Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Never swim too close to the surface, stay away from land, stick close to home, stay with your pod, never leave the kingdom alone, and avoid humanity at all costs.” were the words spoken by his mami and dad that repeated themselves like a mantra in his head whenever he would go on one of his restless adventures.

Miles knew of the dangers that lurked on the surface of their world. He grew up listening to the stories his dad would tell about how he and Uncle Aaron had been reckless teenagers growing up, always venturing too close to the surface until one day they had a risky encounter with one of the big ships that stole their fish. 

Uncle Aaron had come close to being caught in one of the nets cast into the water. If Dad hadn't been there to free Uncle Aaron’s tail from the net, there’s no telling what would’ve happened to him. Ever since then, Dad and Uncle Aaron remained within the Kingdom's protective walls.

But those were just stories, right? Miles knew that his people remained a secret to humanity. There were rumors of their existence on the land, but no real proof of it. And the merfolk would like to keep it that way. If humanity discovered their existence, they would have to live in fear and hiding for the rest of their lives to avoid the greedy hands wishing to steal them from their homes.

Miles heard the warnings, was aware of the risks, but that did little to stop his adventurous soul from brushing them aside as if they were nothing more than silly little threats to scare him away from seeing the beauty of the ocean outside of the Kingdom. 

Luckily, Miles had friends that shared the exact same rebellious spirit. Gwen was still growing into her fins just like Miles, her tail was a beautiful ombre of pink and white, matching her hair, Pavitr was also growing into his fins, his tail shimmered gold and blue, vibrant just like his personality, and Hobie was just about done growing into his fins, his tail was unique, changing colors depending on how the sunbeams hit it from the surface but most of the time it remained gray.

Miles was the youngest of the small pod, his tail an ombre of black and red. 

Every day when their lessons were over, the four would meet up near the walls of the Kingdom. Of course, Miles’ parents never knew of his adventures, otherwise, they would’ve grounded him for life. So Miles would stay low as he swam to their usual meet-up point.

There was a crack in the walls that the four had discovered a year ago, one big enough for their growing tails to fit through. The first time Miles had slipped through was like a breath of fresh water and the ocean became that much bigger to him as he looked out into the endless abyss, swimming with other fish and creatures like turtles and rays.

“Miles! What took you so long?” Gwen called from where she and the others were leaning against the wall next to the exit. 

“Aye, you know his habit of forgetting when lessons are supposed to be over.” he rolled his eyes fondly and the others found themselves nodding in agreement.

“Well let's go! I’m getting restless,” Gwen huffed and with a flick of her tail, she was easily drifting through the exit with grace. Hobie gestured for Pav and Miles to go ahead of him which the two boys were quick to do.

Once they entered the open ocean they were laughing and weaving between one another freely in a dance that came naturally to the four of them. They swam with abandon, aware of the Kingdom walls growing further and further away as they swam, chasing sea turtles and brushing their fingers along their aged shells as they followed the current.

“Should we do it again, you think?” Hobie asked, turning over so that his stomach faced the surface, hands behind his head and tail flicking ever so often despite not needing to with the currents doing the work of transporting them.

“Peek the surface?” Miles asked, eyes bright with mischief. They’d only done it once before when the four of them were feeling particularly brave. It had taken them a whole year of exploring the ocean before any of them worked up the nerve to go against their elders' strict orders of staying away from the surface.

“Are we sure that’s smart? I mean, doing it once was already crazy enough,” Gwen said, voice unsure but not exactly opposed to the idea.

“But we were fine, weren’t we?” Pav piped up. 

“A quick peek wouldn’t hurt right?” Miles shrugged, eyes meeting Gwens' uncertain ones. She seemed to ponder the idea a moment longer before she couldn’t resist and she sighed, breaking free of the current.

“Last one there’s a rotten eel!” she shouted and the three boys were quick to break free of the current to swim after her.

“That’s not fair!” Pav protested, tail nearly smacking Miles across the face as he darted up after her. The four of them laughed as they swirled around one another all the way until they were just shy of breaking the surface. 

But despite their eagerness to get there, they all paused just below the rippling water, the sunshine bright on the surface. They looked at each other, eyes manic with adrenaline as they waited for each other to make the first move.

In the end, it was Hobie who gave one final flick of his tail and his body was breaking the surface. That was all it took before the other three were following, their heads popping up and meeting the warm air that almost instantly dried the water from their skin.

In the distance was the land that they had seen the last time they came up to the surface. It was small in the distance, just barely visible, and Miles couldn’t help but think of all of the promises that he was breaking just by being here. But the thrill and adrenaline that he felt were so addictive that he couldn’t imagine staying within the Kingdom walls for the rest of his life.

“Shit! Get down!” Gwen was suddenly shouting, grabbing their arms. Miles' heart dropped into his stomach as he turned around to see the giant hulking ship mere feet away from them, coming too close to hitting them.

They gasped and suddenly ducked under the water, tails whipping behind them fast and hard to get away from the threatening ship. Miles wasn’t as fast as the others, still growing into his tail, he was suddenly crying out as a net came out of nowhere and scooped him up into it along with other fish and crabs that pinched at his tail.

“Miles!” Gwen shouted, having looked over her shoulder to see the predicament he was in. Miles’ eyes were wide with terror as he tried breaking the thick ropes of the net around him. Gwen, Hobie, and Pav all turned to swim back over to him, faces panicked and so full of regret.

Hobie pulled his shell knife from the necklace he wore and instantly began carving through the ropes. It was then that Miles felt the net beginning to pull him up toward the surface.

“Uh– guys!” his voice wobbled as he looked up to see the ship growing closer. Gwen and Pav were pulling uselessly at the ropes, trying to cut them with their teeth to no avail. Hobie’s shell knife was no match against the thick ropes either.

“We’re gonna get you out, Miles!” Gwen shouted, voice breaking with desperation as her blue eyes frantically looked for anything that she could do to help. But there was nothing she could do, nothing they could do as they watched it lift closer and closer to the surface. 

“Just go!” Miles told them.

“What?!” Pav shouted, incredulous.

“I’ll jump back into the water once they open the net on the ship,” he told them, eyes desperate for them to just listen and get to safety. 

“A pod sticks together, mate.” Hobie told him, eyes hard.

“There’s nothing you can do,” he told them. “I promise I’ll get out,” he told them one last time before the net was breaking the surface, bringing Miles with it.

Miguel bit back another yawn as he walked along the ship, boots splashing into puddles that the ocean created. He had yet another restless night, having ended up sitting on the dock while the sun rose as his hand held the pen uselessly above the blank paper, failing to bring himself to write something, anything. This writer's block lasting longer than any of his previous ones. Perhaps it has something to do with him having no one to read his stories to now that she was gone…

He blinked when he thought he heard a distant shout, thinking maybe it was one of the fishermen shouting that they had caught something, only to look around and see them aimlessly wandering just like Miguel.

It was then that the ship suddenly lurched, succeeding in waking Miguel up when the other fishermen suddenly began shouting as they rushed over to one of the pulleys.

“We’ve got something big, boys!” one of the guys shouted and Miguel was quick to rush over and help reel up the net that they had cast into the water a while ago. 

“You think it's a shark?” another guy asked.

“Not that big, dumbass. Probably a big fish or somethin’.” was the response. There was an unusual amount of resistance as they all came together to reel it up, whatever they had caught, it was scared and determined to get out.

“Almost there! Keep reeling!” one of the fishermen who Miguel hadn’t bothered to put a name to shouted. They slipped against the wet ground multiple times but eventually, the net was lifting out of the water and dropped onto the ship.

Whatever they caught was flopping frantically beneath the net and Miguel swore he saw hands. The fishermen were suddenly surrounding the net, unwrapping it from the catch only for a choir of gasps to be heard as they revealed a boy.

But not a regular human boy. A boy with a human upper half, but the fish of a tail. A merfolk. 

What the f…

Suddenly, the boy was making a break for it, attempting to drag himself over to the edge of the ship. But it wasn’t before one of the fishermen shoved the others out of the way, a machete in his hand used for cutting rope, that the boy was pinned to a stop, literally, as the man pierced the large weapon into his tail, pinning it to the ground.

The boy cried out but it didn’t sound all human. It was a shriek, high pitched and pained as he tried pulling his tail free from where it had been pinned to the ground like a butterfly with its wings pinned.

Miguel couldn’t believe what he was seeing. And neither could the other men.

“What the fuck!” 

“Tell me we didn’t just catch a literal mermaid.” 

“Merman!” 

“Mer boy, it’s obviously young.” 

“Shut up!” the man who had pinned the kid with the machete shouted. Miguel watched with unease settling in his stomach as the man grinned, eyes full of greed as he towered above the frightened merboy. “Do y'all realize just how much money we’re gonna make off of it? We have literal proof of Merfolk’s existence in our hands. We’re gonna be rich, boys.” he said as he crouched down in front of the boy.

Miguel was reminded that sure, they just discovered that merfolk weren’t just myths, that they were real, but that they were people too. And this was just a boy… a kid.

Miguel observed the way the boy's chest rose and fell rapidly, whether it was because he was being deprived of water, or because of the fear he was feeling, Miguel was unsure. His cheeks were still slightly chubby with baby fat, honey eyes wide and fearful as they darted from face to face, dark hair coiled tight but beginning to frizz in the dry air.

He couldn’t be older than thirteen.

And that fact made Miguel sick. She had been thirteen when he lost her.

He was brought back into the present by the high-pitched whine that left the boy's throat as the other fishermen began surrounding him, poking and prodding at his tail and face. Miguel watched as the kid snapped sharp canines at one of the hands that came too close to his face. His face twisted in pain as nails scratched at his drying scales.

“He needs water.” Miguel finally spoke, surprising the other fishermen because it wasn’t often that Miguel spoke. They had jokingly named him ‘the mute’ due to his silence. The only time he ever spoke was when he had to, whether it was delivering orders, or requesting help to reel something in. 

“What?” the man with the machete asked. Miguel was aware of young eyes on him. The kid probably couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Did Merfolk speak English? Or their own language?

“Water. His scales are drying. Won’t be worth much if they start breaking off and you’ve already tainted his tail by stabbing it with a machete.” he commented, eying the machete that was still sticking out of the kid's tail.

“What are you suggesting? We let it back into the ocean?” the man huffed a humorless laugh, incredulous. Miguel rolled his eyes. Estos idiotas. 

“A bathtub would do, but it has to be ocean water,” he told him, nodding his head toward the Captain’s cabin.

“You’re saying I gotta let some slimy creature live in my bathtub til’ we get back to land?” Right… he was the captain. Miguel thinks that he should probably know that.

“Unless you want to try to sell a dead merfolk,” he shrugged. The man narrowed his eyes in irritation before he was huffing in defeat and standing back up from where he’d been crouching beside the merboy.

“Fine, fill the bathtub then we’ll move it,” he told Miguel with a dismissive wave. “The rest of you, get back to work,” he ordered and the fishermen stubbornly returned to their duties, but not without casting one final glance at the creature they’d caught.

Miguel met those honey eyes one last time before he was turning to retrieve a barrel, tying a rope around it before tossing it into the ocean to retrieve the water for the bathtub.

During the three trips it took in and out of the Captain's cabin to fill the tub, each time he came back out he would see the Captain taunting the boy, reaching out to grab his cheeks, observing him as if he were nothing more than a prized possession, running his gloved hands down his tail in fascination despite the clear discomfort on the kids face as he whined and tried to escape the touch.

Miguel wanted nothing more than to pull the machete from the kids tail and toss him overboard to return back to his family, but he knew that wouldn’t end well for both of them. The kid was injured and probably wouldn’t survive against the sharks and Miguel would probably be tossed over with him by the other men.

Sure, they would make a lot of money off of selling him to the island's aquarium, but no amount of money would ever be worth enslaving a child.

Once the bathtub was filled, he was informing the Captain. 

“Great, you can move it. And make sure to tie it to it so it doesn’t try to escape,” he told him, standing up and reaching down to grab the handle of the machete, yanking it free and making the boy screech in pain, tail instantly curling into his body as it was freed. Blood began to gush from the wound, mixing with the deep red scales.

The captain left without another word, leaving Miguel with the kid. It was then that Miguel really debated whether he should “accidentally” trip and drop the kid over the side of the ship. But as he watched the blood drip onto the fish surrounding the boy, he knew that it wouldn’t be a smart idea. He’d be sending the kid to his doom.

He sighed and began approaching the kid. He paused when two sharp canines were being bared with a weak hiss. The kid was weak, and the hiss was only for show to try to scare him off. Miguel raised his hands in a placating gesture as he slowly approached. 

Those big brown eyes watched him cautiously, and Miguel couldn’t stand how sad and defeated they looked as they watched Miguel approach him. 

“I’m not gonna hurt you, kid.” he told him but he doubted he understood him. But much to his surprise, those wary eyes softened just slightly at his words and the fight left his body as he slumped back to the ground, tail twitching weakly only for his face to screw up in pain at the movement.

Miguel took that as his opportunity to crouch down and scoop him up into his arms. He was lighter than he expected, but that shouldn’t have surprised him considering the boy was barely half Miguel's size, tail and all.

The boy tensed up as soon as Miguel lifted him into his arms, a low whine sounding in his throat as his tail was jostled. Miguel carried him away from the net that had captured him and into the Captain's cabin where the bath sat off to the side, full of salt water.

