Tide and Seafoam

by HamsterCastiel

"No." Fili looked to the deck and saw Thorin and Dwalin pulling up the net. With a gasp, he grabbed his dagger and started sprinting into the water but Bofur was pulling him back to the shore, away from Kili. Fili's mouth went dry. "Thorin, no! Uncle, let him go!" Or The one where Kíli is a merman and meets a pirate named Fíli, and Thorin does not approve of this

1. Chapter 1

A little different story this time. Mer!Kili and Pirate!Fili and a very protective uncle Thorin.

Many things bugged Fili lately, if he was to be honest with himself. The lack of fresh fruit on board. The lack of sunlight those last few days. That Thorin had sent him fishing in the middle of the night, hoping for a miracle.

Thankfully, the only thing left to so was to pull in the small net and hope that anything had been caught, really. With a sigh, Fili grabbed the rope attached to the net and started to pull.

Jackpot. Something had gotten tangled up in the net and Fili grinned, beginning to pull. With how much the fish was struggling, it had to be a big one. Fili almost fell off the boat as he skidded a couple of meters before cursing and mobilizing all his powers. He could do this. The people were hungry. The crew desperately needed food.

Under the surface, the merman hadn't seen the net before it was too late. He had been following the current, enjoying the new area he was currently living in. Then there was a distant pull on his fin and he turned around startled, seeing his light blue coloured tail fin being tangled with an insistent net. He curled a little, trying to pull himself free with no avail as he was tugged above the surface.

As soon as he broke the surface, Kili let out a low hiss out of instict, hitting his fin against the side of the boat and trying to hit on the human that was on the boat. He knew too well what happened to their kin when they were pulled up in the humans world and he was not going to go down without a fight.

Kili pushed himself up on his arms, seething at the human again as he fought to get the net away from his fin. This was not good, definitely not good, the human had a knife in his hands. Then again he was currently frozen as well, so that bought him a little more time. He twisted his body, hands reaching out to the net and started to peel it away, keeping his eyes on the human all the time.

That was not a fish. Most definitely not a fish. "Shit." Fili breathed out and watched the proceedings wearily. He knew what happened to people who fell for the merfolk's charms. Eaten, some stories said. Drowned, others cried. But... The merman didn't look like he wanted to be here any more than Fili wanted him to be here. Swallowing, Fili sheathed the knife again and inched closer, keeping his hands raised to let the merman show that he was not going to attack him with something sharp. "Calm down. Let me help."

Kili flipped him off with his fin, hitting it on the deck hard as he pushed his back against the edge of the wooden ship. The human was nearing him without the knife, telling him it was alright. He resisted the urge to snort, nothing was alright, humans were evil, vicious, dangerous. He didn't know what he would tell Bilbo if he'd get hurt up here. But there was something in the human's eyes, something that told him the human wanted to get rid of him as much as he wanted to be gone, so he stilled his fin varily.

Fili took a deep breath as the fin stilled and shot the merman a tense look. Very slowly, so the merman had no reason to hit him in the face, Fili crouched down and began to untangle the net. He worked cautious as to not rip the net or hurt the merman. Sweat dripped from the side of his face from the sheer concentration but finally, he was able to remove the net.

Not any sooner than the net was broken, Kili hoisted himself over the edge and fell head first into the water, welcoming it in his lungs. It wasn't like he couldn't breathe up there, but it was extremely painful without breaks back in the water.
Curious, not expecting to be back in water after his first encounter with a human, he swam a safe distance away before floating back up so that his head broke the surface and he watched the human.

Fili let out the long, shaky breath he didn't know he had been holding. He supported himself on the railing and watched the merman disappear underneath the water. His eyes searched the surface and Fili couldn't help but smile when he saw the dark mop of hair in the distance. They both were alright. Good.

He raised his hands to make sure his voice would carry. "We'll be heading closer to the islands to the east!" He didn't want to say anything else. Fili was sure the merman knew friendly advice when he heard it.

Kili tilted his head curiously and surprised, it was obvious that the man was helping him, telling him to stay away from the easter side of the islands. But how could he be sure that it wasn't a trap? A gentle helper to get his trust, so when he'd go west, those men would be there? Making a thoughtful noise in the back of his throat Kili dove back underwater, his fin hitting the surface in some sort of wave.

Fili watched the merman disappear beneath the waves before he sighed, turning to face the net. Time to take care of what little fish he had managed to get after all. It was meagre but it was better than nothing. With a determined look on his face, he collected the fish and disappeared into the kitchen to gut them.