a boat here if you weren’t part of the party. Right. Your roommate. You should’ve stayed home; passing out on the boat, stumbling off it, meeting and being bullied by an island ghost, and now being suffocated at this party aren’t worth being there for your roommate. 

Moving through the crowd, unnoticed, you finally get to the cabin you’ll be staying at. Being in the crowd reminded you very much how the water swarmed your small frame, the way it pulled you under and forced itself into your lungs. It took your breath away, trying to take you to death’s doorstep early. You didn’t even realized your nails dug into your palms until looking down to seeing pinpricks of blood escaping. “Damn it.” you muttered. Wiping your hands on your pants, you unlock the door with the key you were given and make your way inside. 

It was a pretty nice cabin, especially being a wooden cabin. The way it was glossed over, giving it a nice furnished look. But you weren’t here to admire the cabin, you were to make yourself comfortable in the room. It’s only for two days, you can survive without your stuff. When you find your number, 208, you make your way inside. It… was a bedroom. It had a queen size bed, with a nightstand and a closet but that’s it. Nothing else. Just like any other hotel room you’ve been at in your life just with a different coating. You settle yourself on the bed, breathing softly as you try to get over your emotions of being in the crowd. 

You were just going to close your eyes for a little bit, a nap wouldn’t hurt you. Maybe the dream would but whatever, it’s a 50/50 chance you either get nothing or actually get a dream which then becomes a nightmare. You swear it’s only for a couple minutes you had your eyes closed but when they snap open again, it’s due to loud knocking at the door and furious winds booming with rage. It’s your roommate, calling out your name. “Uh hey, we’re gonna be stuck on this island for a week. Captain says that the weather isn’t safe and probably won’t be safe for the next couple weeks.” and with that he left you with that bombshell of information. A week? A WEEK? You hadn’t packed for a week! You groan and pull on your eyeballs with your hands. You really had to jinx it, didn’t you. 

Grumbling, you sat up and checked the time on your phone. You had been asleep for four and a half hours, Jesus christ. You set your phone down as it had no data signal at all which fucking sucks. You sit up and lean over the floor a little bit as you cover your face with your hands. With a sigh, you grab your bag and start shuffling inside of it to grab your cigarettes. What a horrible habit this was, you knew all too well. People are always telling you that you could get lung cancer and that it was bad for your health. You knew, you always knew but nobody told you how to handle your stress properly. Nobody wants to help you quit. 

Nobody. 

Makes sense, you don’t have very many friends and your parents are no longer with you or your grandpa. You open the window and grab your lighter, firing it up as you light your cigarette and take a puff of it as quickly as possible. The smoke you blew out was a deep contrast to the dark night sky, floating up and dissipating like melting ice. Though it smelled bad, even to you, you were so used to it you didn't even react to the nicotine that burned, sniffing as the cold winds blew against your cheeks, making your nose tinted pink.

Blowing out another cloud of smoke, the wind blew it right into your face, making you cough as you tried taking a deep breath of the fresh night air. It ended up being useless as every cloud you blew out was just blown back into your face, making you a bit irritated as you huffed. Fine. So not even smoking was going to work.

You snuff the cigarette out against the outer edge of the window, making sure not to permanently burn the windowsill, leaving the window open for the breeze to keep your room fresh while you slept. Smoking was a bust too, so all you could do was go back to bed, flicking the cigarette butt into the trash can as you rummage through your bag, pulling out the pajamas you change into, and setting your dirty clothes to the side as you pack it all back up. Pulling the covers back, you slide under them and settle into the mattress as you prepare yourself for a good night's sleep.

The dead of night was like a blanket to you, it made your sleep so peaceful with the sounds of wildlife. Unfortunately, even though you stated you were gonna have the best sleep in your life, you aren’t. Here you were, wide awake in a bed that wasn’t yours in an unfamiliar environment you’re gonna have to get used to for a week. This sucks absolute ass. But you weren’t about to get up just to sketch away in your sketchbook. You’re too comfortable. So you lay there, eyes closed trying your best to put yourself to sleep to get a good night’s rest. That was until you heard it. 

