Chapter Text
Jeremy sighs as he stares down into the murky water of the pool in front of him. It was normally a glistening blue but was now a greenish, muddied brown from all the stuff washed into it by the swell of ocean water caused by the storm last night.
The storm last night was big. One of the biggest of the summer so far, and one of the biggest in recorded history according to his boss who liked to overly exaggerate anything and everything.
For Jeremy huddled up at home, it had been the rain spattering against the windowpanes in his room and thunder so deep it rattled the house around him, the lights flickering in tune. But nothing he wasn’t used to despite it being the grandest storm so far this year.
Jeremy will admit however, it left quite the mess behind.
Branches and mounds of seaweed littered the beach. The lifeguard tower was tipped over. The sand around it uneven from all the water washing up and down on it for hours last night. Tiny critters scuttled around that had been left ashore after the water had settled and the storm had passed.
But the worst was the area his boss had tasked him with.
It was a patio area, a pool in the center. It was usually used for swimming classes or water aerobics but now it was filled with everything the ocean had pushed into it. It was quite a distance from the beach but there must have been a wave big enough to push all the way up here into the pool and surrounding patio area, leaving everything in disarray.
Perhaps his boss was right, and it had been the storm of the century.
He shakes his head. He already spent most of the morning helping clean the beach and at this point, he was ready to get this area cleaned and go home. Maintenance wasn’t even his usual gig. He usually was up in the lifeguard tower doing just that. Watching people out swimming to make sure no one drowned and keeping an eye on the beach goers. But he supposes when that beach was totally devastated to the point there was only a handful of people that came by all day - none even getting in the water - it made sense for his boss to turn his labor elsewhere.
He looks around the patio. There’s debris everywhere, chairs knocked around and their little side tables knocked over. Wayward branches and leaves covering them. On the bright side, they knew about the storm ahead of time so all the smaller decorations and strings light had been stored. Jeremy could only imagine the hours it would have taken to untangle those should the wind have got to them.
In the pool in front of him, there’s a variety of plant and sea life from the swell that dumped it in here last night. The vegetation so thick he can’t even see the bottom of the pool and in between it all, little fish dart in brief flashes of silver.
Standing by the side with his net, he just sighs again at the hours of work in front of him and the hot afternoon hours to come. Worst of all, his boss wants it cleaned and refilled by the end of the day so they could reopen again tomorrow.
So, dreading the rising heat and sunburn he’s sure to get spending all this time out here, he starts in, jabbing the net into the pool where it comes back covered in green. He wrinkles his nose at the light fishy smell, dump it into the wheel burrow next to him, and then pushes the net in again.
It’s fine for a while, him pulling seaweed and other plant parts and branches from the pool, but it’s about a half hour in when he suddenly sees something move. He thinks it’s a larger fish at first. He’s already caught a few of the smaller ones and put them in a bucket to bring back to the ocean later. It made sense something bigger might have ended up here too. Something that must’ve got thrown in with the ocean water. But when he glimpses the human face looking out at him a moment later on his second search for the disturbance, he decides that’s definitely not a fish. But as it quickly ducks back under the water, no evidence left behind that even there except for a faint ripple, he’s left wondering if he was seeing things as he was working up quite a sweat now. Sure it’s morning but the humidity from the storm is still there.
Could someone get heat stroke that fast?
He walks closer to the edge of the pool, trying to get another look. Poking around gently with the net to move some of the seaweed out of the way to see better. He’s doing that when something suddenly moves, fast, and next thing he knows, he’s stumbling back as a face is right in front of his, scowl on it like he was the one somehow in the wrong and not them for deciding climbing in the pool was a good idea.
Though a look down has Jeremy definitely rethinking heat stroke is happening because that sure is fins and scales connected to the torso of the face staring him down.
Jeremy, startled, just stands there, net in his hands not knowing what to do.
It’s eyes are crystal clear. A cold gray that stare daggers into his own hazel. In the sun, he can see the skin is almost concerningly pale. Like just thinking about the sun and heat would give it sunburn. The dark hair while holding a slight curl, drips with water, and behind the face half submerged in the pool it splays out leaving Jeremy to guess it to be about shoulder length. The ears the hair floats around are just the tinniest bit pointed.
But the real thing that catches his eye is the tail starting at it’s waist. Jeremy’s eyes seem to be playing tricks on him as it seems to flash a variety of different colors, but for the most part, it appears blue. It swishes lazily back and forth behind the person, causing light ripples on the surface of the pool.
