The Love of the Sea

First Encounter

It was a warm day in early summer; and the old abandoned dock on the far side of the bay was once again occupied by the lone figure clad in brown shorts and the favorite blue sleeveless hoodie that matched his eyes and highlighted his shock of bleached silver-white hair. Jack sat motionless, staring out over the water as he had done countless times. Maybe today, he thought. Maybe I'll go in the water today.

But he knew he wouldn't. Ever since the disaster almost two years ago, Jack—the high school junior who'd spent his summers happily swimming and socializing in the bay like all of the other young people in his town—couldn't make himself go knee deep in the water. And he hated himself for it. It wasn't like those circumstances would exist again, history wasn't going to repeat itself, he would be perfectly fine…Forget it. He thought the water was beautiful, and he enjoyed looking at it, but even just thinking about going in gave him the shakes and left him unable to breathe.

Probably the worst part of the whole ordeal was that his fear and shame—not to mention inability to participate in the primary summer social medium—had caused him to withdraw severely. Oh sure, he'd still hung out with people at first; but all his peers felt bad for him, noticed how the funny social butterfly didn't flit as much, and it had gotten to the point where he preferred to be alone. Winter was easier, everyone could play in the snow and no one went swimming. Jack had thought he'd be fine. Until that first big spring beach day rolled around last year and he just couldn't do it. Which is why he started riding his bike out here to the dock on the opposite side of the bay from most people. It wasn't that he didn't want to be social; he just couldn't stand everybody knowing and treating him differently, pitying him really.

Sighing, the teen gazed at the lush greenery giving way to the rocks and saltwater; which was rippling and swirling under the constant light breeze; making it impossible to see below the surface. Ordinary enough, though Jack couldn't have imagined how this seemingly irrelevant fact would impact his day.

Jack jumped, his quiet contemplation broken by the abrupt appearance of a person's head above the water's surface. Eyes narrowing, he realized the stranger must have come from around the rock outcropping nearby, but he couldn't fathom why this person—a teenager, he noted with surprise—would be over here, far from the typical water festivities location. He watched as the boy, it was a boy with auburn hair, swam nearer, apparently ignorant of Jack's presence. Is this kid new to town or something? Why would he come to the far side of the bay where hardly anyone but me ever goes? I mean, the party's on the opposite shore!

It was only a few moments before Jack's notorious curiosity got the better of him. He may have become more of an introvert but that didn't mean he wasn't interested in meeting new people. Especially someone who probably didn't know about what had happened…"Hello!" Jack called out, waving a hand slightly. He bit his lip as the stranger turned to him with a loud gasp and wide eyes; he hadn't meant to startle him.

"Sorry about that, I thought you knew I was here. It's just, I know everyone around here but you're new, so…"

The auburn-haired teen recovered quickly, yet seemed strangely cautious while swimming over to a reasonable talking distance from Jack. Is he nervous? Jack wondered. Maybe he's just shy. Pushing the thought away, he brought his attention back to the boy.

"I'm Jack, what's your name?" He saw a hint of resigned frustration pass through the other teen's face before he replied.

"My name's Hiccup." It took some work to choke back the smirk, though Jack must not have been doing as good a job as he'd thought because the—green, his eyes were green Jack saw now—eyed teenager glared at him.

"I'm sorry," Jack said for the second time. "I—wasn't trying to be mean." The-boy-called-Hiccup relaxed a little and nodded, making Jack feel unaccountably relieved. Until he noticed that Hiccup was still looking at him funny, staring really.

"So, you want to come hang on the dock for a bit? The sun's really nice up here, and it's not like it's off-limits or anything." Jack smirked, figuring his comment would make Hiccup laugh, or at least grin. Something normal. Instead, he looked wary, leaving Jack totally nonplussed.

"Um, thanks, but I can't, obviously."

"Why not? I know I slipped into my standard sarcasm, but seriously, you're more than welcome and—"

"Wait," Hiccup interrupted, expression turning to confusion and fear, "You—you don't see it?" He watched Jack frown as he looked around.

"See what?" Hiccup gaped at him, then slowly blew his breath out. He'd assumed that this boy Jack had seen it and didn't care, but now that he knew otherwise his father's warnings crept into his head. Will this Jack person panic and call me unnatural, a monster, like humans supposedly do? Should I try to swim away without him seeing, or show him? All smirking at his name aside, Jack seemed really nice. And if he was honest with himself, Hiccup was extremely curious about humans and the land they lived on, which is why he was swimming over here in the first place. He wanted to talk to this Jack. His father didn't have to know about it…

Hiccup looked back at the white-haired boy. Was that hair color normal? I thought only old humans had white hair. But clearly this person wasn't old, or if he was then Hiccup had WAY more to learn about the species than he'd thought. Taking a deep breath and tossing away the remnants of his sanity, Hiccup flexed his lower body; lifting it out of the water for the person on the dock to see. "This."

Jack stared at the green scaly tail, mouth opening and closing futilely. He kept looking from those fins back to Hiccup's very human face, trying to reconcile the two images. As he tried to form words, Jack saw the cinnamon-haired—well, not boy—bring his tail under the water again as he watched the human. He looks terrified. "Well?" Hiccup's voice broke through the blue-eyed boy's thoughts. "Just, say something. Please."

Jack swallowed. "You're—you're, uh, a mermaid." Wincing, he was about to correct his mistake when Hiccup snapped, harsher than he meant,

"Merman!"

"I meant merman! Person. Something. Sorry. The stories are usually about mermaids, and well, I never really gave it much thought." He watched the merman's—sheesh, that term would take some getting used to—shoulders relax slightly. Or at least he didn't seem quite as annoyed. They stared at each other for a few moments, until Hiccup swam a bit closer to the boy sitting on the dock.

"You aren't calling me a freak, or a monster, or running off," he stated. Rolling his eyes, Jack bit back the first comment that popped into his head: Gee, did you want me to?

"Why would I do that? I mean, sure, I'm a bit—scratch that, extremely—shocked, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be rude. It doesn't mean I see you that way, even though I hardly believe what my eyes are telling me." Feeling worried he added, "Have, have other people done that?"

The other teen shook his head. "You are the first human I've ever met, or even seen up close. My father has warned me over and over about humans though, so I was afraid when you saw me. Then I thought you could see my tail and didn't care, but obviously you hadn't—"

"So why didn't you just swim away?" Jack interrupted.

"Huh?"

"I could tell that you were scared, why did you stick around?"

Hiccup shrugged. "I'm also curious. Sue me." Hiccup's comment and the absurdity of the situation got Jack giggling, and soon they were both laughing. The white-haired boy had his own fair share of inquisitiveness, and he plied the merman with questions about his tail, how fast he could swim, if he could breathe underwater or if he had to come to the surface like sea mammals. Hiccup inquired just as much about humans; the afternoon passing rapidly as the unlikely acquaintances shared about their worlds.