Katie-the-Angel-Witch

Here's the mermaid one, another SFW one. I have to say, I really enjoyed writing this. Especially the mermaids.

The night sky was clear of any clouds, the stars shining bright and visible, light pollution too far away to obscure them, along with the full moon. And the best news was that the beach was empty. I made my way out of the house and down the steps that took me from the cliff said house stood on all the way down to the beach it overlooked. The air felt great, the sea was gentle and calm this night, and so I made my way to the pier, to sit down at my usual spot and just relax, taking it all in. 

I loved the ocean. The smell, the sight, the beach. And I really, really used to love swimming in it. But something happened around when I was 10. Something I wasn’t expecting, I wasn’t prepared for. I stopped being okay with exposing my body. Even if it was in swimwear, it felt awkward, it felt bad, I didn’t want people looking at me. Thus, I no longer swam. It’s been eight years since then and I still had no clue why the sudden shift happened. It really had no reason to. All my classmates and peers were okay showing off and swimming. But the only time I could make my way to the beach was when it was empty, at night, when I was sure I’d be all alone, nobody questioning me wearing swimming trunks and a hoodie to cover myself up. 

I had my legs dangling off the pier, my feet in the water, just so I could feel it in some small way. With a sigh, I looked at the horizon, the ocean so calm tonight that the stars reflected in it, making it look like an endless sky. An endless sky that was suddenly torn by the appearance of a fin jutting out of it. The pattern on it letting me know a tiger shark was approaching. But sharks never came this close to the shore; their hunting grounds and living grounds were twenty miles away from it. Just to be sure, I pulled my feet out of the water, sitting cross legged on the pier, watching the fin get closer and closer. 

Sharks aren’t evil bloodthirsty monstrous creatures, they’re like the equivalent of wolves or lions in the sea. If I stayed out of the water, I could safely observe the shark if it got close enough, and admire it. I changed my position from sitting cross legged on the pier, to laying on my stomach, so I’d have a better angle for looking in the water. It was so clear, even this far from the shore I could see the bottom of it, all the shells and such laying in the white sand. 

Thus, the appearance of the tiger shark shocked me. The eyes I could see from far away now weren’t positioned like they should be on a shark head. They were looking straight ahead. And those eyes met mine. And soon they were zipping towards me so fast, I didn’t even register the rest of the shark’s appearance. That is until the eyes were right below me in the water, and they jumped forward, making me scramble back in surprise. 

The eyes were set in a brown skinned human face that was pretty and feminine and inches from my own. “Hi!” the shark creature said, grinning widely, teeth sharp and pointy, like you’d expect from such a being. They were holding onto the pier and pulling themself up, their tail hanging free, mostly submerged. A mermaid. Somehow, I was face to face with a shark mermaid. Whose smile turned into a frown and whose eyes got a worried look to them, as they eased up, still holding onto the pier but now no longer pulling themselves up, more like they were hiding their face underneath it as if it was a blanket, or a jacket. “Oh no, did I scare you? I’m sorry! Serenity keeps telling me I should give people their personal space but I just get really really REALLY excited and jump right in and stun them and then they yell and run away and I feel bad about scaring them off and please say something or I’m gonna continue nervously rambling and I don’t think anyone wants me nervously rambling more than is necessary-” 

“U-uhm…” I stuttered out, going from my current very awkward position that could best be described as an attempt at imitating a seal, into a more comfortable cross legged position, but still somewhat away from the shark mermaid. Merperson? Is there a neutral term? I mean, their face was feminine, but then their chest was devoid of the massive breasts you expect mermaids to have from the stories. “Am I dreaming? Did I pass out on the pier? I mean, mermaids aren’t real.” 

Their eyes shot right back at me, as they pulled themselves up just enough to rest their chin on the pier. “Well that’s just rude, I’m plenty real!” They reached out, grabbing my arm and putting my hand on their head, from which grew short brown hair that had streaks of blonde in it. The texture of it felt weird but not bad. “See?” 

I still pinched myself with my free hand to make sure. I wasn’t waking up. Mermaids were real, and I was in front of one. “Sorry,” was all I managed. I mean, how do you apologise to a mythical being whose origin point is sailors being so horny they saw seals as women that you believed to just be that origin point and not an actual living creature. They gave me a slight smile, and climbed onto the pier completely, their tail dangling into the water. 

