Days twenty-nine of MerMay prompt month.

Double whammy today guys! Aren't I the best?! I'm trying to get this done as soon as I can.

Ferb is such a smart idiot here. I love it.

Rescue - Ferb

His mind was spinning…

Isabella had kissed him…

She had kissed him!

Ferb was torn because, well, wow! But also… he hadn't wanted to kiss her until he had told her about himself. She now had an ability she didn't know she had, nor did she willingly accept having it.

At least being able to breath underwater—if only for a little while—didn't come with any negative side effects. A môr kissing a human only gave, it didn't take. But he still had wanted her to have all of the information before they kissed.

Ferb clenched his fist again as a wave surged over their feet again. This had been a poor plan, sitting here with Isabella. But once he put his feet into the water, he couldn't justify pulling them out again. And though it was nice, he was having to forcefully pull back the urge to release his form every time the water washed over him. And Isabella had noticed…

When he told her the waves tickled his feet… he wasn't exactly lying, but it definitely wasn't fully truthful either. It did tickle, but not the same way most people felt ticklish. It felt extremely similar to the itch that he would get when he was close to his limit.

He would probably end this day with nail marks in his palm, if he didn't already have them from how often the waves came up.

The water surged again and he spared a moment to glare down at it. The sea had lost it's lulling pattern and waves were coming much quicker, almost unnaturally quicker, since they had kissed. (We kissed! he cheered internally.) Ferb could readily admit that he didn't know everything about the ocean—who could, really—but he knew enough that he could feel when something was off…

Honestly, if he had to take a guess, it was like the sea was behaving like a needy child.

Another wave washed over them and his hand clenched again, forcing down the desire to just jump off the dock and release his transformation. Isabella sighed happily next to him and he turned to watch her.

She had raised her face into the bright sunshine; her eyes closed behind her pink frames, her lips curved into a soft smile. Ferb felt his whole body relax, watching her enjoying the moment. His eyes lingered on the smile and he wanted to lean over and kiss her again. Could he do that? Should he ask? He didn't know the rules for this!

He didn't notice Isabella's eyes opening, nor when she cast her gaze over him, realizing where exactly he was staring. Not until that soft smile morphed into a playful smirk, at least. His eyes snapped back to hers and he blushed when he saw the teasing gleam in hers. He forced himself to face forward, and as if on cue, another wave caressed his feet.

He suppressed the growl that threatened to come out at the water's behavior—he swore it was mocking him—but all of those thoughts were swept away when Isabella's free hand came up to caress his face, turning him to look back at her.

She was much closer than before, and she didn't waste any time. She leaned in, giving him a single lingering kiss that caused his eyes to automatically fall closed. He cherished the feeling of her fingers stroking his cheek and the slight movement of her lips on his. When she pulled back, her eyes shining up at him, his hand clenched for a different reason than the waves that kept trying to get their attention.

He was stunned, again, and Isabella grinned, pulling her eyes from his to watch the horizon once more. Ferb continued to watch her, mesmerized by the flush in her cheeks that had not been caused by the sunshine. He wanted to curse himself for kissing her again before he had told her he was a môr (though this time, much like the last, was instigated by Isabella, not him), but then he realized something…

She already had the ability, even if she didn't know it. It didn't matter right now how many more kisses they had. Her ability would fade as the day went on—school had taught him that the ability usually lasted in humans for about four to six hours before they needed to kiss a môr again. And, after a year of this, the human would gain the ability almost indefinitely.

(It wasn't perfect. There were tales of humans losing the ability after a few days of not kissing their môr significant other. But so long as the couples kissed at least once a day, the human could continue living under the water, or visiting if that's how the pairing worked, with no issues.)

Something in him relaxed with that realization. She still needed to know, of course, but there was nothing he could do about it now. Well, he could refuse to kiss her until he admitted everything, maybe even wait until that evening so the ability was out of her system… but he really didn't want to, and he had a feeling that Isabella wouldn't understand his sudden hesitation—actually, she would probably smack him for stalling.

