Chapter Text
"I'm pretty sure it's dead."
Michael groaned as his eyes opened into harsh sunlight. He took a breath, his lungs burning slightly as he inhaled.
Something was very wrong.
He tilted his head, as he looked up through his crossed arms that rested beneath his head. He could see the white graininess of the sand now, and two sets of human feet. There was also the hint of two-coloured surfboards that had been dug into the surf beside the feet.
"Wait, no I think it's still alive!"
A wave of panic raced through Michael when he realised that someone was talking about him. He was certain of a few things in that moment; the first, that he was lying on land apparently looking dead to some passers-by. The second, that he was breaking the biggest rule of all, revealing his tail to land people.
His life had reached a new low point. He let out a loud huff in frustration.
"Hey mate are you alright?" A second voice asked.
Slowly Michael shifted his head from the sand and looked behind him, expecting to meet the sight of his betrayal; his multicoloured scales shimmering in the sunlight. But they weren't. He saw something much more terrifying, he had legs. Two of them, exactly like a human. The water gently lapped at his toes, making it seem like even the ocean had wanted to get rid of him.
Where was his tail? Wasn't he a merman anymore?
If he wasn't panicked before he certainly was now. What was he supposed to do? He had no idea how to use legs! He'd watched humans use them all the time, but how did they learn to walk on them? All he could do was stare.
"Do you need us to call someone for you?" The second voice asked.
Michael turned his head back to look at the two males that were staring at him with concerned expressions. Both wore black almost skin-tight clothing that Michael knew to be called a wetsuit. He'd seen plenty of them from the water before.
He frowned as he investigated the humans faces. One had wavy light blondish brown hair and Hazel eyes that looked at him with extreme concern. Beside him the other boy had tanned skin, dark hair and brown eyes, he turned to the other land person looking uncertain.
Humans, Michael thought with a sinking stomach. Maybe I shouldn't talk to them. Once their gone I'll just go back in the sea; my tail will reappear, and I can pretend like none of this ever happened.
But he knew he couldn't. He'd made a massive mistake last night. The sea was no longer his home. The storm had made sure he knew that.
Besides, he didn't have a tail and had no clue whether it was even going to come back. They hadn't tried to harm him. He at least looked human now, so he could talk to them, right?
"No." He said quietly, his voice breaking a little from not being used in the air. "I don't need you to call someone."
"Oh okay." The light-haired boy nodded, his full attention on Michael. Michael was sure that they would walk away in a few moments, but much to Michael's dismay they didn't, "Did something happen, are you alright though?"
Michael was not alright, but the reason involved something that two human boys wouldn't be able to comprehend. He needed a cover story and quickly. Hopefully, he could send the two males away and focus on working out this mess.
"A ship." He spoke quietly, "I was on a ship."
A look of horror fell upon both the humans faces. Michael was sure that was a good sign, the two humans would be gone before he knew it.
"You poor thing, the storms were bad out there last night, weren't they? That's why we have such good waves today." The boy spoke, his eyes awash with sympathy. "Was there anyone else on the ship with you?"
Michael quickly shook his head, he didn't want them to send human search parties out into the ocean. He knew they wouldn't find anything and would probably just get him in more trouble.
"So, you were on a boat then?" The dark-haired boy gave Michael a sceptical look.
Michael panicked for a moment trying to work out the flaw in his story. He was sure he'd mentioned a ship. What was the difference between that and a boat? Humans were strange, he decided.
"Anyway." The light-haired guy spoke, "Do you need a hand, uh and maybe some clothes?"
Clothes? He blinked at them before remembering that's what they called the things humans wore. Right now, he didn't have any.
Of course, he thought. Quickly, a plan began to form. If this human was offering something to help him blend in while he tried to work out what had happened, he wasn't about to argue. Besides, a little exploration into the world of the land people couldn't be a bad thing. He was curious and perhaps even a little excited, so he nodded quickly.
"Alright, so I'm Ashton and this is Calum." The light haired one introduced himself. "And you are?"
