Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Pearl sat at the edge of a dock at sunset, staring into the endless blue ocean. She swung her feet off the edge of the dock and tapped her fingers to the beat of an imaginary song. She hadn’t relaxed like this in a long time. Now that she was finished high school, maybe she could finally have a bit of time to herself. At least, before college came into consideration.

She looked at her reflection in the water. She was tired, and looked confused. Pearl knew why this was. She hadn’t quite found herself yet. She knew she wanted to do music, but not much else. She hadn’t found her people, and it was starting to look like she never would. She sighed, stretched and-

Uh oh.

She must have lost her balance while stretching, because all of a sudden, she was stuck in the unforgiving ocean. She reached at everything she could, trying to keep herself from being washed away. She grabbed onto a large rock, and thankfully, she could grip onto it for a moment.

Pearl clung desperately to the side of the rock, trying her hardest not to let her small body be swept away. She knew she shouldn’t have been out on that dock, she hated water. She couldn’t even swim. So why was she so drawn to the ocean? Was it the beauty, the mystery, or something else entirely? It didn’t matter, because now it would be the cause of her demise.

She didn’t know how much longer she could hold on. The algae on the rock was making it hard for her to keep her grip. But just as she felt herself begin to slip away, two arms wrapped themselves around Pearl’s waist.

Pearl would’ve flinched if the strong waters weren’t making it nearly impossible for her to move. She tried to look at whatever was holding onto her, but she was being held from behind. In a moment, she was back on the shore.

The Sun beat down heavily on the drenched girl, letting her feel the warmth she had forgotten while trapped in the cold ocean. Her eyes were closed tightly, stinging from the saltwater. Before she could open them, she heard a soft voice begin to speak.

“Are you alright?”

Pearl’s eyes fluttered open. She didn’t care about the salt in her eyes anymore, she needed to see the person who saved her. As her eyes adjusted, her blurry vision revealed a beautiful girl sitting in front of her.

“What were you doing in the water if you couldn’t swim? It’s dangerous for people like you.” Pearl couldn’t speak. Her mouth was dry and there was a lump in her throat preventing her from saying anything. People like me? What could that mean?

”oh, I’m sorry, you must be terrified. I probably shouldn’t lecture you. I’m glad that you’re alive, at least.”

Pearl was still speechless. This was a pretty secluded part of the beach, and no lifeguards were ever on duty here. She was saved by pure luck. All she could do was blankly stare at her mysterious saviour. The strange girl shuffled slightly, her movements graceful yet unnatural.

after a moment, Pearl decided she would attempt to speak to the girl. A simple thank you would make this less awkward, and she did save her life, after all. Yet all that could escape her throat was a husky whisper.

”Thank you.”

The girl’s face brightened up significantly. “Oh, you spoke! That’s great! You don’t sound too good though… oh, that’s probably just from ingesting so much salt. Humans can’t handle that much salt very well, can they?”

That sentence confused Pearl. What does that mean? Why is she speaking as if humans are some foreign concept? Pearl began to observe the girl in front of her. As soon as she looked at where her legs should be, she understood why she was behaving so strangely.

Instead of the legs of a person, the girl had a long, teal fish tail. Pearl gasped, causing the other girl to tense up.

“Your legs… Where are- What’s going on?!” Pearl faltered. She was rescued by a mermaid. A creature of legend. Mermaids weren’t supposed to be real, so why was there one directly in front of her?

The girl’s arm reached out towards Pearl, before being jerked right back to her side. “What’s wrong?! Is this… is this too weird? I’m sorry, I couldn’t have just left you there. Please don’t be afraid, I’m not going to hurt you or anything.”

Pearl’s mouth hung open, her heart beating through her chest. She was frozen in place for a moment, before speaking up once again.

”What are you? Wait- no, sorry, who are you?” Pearl stammered, trying to find the right words. The girl smiled, relieved that she was at least trying to understand her.

“I’m Marina, and I’m a mermaid.” She spoke softly and melodically, her voice was almost hypnotic. “And who are you?”

“I’m Pearl.” She finally said something with confidence, but her voice was still shaky. “I’m Pearl and I’m a human.”

Marina smiled again. “Well, it’s really nice to meet you, Pearl.”

Despite this being possibly the weirdest exchange Pearl has ever had, she couldn’t help but feel somewhat comforted. Marina emitted a soft and soothing energy. Maybe it was her voice, or possibly her appearance. Whatever it was, it made her less scared.