The merboy seemed to perk up at the sight of the water and Miguel was quick to carry him over to it, gently depositing him into the tub. He could almost swear the scales grew more vibrant as soon as his tail dipped into the water. The kid was submerging under the water quickly to make sure he could wet his face too before popping back up.

Miguel retrieved the rope from his pocket and with a muttered apology he grabbed the kids' wrists much to his confusion, and tied them behind his head to the metal taps of the tub. The distress returned to the merboys face and Miguel had to ignore the heavy weight in his chest. He didn’t want to do this.

The water had already tinged red with his blood. He’d have to convince the Captain to allow him to bandage it.

Suddenly, the Captain himself was walking in, immediately walking over to his bunk, sitting down with a huff and taking off his boots.

“His tail needs to be bandaged,” Miguel told him. 

“It’ll survive,” was the response he got.

“You can’t seriously be considering selling this kid.” Miguel was suddenly standing, fists clenched at his side and aware of the young innocent eyes watching him.

“You talk about it as if it’s human,” the Captain said, narrowing his eyes.

“You talk about him as if fifty percent of him isn’t .” Miguel countered, eyes fierce. He was met with a silent, challenging look from the man. 

“You’re here to do your job and keep your mouth shut, do you understand me? We are the first fishermen to ever catch a live merfolk and I’m not gonna allow you to fuck it all up just because you don’t feel good about it, you hear me?” He said, standing up to meet Miguel in the middle of the room, chest puffed out to seem taller than he actually is. 

“Now get your ass back onto the deck, we’ll be back by morning.” He ordered. Miguel’s jaw clenched as he fought the urge to argue further, to speak his mind which would certainly get him fired. He nodded instead, stepping around the captain to make his way to the door.

But just before he stepped out, he met those doe eyes that were pleading for him to stay, to not leave him alone with this man. Miguel wished he could. But he forced himself to look away as he stepped out of the cabin.

Miguel helped tie the ship to the dock as they arrived. He followed the monthly routine of transporting the fish and crabs that they had caught over the past couple of weeks, sending them off to be processed, shipped, and put on the market.

Slowly, one by one the fishermen would finish their tasks and quickly head home, aching for their beds and a cold beer. Miguel watched as they clapped the captain on the back, congratulating him once again for catching a merfolk to which the captain swore that the next round at the pub was on him once they were rewarded the money for the catch.

Miguel had yet to see the merboy being transported out of the Captain's cabin, he purposely took longer to sweep the deck just so that he could think up some sort of plan to make sure this kid isn’t locked in an enclosure for the rest of his life.

His mind was racing, grasping onto any ideas that came into his head, but every single one of them was risky.

“O’Hara, take care of the trash then get out of here.” He heard someone call. He nodded and moved to the Captain's cabin where the big trash bags were located. As he stepped inside, he was met with the sight of the merboy struggling, trying to break the ropes tied around his wrists but only succeeding in burning the flesh from the friction.

He immediately froze and his wide eyes landed on Miguel, he looked pale and the water was now completely stained red from his blood, the sight made his stomach turn. He walked past him to retrieve a garbage bag, but as he opened the bag, he took a second to consider the size of it.

It was meant to carry heavy loads of trash so that you wouldn’t have to make so many trips. But as Miguel looked at the kid, then back to the bag, an idea sprung forth in his mind. An idea that would work.

Miguel continued onward to do his tasks, probably quicker than he usually does, in eagerness to take action with the plan he had thought up. He cleaned the ship of the trash, jumping onto the dock to drag each heavy bag over to his truck that was parked on the grass where he’d left it before coming to work a couple of weeks ago. He tossed each bag into the bed of the truck before going back for the next.

Until finally, he had one last bag he needed to take care of. The only problem would be convincing the kid to go along with the plan, and he was pretty damn positive that the kid couldn’t understand him if the big blinking eyes said anything.

“I know this is all probably really confusing for you, but you need to trust me.” He said from where he was crouched beside the bathtub, reaching up to cut the ropes around his wrist with his pocket knife.

The moment the kids' hands were freed, he was bringing them back down into the water, rubbing them gingerly all while keeping those big curious eyes on Miguel. He didn’t look like he trusted Miguel but also didn’t look like he feared Miguel.

Miguel winced when he heard the last of the crew laughing about something out on the deck, reminding Miguel that he had to do this quickly, or he’d be caught. With one final last-ditch effort to get the kid to believe he was on his side, he reached out to press the palm of his large hand to the boy's dark chest, eyes sincere and pleading.

“Trust,” he said. Miguel watched as the boy looked down at the hand on his chest before hesitantly mimicking the touch by placing his wet hand on Miguel's overalls. Miguel nodded, a small smile tugging at his lips. 

It had taken a bit of struggling but he managed to get the boy into the garbage bag, quick to reassure him when his eyes widened and he whined a panicked little sound as Miguel moved to tie the bag shut.

“I promise it will only be for a minute,” he told him. The kid was panicking, of course he was, he had no idea what was happening. But Miguel needed him to trust him for this to work. 

Less than a minute later, Miguel was carrying out the final black garbage bag over his shoulder. He somehow instructed the kid to curl into a ball as much as possible so that it wouldn’t be blatantly obvious that a person was in the bag instead of trash.

He kept his face passive as he passed the other fishermen, gaze straight ahead of him and pace slow so as to not look suspicious if he just hightailed it out of there. He felt the kid shift just slightly in the bag and felt his heart stutter, hoping no one had seen the movement. To his luck, nobody had been watching.

He jumped down onto the dock and began making his way to his truck. He gently heaved the kid over his shoulder and set him down in the bed of the truck alongside the other bags of garbage. He made sure to tear a hole in the bag so that the kid could breathe better, meeting brown eyes that peeked out at him. Miguel held a finger up to his lips in a shushing gesture before he was moving around to get into the driver's seat.

He started the truck, no doubt startling the merboy if the jolt that he spotted in his rearview mirror told him anything. He pulled out of the parking lot and began driving in the direction of his home. 

As the dock disappeared from his sight, his thundering heart calmed beneath his chest as he sighed a breath of relief, slumping in his seat as he dragged a hand down his face. He’d just smuggled a merboy out of being enslaved for the rest of his life. This was definitely going to bite him in the ass in the future.

He continuously glanced in his rearview mirror as he drove, watching to make sure the kid didn’t throw himself out of the truck in an attempt to escape. But Miguel thinks that the kid realizes that he only wants to help him, otherwise, he wouldn’t have so easily trusted him. Miguel was probably the only person who didn’t poke and gawk at him as soon as he landed on the ship, and the kid recognized that.

Luckily, Miguel's cabin was secluded from the others. He drove down the dirt pathway, weaving in and out of the forest trees. His cabin was hidden from nosy neighbors, surrounded by trees and nature, his only neighbors being the deer that curiously passed by ever so often. And behind his house just a bit further, was his dock that stretched out a few feet into the ocean where he often sat during the mornings, pen hovering uselessly above a piece of paper until the sun rose and he retreated back into his cabin to start his day.

He pulled up into the driveway of his cabin, the truck slowing to a stop. He removed the keys from the ignition and pocketed them before getting out. He rounded it until he was standing at the bed of the truck. He reached down to the bag that he knew the boy was in and he tore into it, opening it completely.

He felt a little guilty as the boy gasped once he was freed from the bag. He knew that breathing in that thing was probably a struggle, but it was the only way he wouldn’t have been spotted. He noted that the kid's skin was way too dry and that he should probably get him into some water sooner than later.

“I’m gonna carry you, okay?” he warned him, holding his arms out to show what he meant. Yet again, those big eyes stared at him, lips remaining shut, not a single word leaving them to acknowledge him except for low clicking noises that Miguel figured were his way of communicating.

Miguel took that as a sign that it was okay for him to pick him up so he cautiously moved forward until he was scooping him up into his arms. The boy winced as his tail was jostled slightly but he still moved his arms to wrap them around his neck.

Miguel was quick to carry him into the cabin, nudging the door open with his boot and making a beeline to his washroom. The tub was about the same size as the one in the Captain's cabin. It wasn’t salt water, but this was only a temporary spot for the kid to stay until he sorted something else out.

He set the kid in the tub and wedged the plug into the drain before twisting the knob and beginning to fill the tub with water. Miles startled slightly as the water hit him but he was quick to relax and let it soak his tail, washing the crusted blood away, which reminded Miguel of his injury that still needed to be bandaged.

“Uh, stay here.” he said before wincing because where else could the kid go? He stood up and rushed out to his kitchen, opening the cabinet under the sink to retrieve the first aid kit that he kept stored there.

He carried the kit back into the bathroom where the boy was busy trying to hold himself upright in the slippery tub. Miguel walked over and knelt down next to the tub, placing the kit on the closed lid of the toilet before opening it up to display the contents. 

He pulled out a roll of gauze and figured that would have to do since nothing else would stick when it’s constantly in the water. He felt the boy's eyes on him as he pulled out the needed supplies, curiously watching him.

He finished picking out what he needed to disinfect and bandage the wound, dropping the supplies into his lap as he turned to the boy. He picked up the packet of antiseptic wipes and pulled one out, unfolding it. He reached out to turn off the water and met the boy's eyes, holding up the antiseptic wipe.

“I need to clean your wound,” he told him, gesturing to the sluggishly bleeding puncture near the end of his tail. The kid's eyes followed where he gestured and he seemed to realize what Miguel was asking as he hesitantly lifted his tail over the ledge of the tub, dripping water onto his lap.

Miguel let his lips pull upward in a slight smile before he reached out to gently dab at the wound with the wipe, pausing only when the sting would make the kid jolt, tensing for a moment before relaxing and allowing Miguel to keep cleaning the blood.

Once he finished disinfecting it, he unrolled the gauze and began to wrap it around the tail, making sure to wrap three layers so that it wouldn’t completely bleed through. Once he finished wrapping it, he used the scissors to cut it, tucking the end so that the bandage would stay in place.

As he cleaned up the supplies, he watched as the kid gingerly touched the bandages, awe evident on his face. Miguel did a double-take as the kid began pulling at the end of the bandage that was tucked. He quickly but gently reached out to grab his wrist, stopping him.

“Don’t touch, okay?” he told him gently. He was slightly shocked at the little nod he got in return. He really questioned whether or not the kid could actually understand him or if he was just playing dumb.

“Okay… good. Uhm– for now you’ll stay in here until I figure something else out. I have a small pool in the backyard that you could stay in but I would have to switch out the water for saltwater since it's chlorine.” he said, more to himself as he thought of how he was gonna do it. He had a bunch of barrels stored under the deck that he could use to transport the water from the ocean to the pool.

He nodded, deciding that's what he would do. He figured he should start now instead of making the kid suffer in a cramped bathtub for the night. He pushed himself to stand up, closing the kit and grabbing it off of the toilet lid.

Just as he was about to walk out to start his task of refilling the pool with salt water, he paused in the doorway as he looked back at the kid. He would probably get bored while he’s out doing this and do something stupid like try to drag himself out of the tub.

“Give me a minute,” he muttered before he was leaving the bathroom and making his way down the hallway that he hadn’t dared walk down since he lost her. He paused outside of the pink-painted door, hand hovering over the doorknob.

He inhaled deeply before forcing himself to open the door that had remained shut for months now. He was hit with an overwhelming wave of sadness as he stepped into Gabriella's bedroom, her room completely untouched from the last time she was in it. Her bed remained unmade despite him constantly telling her to make it to start her days, her stuffed animals sat on the shelves, missing their best friend deeply.

A soccer ball lay in the middle of the room surrounded by other toys, one of the walls scuffed from where she would repeatedly kick it at. Sometimes when it was raining, Miguel and she would play soccer in her room instead, practicing her goals until the paint was being tainted by the ball repeatedly hitting it.

One of Miguel's handwritten stories lay on her bed where he had last left it while reading to her. The pink-painted walls and bright bed sheets seemed so much duller without Gabriella in the room to make them bright and Miguel was reminded all over again why he refused to step foot in here.

Gabriella would’ve loved to meet the merboy. She always asked him about Mermaids, asking if he ever spotted any whenever he’d leave for work. He would always lie and tell her that he saw hundreds, that they would swim alongside the ship in a beautiful dance of colorful tails weaving in and out of each other.

She always begged him to take her on a trip one time, but he would always make the excuse that it was too dangerous for a little girl. But promised that when she gets older, he would take her, selfishly knowing that she wouldn’t get the chance to grow older with her sickness.

But she believed him, just like she believed him when he told her she would be okay the night before she passed.

Miguel hadn’t realized he’d been frozen in place in the doorway until he was blinking and felt wetness on his cheeks. He stubbornly wiped away the tears that managed to escape and trudged into the room over to the messy bed.

He reached down and picked up the teddy bear that had been gifted to Gabriella at the time of her birth. He gently held the old withered teddy bear in his large hands. He never noticed how big it was in Gabriella’s little hands until he saw how dwarfed it was in his own. He glanced over the room one last time before he was turning to leave, closing the door gently behind him.

He walked back to the bathroom where the boy quickly yanked his hand away from where he had been picking at the bandage again, eyes wide and guilty as he looked up at Miguel. Miguel huffed a small laugh and crouched down beside the tub, holding out the teddy bear.

“This is Mr. Snuggles, he can be your friend while I’m gone. Don’t worry about getting him wet, he probably needs a bath anyways,” he told him, holding out the bear and watching as tentative webbed fingers reached out to touch the soft fur, the kids' eyes bright with wonder. He allowed him to take the bear from him. He knew that Gabriella wouldn’t want Mr. Snuggles to go without a friend, so this boy could be his new friend now that she isn’t there anymore.

