A/N: I do not own The Little Mermaid.

The Little Mermaid (1989) – Ariel x Flounder

As Princess Ariel is infatuated with the handsome a Human named Prince Eric, she does not notice that there is someone who is in love with her - her best friend Flounder.

Chapter 1

Once upon a time...

Once there was a mermaid named Ariel. The youngest daughter of King Triton, she lived with her six sisters in an underwater palace. But while they were content in the confines of their world, Ariel was not. She was fascinated by the world outside of the ocean.

She wanted to learn all about it and the beings that lived there. She was curious about its differences, and that in turn made her different. But, if there was one rule in her father's ocean kingdom, it was never to stray out of the water.

"I don't think we've ever been down this far before!" Ariel exclaimed in excitement. "Isn't it exciting, Flounder? Hurry up!"

"Wait for me! I'm scared, no one know we're here." Flounder answered as he swam towards Ariel. Despite the two being of different species, they were very close friends. Ariel was a beautiful teenage mermaid with red lips, fair skin and large, aqua blue eyes, along with long, flowing, thick red hair. From her lower waist the girl had a green horizontal fish-like tail with sea-green scales and sea-foam green fins and a matching V-shaped waist-line resembling fish-lips that revealed her midriff and her belly button, while her chest was bare, displaying her small breasts.

Flounder on the other hand, was a young bright yellow and blue-coloured tropical fish. Together they were swimming across the wrecked ships, searching for anything that has remained from the shipwrecks. It was clear that she was infatuated from of all these sights, hoping that they would find something amazing today. Every time Ariel explored, she tried to push herself to go even further.

"Oh! Flounder, look at how well preserved it is," Ariel told as she observed a cabin through a porthole.

"We should probably turn back now," Flounder answered, his voice filled with anxiety. "I think I might be coming down with something. I have this cough."

As if confirming it, he began to cough. Turning back, Ariel gently touched her best friend. "You probably are," the bare-chested mermaid told him. "You should stay here and watch for sharks."

"Okay, yeah. Wait. Sharks?" Flounder exclaimed in fear. "Do you think it was a shark? Wait for me!"

With that, Flounder was more than eager to follow Ariel into the vessel. With a bag, Ariel began collecting various objects left on the ship. Anything that caught her attention was put into the bag.

"Oh my gosh. Look at that!" Ariel exclaimed as she saw a fork for the first time. "Isn't it the most amazing thing you've ever seen?"

"Yeah, sure. Looks great. Can we get out of here?" Flounder asked her, obviously feeling discomfort with the place. Apart from Ariel, Flounder had no interest in the human objects. Ariel loved these strange things her whole life, even if she didn't know what they were at all.

"Do you know what is it?" he asked the mermaid naked from her upper waist.

"I don't know, but I bet Scuttle will." Ariel answered as she put the fork into her bag. "This is going to be a perfect addition to my collect."

Just then, Flounder heard a noise coming from nearby. He didn't know what it was, but he had a bad feeling about it.

"Did you hear something?" he asked. "I'm scared. Now that you found something, let's go."

Ariel, however, was deaf to his pleas as she noticed something more. "Look over there! What is that?"

She briskly swam towards a crate, and took out what she saw. It was a smoking pipe. Holding it, Ariel began observing the newly-found object.

"I've never seen this thing before, what could it possibly do?" she asked herself while Flounder told her that they should get out of here. "Flounder, relax. Nothing bad is going to happen."

Her father, King Triton, told her that humans were dangerous, but under the sea there were dangers everywhere. As she continued observing the pipe, Ariel did not notice a shark charging straight at the window of the cabin in which they were. When Flounder noticed the predator, it was already near the vessel.

"Shark! Shark!" Flounder cried out, alerting Ariel. He quickly swam towards her, as the shark smashed the glass, chopping the wooden parts of the ship, trying to reach the two. "I'm going to die!"

"Let's get out of here!" Ariel finally agreed with her friend, holding the frightened tropical fish. "Follow me!"

The two began swimming away, despite the shark catching up with them. As she chomped planks of wood, he was nearing them.

"That is too close!" Flounder shrieked.

"You're going to be okay!" Ariel yelled back as they swam towards the porthole. Flounder swam through it first, then Ariel. The shark mindlessly decided to follow them, only to be stuck inside the porthole. It tried to break through, but unsuccessful. Seeing that their pursuer was no longer a threat, the two best friends swam away.

"You see! No big deal." Ariel told Flounder. "We're safe. It's all right. Flounder, you really are a guppy."

As he was assured, the fish began teasing the shark as they swam away. The two headed up to the surface, leaving the darkness of their world and entering the light of the world above. They emerged from the water, the sun shining at Ariel's bare breasts. Ariel wondered how could anyone be afraid of this place.

"Look at that," she said. "I could just drink in the sun and bask in it forever."

"It's too bright." Flounder simply answered. Ignoring his words, Ariel swam towards a reef, where a seagull was sitting on its nest that was built on the rocky surface of the reef. It was their friend, Scuttle the Seagull, and Ariel's guide on the human world. Seeing the two creatures of the sea, Scuttle grabbed his spyglass and set it at them.

"Ahoy! Ahoy!" he exclaimed. "I spy a mermaid in the sea! How you doin', kid?"

"Fine. Look what we found," Ariel answered, taking out her bag from the water. "Treasures in one of the sunken ships. Tell me, what are these things."

"Let's see what you found," the seagull said as he began taking out the human items Ariel found. The first thing he took out was a fork, and began combing his feathers with it, while explaining to Ariel what it was. "This is very special. Very unusual and rare. It's a dinglehopper. They comb their hair with it."

"A dinglehopper. Amazing." Ariel dreamily answered while Scuttle took out the smoking pipe.

"What about that one?" Flounder asked. "I nearly died getting it."

"I haven't seen one of those in years. A banded, bulbous snarfblatt," the seagull answered, causing both Ariel and Flounder moan "Ohh" together.

"The snarfblatt is from ancient times." Scuttle continued. "To relieve human boredom and create fine music."

Holding the pipe, Scuttle tried to blow through it, only for seaweed and soil to come out of it.

"Music?" Ariel asked as if remembering something. "Oh no. The concert!"

Flounder immediately understood what she meant. Ariel was supposed to attend a royal concert and sing with her sisters. "Was that today?" he asked. "You're going to be in trouble."

"I gotta go!" Ariel told the seagull. "Thank you, Scuttle!"

"Any time, sweetie!" Scuttle answered.

"Come on, Flounder!" Ariel called her friend. "I hope father's not angry with me."

The two dived back into the water and began swimming back to the Kingdom of Atlantica with all their strength and speed, not noticing that a pair of eels were spying on them.