“It’s great to meet you, too. A real mermaid… I didn’t know you guys were real. I thought you guys were just made up for kid’s bedtime stories.” Pearl tried not to freak out, this situation was just way too bizarre.

Marina chuckled. “Yeah, most mermaids don’t really want to be known by humans.” Pearl pondered this. Was it to avoid being captured? Or was it for another reason?

“But you saved me, and now I know about you. Why did you do that?

“I couldn’t just leave you in there! You could’ve died. And I said most mermaids, not all.”

“Well… thank you for that. I appreciate it.” Pearl smiled nervously, and Marina smiled back, making the nervousness in Pearl’s smile fade.

“I’m just glad that you’re ok. Oh, about that, are you hurt at all? I didn’t really check up on you much when I got you out of there.”

Pearl looked over her body. “No, I look alright. You got me out of the water before anything bad could happen, I guess.” She said, shrugging. “I didn’t think I was going to make it out alive, to be perfectly honest. But I’m not even all that scratched up.”

“Good to hear! So you’ll be ok on your own?”

“Yeah, for sure.” Pearl replied. She didn’t know what Marina could’ve done if she wasn’t, though.

“You’re taking this better than I thought, to be honest. I expected you to be freaking out.” Marina said awkwardly.

“To be honest… I kind of am? On the inside, at least. This isn’t something I ever expected to happen to me. I guess I just got really, really lucky today. Or I’m going insane.”

Marina laughed at that. “I can assure you that you aren’t insane. Well, you might be, but it’s not because you’re seeing me. It would be an entirely different issue.”

Pearl was almost dry now, and the wind was starting to pick up. As she looked around, she realized the Sun was nearly gone. It would be hard to get home if it were any darker, but she didn’t want to miss out on talking with a mermaid.

Pearl tried her best to think of words to say. She was talking to a real mermaid. This was insane! This is not something she ever expected would happen to her. “So, um… will you come back here tomorrow? If that’s ok with you, of course. I need to get home, and it’s almost too dark to see.” Pearl felt nervous asking a gorgeous mythical being this, but she was about to fall asleep and she really needed to get home safe.

“Oh, you’re planning to some back tomorrow? That’s great!” Marina clapped her hands together gleefully. She was clearly a very cheery girl, and her happiness was infectious.

”So you’ll come back tomorrow as well, then? That’s good! That’s really good!” Pearl stood up and patted the sand off her clothes. “Ok, so… I’ll see you then.”

Marina nodded as she made her way back into the water. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

They both stood there for a moment, neither of them really wanting to leave. Finally, Pearl slowly began to walk away. Marina started to swim away soon after. Before she left the beach, though, Pearl stood and watched Marina leave from a distance. Was she going insane? Who knows. But tomorrow she was meeting up with a mermaid.

Chapter Text

Pearl woke up later than usual. Her head was filled with thoughts of mermaids and magic, but she chalked that up to being a dream. But when she thought about it harder, the dream seemed very real.

She sat up and stretched. She looked around and saw large amounts of sand scattered across her bed. As she moved her head, more sand fell from her hair. she must’ve forgotten to shower the previous night.

She began to realize what had happened the previous night as she rolled out of bed. She had met a mermaid. And she had a meeting with that mermaid today.

This was not something she’d ever expect to happen to her. She wasn’t even completely sure it wasn’t a dream yet, but she wasn’t going to risk setting up a mermaid.

She walked downstairs quietly to make sure she didn’t grab her family’s attention, and picked up the drawstring bag she used to use for band practice. She didn’t bother emptying it out and instead just tossed a few snacks into the bag.

She slipped on some sandals and headed outside to walk to the beach. The beach she had found Marina on was pretty deserted. The only thing there was a really old dock, but she had never seen anyone using it. She was pretty sure it was on her parents property, so that made sense. Her parents owned a lot of land.

She could eventually spot the beach and began to hurry up. In the distance she could see the silhouette of a girl, who she hoped to be mermaid girl she had see the day before. She broke out into a run until she was right before her.

“You came!” Marina said cheerfully. She was sitting right where the water met the sand. It must’ve been difficult for her to drag herself up there, Pearl thought.

“I was worried that you wouldn’t come, to be honest.” Pearl admitted.

“Why would I give up the chance to talk to a human?”

They both realized that their own curiosity was shared with the other. They both were intrigued by each other and wanted to learn more about one another.

Pearl sat down on the sand, a little bit away from the shoreline. The water made her feel uneasy, especially after what had happened yesterday.