He watched with a soft smile as the kid observed the bear’s face with wonder, eyes big and full of innocence as his fingers pet over the soft aged fur. Without thinking, Miguel reached out a hand and ruffled the kids dried curls as he stood up, not noticing the smile that pulled at the kids lips at the gesture.

“I’ll be back. Mr. Snuggles will keep you company while I’m gone,” he told him before he stepped out of the bathroom.

Miguel worked as quickly as possible, it was coming up on dinner time already and he wasn't sure when the last time the kid ate was. He should make them food but he has no idea what Merfolk eat, other fish probably, but what kind?

He unscrewed the drain to the pool that sat on the grass in his backyard, the water drained from it, creating one large puddle as it spilled across the grass, almost succeeding in making Miguel slip. He pulled the barrels out from under the deck and loaded them into the back of his truck before driving down to the dock.

He still hadn’t changed from his work overalls and boots which benefited him as he trudged into the water with a barrel, filling it up before bringing it back over to the truck and setting it down in the bed, before grabbing another barrel to do the same thing all over again. After about fifteen minutes, he had eight barrels full of salt water and he was driving back up the path to his house.

He carried each barrel from the bed of his truck over to the pool, screwing the drain shut once it was fully empty. He poured each barrel into the pool until it was half full. He sighed and loaded the barrels into the truck once again before driving back down to the water.

Half an hour later, the pool was finally filled to the brim and ready for a merboy to live in it for the next however weeks it takes before his tail is healed and he can go home.

He stepped through the back door and kicked off his boots before making his way to the bathroom where he hoped the kid hadn’t tried escaping from.

But as he walked in, he was met with the sight of the merboy hugging the teddy bear to his chest while he slept in the tub, tail curled up against his body and face half submerged in the water with how he was laying on his side, Mr. Snuggles completely submerged in the water. 

Miguel's chest warmed at the sight. And he almost didn’t want to wake him, but he knew that his body would only ache once he woke up. Miguel walked over to him and crouched down next to the tub, hesitantly reaching out a hand to wake the kid up.

He shook his shoulder gently and warm brown eyes were fluttering open, disoriented as he looked around the unfamiliar space before his eyes landed on Miguel and instantly relaxed at the familiar face.

“The pool is ready, I’m gonna move you,” he told him. The kid looked down at the soaked Mr. Snuggles and with a sad frown, slowly held him out for Miguel to take. Miguel's brows pinched together as he shook his head, pushing the bear back to his chest.

“He’s your friend now,” he told him before reaching out to press his hand to the bear's head. “Friend,” he repeated and watched the cogs turn in the kid's head before he hugged the bear back to his chest. 

Miguel nodded and then moved to scoop the kid into his arms, making sure to be gentle with his tail as he lifted him from the tub, absolutely soaking the tiles as the water dripped off of him. He’d have a lot of cleaning to do by the end of this.

He carried him out to the backyard, walking down the steps until he was standing in front of the pool. The kid spotted the larger body of water and trilled a happy sound that Miguel had never heard him make before as he lunged for it. Miguel let him leap from his arms to dive into the water.

He watched in fascination as the kid swam around the perimeter of the pool walls, he was slightly uncoordinated with his injured tail, but other than that, he looked happier than ever to finally be able to swim freely again, even if it wasn’t quite the ocean.

When his head popped back up to the surface, he had a big grin on his face and Miguel couldn’t help but notice how right it looked on him. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could handle seeing his eyes so sad all of the time, as a father, it was bordering unbearable.

The entire time that the kid had swam, Mr. Snuggles stayed clutched in his hand, not once leaving and Miguel knew then that Gabriella would be happy to know Mr. Snuggles was being loved again.

“Happy?” he smiled softly and got clicking sounds in return that sounded pretty damn happy. 

“Okay, kid. How about I go make us some grub, yeah? You must be hungry?” he said, but of course he wasn’t expecting a response. He could make some tuna sandwiches and see if the kid would like it. 

“Uh, how do I do this…” Miguel muttered to himself in thought before he looked at the kid again. “I–” he pointed to himself. “Am going to go make–” he made a stirring motion with his hands, looking like a proper idiot. “Food. Hungry?” He finished by rubbing his stomach in a gesture to suggest hunger.

The kid watched each gesture with curious eyes, head tilted to the side like a damn puppy as he tried to make out what the hell Miguel was saying. But at the stomach-rubbing gesture, his head perked up and he nodded quickly.

“Okay, good. I’ll be back,” he told him, turning to head back into the house. He looked over his shoulder as he stepped into the house to see the kid holding Mr. Snuggles up on the ledge of the pool, a goofy smile pulling at his lips and revealing those little fangs.

Miguel quickly put together a dozen sandwiches, not quite sure how much growing merboys ate so he figured making too many would be better than not enough. He finished putting together the last sandwich, cutting it diagonally just the way Gabriella had liked it.

He washed his hands before he was carrying the plate out to the backyard, stepping out to see the kid floating on his back, Mr. Snuggles sitting up on his stomach as he played with him.

“I’ve got food kid!” he called out and the kid lifted his head to look at him, a smile pulling at his lips as soon as he saw the plate of foreign food. He swam over to the edge of the pool to meet with Miguel, sitting Mr. Snuggles on the ledge.

Miguel dragged a chair over so that he could eat with him, setting it up a foot away before he sat down on it, the plate of sandwiches sitting on his lap. He picked one up and handed it over to the kid, letting him smell it suspiciously before his wet hands were reaching up for it, tentatively taking it from him.

“Aye Dios, please tell me you aren’t as picky as she was.” Miguel sighed dramatically as he watched the kid pull open the sandwich to see what was inside. It was almost as if the kid understood him as he shot a glare his way and took a bite of the sandwich.

Miguel watched as he chewed, gauging his reaction to see whether or not he’d like it. He smirked in a small victory as the kid took another eager bite before he was lifting his own sandwich from the plate and taking a bite. 

The sun lowered behind the trees as they ate, slowly casting the forest into darkness the longer they sat out there. The kid ate more than he did, obviously hungry after not eating for who knows how long. By the time the plate was completely empty, the forest was cast in a warm orange light as the sunset.

Miguel had his chin resting on his hand, his elbow propped up on the edge of the pool while he watched the kid swim around lazily, making different clicking noises and whistles as he seemingly spoke to Mr. Snuggles.

Through the trees leading down to the water, he could see the top of the sun beginning to disappear below the horizon. He was reminded then how much he ached for a full night of rest and as he looked down at the kid, he noticed the yawn that he tried to stifle. That makes two of them.

“We should get some sleep, kid.” he said suddenly, drawing the kids attention. He realized something then.

“I guess I should probably tell you my name, huh.” he said. The kid swam over then, floating just a foot away from the ledge that Miguel was leaning against. Miguel felt as if those big eyes could see straight through him as they waited for him to speak.

“My name is Miguel,” he told him, making sure to press a hand to his chest as he said his name in slow pronunciation. “Miguel. Can you say that?” Miguel said, waiting patiently but he knew realistically that he wouldn’t be getting anything back other than a series of clicks.

“That’s okay. Can you… tell me your name?” he urged gently. He waited a moment longer but the kid didn’t look like he was going to speak anytime soon. But that's okay, it was probably better that way. Harder to get attached if you can’t get to know each other.

“That’s okay. Get some sleep, okay?” he said, standing from his chair and popping his knees as he did. He walked up to the deck, reaching out to flick on the lights so that the kid wouldn’t be left in complete darkness in an unfamiliar place. 

But just as he was about to walk through the door, his heart jumped in his chest at the unexpected sound of a soft voice calling out from the pool.

“Miles,” the kid said, his voice working to pronounce the name in a way that Miguel would be able to understand clearly. Miguel paused at the door, turning to look over his shoulder, masking the surprise he felt as he realized that, yes, the kid could talk, and yes, he could apparently understand him to some extent.

But as he looked back, he couldn’t spot the kid. Miguel huffed a small laugh. Of course the kid would reveal that he can speak just to instantly hide and say nothing more right after. Miguel shook his head in amusement.

“Goodnight, Miles,” he said anyway.

“I’m never gonna be able to change these bandages if you keep moving, kid.” Miguel grunted as he avoided yet another flick of Miles’ tail. He was standing at the edge of the pool, having instructed Miles to get his tail over the ledge so he could change the bandages.

He quickly learned that the kid has quite the personality. Was every thirteen-year-old this sassy? Because Gabriella was the exact same way whenever Miguel would have to change her bandages after she scraped her knee playing outside.

He was almost done wrapping the final bit of the bandages but it was as if Miles was purposely being difficult just to get a rise out of him. He finally finished the last wrap and tucked the edge of the bandage to finish it off. 

In the next second Miles was swimming around once again and Miguel glared at him with a huff, arms crossed over his chest, unimpressed even as the kid grinned at him from the other end of the pool.

“I’m gonna go make us a snack,” he grumbled, uncrossing his arms as he turned on his heel to head back in. He was enjoying watching Miles’ reactions to human food. This morning, he’d given him a bowl of cereal and had to teach him how to use a spoon properly. Most of the food ended up in the pool anyways, Miles not quite having figured out how to transfer the spoon from the bowl to his mouth without tipping it. Nonetheless, he grabbed the fallen cereal out from the water with his hand and ate it anyways, eyes lighting up at the flavor.

Eventually, he gave up with the spoon and resorted to using his hands which Miguel made a funny face at, but he didn’t comment on it. If the kid was happy eating with his hands, then so be it, Miguel wasn’t gonna tell him what to do.

He opened the pantry and stared at the variety of snacks that he could choose from. His eyes wandered until finally, they landed on the box of popcorn stored near the back of the middle shelf. 

He settled on that and grabbed a package out of the box, working to tear the plastic wrap open with his teeth as he closed the pantry with his foot, turning to make his way over to the microwave. He crushed the butter down in the bag before opening the flaps and setting it down inside the microwave, setting the time for two and a half minutes and pressing start.

He wandered back over to the backyard door, arms crossed over his chest as he heard the microwave heat up in the kitchen. He watched as Miles drifted around on the surface of the water, floating on his back and tossing Mr. Snuggles up in the air, catching him once he’d fall back down. Not quite used to the new gravity, he was smacked a few times in the face by the stuffed bear and Miguel would have to stifle a laugh.

The microwave beeping pulled Miguel's eyes away from Miles and he ventured back into the kitchen, pulling open the door and gingerly pulling out the hot bag of popped popcorn. He pulled it open and was hit with a wave of heat that escaped the bag before setting it down on the counter to grab a bowl to pour it in.

He grabbed one of the large blue bowls he kept in a cabinet and poured the bag's contents into it, grabbing a piece that missed the bowl and popping it into his mouth.

He grabbed the bowl and carried it back out into the backyard. Miles immediately perked up at the sound of the door closing behind him and he quickly swam over to the ledge of the pool, eager to try the next food Miguel had to offer.

“Fast,” the boy said and Miguel nodded. He wasn’t used to hearing the kid speak. He could hear the thick accent that coated the few words that he spoke, it obviously wasn’t an easy language for him to speak and yet he was doing it anyway so that he could communicate with Miguel.

“Yes, this is a quick and easy snack to make,” he said as he sat down in his chair and grabbed a handful of the popcorn before extending his arm to offer the bowl to the kid.

Miles eagerly reached out a dripping wet hand, grabbing a handful just as Miguel had and the older man cringed as his wet hand dripped water into the bowl, creating one large bowl of soggy popcorn.

“Ok-ayy, that’s– that’s great…” Miguel cringed. Miles was unaware of what he did and brought the handful back to his chest, holding it just out of reach of the water. He picked a piece out and popped it into his mouth, biting down and humming pleasantly at the flavor.

“Yummy?” Miguel questioned. Miles nodded.

“Yu-mmy.” he repeated the foreign word and Miguel smiled softly at the oh-so-young voice.

“So, have you been able to understand me this whole time?” Miguel questioned, genuinely curious as he popped another soggy popcorn into his mouth, lacking its crunch as he bit down. Miles made a so-so gesture with his free hand and Miguel raised a brow.

“So-so?” he repeated and Miles nodded, humming a ‘Mm-hm’ as he munched on his handful of popcorn. He swallowed before opening his mouth to speak.

“Learning,” he said, pressing a palm to his chest. Miguel nodded in understanding. The kid probably didn’t know more than the basics of human language. Miguel wondered if they taught that in fish… school? That would be a question for another day.

“I can teach you while you're here if you’d like?” Miguel offered and Miles beamed, nodding excitedly. Miguel figured there was nothing else they could really do since Miles was bed rest, well– pool rest. And until his tail was completely healed, he would be staying with Miguel. He’s not about to toss the kid right back into the ocean with an injured tail and no way to defend himself against predators.

Miguel was pulled from his thoughts when a piece of popcorn hit him dead center on the forehead. He blinked and narrowed his eyes accusingly at the attacker who was grinning as he backed away, only his eyes peeking above the water.

Miguel grabbed a piece of popcorn from the bowl and tossed it at him, severely miscalculating but it didn’t go to waste as the kid lunged up and caught it from the air in his mouth. Miguel raised a brow and grabbed another piece, tossing it up in the air and watching as Miles moved to catch it in his mouth.

It turned into a competition between the two of them to see how many they could catch in a row. Miguel wasn’t given a very good chance at winning considering the kid's aim was horrible and Miguel was basically doing all the work of making sure the piece made it into his mouth.

