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"Can't we talk this out? Come on you nose-biting-inbred, did I really do anything so bad to warrant all this?" Wade says as he struggles in vain against the three men holding him. They're dragging him over to the side of the boat, and Wade doesn't like the implication of that at all. His momma never taught him how to swim after all, mostly because he doesn't have a mother.
"You drank all the rum," one of the men says. Wade can't remember what his name is, probably something simple and lame like Stewart.
"That can't be true, I don't even drink!" Wade lies, his breath reeking of alcohol.
They stop dragging him for a moment just to look Wade in the eyes to see if he really was stupid enough to try that excuse. He grins at them, certain that he could in fact think of worse.
"I was walking along and tripped right in the barrel, spilling it all. That's why I stink of it but you have to believe me, I would never do that to you guys! I swear on my mother’s grave."
"What about the second barrel?"
"And the third?"
"Or the bottles in your room?"
"The stash in the kitchen."
"The captain's stash."
Wade clears his throat. "Yes, well, I've obviously been framed."
The men groan in annoyance and start dragging Wade again. If he wasn't so drunk he could probably fight them off, but he can barely stand on his own two legs as it is. His swords and pistols are down by his bunk, even if he can't see straight enough to hit anyone, people still tend to back off when he starts shooting.
"Look guys," Wade starts to panic as they get closer to the side of the boat, the water looking pitch black in the night. There is the slightest flicker of light in the distance on the shore from a small town, so close and yet so far. If only he could swim. "I didn't know how sea sick I was going to get, it's the only thing that helps. I can pay you back, promise."
"With what money?"
"I can get money."
The men scoff in unison. "Like we haven’t heard that before."
"This time will be different!" Wade tries.
"Yeah, this time we aren't going to believe your lies. It’s better just to be rid of you once and for all."
It takes all three of them to hoist him over the side and then he's falling.
He screams.
Which turns out to be a horrible choice, because when he hits the water it all floods into his open mouth. The impact stuns him, and he instantly starts to sink. Struggling only seems to make the surface disappear faster until Wade can't even tell up from down.
His eyes sting but he doesn't want to close them, scared of missing something that might save him. Scared of missing his own death.
But it grows dark.
So dark.
There is nothing, just him in the great expanse of the ocean. Slowly sinking. He stops struggling.
He finally closes his eyes.
Of all the ways he thought he would die, he always assumed he would go out with more of a fight. Gun blazing and blood dripping from his blade. This is too quiet for him.
There is a brush of something against his hand.
His eyes fly open.
A face with the most gorgeous big brown eyes stares at him, their noses almost brushing together with how close they are.
He must be dead.
Nothing that gorgeous exists in real life.
Arms wrap around him and pull him close, and the softest lips press against his. It’s pure bliss. Air is forced into his lungs and then they are moving. Somehow, Wade knows they are moving up and at an incredible speed. He blacks out.
The next thing Wade knows he is coughing up water, his body straining to try and expel it all. It burns. He rolls over onto his side, surprised to find himself on a beach. He curls in on himself. He struggles to bring air into his lungs and tries not to think about how he’s going to have sand everywhere when he stands up.
Those big brown eyes are back in front of him, blinking softly in wonderment.
"Did you save me?" Wade manages to rasp out.
The plump bottom lip of his savior's mouth drops, their eyes going wide. Wade wants to reach out and cup those plush red cheeks and draw his face closer. Feel the touch of those lips once more.
They’re so cute.
In a blink they disappear.
Wade bolts up, wincing at the pain, but his savior is nowhere in sight. The line of trees is too far away for them to have disappeared into, and if they were still on the beach Wade would see them running in either direction.
He glances out into the ocean, wondering if they really could have disappeared into it.
But then, they also appeared out of the ocean as well.
Wade watches the waves in hope of spotting something, but gives up when the sun starts to rise over the horizon. It’s a long walk to get to the nearest town. His stomach growls at the thought of food the entire time.
When he finally makes it, he finds it to be mostly a fishing town, the docks and all the boats clearly visible. He walks past several small houses before he starts to get to the market. All the money and every belonging he owned was back on the ship he was thrown from. This leaves him in a horrible predicament of how to find lodging and a meal.
Fortunately for him his fingers are very sticky, and he only has to walk by a few people to get what he needs. Then it’s off to the nearest pub with a skip in his step for a bite to eat.
“Well, don’t you look like shit.” The bartender says as soon as Wade sits down. “You know swimming in the ocean isn’t a substitute for a bath, right?”
