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Ship: JeffMads

AU: Mermaid AU

TW's: Mentioned abuse, swearing (is that a TW?), verbal abuse, death (don't worry it's fine, he's revived)


James was fairly fond of the beach. He loved to stroll along the coastal line, the crystal water lapping at his feet. Of course, he never attended if the sun was shining. It had to be raining. If there was rain, the beach wouldn't be filled with obnoxious children and floundering tourists. When it's raining the sand goes all wet and doesn't get everywhere too, so that's another plus. Another good thing, was it was easy escape from home. With an abusive father and a sister that hated him along with the fact that his only friend was missing, James liked to clear his head along the golden sandy shores of New York.

On one particularly grim Thursday morning, James was taking his usual walk down the beach. He was wearing a white short sleeved shirt and blue shorts. He wasn't wearing any shoes, so the sand was sinking between his toes. Along the tops of his arms and down his back were scars, long thin scars, one was even in the shape of a belt buckle. His legs were littered too. Although, James had made one of those. He tried it once, just to see. And vowed never to do it again.

He didn't own a phone, but from what he knew about the sun in the sky it was around 6:30, meaning the sun was up. He rested against a tree, staring into the abyss of the ocean. James scanned the water, eyes trailing along the rocks and pools filled with crabs and small fish.

His gaze fell to one rock, sticking out the sea like a sore thumb. It was near enough the edge of the beach, rested on the shore. James spotted the packed together curly hair sticking out above the rock, and a pair of beady eyes staring back at him.

"Hello?" James called out, the eyes and hair ducked down, hiding. "Hello, I promise, I won't hurt you!" He hollered, and the eyes appeared again, along with fingertips resting on the stone, presumably to hold them above the water. "Hi, little one." James guessed the person was a child, judging by the fact they hid, and that their eyes only just reached over.

The figure said nothing.

"Where's your mother?" James questioned, leaning against the bark of the tree. The child seemed scared, but curious. "I won't hurt you."

"Promise?" The child suddenly called, in a surprisingly low voice, James shook it off.

"I promise." James spoke with a smile.

The eyes turned into a nose, then a full face. James was startled that this was not a child at all, but a man. He had short stubble along his jaw, and wild hair. Despite his a few shades darker than tan skin shining with sea water, his wild hair didn't appear to be wet at all. Not even damp. James was confused by this.

"Hello." The man said, grinning.

"Hi?" James blinked three times. "What are you doing?"

"Swimming." The male said, as if he were simply discussing the weather. As if it weren't strange to be swimming in the freezing cold ocean in the rain.

"Surely you're freezing? Perhaps you should put a shirt on." James suggested, noticing the man's bare chest.

"Shirt?" The male seemed to think for a second. "Oh! The material used to cover your chest!"

James knit his eyebrows. "Yes." He shook his head. "Why, exactly, are you swimming in the sea on a day like this?"

"I like it." The man shrugged. "What's your name?"

James didn't want to tell this stranger his name. The man seemed to be studying him. "You have legs?"

"Yes... don't you?" James considered that the man may be an amputee.

"Nope!" The man popped the p.

"Huh." James paused. "What is your name?"

"I asked you first." The male was quick to retaliate, smirking smugly.

James sighed. "I'm Madison. James Madison. Jr, to be specific." He felt uneasy telling the stranger who he was.

"Well, Madison James Madison Jr to be specific, I'm Thomas Jefferson. But you can call me Thomas." James chuckled at his antics, smiling at the joke.

James kept his grin on, not seeing the man frown. "Do you believe in merpeople?" Thomas suddenly came out with.

"Hmm? Not really, I think they're just myths told as bedtime stories to children." James picked his words carefully.

Thomas frown only deepened. "You humans really are stupid."

"Pardon?" James felt slightly insulted being called an idiot. He most certainly is not!

"You have to see to believe. Don't you?" Thomas snickered, pulling himself up a little on the rock, this time resting on his arms.

