Monthly Oneshot Exchange July – Written for MaryandMerlin
Prompts:
(AU) Mermaid!AU
(colour) blue
(genre) Humour
(genre) Romance
A big Thank You to Dina for betaing this!
I hope you all enjoy it, I'm looking forward to your feedback!
How To Meet A Mermaid
The crystal clear water gently caressed Fay's tanned skin as she glided through it with slow, calm strokes; the sunlight breaking through the surface of the ocean made her brown hair gleam as it wafted around her head. Every single scale of her tail reflected the light, shimmering bronze and golden like an expensive piece of jewelry.
Hundreds of small, colourful fish swam by, not paying her much attention even though they passed close to her face, and her gaze followed them in fascination before concentrating on the reef lying only a few feet below her. A wonderful tranquility flowed through her at the sight of the lively activities between the corals, completely undisturbed and untouched, and for one moment she allowed herself to be a part of it. Floating above the manifold habitat, she could barely take in all of its beauty and uniqueness; it was so big that she would have needed hours to become aware of all the little details.
Smiling to herself, Fay slowly left the reef she tried to stop by as often as possible behind, swimming towards the shore while surfacing, sucking the fresh, salty air into her lungs. The waves stroked her shoulders gently as she neared the secluded bay with its white sand, tall palm trees full with coconuts and shallow areas with stones that were inviting to linger. A thick, lush forest prevented tourists and most locals from finding the place, making it one of the last truly hidden places of the island.
This untainted beauty and the calmness turned the bay into Fay's favourite place in the world, and she tried to visit it as often as she could. She liked being alone for some time, without anybody able to disturb her. Her home was so loud and hectic, she wasn't alone wherever she went.
Here she could relax in peace and dream for as long as she wanted to if she didn't have any chores for the day.
She didn't need many strokes before she reached a shallow area with stones located by one end of the bay, shielded by boulders, palm trees and other greens, and Fay pulled herself onto her favourite stone with a few practiced motions. It wasn't easy with her tail, but she'd done this so many times before that she knew exactly what to do.
Releasing a contented sigh, Fay stretched on the stone that the waves had flattened over many years and held her face into the warm sun while the tide washed over her gently. The soft splashing of the ocean filled her ears, mixing with the wind rustling through the leaves of the plants and she could feel the stress flowing out of her body.
Fay had a smile on her face when she closed her eyes and let herself get carried away by her daydreams.
OoO
"Ugh, fucking mosquitos!" Fred cursed as he slapped his bare upper arm with his palm, crashing the insect successfully. "George, I still can't believe you threw me in front of the bus like this. What did I ever do to you to deserve this?"
"Let me consult my list," his twin brother replied on the phone, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Come on, stop complaining, it's said that the beach is a paradise."
"A paradise ten miles away from the next road so I have to carry all my equipment through this damn forest."
Fred pushed himself past a big bush and walked out onto the beach, needing to catch his breath after putting the heaviest of his equipment down and dropping his backpack with the non-breakable stuff into the sand.
"It's not my fault that the professor decided that splitting us up would reduce his stress level. It's not like I'm having a better job here."
"At least you have air conditioning and cool drinks in the lab," Fred said and trapped his phone between his ear and shoulder while pulling a bottle of sunscreen out of his backpack. "My ass will get fried out here."
"But you'll have a swim."
"Yeah, sooo great. I hope we'll get useful results out of this."
George chuckled as Fred now dragged his snorkeling equipment from the backpack, having some difficulties as it was seriously stuffed. "Nobody ever said that being a marine biologist is easy."
"If we weren't so damn idealistic we wouldn't be here. We should have become millionaires instead of wanting to save the oceans. Speaking of which, gotta go, I don't wanna hang around here longer than necessary."
"We're too good for this world, Freddie. Talk to you later."
Fred ended the call with a grin on his face and slipped his phone into his backpack; while George and he used to make jokes about how they regretted their job choice, they both really liked what they were doing. Sure, fresh out of university they weren't being paid much, had to do all the schlepp for the members of the team with more experience, worked all day and didn't exactly do much saving. However, there still was the hope that they would actually achieve something once they'd worked their way up the ranks and that they would make an impact.
Until then, they would just make the best out of their situation. After all, even though they were working, they got to spend several months on this beautiful island with long, white beaches, crystal clear water and cool cocktails.
Fred allowed himself to let his gaze wander for a moment, taking the incredible landscape in, and he breathed a little more deeply, sucking the salty air into his lungs. Maybe you got used to the sight when you lived in a place like this...