“It wasn’t a voluntary one, I’m lucky someone decided to save my sorry ass.” Wade slaps down some coins on the counter. “I’ll take whatever’s cooking and whatever beer you got that tastes the least like piss.”
The bartender slides the coins over to himself and pockets them before pouring Wade a drink. “Someone saved you? Last night?”
“That’s what I said, unless you’ve got something to tell me? Am I a ghost? Please don’t tell me I’m a zombie. I’m too beautiful to be dead.” Wade moans, slamming his drink back and motioning for another.
The bartender frowns, his curly hair bouncing as he tilts his head to the side to peer at Wade. “It’s just that none of us locals go out on the water at night and would definitely never dive in the water to help someone.”
“Never?”
“Not unless they wanted to get snatched up and dragged to the bottom of the ocean by one of the merfolk.”
Wade barks out a laugh. “Merfolk? Really? You guys believe in that nonsense?”
The bartender’s frown deepens as he pushes over another beer to Wade. “I’ve seen it happen with my own eyes, the waters around here are dangerous. I’ll go get you that food now.”
The man turns to the kitchen and leaves Wade to mull over his words. Merfolk? Anyone with ears has heard the stories, but that’s just what they are. None of the places Wade has ever visited before actually claimed to have mers directly in their waters. Usually the tales told are of some far off place so no one can check the validity of it.
Wade sips at his drink thoughtfully, contemplating what else could have saved him last night. Why would a mer save him when usually they drown people? Wade is nothing special and definitely not worth saving.
The bartender returns with a bowl filled with fried fish and greens, with a soft egg on top of it all. Wade nearly jumps up out of his seat to grab it. It smells heavenly and his stomach growls in return.
"You were on the ship that passed by last night? How'd you end up in the ocean?"
Wade doesn't slow down eating to answer, food spilling from his mouth as he says, "Got drunk, fell overboard. Just another story of a stupid sailor."
The bartender’s eyes narrow as if he doesn’t really believe what Wade is saying, but he doesn’t bring up anything further on the matter.
Wade finishes up his meal and when the bartender doesn’t answer any more of his questions he leaves, on the hunt for more information. If it really was a mer that saved him, he wants to know. But as soon as he starts asking about them people’s mouths clamp shut and they make any excuse they can so they can leave.
It’s frustrating.
The only thing Wade does figure out is that no one from the town was out on the water last night to have saved him.
Chewing on a loaf of bread for dinner, Wade sits on the docks as he watches the sun set into the ocean. The water reflects a brilliant shade of orange and try as he might Wade sees nothing out in it.
Not even a ripple from a fish.
Which is odd. Usually there is a bit of activity, especially at this time of night when all the bugs come out. It’s enough to make Wade wonder if just maybe there is something out there. He waits for the sun to fully set and under the cover of darkness he nabs a small row boat. He grabs the oars and gets to work, moving out further into the ocean and hoping his stomach holds out long enough so he doesn’t vomit. It takes some time to get out into the general area he fell overboard, or what he thinks was the area.
“HEY,” Wade hollers over the side of the boat. “Thanks for saving my skin!”
There is no answer.
So he rows a little further and tries again.
And again.
He grinds his teeth and whacks the oars against the water. “HEY, I JUST WANT TO THANK YOU.”
Wade slumps down in the boat, feeling defeated and a fool for believing merfolk could be real. Surely he would have seen something by now. He doesn’t know how such a beautiful being could have saved him and then just disappeared into thin air otherwise.
He hears a splash.
Bolting up, he glances around for any sign of movement.
There, to his left.
A ripple in the water.
He holds his breath, pulse racing as he stares out at the water.
“Hey,” he says gently. “Just let me say thanks eye to eye. Please?”
He calmly waits, hoping for just a flicker of movement in the water.
Nothing.
“Fine,” Wade snarls as he stands up, the boat rocking as he does. “If you won’t come to me then I’ll come to you.”
Without a second thought, he jumps into the ocean. The first thought he has when he hits the water is that he’s made a grave mistake. He sinks fast, flailing around for anything as he does.
The second thought he has is that he really doesn’t want to die.
Answering his prayers, arms wrap around him and those lips are once more against his to give him the air he desperately needs. What Wade wouldn’t do to have them there for another reason. His rescuer swims them upwards, breaking the surface of the water within seconds. He makes sure to wrap his arms around his rescuer so they can’t swim off this time.
Wade takes in the face before him, those gorgeous brown eyes glaring at him in anger. Those cute lips turned down into a frown. Perfection.
“Are you stupid or just trying to kill yourself?”
“Stupid for you, sweetie.” Wade coos, pressing himself closer to their body. Even their voice is musical. Wade’s definitely in love.
