Chapter 1: First Encounters

"Nope…too small…too big…does she like pink?" the eight year old blonde murmured to himself.

Kendall Knight was at the beach looking for sea shells for his mom's birthday. He knew she liked the ocean so he thought the best present for her will be a shell from the beach. The blonde was currently sitting on the sand his red plastic bucket next to him filled with different assortments of shells he found in the past hour. He was currently looking through them trying to find the best ones and so far he only found two, a blue and green shell. After discarding the rest of the shells he placed the two in his pocket and grabbed his now empty bucket and stood up wiping the sand from his shorts and continued his search determined to find the best shells for his mom.

A sudden sound of a loud splash surprised him and turned towards it, a large smile lighting up his face at the sight. One thing he loved coming to the beach was to watch the dolphins jump and play with one another. He quickly ran and got on top of one of the largest rocks to have a better look as they played, he took out a camera from his other pocket and took pictures as best as he could. He took a couple of close and far ones then he checked each and every one, with the help of his dad he could be able to print them and use them as a birthday card.

As he searched through them he cocked his head when he stopped in one of the pictures and narrowed his eyes, there in the lower right hand corner of a photo was a light red color in the water. Placing his camera in his pocket he looked down and saw a thin red color in the water. Carefully maneuvering on the rocks he followed the trail with his eyes, the color started to get darker a bit as he got closer to the shore finding out that they disappeared around a few rocks farther out in the ocean. Not wanting to give up his search he made sure to stay away from the edges of the rocks, until he spotted the trail again, noticing how the further the trail was the darker the color becomes.

He noticed that the trail was away from the beach to a much smaller one, one that he is forbidden to go without his parents, but he noticed the rest of the trail reaching a cave he recognized. He quickly got off the rocks once he was near the sand and ran all way to the mouth of the cave. The cave was on the side of a cliff, it was large, nearly two stories high and a mile deep. It was also in the middle of the shore so the saltwater still went inside when the waves crash against the shore creating a small river inside. He once went inside after his dad gone in and checked if it was safe, according to his dad, it was dangerous especially in storms when the water would go in making the floor slippery taking everything inside to the ocean. Sometimes there will be bad people doing bad things like smoking, one of the many reasons why he was forbidden to go inside. When he first came here he expected to find treasure or a map in a bottle, or a pirate ship or skeleton, but was disappointed when all he saw were dark walls and a couple of empty beer cans.

He saw the red trail lead inside and with a deep breath he stepped forward. He placed a hand on the wall as he walked and kept his eyes on the water. The water was shallow only reaching his stomach the trail becoming dark as he walked, he noticed that the deeper he went the less light there was. Before he decided to stop, he saw a small sparkle of light wear the trail was coming from, turning his head slightly his eyes widened and his lips parted letting out a gasp in shock. There on the edge of the river was a teenager; his upper body was on the shore lying face down, but what shocked the young boy was not the male lying on the floor of the cave, it was the rest of him that made him a believer of his mom's fairytale stories. In the water, instead of legs there was a large white tail; four feet long with white fish scales that were filled with cuts and blood along with dirt and sand on the edges of the wounds. They looked more red, pink, and black than white at the moment.

Kendall took a step forward, but his foot slipped and he yelped, he was able to grasp the wall tightly with both hands as he regained his balance and made a quiet 'phew' as he wiped his forehead. His eyes widened again when the teenager opened his eyes and widened in fear before he lifted his own head, his lips also parted in shock. The young blonde noticed that he had tan skin, short hair that nearly reached his shoulders and amazing light brown eyes colored eyes.

They both stared at each other not saying a word, when the merman tried to move he hissed quietly and made a grimace his eyes showing both fear and pain making the blonde boy concern at his state. "It's okay," he said making the merman's eyes widened in fear again. "I won't hurt you," he said softly as he slowly walked to him.

The merman moved back slightly, but bit his lip when he felt pain in his lower body. Kendall sat on his legs and scooted closer until he was in reaching distance, he stretched his hand and placed it on the merman's, he gave him a small smile when he relaxed a bit, "see? I'm not bad."

The merman did not reply instead he kept his gaze on his hand on top of his, Kendall eye's roamed to his tail and carefully placed a hand on his lower back slowly sliding to his scales. When he was near one of the cuts he heard a hiss and a tight grip on his wrist, he quickly pulled back and turned to the merman with a slightly angry and painful expression, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, honest."

The merman's expression softened and he let go of his wrist then he lied back down on the ground keeping his gaze on the young boy.

The minute he heard a loud yell he immediately woke up and to his horror found a small human a few feet away from him. He had short blonde hair and emerald eyes and he also had what appeared to be two pieces of rags on his body and black slippers on his shoes showing his feet. He's heard of humans torturing and experimenting on them ever since he was a child he had been warned to never go near one and to never go to the surface.