They did this until the bowl was empty. Miguel retreated back into the house to grab the newspaper for today and sat beside the pool reading it while Miles entertained himself, swimming laps and talking to Mr. Snuggles in his own language that consisted of clicks and whines.

He noticed when Miles grew bored of that and drifted to the other end of the pool, eyes longingly watching the ocean out in the distance through the trees. Miguel’s stomach turned with guilt. He knew he was keeping the kid from going home, but he was only doing it so that he would have a chance to make it back alive.

“Miles?” he called out gently. The boy lifted his head off of where he had his chin resting on the ledge of the pool, looking over his shoulder at Miguel. “You okay?” Miguel asked. Miles nodded, but his eyes looked homesick as they drifted back to the ocean.

“...home?” Miles asked hesitantly, as if afraid he would get in trouble for uttering the word. Miguel sighed and stood up from his chair, folding the newspaper and setting it down on the seat before he walked over to the end of the pool where Miles was, standing next to him as they both gazed out at the ocean in the distance.

“You can go home soon, kid. I won’t keep you here forever, just until your tail is better, okay? I don’t want to risk sending you out there while you’re injured. I assume there are enemies of merfolk out in the ocean, aren’t there?” he explained gently. 

“Sharks,” Miles nodded, cringing at the word. Obviously, he or someone he knows has had some unpleasant encounters with sharks. Yet another question for another day.

“Exactly, I don’t want you to get hurt. That’s why you’re staying here until you get better,” he explained, “But I promise that I will get you home. You have my word, kid.” Miguel told him, eyes genuine as those doe eyes looked up to meet his, so full of hope.

“Promise?” he repeated, eyes hard as they pinned Miguel, searching his eyes as if trying to snuff out a lie, trying to spot any false sincerity behind his words. Miguel smiled, the kid was a fighter, he could tell. Miguel moved to stand in front of him, holding up his pinky finger and huffing a gentle laugh at the confusion that crossed the teenager's face as he eyed the finger.

“This is a pinky promise. They’re unbreakable. Someone very special to me taught me that and whenever I made a pinky promise to her, I never broke it, she would even tell you that herself if she could.” he explained and Miles' eyes were soft and attentive as he listened. He watched as Miguel reached down and grabbed his wrist, bringing it up next to his extended pinky and adjusting his hand until he was wrapping his pinky around Miles’ webbed pinky finger tightly.

“I’ll get you home, kid. I promise .” he told him, voice hard with certainty, that he would uphold the promise. Miles searched his eyes, and Miguel could tell in the way that they softened just slightly and the way that his pinky gripped his a little tighter, that he was beginning to believe him.

The evening crept up on them and Miguel was collecting their empty bowls that had contained his mom's homemade soup recipe that he had decided to make for dinner. He told Miles that he would be back out in a second as he retreated back into the house with the bowls.

He walked over to the sink and set the bowls down in it, turning on the tap and rinsing them out as he bit back a yawn. Entertaining a merkid proved to be pretty exhausting.

But as he was washing the bowls, his brows furrowed as he heard the dull thud of what sounded like car doors slamming shut. He quickly turned off the tap and strained his ears to see if he could hear anything else. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and dread made Miguel's heart sink like a rock into his stomach.

He was just about to run into the backyard and pull the pool cover over Miles to keep him hidden from whoever decided to drop by but was quick to pause once he heard the voice calling out on the other side of the door.

“Let us in, big guy! We haven’t seen ya in forever!” shouted the familiar voice of one, Peter B. Parker. Miguel felt the adrenaline leave his body in one relieved breath but not fully, because he still had a merkid he was hiding in his backyard, and just because Peter wasn’t a threat to that, didn’t mean he was about to go and tell him all about it.

“We know you’re in there, Miguel.” came a more feminine voice this time, annoyed and impatient. Jess. Miguel scrambled to think of something, anything to make sure that they don’t come in and snoop. He debated ignoring them until they went away, he could make the excuse that he had been sleeping and didn’t hear them, but then he would risk them venturing around the house and into the backyard because apparently, they don’t take no for an answer.

Another knock came and Miguel groaned in frustration, gritting his teeth and dragging a hand down his face as he stubbornly made his way to the front door. He dragged in a breath, preparing himself before he was opening the door enough for it to hide the rest of the house from view without seeming too suspicious.

“Miguel!” Peter grinned and Miguel glanced down at his chest to see Mayday beaming the same grin back at him, shrieking in delight. Jess stood off to his side, arms crossed over her chest and resting on her rounded belly.

“What are you guys doing here?” Miguel asked in a way of greeting and Peter rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“We missed ya, buddy! We decided we would surprise ya with a visit and catch up a little, have a beer, y’know the usual.”

“It was his idea, not mine. I’m just here because I need to get my steps in to get this baby outta me,” Jess piped in. Miguel bit the inside of his cheek as he flashed a strained smile.

“That’s great, I appreciate the visit, I really do– but I’m just a little busy right now. How about we reschedule for– let's say… next week?” He suggested, fingers digging into the door, eager to close it.

“Miguel… What are you hiding? You’re never busy!” Peter grinned with a glint of mischief in his eyes as he suddenly pushed forward, making Miguel stumble back as he barged right in. Miguel scrambled to follow after him as he ventured further into the house, rambling about something Miguel couldn’t be bothered to listen to as he tried to fight the panic gripping his heart as he thought about Miles floating around in the pool, oblivious to the turmoil happening inside the house.

“That– that’s great, but you should probably get going. The house is a mess, I haven’t had the chance to clean up since I got back–” Miguel stumbled over his words as he quickly followed Peter into the kitchen, planting himself in front of the door so that he wouldn’t be able to glance outside and see Miles.

“Pfft, since when do you think I care about a mess, maybe Jess will but she can leave if she wants to. I, on the other hand, am fine right where I am, and– why are you standing there? Come sit! We gotta catch up on everything. Did I tell you that Mayday is starting to crawl? you have to see it, she’s just so adorable–” Peter ranted as he walked over to the fridge to grab a beer. 

Miguel was nodding along, pretending to be listening as he kept himself firmly planted in front of the door. But when he glanced over to the living room to see Jess moving over to the window, hands reaching out to pull open the blinds after mumbling about him being a damn vampire, sitting in the dark like this all day, Miguel's eyes were widening in panic, knowing full well that she would see Miles if she opened the curtains.

He rushed over to her, pulling the curtains shut quickly a second after she opened them.

“I get headaches, that’s why I keep them shut,” he lied, trying to play it off as he grabbed Jess’s shoulders and gently steered her away from the curtains even as she eyed him suspiciously.

“Uh, Miguel?” he heard suddenly and he looked over to see Peter standing in front of the door, peering out into the backyard with his brows furrowed, squinting his eyes as if trying to make out what he was seeing. Miguel felt his blood run cold and he knew right then and there that the gig was up.

“Why… is there a kid in your pool?” he questioned dumbly before he was reaching out and pulling the door open to investigate. Miguel quickly let go of Jess to chase after him.

“Wait, don’t go out there, he’s afraid of people! Peter–” he protested as he chased after the man, Jess hot on his heels, curiosity winning her over.

Miguel ran out just in time for Miles to spot Peter, his eyes widening as he spotted the new face. He quickly dove under the water, his tail flicking out as he pushed himself to the bottom of the pool, effectively making Peter stop mid-step to process what he just saw.

“Miguel, why did the kid have a tail?” Peter questioned, eyes wide. Miguel ignored him in favor of getting Miles to come back out of the little protective ball he’d curled into at the bottom of the pool.

“I told you that he’s afraid of other people,” he sighed as he walked over to the pool, peering over the ledge to spot Miles hugging Mr. Snuggles to his chest as he peered up, brown eyes big with fear.

“You’re okay, Miles. They’re friends. Can you come back up for me and I can introduce you to them?” he urged gently, knowing the kid could hear him under the water. He waited patiently as the kid hesitantly uncurled from his protective ball and slowly drifted back up to the surface, keeping a considerable distance between himself and the ledge. Miguel smiled gently and turned to face Jess and Peter who stood on the deck, faces slack with shock as they stared at Miles, only succeeding in making the kid even more uncomfortable.

“Peter, Jess, this is Miles,” he turned to Miles, “Miles, this is Peter and Jess, and Mayday, Peter’s daughter,” he added quickly and heard Mayday blow a raspberry with a happy squeal, almost as if she knew she was being mentioned.

“Care to explain what the hell is going on?” Jess finally spoke up since Peter seemed incapable of doing that at the moment. For a man who never shuts up, the silence coming from him was louder than he’s ever been. 

“I think it’s quite easy to figure out for yourself, isn’t it?” Miguel raised a brow and Jess leveled him with a look. 

“Yeah, we can clearly see that you have a merfolk in your pool, but that doesn’t explain why the hell you have a merfolk in your pool, so start talkin’.” She said, crossing her arms over her chest expectantly.

“We caught him in one of our nets. Captain wanted to sell him to the aquarium but I couldn’t let them do that, so I smuggled him off of the boat and back here when we docked,” he explained simply. Peter finally found it in him to walk forward, cautiously approaching the pool. Miles was wary as he got closer, backing further away but not retreating back under the water.

“They’re gonna have your head for that and you know it,” Jess sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“What did you expect me to do? Let them sell some innocent child and have him locked away in an enclosure for the rest of his life? You couldn’t have asked me to just turn my back and allow that to happen. He’s a child, Jess. Gabriella's age.” he argued, bristling defensively.

“You’re right, shit, you’re right but this is crazy, Miguel. Why haven’t you released him back into the ocean so he can go home? I know that losing Gabriella was hard but–”

“Don’t,” Miguel hissed, stopping her before she could finish that sentence. He cursed under his breath as he looked over his shoulder to see that Miles was listening in on the conversation. He sighed and stepped away, walking back over to Jess and trusting that Peter won’t do anything to scare Miles away.

 “That isn’t what this is, Jess. I know that she’s gone, I’m not replacing her. But he can’t go back to the ocean yet, his tail is injured. I’m making sure he has a full recovery before releasing him. He won’t survive in his current condition. Merfolk use their tails to defend themselves and he can’t do that right now.” he spoke in a hushed voice so that Miles wouldn’t be able to hear. He watched as Peter stood at the ledge now and Miles’ attention was pulled away from Miguel as he eyed Peter and Mayday cautiously.

“You do know the risks that you’re taking by doing this, right? You can’t get attached.” She stressed, trying to convey the significance of that. 

“I know,” he breathed, fully aware of the risks that come with getting attached to the kid and aware of how bad that is. In the end, it’ll only feel like losing another kid when he has to let him go. “Yeah, I know…”

“But you did the right thing,” Jess sighed, eyes soft as she looked over Miguel's shoulder, Miguel turned to see that Miles had quickly warmed up to Peter after deeming him not a threat and he was grinning as he dove down to retrieve a rock that Peter had given Mayday to toss into the pool. “He seems like a sweet kid. He deserves to be in the oceans, not in the hands of humanity,” she said. 

“But you better hope you don’t have to pay for this later,” she sighed and Miguel nodded, he was fully aware of the risks he took by doing what he did, and yet he would do it all over again.

“Jess! You gotta come see this kid! He’s amazing!” Peter called out to them and Miguel saw Miles pop up to the surface and gently hand the rock back over to Mayday's little hands so that she could toss it back in again.

“I see plenty enough from here,” she called back out with an amused smirk and Peter rolled his eyes before returning his attention back onto Miles, seeming just as giddy as Mayday who screeched in glee as Miles’ tail broke the surface when he dove down to get the rock once again.

“So, Mermaids exist, huh.” She said and Miguel huffed a laugh.

“Merboys, at least. He hasn’t talked about any others so far, and if there are others then it's best that’s kept a secret. The last thing they need are greedy humans trying to invade their homes and taking them,” Miguel said and Jess hummed in agreement before backtracking.

“Wait, he talks?” she repeated in disbelief.

“Barely, but somehow he doesn’t have to. All I have to do is look at his face and somehow I just know. He’s got these eyes that just… speak for him, you know?” Miguel explained, eyes lingering on Miles as he spoke.

“No no, I know. Just like how your eyebags tell me that you need to be sleeping more,” she accused and Miguel gave her an unimpressed look as he rolled his eyes.

“Ha, ha, you’re funny.” he deadpanned. 

“I get that a lot,”

The sun was beginning to tuck below the horizon, casting the forest in a warm light that signified the night creeping closer. Miguel watched as Miles rubbed his eye tiredly as he waited for Mayday to toss the rock back into the water for him to retrieve. Damn, this kid and his endless energy despite obviously being tired.

“Alright, let’s get going, Peter. We can come back again tomorrow,” Jess called out, reading Miguel's mind. Peter’s face fell like a child being told it was time to leave the park to go home.

“What?! Just a couple of more minutes!” he argued and Jess glared at him.

“I don’t think MJ will be very happy if you miss Mayday's bedtime again,” she countered and that was enough for Peter to slump in defeat and say goodbye to Miles, Mayday opening and closing her hand in her own way of waving goodbye to which Miles returned with a small smile.

Peter grumbled under his breath as he walked past them, heading into the house. Miguel turned to Miles and held up a finger to say that he’ll only be a minute before following Jess into the house so that he could walk them out.

“So I should expect to see you two tomorrow then?” Miguel said once they were standing on the front porch. 

“You can’t just reveal that you’ve got a literal merboy chilling in your pool and not expect to see us tomorrow.” Peter rolled his eyes and Miguel smirked in amusement as he watched the two of them retreat to Peter’s car, the older man buckling Mayday into her car seat as Jess got into the passenger seat.