"What on earth are you talking about?" James exclaimed, the audacity! He was far from stupid! Was this man insinuating that simply because he didn't believe in a myth, he was inadequate in his mental abilities?

"Do you promise you won't freak out? Or run away? Or hurt me? Is there anyone around?" Thomas asked sternly.

James considered this. "Nobodies here, why? What's going on?" James sighed.

Thomas sighed. "I want to show you something. But you can't scream."

"Umm..." James was beginning to feel a little queasy, was this man - Thomas - a murderer or something?

"I need you to promise. No matter what, you won't tell a soul what you saw today!" Thomas warned, raising a finger.

James had to think about this. He knew Thomas was getting restless. Throwing caution to the wind, he nodded firmly, preparing himself for whatever was coming.

Thomas grinned and in an instant was pulling the rest of himself onto the rock, revealing a long, shimmering magenta tail. He searched the beach, just making sure. "Wow..." James exclaimed, he stopped leaning on the tree. He rubbed his eyes speedily, making sure this wasn't a wild hallucination. Had he been slipped drugs? Was this a strange fever dream?

"It's like you've never seen a merperson before, Madison James Madison Jr to be specific." Thomas snickered, swishing the slightly transparent fin at the very bottom of his tail.

James realised that Thomas wasn't playing around, and generally thought that was his name. Could he blame him? Not really. "It's James."

Thomas blushed in embarrassment, "sorry."

"It's okay. I was nervous too," James took a step forward, he couldn't stop staring in awe.

Thomas visibly edged away, still wary. "Sorry, I'm just scared of humans."

"It's alright." James cleared his throat. "Can I come closer?"

Thomas bit his lip, realising his horrible decision. He nodded silent consent, as James walked towards him, wading into the shallows of the sea. He stood by Thomas' side, taking in his beauty. His wild hair, almost invisible freckles around his eyes, his damp browned skin that shimmered in the sunlight. James set a hand on the rock beside Thomas, still in shock that this was real.

Thomas was blushing under James' gaze, he didn't know why, there were enough attractive mermen beneath the sea water. But James, James was something else. His dark skin, his short curls and broad shoulders. He seemed small, for a human anyway, and his eyes were dark, almost black.

James' mouth was slightly agape, as his eyes slicked down Thomas' tail. "Can... Can I touch it?" James immediately felt odd, if a man of his age were next to him, he'd surely be laughing at such a vulgar question.

"The tail? I mean, if you want to." Thomas smirked, flicking the fin.

James set a hand gently on his magenta scales, surprised it was soft to touch. There were three gills down either side, just at the top, so he could breathe underwater. James let his hand slide down to the bottom where he felt the thin magenta fin, it seemed strong. "Extraordinary..." James whispered, his head whipping up to see Thomas.

"Why thank you." Thomas gushed, there was a sudden blast of bubbles further off into the ocean and Thomas turned to see. "I have to go, will you be here this time tomorrow?"

James nodded without even thinking about his father. Thomas grinned and dived off the rock into the water. He stuck his head out, hair still as puffy, he gave one last wave and was gone. Disappearing beneath the waves and down, down, down.

James defeatedly trudged home, his brain aching. He pushed open the door, to be greeted by a scolding sister. "Where have you been! I get you like the goddamn beach but Jesus!" Frances shouted.

"Be quiet, where's father?" James was only thinking of him, his mind racing.

"Out. You're lucky, he would beat the shit out of you." Frances taunted with a smirk, leaning into her cushions. "Anyway, don't you have work soon? You know, that stupid little shop the Laurens' own." The sound of his only friends name made him frown, but yes, he did indeed have work soon.

Meanwhile, Thomas was swimming deeper and deeper, he spun into the whirlpool that protected their civilisation with a glup of water. He swirled into the coral city. Thomas swished his tail and swam into his large home. He called it Monticello.

All the merpeople thought his obsession with all things human was weird, concerning even. But he couldn't help it. His sister Lucy lounged on a comfy coral seat. He sighed dreamily and Lucy immediately took notice.