At first, you think it’s a part of your imagination, and thus you move one of your arms over your ear. But it grew louder and the spark of curiosity lit up. But also desperately you are fighting to ignore it and go to sleep because that’s what you rather do. But the fire of curiosity grew larger and larger, the flame consuming your soul until you sat up in your bed. “Why am I like this?” You mumbled to nobody in particular. You slid on your flip flops and grabbed a flashlight (You brought it in case you went on a night walk) to leave the cabin. In your jammies, you open your room door as quietly as possible because you knew if your roommate knew, he wouldn’t be too happy. It had stopped storming fortunately for you as you tiptoed your way out and into the night air. 

It was soothing, but that isnt what you’re after. You listen close in your half asleep state, wondering who in the world wanted to sing a song in the middle of the night. There’s people sleeping (excluding you obviously) as you shuffle your way over to where you’re hearing the person sing. The light from the flashlight really helped but you turn it off when you notice how bright the moon in the sky was. It really illuminated your path quite well as you continued walking. Truly it was a beautiful- no, gorgeous night as a smile came across your features. You wondered that if you had a partner, it would make it romantic to walk in the moonlight along the beach. 

You’d continue your line of thought if it wasn’t for the fact that the humming stopped. You stopped, realizing at some point you gotten into the chill water. “Oh hell no, not the beach ghost possessing me.” you shifted, the water being up to your hips as you moved towards the safety that was land. How did this even happen??? You swear you were just on land, you only went into your head just for a few seconds. As you sluggishly tried to make your way out, you didn’t notice the large shadow in the water nor the clawed hands that emerged and quickly wrapped around your hips. You would’ve screamed as you were being pulled but one of the hands moved to glue itself to your mouth.

This is it. This was your death.

Chapter Text

When you woke up, it was sputtering sea water out of your mouth and being very very cold. You sat up, looking around your immediate area to see that you were in fact on the beach in your pajamas. “What the fuck happened last night?” you held your head with a soft groan. You were pretty sure that you fell asleep in your room in the cabin, so how in the world did you even end up here? Then, as if you were dying, your memories flash before you.

You thought you were going to die, that it was game over for your life. You knew this day was coming, just not on some shitty vacation trip on some haunted island. You’re pulled under at first but strangely enough are pulled back up as you gasped out. You blinked a few times, wondering who the hell had the gull to get into cold water at night and pull you in. You’re about to accuse your roommate when you freeze upon the sight of the creature. Sharp dagger like teeth that shimmered in the light, glowing red pupiless eyes with black sclera. With a circular face that part of it has a lighter blue silver marking that makes an almost crescent moon shape. As its long… uh nightcap ass looking appendage waves around with a glowing thing at the end. Hey you’re no fish expert, you don’t know any of the scientific names that go for fishes. 

“ Hi ” You screamed and tried to pull away as it chuckled raspily. It talks. It TALKS !!! Your mind is greatly boggled by this but equally terrified. There is a predator in the ocean that talks back in the ocean. That is a horrifying thought to think about how many times it probably told a human it was going to have them for dinner. “ What’s… wrong ?” It poses it as a question but that smug ass grin says otherwise that makes you wanna cry like a newborn baby. Why is it purposely talking slow???? “Please stop talking and just eat me!” You look away, awaiting your death, waiting for your head to be placed in its maw but… it never came. When you look up, you see a very offended look on its face. “I no eat you. Taste icky probably.” Now it was your turn to be offended. 

“I probably don’t taste that bad.” The creature gives you a ‘really?’ sort of look before placing you on its chest and starts swimming around. “I know you taste. It okay, but no good for me.” That made you concern as you look around on your body. “No remember?” it scoffs as you furrowed your brows. “Huh well now you mentioned it, you do look familaAAAAAA-” 

It flings itself up and makes a bite on your arm. You expected pain but none did come. When you looked over, you see it’s retracted its teeth and was just gumming your arm. “What the fuck man!? You could’ve made me pass out!” you blinked before realizing something. “Holy shit… I thought that was a fever dream.” 

You pull your arm away and hiss. “You asshole! You bit me back then!” the mer lays back down in the water and continues leisurely swimming. “Brother hurt, i defend, you threat. Sorry.” You huffed before being grossed out from the saliva all over your arm now. 

“Well why do you have to take me out here then? My jammies are all cold now and I gotta go to sleep in cold wet jammies. DO you know how uncomfortable that is?” He looks at you with a look that could make anyone feel dumb. But here it just enforced the fact that your brain was not on your side right now. “Oh well… of course you wouldn’t, asshole.” You sneered and huffed.