However this human seemed concerned when he tried to move away from him and hurt his tail in the process. He was also surprised when the human placed a hand on top of his own, it felt soft and warm, comforting him and for a minute distracting him from the pain. For some odd reason he also felt his heart skip a beat or two, before he could think any further, he felt a sharp sting on the back of his tail and grabbed his wrist. For a moment he thought the human was going to harm and prepared to defend himself, but one look at his guilty expression and heard his apology he let it slide. Too tired to do anything else he lay back down and watched the human cautiously as he looked at his tail in awe.

Not wanting to cause the merman any more pain, Kendall made sure to keep his hands to himself and looked at his tail with both an amazed and a concerned gaze. His tail was cut in a strange pattern he recognized, but couldn't place it no matter how hard he tried to remember, it was still bleeding making the water dark. However it stopped immensely, but he could tell the merman was in pain and could not move.

What happened?

"I got trapped in a net."

Eyes wide he turned toward the merman, "w-what?"

"I got trapped in a net," he repeated, the blonde noticed his voice was scratchy and quiet, most likely because he was tired from the way his eyes were drooping a bit. Turning to the merman's tail, he realized they were small squares, this brought a memory in his mind when he found a dead fish in a fishnet that washed on his shore, its small body cut and bloodied in the same pattern of the net.

"How?" he asked quietly.

The merman sighed, the blonde didn't know if it was because he was tired or didn't want to tell him. A moment he spoke, "a dolphin got caught in a fishnet and I helped it get out, but I got caught in it too. The next thing I knew I was in a lot of pain and I heard voices, it turned out the fishnet wasn't abandoned as I thought it was."

Kendall clenched his fist and narrowed his eyes in anger, the merman continued speaking. "I was able to get away taking the net with me, I swam as far as I could, but they followed me, I found this cave and hid inside, and that's how I ended up here and with all this." He slightly tilted his head toward his injuries.

"That's so cruel!" Kendall said making the merman raise a brow at his action. "I get they have to catch fish to eat, but dolphins," he shook his head, "that is wrong, and you got hurt, man I knew my dad should have shot them when he had the chance, but no instead he called the coast guard and dealt with it le-gul-lili, assholes."

Kendall gasped and covered his mouth with both of his hands, "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to say a bad word."

James smiled, but it quickly turned into a grimace when he felt a sharp pain near his fins.

The young human's eyes widen in worry, "what's wrong?"

"The net," he said through clenched teeth. "It's still on my tail."

Kendall scooted back and leaned forward a bit looking at the end of the merman's tail. He had no idea how he didn't see it before, but near the merman's fins there is a net tied around him, making him bleed as it cut his scales. An idea popped into his head and immediately turned to him taking his hand again, squeezing it in reassurance. "I'm gonna go get something to help you; I'll be back soon okay?"

The merman's eyes widened and he quickly grabbed his wrist before he ran out the cave, "no, wait, you can't tell anyone about me."

"I won't I promise, a Knight never breaks a promise." Before the merman could argue, the blonde ran as fast as his small legs could carry him out the cave.

The merman bit his lip in worry and lied back down on the ground keeping his gaze on the mouth of the cave, waiting for the young blonde to bring other humans to come and take him away to do with what who knows what to him. But he couldn't help but have a bit of hope swell in his chest as he waited.

Kendall ran across the small beach to the rocks, making sure he got to the other side safely and as fast as possible. Once he reached the other side he ran to the trees near the beach, he quickly moved his gaze across a couple of trees before it fell on a large one near a palm tree. He ran to it and quickly got on his knees he found a small hole on its base and placed his hand inside, he smiled when he touched something hard and smooth and took out a first-aid kit. He then ran back to the beach and to the rocks before he ended up in the other side again, the blonde made sure to have a strong grip on the kit as he had it close to his chest when he jumped and ran. In less than twenty minutes he reached the cave and went inside, he panted heavily as he got on his knees near the merman as he tried to catch his breath.

The merman was surprised to see him again and alone with a white box. He grew concerned when he got on his knees and breathed heavily, he noticed his hair sticking to his forehead and his cheeks red. "Are you alright?"

He nodded, "I'm fine…just...give…me a…minute."

The merman did as he was told and waited for the blonde to calm down, a few minutes later the young human grabbed the white box and opened it. He cocked his head to the side as he watched him mumble 'no' and 'not good' as he went through the things inside. There were different assortments of bottles and boxes, many he had seen and recognized, other he had never laid eyes on.

"Ah-Ha!" the blonde raised a white bag and opened it, he took out what seemed like a long thin piece of metal with two holes at the end. He watched as he took off one of his rags and slippers and stepped into the water, walking toward his tail.