He waved goodbye as they drove back down the path, honking the horn in their way of saying goodbye as they left. Miguel released a breath, suddenly realizing how tired he was. Two days down, how many does he have left with Miles? His tail already seems to be getting better. He wondered if their healing factors were faster than humans.

Miguel walked back into the house, locking the door shut behind him before he made his way through the house. He stepped back out into the backyard and did his routine of cleaning up and saying goodnight to Miles who curled up on the bottom of the pool, Mr. Snuggles secure in his arms.

Miguel turned on the backyard light and closed the door behind him to retreat to his room for a much-needed night of sleep.

Just like Peter had promised, both he and Jess showed up the next day to see Miles. And the next day. And the day after the next day. Miguel had left his front door unlocked at this point, knowing full well that Peter and Jess would be showing up every day to ‘hang out’, aka steal his food and hang out with Miles.

Jess would hang out with Miguel at least, Peter and Mayday would stay glued to the poolside, playing fetch with Miles who seemed to enjoy the activity enough to forget to take a breather sometimes.

Today was the first day that the others had called to let Miguel know they wouldn’t be stopping by, both busy with their own things. Miguel felt selfish for being a little grateful that he would finally have a day with Miles without anybody else butting in. 

He enjoyed their quiet days, but he was also aware of how boring they could become, especially for Miles who was restricted to the pool only.

“So you like Jess, Peter, and Mayday?” Miguel hummed the question as he walked up to the pool, handing over the bowl of chocolate ice cream. Ice cream was Miles’ favorite so far, the first time Miguel had introduced it to him, his eyes had gone big and he’d licked his lips before reaching out an eager hand for another spoonful.

It had taken him experiencing brain freeze for the first time to finally get him to slow down and savor the ice cream instead of practically inhaling it.

“Mm-hm!” The kid hummed brightly, eyes shining with delight as he gently took the bowl from Miguels' hands, grabbing the spoon (which he was much better at using now) and scooping up some of the sweet dessert onto it, shoveling it into his mouth eagerly. 

“That’s good. They’re good friends of mine. I imagine you have some friends of your own,” Miguel smiled, sitting down in his chair to begin eating his own bowl, albeit a lot slower than Miles.

Miguel wasn’t oblivious to the way Miles’ bright eyes dulled a little at the mention of ‘friends’. He obviously missed them, whoever they were. Miguel was curious, he’s often reminded that Miles has a whole life that he left behind when he’d been captured, a mother, a father, friends, his home. Despite being a different species, humans and merfolk are alike in so many ways, they just live in two separate worlds.

“Mhm,” Miles nodded and he let his spoon sit in the bowl to hold up three fingers.

“Three friends?” Miguel said.

“Gwen, Pav, Hobie,” he spoke the names quietly, his accent curling around each one. 

“Were they with you when you got caught?” Miguel asked and his heart broke a little when Miles nodded. He can’t imagine the fear his friends must’ve felt, seeing their own friend tangled up in a net and reeling up onto a boat. They have no idea whether or not their friend is alive right now, and he knows that they most likely blame themselves.

Miles seems to realize that he can trust Miguel to know about this part of his life and so he opens his mouth to speak, and Miguel listens.

He listens as Miles tells him about the rules that the elder Merfolk set in place for the Kingdom and how Miles and his friends broke every single one of them despite the warnings and dangers that came along with it. He listened as Miles explained their love to venture the ocean and shipwrecks, how they’re terrified for every second of it, and yet they love it.

He listens as Miles tells him about how they’ve only peeked the surface twice, and how the second time was how Miles got caught. He recalls how scared his friends had looked as they fought to get him out of the net, only to helplessly watch as Miles was brought up to the surface.

And Miles tells him how he’d promised his friends that he would get free.

Of course Miguel didn’t fully understand everything that Miles talked about, there was still a large language barrier between the two of them, but he managed to narrow down the parts that he did understand until he got a general sense of what Miles was telling him. Miguel was working to teach him new English words every single day and Miles was actually pretty good at it when he really focuses and thinks about how to say what he wants to say.

Miguel wishes that he could see Miles in his natural habitat. He sounds so careless, so free and reckless, and spirited and happy. And while he’s not saying that Miles isn’t those things while he’s here, he’s just saying that he can only imagine how much more he thrives in his natural habitat.

“You remind me so much of someone I knew,” Miguel says after Miles stops talking. Miles perked up at that, resting his chin on the ledge, eager to listen, now empty bowl forgotten and floating in the pool behind him. Miguel huffed a laugh before continuing.

“I had a little girl, a daughter. Her name was Gabriella. She was strong, and fierce, and reckless, just like you,” he paused, eyes warm as he thought about her, “but her spirit was bright, and she had a big heart too, just like you. I believe that had she been a merfolk like you, you guys would’ve been friends.” he told Miles, a sad smile tugging at his lips.

Miles wasn’t stupid, and he was painfully aware of Miguel's use of past tense while he spoke about Gabriella. Miles seemed to hesitate for a second as if trying to contemplate where the line would be drawn. Miguel could see the question in his eyes, and the fear of asking said question, so he answered for him.

“She got sick one day, really sick. Doctors didn’t know how to help and it got so bad that one night… she passed away in her sleep.” he tells Miles, eyes now absent of that warmness, an aching sadness replacing it. “There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about her.” 

“M’sorry…” Miles said quietly, brows pinched together in sympathy for the older man.

“It’s okay, kid.” Miguel smiled gently. “Hey… I was thinking about something and I wanted to see what you would think.” He piped up after a minute of comfortable silence between the two of them. Miles perked up slightly, willing to hear what Miguel was thinking.

“I figure that you’re probably pretty bored, having to stay in such a small space for so long. But there's this cool place that Gabriella and I would sometimes go swimming in, if you’d like to come with me and see it?” he offered, a knowing smile pulling at his lips. Miles beamed and nodded quickly.

“Yeah? You wanna go?” More nodding, “Alright, but we have to go now so we have time to get back before dinner.” Miguel said as he stood up from his chair, walking over to the pool to reach down beside Miles and grab the bowl that had been floating atop the water. Miles trilled happily and did a giddy lap around the pool with a flourish of his tail.

Miguel smiled fondly as he turned around to head back into the house so he could drop off the dishes into the sink. He washed his hands, scrubbing off the sticky dried ice cream that had somehow gotten on them, then turned to walk back outside.

He walked over to the pool to see Miles waiting eagerly, if he had legs, Miguel could imagine him bouncing in excitement. Miguel reached out to scoop Miles up and the kid was quick to get the message, pulling himself up into Miguel's arms and instantly wrapping his arms around his neck.

Miguel easily carried Miles the distance through the trees to where he knew his dock was. He was careful to avoid roots sticking out from the ground so that he wouldn’t trip and drop Miles. Miles was looking around at everything he could see, but mostly, his eyes stayed glued onto the approaching water.

Miguel had the passing thought that Miles may try to flee. He could end up jumping out of the boat while they’re traveling to the spot that Miguel had mentioned. Miguel tried not to let this deter him as he continued walking toward the dock. 

The dock came into sight, the old wood was in need of an upgrade that Miguel had been meaning to get to for a long time now but he’d just forgotten. He walked down the dock until he stopped beside his rusty old boat.

Carefully stepping into the boat, Miguel set Miles down in it. To be completely honest, Miguel had been expecting Miles to jump into the water as soon as he was within distance, but to his surprise, Miles curled up in the boat, eyes glued to the water with a sense of longing and yet he didn’t try to jump in.

Miguel let himself breathe a quiet sigh of relief before stepping into the boat and taking a seat behind Miles. He untied the rope and pushed away from the dock, allowing them to drift further away in the water for a moment before he was grabbing the oars and dropping them into the water so he could begin to row.

Miguel watched as Miles never once took his eyes away from the water that stretched out past the horizon, a seemingly endless abyss. Miles reached out and dragged his hand in the water, eyes shining with childish glee as he did. 

It was only ten minutes later that Miguel could finally see the spot that he and Gabriella had discovered. Near the hill that the island's light tower sat atop, was a secluded cave that Miguel and Gabriella had ventured into one day and it quickly became a spot they regularly visited, the beauty of it had never failed to amaze them.

Miguel turned the boat until they were slowly drifting into the cave's mouth. Miles’ eyes were big as he looked around, taking in the purple-whitish crystals that hung from the ceiling and protruded from the ground that wasn’t submerged under the water. The crystals produce a faint glow that keeps the cave lit up during the nights when it becomes too dark.

Vines crawled up the walls of the cave, flowers decorating them in a plethora of colors and scents. The water was calm and nearly transparent, enough that you could faintly see the bottom and the reflections of the water rippled off of the rocks.

Miguel shifted so that he could step into the shallow water as soon as he was about to hit the rocks. He stepped out and grabbed the boat, pulling it up onto the rocks and halfway out of the water to ensure it wouldn’t drift back out of the cave without them.

“We can swim for a little bit but then we gotta get back for supper,” he told Miles as he walked over to him and leaned down to scoop him up and out of the boat. Miles nodded in understanding while Miguel carried him over to the water.

He waded in enough until he knew Miles would be able to swim freely, only then did he lower the kid into the water and let go of him.

In the next second, Miles was darting from his arms and with a mighty flick of his tail, darting around the radius of the cave with a twirl as he dove beneath the surface. Miguel watched with a sense of amazement as Miles spun and flipped and shot up from the surface to dive back down. He knew this still wasn’t Miles' natural habitat, but he thinks that this may be the closest he’ll get to seeing it.

Too lost in thought to realize, Miguel reacted too late when he felt a hand closing around his ankle and yanking him further into the water. He gasped a second before being submerged in the water, luckily avoiding choking on any water as he did.

The hand left his ankle and Miguel was swimming back up to the surface, leveling a glare at Miles once he made it back up. And Miles, for the first time that Miguel has ever heard, giggled.

He laughed and just the sound of it had Miguel's heart warming and any underlying stress completely dissipated from his body just like that. The sound was so childish and pure that Miguel was reminded once again how long it had been since he’d heard that sound and Dios, he had missed it so damn much. Miguel didn’t realize how hard he was smiling until Miles was flipping around and diving back under so he could stretch his… fins?

Miguel allowed himself to drift in the middle of the cave, watching as Miles swam with abandon, showing no signs of wanting to stop anytime soon. He knew that the change from the pool to the cave was like a breath of fresh air for the kid, or water. He couldn’t imagine being restricted to only his bedroom which is pretty much exactly what the pool was like for Miles, only it was completely bare besides Miles himself and Mr. Snuggles.

Miguel floated around on his back, ever so often Miles would swim to the surface and splash him with his tail and Miguel would level him with a look of warning, a playful glint in his eyes that Miles mirrored.

He hasn’t been to this cave since he lost Gabriella. He knew it wouldn’t be the same without her little voice shouting “Cannonball!!!” before creating the smallest splash with her body as she jumped into the water. Miguel would always make the splash out to be way bigger than it had actually been to please her.

It still isn’t easy to be here without her, but Miles made it easier. The kid seemed to have that effect, just like she had.

Miguel had moved to sit on the rocks, his legs gently swaying in the water as he kicked them, watching Miles twirl and glide through the water without taking a break. Miguel knew that he probably shouldn’t let him do that for too long, worried about damaging his tail's healing process.

Suddenly, dark curls were popping up out of the water and big brown eyes followed. Miguel watched as Miles swam over to where he was sitting on the rocks. He had something in his hand and Miguel narrowed his eyes curiously. If the kid was about to plop some kind of sea creature on him…

But then his hand outstretched and his fingers splayed out to reveal a shell about the size of his palm. The shell's pattern was a beautiful swirl of white and purple, lines cutting through it all the way around the circumference of the shell. It was wide at the bottom, rounded and the opening sat there before narrowing to a sharp point at the other end. 

Miguel watched as Miles brought it back to himself, lifting the pointed end to his lips and blowing into it. Suddenly, a sound emitted from it, a long deep horn. Miles pulled his lips away from it and looked back at Miguel, eyes big as he held it out to him again. Miguel realized that he was gifting it to him. Miguel's eyes softened as he reached out, taking it from him.

“Thank you, Miles. It’s beautiful,” He smiled, looking down at the shell in adoration. A conch shell, he’s seen many of them before. Miles beamed at the acceptance of the gift, Miguel figured it was probably a big thing for Merfolk to gift one another.

He watched as Miles surged back into the water to continue using up the last bit of time he has there before they have to head back to the house. When that time finally came, Miguel pushed the boat back into the water and got Miles into it.

As they left the cave, Miguel felt a little lighter, and he knew that Gabriella had been there with them even if he couldn’t see her.

Jess and Peter came over the next day. Peter complained about not getting to spend time with Miles yesterday and used the excuse that Mayday was grumpy all day yesterday because of it.

“Alright, Miles. Take a break, kid. Your tail won’t heal if you use it nonstop.” Miguel called out from where he was sitting around the campfire he’d set up, Jess sitting with him and rolling her sore ankles while they spoke.

Miles was panting, exhausted from the game of fetch he’d been playing for the past hour. He swam over to the ledge, resting his cheek on the rim of the pool to catch his breath. Peter realized the kid needed a break as well and he retreated to the campfire to sit with Miguel and Jess.

“So when does he leave?” Peter asked as he walked over and sat down in his chair, resting his chin on top of Mayday's head. Miguel faltered, every time he was reminded that Miles will have to leave one day, he feels his heart squeeze painfully. 