You sat in the open ocean, the familiar feeling of claustrophobic coming back to you as you just looked back to the mer. His features soften as he looks back at you. “Uh… could we go back on land? Or at least me, you can stay in the water.” With the swiftness of a cheetah, you yelp as you’re suddenly moved to being held against his chest. And before you knew it, you're back on the sand while he lays there bathing in the moonlight… moon… “Hey do you have a name?” 

He perks up as he shrugs, looking at you like some large wet cat on the sand right now with how he was laying. “What name?” you frown as you get yourself into a criss cross applesauce position. “Oh um… I guess it’s what your parents give you as an identity that you can change if you feel like it doesn’t fit.” and state your name as an example. You ask again but he just shakes his head making your shoulders slump. “Oh… well Moon would fit you nicely.” He looks back at you before muttering out his new name a few times. 

You also start to realize something else. “Hey were you also the one singing?” That one makes him give you that sharp dagger-like grin. “Yes.” You furrow your brows at him. “Real funny. But on another note, I think you got a really nice voice.” You see his eyes look at you deeply, with a softness like nothing else before huffing comes out of him. “Gotta go. Night, stupid human” He gives a smug grin after saying that and pulls himself deeper in the water. An offended gasp leaves you. 

“WOW OKAY ASSHOLE!” you grumble and laid on the sand. This could be dangerous but eh, you’ll be fine with the mer around. You place your hands on your chest and huff. You guess that’s one way to start off a reunion, though you recommend it doesn’t happen again. Hopefully it doesn’t become a nightly ritual. Off in the distance, you hear a hum and before you knew it, your eyelids were getting heavier and heavier. 

And before you knew it, that’s how you ended up on the beach covered in sand, with wrinkly dirty ass pajamas, and somehow with the best sleep you have ever gotten. “Huh, guess i should ask him to sing more often-OUCH!” Your knocked back down onto your back with a shell thrown at you very hard. You think hard enough where it should leave a bruise. You sit up and grab the weapon to see… oh its an oyster shell, that’s pretty cool- hey wait a minute. “Who the fuck threw that!!?” You look out to the ocean, assuming maybe it’s the gremlin Moon but… nothing. 

You huffed and stand up, rubbing your forehead and holding the shell as you sluggishly make your way back to the cabin. When you get there, as you expected, your roommate isn't there to make sure you were okay. You assume it was probably because he probably got black out drunk again. You make your way inside and go inside your room you’re staying out. Stretching out your limbs, you hear some of them pop and make you wince at the sound. You overall felt sluggish and decided to stay inside. 

Which was a good thing because no later than an hour and it’s already back to storming. “The only fortunate outcome with this is no loud parties.” you hummed, sounding very much like an old make who would absolutely tell off kids for stepping on his lawn. Taking out your sketchbook, you decided to flip to a new page and start sketching. At first, it was really nothing but once you shook yourself out of it, you realized that you ended up drawing Moon. That makes you really think about who could be throwing shells at you. 

“Why are they such gremlins??”

Chapter Text

So. You decided to take a power nap on the nice, warm cabin bed with nice, warm, DRY clothes and when you woke up, the window was open and there was a god damn mer in your bed. You blinked looking at their yellow face, as your brain tried to dig through memories you had of both mers. Oh right, this is the mer that you helped as a child that caused the blue mer to bite you. There was rain getting into the room so immediately get up and closed the window and glared at the curious mer. 

“Dude. I know it’s you who's throwing things at me. Not cool, man.” And you shake your head in disapproval while now gesturing at his body, which is WET and is on the supposed to be soft blankets but now are WET too. You place your hands at your sides and glare at him even harder. 

“And now you’re breaking into cabins to do what exactly?” immediately he perks up and gives a wide grin before moving out of the reveal a whole ton of shells. “For friend! Pick prettiest ones for you!” and he grabs a fully intact sand dollar and holds it out for you. Honestly you weren’t expecting him to talk either but considering last night the asshole could talk too, it shouldn’t have been all too surprising. Though he seems to have a harder time with it, and considering he seems a lot nicer, you’re not going to be too mean. 

You take the intact sand dollar which is actually really cool to see one not damaged at all and stare at it. Rubbing your thumbs over it, you look up to the mer, who promptly reminds you of the sun due to how he looks and shines with absolute positivity. “This is really cool actually, thanks. Just… don’t throw shells at me, okay?” Sheepishly the mer, who you now name Sun, nods and lets out a quiet sorry. 

