The German sighed. It was a long day already and it wasn't even noon yet. The worst part was that he was alone. Gilbert hadn't come home from drinking last night. It wasn't unusual, he would just sleep over at his friends' house instead.

However, Ludwig hadn't gotten out of his bed yet. He was trying to delay the "getting up" part of this day. He didn't have a job, there was no need for one with all the bills paid already, so everyday he felt like he was on repeat. Get up, train, shower, walk dogs, come home, read, go to bed. Occasionally there would be a surprise event going on like if he went to the store.

He felt so alone. He didn't have a friend, never really had been good at making them. He did have good friends, but very few and he didn't really talk to them.

Did he have any friends? That...merman. He needed to name him. He had a blue t-tail, right? Maybe he could nickname him blue or something.

This was too weird. Way too weird. He was naming a merman. Naming. A. Merman.

Ludwig sighed. He rolled over on his side to steal a glance at the clock.

11:42. The blue numbers glared at him, as if upset at him for not enjoying the slow day. Even if it had been a very slow day, it wasn't fair to him that his thoughts were on "blue."

Was it normal to want to see somebody so foreign? So different? The German man sat up and stretched, shaking out the sleep that remained in his system. Enough was enough, it was time to get up.

He knew where he had to go.

Feli's tail fins twitched with anticipation to be used. He hadn't left the cave all morning and he was really wanting to get out. He hadn't really left since he got home yesterday. Not even to hunt for his breakfast.

Feli sighed. He was bored of this. Ever since he was helped back into the water he wanted to go back out. Just to see him again. He laughed at the irony. A fish out of water while in water.

Feli never really had a crush on anybody, forget about being in a real relationship with anybody. His brother had been in one or two, but Feli liked him with Antonio. He was really nice even with Lovino being...Lovino. Even if he wouldn't admit it, he knew that his brother loved Antonio back.

He looked up from stacking rocks on top of each other, a pastime he did whenever he was extremely bored or deep in thoughts. Lovino was out with Antonio and their grandfather would be out for a while longer, claiming not to be home until after dark.

He got up with a jolt when he realized something. With nobody home, nobody would see he left. With a guilty smile, he started swimming quickly to the beach he saw the human. He needed to call him something. Two legs seemed kinda mean. Maybe blondie? No...again, mean.

Feli smiled at the thought of his blonde. He was very strong, his arms were the size of his head! Even if he couldn't pick up a merman like him. He was so small, how could nobody pick him up? Especially somebody so strong like um...That human.

Note to self, Feli thought to himself as he swam towards the surface, create a nickname for the human.

One of the best things about living under water was breaking the surface. The water pressure didn't effect them, but to Feli he swore he could feel it lift off when he got close. The light looked so pretty when you're right below it. If you stayed a few feet below the surface for a while it felt like you're on top of the world.

Feli smiled as he stayed right below the surface for a moment. He remembered the first time he went to the surface.

He was just a toddler when he went up with his parents. It was so terrifying for him and Lovino. His parents tried to coax them out of the water by jumping out of the water and nudging them up.

Lovino eventually got annoyed by it and broke the surface just to make them stop. Feli stayed below the water, scared of the air above him. He only knew water his whole life and they wanted him to go into a literal new element. But if Lovino could do it, he could too right?

He slowly swam up and poked his finger trough the waves and felt air for the first time. It was too cold! He quickly brought it back and swam down a few more feet. Why would anybody do that? It was so horrible.

Feli turned as he heard some dolphins come up next to the merpeople. He flinched as some of them jumped out of the water. But luckily, he wasn't the only one. A baby dolphin came up next to him and nuzzled his arm.

Feli smiled nervously and pat the dolphins head. The dolphins mom came up next to them and nudged her baby to the surface. The baby singing to his mother, Feli smiled. He hesitantly swam up to follow the baby dolphin and his family.

The first time he broke the surface he gasped. His gills instinctively flapped with no water around them. The sun was too hot and the air felt sticky. "Mommy?" He broke up his eyes and looked around. His mom smiled and picked him up, hugging and kissing him.