All of a sudden, he spotted something in the distance that he hadn't expected: it looked like there was someone at the far side of the bay, lying on some stones. Pulling his sunglasses down for a clearer view, Fred took a few steps into the general direction out of curiosity.
His mouth dropped open and he almost stumbled over his own feet as his view got a little bit clearer, and he blinked a few times to make sure that he wasn't imagining anything.
It was a young woman, around his age, her face half turned towards him; her eyes were closed, her soft features relaxed. Brown hair was framing her face and she had the kind of tanned skin most locals had, but he somehow felt like she wasn't one of them.
He was fairly certain, really, because he couldn't recall seeing a woman with a long fishtail in town.
"Blimey," Fred mumbled in wonder, barely able to catch a clear thought as he continued to stare across the bay, his gaze wandering over the part of the woman's body where her legs were supposed to be. Bronze and golden scales shimmered damply in the bright sunlight, almost blinding him.
A mermaid...
Despite the fact that mankind had only explored a small percent of the world's oceans, Fred had always been sure that mermaids didn't exist; it was common knowledge that the tales sailors used to tell about them were wrong, hallucinations mostly.
But now he was seeing the very real proof that all these stories probably were true after all not far away from him, and he slowly felt the shock disappear; excitement shot through him and he wanted to grab his camera to catch the unbelievable sight. On the other hand, he didn't feel like tearing his eyes away from the scene.
Before he could make his decision, though, the mermaid suddenly sat up, stretching her arms and back before elegantly gliding into the ocean tail first, disappearing from his field of vision.
The real reason why he was here seemed to have slipped from his head when he hurried over to his backpack, hands shaking with a little rush of adrenaline as he fished his phone out and speed-dialed his twin brother's number.
"George?! You won't believe what I just saw!"
OoO
"I tell you, George, it was a mermaid!" Fred exclaimed as George and he strolled down the promenade along the beach; they'd finished their duties for the day a short time ago and had decided to have some fun. Of course Fred had told his twin brother about every little detail of his discovery, but George had trouble believing him and wasn't afraid of making his opinion clear.
"Sounds like a sunstroke to me. You sure you don't wanna see a doctor?"
"I've never been this sane before in my whole life!"
George shot his brother a worried side glance, taking in the gleam visible his brown eyes held, and shook his head, running a hand through his ginger hair. "To be honest, that doesn't calm me down at all."
Rolling his eyes about George's scepticism, Fred buried his hands in the pockets of his shorts and let his gaze wander over the beach, watching the local after-work surfers throw themselves into the waves with their colourful boards. "I know it sounds weird, mate, but I'm completely sure about what I saw."
"Maybe you need glasses," George grumbled under his breath and pulled his phone out of his pocket, deciding that it would be best to simply zone out and do something useful while his brother rambled on about his hallucination.
Just as he was about to check his emails, Fred grabbed his arm suddenly and stopped him, almost knocking the device out of his brother's hand. His fingers were squeezing him so hard that it was painful and George glared at him, opening his mouth to protest when Fred hissed: "Blimey, George, that's the mermaid! Over there!"
He was trying to contain his excitement, but his hand was still shaking slightly as he subtly pointed over to the beach bar a few meters in front of them; at this time of day there weren't many guests occupying the tables and lounges, so it was easy to spot who Fred meant. It was a young brunette woman clad in shorts and a shirt bearing the logo of the beach bar, and she was smiling at a fellow waitress while carrying a tray of empty glasses over to the bar counter.
"Excuse me, but she doesn't exactly look like a mermaid to me," George said dryly, the hint of a smirk playing around the corners of his lips. "She's lacking something essential. If you haven't noticed, no fishtail."
There was the glimmer of hope that Fred would finally realise that he was being ridiculous, but George realised a second later that he shouldn't have thought like that. Fred released a strangled noise of excitement as he whipped around to face his brother.
"Bloody hell, George, imagine what that must mean! She can change between her human and mermaid form... the question is, how would a transformation like that work? Does it affect her system? Was she born like this or was she first human? Or first mermaid?"
"Fred..."
"Come on, we need to keep an eye on her!" Fred exclaimed and before George could react his brother was already dragging him towards the bar.
"You've gone mad. Great."
OoO
"How was your morning at the reefs, by the way?" Ethan, the owner and barkeeper, asked Fay with a big smile as she came over to him with the cocktail order of a small group of young locals that had just arrived.