“Anyways, shouldn’t you be like… in the water? Being out too long can’t be good for your scales my guy.” Sun blinks before huffing and crossing his arms. 

“You with brother last night, my turn to hang out!” Oh he’s jelly. You hold back from snorting due to the apparent jealousy before waving your hand around with a smile. “Aight we can hang but um… how about in the bathroom tho? Don’t want anybody else seeing you and we can’t just let you dry out.” he blinks even more before cooing softly. 

You make your way over to him and with all the strength you had (which wasn’t very much, you’re weak as fuck), you barely manage to pick up the mer. “Jesus fucking Christ, why the fuck are you so damn heavy!?” Sun just flops on you which doesn’t really help but who are you to call out a mer that crawled from the beach to the window, pull himself up and crawl in silently. Well actually you're a heavy sleeper so it’s not like you would’ve heard anything in the first place anyways. Actually that makes you realize that Sun had made it to your cabin by himself (how did he know this cabin was yours anyways??) So why are you carrying him!? 

Oh well, you’re already in the bathroom so it’s not like that it matters anymore. You set him down on the toilet as he looks around with wonder in his eyes. You turn on the water which seemingly startles Sun and makes him hiss slightly. Would it be mean if you said that the sight of him being startled by the tub turning on was funny?? You don't think so, but still you don’t want to be mean to the not asshole mer who didn’t pull you into the cold ass water at dark o’clock in your jammies. Yes you will be salty about that for a good while. 

Sun carefully gets off the toilet and puts a hand in the water, making you realize that you probably need to adjust it to what he’s comfortable with. “Hey, is the temperature fine?” he tilts his head curiously at you making you wonder why he’s doing so. Then you think that he probably doesn’t know the word temperature. Oops. 

“Ah sorry, is it warm enough or do you want it warmer or colder.” Sun processes your question before he answers. “Oh! It good! Yep yep!” and smiles at you. You smile back at him softly as the wind outside howls aggressively. It makes you ponder on how exactly Sun had gotten to your cabin and made it through the rough winds and aggressive storm. You're snapped out of your thoughts suddenly when you feel water splash onto you, drenching your other pair of jammies in water. You glare through wet hair at the sunny mer while not shivering as much when you with blue mer (hm did you ever think to name him? You’re not sure nor do you remember so now his name is Moon) but still shaking here and there from being wet. 

“Hey how about next time you are careful about getting in because I really don’t like being WET and COLD in my sleepwear, thank you very much.” Sun shrinks down in the tub with a guilty face as his frills droop making you feel bad for being snarky towards the mer. You sigh and pat his back. 

“I’m sorry it’s just… your brother also did this to me but he was more of an asshole to me about it and I know you weren’t trying to purposely get me wet.” the yellow mer’s eyes go from hugely dilated to slits at the mention of what Moon did and started to chirp to himself as if he was whispering to himself.

You shut off the water and sat next to the tub, grabbing some towels to lay them down on the ground and one to cover yourself up to hopefully be able to dry off. Though you realized that it would probably be better to get rid of your jammies and dry off, then put a new outfit on. “Hey I’ll be back Sun, I just gotta change real quick.” You go to get up… however, a webbed clawed hand shoots out and grabs you before you can do so. You swallow nervously as you look at the mer. He’s absolutely wide eyed. That’s when you realized that you said the nickname you gave him out loud. 

You go to apologize but Sun seems to beat you as his frills around his head start to flutter around excitedly. “Sun? Is name? You give name? To me??? Oh friend!” he pulls you into a wet hug while nuzzling your cheek. You hold back a gag when you can smell the pungent aroma of fish coming off of him, but it does make you cringe physically.  When he does pull away, he has the biggest goofiest looking smile and- wait is his tail wagging like a dog’s??? You snort at the sight of this scary looking mer being the equivalent of a big ol’ puppy at the moment. But alas you couldn’t stay in wet, now smelly, jammies any longer as you take his hand off your arm gently before getting up with a little bit of struggle. 

Sun deflates a little with your suddenness to leave him and whines softly at you. What a big baby, you think to yourself as you rolled your eyes to his antics. “I’ll be back, it should only take me a minute or two.” But the golden mer just continues whining at you. You leave the room, keeping the door ajar as you head over to your suitcase to dig for clothes you can wear for the day. You hum thoughtfully as you looked before grabbing a band tee and a pair of jeans that you got from the men’s section. You quickly undress, dry off, and change before heading back into the bathroom.

