Allan walked to the edge of the water, despite having been ready to go for a swim only minutes before. This was his first tine being near English waters- much less, in them- but his emotions were all a mess. He couldn't tell if he was excited, nervous, or whatever. all he knew was that he was something. A feeling; maybe even more than one of them.

He could see the waters as they were. They were sometimes clear and sometimes thick. He couldn't tell if the water was supposed to look like the rivers and oceans and the like back home or if it was supposed to be like he was looking through a glass of water itself. They were a mix, and he could see when the clear areas had salt or not. He couldn't decide on whether it was cool or kind of scary.

He watched how some of it moved in little swirls and how some of it was still and flowing. It was partially- emphasis on partially- interesting to him. But he truly wanted more than anything to return to his homeland of America, or, as the citizens of the country itself would say:

The land of the free

And the home of the brave

That was in their national anthem, and they would sing it proudly. America was known as a free country, and Allan was very proud to live in it. Basically put, he would rather be there- anywhere, in fact- but England. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland itself. He only made a point to memorize the full name of it because he hated it so much.

It was too long of an official name, for one. Try memorizing that. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. America's full name was much, much simpler: the United States of America. Straight, sweet, and to the point, just the way Allan liked everything in his life. Well, pretty much. There were still some things that weren't up to his expectations, and that just wouldn't happen.

For example, any speech he heard spoken or any essay that he had to read or write was definitely not going to be short and simple. It was going to have many complex factors and was going to be over a page long at the least. And one of those things that he felt was never going to happen was getting a love life of any kind. Anybody that he had ever taken interest in had always turned him down softly or outright rejected him. After a few years, he just gave up on trying to find someone, and he had stayed that way for the three years following. Now he was nineteen, and he had no intention of changing his outlook on life or his plans for it.

He looked at the waters again. He was absolutely dying to go for a swim, but he didn't want to. Not in these waters. He didn't know if they were cold, and he hated cold water. Normally he would use up all the hot water in the shower after about ten minutes. It pissed off his family, but it got the job done.

He looked to the skies, which were taking on an orange tint with thin purple clouds. Had he really been just sitting on the rock a yard or two away from the sea for that long? He decided to watch the waves, approaching the water and getting closer. However, as the tide rolled in and began to splash, Allan was startled, and decided to go back to his rock, sitting there and glancing over to other edges of the sea.

That's when he saw it.

To the far left of him, there seemed to be someone coming out of the water. They didn't have any scuba gear on, and they weren't holding their nose when they came up. Only their torso up was above the water. Allan was rather confused and stared at the person for a few minutes.

He couldn't tell if the person was male or female, but they had short, messy (but obviously wet) light pink hair. Their skin was pale, and they seemed to be admiring the beach with whatever colored eyes they had. Allan chuckled, standing and going to approach the person. Then, they kicked their legs up out of the water. Except...

There was a tail in place of their legs.

Allan thought long and hard. A mermaid? I thought those only existed in children's storybooks! What's a mermaid doing on the edge of English waters?

He carefully approached the creature, grabbing its hand. "Hey."

The mermaid squeaked, pulling away, turning around, and swimming off before going under water as a whole. The whole experience made Allan chuckle.

"I'm gonna try 'n do this again," he planned aloud.

xXx

James sighed. "What the hell took you so long, Allan?"

"Sorry. I was having fun."

"Allan, you need to get a hobby."

"I have one already."

"You do, eh?"

"Swimming."

"How about another? Hunting or baseball, maybe."

"I'm good, James."

The Canadian sighed, looking back over at his younger brother. He wasn't wearing his glasses for some reason, but he seemed to be able to see. He was sitting on the couch, the cushion covered with a towel as well as him being wrapped in one, dressed in only his bright red swimming trunks. His auburn hair (which only he, James, and their parents knew was actually dyed and was naturally a medium blond) was soaked and dripping, and his skin seemed to be much paler than it normally was.

"Allan," James said out of nowhere, causing his brother to turn his head, "are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Why do ya ask?"

"You look pale and kind of exhausted."

He was hyperventilating as he looked up at James, being slow so as not to get James very wet. "Bro, I just went for a long swim. I'm fine."

James was quiet for a second, standing up from his spot next to Allan on the couch. He kissed his forehead, taking a towel and drying Allan's hair carefully. "Look at that. It's decently dry now."

"Thanks, Jamie."

He nodded, walking to the kitchen of the hotel room they were in. James was older than Allan by three days, but their whole family simply considered James the 'older brother', and he looked it, too. Allan was rather lanky when compared to James, who was muscular due to being a lumberjack back home in Toronto. He also had a bit of a stubble growing under his chin, along with long medium blond hair that he frequently brought back into a ponytail. He had violet eyes that he often hid with sunglasses that he rarely ever took off.

He and Allan were in Britain because their uncle Alric had fallen deathly ill while visiting there and had demanded that his only living relatives (besides his brothers, whom he never got along with) come and tend to him. They had visited him earlier that day, and he didn't seem to be doing so well, but at least he had them. They would be in Britain until Alric recovered or passed away.

James began to brew a coffee. "Thirsty, Al? I can make you something to drink."

He shook his head. "I'm going to go get ready for bed, alright?"

James nodded as Allan stepped off, still keeping himself wrapped in the towel as he stepped over into the bedroom. He pulled out his night clothes, which was really a light gray tank-top (it had a bright red fruit juice stain on it) with a dark gray, loose fitting pair of sweatpants. He took off his swim trunks, putting on a pair of underwear along with his night clothes. He looked out the window, glancing out at the ocean.

He carefully approached the creature, grabbing its hand. "Hey."

The mermaid squeaked, pulling away, turning around, and swimming off before going under water as a whole.

Allan kept thinking about that incident. Was the mermaid- well, possibly merman- all in his mind? Or was it actually real? He didn't know, but he sure as hell wanted to. If that was a real mermaid, he could sell or auction it off for a huge amount of money. But it was kind of cute. He couldn't tell if it was male or female, though. He kind of wanted to know that. Gender mattered in romantic relationships—

What the hell was he saying?

He couldn't fall in love with a stupid mermaid. He couldn't fall in love with something that probably didn't even exist. It was like those people that married inanimate objects. It was just messed up, and more often than not meant that they were too attached to something.

Mermaids only existed in storybooks. Mermaids didn't exist. Allan couldn't fall in love with something that didn't exist.

But that wasn't going to stop him from trying to find that mermaid again.