“I’m Nubi. Honestly this is the longest I’ve talked to a human, so thanks for not running away screaming. What’s your name?” Nubi turned their head to me, flashing their sharp smile again. 

“Sandy.” I scratched the back of my neck, but saying my name earned me a nod from Nubi. 

“Nice to meet you, Sandy! Not sure how common this question is for you, but what gender are you?” I would have done a spit take at Nubi’s question had I been drinking. Instead I just gave her a confused glare. 

“I’m...I’m a guy.” It felt weird admitting it, like come on Sandy you have all the bits and bobs that are expected of a guy; you’ve had them since the doc dragged you out of your mom and yelled ‘it’s a boy’; why’re you feeling weird about saying it?

“I’m a girl, by the way. But huh. You don’t smell like a guy.” Nubi shrugged, before looking me over more closely. “You sure you’re one?” 

“I’ve been told so my whole life, what the hell do you mean I don’t smell like it.” Like, I know how guys smell from exercise; I shared locker rooms and showers with guys at school; the stench in there always makes me nearly faint from how strong it is. Might be all the Axe they’re spraying on afterwards, to be fair. Plus the noise and rampant harassment. Horrible place, no one should ever have to endure that. And, despite everything, despite my many attempts at better hygiene, I was sure I smelled like them. Of course, Nubi shrugged to give me a reply. 

“I dunno, you don’t smell like all the guys I’ve smelled swimming around here. You smell closer to the girls,” was her answer, which only left me with more and more questions. “Ah shoot, I should probably be making my way back home now. Will you be here tomorrow night? I want to introduce you to everyone!” 

“I hope so, at least, if the weather is nice.” Nubi nodded at my answer and jumped off the pier, giving me a wave before she swam off, which I had kindly returned. My heart and mind thoroughly confused from the interaction, I made my way back home, walking past my mom who was busy knitting on the couch in the living room, and right up into my bedroom, where I crashed into bed. 

Not really to sleep, but to think further on what Nubi had said. 

Of course that didn’t prevent me from passing out later anyways, while wearing the same clothes, resulting in a scramble to get dressed more properly for school. What surprised me though was the smell of fish cooking. When I walked downstairs, I saw mom frying up some for breakfast. “Weirdest thing, Sandy, I woke up this morning to take out the trash, and there was a bunch of fresh fish wrapped in seaweed on a piece of driftwood on our porch.” She turned off the stove and portioned the fish out. “And I do mean fresh, just caught. I put the rest of them in the freezer.” 

Well, I could figure one source for the fish. Made me wonder how Nubi would have made her way up the steps to the front door though. Wouldn’t she have dried out by the time she reached the top? Getting back down into the sea was pretty simple. Just had to take a dive off the cliff into the twelve foot deep waters below it. And after that nutritious breakfast, I just ran out to run to school. 

I got to run to school since it was built on the edge of town, and me and mom lived juuuuuust outside said edge. I did start zoning out the moment I was in class though. Just thinking about what Nubi had said. About me smelling more like a girl. It was the weirdest comment I had ever gotten from someone… and the first one that didn’t label me a guy. That’s what made me feel conflicted. Since I was supposed to be a guy, right? My insecurities over my body were because I didn’t look like the other guys in class, that I wasn’t a muscly jock and stuff, or built like an olympic swimmer. Had to be. It’s what everyone around me kept telling me. 

I hadn’t even registered school being over until I found myself pushed outside by waves of teens, escaping the confines of our fine institution of learning to change into swimwear and hit the beach. It was a clear sign that I should be making my way home, which I did. Or well, I was about to start making my way home, but I was stopped in my tracks by someone grabbing my arm. “Well hey there Sandy Cheeks, so nice of you to visit again all the way over from Texas.” 

I sighed. “That joke wasn’t funny the first, second or fiftieth time, Sarah. Did you miss the episode where Sandy was treated as a minority for Spongebob to punch down on for cheap laughs?” 

“Ah come on it’s a little bit funny. I can just picture you with the fuzzy tail and ears.” Sarah had let go of me in that moment, stepping back and doing the finger gesture for framing someone. 

“Your brain fails at the bikini though, am I right?” Great, might as well sign my joke warrant even further and never get out of it. Especially considering I could see Sarah holding her chin in contemplation. 