"What's up?" She smiled, she may be eighteen, but she's been in more relationships than twenty year old Thomas.

Thomas practically sunk to the floor. "I met a guy." He gushed.

"Ooh! What's his name? Would I know him? Tail colour!?" Lucy bombarded him with questions.

"His name is James, you won't know him..." Thomas flicked his tail.

"And colour?" Lucy practically shouted, suddenly leaping up straight.

Thomas rubbed the back of his neck, tucking some hair behind his ear. "Umm..."

Lucy let it sink in. "Wait a second. Thomas! Did you go to the surface!?"

The slightly older merman blushed, nodding. "He's... amazing..."

"Did he see you!?"

"Uh, we may have talked. And he might have seen me. And perhaps touched the tail. And we might be meeting up again tomorrow..." Thomas waited for Lucy to explode.

5, 4, 3-

His count was off because Lucy was up and ranting.

"Thomas! You're not supposed to go up! You know what happened last time we interacted! You must be stupid! Oh my Zeus, I cannot believe you talked to a human! I can't believe you LIKE a human! I can't believe you've fallen for a guy called James after seeing him once! Is he cute?"

"Yes. So, so cute." Thomas exhaled through his nose, rubbing the side of his arms.

All of a sudden the door burst open and a familiar face was floating there, bun bouncing even under the water.

"THOMAS!" The French accent rung loudly and Thomas immediately swam over to him, "MON AMI, HELP!"

The merman grabbed his arm, dragging him out. "Laf! What's up! Shouldn't you be hanging with that new kid, Laurens is it? Wasn't he the one we found dead?" Thomas blabbered.

"I should, oui! But I need to talk to you! You're the only one who'd understand!" Lafayette took a deep inhale. "I've fallen for Hercules."

"I fucking new it." Was all Thomas said, as Lafayette ranted on. "Okay, I'm stopping you now because I want to hear my voice," Lafayette chuckled at this, "ask him out. Done. And while you're at it, make Alex ask that John out. It's hard to debate with a sexually frustrated Hamilton." And with that Lafayette was off, his red, white and blue tail shining in the ocean water.

Thomas chuckled and continued with his day, awaiting the next morning.

When it did eventually come, James sprinted to the beach, so happy it was pelting rain. He skidded to a stop, hissing under the wetness. Then he spotted it, the purple tail flicking just above the surface as the merman swam to the shore. "James!"

"Thomas!" James called back, watching the new friend drag himself onto the same rock as yesterday. Now, James wasn't so focused on the tail, and let himself look at the rest of the man. Like his toned and sculpted chest, fuck. His arms like they'd been carved by gods, more fuck.

"What's on your arms?" Thomas pointed pressingly at the criss cross scars along his upper arms and James cursed himself for wearing another short sleeved shirt.

"Uh, scars. My, wonderful father did that."

"How'd you get them? I get it was your father, were you born with them? Or do they form?" Thomas seemed very curious.

"Well, you don't really want scars. It happens because you get hurt." James looked down awkwardly.

"Your father shouldn't hurt you, that's not good. Why don't you run away?" Thomas grinned.

"I can't. Plus, I have to be here in case my friend comes back." James held back his pelt up tears.

"What's their name!?" Thomas seemed extremely invasive, but James found it cute.

"John Laurens."

"I know him!" Thomas exclaimed. "He's down here! He's got a blue tail!" Thomas clapped his hands excitedly.

"What!? No! He's human, he can't-"

"He died." Thomas suddenly blurted. "He died and we revived him."

"Y-you can do that?" James was so surprised he stumbled back, feet sinking deeper into the moist sand.

"Well, some can. The healers, if humans die and a healer find them within a set amount of time they can bring them back as merpeople!" Thomas was so happy, it was kinda weird.

"That's... cool? I guess... But, he was my only friend. The only reason I stuck around..." James sniffed. "How did he?"

"He drowned." Thomas was sad now James was. "James... James you're crying."