"Wonderful but way too short, like always," she replied with a sigh and leaned against the bar, taking a sip of water. "Two Mojitos, one Vanilla Sky and two Hurricanes."
Ethan grabbed his shaker while Fay let her gaze wander over her area of the bar for a moment, checking for new guests. Seeing that there were none, she turned towards Ethan again and drank some more water.
"How was the reef looking?"
She shrugged lightly, pushing a strand of hair that had escaped from her ponytail behind her ear before she answered: "The reef itself looked good. But when I was on my way back to the harbour I came across loads of plastic garbage floating on the water. Told your brother about the position, he said he would get it cleaned up."
They exchanged a dark glance; it hadn't been the first time she'd come across pollution like that and sadly it wouldn't be the last time. "I hope our beach cleaning campaign will get more attention this year. My daughter is already designing the flyers," Ethan grumbled while finishing the first cocktail and placing it on a tray. "It's time we make it clear that we won't tolerate how the tourists treat our island."
"I hope so too. My grandma already said that she'll provide her delicious food for us again and she'll help with some of the logistics."
A satisfied smile passed over Ethan's face at the news and the thought of the old lady that still went to every event the little environmental group organised in their spare time lifted his spirits. During their beach cleaning weekends she would always make sure that every participant – which were sadly only around ten every year – had enough sunscreen and stayed hydrated and stuffed with her phenomenal food. Her proud smile and encouraging words often kept them from giving up when it seemed like they were fighting in vain because the big hotel companies and politicians kept blocking their attempts to save their homes.
Her grandmother really was the most important person in her life; she'd taught Fay how to swim when she could barely walk yet and influenced her to become more aware of the human influence on the nature.
"Hey, Fay. I think you have an admirer," Ethan suddenly said, ripping her from her thoughts, and Fay shot him a confused glance. "One of the twins at table six keeps staring at you."
Raising an eyebrow, Fay tried to appear as natural as possible when she turned around and let her gaze wander over the sitting area, also seeing the red-haired twins in the process. One of them was staring at his phone with an annoyed expression, the other one hurried to avert his eyes and stared at the cup of tea in front of him.
"Nah. Highly doubt that he's an admirer."
"Girl, stop going into denial," Ethan scolded her, rolling his eyes about the hidden meaning of her words while placing the last cocktails on the tray. "You're a beautiful young woman, the queen of the waters around this island, enigmatic and mysterious with that little shell of yours. Why are you surprised that people find you interesting?"
"Because all these things lose their touch when the person possessing them isn't confident enough to use their potential," Fay replied dryly while lifting the tray carefully, shooting him a glance that told him to drop the subject – they'd been over it quite a few times when guests had flirted with her and she hadn't picked up on it or had been confused.
Ethan shrugged and Fay walked off towards the group she was serving, briefly glancing over to the twins again. This time she did actually catch the one staring at her; she had trouble holding in her reaction, finding it weird and irritating that he was looking at her as if he expected her to grow another limb or something equally spectacular.
Doing her best to ignore him she brought the drinks to her customers and tried not to let the uncomfortable feeling spreading inside of her bring her off track.
And while she did wonder why he seemed to have such an intense interest in her, Fay was glad that she wasn't the one serving them.
OoO
George groaned in annoyance about an hour after they'd sat down at the table in the bar; he felt absolutely ridiculous and kind of worried that someone would call the police on Fred for being a stalker. Normally Fred was relatively reasonable – well, for their condition – and definitely had never done something like this before. Also he rarely ever managed to annoy George so much that he wanted to smack him.
He could tell that the poor woman was uncomfortable and he ultimately decided to do something.
"Fred, can we please go? This is ridiculous and you look like a crazy stalker boy. What are you expecting to find out by making her think you're a creep?" he asked in a tone that maybe was a little bit sharper than intended, but he guessed that he would have to talk with his brother like that to make him realise how wrong this behaviour was.
"I thought that maybe I could get some clues from her behaviour. Like, if she spilled water over herself I could find out if the contact with water turns her into a merma-"
"Cut the crap, Fred. I've had enough of this, we're leaving. She's not going to turn into a mermaid in the public because, oh, new information, mermaids don't even exist!"
George struggled hard to keep his voice down when he threw some money onto the table for their drinks and stood up, grabbing Fred by the arm and dragging him into the direction of their hotel, blocking off every attempt of his brother to explain his theories to him.
When they'd decided to study a science at university, he wouldn't have thought that one of them would turn into a crazy scientist that early in their life.