After he got rid of his light blue shirt and black sandals, Kendall stepped into the water, slightly shivering at the cold temperature he continued walking until he reached his tail. He pulled up his shorts until it reached his thighs and crouched then he gently grabbed the net he took his scissors and started to cut. His tongue poked out as he cut the thick rope, he smiled when he cut through, "I'm sorry if this hurts."

The merman was confused for a moment before he clenched his fists and hissed in pain.

As quickly as he could Kendall grabbed the rope and pulled it slightly to lift off one of the merman's cuts. He quickly let go when it was halfway cut and continued with the next. The merman lowered his head hiding his face on his forearms and bit his lip to keep himself from crying out loud in pain, not wanting to scare the young human.

Slowly, Kendall grabbed the net and lifted it relieved to see it loose. "Could you move your…uh…the thing at the end of your tail?"

The merman looked over his shoulder and noticed that the blonde created a hole in the net, but it wasn't big enough for his fin. With some difficulty he moved his right fin to the left, the human child moved removed the net from his fin with ease. The merman did the same to his left moving it to the right; Kendall removed it and then stood up and pulled the net away from the merman.

He sighed in relief as his tail was free and the pain went away to a throb he could deal with, lying back down he watched the human pull the medium size net out of the water and the cave. Kendall walked a few feet away from the cave and the ocean, he ignored the hot sand burning his feet as he threw the net aside, turning back he quickly went inside and sat on the merman's side dipping his feet in the water. He sighed in relief and placed the scissors inside the opened kit, "how do you feel?"

"A bit better now that the net doesn't burn my tail anymore, I hate those things." The human child nodded in agreement. Looking back at his tail Kendall saw the dirt and grime on his tail; digging through his first aid kit he found a dozen packets of alcohol pads. He opened one and leaned to one of the cuts and gently dap the wound.

"Ow!"

The human child pulled back slightly, "sorry."

"What are you doing?" he asked in anger, but was also curios what he was doing.

"I'm cleaning the cuts, so they won't get infested- invented- envicted- what's that word?" he asked himself quietly as he tried to remember.

"Infected?" the merman guessed.

"Yeah! That's one, infected."

"I could heal myself."

"Heel, what's that word?" the human asked giving him a curious expression.

"Heal, it means I can…" He tried to think of the right words to say to a child for him to understand, "make myself feel better, get rid of these cuts."

"Then why don't you?" he asked with concern, but to the merman it sounded a lot like a challenge.

He looked away, "I'm…tired." he mumbled loud enough for the blonde to hear.

"Did you eat breakfast today?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

"What's breakfast?"

"Um…let me ask again, did you eat anything in the morning?"

The merman shook his head, "not really."

"Hmm?" The blonde moved away from the merman's tail, much to his content and went through the kit again. He took out a medium size bag and ripped it open with his teeth, he slipped the wrapper off revealing a chocolate chip cookie. Kendall stretched it toward him; the merman moved back and narrowed his eyes at his hand.

"What is that?"

"It's a cookie," he smiled, "it's really good. Here." He moved forward a bit.

"What do I do with it?"

"You eat it." He said with a 'duh' tone.

Hesitantly, the merman took it. He placed near his nose, it had a sweet scent and made his mouth slightly water, parting his lips he took a small bite and chewed. His taste buds instantly exploded at the taste and he closed his eyes as he savored the taste moaning a bit at how good it was.

"It's good huh?" Kendall asked with a chuckle. His answer was a moan as the merman took a larger bite of the cookie. Looking back at his tail, he decided to take this opportunity and dabbed it, he looked back to see the merman still enjoying the cookie. He quickly dabbed as much cuts as he could before there was a loud shout of pain, "Hey!"

"So was the cookie good?" he asked ignoring him as he continued cleaning it.

"Stop that!" he moved his tail making the human miss.

"I'm trying to help you."

"I don't need it!"

"You're such a baby," he mumbled, "will you please let me? I'm almost done."

The merman looked at his tail, the dirt and blood that dirtied his tail was mostly clean, it almost made his tail almost seem white again. He turned back and was surprised for the fourth time that day to see the human boy with a small pout and his eyes sad at not being able to help him. With a groan he placed his head back on his arms and mumbled an irritating 'fine.'

Kendall immediately smiled and went back to work. After a few alcohol pads he leaned back and smiled, "there all done."

The merman sighed in relief and placed his arms underneath him, crossing himself for warmth and placed his head on the ground and closed his eyes relieved that the cold floor cooled his heated skin. Kendall noticed the merman shaking a little and his cheeks a bit red. He moved his hair a bit before he placed his hand on his forehead, surprising the merman. "What are you doing?"

"You're really really warm," the young human said, removing his hand.

"What does that mean?" he asked, slightly annoyed that he won't let him rest.