Sure he’s heard stories and rumors of mermaids before. What person that lives next to the ocean hasn’t? But whether he believed in them or not was an entirely different story. He was always open to the possibility. He was about most things in life. If you couldn’t prove it was real, most of the times you couldn’t prove it was fake either. But here it is. Right in front of him. A real life mermaid. That or one of the most intricate pranks ever. But he’s been fishing his entire life. He knows what scales look like and the ones embedded onto this creature before him are far too real to be fake. Which must mean what he’s seeing is real.
But that still leaves the question of what the fuck he’s going to do about it. Half of him is screaming to take a picture because no one would believe him otherwise. But the more rational side of his brain is saying that if he was in this situation, no way would he want a camera being shoved in his face. He would want to be helped.
There is another part of him screaming that he should run. The part remembering the stories of sailors being lured in by beautiful faces and voices to be dragged down to their watery deaths below.
And this one here did have quite the beautiful face.
“Uh hey…” he says and immediately he feels stupid. Who was he to assume they spoke his language? But he doesn’t know what else to do so he just goes on, trying not to stutter over what he was talking to, “You’re really not supposed to be here. Um. Can I help you get out? Are you stuck?”
The mermaid just continued to stare at him. Expression of annoyance the same and if anything, Jeremy swears it looks even more unimpressed now.
“Um…” how else did he explain to him that he needed it out of the pool? Did he just try reaching in and grabbing it? Carrying back to the ocean and tossing it in? Something about the look on its face told Jeremy that would go about as smooth as trying to pick up a stray alley cat.
He drops the net. It clatters to the ground as Jeremy holds up a finger in a ‘one moment’ gesture as he turns and rushes over to the white board they use to list the ice cream flavors of the day near the snack bar. Grabbing it, an eraser, and dry erase marker, he briskly walks back over to the edge of the pool, the creature turning its head to watch him the entire time. He sits down by the edge, close enough to talk but far enough where he didn’t think the creature could reach out a hand and grab him as he doesn’t know if he should trust it or not.
“Seriously, my boss will fire me if this pool isn’t cleaned. And I need this job,” he mutters as he pops the cap off and spends the next few minutes drawing a diagram, trying to illustrate his point of ‘mermaid in pool, mermaid need to be not in pool.’
When he’s done, the stick figures seem to mock him from how poorly they’re drawn but whatever, it’s (slightly) comprehensible. He turns it around for the mer to see only for it to stare for a moment before it first smiles and then starts to laugh.
Jeremy sits there, a bit stunned as this creature continues to laugh at him. When its done, it looks back up towards him, a hint of a smile from its amusement on its face and says, “You know I understand you right?”
Jeremy just stares and now it’s his turn for annoyance to run through him. That was a precious five minutes he just wasted. “Dude. Why didn’t you say the before?”
The mer shrugs. It’s head slightly dipping back below the water. “I don’t know. It was a bit funny. Watching you flounder about.”
Jeremy doesn’t know if that was supposed to be the creature’s attempt at a pun but no way was he laughing at it. “Okay.” He pops the cap back on the marker and crosses his arms. Mythical creature or not, he had work to do. “But I still need you out of here. I have to clean that.”
The creature gives him a look. Then tilts it’s head like it’s considering before hitting him with a very plain and simple, “No.”
“No?”
“No.”
“What do you mean no?”
“I mean I’m not leaving.”
“What, why?” Jeremy asks, frustrated. Of course, out of all the mermaids in the ocean, he had to meet the stubborn one.
“I don’t want to go back.”
Now Jeremy’s confused. Why wouldn’t he want to go back to the ocean? “Is there a reason?”
The mer looks at him consideringly, like he’s considering telling him something, but then just shrugs. “Don’t want to.”
Jeremy sighs, crossing his arms. Staring at the ground and then back at the head bobbing in and out of the water in front of him, trying to figure out what to do. “Fine. Don’t go back to the ocean. Whatever. But you can’t stay here.”
“Why not?”
Jeremy feels like pulling his hair out. Perhaps the legends were wrong. Perhaps sailors didn’t drown because they were lured in by their beauty. Perhaps they drowned because they wanted to throttle them. Taunts worked just as well as promises to get a person attention after all.
“I told you. Because my boss wants this cleaned. I don’t know about where you’re from but here, our swimming pools do not have seaweed in them.” Or other aquatic creatures with a mouth on them.