The girls sat silently, and they clearly weren’t sure what to talk about. Pearl observed the girl in front of her. Marina was incredibly gorgeous, with dark braided hair that was tipped with teal. Her tail was teal too, the same shade as the tips of her hair. Her top was white and made of a fabric Pearl couldn’t recognize. As Pearl met Marina’s seafoam eyes, she realized Marina had also been staring. She wondered what Marina had thought about her. Hopefully something good.

“Sorry, this is weird. I’m not sure what to talk about.” Marina broke the silence, smiling nervously.

“No, you’re fine. Or at least I’m no better.” Pearl chuckled, And Marina did too.

“So, how about you tell me about yourself? I’d love to hear about you.” Marina looked at Pearl expectantly. 

“That’s flattering, but I’m not sure what to say. I like music, I guess.”

Marina clapped excitedly. “We have something in common, then! I also enjoy music.” Pearl was relieved to hear that. She was afraid that they would have nothing in common, with one of them being from the sea and the other from the land.

“I used to be part of a band, actually.” Pearl stated.

“Used to? What happened?” Marina looked intrigued, which made Pearl feel confident in herself. Having a mermaid be interested in you  was a pretty big compliment. Or maybe humans were just as mythical to mermaids as mermaids were to humans.

“They kicked me out.” Pearl shrugged. “I didn’t really fit with their image, I guess. I’m too rowdy, or something.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Marina had genuine empathy in her voice. It felt as if Marina had gone through something similar, or maybe even worse.

“Eh, it doesn’t really bother me. They were boring anyway. The guitarist couldn’t even tune his guitar right.” Pearl chuckled. This was far from the truth, she was pretty hurt. But she didn’t want anyone to know that.

“What’s a guitar?” Oh. That’s right. Most instruments probably wouldn’t work under the water.

“It’s an instrument, which is like, something you can make music with other than your voice. Actually…”

Pearl rummaged through her bag, which she hadn’t unpacked since her last band practice. She pulled out a harmonica. She didn’t really play it much, she just brought it to band practice to fool around with.

“I have this. I never really learned how to play it professionally, if it’s even played professionally at all, but it’s pretty easy.” She pressed it up to her lips and played a simple tune. Marina looked starstruck.

“May I try?” Marina leaned forward to observe the instrument. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“Sure.” Pearl handed it to Marina, who took it quickly and observed it from every angle. Pearl found it cute how excited she was. She fumbled with it for a while, seemingly trying to figure out how it worked, before blowing into it as hard as she could, causing Pearl to cringe.

Marina looked stunned until she spoke again. “Sorry. I thought it would take a lot of effort to produce sound from this.” Marina mumbled apologetically. Pearl shook her head. “‘Nah, you don’t have to blow that hard at all, just a bit harder than you’d usually blow.” The mermaid tried again, and this time succeeded to play the instrument at a normal volume. She looked incredible pleased with herself, even if she had only played one note.

“You can play more notes by moving it from side to side.” Pearl pointed out. She shuffled closer to Marina, her hand slipping into the water. She didn’t even notice.

Marina moved the instrument across her mouth to play different notes. “Yeah, you’re doing great!” Pearl chirped. Marina looked proud of herself again.

“How many other, um, instruments do you have?” She asked.

“A few.” Pearl replied. “But this is the only one I have with me.”

“Ah, that’s fine. I would love if you could show me more though.” Marina was looking at the harmonica as she said this, staring into the holes you were supposed to blow into. 

“You mean tomorrow, or something?” Pearl was unsure if Marina was asking for her to come back, and she didn’t want to jump to conclusions and risk rejection.

“Yeah. Only if you want to come back tomorrow, of course.” Marina placed the harmonica down on the sand. Pearl went to grab it, but realized her dominant hand was beneath the water and had become wrinkled. She groaned.

“My hand’s all wet.” She shook the water off her hand. Marina looked at her hand and gasped, clasping Pearl’s hand in her own.

“Woah, your hand became all wrinkled. Why is that?” Marina traced the wrinkles on Pearl’s hand. Pearl felt her face get hot.

“Um, that’s just what happens when they get wet, I guess.” She looked away. Noticing that, Marina quickly dropped her hand. “I’m sorry. Did I make you uncomfortable?”

“No, it’s all good.” She waved her hand in dismissal and picked up the harmonica, blowing off the sand and shoving it back into her pack.

“Oh, and yeah, I will come back tomorrow. I’ll bring another instrument, too.” Truth is, she had no clue what to bring. Her guitar was electric and it’d be difficult to bring all that equipment to the beach, and she couldn’t plug it in. She couldn’t even think of how to move her drum set. Oh well, she’d figure something out.