“His tail is looking better every day, I can’t imagine it being much longer before he’ll be good to go home,” Miguel said, eyes straining from where they were glued to the flames licking the air.

“You think he’ll ever visit?” Peter asked humorlessly, unaware of the inner turmoil Miguel was having at the whole topic of Miles leaving. Don’t get attached Miguel, Solo dolerá al final.

“I doubt it,” Miguel scoffed, shooting Peter a look. “Humans kidnapped him. I don’t think he’ll just overcome that kind of trauma easily. It would make more sense if he never wants to approach the surface again.” Miguel said.

“Shame, I like the kid!” Peter frowned. “But it’s understandable. If I got abducted by fish, I don’t think I’d ever step near the ocean again.” He shivered at the thought and Miguel shook his head with the roll of his eyes.

“That wouldn’t even work, you’d drown.” Jess pointed out, brows pinched together as she gave Peter a look.

“Well– yeah, obviously, I didn’t think of that part. But that’s not the point!” Peter defended, crossing his arms as best as he could over his chest with Mayday strapped there. Miguel rolled his eyes in amusement and glanced over at the pool where Miles was drifting on his back, Mr. Snuggles resting on his chest.

He never realized how empty that pool is going to look once Miles is gone. How quiet his life is going to become again without him. Before Miles, that was what Miguel wanted. Silence. But now, he can’t even imagine returning to that dark hole that he clawed himself out of as soon as Miles landed on the ship.

He won’t admit it, but it scares him.

“I should probably start making dinner,” Miguel said, clearing his throat as he looked back at Jess and Peter. The sun was beginning to lower and tonight he wanted to introduce Miles to spaghetti. Gabriella loved spaghetti, and despite having a bowl with the sauce he’d make with it, she would always go back for seconds but that time she would only put butter on it, claiming that she loved it both ways. Miguel never denied her that.

He ventured back into the house and quickly got to work, putting the water on the stove to boil while he got to work making the sauce. He got to work cutting the onions and peppers, working on an auto pilot as he cooked, having made the same meal many times for himself and Gabriella.

While he had the noodles and sauce cooking, he stood at the door and watched as Peter and Mayday played peek-a-boo with Miles in the pool, crouching and running around it before popping up and making Miles laugh in surprise, much like a toddler.

Miguel couldn’t help but smile at the scene. He did everything to ignore the painful grip around his heart, reminding him this would all be gone in a matter of days. Miles’ tail was pretty much healed now, and he knew he was dragging it out in fear of releasing him back into the ocean only for him to die getting home, and because he doesn’t want to lose another kid. 

The sound of water boiling over jolted him from his spiral of thoughts and he quickly returned to the stove, gently blowing on the pot of noodles to get the bubbles to recede.

A couple of minutes later, he was balancing three plates and two bowls in his arms as he stepped back outside, thank god for the things he learned when he was a server. He first made his way over to Jess who was sitting at the fire, watching Peter mess around with Miles in amusement. He handed her a plate and she thanked him as she took it from him. He placed Peter’s plate on his seat along with the small bowl he cut up for Mayday.

“Pete, your food is over here,” he called out. Peter perked up and told Miles he’d be back once he was done eating before making his way over, passing Miguel as the taller man made his way over to the pool, dragging his chair with him. 

Miles was waiting eagerly to see what tonight's dinner would be and Miguel smirked, handing him the bowl, the fork sitting inside. Miles squinted as he looked down at the noodles, grabbing the fork slowly. He’d only used a fork once or twice and Miguel realized he’d have to teach him how to twirl it to get ahold of the noodles.

“You gotta–” he cut himself off with a laugh when the noodles slipped right off of Miles’ fork. “Here,” he said, setting his plate down on his lap before reaching out and taking the bowl from his hands. He grabbed the fork and slowly walked him through the steps of twirling some of the noodles onto it. Miles watched with rapt attention, eyes determined as Miguel handed the bowl back to him to try it.

Miguel took a bite from his own plate as he watched Miles stick his tongue out in concentration as he slowly twirled the noodles onto the fork. He laughed as Miles grinned up at him in excitement as he displayed the fork that had successfully gathered the noodles, the only thing is that Miles ended up twirling up all of the noodles in the bowl, creating a way too big bite for himself.

Miguel snorted when Miles tried taking a bite only to smear half of it onto his nose, leaving red sauce all over his face. Miles stubbornly bit off whatever he could from the fork and the rest of the noodles fell back into the bowl. It was a humorous sight, Miles with a mouthful of spaghetti, noodles hanging out of his mouth and him struggling to get them in.

“You gotta–” Miguel cut himself off to demonstrate slurping the noodle up by taking another bite from his own plate and slurping up any noodles that hung out of his mouth. Miles watched this before attempting to do it himself, only to slurp way too hard that the other end of the noodles came up and smacked him in the face, making him flinch back.

Miguel laughed despite the glare being leveled at him.

“You gotta take a smaller portion,” Miguel told him, eyes amused as Miles wiped the sauce off of his face. He watched again as Miles gathered up a smaller portion, one that he was easily able to bite off of the fork. Minutes later, Miles finished his bowl and was swimming around once again.

Miguel knew that this day was gonna come, in the beginning, he couldn’t wait for it to come. But the longer he got to hang around Miles, the more he dreaded it.

It was the next morning and Miguel was going through their morning routine of changing out the bandages around Miles’ tail for fresh ones. And every single time he would open the bandages to change them, he’d see more improvement in the wound. 

But today when he opened the bandages, he could barely even see a mark. The only sign that there had been a wound was the faint scarring that was left behind, but other than that, he was completely healed. Miles definitely noticed the way that Miguel's hands faltered as he removed the bandages. Miguel forced himself to clear his throat and continued his work of replacing the bandages.

It's great that his tail is healed, that means he can go home where he belongs, not in the hands of humanity. But Miguel can’t help the fact that he had definitely grown attached to the kid. He’d brought life back into Miguel, and Miguel knew that once he was gone, that life would drain again, just as it had when Gabriella died.

But he knows that keeping Miles here isn’t an option. He has to go home. He just didn’t realize how quickly time flew by.

Miguel went through their routine of making breakfast, Miles’ favorite was waffles and bacon. If Miles noticed how uncharacteristically quiet Miguel was, he didn’t say anything. But yet again, he didn’t have to, Miguel could see the worry in those expressive brown eyes.

Miles tried everything to get Miguel to brighten up, he knew how to use a spoon by now, but in his attempt to get a smile or laugh out of the older man, he purposely dropped it into the water when trying to use it. And while it wasn’t fully genuine, he did get an amused huff from the older man at his antics.

Miguel called Peter and Jess, told them that if they wanted to see Miles one last time before he has to go home, they should come over today. While Jess doesn’t really express any interest in Miles, Miguel knows that she likes the kid just as much as he and Peter do, she’s just more reserved about it.

He explained that when changing his bandages this morning, he saw that his tail was healed and he would probably be releasing him back into the ocean tomorrow, that he just wants one more full day with him before saying goodbye. Jess asked if he wanted it to just be a day for the two of them but Miguel was already inviting her over anyways. He called Peter and explained the same thing to the other man. The man was quick to accept the invitation and the two of them, plus Mayday, were arriving in less than thirty minutes. 

Miguel sat off near the fire he’d set up again, watching as Peter spoke to Miles quietly, talking about something Miguel was unable to hear from where he and Jess were sitting. Mayday was wearing her bathing suit and Peter was holding her in the pool, letting her kick and giggle as the water splashed up in Miles' face. Miles pretended to splutter and cough as she did this, making her giggle harder.

He watched in amusement as Peter plopped Mayday in Miles’ arms, obviously trusting him to not drown her. Miles’ eyes were wide as he held Mayday awkwardly, unsure how to hold a human baby. Miles’ eyes softened when her tiny hands placed themselves on his cheeks and squished, her eyes bright as she beamed up at him. 

“You did good, Miguel.” Jess said, drawing his attention away from the three. He looked at her and shifted uncomfortably.

“I did what any good person would’ve done.” he shrugged, but she shook her head.

“Not everybody would be as quick as you were to make sure he got off of that ship and away from the greedy hands of other humans looking to profit off of him. You risked your job doing this, not just anybody would do that.” She said, eyes hard. “You saved that little boy's life, he’ll appreciate you for the rest of his life and Gabriella would be so proud of you, Miguel.” she told him, her own voice tight with emotion that she stubbornly hid behind hard eyes.

Miguel swallowed around the lump in his throat, nodding. He cleared his throat before releasing a long breath.

“Thanks, Jess.”

They left an hour later and it was hard to see the realization dawn on Miles’ face that he wouldn’t be seeing them again as they said goodbye to him, their own voices somber. Mayday even seemed sadder as she hugged Miles goodbye in the pool. 

Miguel knew that Miles knew deep down what was going on. There was no way he couldn’t feel that his tail was healed and the goodbyes from Jess and Peter felt final. Both Miguel and Miles were quiet after they left.

Miguel grabbed the tub of ice cream and brought it out to the pool. He handed it to Miles who smiled, but it wasn’t the same. Miguel ate the ice cream with him, using his own spoon to scoop some from the tub, but he mostly left it for Miles, knowing this would be the last time he gets to have it.

“Hey, I was thinking… you wanna go to the cave again?” He asked when the silence became too heavy. Miles’ head shot up and he smiled, more genuinely this time, he nodded. Miguel smiled and ruffled his hair as he stood up, taking the empty ice cream tub with him.

“Let me go get changed then we can go,” he said and Miles nodded. Miguel rinsed and threw out the ice cream tub before retreating to his room to change into his swim trunks. He walked back out and scooped Miles from the pool to carry him to the boat, hating how high the sun was in the sky already. Tomorrow.

Miguel placed him down in the boat before sitting behind him and grabbing the oars. He pushed away from the dock and began their journey back to the cave one last time. Miguel watched as Miles rested his chin on the ledge of the boat, fingers dancing atop the water as they moved. He couldn’t see his eyes, but his body language seemed different.

“Miles?” He called gently and Miles looked over his shoulder at Miguel. “You okay?” he asked, worry evident in his voice. Miles nodded slowly before looking back down at the water, dipping his fingers into it.

“Home?” He murmured so quietly that Miguel almost didn’t hear him.

“Yeah, home.” Miguel repeats, chest tight. Miles looks back at him again, brows furrowed as he chews on his lip.

“When?” he asks and Miguel’s shoulders slump.

“Tomorrow, kid.” He tells him, trying for a smile. He expects Miles to be happy, and a part of him seems to be, but why is there also sadness in his eyes? Why would he be sad about getting to go home tomorrow? He can see in the way his eyes leave Miguels and drop down on the space between them, distant and tinged with a sadness Miguel can’t understand. 

“Oh,” is all he says and Miguel can’t for the life of him figure out what he’s thinking. For once he can’t quite read his eyes and he hates it. He watches as Miles turns back around and instead of continuing to drag his fingers in the water, he lifts them back into the boat and curls into himself.

They don’t say anything else during the journey to the cave, but their thoughts are loud.

They arrive at the cave and Miguel does the routine of stepping out and dragging it up onto the rocks to keep it there before scooping Miles out of it and wading into the water. He lowers Miles into the water and instead of darting down and swimming laps right away like he did the last time, Miles allows himself to gently drift out of his arms, as if hesitant to leave them.

To ease his anxiety, Miguel gets into the water with him, only then does Miles begin to swim around. The atmosphere is so much different than the last time they were here. Because they both know it’ll be the last and neither of them wants to acknowledge that.

Miguel thinks of the conch shell that Miles had gifted him, now sitting on his dresser. He drifted around the water while Miles swam below him, seemingly gathering things into his hands, scavenging. Miguel watches the sun continue to lower in the sky from the opening of the cave, bringing tomorrow here faster.

Miles surfaced again and in his hands were a bunch of small shells and rocks that he had picked out. Miguel watched him swim over to the rocks and place them all down, gently gathering them up into a pile, Miguel swore he also spotted a pearl or two.

Miles swam back over to him, swimming around him and Miguel almost jolted when he felt the brush of his tail against his legs. Miguel smiled as he watched him twirl and spin around him playfully. Miles eventually surfaced once again and floated in front of Miguel, eyes brighter than they had been before, thank Dios. 

But as he looked at Miguel, his eyes held with so many emotions that Miguel was struggling to decipher one by one. His smile slowly faded from his lips as he looked at Miguel and the older man felt his own fade as well.

Suddenly, Miles was surging forward and wrapping his arms around Miguel's middle, burying his face into his chest. Miguel felt his heart squeeze and a lump form in his throat as he recovered from his shock and gently wrapped his arms around the kid in return, burying his face in his hair as he sighed. The hug felt final, and Miguel wanted to hate it.

When the time came that they had to leave, Miguel’s heart felt heavy and he moved slowly as he got Miles into the boat and the boat back into the water. He knew that he would be staying up late tonight to spend most of it with Miles and yet it still didn’t feel like enough time. 

They returned to the dock and Miguel tied the boat back up before scooping Miles out of it and carrying him back up to the cabin. The entire time, Miles clung to him, face buried in his neck and body curled up comfortably. He felt bad when he had to get Miles back into the pool, otherwise he would’ve held him longer. He wished he had held Gabriella longer.