Nowadays, Feli would jump out of the surface like his parents would. It reminded him of that beautiful time. He missed his parents but he knew his grandfather still loved them.

Today he didn't jump out. Instead he slowly poked his head out of the water and looked around. He was on the right beach right? And he was sure he was far enough from being beached again. Although, with the humans arms around him like that, it wouldn't be too bad...

Quickly he shook his head and tried to shake off his blush. He shouldn't be having these thoughts! If his brother, or even just his grandfather, found out he would be in so much trouble. Feli didn't even know what he would do. Maybe he could go live with the tropical merpeople over in the pacific. he heard that they were nice enough.

While Feli was in his thoughts, somebody came up to the beach. They weren't moving around, just standin there. The blonde was searching for somebody.

Feli spotted the same blonde from before and jumped back a few feet, startled at the sudden appearance. He smiled and went under to swim closer.

Ludwig went down onto the beach. He hated being so close to the water, but he did want to see Blue again. His eyes scanned the shore first, but with a relieved sigh, he didn't find anything. Then he searched out in the water. He found something out there and it looked like a man, but he shouldn't be out so far.

Then the man disappeared under the water. Ludwig gasped and stepped forward, worried for the man. "H-hey," he called out, "are you out there?"

Suddenly, the so called man reappeared much closer to the shore. But it wasn't the human as he thought. It was the merman! Ludwig stood there and gaped like a fish, mind suddenly turned blank.

The merman smiled and lifted his hand up and gave a small wave. Now that he could see him closer than before he had the chance to study him.

Feli smiled at the human. He knew he shouldn't be happy that the human was studying his fins and gills, but he couldn't help but blush under his watch. He tilted his head at Ludwig after a few minutes. "H-hello?"

Ludwig jumped back when he spoke. He looked like somebody had slapped him or something. Feli was confused, he knew that he could speak. He did ask him for help before, right? "What's your name?"

Ludwig gaped and swallowed hard. He didn't expect the merman to speak. He had totally forgotten that he asked for help before. Was it normal for him to freeze up like this?

Oh. The fish had asked him a question. Name? What's his name? He was unsure, but racked his brain. It couldn't be that hard to remember his name, right? It was uh...

So maybe it was hard to remember his own name.

Ludwig eventually cleared his throat and gave a shaky smile. "It's uh...L-Ludwig." Mission accomplished.

"Ludwig? That's a weird name. Mine is Feliciano, but you can call me Feli." Feli smiled back as if he's be born smiling all his life. It was practically a natural thing to do for him.

"Luddy, Luddy, where are you?"

Ludwig tuned out the voice calling out for him and continued to stare longingly at Feli. "Ludwig?" Feli asked, starting to get worried. "Ludwig who's that?"

Ludwig only listened and heard his brother's voice calling for him. Panic soon filled his own
veins. If his brother ever saw Feli they'd have more trouble than they would ever need. Gilbert had a really good habit of not shutting up when he needs it.

"Ludwig! Bro where are you?" They both turned their head at the sound of Gilbert's voice followed by his footsteps. Ludwig gasped and turned to Feli.

"You need to leave, now! Hurry, before he sees you," he stepped into the water and gave a shooing motion. "Now!"

Feli jumped and turned around before turning back to Ludwig. "But what about you?"

Ludwig gave an amused smile, it made his heart melt, "it's just my stupid brother, I'll be okay."

Feli blanched when he saw a distant figure walking towards them and turned to Ludwig. "Will you be here tomorrow?"

Ludwig immediately nodded, "Of course. Just go, okay?"

Feli nodded and went back into the blue water, quickly disappearing from view. Ludwig sighed when he left and turned to his brother. "Hello, Gilbert."

"Bro! What were you doing on the beach? I went home and you weren't there." Gilbert came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're not trying to drown yourself are you?"

"Nein," he gently pushed his brothers hand off of him. "I'm just on a walk."