A/N: Stupid AU idea I had, based on The Little Vampire 2017. Rookery is a pirate, and Manny's a mermaid. And once again, I'm trying to portray both the good and bad of if they were ever involved romantically.
It was stupid to think that a man who couldn't even swim would make a good pirate. But here he was, Rookery, a goddamn idiot who'd been suckered in by the allure of the pirate life, who was going to die.
For six months he had managed to stay aboard a measly little ship but then his luck ran out. A huge storm, with great crackling lightning and huge looming waves had descended upon the ship and he'd been tossed like a ball overboard.
Now he was sinking, struggling, flailing, but ultimately failing. He was going to die here. He began to see black as he choked and choked on more briny water. Images, memories, everything that happened to him in his life before this flashed by in mere seconds, but it seemed like eons. He surrendered to the darkness. . .
Warmth, prickly and wet. Water, on his body flowing and receding. . .
Opening his eyes, coughing, Rookery woke up. To add to the shock of somehow surviving, there was a man lying on top of him. And he wasn't just a human man, either.
A merman was lying on top of him, staring at him. He had bright orange hair, with big glassy eyes, and blue fins for ears. His teeth(from what Rookery could see)were sharp like shark's teeth.
"WHAT THE-" Rookery yelled, sitting up suddenly. This pushed away the merman, who fell on the beach. Now Rookery could see his tail, long and muscular and blue.
"Calm down! You were drowning! I saved you!"
"Why?"
"Why? YOU WERE DYING!"
"I-" He was choking on his words. Here he was, somehow saved from death, and yet here he was, flustered by this beautiful merman. He clasped his face in his hands, trying to get it together.
"Ok, ok. Just breathe. I know, it's scary. But you're safe now." he took Rookery's hands. Rookery blushed, much to his embarrassment.