Where you find him eating a bar of soap.

“SUN! DON’T EAT THAT!!!” you rush over and grab the soap from his mouth, but in turn he slightly growls at you which makes you gasp. “Dude, you can NOT be serious with me! Soap isn’t edible! Don’t be mad because I’m trying to not have you sick!” You grumble and place the half eaten soap bar down next to the sink faucet. You facepalm yourself, he truly is like a dog, more so a puppy. Can’t leave him alone for a second without him getting into something he’s not supposed to get in. 

From that moment on you decided you probably shouldn’t leave a mer in the bathroom all by himself. It was nice being able to hang out with someone for once, and not being some third or even fourth wheel to your roommate. You’ll admit that you don’t have very many friends. It was nice, this feeling in your chest while Sun rambled on and on and on about what home was like. He talked about his den, and his brother, and the kind of food they hunted, and how he missed you- wait what?

“We barely even met as kids! Literally your brother bit me, mind you. And then left my grandpa and I to fend for ourselves when a storm came by.” the last part you tried turning into a joke but the look on Sun’s face said it all. Guilt. So very guilt ridden. And probably with the clearest English you have heard from him, he chokes out, “I’m sorry.”

Immediately you feel horrible for mentioning it, and maybe you mentioned such a thing because… a part of you was still mad. Mad that you had suffered through that, suffer from almost dying and now live with the trauma as an adult. That was unfair of you to even mention the past. You look away, not being able to bear what sorrow you brought onto a mer. How unfair of you. 

“I’m sorry Sun, I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Before you know it, Sun is pulling into a hug and holding you close. You’d complain about getting wet again but this wasn't the time to do so. And for a while, Sun just holds you, neither of you two speaking until your stomach rumbles.  

And in a complete tonal shift, the mer immediately regurgitates his breakfast and tells you to eat up. It grossed you out and you explain that no you cannot eat the half digested food because it was gross. And as fun and entertaining as it was to spend time with Sun, you realized it's probably time for him to return to the sea.

Now, just to find a way to sneak a huge mer out… Yeah, this wasn't going to be easy.

🌊☀️🌙🌊

Sneaking Sun out while making sure to dodge your roommate, his gf, their friends, and strangers was more difficult than you thought. You had decided that putting Sun in a garbage bag with holes poked in them would be a good idea for people to leave you alone. However, it seems that people saw that you were struggling to carry the bag and asked if you needed any help at all, which is NOT what you wanted. Though it was nice of them, they didn’t need to think that they're stuck with a serial killer on an island. Which brought you to the memory of reading The Most Dangerous Game back in freshman year of High School. You weren’t like the main bad guy fortunately. You couldn’t even kill a spider even if you wanted to. 

Sun wasn’t really helping you either to get to a more secluded spot on the beach in order to release him back into the ocean. He was highly uncomfortable from the quiet whining and the shuffling around in the bag he did. It just made things harder for you as you couldn’t get a stable grip on the bag at all. “Sun! Stop moving around!” you hissed under your breath as the fish struggled to get into a more comfortable position. 

“But so not hurt hurt! Don’t like! Want out!” He whines extremely loud which immediately makes you look around for anybody who could’ve heard him. Fortunately enough, it was empty and the nearest human was about 30-40 feet away from the two of you. You scowl but remember that yeah maybe the trash bag is very uncomfortable and you shouldn’t get upset at him for being uncomfortable. You would be too if someone was to put you in a trash bag and carry you while you were in a weird position. 

“I know but we’re almost there I promise, okay?” you whisper in the most soothing voice you could muster up. With a lot of difficulty and Sun moving around still just less as frequently, you finally make it to the destination spot. You open the bag after placing it down, watching as Sun wiggles himself out and pops his head out of the bag. He trills excitedly, as he makes his way out the bag and into the water of the ocean. You place your very tired and sore arms to your sides, a foot on the garbage bag so it won’t fly away in the wind. The golden yellow mer looks back at you and smiles widely, happy that you brought him home and thanking you. 

While you expected Sun to leave you there on the beach and make his way home, you didn’t expect to see Moon pop out of the water looking absolutely exhausted. Based on your coloration findings and when you meet them, you assume Moon is pretty much nocturnal and so this is a very unusual occurrence to see him during the day. The two started to speak to each other in whistles and clicks, as you stood there awkwardly. Who knew that it was a universal experience that watching family bickering (You think they’re bickering due to the aggressive hissing coming from the both of them) makes one uncomfortable, even if the bickering is coming from two mers? 