OoO
George usually wasn't the kind of person to threaten someone with something worse than a creative, non-destructive prank, but with Fred's behaviour being so abnormal he made sure to inform Fred what would happen if he did anything stupid.
He just hoped that calling their mother was intimidating enough.
In fact, he'd held a lecture for Fred when they returned to the hotel, underlining that this wasn't about science – because witnessing something nobody else had seen was a very shaky scientific proof – and that Fred couldn't act like he'd made the discovery of the century by stalking a young woman.
But he knew his brother as well as he knew himself, so he really should have anticipated that he wouldn't listen to his good advice.
Still he was surprised when Fred disappeared from their hotel room while he was taking a shower, and of course he'd turned his phone off.
All George could do was hope that Fred wouldn't get himself arrested.
OoO
Fred's heart was racing in excitement as he pushed through the undergrowth, shielding the expensive camera he'd... well, borrowed from the lab this morning from the thick leaves that hit his body from time to time.
George wanted proof?
He would go and get some!
While it was possible to manipulate photographs with modern technology, it was also possible to prove that they were indeed real, and he would show them that the mermaid hadn't been a mere hallucination. He knew what he'd seen!
Today would be a great day for science, a myth would become reality and his name would be on top.
Fred almost stumbled over a root because of the light skip in his step and he took a deep breath before continuing on his path, moving along the outskirts of the forest before he could reach the beach. It was his plan to hide in the undergrowth as close to the spot he'd seen the mermaid in as possible so he would be able to get high quality pictures.
Trying to get as comfortable as he could in his hiding place, he let his gaze wander over the calm waves, searching for a sign that the suspect of his interest was approaching.
Half an hour later, he realised that maybe he'd been a little bit too optimistic during the short planning stage – too short, obviously.
He was starting to get hungry – he'd skipped lunch to be able to get the camera – his legs were beginning to hurt from the various kneeling positions and the pressure in his bladder gradually got worse the longer he tried not to think of it. The fact that the waves were rolling onto the beach with loud rushes only meters away from him didn't make it any better either.
Just as he was about to seriously consider leaving his watch for an hour or so – depending on how long it would take to find a place to get snacks at – he suddenly spotted a head surfacing between the waves. Almost dropping the camera, he sat up and watched how she swam towards the shallow area; he could barely keep himself from moving and thus making noise. Additionally, his heart was jumping in his chest like crazy, making him feel a little bit shaky with anticipation.
As soon as she started to pull herself on the same stone she'd been lying on the previous day he started to take photos, unable to take his eyes off the scene. Despite the camera catching every movement, Fred tried to memorise the intriguing details he could see even from this distance; the small fins attached to the fishtail, the way the bronze and gold scales had an additional, light glimmer to them when the sunlight hit them, how an almost transparent layer of scales connected her human body and the tail.
But for a moment, he was completely distracted by something that didn't have anything to do with scientific study.
It happened when he saw her face, a relaxed and happy smile lighting her features as if all the worries in the world were forgotten upon visiting this place, washed from her body by the waves that the sun warmed to fill it with... joy.
Fred could feel his heart skipping a beat at seeing the smile as she held her face into the sunlight, body tensing momentarily as she inhaled the salty air before relaxing upon exhaling and sinking back onto the stone.
He didn't even truly realise that he was fascinated, and not in the way a scientist was about a discovery.
And in that short timeframe, he forgot why he was really there.
A second later, he was ripped back to reality by an insect that hit him in the eye and Fred, surprised about himself, hurried to take a few more photos of her tail before deciding that it was probably best to leave. The last thing he wanted was to be discovered, and he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't be distracted again.
While sneaking away from the beach, he made plans to confront her as soon as possible about what she was, though he would have to make some research first.
OoO
Fay sighed as she put her bag into the little space behind the bar, mumbling a short hello to Ethan. She'd had the day off yesterday, relaxing in her favourite spot and swimming a lot, but unfortunately her good mood hadn't lasted past this morning. As the waves had been phenomenal today she'd gone surfing with some friends, but they'd found a dead sea turtle during a snack break and that had taken the wind from her sails. Ethan's smile fell too when she told him that the turtle had choked on plastic and he sighed. "This has to stop. At least the flyers for the beach cleaning are ready. Here, can you put some on the tables and into the info boxes? I'll make us a hot chocolate, how does that sound?"
Fay chuckled, smiling weakly before nodding, taking the big stack of colourful flyers from Ethan. "Comfort chocolate, nice. Hey, can you put a stack in my bag? I'll hand them out on campus."