Marina smiled, yet she continued apologizing. “I’m sorry. I was just so excited. I should’ve asked first.” The smaller girl shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, it’s no biggie.” Besides, she kind of liked holding someone’s hand. She didn’t know why that was, though. And she refused to think about it.

Marina cleared her throat. “So, are we friends now? If we’ve met up twice and we’re meeting tomorrow, that would make as friends, right?” Marina seemed nervous. Pearl couldn’t think of why that would be, she seems pretty charismatic.

“Oh, for sure. I’d love to be friends.” A giddy feeling rose up in Pearl’s chest. Having a mermaid want to be her friend made her feel special. Unbeknownst to her, having a human want to be her friend made Marina feel the same way.

Marina clapped her hands together in excitement. Pearl realized that was a habit of hers by now. It almost made Marina seem… fancy? Was that the right word? It was a habit she associated with fancy people, at least.

It was about the time of day where the tide began to come in. Pearl backed up a bit. The water still made her feel queasy.

“What’s wrong?” Marina looked at Pearl. She seemed to be afraid she herself had done something wrong. Pearl knew that feeling all too well.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just the water.” As this sentence left her lips, Pearl came to a realization. It would be quite difficult to become close with Marina if she couldn’t even enter the water. Could marina come on land? Some movies depicted mermaids as being able to grow legs on land. It felt like a weird thing to ask, though.

Marina nodded understandingly. “Are you afraid because of yesterday?”

“Well, I guess I’m just afraid of the ocean in general. But yeah, yesterday didn’t help.”

Marina nodded again. “That’s understandable. I get it. I was afraid of coming out of the water when I was younger.”

Pearl didn’t know how to feel about that. They appeared to be more or less the same age, so being compared to a younger version of someone the same age as her felt belittling. She knew that was likely not what she meant though. And also, most importantly, what she said implied that she come out of the water.

“I’m glad we have something in common, I guess.” She started. “Ah, I’ve only been talking about me. Why don’t you talk about yourself?” Pearl gestured to Marina.

She looked to the side thoughtfully. “I like music, like you do. Mermaid music only uses voices, though. And it’s all underwater.” She placed a hand to her chin, thinking. “I don’t really have much to say. I had a pet jellyfish once. I could’ve sworn it loved me, but I was informed it didn’t have a brain. That upset me a lot.” The two girls laughed. 

“I had a pet rock when I was younger, it didn’t have a brain either. I knew that though. I just painted eyes on it and pretended it was alive.”

Marina laughed even harder at this. “A pet rock? That’s… that’s  ridiculous!” She was almost doubling over in laughter. It was a pretty standard story for most human children, but Pearl assumed it must not have been for mermaid kids. She was glad she got a kick out of it, though.

”Uh, I guess. Maybe I was just really lonely.” Marina got the last bit of her laughter out at that. 

“You’re funny.” She wiped a tear from her eye. 

“I’m glad you think so.” She just made a mermaid laugh to the point of tears. She was quite impressed with herself, despite knowing that her joke wasn’t all that funny, and it wasn’t really a joke either.

“We can meet up tomorrow, right?” Marina asked. Pearl sensed this was her way of saying she had to go. She wondered what she was leaving to do.

”Yeah, for sure. Are you ready to leave or something?”

Marina nodded. “I have… things to take care of.” Something about the way she said that felt strange, but Pearl assumed that the things she had to take care of were simply private.

Pearl stood up and patted the sand off of her shorts. She grabbed her drawstring bag and swung it around onto her shoulder. 

“Same time tomorrow?” Pearl asked.

”Sounds good!” Marina began to attempt to shuffle back into the deeper waters, but she was clearly struggling. Not wanting her to feel awkward, Pearl turned around and headed back to her house. She was just as excited to meet up with Marina tomorrow as she was yesterday.

Chapter Text

Pearl leaned on her marble counter and quickly scarfed down an energy bar. Unlike the previous day, she had woken up fully aware of what had happened the day before and was getting prepared to meet her mermaid friend once again. She didn’t know what instrument to bring today though. She said she would bring one, and she didn’t want to let Marina down. Maybe her family had something lying around in their many, many storage rooms.

Pearl tiptoed into one of her many storage rooms, choosing the one that happened to be soundproof as to not wake her parents up, and began to rummage through what she could find. There was a large grand piano in the middle of the room but she definitely couldn’t bring that. Beside that, however, was a sleek black rectangular case, most definitely holding an instrument inside.