Madison furiously wiped his eyes, shooing the tears away. "I'm sorry. He just... I'm so stupid."

"Of course not, Jemmy, you're allowed to be sad!" Thomas opened his arms up, and James raced forward, hugging him close. "Can I call you Jemmy?"

"No."

"Jemmy it is." James snorted at the stubbornness, sniffing and releasing Thomas.

"I... I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Thomas insisted with a chuckle. "It's such a shame." He gasped. "Wait! I'll be up in a minute!"

And he disappeared, but true to his word, he appeared again exactly a minute later, tails flicking by his side. "Why are you taking us to see a beach? We've seen the beach before, mon ami!" James heard, muffled by the water. Then, more mermen were there, heads bobbing above the water.

As soon as they spotted James, they were down again, apart from two. Thomas and a fluffy haired male.

"J-James?"

"John!" James exclaimed, rushing into the water.

The other mermen came back up, eyes narrowed. "Who's this? John, how'd you know him?" One seemed extremely small, not as short as James, but close. He had greasy black hair pulled into a pony tail.

"This is James, he was my friend on land." John explained.

"I'm Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Mortier Marqui de Lafayette." One looked a little like Thomas, just with his hair pulled in a bun, and a different tail. "You can call me Lafayette."

"Hercules Mulligan." One spoke loudly, and had to be hushed and reminded they weren't under water. His tail was a dull pink. "Don't judge by the tail colour." He warned.

James nodded. "I'm James Madison. It's nice to meet you all." James smiled.

"By the way, I'm Alexander Hamilton." The small one piped up, he was even louder than Hercules, but nobody bothered to hush him.

"Why aren't you more surprised?" James took note of his very thick French accent, wondering what he was doing on the coast of New York.

"I- I don't know." James chuckled.

"James, I'm sorry I left." John sighed. "How's my family?"

"Worried sick, everyone is! I was dying inside, Laur!" James frowned.

"I'm sorry." John's salty tears hit the ocean, and Alex rubbed his back.

Lafayette let his head rest on Hercules' shoulder. James thought this was cute. "I can't blame you. I'm glad you're still alive."

"I'm gonna go." Alexander exclaimed, diving under.

"He's doing a project for Washington." Lafayette reminded a concerned John.

James sunk to the sand, feeling a little intrusive. "I'll go too, sorry again James. You'll be alright without me, right?" John gave a shaky grin. James returned it and nodded.

"You seem cool." Hercules grinned, his tail curled under him as he sat (?) on the sandy water bed.

"Thanks." James smiled.

"I agree, you seem like a good ami!" Lafayette had a toothy grin, and he beamed at James, an arm around Hercules' shoulder.

"We best be going, we've got a coral lagoon to see!" Hercules smirked and Lafayette blushed as they dived down, swimming away.

Thomas smiled. And James brought his hands to his face, sobbing into them. "Oh god, did I do something wrong!? I'm so sorry! I wish I had legs goddamn it, instead of a useless tail! Then I could come up and comfort you!" Thomas beat a fist onto his 'useless tail', frowning.

James shook his head. "No!" He choked out. "You did everything just right, I just... I'll never see him again..."

Thomas, poor Thomas, searched despratley for anything to change the subject to, blurted. "What's your family like?!"

James frowned. "My father likes to think it's okay to hit me and my sister mocks me everyday. My mom ran away after he abused her." James kicked the sand, and it hit Thomas in the chest.

Thomas frowned and dug his hands into the sand, taking a deep inhale and dragging himself out the water to James, who was sat just out of water. He panted, it took a lot of upper body strength to pull himself onto shore.

"Why'd you-?"

Thomas hugged James quickly, and the latter buried his head into Thomas' neck, surprised yet satisfied none the less. "You needed a hug." Thomas insisted, nodding affirmatively.

"What about you? What's your family like?" James flipped the question onto Thomas.

"I've got lots of siblings, a LOT!" He giggled. "Uh, my dad passed away from unknown reasons and my mom has a new husband. He's nice. He's called George." He smiled, lying back on the sand. James grinned back, although Thomas was starting to drag himself back to the water.

