Chapter Text
Mermaids, generally, did not fraternize with humans.
It wasn't like it was against any law within their culture, per se, but merely out of their own survival instincts and the idea that the two worlds were their own seperate, isolated spaces.
Despite this, it wasn't uncommon for them to come onto land, much like how many humans enjoy taking a dip into their own realm, if only for a short while, safely within sight of the shore — the only difference there was that their legs did not transform into a tail upon contact with the water, whereas a mermaid's tail would temporarily turn into legs once sufficiently dried, allowing them to walk amongst the humans if they so desired. Usually, though, if they wanted to "stretch their legs", so to speak, they would do it under the cover of night, or in some isolated shoreline free from human interference.
Nox was not one such of these mermaids.
If you had asked him a month ago, he would have said he was; that it was ridiculous to spend time above the water, surrounded by the humans who infected and abused the ocean so. They cared not for the sea and those who inhabited it, so why care about those on the land?
And yet, one day, he had decided to lounge around on some rocks on a secluded beach — hidden enough that he could not be seen by prying eyes, should anyone actually be there, but having a sufficient view of his surroundings that he could flee should the need arise.
It was there that he saw him.
Bare feet tread across the beach, caked in dry sand and leaving a trail of footprints behind; blond hair was gently being blown in the sea breeze, occasionally falling in front of shining, honey eyes; arms slightly swung as he walked, as if he had not a care in the world.
But most alluring of all was his voice.
He was singing.
Now, despite the many stories humans liked to tell of mermaids, the most permeating of which being the concept of sirens, mermaids didn't really sing; in some evolutionary mishap, their vocal cords were not conducive to communicating underwater, so there was simply not much reason to use them when not on land. Instead, they had bioluminescent scales adorning their tails and fins; this, in combination with a form of sign language, was their main method of communicating with one another. Yes, they were taught how to speak the language of humans, if only for the fact they should be able to communicate should the need ever arise, but it was mainly seen as a novelty; sometimes groups of friends would take trips to bask in the sun, using the opportunity above-water to relish in the pleasant sensation of vibrating one's vocal cords. Beyond that, speaking just wasn't very necessary. You could know someone for years and never know what they sounded like.
So perhaps this was why Nox was so entranced by the sound eminating from the boy on the beach; it was so foreign, so new, so enticing. He wasn't even sure if it was good singing, but it was surely something he had never experienced before.
The mermaid watched, with silent breaths, as he continued to stroll down the shore, before turning to scramble up some sand-covered hill and disappear back towards human civilization, Nox could only assume.
He waited — longer than he should have — to see if the boy would return; and, upon seeing not a soul, quietly slipped back under the water, into the realm he belonged.
~~~
He didn't stay away for long.
It turned out that the boy had some kind of routine; or at least, that was what Nox could gather, as after scoping out the area every day for two weeks, he determined that the blond had periodic days he would appear, always humming or singing some sort of tune, sometimes even dancing, so light on his feet, as he made his way down the beach. It became a part of Nox's routine, to come and watch him, a show he liked to imagine was just for him — even if the boy didn't know he existed. That was alright; he was a human, and Nox a mermaid. Two different beings in two different worlds — two that were never meant to mix. Then it should be fine, to let things remain like this — to let himself enjoy him from afar.
But as Nox was learning, he was greedy, and watching from a distance quickly became not enough. He wanted to be seen, to be heard, by the one who made it seem as if it was so, so simple.
So, in the dark cover of night, he rose from the water, stretching legs he hadn't used in so long, practicing sounds with his voice to see if he could still sufficiently form words with his vocal cords, if he could believably pass as "human".
Multiple nights were spent like this; his siblings would inquire what was eating so much of his time, and he hadn't the courage to explain how hopelessly enamored he had gotten with this mysterious blond who seemed to somehow haunt his life.
Finally, once he had re-learned how to walk without stumbling every few feet, and he could formulate sentences without having to pause every other word, he decided he would make his move.
Nox approached the beach as usual; and, as routine dictated, there he appeared, breezily stepping across the sands, almost as if he was floating. His eyes followed the boy, trailing him as he made his way down the same path he followed every single time.
Except this time, the mermaid emerged from the waves, foregoing his tail and fins as he surfaced to attempt to chase after the man who had infected his brain.
~~~
Humans flocked the boardwalk; couples held hands as they walked side-by-side, swinging their arms as they laughed; children weaved around legs, precariously balancing scoops of ice cream atop waffle cones; families carried boogie-boards and towels and umbrellas, ready for a sun-baked day at the beach.