After opening the zipper, Pearl peered inside the case. Inside sat a dusty violin and a violin bow resting on a red, velvet-like material. Despite the dust, it seemed to be in perfect condition. There was a problem, though. Pearl had no clue how to actually play a violin. There didn’t seem to be any better options around, so she decided to bring it anyway.

When Pearl arrived at the beach, She didn’t see the mermaid girl that she had met up with the previous few days. In her place was a girl who would be nearly identical to Marina if not for the fact she had legs. The sight in front of her caused Pearl to drop the violin case in shock.

Marina was sitting on the sand, gorgeous as ever. Instead of her teal fish tail, she had long legs that were bare from any clothing. The way she was sitting covered up what needed to be covered, thankfully. She smiled at Pearl and seemed to try to get up, but she couldn’t manage to do it.

Pearl covered her eyes out of courtesy. “So you have legs now, huh? How did you do that?”

Marina didn’t mention Pearl covering her eyes, so she concluded that Marina understood why she did so. “I needed something to link me to the land first, like a friendship. Thankfully, I found that in you.” Marina explained.

That meant that they really were friends. Pearl had found a friend in Marina, and Marina clearly felt the same way.

”You can still become a mermaid, though, right? I didn’t take you out of the water for good?” Pearl was still covering her eyes. Marina audibly laughed.

”Of course not. The sea is my home, nothing can keep me out of it. It’s very nice to be on land, though.” If Pearl hadn’t been covering her eyes, she would’ve seen Marina look at the world around her with eyes full of wonder.

”You said you’d show me another instrument today, right?” Oh, yeah. Pearl had said that. Now that Marina had legs, though, she could show her so much more. She could show her something she could actually play. Pearl nodded, eyes still close tightly.

”Yeah, I did. But I really need to get you something to cover up in, first.” Pearl was definitely not going to let a vulnerable half-naked girl sit on a beach alone, though. “Will you be alright on your own? I mean, you don’t have any clothes and you can’t even walk away if somebody approaches.”

Marina began to nod, but stopped herself when she remembered Pearl couldn’t see her do so. “Yes, of course. Nobody comes here anyway.”

The beach was on Pearl’s parents property, and it was pretty far into the land they owned, Pearl remembered. But she still wanted to be safe, just in case. “If you see anyone, just turn back into a mermaid and swim away, got it?”

“Mhm. You don’t need to worry.” Marina assured her. And with that, Pearl turned around and began to run home.

Pearl eventually arrived at her house and decided she’d have to be in and out as quick as possible. But there was an issue. Marina was much, much larger than Pearl was. She couldn’t really lend Marina any of her clothes. The only clothes in the house that would fit Marina was Pearl’s Mother’s.

Thankfully, it was now late enough in the morning that Pearl’s mother wasn’t in her room. So Pearl snuck into her mother’s room and snatched the longest, simplest sundress she could find to give to Marina for the time being. She felt guilty, of course, but she would return it as soon as possible. She also put the violin down, as she was now able to show Marina so much more.

pearl was back at the beach far faster than she thought she would be. Must’ve been the adrenaline from sneaking around where she shouldn’t. She tossed the dress to Marina and turned around.

”Get changed into that.”

Pearl heard Marina get changed into the dress. The dress was simple and easy to put on, even for a beginner. And it was clear from Marina’s top that she knew how to wear complicated clothes, anyway. Eventually, Pearl heard Marina’s soft voice again.

“I’m done!” Pearl turned around to see Marina in the dress. It clearly hasn’t been ironed in a while, but that wasn’t a big deal. Besides, Marina looked pretty in it. Really pretty.

“How do I look?” She was still sitting down, clearly unable to stand properly. 

“You look great! That really suits you.” Pearl replied. “But, uh, do you want me to help you up?”

Marina nodded. “That would be very nice, yes.” Pearl reached down to pull Marina up, using pretty much all her strength to do so. She did manage to get Marina standing.

She continued holding Marina’s hands as the tall girl’s knees wobbled. She clearly had no idea how to use her new legs.

“Uh, do you know how to walk at all?” Pearl inquired. Marina shook her head. 

“Alright, I’ll teach you then.” Pearl wasn’t sure where to start. She guessed that the first step was for Marina to simply move her feet. 

“Just put one foot in front of the other to start.” Marina obliged, placing one shaky leg in front of the other. “That’s good, now do the other.” Marina began to do so again, but stumbled, causing both girls to fall.