"Would you care for some assistance?" James questioned the tired merman. Thomas nodded and smiled. James wrapped an arm under Thomas' arms, one under the middle of his shining tail and gently walked forward before placing him in the water.

"Thank you." Thomas smiled, laying back in the water. James freaked out a little, the way he was lying made him look so... dead. "Hey, calm down!"

James took deep inhales, calming his shuddering small frame.

The two chatted some more, James explained what clothes were for and why humans needs them, and Thomas elaborated on how he swam. Eventually, the downpour was getting heavier, and Thomas had to leave. Making James alone.

Again.

Later that afternoon, James was free from work for an hour to get lunch. He only had a couple of cents, seventy three to he exact, but was lucky enough to know the baker, Veronica. She graciously gave him the largest slice of bread she could cut and get away with, insisting he kept the money. James thanked her and left the small store, smiling at the rain hitting his face. He ran down to the beach again, not expecting Thomas to be there. Instead, he found Thomas' foreign look alike and Hercules.

"Shut up, mon ami! You're being ridiculous!" There was splashing. James watched from a distance.

"Am not! I'm just saying, Thomas even told you, he likes this kid!" Hercules frowned, "I mean, can you blame him? The guy hasn't had a meaningful relationship since Martha, and that ended with him coming out as gay!"

Lafayette groaned. "Mon amour, I just... they'll never be able to be together! Different species, he can't breathe underwater and Thomas can't walk on land! It can't happen!"

"Sure it can! It worked with John and Alex." Hercules exclaimed.

"That's because John died!"

"Yes, and you brought him back!" Hercules fought back.

Lafayette groaned again. "Amour, I brought him back because he drowned! And I felt horrible seeing him floating there! I felt the need!"

"So why don't you feel the need now!?"

"BECAUSE JAMES ISN'T DEAD!" Lafayette practically screamed, tears coating his cheeks. And he was gone, Hercules didn't follow, just slumped in the water. James felt the compulsion to comfort the bulky merman and proceeded onto the beach, pretending he just arrived.

"Hey." He smiled sheepishly, taking a bite for bread.

Hercules whipped his head around. "Oh, yo." He pursed his lips, looking down at the sand.

"I heard Lafayette yelling, what's up?" James pretended not to of heard the whole conversation.

"Nothing, it's just... stuff. It's nothing." Hercules insisted, his dull pink tail flicking in the water.

"Ah. I get it." James looked down, damn, awkward. "Are you two dating?"

"Me and Laf? Yeah, we've been friends for ages though." Hercules perked up. "He's a healer, you know what that is, right?"

"The ones who bring dead people back as merpeople, yeah. I think so." James took another chunk of bread.

Hercules looked in envy. "Well, Laf's a healer, he's the one that saved-"

"John." James finished for him with a grin. He ripped off some of his lunch, walking to the water and handing it out to Herc. "Here, try it."

Hercules stared at James in suspicion, taking a small sliver of breadcrumbs, and smiling. "It's alright." He shrugged, chewing the rest.

James finished his bit. "How's Thomas?"

"Fine, I think. Probably debating with Alex again." Hercules said, smiling sincerely.

"Oh, does he do that a lot?"

"Yea. Oh yeah." Hercules chuckled deeply. "That's basically all they do around each other."

James bit his lip. "They're both good guys though, I mean, Laf puts up with Thomas, so how bad can he be? And I'm best friends with Alex, and tolerate him."

James giggled, "crap, I've got to go, bye Herc!"

"Bye, James!"

That's sort of how the rest of his days went for the next seven months. He'd go to the beach every rainy morning, go to work, perhaps go back to the beach and go home. Where Frances could mock him and father would beat him. Fun.

"Jemmy?" Thomas asked one day. "Have you ever thought about... joining me?"

"Huh?" James asked him to repeat it. Because, for a matter of fact, he'd been pondering over it at that very second.