You finally lean over to pick up the garbage bag and go to make your leave when Moon whistles to grab your attention. You look over to him, and although tired, you can tell he’s appreciative to have his brother back. “Thank you.” he lets out before grabbing Sun who is energetically waving goodbye to you before the two are under the water. You stare at the spot where the two were a second ago and just let out a sigh. Okay maybe Moon isn’t a complete asshole. You still don’t know why these two mers you met as a kid seemed to be so interested in being around you tho… it’s a complete mystery.

So with that, you make your way back, wondering what you can make that’s waterproof friendly as thank you gifts for Sun.

Chapter Text

Finally the weather had cleared up on day four of being stuck on an island. Smack dab in the middle of the week, of course. Wednesdays always felt weird to you, they always felt like being the middle child but it's whatever. By the upcoming Monday, you’ll have to… get on a boat (terrifying)... and then you’ll be at the comfort of your own home (someplace you missed so dearly at the moment. Oh sweet heavens do you want to be in your bed right now).  But that means you won’t be able to see your boys as often because you have a job, go to college, and the nearest beach is about 2 hours away on a good day, 5-6 if there’s heavy traffic. So you decided you’re going to spend as much time with the boys as you can because after you go home… you don’t know how long it'll be until you see them again.

You put on your swimwear, grab your beach ball you brought with you, and puff up your chest. You try to ignore the fact that this felt like some beach episode from a tv show. Perhaps the omnipotent being leading your life needed padding and filler for your story as they had no idea how to lay out the next arch of your life. Or maybe you’re just overthinking things as usual. Anyways, you’re gonna have fun with Sun and when evening comes, you’ll hang out with Moon until you have to go to sleep. Your schedule is jammed packed for a wonderful day ahead, to hang out with the cutie and the asshat. But as soon as you bring out your (currently) deflated ball and swimwear and open the door to leave your cabin, you’re met with your roommate. “Hey, so how are you?” 'What do you want' is what you really want to ask in the snarkiest tone imaginable but you are a polite person… when you want to be.

“I'm good, but what brings you here?” You ask in a fake sweet voice. You’re still very irritated about the fact that he made you come here, firstly go onto a boat, and then left you alone to fuck off (and perhaps fuck around and maybe find out but you didn’t really know) basically. He seemed like he wanted to ask you something but he was too nervous to say it. “Well… I know I haven't been a good friend and roommate,” Well. No shit, sherlock. “But I was wondering that maybe you wanna come hang out with me, my girlfriend, and our friends?” You blink, desperately wanting to just roll your eyes at him. 

“Sorry, I already decided that I want to go to a secluded side of the beach today. So see you later!” He makes an oh as you leave him behind and start to make your way to where no one usually hangs out at. Finally you can have some peace and quiet with the mers and no one else. 

Once you get there, you set up two towels (they were folded into one) to lay down on and to use to dry yourself off. You take the beach ball and start doing the slow, tedious process of blowing it up. It was pretty annoying but it’s not like you had an air pump or someone who could do this much faster than you. By the time you had halfway blown up the beach ball, your cheeks started to hurt pretty badly, and probably were pretty red too. So with the one smart idea that you have every now and then, you close off the hole and sigh before yelping; somehow Sun managed to sneak up onto the beach and decided to watch you struggle to blow up the ball (meanie, also how in his big size sneak up onto the beach like that???). 

“Dude! You can’t do that! Sneaking up on someone can scare them, especially me!” You huff in irritation. Sun apologizes but his eyes wander over to the half deflated ball and points at it. “What’s that?” You look over to the beach ball before cracking out. “My pathetic excuse of a ball. Here, I’ll finish it up.” And take the ball, open the small little rubber plastic latch and continue blowing air into it. He looks at the ball intensely, making you feel like you’re about to loose about 5 dollars worth of a ball but oh well. Fortunately you didn’t have a severe attachment to the thing.  Like everything else you have in your pathetic life, normal life up to this point.