It was there that he caught sight of him; golden hair seemed to sparkle in the sun, somewhat obscuring his face that was turned down to look at the guitar sitting in his lap. Fingers strummed the strings as the entrancing voice carried out among the crowd, and Nox felt as though it was summoning him closer, calling out just for him.
He pushed through the throng of people, elbowing his way past teens carrying surfboards and suntanned dads until he was standing right in front of the blond, so close that, if he stretched out his arm, he could hold those golden strands between his fingers.
The blond looked up from his instrument, pausing his singing as if broken from a trance; he was sitting on what Nox could only guess was a cheap fold-out chair, and a bowl filled with a few spatterings of human currency sat in front of his feet. Their eyes met, and Nox felt his breath hitch in his throat.
A warm smile graced the guitarist's lips, even though Nox was a complete stranger. "Hey! Nice day out, huh? Do you need something?"
In fact, he did need something, except…he forgot just about everything he had wanted to say to him.
He began to raise his hands, his brain defaulting to his own language, before quickly lowering them as to not make the human think he couldn't hear — that was just going to cause even more confusion. "Uh, h-hey."
The other boy had actually let go of the guitar to also lift his hands, mirroring Nox's movements — probably trying to figure out what he was doing, then quirked a brow at him once they were lowered. Did he already think he was strange?
Once they had settled back onto the instrument, Nox coughed into his fist before continuing. "I…have no money to offer you, but…I wanted to say your singing is very…pleasant. To the ears."
The blond brightened at that, that warm smile growing bigger. Nox could feel the energy radiating off him; it felt infectious, and he could feel a grin tugging at his own lips, despite the anxiety swirling around his stomach.
"Aw, thanks! Don't worry about the money, just getting a compliment from someone like you is payment enough." He stuck out a hand, offering it to Nox to shake; it was a custom he was…familiar enough with. "I'm Chase; how about yourself?"
Nox paused mid-handshake; he hadn't considered his name, was it a normal human one? Shit, he hadn't prepared anything for this.
"It's…a secret." Settling on that, he winced at how odd that came off. Couldn't he have thought of literally anything else?
Chase didn't seem to mind that, though; instead he let out a light chuckle, his eyes lighting up as if that was a challenge. "A secret? What, are you gonna have to kill me if you tell me or something?"
The question must have been rhetorical, because the blond had turned his attention back to the guitar. "Well then…Buddy, let's go with that — do you have any requests on this fine afternoon?"
~~~
Nox had lazed around there for quite some time, yet the sun began to kiss the horizon far too soon for his liking.
Chase was an aspiring musician, he had confided, whose talents weren't appreciated much back home — he was actually surprised at how taken Nox was with his singing. He seemed rather flattered, if anything; Nox wondered how anyone could ignore him so easily.
It also turned out that he was a bit of an idiot, in the mermaid's own opinion. When not singing, he was still rather loud, in an obnoxious way, and really kept prying into Nox — what brought him here? What other music did he like? Did he want to walk along the beach?
Honestly, Nox had nearly considered this far too risky, but he couldn't resist leaving the man he had wanted to get to know for so long. He tried finding ways to dodge the questions, or give vague enough answers that seemed to satisfy the blond well enough, but absolutely declared no beach walks.
Nox wasn't entirely sure if contact with fresh water would cause a mermaid to transform — and he certainly wasn't about to test it out now — but he did know that the slightest amount of seawater would bring out his tail and fins, and he was absolutely not about to let that happen.
Chase seemed confused at his vehement refusal to approach the beach, probably because it was a beach town, but didn't inquire further on his stance. Maybe he assumed he had some past trauma with the ocean; that would be fine.
Once the sun had sunk low below the waves, the two had parted ways, Nox waiting until long after the musician had left before returning to the sea.
"See you again soon?" Chase had asked, hope tinging his voice, and how could Nox refuse?
And so he had returned the next day, and the day after, and the day after that — each day that he knew Chase would be there, he would come, and each day he knew he would be absent he would spend wishing he was listening to that enchanting voice, to the strum of that guitar.
His siblings would ask who the lucky guy was, and Nox would roll his eyes and flash back a don't be ridiculous, but it didn't take long until he was talking their ear off (metaphorically, of course), and Violet was just about ready to find whoever this "Chase" was and tell him to break whatever enchatment he had seemingly hexed her brother with.
It was wonderful; and yet, Nox couldn't ignore the guilt that was gnawing at his conscious, that this wasn't right.
~~~
"How do you like it?"
Chase's head was propped on his hand, slightly tilted as he watched the black-haired man take a drawn-out slurp of a delightful chocolate drink concoction the blond had purchased for him. The warm summer breeze was tickling the mermaid's cheeks; the liquid was cool against his throat; the man he cherished was looking at him so fondly; it was only natural that such a pleased smile would be painted upon his face at such a wonderful combination of everything around him.
