30 day fluff challenge | Ryden

Falling in love

CW: Mermaids fic!
TW: Referenced homophobia, going away from home

The second half is inspired by the song "Rebel Love Song" by Black Veil Brides — lyrics are in italics.

*3rd person POV* (5.9k+ words)

—

"Maybe one day we'll find that place, where you and I could be together and we'll catch our dreams within the waves of change. So hear me, you're not alone."
- R.M. Drake

•.° 🥥 °.•

It all started the day Brendon turned sixteen, three years ago.

Their pretty little boy, Brendon. The youngest, only son of Merman Boyd —one of the most remarkable names in the Pacific Ocean— arrived to the age of sixteen.

As a part of his birthday gift, Brendon's father gave him permission to explore the ocean by himself. Not without making him promise he'd be extremely careful though, and to not return in many pieces instead of just one. Brendon gladly did so and embarked on the adventure.

Brendon passed the borderline of coral reefs that surrounded their kingdom, where it was still close enough to the surface. It allowed the sun rays to dive right into the water, giving it such characteristic look of the ocean flora.

As he went deeper into the ocean, it got much darker and he could hardly see properly. The bright colors died, shades like dark green and blue fulfilled the pallet of colors instead; the ground wasn't just white, smooth sand anymore, mossy rocks came to view. Brendon knew he was far away enough from home.

Remains of human stuff, from many years ago, laid on the sand. Deteriorated structure of what used to be a ship, broken glass, some weird things Brendon didn't know its use, scattered all over the place. It looked creepy, yet so interesting to explore.

Brendon swam closer to the ship in front of his eyes, amazed by all of this. He had seen some human things before, of course, and countless of ships navigating across the ocean, 'flying' over his head. But the antiqueness of this specific ship made it somewhat special, along with the many others incredible objects around.

He got inside the wood structure, wanting to see the whole ship, tremendously damaged by the time spent underwater. Jewelry, metals, pearls, shiny and sharp objects, decorations, strange furniture, a fancy small mirror, and counting. The old ship was full of different things Brendon wanted to carry back home with, totally impressed.

He regretted not carrying a bag or something with him; in his hands, he struggled to get a hold of a few jewels he find the prettiest, a circular-shaped, shiny object with numbers inside, and also, the small mirror couldn't stay behind. Before saying goodbye to this stunning place and swimming back in the same direction he came.

Not even a mile on his way back, Brendon got a quick glimpse of a blue-ish fish tail, apparently rushing to hide behind a big rock a couple of meters away. However, it didn't look like it belonged to a fish at all, it had to be a merfolk's tail.

Curiosity got the best of him and he carefully swam closer to the rock, afraid of scaring away whoever was there. Being extremely cautious, he approached the rock from one side.