“Hmmm, honestly I can see it. I mean, I haven’t seen you topless since you were eight, so who knows what you’re hiding underneath that sweatshirt.” Sarah got a predatory smirk on her face, before she hugged me from behind and squeezed my chest. “Why, there could be a pair hiding underneath here and none would be the wiser!” I tried to elbow her to get her off, but she had deftly dodged it as she let go. Honestly I was only tolerating her behavior because we were cousins and I had nobody else at school to talk to. After my attempt at elbowing her though, I ended up looking at my chest, and sighing. “Hey Sandy, you alright? You know I’m just teasing, let me know if I cross a line, okay?” 

“Yeah I’m fine, just got something on my mind. I’m gonna go home now.” I continued walking at last, leaving Sarah standing in the courtyard, possibly confused. 

The night came unexpectedly early. Maybe it was because I had been so focused on my homework, maybe it was me being once again distracted with thoughts. Now I had two comments banging around in my skull. Nubi’s comment about me smelling like a girl, and Sarah’s comment suggesting I could be hiding breasts. They were both making me insecure. But, not in the way I was used to. I was used to feeling ashamed about my body. About not wanting it seen or exposed. But those comments? They made me scared, about what people would do if they knew, if I’d be hurt, because I’m supposed to be a guy, and having those things would mark me as not a proper one, as not meeting expectations. I’ve seen enough TV and been online enough to know what happens to guys who don’t meet expectations of masculinity. I sighed and rubbed my face in frustration, right as I made my way down to the pier. 

The second I sat down on it, I saw a familiar fin, followed by a familiar mermaid emerging out of the sea, and jumping up to sit next to me. “Hi Sandy! Did you like the fish I got you? Serenity told me to give you a housewarming gift since we’re pretty much neighbors.” Nubi’s enthusiasm was endearing, really endearing in fact. But I just sighed and laid down. 

“You put a bug in my head and I can’t get it out. I keep thinking about your comment from yesterday. The one about me smelling like a girl. And it’s stirring up a lot of feelings I didn’t know I had and I’m scared of what they mean.” I turned my gaze up. Well, up to the top of my head, since I was laying down on the pier, Nubi next to me. And I noticed Sarah staring from behind the stairs that lead up to my house. “Fuck. I hope she didn’t hear that.” 

“I DEFINITELY didn’t hear you mention that the mermaid cosplayer next to you said you smelled like a girl, in fact I’m not even really here!” Sarah called out from her ‘hiding spot’. I just rubbed my face again as I heard Nubi giggle. 

“What’s a cosplayer?” What an innocent question for her to ask right after I opened up my heart like that, but to be fair Sarah derailed that whole bit. 

“A person who wears costumes of characters. I figure Sarah thinks you’re just wearing a skinsuit that makes you look like a shark mermaid for fun.” I shrugged, which earned me a fist in palm realisation move from Nubi

“Oooooh, so like reverse selkies, putting on skins instead of taking them off to change into something they’re not! Neat!” Nubi turned and waved at Sarah, who walked over and sat awkwardly behind the two of us. 

“She’s really dedicated to the costume, huh. Fully in character, not breaking immersion. I can’t even see a seam, it’s like she’s Doug Jones on the set of The Shape of Water.” Sarah quipped. I don’t know what would make it click for her. 

“Why are you here, Sarah.” I asked, still laying down, looking up at her face. 

“Well, you were being weird at school today, and you were weird about my teasing today, so I got worried. And I know you tend to spend your time here, since I see you on my nightly jogs-” Sarah began, right until I interrupted her. 

“You go on nightly jogs?!” 

“-I can bench press two hundred pounds and carry a shark tooth knife that’s visible on me as a deterrent, anyways. I got worried and wanted to make sure you wouldn’t hurt yourself or do something stupid if you were depressed and hiding it.” Sarah had pulled out her dagger when she mentioned it, but then carried on speaking right afterwards, storing it away. “Was smelling like a girl what was on your mind?” 

“Yes, and your boob suggestion didn’t help.” I pointed at Sarah and just sighed. Nubi was being quiet and just observing the antics. I figure she might have found them fun to look at, considering her previous interactions with humans was them running and screaming. “I’m supposed to be a guy, everyone sees a guy when they look at me, there’s expectations tied into that, and… and I’ll get hurt if I can’t meet them. Which I’m having trouble with already! Ugh, sometimes I wish I could be a jellyfish. No brain, they just float and look pretty, and hurt anyone that touches them stupidly.” 