He didn't even bother answering the other's question; the expression he was wearing was confirmation enough for Chase that he had selected an adequate drink for Buddy.
The blond giggled, barely having touched his own drink as he chose instead to just observe Nox with such a stupid little grin. "Dude, can you even taste it with how fast you're drinking it?"
"Shut up." The mermaid paused to take a breath from his chugging, but there was no actual malice behind his words. Chase never seemed to mind that he never had money of his own to purchase little treats like this — he opted instead to spoil Nox, never asking for anything in return. It was never anything much, and it was only ever when Chase had been blessed with a generous amount of coins and dollars from passersby, but it meant more than anything to Nox.
Only the tiniest amount of drops of chocolate goodness were left in the cup, and Chase giggled at the man's attempts to consume every last bit of his treasured treat. The cup was very rudely taken from his hands, Chase resting it on the table so that he could take Buddy's hands in his own, lifting him up from the café chair and guiding him out off the patio and onto the boardwalk. "Care for a walk?"
Chase swung Buddy's arm as they strolled down the pavement, the energetic bounce in his step not going unnoticed by Nox. He was humming some song Nox hadn't heard before, and he kept sneaking glances at the ebony-haired man, almost to the point that he was barely looking at the path ahead of him.
He shot a slight smirk at the blond, taking a bit more pleasure in it than he should. "Is there something you need, Chase?"
Twirling in front of Nox, he grabbed both of his hands once again, dragging him toward an empty bench amongst the few passersby. "Can we chat?"
Nox felt his heart sink at the question; can we chat could mean I know how you like me, and I don't feel the same or I know what you are.
Or perhaps worse, it meant I like you, too.
They slid onto the bench, Chase sidling close until their legs brushed against each other. His fingers crept closer to Nox's, until his hand was resting on top of Nox's own. "Soooo…"
The mermaid attempted to swallow the lump that had now formed in his throat, his mouth suddenly feeling much too dry despite the drink he had had only minutes before. "So."
The blond was gazing intently at him, his eyes seemingly lost in Nox's own as he let the word hang in the air, his fingers now idly playing with the ebony-haired man's. "How do you…how do you feel about me, Buddy?"
Ah. There it was. The lump in his throat only grew, and he had to fight to force the words out of his mouth. "I feel…good? About you?"
Chase leaned closer, his smile growing at that. "You know that's not what I mean."
Nox didn't respond to that; he didn't know how to respond. Instead, Chase inched closer, until their hair was brushing against the other's; until Nox's whole world was swallowed in honeyed eyes.
"Well, this is how I feel about you."
It was offered slowly, and Nox could have rejected, had he actually not wanted it, but how could he want anything else? It was simple; an unspoken declaration of love. Chase's lips were soft against his own, and they lingered there, long after the kiss had finished, and he could feel the blond smiling against his lips, taste of sunlight on the tip of his tongue. "I'll take it that you feel the same, then?"
After a moment, Nox pulled back, suddenly having clarity to realize what this meant. If anxiety and guilt had been swimming around in his stomach just a minute ago, then now it was attempting to crawl up his throat. "I— Um—"
His grin faltering, Chase was looking at him expectantly, leaning back as he raised his hands. "Or— shit, I'm sorry, do you not— am I being too—"
"No, no, it's— it's just—" Nox shot a glance towards the beach, towards the secluded shoreline hidden behind palm trees and piles of rocks. He couldn't keep doing this — the truth was going to come out eventually. If he truly loved Chase, then he needed to tell him, even if it meant he may never love him after this.
He sucked in a breath, before letting out a sigh as he reached for Chase's hand.
"Would you walk with me on the beach?"
~~~
It was silent as they made their way across the sand, the only sound being that of the crashing waves against the shoreline and the call of seagulls above their heads. The sun was setting, sinking beneath the distant waves as tendrils of orange and yellow streaked across the sky. Nox led him to the edge of an outcropping of rocks, the waves crashing against the base below, giving way to the open sea just beyond.
The blond was framed against the sunset, his silhoutte casting its shadow onto Nox just before him.
"Is something…wrong, Buddy?"
He finally broke the silence, trying to scan icy blue eyes for some sort of answer. "I thought it— we— were good."
Taking Chase's hands in his own, Nox forced himself to meet his gaze. "It…it was good, Chase, it's just that—" He paused, looking up at the birds overhead, trying to think of how he'd even begin to explain things.