Once you were finished, you were wheezing which makes Sun glare at the ball. You seal it back up and tell him that you’d like it if the ball wasn’t popped immediately after handling but if it is oh well, you didn’t really care. It was the funniest fucking thing you’ve ever seen; you threw it and immediately Sun pounces on it, claws gripping it as he tries to gnaw at it. You snort in amusement watching as Sun tries to ‘kill’ the ball viciously while also surprisingly also following your ask. You noticed that he really didn’t dig his claws in and he wasn’t even having his teeth touch the surface at all. He definitely reminded you of an oversized cat playing with catnipped laced toys just way more more… gentler you suppose.

You decided that you definitely wanted to enter into the water, and show Sun how to also use the ball to play with. But as soon as you get waist deep you’re already shivering on how fucking COLD it is even tho they’re supposed to be WARM. The golden mer notices your struggle and swims over with such ease and grace. Stupid mer with stupid mer features and his stupid gracefulness in the damn COLD ASS water you’re about to spite Poseidon for. You’re pretty sure that he’s only do that anyways to show off how AMAZING and AWESOME he is because he’s a FUCKING MER FOR GOD’S SAKE. You splashed Sun in the face because of the reasons stated above. 

“That’s what you get for being your stupid beautiful self-” you get splashed in the face back. Well It wasn’t REALLY a splash it was really more like a fuCKING TIDAL WAVE. To your face. Just a bunch of cold water to your poor, poor face. Sun makes a weird chittering sound that you assume is laughing as you stand there in shock at the situation. Oh. It was on. It was time to dig through your towel and bring out The Big Boy(trademarked). “That’s it you asshole, you know what you’re gonna get for doing that? You’re gonna get fucking wreckt that’s what.” And suddenly, it was like the instrumentals of I Am All of Me started to play by Crush 40. 

Sun, however, looks quite unphased. Grinning, even. You feel a little nervous but you keep your head up strong and fill your nerf gun up with water. You must not let your guard down even for a second around Sun. And so begins the Showdown between land cowboy (you, of course) and water cowboy (that bastard who threw too much water in your goddamn face). You could practically hear that iconic whistle in the showdown music in your head as you stare each down. It was all about swiftness, something you don’t really have but fuck you will try.

It was fast, but fuck, was Sun even faster. He managed to fucking dodge your aims (you WOULD admit that they’re fucking shitty but that would hurt your already almost nonexistent ego that you somehow still have). You were soon tackled by a tidal wave of water because Sun DOESN’T HOLD BACK FOR SOME REASON. And thus you went tumbling over and falling on your ass, groaning “Bro this ain’t fair, you got the strength of 10 men by your side and i just got my little itty bitty water gun” you force a frown on your face as you blink rapidly. 

Sun would look at you very confused before grinning when he looks past you. What the hell does he have to grin abou?? You immediately stand up, stopping your faux pity party as you quirk your brow. “What’s with that smug grin on yoUR-AOUGH!!” You’re immediately back to the ground, the sun (sky one) blocked out as only darkness encompasses you (hello darkness your old friend). 

A tired grumbly purr is audibly heard before a familiar rasp voice speaks out “gotcha ya.” Waving your limbs around as you try to wiggle out, you muffle scream “OH YOU TWO PLANNED THIS!? YOU GOBLINS, YOU MEANIES, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! I’ve been BETRAYED! This was supposed to be a ONE ON ONE SUNNY. SUN WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU-!!” 

You only hear something vaguely that sounds like giggling from Sun (the bastard mer) and chuckling out of Moon as you cross your arms “you two are the WORST!”

Honestly it was a pretty decent day despite the two harassing you as usual. It was nice to let loose and have fun, especially with a mer as energetic as Sun. Moon had to end up going back to their den because he hates being out in the day, being nocturnal and all. He just wanted to check on Sun and spotted you and decided to be a dipshit (when is he not one??). 

Now chilling back on your blanket, Sun’s attention back on the inflatable beach ball as you down your water, you look out to the ocean. It was really pretty honestly, if you weren’t utterly horrified at the idea of getting on a boat again (you swear your nightmare last night was of a boat eating you), you’d come here as much as you could. 

You heard a coo and look down at your lap; a large head with huge dilated eyes looked at you with unwavering unblinking. It was creepy, but utterly cute (reminds you of those silly little cat videos on YouTube). “Hey shithead, whatcha want?” Sun immediately looks at you deadpan before flopping over, laying on his back (truly catcoded for a mer) 

“Good nice friend. Glad you are friend.” A flutter happens in your chest, and you smile softly at the mer. “Eh, I try. You’re a good friend too, Sun. I’m glad you’re my friend too” 

What a great day it was.