He brought the campfire closer to the pool this time and he huffed a laugh at the look of awe on Miles’ face. The first time he’d set up the fire with Jess and Peter over, Miles had been amazed as he stared into the flames. He had to explain that he couldn’t touch it or he’d burn himself, not that he could reach it from the pool anyways, but kids always somehow manage to get into things anyways.

For their last dinner, Miguel made steak. He wanted to be able to stick with Miles instead of disappearing inside to make it so he figured he’d put the grill to good use. He turned the radio up so that the music could be heard from inside the house while he cooked and Miles made a funny face, laughing as Miguel sang, using the tongs as his microphone. 

The mood had lifted, Miguel didn’t want to say goodbye on a sad note so he was doing everything he could to make it fun. Luckily, it seemed to be working if the grin on Miles' face told him anything.

Knowing it was only Miles watching, Miguel danced across the deck and sang, putting on quite the show for the kid. Miles laughed and laughed, dancing along as best as he could in the pool as he watched. 

Once he was finished grilling the steaks, he popped inside to grab plates and silverware. He plopped a steak on each plate and turned off the grill before dancing his way over to the pool, Miles’ eyes glinting in amusement as he watched him approach. He sat on his chair before reaching out to hand Miles his own plate before realizing that the kid wouldn’t be able to cut his own steak.

He took the plate back and placed it on his lap so that he could cut the steak up into little pieces that he could just grab with his hands and eat. Screw formalities, it’s his last night here. 

Miguel watched as he ate the first piece, chewing easily, his sharp canines definitely helped. His eyes widened with delight as they always do whenever Miguel introduced a new food to him. The only time he didn’t enjoy what Miguel fed him was when he made broccoli, and just like every kid, he refused to eat it.

They ate and talked, well, Miguel talked because Miles could still only use a few select choices of words. The sun was lowering below the horizon and the forest was growing darker, the orange light disappearing by the minute.

Once they finished eating, Miguel picked up their plates and told Miles that he would be right back before disappearing back into the house. He walked over to the sink and got to work, quickly rinsing them off and scrubbing them clean.

As he did this, he froze when he heard the sound of a car door slamming shut faintly over the music playing. His brows furrowed and he set the plate down in the sink, wiping his hands off on his pants before reaching to turn the radio down, trying to listen for anything else. He could hear voices lowly speaking to each other, approaching the door.

He thought that maybe it was Jess and Peter, coming back one last time. But as the voices became clearer, he recognized the one, and it was enough for his heart to plummet and his blood run cold.

He quickly ran out into the backyard and Miles was startled by his frantic movements, eyes big and worried as Miguel rushed over to him.

“I need to put the pool cover on for a bit. Stay low and keep quiet, okay? Do not come out unless you know it’s me. You understand?” He spoke lowly, voice urgent and hard. Miles nodded, his eyes wide and fearful. “Okay, good. I’ll be back.” He nodded before reaching down and pulling the tarp overtop of the pool.

He rushed back into the house just in time to hear a heavy knock on the door. He forced himself to even out his breath as he approached the door, running a hand through his hair as he prepared.

He took one last breath before opening the door, revealing the man he had hoped to never see again and a familiar face that he hadn’t put a name to but he’s seen multiple times during work.

“Captain,” He nodded in greeting as he came face to face with the man. The gruff man turned from where he’d been talking to the other fishermen behind him, he met Miguel's eyes and Miguel was aware of the full sweep that his eyes did.

“O’Hara, mind if I come inside? I wanted to talk to you about somethin’,” He said and Miguel noticed how he tilted his body to peek behind him into the house. Miguel grits his teeth before forcing out a tight smile.

“Of course,” He said, stepping aside to allow the two men in. They walked in, eyes observing the pictures hanging on the walls of himself and Gabriella or just Gabriella on her own. His favorite one was when he took her fishing for the first time, she caught a cod and had this big grin directed at the camera but she had been missing her two baby front teeth. He thought it was adorable.

Miguel stiffly followed behind them as they walked into the living room, not bothering to take a seat, just taking in the room as they stood.

“I ain’t sure if you’ve been told yet but y’know that merkid we caught?” The captain began to say, hands tucked into his pockets as he looked at Miguel, eyes glinting with something Miguel didn’t like. Miguel crossed his arms over his chest, nodding.

“Well, the little shit got away somehow. Dunno how considering it was tied to the tub. We’ve done some askin’ around and nobody’s known anything which leaves you. You don’t happen to know anything about that, do you?” He questioned, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Miguel’s brows furrowed, feigning confusion.

“He got out? Which means that, what, we don’t get the award? I’m sure the others gotta be pissed off about that,” He said.

“Oh, everyone's damn right pissed off about it. Which is why I’ve been lookin’ for it. Stabbed a hole through its tail, couldn’t have gotten far, right? Unless, of course, someone helped it get out.” he said accusingly, stepping closer to Miguel, a challenge in his eyes. Miguel narrowed his eyes, standing his ground.

“I’m not quite sure what you’re implying, but if you seriously think that someone helped him get out then you should think twice. He was going to make us rich, you really think any of us would give up an opportunity like that?” he huffed a laugh of disbelief.

“You always keep the tarp over your pool in the summer?” A voice suddenly asked near the backyard door and Miguel ignored the way his heart skipped a beat as he looked at the fisherman who had accusing eyes glued on him. Miguel’s face remained impassive. 

“Live in the middle of the forest and you get tired of cleaning dead sticks and leaves out of it every damn morning,” he lied, well– not a complete lie, that is a problem with living in the middle of a forest.

“Huh,” the man hummed before walking away from the door to return to the Captain's side.

“Look, I’m sure he hasn’t gone far. He could’ve broken the rope and then dragged himself somewhere else in the ship and gotten stuck, by now he’d be near dead without water for that long. And I truly doubt anyone would’ve released him or been dumb enough to try to transport him without you knowing.” Miguel told him, annoyance making his words sharper.

“Yeah, alright,” The Captain hummed in consideration, the suspicion hadn’t left his eyes and Miguel was growing increasingly stressed with this man in his home, so close to the same kid he had stabbed and planned on selling. “Thought we should just check anyway, thanks for givin’ us your time. We should get heading then,” he said, and just like that, the suspicion was gone from his eyes and he was making his way back to the front door.

Miguel felt some of the tension leave his body as he followed the two men to the front door, reaching down to open it for them.

“It’s no problem, if I know anything I’ll make sure to let you know,” he said as they walked out.

“Have yourself a good night, O’Hara.” The Captain nodded, extending his hand to shake which Miguel reluctantly did to avoid any suspicion. And if his grip was tighter than comfortable, the man didn’t say anything.

He watched them turn to walk away before closing the door and locking it. He watched through the window to make sure they got into their car and drove away before he was making his way back through the house, allowing his racing heart to calm back down.

Miles needs to go home first thing tomorrow morning. That was too risky. 

Miguel rushed back out into the backyard and over to the pool. He pulled the tarp off of it to reveal Miles curled up at the bottom of the pool, Mr. Snuggles wrapped up in his arms to his chest as his big frightened eyes met Miguels. As soon as he saw Miguel he was uncurling from his protective ball and surging to the surface, wrapping his arms around Miguel's neck in a hug.

Miguel sighed and held him just as tight.

“It’s alright, you’re okay. Just a close call but I dealt with it,” he murmured.

“Was scared,” were the mumbled words. Miguel pulled back as Miles did.

“I know, but it’s okay,” he said. “You get to go home tomorrow, I promise.” He told him and Miles' eyes were downcast as he nodded, hands playing with Mr. Snuggles fur. Miguel grabbed his chair and dragged it closer to the pool before slumping down into it, his adrenaline crashing.

He spent the rest of the night with Miles until the sun had vanished and the forest was silent except for the constant sound of crickets and owls. Miles fought to keep his eyes open while Miguel spoke. The kid had his head resting on his arms on the ledge of the pool, eyes slipping shut against his will before they were opening again stubbornly. 

Miguel huffed a laugh when the kid yet again fought to keep his eyes open despite obviously being tired. Miguel had his head resting on his arms that he had folded on the rim as well, leaned forward in his chair while he dragged his fingers through the water absentmindedly.

He didn’t want to leave him because he knew that as soon as he falls asleep, tomorrow will be there in the blink of an eye and he’ll be saying goodbye. 

So he stayed, humming a song that always succeeded in putting Gabriella to sleep and apparently Miles too. He watched as the boy's efforts to keep his eyes open slowly came to an end. His eyes would flutter open, then fall shut, then flutter a little, then fall shut and stay shut for the rest of the night.

Miguel allowed himself to continue humming, soft eyes observing Miles's face one last time. As he did this, he realized little details that he never really noticed before. Like the shine to his skin, a glittery detail that resembled freckles across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, or how long his dark lashes were, or the way his hair is coiled tight and actually looks more brown than black when it’s dry, the way the glitter spread to his shoulders, how his ears weren’t quite human and actually looked like little translucent fins. 

As much as he wanted to stay there, taking in every detail, he knew that he had to head inside to go to sleep, no matter how willing he was to sleep right there. But he knew that if he did that, his body would pay for it the next day.

So after a couple more minutes, Miguel finally stood up to head inside the house. He slowly backed away from the pool, eyes lingering and wanting nothing more than to stay, but he eventually tore his eyes away and turned to head inside while Miles remained asleep.

He stepped into the house and closed the door behind him, releasing a long sigh as he headed to his bedroom.

He stared at his ceiling for an hour before he finally managed to fall asleep.

As a parent, Miguel was used to jolting awake in the middle of the night or during a nap whenever he heard something that triggered him to suddenly wake up. He could be dead asleep one second and hear something small that has him wide awake and already moving to investigate in the next second.

It's an instinct that every parent has. When you hear your child cry after scraping their knee, burning themself, or tripping, you feel the same pain as them but instead, you feel it in your heart. Your heart aches for your baby and it doesn’t go away until you’ve dried their tears and they’re safe in your arms.

So when Miguel would be in the middle of a deep sleep and suddenly he’d hear Gabriella cry, or something fall and crash, it would be as if he weren’t even sleeping to begin with, with how fast he’d be shooting up from his bed and racing to make sure she is okay.

He hadn’t felt that in a long time since Gabriella died. But the instinct never left him.

So when morning arrives and Miguel hears a shrill cry coming from the backyard, his heart drops in his chest and he’s flying out of his bed faster than he even realized he had control over his body, moving on his body’s pure instinct alone.

He knows right away that it's Miles who cried out and instantly that ache has settled deep within his heart and a lump has formed in his throat as he rushes through the house to get to the backyard.

He slides to a stop in front of the door, numb hands buzzing with adrenaline fumbling for the handle for a moment before he successfully pulls it open. He stumbles outside, eyes frantic and heart racing as he narrows in on the pool, only to see that Miles isn’t in it and Mr. Snuggles floats alone. It’s pouring rain, the leaves of the trees doing little to catch all of it and the pool overflows.

He hears another cry and this time he can pinpoint where it’s coming from. In the next second, Miguel is jumping off of the porch and rounding the house to chase after the sound, feet slipping against the wet and muddy grass. Just as he rounds the house and makes it to the front, his frantic gaze lands on a familiar truck waiting out in his driveway. The Captain's truck.

He’s only allowed a second to realize that Miles had been tied and tossed in the bed of the truck before the wheels are suddenly skidding across the gravel driveway, kicking up dust before it’s quickly ripping out of the driveway, taking off with Miles in the back.

“Shit,” Miguel hisses, eyes wide and heart thrumming beneath his chest. “Shit, shit, shit!” he shouts, fingers tangling into his wet hair and tugging, his thoughts racing at an alarming pace. Miguel suddenly spun on his heel and raced up to the house, breaths coming out fast and panicked as he ran back inside and straight to the phone.

His fingers shake as he dials Peter’s phone number, almost causing him to mess it up the first time but on pure adrenaline he manages to get it right. Every second that the phone rings, the more he feels like he’s suffocating.

“Miguel! What’s up, man?” Peter answers, his cheerful tone a large contrast between what Miguel was currently feeling.

“They took Miles.” falls out of his mouth before he can even think of what to say.

“Wait, what? What do you mean? Who took Miles?” Peter’s tone changes drastically, confusion and urgency now replacing it.

“The Captain! Mierda , esto no es bueno. I don’t have time to explain but he took Miles! I just caught him pulling out of my driveway with Miles tied up in the back, he’s probably taking him to the aquarium right now. I need your and Jess’s help to stop him right now.” he explained, voice desperate and wavering in his panic.

“Jess is here, MJ was giving her some things that Mayday doesn’t need anymore. I know what to do, Jess is gonna come get you, let me take care of the Captain.” Peter said, voice lacking its usual teasing tone, sounding the most serious Miguel thinks he’s ever heard him sound.

“Tell her to meet me on the road, I’m gonna get a heads start.” Miguel told him.

“Okay. We’re going to get him back, trust me.” Peter said before hanging up. Miguel hung up and raced back out into the backyard. He didn’t even bother shutting the door behind him as he ran out toward the overflowing pool.

He quickly reached out and grabbed Mr. Snuggles, ignoring the water that soaked his clothes since they were already wet as he clutched the teddy bear in his hand and took off around the house once again. Miguel could barely feel his legs as he ran, feet bare against the rough gravel and wind and rain brushing his hair back. He knew that he’d probably be pulling gravel out of the bottom of his feet by the end of this, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was getting Miles away from him.

He ran and ran until his lungs were burning and his mouth was dry. He was no longer in the forest, having reached the main road, and yet his legs didn’t slow their pace once. He heard the engine of a car coming up behind him and he glanced over his shoulder, instantly recognizing it as Jess’s car.