"It means you're sick," Kendall took out a bottle of water and a small hand towel from the kit. He opened the bottle and stretched it toward him, "here, drink."

He raised a scrutinizing brow, "what is it?"

"Water…not salt water. You can drink this one," he said, he frowned when the merman gave him and the bottled water a small look between exhaustion, anger, and curiosity. "Please." He said, making the merman's feature soften. One look from the human's face and those emerald eyes of his and he can't say no. He sighed and lifted himself slightly leaning on his elbow as he took the bottle and took a small sip, he soon began to take large gulps, realizing that he was very thirsty before he gave a satisfied sigh. Kendall took the nearly empty bottle and placed it inside the kit, then he scooted closer to the water and dipped the towel in, after watching his mom doing it many times, he twisted the towel removing any excessive water and folded it. Scooting back to his original position he moved his hair from his neck and placed the towel on top of his skin. "There that should help."

"With what?" The merman asked curiously, not complaining that whatever the human placed on his neck was cooling him a bit, but it also made him shiver a bit.

"You shouldn't be really really warm, I learned that you need to be normal warm by putting something cold, but not too cold to make you feel better." He explained as he grabbed his shirt and rolled it up into a medium size ball.

"Where did you learn that?" he asked amazed at the human child's knowledge of body temperature.

"I have a friend, he's really smart and wants to be a doctor; he taught me a few things when people are sick."

"What's a doctor?"

"Someone that helps you feel better when you're sick."

He nodded as he understood his explanation, "so a doctor is a healer?"

"Heel-ler?" he said slowly the new word on his lips.

"Someone who makes you feel better," he answered.

"Oh!" he smiled in understanding, "then I guess it is like a doctor."

He placed his rolled up shirt next to James, "here, you can lay on it and use it as a pillow."

James looked at it, not wanting to upset the human he placed his head on it, comforting him. Kendall covered his mouth from a yawn and lied next to James, "pick your arm up a bit."

"Why?" he asked as he situated himself carefully lying on his side and situated the moist towel on his neck.

"You'll see," hesitantly the merman did as he was told and raised his right arm a bit.

Kendall moved so his back was touching the merman's chest. Bewildered, the merman watched as the human grabbed his arms with his small hand and placed it around him, before he was able to move or push the human away.

"There," he said as he curved his own arm and laid his head on it, before he placed the merman's arm next to his small body. "Since I forgot my towel I thought I could be next to you so you don't have to be cold anymore.

The merman stared at the child not really knowing what to do in this kind of situation, "what's it like?"

"Huh?" he looked down at the human, the blonde looked at him with an excited expression.

"What's it like to live underwater? I bet it's amazing," he said with a mesmerized tone.

"Well," he took a moment to try the find the right words to speak. "During the summer there are a lot of dolphins you can play with, or swim with them, and you can go to some caves and see moon crystals go glow like stars. Um, sometimes see sunken ships-,"

"Like pirate ships!"

"Once in a while."

"Cool."

"I'm curious," he raised a brow at him. "How did you find me?"

He turned to his back so he was staring up at him, "I was on the beach looking for shells for my mom. I wanted to get the best ones because her birthday is coming up in a few days," he reached to his pocket and showed him the two shells he found. "One blue for the ocean and one green for my eyes she loves so much." He put them away and took out his camera, to the merman it looked like a simple silver box, "I saw dolphins and decided to take a pictures of them for my mom too, in one of them I saw the color red in the picture and found it in the water and decided to follow it." He put his camera away and looked up at him, "it lead me here and the rest you know."

The merman stared at the child as he yawned again and tried to keep himself awake, by blinking rapidly whenever his eyes became heavy. A small smile appeared on his features as he watched the blonde; he had to admit the child was adorable and horribly stubborn, but he did help him and gave him comfort in his time of need. Guess not all humans are bad, especially him.

Another thought came to his mind, one that never came until now, "hey,"

"Huh?" he opened his eyes a bit, "what?"

"I never asked, what's your name?"

"Oh, it's Kendall and yours?"

"James."

"Nice to meet you James," he gave the merman a smile over his shoulder.

"You too and thank you Kendall for helping me."

"S'okay," he said before his finally closed and fell asleep.

James watched as Kendall breathed softly, slowly he removed his arms from his small limb and raised his head a bit. Leaning on his elbow, he moved his shirt and placed it underneath him, before he lowered his head. Then he wrapped his arm around the small blonde before he laid his own head on his arm and pulled Kendall closer to him before he closed his eyes to rest.

Hello! and welcome to my new story! This thought came to my head and it grew so I decided to write it and place it here. I've read BTR mermaid (man) fics before and I wanted to try it out for fun. I hope you like this chapter and please review, they mean a lot to me. Hope you stick around for the rest of the story. Thank you for reading!