Chapter Text
The sea’s waves crashed against the shore, spraying him and his clothing with salty water. Shells and mussels were scattered at his feet. Holding onto his hat he looked out at sea, the wind pushing against him playfully.
The sky was a murky blue, silently promising a storm later. Almost like a sigh. Clouds floated along, blocking out most of the sun’s rays as they grew an angry gray color.
Everything was quiet until it wasn’t. A sing-song wail cut through the quiet atmosphere, it was loud enough to startle him.
While there weren’t any more wails and screams, there was crying. The almost silent type. Navigating the rocks was hard, everything felt like it was out to get him or maybe protecting whatever was crying softly.
He ignored the way the rocks scraped against his feet or how the waves were ready to throw him into the ocean and bash his head open. Y’know the fun stuff. Nestled in the rocks, in between two large pillars of jagged stone. As if it was an entrance.
Was a little boy. A siren child to be exact. He was so far in between the rocks that it was almost impossible to grab him without the risk of hurting the young siren.
The true question was how to get the damn kid out from in between the rocks. Which was easily asked but so much fucking harder to answer, because that kid was obviously terrified. Much less calm enough to listen to a man who couldn’t make siren clicks and whistles.
Hell, maybe the kid didn’t even understand half of standard. Even with the words and taken grammar to make all species feel more comfortable and at home speaking standard… sirens didn’t really have a language that can be spoken by many monsters or humans. Much less Phil himself.
Honestly, the best he could do was probably make pspspspsp noises in the hopes that the boy would respond like a cat. But, he was not going to have his first interaction with a scared child be pspspspsp noises, that would just be too much for him. Was the kid hungry? Could he coax him out with food?
Really, he just needed anything, which meant that he had to just talk to a boy who he wasn’t sure understood a lick of what he was saying.
“Hey kiddo?” He shuffled a little closer to the boy, who shrank back farther into the rocks. Which he wasn’t sure was possible but well, it was proven that it was.
“I’m not gonna hurt you, don’t worry.” He sat down, trying to make his posture a little more relaxed. “Where are your parents?”
Well, because siren parents don’t leave their kids alone. Ever. They’re like helicopter parents, but to the extreme. Mostly because there’s about fifteen million threats in the ocean, but still. A kid this age wouldn’t have been left alone unless his parents were shitty or he got lost. Which wasn’t uncommon for young sirens who think that exploring would be a great way for their parents to pull their hair out in a frenzy.
The boy however just hung his head and cried some more at the questions, his bottom lip hadn’t stopped quivering.
Phil ran a hand through his own hair, stopping to rub at his eyes for a minute before sighing. What was he going to do with this kid? It wasn’t in his schedule to take care of some random child he found at the beach much less than to have a pod of angry sirens beat his ass when they found their kid, and he definitely didn’t want to risk hurting him at that.
So, he hummed a song. One that his mother had sung for him when he was really really little, right before she passed away. That got the little boy’s attention, he turned his gaze right towards Phil. A confused and teary outlook.
He shuffled a bit farther out of the rocks, grabbing Phil’s fingers with a sad expression before sitting down next to him. His hair dry enough to curl up.
Good gods, this kid looked sorry enough to get mistaken for a beaten puppy. Although, the kid kinda resembled a beaten puppy in all honesty.
“Hey, mate. You okay?” Phil held the boy’s hands in his, carefully keeping them level. The kid flinched a little but relaxed for the most part at the touch. “Hurt anywhere?”
Well, other than the few nicks that bled a dark blue and the torn fins behind the boy’s ears. He didn’t look too scuffed up, but what did Phil know?
“...fine,” he talks! Sweet gods, he speaks! “Your song is sad.”
“Is it?” Phil smiled, letting go of the boy. “My mother sang it to me before she died.”
“Oh, that’s why.” The boy frowned, holding his own webbed hands now.
He sighed, picking himself up from the sitting position he was in before dusting the sand off his pants. The boy stared up at him with eyes that he could’ve mistaken for the sea.
“I’m Wilbur.” Wilbur just kept looking at him.
“I’m Phil, explorer extraordinaire.” He smiled, trying to keep his posture friendly rather than completely and utterly baffled.
“Okay,” Wilbur broke eye contact before tugging on his shirt.
Phil picked him up, the boy almost squeezing him half to death. He swears that he saw a bright light that day. Little claws, almost like a kitten’s pricked his skin. Digging their way into flesh, as if Wilbur was desperately trying to find a sense of normalcy for himself.
Wilbur only held onto him around his chest, avoiding his neck and upper ribs in a way that wasn’t accidental. Must’ve been the sensitive gills that all sirens had that Wilbur was paying attention to. Although Phil lacked such things, he thought it was sweet that the boy avoided them.
Well, shit. What was he supposed to do with a kid with no parents in sight? Take him home? Would that be considered kidnapping? Take him into the fire station, the police? Child services?
Wilbur at least needed to be patched up, poor thing was covered in small cuts and bruises. So, as per logical conclusion, he was going to take Wilbur home, patch him up and then… well something! He’d just figure it out on the way. After all, he worked better when he winged it.