“Swimming… pool?” The creature asks almost curiously. Like it was the first time using the term. Jeremy would almost find the curiosity endearing. If he hadn’t already proved what a little shit he could be.
“Yeah. The thing you’re in.” And refusing to leave. “It doesn’t usually look like this. Storm just messed it up last night.”
The mer seems to consider this. Looking around at the water filled area and then at the area around it, at the changing rooms in the corner and snack bar off to the side and the fence surrounding the area keeping their argument private. “Okay. I’ll get out.”
“Okay, but where-“
But before Jeremy can finish asking where the hell he intended to go as he made it quite clear he wasn’t heading back to the ocean, the mer pulls himself up on the edge of the pool and then drags himself over towards the shade of the snack bar, settling down there.
Jeremy stares. The mer shows no more signs of moving, getting comfy where he was and it’s now Jeremy can see the full length and appearance of the creature in front of him. The skin almost flawless. A pale color as if it was more used to being at the bottom of an ocean, which it probably was. The scales wet with water glistening in the minimal light reaching them from where the mer was sitting. And the eyes, dark, almost black now in the shadow of the shade, stare at Jeremy but not with malice or anything similar, but with a gaze that spoke that he was simply observing him.
Jeremy awkwardly looks away, not able to hold the gaze for long. He debates trying to argue again but hey, it was out of the pool, and no one would be coming back here today anyways. Not until his boss did tomorrow morning to check in his progress. He could deal with the mer problem later. For now, he had a pool to clean.
Compartmentalization.
Picking up the net and ignoring the mer behind him, he goes back to fishing stuff out of the water in front of him and soon enough, settling back into the task, he almost forgets about his onlooker. If it wasn’t for the fact his onlooker wasn’t something straight out of a fairytale.
He spends the next two hours working, glancing over every now and then to see the mer still laying there. It seems to almost be getting dryer. He’s a little concerned because wet creatures becoming dry never ended well but it hasn’t said anything and he’s not getting paid to babysit - fictional creature or not.
“I’m Jeremy by the way,” he says as he passes by on one of his runs of emptying the wheelbarrow and tossing some other fish back into the ocean.
The mer stares at him a second before offering up, “Mike.”
Jeremy nods but continues to walk by. It was an odd name, one he wouldn’t have expected a mermaid to have, but it is what it is. His day was already weird enough, a mermaid named Mike wasn’t adding much more to it.
He works for a few more minutes pulling clump after clump of seaweed up and out of the pool. He goes and dumps the wheelbarrow again but to his confusion, when he comes back this time, it’s to Mike gone.
He glances at the now mostly cleared pool thinking he might have slipped in to get wet again but when seeing nothing, he frowns. Perhaps he went back? Jeremy hadn’t seen anything on his walk back but maybe Mike decided to drag himself to the ocean after all. Or to the nearest aquarium if he was that set against going back.
But then his head is whipping around upon hearing a crash coming from over by the snack area. Or more accurately, inside the hut. Jeremy had unlocked the door to get some supplies out of there. Had someone come in?
Setting the wheelbarrow down, he heads over, not sure what he’s expecting to find but what it is not is Mike, standing on two legs, hands gripping onto the counter as he tries and pulls himself up.
And naked. Very, very naked.
Jeremy immediately turns away, face growing red and mind screaming what the fuck as just a moment ago this person had fins and not toes. Could mermaids do that? Was that a thing? It must be. That or he was just stuck in one of the most vivid hallucinations of all time.
But hearing another crash, he turns back around to see Mike laying on the floor, disgruntled look on his face. Jeremy takes a few steps forwards, but stops a few feet away, not quite sure how to help despite Mike obviously struggling.
“Um, do you normally do this?”
Mike gives a huff and then looks up at him from his place on the ground, annoyance clear. But the look on his face quickly settles into one of frustration. “No. It’s my first time doing this.”
“This as in…”
Mike gives him a look like he’s dumb. “Legs.”
“Oh. Didn’t know that was something you could do.”
Mike gives him a judging look but then must realize Jeremy’s out of his depth (no pun intended) when it comes to dealing with mermaids.
Mike sighs and then explains, “Not often. But we can.”
“Oh.” Jeremy shifts awkwardly, still not sure what he should be doing. Offer a hand or just letting Mike figure it out on his own. “So um, do you need… help?” The two falls and the white knuckle grip on the bar wasn’t painting a good picture of having it all under control.