"Joining me, down here. Have you ever thought about it?" He was bashful.

"I have, yes. But I'd have to die, no?" And that's what scared him, dying. What if he died but a healer didn't want to bring him back? Or couldn't? He'd be dead, and Thomas would be alone.

"I suppose so, yes. But, Lafayette's a healer, and he likes you. So, he'd surely bring you back!" Thomas smiled.

"I guess. My father would much rather I was gone, and Frances could burn in hell for all I care." He chuckled. "The Laurens'..." James thought.

"Oh, John's family. You work for them, don't you?"

"I do, yes... But, I'm not related and... I... I do want to join you." James took a deep breath. "Fine, fine. Tomorrow morning, I'll come down here. Bring a healer." James instructed. He was doing this. He would die, and be brought back and be able to live with Thomas. Yes. Yes! The more he thought, the more excited he became.

Thomas' jaw dropped in happiness. "You're going to join me!" He clapped. "Jemmy, I can't wait!"

And the next day rolled around. James sprinted to the beach, kicking sand behind him. The rain was battering down and he saw two mops of curly hair. Thomas and Marquis!

"Bonjour, James! Thomas tells me of your intentions, have you thought this through? You're 100% sure?" Lafayette greeted.

"100 percent!" James exclaimed, in his shorts pocket was a knife. He didn't plan on using it, that was just in case.

"Right, you best get in the water. And swim out far enough you can't touch the bottom." Lafayette instructed with a slight smile. James threw his shirt off, he wouldn't be needing it. And swam. He got out far enough and was amazed at just how fast Thomas and Lafayette got to his side.

"Right... I can't believe I'm doing this." James grinned.

"Now, go under."

"Jemmy, before you go." Thomas interrupted. James was treding water in order to stay up as of that moment.

"Yes, Thomas?"

The merman kissed his lips softly, tail fin softly beating against James' toes. James kissed back fondly, before breaking away. "Thank you."

"I'll see you soon, Jemmy."

"See you soon, Thomas."

And he plunged under.

The next thing James remembered was black, and not being able breathe. And then he was coughing, a lot. His lungs were working again and he was on land. No, not land. Mud or sand was so much softer than this. A rock? Yes. That was it, a rock. He sat up, coughs still erupting into the air.

"Thomas?" He sputtered, choking on air as he inhaled.

"Jemmy! It worked! It worked! Holy fu-" There was the sound of slapping as Thomas shut up.

"How are you feeling, James?" The voice was unfamiliar, he'd never heard it.

"Huh?" James looked around and spotted Thomas in the water by him. "I'm okay." Next to him was an older man, he was bald too.

"I'm George Washington, it'll be nice to have you down with us." He smiled, he had a gap between his two front teeth.

"Down with you?" James blinked his eyes. And then, everything came back. He drowned. And now he was alive. James looked down, staring at where his feet should've been. But instead, there was a flicking silver tail. He gasped quietly, moving the slightly transparent fin at the end of the tail. It was short compared to Thomas, but then again, he was short.

"Yes, and I look forward to it." George Washington grinned again.

"Me too." James' eyes fell to Thomas and he smiled. Washington nodded affirmatively before diving under the water, his pale red tail shimmering.

"Oh, James!" Thomas yelled, opening up his arms. James slipped into the water and into Thomas' embrace, hugging him close.

"I can't wait, I can't wait!" James exclaimed, looking up at Thomas.

"I can't wait too!" He kissed the top of James' head, making the male flush scarlet. "Sorry, did I read the situation wrong?" He panicked.

"No, you didn't!" James wrapped his arms around the elder man's neck, pulling him down into a loving kiss. Thomas pulled him closer, pushing the chance that someone could see this from his head, and kissing right back.

"Now, let's go down." Thomas smiled, linking their hands. James clasped back, tangling their fingers.

"Let's go."


hey, hey, hey! Welcome to the oneshot book! JeffMads to start yum. I'm addicted to Mermaid AU's help.

Requests are always open, so feel free to request!


Words: 4,736