"I'm thinking just stupid then," they deadpan back as they slowly swim Wade back over to the boat.
"You didn't have to save me."
Wade can just make out the way their cheeks go pink in the moonlight. "I couldn’t let you throw away all my hard work of saving your life the first time."
Wade peers down into the water but can't see anything with how dark it is. The guy could have legs, fins or even tentacles for all he knows.
He almost doesn't care which it was, with a face like that they could have blocks of cheese for legs and he would still want to follow them to the ends of the earth.
They bump into the side of the boat, and stay there staring into each other's eyes.
"Can you pull yourself up on your own?"
"Only if I can take you with me," Wade says coyly, batting his eyelashes.
"That's not going to happen…" he says, trying to push himself away from Wade.
But Wade just tightens his grip, determined not to let him go.
"I just want to talk," Wade lies, his eyes trained on the lips in front of him.
"You won't want to be around me when you see all of me." He shoves harder at Wade, starting to wiggle as well.
“I’m just going to keep drowning myself until you do.”
The mer gasps. “Why would you do that?!”
“Please, you’re the most dazzling thing my eyes have ever had the pleasure of witnessing.”
“That can’t be true. You haven’t even seen all of me.”
"Alright, then let me see you then so I can fully decide for myself. I don't mind if you have a fish tail."
He hesitates, his eyes searching Wade's for the lie. "How did you know?"
"No way, I was just guessing. Can I really see?"
"You're pretty strange for a human."
Wade grins wide. "I get that a lot."
He sighs deeply in resignation. "You're not going to let go unless I agree, are you?"
"Yup," Wade says happily.
"Alright, climb into your little boat and you can pull me up."
Wade lets go and grabs the side of the boat. It's not easy to get himself inside without tipping the whole thing over but somehow he manages. It's a bit of a surprise to see the mer still in the water, if Wade was him he would have lied and swam off.
He stretches out his arm and the mer hesitates only a second before grabbing it. Wade's surprised by how light he is, easily being able to lift the mer clean out of the water and place him in the boat. Or most of him, since his tail is so long it has to remain draped over the side of the boat.
There is only one word Wade has that can describe such a sight.
"Gorgeous."
He can just make out the mers cheeks going pink in the moonlight. "Thank you. You're the first human I've ever shown myself to.”
"It sounds so dirty when you say it like that,” Wade purrs, leaning in with a leer.
The mer sputters and covers their face with their hands, which just makes Wade think he’s even more adorable.
Wade is struck with the urge to touch, just wanting to run a finger along the scales of the mers lower half as he brushes away a lock of that sopping brown hair from the mers forehead. It’s mesmerizing the way his fin goes from a brilliant red around his waist to a deep dark blue at the tip of his tail. The moonlight shines off each scale making him look like he’s made of stars.
“Can I go back into the water now?”
“Only if I can get your name, fishboy."
Peter squawks, offended. "Fishboy? Wow, offensive . The name's Peter."
"Peter? For a merman? I know this must be real because even my imagination isn't that dull."
"It’s a classic name! As if all humans have such superior names. What’s yours then? Bet it’s something dumb like Twolegs."
He puffs his chest out in pride as he announces, "The name's Wade Winston Wilson."
"That's a stupid name for a human," Peter drawls, rolling his eyes.
Taking a chance, Wade takes Peter’s hand in his own, a little surprised when it doesn’t get yanked back immediately. “I want to see you again.”
“Really?” Peter asks dubiously. “Why?”
“You saved me at the risk to yourself, I’ve never met anyone so selfless.”
“Thanks?”
“I’m not going to let go until you give me an answer. Though I’m not sure if I can keep stealing this boat to come meet you.”
“I suppose if you showed up on the beach I dragged you to last time, I might be there tomorrow night.”
Wade finally lets go of his wrist, beaming at the response. “It’s a date!”
“Date?” Peter squeaks, face going red again.
Wade grins in answer, worried for a moment that he’s being too pushy. But the mer just nods his head in understanding.
“I’ll see you tomorrow for our date then,” Peter mumbles before slipping over the side of the boat in one fluid motion and making a big splash with his tail that gets Wade wet all over again.
Wade races to the side and peers down into the depths of the water, hoping to watch Peter swim away but not being able to see a trace of the mer.
“I have a date with a merman. Holy shit.” Wade lays down in the boat, taking in the stars above him, grinning like the idiot he is. The boat rocks slightly, making his stomach do a flip. He never thought he would be thankful for getting sea sick or being thrown overboard, but here he is.