Mike looks ready to snap at him but then reconsiders. Face shifting to a softer look as he quietly admits, disgruntled, like he doesn’t want to, like the word is being pulled out of him, “Yes.”
Jeremy nods. But the first thing he does is walk over to the small attached gift shop area and grab a shirt with the name of the beach club printed on it and a pair of swim shorts. “Here,” he says, holding them out to Mike. “Put these on.”
Mike wrinkles his nose at the clothing. “Why?”
“Want to stay here? Well, sorry to say but most humans don’t run around naked.”
Mike gives him and the clothes another look but, lowering himself back down to the ground, mission of standing up abandoned for now, he takes the clothes muttering what Jeremy thinks is a ‘Thank you.’
It was a start. Something other than stubbornness and Jeremy would take it.
He turns his back as Mike gets dressed and when the shuffling of fabrics fades, he turns around to see Mike laying there, now clothed, looking up at him expectingly.
“Okay,” Jeremy announces having zero clue what he’s about to do or how it’ll go. The image of the stray alley cat is still in his head.
He walks over to Mike and crouches down next to him. “I’m going to loop your arm over my shoulder, and we’ll stand on the count of three okay?”
Mike gives him a nod, the stubbornness from earlier gone as an eagerness replaces it, seeming to go along with what Jeremy suggests.
Pleased, Jeremy hums and then throwing Mike’s arm around over his shoulder, gives the, “one, two, three,” before hoisting them both up.
Once back on their feet, he lets go of Mike where he sways a little, keeping his balance for a second before he starts to tilt, and Jeremy reaches out to grab his hand.
He’s surprised by how cold it is. Like those deep ocean currents are churning directly under his skin. But holding onto him, Mike is able to steady himself, and with Jeremy’s assistance, takes the first few steps.
He seems to get the hang of it after that. Shifting his weight and center of gravity until his hand slips from Jeremy’s and he’s taking a few shaky steps on his own.
Jeremy leans on the counter by the cash register, watching him. “Look at that. You’re a natural.”
Mike rolls his eyes at him but turns away to keep walking around and Jeremy lets him. Leaving the counter and Mike’s side to go back outside to the pool and continue his job.
He doesn’t know how but suddenly it’s sunset and somehow, someway, he’s looking at a cleaned pool before him. Water cleaned, drained, and now refilled. Mike’s sitting off to the side. He’d practiced walking for a while, until he was walking with near ease, only bumping into a few things now and then, and had taken a break, choosing to sit in a chair and watching Jeremy finish cleaning.
Jeremy walks over to him, thumbing the pool gate’s key in his hand as all he had left to do was lock up and go home. “Well,” he tells Mike who looks up at him. With his hair now dry, Jeremy noticed it’s rather fluffy, more of a brown color too with a little curl, and he almost wants to reach out and run his hands through it. But he stops himself as that would probably be considered weird even by mer social norms. Whatever they were. “I’m about to lock up and head out.”
Mike nods. “Okay.”
Jeremy waits expecting Mike to get the memo that he needs to make himself scarce as well, but he doesn’t seem to and Jeremy honestly doesn’t know if that was Mike’s way of messing with him or if he was just that bad at picking up subtext.
“You can’t stay here. My manager would kill me if I let someone sleep in the pool area. He probably is already going to be on my ass for the missing clothes. Probably have to try and spin that the storm blew them away.”
Mike frowns. “Where go?”
Jeremy’s not quite sure what he means by that question. “Me? I’m going home. I don’t know where you’re going.”
The frown stays except Mike turns it to the ground as he considers Jeremy’s words. Then looks back up and states simply like they were old friends meeting up, “I’ll come with you.”
He stands and on two somewhat shaky legs, walks past Jeremy to the gate which he must have known about after watching Jeremy go in and out in that direction all day.
Jeremy stands there, a little shocked and unsure of what to do. But then shrugs, and following Mike out turns and locks up the gate. Mike would probably ditch him once they got walking. At least, he hopes so. Because he really doesn’t know what you’re supposed to do when a mermaid tries to follow you home.
Jeremy begins walking down the sidewalk, listening to the unsteady, barefoot steps behind him. He kept expecting them to wander off, leave him alone to go check something out but they keep right up with him.
He’s not sure what he’s going to do. Hell, he can hardly believe the situation right now. Maybe he should try and get some information about Mike? The mer was following him. Would only be fair he knew why right? Especially since he’s just invited himself with him home.