“Dolphins would eat you to get high if you were a jellyfish, you know.” Nubi spoke up at last. “Oh! Right! I’m supposed to let the others know when you show up! Gosh it completely escaped my thoughts from seeing you two talk and Sarah thinking I’m a reverse selkie cosplayer thing!”  She then proceeded to splash her tail three times, loudly and hard, resulting in me getting soaked. Which was followed by Sarah pulling off my sweatshirt and t-shirt in one swift motion without asking me first. 

The yelp of surprise I let out was high pitched and sudden and my arms shot instinctively to cover my chest. “What the hell Sarah?!?! And why was that the signal, Nubi?!” I looked quickly between both of them, turning my head from one to the other, still covering my chest even though I really had no reason to. 

“They can hear and feel the splashing from far away!” Nubi replied, with an enthusiastic smile that had no clue about my behavior. 

“And I don’t want you catching a cold on top of everything, Sandy.” Was, in turn, Sarah’s reply. “Nubi’s really, REALLY dedicated to the costume though, huh. Kind of weird a little bit. Sorry if that hurts Nubi but it’s not like mermaids can be real.” 

“And why can’t we be?” The voice was calm, warm, soothing. Like a warm blanket, or a gentle touch. The source of the voice was a woman easily twice the height of Nubi, her hair flowing and purple, her skin dark and warm in tone, and her waist leading into a skirt of eight tentacles in place of legs. 

“Serenity!” Nubi screamed out joyously, before she leapt off the pier and right onto Serenity’s side, clinging onto one of her tentacles with a hug. I was sitting up in that moment, and Sarah was slapping my arm excitedly. 

“Sandy! Sandy! It’s Ursula’s prettier sister!!! Mermaids are real!!!” Sarah stopped slapping my arm. “Ohmygod mermaids are real. Does that make werewolves real?! Can I get a cool lumberjack werewolf girlfriend?!?!?!” She stood up in that moment. “Wait FUCK I got too excited I wasn’t supposed to blurt out the last part like that. Too soon.” She pointed a finger at me, in an accusatory way. “You heard nothing. NOTHING. Have fun with your mermaid friends! I’m running away now from blurting out a coming out. You still heard nothing!!!” Sarah was, as she said, actively running away, and waving. 

So my cousin was gay. Cool to find out. I guess. “None of my sisters are named Ursula. I do quite appreciate her calling me pretty, however.” Serenity spoke up, leaning down to be eye level with me. “Good evening, Sandy.” Nubi was still cuddling up to Serenity, her face just beaming pure joy and contentment. I could see another mermaid shyly peeking out from behind Serenity, one who gave off the appearance of a great white shark. A great white shark with very strong muscles, but who had eyes as innocent as scared as a tiny kitten. 

And then at my side the head of a shark mermaid who gave off the appearance of a whale shark rested, adorably pudgy compared to the other ones that were present. She gave me a wave and a smile. I gulped from seeing all of them around me, looking down at me, just in my shorts. “Fuck, I think Sarah ran off with my hoodie.” I looked around the pier, and found no evidence of my hoodie or t-shirt. “I really liked that hoodie…” I deflated, which was met with Serenity resting herself on the pier, and grabbing my chin with her hand. Which was almost as big as my torso, so it came off as a pretty lady taking hold of a doll’s face. 

“I’m sure she will return it to you once she realises her mistake, Sandy.” Serenity gave my cheek a gentle rub with her thumb, but at her size said thumb was as big as my face.   Despite that though, her touch just made me relax, finally letting my arms down by my side, instead of using them for modesty. It still felt weird that those were my instincts instead of trying to snatch my hoodie back right away from Sarah. Despite her teasing comments I really had nothing to cover. 

Which… felt bad. It felt bad I had no reason to cover my chest. It felt bad that it was as flat as the other guys’ chests. And it took getting splashed by a mermaid and having my hoodie stolen to realise that. Combined with the instinct the realisation hit me that my brain was expecting something to be there, and it wasn’t, and the dissonance was what made me feel shit. 

I wanted my hoodie to be covering a pair of breasts, and I wanted to smell like a girl to a bunch of shark mermaids. Guys aren’t supposed to want that though. And I was supposed to be a guy. But… if I wanted stuff guys didn’t, then that meant I really couldn’t be one. 

Shit. “You look like you have a lot on your mind, Sandy.” Serenity spoke up again, letting go of my face. “I should introduce the other two girls here. The sweetie behind me is Crissi, she’s very shy. And the one to your side is Quill, she’s mute.” Serenity gave me a smile again, as she completely rested on the pier, her arms underneath her chin. “Tell me, what’s on your mind dearie?” 