“Miguel!” she shouted out of the window as she drove up next to him, suddenly slamming on the brakes so that he could get in. Miguel nearly tore the old door off its hinges as he opened it and slipped into the passenger seat, Jess didn’t scold him for it. “Where are we going,” she asked, already driving off.

“To the aquarium,” he told her, chest rumbling in barely concealed rage. Jess stomped down onto the gas and the tires screeched as they skidded across the sleek road. Miguel’s eyes remained sharp, watching for any trucks driving by.

It only took a minute for Miguel to spot the blue truck.

“There!” he shouted, pointing in the direction of the truck. Jess yanked the wheel, making a sharp turn so that she could chase after it. Miguel could barely make Miles out in the back of it, he was squirming and fighting to get out of the ropes keeping him restrained. He can’t imagine how scared he probably is. Miguel promised him he’d get him home. He doesn’t break his promises.

They continued to tail behind them, staying far back enough to remain unnoticed. When suddenly, a brown van came racing out from the right, and in the blink of an eye, it was slamming into the side of the Captain's truck and sending it spinning out onto the side of the empty road. It was early in the morning, the sun only just beginning to rise, so nobody was out yet to witness the scene.

Jess stomped on the brakes to avoid slamming into the truck as well and they watched as it stopped spinning. Miguel's eyes were glued on Miles’ form, waiting to see him move to make sure that he was okay.

“Jesus, Peter. That was your plan?! ” Jess laughed incredulously. This drew Miguel's attention back to the van. Peter had stepped out of the brown van, looking a little frazzled but other than that he looked fine. 

They both watched as the Captain got out of the truck, fists balled up in anger as he began cursing Peter out. Miguel and Jess watched in amusement as Peter acted like a distressed civilian, apologizing profusely and grabbing the Captain's arms to search him for any injuries, creating a distraction and leaving them an opening to grab Miles and get the hell out of there.

Miguel quickly opened the door and stealthily raced over to the truck while Peter kept the Captain distracted. 

He rushed over to the bed of the truck and instantly breathed a sigh of relief once he saw that Miles remained uninjured. The boy’s face was terrified as he wiggled and squirmed beneath the ropes, but as soon as his eyes landed on Miguel, his eyes went wide with relief and his mouth opened to say something but Miguel quickly and gently covered it with his hand.

“Shh, shh, you’re okay, don’t say anything.” he whispered frantically. He reached down and scooped Miles out of the truck, cradling him close to his chest as he raced back to Jess’s car, remaining unnoticed by the Captain who was too busy with Peter’s convincing act of a damsel in distress.

He opened the door to the back of the car and slid in, laying Miles down along the seats and closing the door behind him. As soon as the door was slamming shut, the Captain was dragging his eyes away from Peter to land on them, realization dawned on him.

“Go!” Miguel shouted and Jess was suddenly slamming on the gas and taking off, speeding past the car wreck. The Captain then realized that all of it had been a setup as he looked back at his truck to see that Miles was no longer in it. His face contorted in rage as he ran to his mangled truck and climbed back in. Peter looked positively pleased with himself, smirking in triumph as he stepped back to avoid being hit by the truck that revved past him to catch up with them.

Miguel could see the truck in the distance behind them, struggling to get up to speed after being totaled by Peter's van. He tore his attention away from that so that he could focus on untying Miles.

“Alright, there we go. See? I told you I’d get you home, kid.” He mumbled distractedly as he removed the ropes from Miles’ wrists and arms. As soon as they fell away from his body, the boy was surging up and wrapping his arms around Miguel in a tight embrace, and Miguel was able to feel the way he trembled.

He breathed out a sigh that came close to a sob as he wrapped his arms around him and held him just as tight.

“I’m taking you to the docks. Take my boat, you can get him out to the ocean that way.” Jess told him, tossing him the keys and Miguel nodded as he caught them.

“Thank you, Jess. I owe you one.” he said, conveying his gratitude through his eyes as he met hers in the mirror.

“This is what friends do, you don’t owe me anything.” 

The car swerved in and out of other stray cars that were either on their way to work or from work. She blew multiple stop signs and red lights, but neither of them cared, knowing that they didn’t have time to abide by the law. And the entire time, the truck remained on their tail, gradually gaining speed. 

Before Miguel knew it, they were turning into the dock's parking lot. Jess’s grip tightened on the steering wheel as she cut across the grass to get closer to the actual docks. Miguel instantly spotted her small motorboat as she drove as close as she could to it.

She suddenly drifted to a stop and unlocked the car, reaching down to the passenger seat to grab Mr. Snuggles and passing him to Miguel to grab as well.

“Get him home, Miguel,” she told him, eyes hard with determination. Miguel nodded once before he was opening the door and carrying Miles out. He didn’t look back as he heard three other cars pulling into the parking lot. 

Of course the Captain would call for backup.

Miles’ arms tightened around his neck as Miguel raced over to the boat, his chin resting on his shoulder and watching as multiple men got out of their cars in the parking lot, including the Captain. Miguel quickly hopped onto the boat and it rocked under his weight. He gently deposited Miles down onto the floor before fishing the key from his pocket and sitting in the driver's seat, quickly inserting it and the boat beeps before turning on with a loud rumble.

He fumbled to untie the ropes, watching the Captain and his backup get closer to them, rushing over to their own boats. He finally untied the last rope and pushed away from the dock. It had been a long time since he drove a motorboat but muscle memory came in clutch as he quickly steered out of the docks, grazing another boat here and there but none of that mattered.

Waves that he created crashed against the other boats as he revved the motor, instantly taking off into the depths of the ocean, hearing multiple boat engines starting up behind him, racing to chase after him.

Miguel's heart was in his throat as the boat crashed against the waves violently. The sun was just barely peeking up from the horizon and he drove towards it, getting as far out as he could so that he could ensure Miles could get away and get home.

He eventually got up to a speed so that the boat no longer crashed against the waves and instead, it skipped across them. Miles shielded his eyes from the wind and rain whipping past them and Miguel clutched Mr. Snuggles tightly to make sure he wouldn’t be lost in the wind.

Miguel's heart ached, and he knew that despite having Miles with him for now, this ache won’t be going away for a long time. 

He looked over his shoulder and spotted three other boats racing after them in the far distance. He knew that he had to do this now.

The boat suddenly stopped and Miguel stood from the seat, a lump in his throat as he walked over to Miles and fell to his knees in front of him, grabbing him and pulling him to his chest as he wrapped his arms around him. He wasn’t sure if the moisture he felt on his cheeks as he felt Miles' smaller arms wrapping around him in return were tears or rain.

He pulled back so that he could lift Miles into his arms. He leaned over the ledge of the boat and gently lowered Miles into the cold rippling water, gently pulling back only to be stopped by webbed fingers wrapping around his wrist.

Miguel forced himself to meet those big brown eyes that looked up at him in confusion and sorrow, doe eyes questioning and wet with tears as he held onto Miguel like he was his lifeline. 

“Miguel?” he whispered and Miguel wanted to cry and laugh at the same time, because of course the kid would finally say his name for the first time when he has to say goodbye to him.

“I promised you I would get you home, you need to go home.” he told him, voice thick with emotion that he hadn’t shown since he lost his baby girl. And here he was, losing another kid. He wonders if he’s cursed with this ending every time, and wonders why he would be given two kids to love and care for just to have them taken away from him in the end every single time.

“What?” Miles whimpered, brows pinched in distress. Miguel could hear the boats getting closer and the closer they got, the more danger Miles was in, the more desperate Miguel became.

“You see those guys coming this way? They’re coming for you. You need to go or you will die, Miles! Do you understand? You need to go home!” Miguel stressed, pleading with both his eyes and voice as he tried pulling his wrist from the kid's grip. His heart constricted in agony, making it hard to breathe.

“You need to go home, Miles. Please go home. I can’t lose you too,” he begged, choking on his words. He watched as Miles' brown eyes welled with thick tears, eyes stubbornly breaking away from him to take notice of the boats getting closer to them. His eyes rapidly darted from boat to boat, breath picking up as he looked back at Miguel.

Miguel could see the internal battle he was fighting. He knows he has to go, but he doesn’t want to leave. Just like Miguel doesn’t want him to go, but he knows that he has to. He comes to a decision and his grip loosens from Miguels' wrist, but doesn’t release him fully. His voice wavers as he speaks.

“Meet again?” he says, eyes full of hope. Miguel swallows around the lump in his throat, heart ripping into two.

“I think this is goodbye forever, kid…” his voice is quiet, words heavy with grief. 

“No!” Miles suddenly shouts and he releases Miguel's wrist to present his small pinky, “Promise!” his voice breaks as he waits for Miguel to wrap his pinky around his. Miguel's heart breaks so much more because he knows that this isn’t a promise he can keep.

Miguel takes a moment to look at Miles, to really look at him. His eyes were big with hope and desperation, desperate for this to not be their last goodbye, hopeful that they will cross paths again, but they’re also mature enough that Miguel can see that Miles knows that the possibility of that happening is slim, but his eyes are young enough to wish it and to believe it anyways. Just like always, Miles’ eyes speak a thousand words that his voice cannot.

So Miguel extends his hand and wraps his pinky around Miles’.

“I promise,” he tells him. He then extends his other hand that he had kept Mr. Snuggles gripped in and pushes the teddy bear against Miles’ chest. Miles releases his pinky to hold Mr. Snuggles to his chest, fingers curling into the damp fur that is bound to get wet again. 

“Now go, ” Miguel says, voice pleading. Miles slowly drifts away from the boat, Miguel can see in his eyes that he has so much to say but he knows that they’ve run out of time as the three boats are finally surrounding Miguels. 

Miles meets his eyes one last time and Miguel watches as he disappears under the water, tail flicking out behind him and disappearing into the depths of the ocean just like that. Now whenever Miguel looks at the ocean from his dock at home, he’ll think of Miles. He’ll know that he’s down there, breaking the rules with his friends, growing, learning, changing, laughing. Living in two separate worlds, but he was lucky enough that Miles got to be a part of his for a bit. 

His attention is pulled away from the water as he hears the Captain arrive in his own boat and his lackeys behind him. He doesn’t bother to look at him as he slumps onto the seats, a relieved sigh leaving his lips.

“He’s gone, give it up.” he says, voice low and thoroughly exhausted.

“I’ll have you arrested for this.” The Captain growled. Miguel huffed a humorless laugh and looked over his shoulder, meeting the cold furious gaze of his Former Captain.

“Will you, now? And how, exactly, are you going to convince the police that Merfolk exist? They’ll think you’ve lost your mind.” he challenged, eyes narrowed tauntingly. He smirked in satisfaction as the Captain's lip curled up in a snarl.

“You do know that this means you're fired, right?” he says instead and Miguel waves a dismissive hand, turning his eyes back onto the water. 

“I accepted that fact as soon as I made the decision to save the kid,” he said, unbothered, he hated the job anyways. 

“You best watch your back O’Hara.” was the growled threat.

“Aye aye, Captain,” 

Months have passed since Miguel said goodbye to Miles. 

Jess gave birth to a beautiful baby boy only a week after the incident and Miguel and Peter visited regularly to see her and help out with anything they could. His head was covered in dark curls which quickly explained the horrible heartburn Jess always had during her pregnancy. Miguel saw a positive change in Jess’s attitude after her son was born, she seemed… happier, and Miguel knew that Jess was always meant to be a mother.

And when she told Miguel that she named him Mylo, in honor of Miles, Miguel was too stubborn to admit that he got a little choked up at that bit of information.

Miguel offered to pay for the repair that Peter’s van would have to get but the man downright refused to take his money, claiming that there were many other ways he could’ve gone about stopping the Captain and that it was his own choice to choose the most reckless way. 

MJ hadn’t even been upset when Peter pulled back up to the house missing half of the hood of the car. Well– she had been pissed before Peter explained how exactly it happened. 

Miguel didn’t go a day without either Jess or Peter inviting him for dinner, or to hang out, or they would just stop by unannounced to make sure that he didn’t slink back into the depressive hole he’d been in before Miles came along. 

Surprisingly, Miguel was doing pretty good. Of course that ache still made an appearance in his chest whenever he’d think about familiar doe eyes. But instead of allowing himself to grieve, he allowed himself to feel grateful. 

Grateful that he got to meet Miles, grateful that he got to save someone else’s kid when he felt like he had failed to save his own. He knows that Gabriella would be proud of him. She would’ve done the exact same thing too and she wouldn’t want him to be sad about losing her or Miles.

Miguel even managed to break through his writer's block.

He scrapped his previous story he’d been writing and instead, began to write about a boy who had a tail instead of legs, an infectious laugh, webbed fingers that were always cold, glitter as freckles, warm brown eyes that matched the color of his hair when dry, and the ability to make someone smile as soon as they got to experience the warmth of his.

Miguel sits on the dock at his house every morning as he writes. The sun rising above the horizon and casting a warm glow across the blue ocean. And almost three months after he said goodbye to Miles, he finishes writing the story of a young boy with the eyes of a human but the tail of a fish who changed his life forever.

‘This was the story of the boy who had a voice that spoke little, but eyes that spoke a thousand words.’

He presses his pen against the paper to mark the end of it, allowing the ink to stain a period into the page. And just as he lifts the pen from the paper, he can hear the familiar sound of a low horn calling out from the distance. 

For the first time in months, the ache disappears from his chest as he lifts his head and sees warm brown eyes peeking up from the water in front of him.

“Miles…”