He did still need to tell her—as soon as possible. Now that they had kissed, now that she had the ability, he needed to tell her. But how…?

The water surged again and he wanted to groan.

Ferb shot a glare at the water before a thought struck him and he started to grin.

Maybe…

He turned to Isabella, a playful gleam in his eye. "I'm curious," he started, and he hid a wince when she jumped because he suddenly spoke. "Sorry," he said reflexively.

Isabella shook her head. "No, it's fine. I was lost in thought," she excused, brushing away his apology. "What are you curious about?"

Ferb shot a glance back down at the water below them before returning to her face. "I was wondering… Have you ever jumped off of this dock?"

Isabella's eyes widened for a moment before she chuckled. "No, no. Not at all."

He tilted his head. "Why not?"

Isabella bit her lip, this time being the one to look down at the ocean as another wave brushed against them. "Well, for one thing you should never swim alone in case of an emergency," she began, her voice taking on a lecturing quality that Ferb could remember from their childhood days. She had used it a lot when the Fireside Girls were earning patches.

Ferb nodded when she didn't continue right away. "That makes sense," he agreed.

She grinned and then pointed as a ripple in the water that Ferb realized didn't seem to move. "The other reason is because there is a strong current that travels along this dock. It's part of why it was abandoned." Isabella leaned forward to gaze straight down into the water. "There's also probably a lot of debris from boat wrecks and parts of the dock collapsing down there. I wouldn't want to get caught on anything, even if I did somehow miss getting swept away by the current."

Ferb watched her curiously. "But you know how to swim out of a current, don't you?" He thought he remembered her learning that as part of the lifeguard patch… Was he wrong?

Isabella laughed. "I do know, but I haven't done anything like that in years and I would probably end up needing to be rescued myself."

Ferb hummed, that playful gleam reappearing. "I'm sure you could do it without too much trouble."

She shook her head. "Unless something comes up that requires me to do such a thing, I think I will stay here in the sunshine," she declared with a grin.

He hummed again, removing his hand from hers and standing up. Isabella stared up at him, curiosity in her eyes as he stretched his arms above his head. He glanced around, noticing that, for some reason, the docks were virtually unoccupied at that time—maybe because most of the boats had already been taken out onto the water for the day. They were also far enough away from the beach and boardwalk that the likelihood of someone hearing a shout was slim.

He paused, a frown barely appearing on his face. I sound like a criminal…

"Ferb?"

He looked down at Isabella, who was still watching him curiously. She had pulled her legs out of the water, but she hadn't stood up yet. Ferb grinned at her. "Don't hate me," he told her, only partially teasing. He really hoped she wouldn't hate him after this…

"Wha—" she was cut off when Ferb took a single step forward and pushed himself off the edge of the dock into the water, almost landing directly in the current. It pulled him for only a second as his transformation fell and he kicked out of it, returning to the dock, waiting… hoping…

The ocean seemed to swirl around him, almost… happily. It was like it was anticipating something… Actually, it was more like it was anticipating the same thing he was…

Before he could think too hard on it, there was a rush of bubbles as something (someone) leapt into the water. In an instant he realized that this was a real koi move! If someone else had seen him, had run to his rescue… then his secret would have been blown. But it all worked out, and he reached forward, pulling Isabella out of the current before she could get swept away.

"Isabella," he sent her, his hands caressing her cheek as she blinked at him, her eyes squinted in the salty water and her cheeks puffed out, holding her breath.

The ocean current nearby curled in place, almost as if it were dancing.

Sea People

In the collection of stories The One Thousand and One Nights, there are several tales featuring beings called the "Sea People", such as Jullanâr the Sea-born and Badr Bâsim of Persia (who is apparently Jullanâr's son). Unlike most depictions of mermaids in other mythologies, these Sea People are anatomically identical to land-bound humans, with the only differences being their ability to breathe and live underwater. They often interbreed with land humans, and the children of such unions have the ability to live underwater.