"Michael." He replied quietly, unsure if this counted as getting a little too close to the humans. Maybe he should've come up with a new name for himself on land, but he knew it was too late for that.
Both boys nodded. The one called Ashton looked up the beach, Michael tried to follow his gaze, but he couldn't see much. The guy's shoulders relaxed as he turned back to Calum and Michael. "Alright then, Calum can you run and get a towel for Michael please?"
"Why do I have to do everything?" Calum let out in a loud, long moan in protest.
Still he raced away a moment later, kicking up sand as he did so. Michael was fascinated by how the guy could move so easily on his legs and hoped he could do the same. Legs couldn't be that hard to use, could they?
Ashton shook his head as the boy raced away before turning back to Michael. "Don't mind him, he probably thinks I'm crazy for helping you. Probably thinks you're a homeless weirdo passed out on the beach like this, we tend to find them out here a lot."
"Weirdo?" Michael questioned, confused by the new word.
"Someone that's weird, possibly crazy? A little off?" Ashton offered.
Michael raised an eyebrow; the humans would probably find it crazy if they knew what he really was. They really would think he was a... what was that word Ashton had used? Right. A weirdo. He bit his lip, this might be harder than he thought, land people it seemed had a very different words, he knew he'd need to learn quickly as not to appear odd.
Ashton turned his head, as Calum returned with a light blue towel. He took deep slightly shallow breaths as he handed Ashton the towel, his eyes not moving from Michael's.
He wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing trusting the humans, particularly the one named Calum. They seemed wary, but at least they were helping him.
"Are you right to get up on your own?" Ashton asked when Michael didn't move, even after he'd handed him the towel.
"I might need a hand." Michael admitted, sheepishly. How could he tell them that he wasn't even sure how this having legs thing worked or that he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with the towel either.
As Ashton helped pull him up and let him stand in his own. Michael quickly discovered how wobbly he was on his new legs. He looked down at them in despair as they trembled on the sand. They felt like they were made of sea jellies.
"Sea-legs." He laughed nervously, quickly assessing the look on the two humans faces. Michael hoped it wouldn't be too obvious that he'd never once had legs in his life.
Ashton simply smiled, and reached out a hand to help him to balance himself, "That's to be expected, how long were you on that boat anyway?"
"About a year." Michael said quickly.
"Wow, what did you do out there?" Calum asked, looking impressed.
"I study sea-life." Michael added, coming up with the first thing he knew humans did on the ships that were always nearby. He'd hidden from numerous humans involved in doing so over the years. At least if anybody asked him about it, he could name a bunch of sea animals and their traits off to them. It wasn't too much of a stretch.
"So, you're like a marine biologist then?" Calum continued.
Michael had no idea what those words meant, but he nodded anyway, "Yeah, if that's what you want to call it."
Ashton continued to hold Michael up, and soon the guys had Michael wearing the towel despite his confusion.
"Do you need us to take you anywhere? Call someone?" Calum asked, when they were done, "Ashton has a car, so?"
Michael bit his lip, he had a towel and could probably only walk a grand total of about three steps if he was lucky. Plus, he knew he would have no sense of direction once he left the sand. He didn't know any other land people except these two. They were probably going to help him find some clothes, then that would be it. He'd be on his own and was probably better off staying on the beach with all the things that could go wrong once he was alone.
"I don't have anywhere to go." Michael replied, knowing that his place wasn't back in the ocean just yet. He didn't want to take advantage of them either, but maybe these land people could help him with this problem too.
Ashton's eyebrows furrowed, before his face lit up. "I know! You can come back with me if you like." Calum shot him a surprised glance, Ashton nodded though, "You can rest up for the day and then we can sort all this out tomorrow."
Michael was surprised by the guys kindness. He'd always been told that humans were horrible, but Ashton had already offered him assistance, a towel, a place to stay and possibly a friend. What more could a sand wrecked merman ask for?
Michael nodded, "Thank you, I' d like that."
