AN: I posted this in Tumblr a few months ago, and I decided to upload it here too. Enjoy!
This was not possible.
It was scientifically, anatomically impossible.
Max pinched himself in the arm just to see if he wasn't dreaming or having a weird ocean-induced hallucination.
Nope.
The other boy was still there, lying unconscious on his stomach, at the shore, right next to him along with all the wood rubble from the boat.
Taking a deep breath as he stood up with shaking legs, Max blinked several times to confirm that, indeed, there was still a half man, half fish in front of him.
(And a very handsome one, too)
The mermaid- no, merman- was muscular, with olive skin and short black hair. His tail was red, and there seemed to be some white details on the fins. Daring himself to do a closer inspection, Max noticed that he had some blond hair at some tips too.
Max sat down again, still in front of the exotic creature that he only had heard of in the fairytales his mom would read to him when he was a child. He was honestly at lost at what to do. Should he poke him with a stick to wake him up? Throw him in the water? Leave? Leave and put a note next to him? (Could mermen even read?!)
A groan interrupted his trail of thoughts and Max hold his breath as he watched the merman slowly open his eyes.
"I'm going to kill Alix…" the merman muttered as he lifted himself, resting on his tail and seemingly not noticing Max, who was still silent while wondering who the heck was Alix. Was it another merman? A fish? A crab? A whale?
"Oh no"
Max's thoughts were once again interrupted by the merman's words. He looked at the creature's face, and sucked in a breath when he realized that the merman was looking at him, face pale.
"Uh… hi?" was the only thing brilliant thing that occurred for Max to say to the other boy, who now looked shocked.
"Err… hi" he returned. None of them moved, they just kept staring at each other's eyes. Max took notice that the merman's eyes were a dark brown. Probably ordinary for someone else, but for Max, they seemed to contain a story. A mystery.
"So, um… did you… uh… save me?" Max dared to ask as he motioned with his hands the piles of wood rubble around them.
"Ah, yes, yes I did" the merman said, looking a bit nervous as he broke eye contact. "I saw you fall of the boat and, um, you weren't coming back up" he explained.
"So you saved me" Max whispered in awe. The merman raised an eyebrow.
"Yes" his brow furrowed. "What were you doing out there in the middle of a storm, anyway? I'm not an expert, but I'm sure humans tend to die in them" he asked Max.
"Science" Max said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Sci…ence?" the merman repeated, looking confused.
"Yeah, it's the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment" Max said. The merman simply blinked.
"I have no idea what this 'science' is, but I can tell you really like it" the merman said after a while.
"Mermen don't know what science is?" Max asked, not managing to contain his curiosity.
"Merpeople like magic. Although in my case, I prefer bets than learning magic" the merman said. Max had to bite his tongue in order to not argue about magic. He was talking to a creature everyone considered a myth of the sea.
"Wait, did you just say 'bet'?" Max questioned. The merman nodded.
"Yeah, yesterday I made a bet with my friend, that if I could spend an entire night in the surface in the middle of a storm, she would have to wear a crab as a hair decoration. If I didn't, I would have to wear the crab" his expression turned grim, "I guess that, since I saved you and was knocked out by exhaustion, I will have to wear the crab" he said with a pout that Max found a bit adorable.
"I think it would be funny to see you with a crab on your hair" Max found himself saying. The merman stared at him dumbfounded, and Max could feel his cheeks go pink.
"Does that mean that you want to see me again?" the merman questioned. Max, not really trusting his voice at the moment, nodded slowly.
"I- yes, I mean… I've never met a merperson before, and I honestly have questions, and you seem like a cool guy- I mean merman, and, uh, I want to thank you properly for saving my life… so, well, yes, I would like to see you again" Max rambled.
The merman stayed silent, a thoughtful look on his face. He then smiled as he looked at Max.
"Well… I've always been a little curious of humans, so I wouldn't have a problem" he said.
Max found himself beaming and was about to say something, but the merman held his hand up.
"But we need to be careful, of course. Humans shouldn't really know about merpeople's existence" he said, looking around, almost as he was afraid that there was another human listening to their conversation.
"I know how to keep a secret" Max said with a smirk as he winked at the merman, who returned the smirk.
Max then extended his hand out to the merman.
"My name is Max, by the way"
The creature's smirk melted into a soft smile.
"Nice to meet you, Max. I'm Kim"