"Sure."
Fay turned and walked off, making quick work of placing the flyers next to the cocktail menus on the tables. When she placed the last dozens in the small info box by the entrance of the porch the bar was built on and attached a list where people could sign up she noticed something. At first she only felt like she was being watched – it had been like that yesterday too, weirdly – but then she saw someone from the corner of her eye. Ginger hair, tall… she looked up as the young man approached her, trying obviously to appear casual as he walked.
It was the twin that had been staring at her two days ago.
Something about him was odd, though she couldn't really put her finger on it – it was just a feeling in the pit of her stomach.
As she always listened to her gut she decided to be sceptic, and she might have sounded a little more reserved than intended when he greeted her. "Can I help you with something?"
He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly before straightening his back. "I would like to talk to you. I'm Fred Weasley, I'm a marine biologist with Professor Perkin's research group and… uhm… I know your secret."
Fay's eyebrow raised immediately and she shot him a questioning glance, confusion rising inside of her. "What?"
"I know what you are! How do you do it? I want to know more about it!"
"Excuse me, what are you talking about?" Fay asked, feeling a little bit worried about this poor guy's sanity. Things like this only happened to her – she came across a boy she found attractive and he turned out to be a weirdo. And Ethan wondered why she had no faith in love. Wait, why was she thinking about this?
Excitement was shining in his brown eyes and he stepped a little closer, his gaze wandering around to check if anyone was close enough to accidentally catch bits of their conversation, then he whispered: "I saw you with your tail, I know you're a mermaid!"
For one moment she just stared at him blankly, convinced that she'd misunderstood him… then she realised that he was completely serious and she couldn't help but snort loudly, starting to chuckle.
"Yeah, sure. Have you been in the sun for too long?"
His face fell with confusion and he blinked, his mouth opening and closing a few times before he said lamely: "But… the tail… I got photos…"
To her own surprise, she did feel slightly torn. She was almost sorry for him, as he seemed to have been sure to have made a great discovery, excited about it.
But on the other hand his words meant that he'd followed her, even photographed her without her consent, and that was definitely creepy.
"It's artificial, made of plastic!" she hissed, putting her hands on her hips. "And you call yourself a marine biologist, Mr Weasley? Also, who gave you the right to stalk me?"
He sputtered out a few words, shifting uncomfortably, awkwardly and ran his hands through his hair while he started to blush. "I… I'm such an idiot… I… I'm so sorry…"
Fay bit her bottom lip, telling herself not to accept, but there was also a voice in the back of her head that whispered that he seemed genuinely embarrassed about his actions and that he didn't seem like he'd had any bad intentions.
"I swear, I only saw you by coincidence," he managed to say ultimately, his voice quiet and sheepish. "I was at the beach to take a look at the reef and then I saw you… oh god, you have to think that I'm a complete weirdo."
Shrugging lightly, Fay mumbled: "Maybe not a complete weirdo. But definitely a weirdo."
"I guess I have to live with that."
The tiniest of crooked smiles lifted the corner of his mouth and it felt weirdly infectious to her. He rubbed the back of his neck again and Fay felt some warmth spread in her stomach as he asked hesitantly: "Is there any way I can make up for being an idiot? I mean, I would understand if you want to give me a kick in the ass and never see me again… But I'm really sorry."
Did he really deserve her forgiveness after this? She wasn't sure if she wanted to accept his apology that easily…
An idea came to her mind and she smirked, taking a flyer and the sign up list for the beach cleaning and pushed them at him. "You can start with this, so you do something that's really useful. After that we'll see."
"Beach cleaning? I can do that," he said, his face lighting up slightly and he inspected the flyer.
"Oh, not only that. You'll get a stack of flyers and then you'll go recruit as many people as possible."
"Aye aye, Ma'am." Fay tried to keep herself from smiling as he saluted jokingly, looking really relieved about her reaction. "Hey, uhm… how about we start over? I'm Fred."
He stretched his hand towards her with a hopeful expression and Fay barely hesitated before taking and shaking it, though her smile was still a little reserved. "Fay."
"Nice to meet you. Though I'm still convinced that you're a mermaid. Well, kind of," he whispered, then waved the clipboard with the list. "Well, I better start getting people to sign. Hey lady, may I speak about our friend the ocean with you?"
A cheeky smirk made his warm brown eyes twinkle and he bolted towards a woman that was coming down the promenade; Fay covered her mouth with her hand as she snickered.
THE END