"Have you ever heard of…cryptids, things of the like?" Nox ran through his memory, trying to think of the (most likely) mythical beings humans had folktales of. "Mysterious monsters that have no explanation?"
Chase tilted his head, as if trying to figure out where the other man was going with this. "I mean, yeah I…I have— where are you going with this?"
"Well, I just…" Nox paused, trying to brace himself for the impact, for how he would be rejected in less than a minute. "So, have you heard of…mermaids?"
If the blond already looked confused, he now only looked more befuddled, blinking at Nox a few times as he tried to understand what he was asking him; but Nox didn't give him time to react. "Because, what I mean to say is…I am one. A, um, a mermaid, that is."
He was now looking at the ocean; at the sand and rocks around him; at anything other than Chase as he waited for the other boy's reaction.
It was quiet for a beat.
Two beats.
Three.
And then, he heard, "Oh my god, you're not joking."
Nox turned his head to look at Chase directly, his heart beating in his chest as he seemingly processed what Nox had just dumped on him.
Except…he was laughing.
It started off as a small giggle, that only grew more and more raucous, until he was doubled-over in laughter, clutching his stomach as he used his other arm to grab onto Buddy's shoulder. "Oh my god, you're being serious!"
Nox could feel heat flushing to his neck, his cheeks, his ears; this was certainly not the reaction he had been expecting — was he delirious?
"Of course I'm not joking, I'm— I'm being dead serious here!"
The flaxen-haired boy straightened up, still cackling uncontrollably, and Nox could see tears in his eyes. "Yeah, that's why I'm laughing SO HARD. Oh my god, did you seriously think I didn't know?"
Now it was Nox's turn to blink, having to process what Chase was now saying. "Wait, you're saying— you knew?"
"Dude, of course I knew, I knew the second I— oh my god, wait, you don't— you don't know—"
He erupted into another fit of laughter, which Nox was very unappreciative of, because he felt as though he was the punchline of some joke that was flying way over his head. "I don't know what?"
"Here, let me just— it's easier if I just—"
Nox felt arms wrap around him, the blond pulling him into a hug, though it felt much less like an embrace and much more like an attack, as only a second later the two of them were being hurled off the cliff, falling into the open water below.
Fear gripped his heart as they careened into the water with a resounding SPLASH, cascading bubbles obscuring his vision; Nox knew he would be alright, but he didn't even know if Chase could swim— what was he THINKING?
The moment his body made contact with the water, he felt the scales climbing up his limbs, legs fusing once again to form into the tail he was oh-so familiar with. He twisted in the water, trying to catch sight of the little idiot who had thrown them off the outcropping, when he felt something smooth and cool rub against his tail, scales meeting scales.
With one more turn, he saw the blond in front of him, and also now saw how, below his torso, where legs had once been, was now a turqouise tail, tinged with pink and accented with gold details. A scattering of the bioluminescent scales flashed along it, twice in rapid succession — the quickest and most informal way for a mermaid to say hey, as Chase had the most aggravating, infuriating smug expression he was shooting at Nox.
He barely even had a moment to register what was happening, before he was being dragged to the surface by the other mermaid; the second his head popped above the water, he could hear the melodious laughter of his new partner carrying out over the waves.
"Oh my god, you totally should've seen the look on your face! You seriously thought I was a human?"
Nox couldn't answer that, presently far too concerned with how red his face must be with embarrasment with how hot it felt.
"It's why I wanted to go to the beach — I wanted to go for a swim with you! I had no idea why you seemed like you hated the beach but I didn't want to make you uncomfortable by asking too much, and— OH MY GOD I CAN SEE YOUR TAIL."
He apparently liked giving Nox no time to react, as he had already dove back under the water, swimming circles around him as Nox attempted to twist around to watch him; the combination of scale flashes and gesturing Chase was offering him were very flattering compliments, and he couldn't help but shoot some back Chase's way.
May I? The other mermaid had paused his circling to hover next to him, posing his query; and, upon receiving confirmation from Nox, ran a hand along his tail, intently taking in the deep, almost-black scales that shone in the ever-fading sunlight, highlighting the purples that broke their way through the dark backdrop.
So cool, he signaled, absolutely beaming at Nox. You're so adorable when you're stupid.
Somehow, Nox felt his cheeks redden even more, if that was even possible. Oh my god, shut up.
Can't shut up if I'm not talking! With a silent giggle, Chase shot ahead of him, twisting around to look at Nox behind him, and despite how idiotic the black-haired mermaid felt, he couldn't help but match Chase's smile with his own.
What was he even ever worried about?
So, Chase flashed, extending an arm towards Nox, inviting him to join him in a dance beneath the waves.
Want to go for a swim?