“That my whole life I’ve been told to meet expectations for something I’m not.” There. I put it into words. I said it out loud. I’m not a guy. Now what the hell was I going to do about it? 

“It hurts, doesn’t it. They tell you how to be, and then hurt you when you aren’t that. And if you do find out what you are, they don’t let you be yourself.” Serenity tilted her head to rest more comfortably on her arms, and I nodded to answer her. She still had that warm, kind smile to her. “Crissi, could you give Sandy the gift I prepared?” Her gaze turned to her side, and I heard and eep, before Crissi emerged from behind Serenity, swimming as close as she could. She was holding something, bracing it against her chest, something very small. She put both her hands towards me, showing me Serenity’s gift. 

The best it could be described as was a rainbow blob. A piece of multicolored jelly, about the size of a grape. I carefully took it from Crissi’s hands, trying hard not to crush it as I looked at it. Serenity pointed to it. “After what Nubi told me, I figured you might like this. We Sea Witches call it an Essence of Amphiprion. It’s not an instant remedy. It takes time. But it will help you reach a form I greatly suspect your heart desires. All you have to do is swallow it, and let it take its course.” I looked closer at the essence. It couldn’t be that simple. It couldn’t be that easy. It couldn’t just be the case of me taking a fruit gummy and… Wait. Serenity had mentioned time.

“How long does it take? For it to finish?” I looked right into Serenity’s eyes. Or, well, I tried to. 

“A few months, if I recall right. No more than six. Much faster than the transitions of the Essence’s namesakes.” I’d have to look up what Amphiprion meant once I went home, I was sure of that. But Serenity’s answer hurt to hear. 

“Why six months? Isn’t there anything faster? Anything you could do now to change this?” I gestured to myself as I asked, which resulted in Serenity sighing. I noticed Nubi stopped hugging her tentacle and was now busy comforting her on the side. 

“Not without sacrifices I wouldn’t ask of anyone. Especially as a number of them aren’t personal ones. It’s your choice, Sandy. You don’t have to use it if you find something better from humans. But take it with you, and look after it anyways.” Serenity gave my chin a quick lift with her finger. “It was very nice to meet you, and I do hope to swim with you soon. But I do need to take Crissi back home. She’s not good at dealing with new people, and gets drained fast.” Serenity got off the pier, grabbing hold of Crissi’s hand as she did. “See you soon, Sandy.” With those words, Serenity and her shark mermaid entourage swam away, leaving me with a choice. 

“I have a feeling whoever named that magic pill is laughing at my expense now.” I was looking in the mirror. It was late august, school was out, and it had been three months since I met Nubi and her polycule. It took me four more visits to realise the mermaids were all dating each other. I guess if you’re dense about your gender, you can be dense about other things. I was brushing my hair while looking in the mirror. It had drastically changed in color over the past three months. It went from a dirty blonde, to an extremely bright orange. An extremely bright orange, with a streak of black and a streak of white hair in the fringe, like Rogue from the X-Men. And despite the remarks it had earned me when the shift happened right before graduation, I liked it. 

Satisfied with my hair, I walked downstairs. Mom was standing in the kitchen, apron on and knife in hand, working away at our dinners for the next month by the looks of it. “Nubi has a god awful sense of how much humans eat, I swear. How’d she even catch a whole bluefin tuna in these waters?” She shook her head and carried on carving. At this rate we could as well open a sushi place. Mom had trained the knife skills for it. 

“She’s worried because I’m growing, so to speak, and she wants to make sure I have all I need to grow.” Mom rolled her eyes at my remark. 

“Well thank her when you see her. Any idea if Sarah and Jackie will visit next week?” 

“Full moon next week, and you know how much Jackie sheds when she’s transformed.” I shrugged as I made my way to the door. 

I pretty much ran down the stairs the second I was out of the house. And I kept running as I reached the pier. As I took off my hoodie, and leapt into the sea, still wearing my shorts over a one piece swimsuit. The moment I was submerged, I took a deep breath of the salty water, the gills I was granted opening, and I swam onwards, seeing Nubi swimming towards me with Crissi in tow. 

The eyes that had surprised me so many nights ago now signaled one thing. My friends were close. And they helped me figure out me. I’d be forever grateful for that. 

Katie-the-Angel-Witch

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