Marina pushed herself off of the ground- and Pearl- with her arms. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to-“ instead of anything negative, Marina was cut off with laughter.

”You’re fine. You did great, especially since that was your first time walking. We can just try again.” Pearl slid out from underneath Marina, stood up, and offered her hand again. Marina took it gingerly.

After a lot of trial and error, Marina was able to walk… kind of. She needed to use Pearl as support. Pearl didn’t mind, though.

”Hey, do you want to go to my house? I can walk you there. I have a ton more instruments there, not just some lousy violin I can’t even play.” Pearl offered.

”Really? Are you sure? I can’t really walk by myself very well.” Marina was unsure of this idea, it had took Pearl quite a bit to get back with some clothes, and she had been running.

”You can lean on me and I’ll support you. It might take us a bit, but I bet we could make it there eventually.”

Marina thought about the offer. She didn’t want to be a burden, but she wasn’t asking for this, Pearl was offering to do this for her. So she nodded.

They began their trek down the wooden path, with Marina using Pearl as support. Pearl could look up at Marina to see her eyes full of wonder and curiosity, observing everything around her. She would stop once in a while to admire a strange plant or something. Pearl was careful to guide Marina in a way that wouldn’t hurt her feet. She didn’t have shoes, after all.

Somewhere along the way, Marina gasped loudly. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Pearl asked with concern. Marina pointed a shaky finger ahead. Sitting where she was pointing was a small chipmunk.

”What’s that?” Marina’s eyes were glowing with excitement. “Oh, that’s a chipmunk. It’s just an animal you’ll see pretty often out here.” Marina watched intently as it gathered seeds on the ground.

”Can we get any closer to it?” Pearl shook her head. “Nah, they get scared when people get too close. We can sit here and watch it from afar, though.” Marina stopped moving, so Pearl took that to mean she wanted to watch the chipmunk a while longer.

The girls made a few more stops like that along the way, with Marina getting curious and wanting to observe anything interesting she saw. It didn’t bother Pearl, though. She found it quite endearing.

It took a good while before Pearl and Marina arrived at Pearl’s house. When they did, they were exhausted. This didn’t stop Marina from staring at it the house in awe.

”It’s huge.” Marina mumbled. Pearl laughed. “Yeah, I guess. But the inside is far more interesting. Come on.” 

Pearl lead Marina inside carefully, trying her hardest to avoid her family. She felt kind of weird sneaking around her own house like this. They ended up in her room pretty quickly.

Pearls room was huge, with a king-sized bed and an entire couch, too. It was a strange mix of two styles, as if she hadn’t figured out which one she wanted to commit to yet. Half of her stuff was cute and baby pink, but the rest was punk and dark in colour.

As they entered the room, Pearl almost collapsed on the floor. She was the only thing keeping Marina standing though, so first she slowly helped Marina sit down before laying down beside her.

”I’m fucking exhausted.” Pearl huffed, not having the energy to censor her language. “Yeah, that was a pretty long walk.” Marina agreed.

”Would it be okay if I showed you the instruments tomorrow? I’m way too tired to do anything else today.” Pearl didn’t want to let Marina down, but she didn’t have much of a choice.

To Pearl’s surprise, Marina didn’t seem to mind. “Sure, that’s okay.” It was around this time when Pearl realized she could not get Marina back to the beach.

”Would you be alright to stay here for the night? I don’t really have a way to get you back to the beach.”

Marina didn’t seem bothered by this either. “That’s fine, if it’s not too much of a bother to you.”

”Nah, it’s all good. You can have the bed, I’ll sleep on the couch.” Pearl stood up and guided Marina to the bed. Marina was pretty dirty from walking barefoot through the mud, but Pearl didn’t mind. She could always wash her sheets. She tucked Marina in as cozily as she could. “You comfy?”

Marina nodded, grinning gleefully. “It’s so warm.” 

Pearl chuckled. “I’m glad. Get some sleep, you must be tired.” Pearl walked over to turn off the light. “Is this alright?” She called to Marina. “Yup.” Marina called back, not daring to move. She didn’t want to mess up the way Pearl had tucker her in.

Pearl stumbled her way to the couch in the darkness and laid down, wrapping herself up in the soft decorative blanket. It was pretty crazy of her to let some random mermaid girl into her house to sleep in her bed, especially when she only knew her for 3 days. But Pearl was too tired to care. All she could do was hope her parents wouldn’t walk in.

”G’night, Marina.”

”Goodnight, Pearlie.”

Pearl was far too tired to notice the nickname.