“So if you’re not going back to the ocean, what exactly is your plan?”
“Follow you,” Mike states simply and does a small jump over a crack in the side walk. He looks a little proud of himself for doing so. He must be getting a better hang of his legs and sense of balance.
“Yeah for now. But you can’t follow me forever. And I don’t even know you. I’m not letting you into my house.”
Mike frowns, his gaze which had been wandering unlike his feet immediately snaps back to Jeremy. “Why not?”
Jeremy sputters. “Why not? How do I know you’re not a serial killer or something.”
“A seal killer?”
“No serial.”
He stops. But turning around, he’s met with a blank look.
“Like,” he waves his hands around a bit, like he’s trying to pluck the explanation from somewhere in the air surrounding him. “Like you kill people. A lot of them.”
“Oh no. I’ve never done that before.”
Jeremy groans. He does believes Mike as for all his messing around with Jeremy, he did seem pretty straight forward. But he’s still not sure on taking him to his house. For various reasons. Some might enjoy being sucked into some fantasy mermaid adventure but not him. He had a summer job to do and chores to complete. His mom was working double shift at the hospital tonight so that meant finding himself something to eat, doing some cleaning, and getting his homework done. It was summer but he’d taken a few summer classes at the local college. The sooner he could graduate and get the hell out of here, the better. He didn’t have time for a curious sea creature that had fallen into his life. “Well. You still can’t come in.” He turns around and continues walking.
Mike falls a few steps behind him but by time Jeremy’s noticing, Mike’s already catching back up. “I can grant you a wish. Mer people can do that. You let me stay with you, show me around, and I’ll give you a wish.”
Jeremy pauses. And turns to look at Mike who also has stopped. “That sounds made up.”
“It’s true,” Mike insists, and with his wide eyes and otherwise blank expression, it’s hard to tell if he’s lying or not.
“What you all have magic powers or something?”
“I gave myself legs didn’t I?” Mike’s mouth twitches just the tiniest bit.
Jeremy hates that he has a point. Seeing as he had no clue mermaids existed twenty-four hours ago, he has zero clue how they work. He was at a big disadvantage here. Did they even follow human understanding of science? He’s not sure.
A wish would be nice. Least to say, him and his mom weren’t the most well-off people. His dad had took off five years ago now, leaving his mom with all the payments and raising him. He felt bad wanting to leave but he was sick of Florida. Sick of the heat and the tourists. He was ready to get out of here. Go to a new start. And maybe, without him here, his mom would finally sell the house and move on from his dad. He knew deep down she still held the hope he’d come back one day to his family, but Jeremy knew it would never happen. He was a scummy dad in the first place. No way the second time would be any better if he did decide to show his face again. It wasn’t even the man Jeremy missed, but the peace he brought his mom.
Jeremy loved his mom. She’s done so much for him, and he would like to lesson the burden on her. He wonders what these so call ‘wishes’ could all grant.
He eyes Mike warily. “So you can do anything?”
“Not anything but a lot.” Again, that neutral tone that Jeremy can’t tell if he’s having his leg pulled or not.
“I still think you’re lying.”
“I’m not.” Mikes dark eyes stare into his and they look so serious.
Jeremy shifts, a little uncomfortable. He feels safe here but it’s a gaze he wouldn’t want to meet in the water. Where it would have the advantage. He feels like he’s being sized up.
Eventually he sighs, giving in. It’s not like Mike had anywhere else to go. And his mom wasn’t home. As long as he stayed quiet while he got some stuff done, he’d be fine with it. Plus maybe he could learn some cool mermaid stuff. He wonders how many humans got this chance.
“Fine.” Mike perks up. “You can follow me. But only for tonight. And you have to be quiet as I have some stuff to do. I’ll show you around tomorrow but that’s it.” Jeremy continues but Mike was already nodding excitedly around ‘follow me’ got said and Jeremy’s not sure he got the rest.
“I promise. I won’t get in your way. Thank you.”
It’s a proper thank you this time. Not like the mumbled one from before and for some reason, it leaves some of the frustration and tiredness of a day cleaning a pool draining from Jeremy.
“Just remember what I said,” he reminds Mike. “My mom isn’t home now but you’ll need to keep quiet and keep your head down.”
Mike nods again and with that, they continue down the sidewalk towards Jeremy’s house, sun nearing the horizon behind them.