A Song In The Night ~ TMF Mermaid AU

Part 1

Hailey POV

I swam up to the surface, excitement making me go faster. There was a ship going by, and by the sound of it, the people on board were having a blast. I liked watching the humans. They were so full of emotion and music and color that it made it impossible not to love them. I broke through the surface and looked up at the ship lighting up in the night. Everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves. I smiled up at them and swam over to the hull of the ship. I grabbed onto a rope that was dangling off the side of the ship and pulled myself out of the water. My tail was useless and limp, just a heavy weight dragging me down. I gritted my teeth and, with much struggle, managed to pull myself up and over the railing. I flopped onto the floor with a heavy sigh and laid my arms out. I made it. A shadow crossed over my slick body and I looked over at the boy standing above me.

"You could have worn something a little less... revealing," he gestured to my upper half, and I glanced down.

"What's wrong with it? At least I didn't come bare," I didn't have much of a wardrobe, and the maroon cloth strapped to my chest was the least revealing thing I could find. Last time we did this I showed up not wearing anything because that's just how we did things underwater. Zander had to explain to me that humans were much different than mermaids, and that they covered themselves up. I still didn't really get it, but I respected the humans enough to follow their weird customs.

He sighed and shook his head, purple curls bouncing. "Come on, let's turn you human and find you something decent to wear. Again."

"Well, call Luke over, because I need help getting to the room." Zander glanced over his shoulder and then back at me, "Okay, but stay hidden. I don't want anyone seeing you like this." I rolled my eyes and shifted behind a wooden crate. He walked back to the party to find Luke, and I slumped down, looking up at the stars. I hummed a little song while waiting for Zander to return with Luke. I heard careful footsteps from behind the crate and stopped humming. The footsteps stopped as well. I heard a voice and tensed up.

"Uh, hello? Is someone there?" I mentally smacked myself. You should've shut up! Now he's going to see you! There was silence for a moment. Then he spoke again, "Well, if you're not going to come out, then can you at least keep singing? I thought it was beautiful." I heard him sitting down and waiting for me. He liked my singing? Huh. I started humming again, but louder so he could hear it better. He started singing along, and I smiled. He had a nice voice, too. I peeked out from behind my crate, and I was captivated by the handsome boy I saw. Peach hair fell in tufts over his chocolate brown eyes. His features were so... perfect. Woah. I think I just stumbled upon a human angel. Words couldn't describe how beautiful he was. I didn't even realize I had stopped humming until he stopped singing, snapping me out of my trance. I stumbled and fell back. Shoot. He stood up and walked over to me quickly, "Are you okay-" he trailed off when he saw me. I must have looked pathetic, lying helplessly on the floor, my blue tail still slippery and useless as ever, my teal hair coming down in messy waves. He stared at me in shock; he probably hadn't expected his mystery singing partner to have been a mermaid. "I- how did you even get on the ship?" he asked. I was taken aback; he didn't seem to be at all fazed that I had a tail instead of two legs. He just wanted to know how I got here.

"Well, um, I climbed up that rope over there," I propped myself up with my elbows and pointed to where I had climbed over. He sat criss-cross and stared at me, fascination written all over his face. "It's just, I've never seen a mermaid before. You're so beautiful."

My cheeks heated up. A small part of my brain was telling me that there were way prettier mermaids than me, and that this boy just hadn't seen any competition yet. But the rest of my brain was melting into his words, swooning over his sweet talk. He reached over and then stopped, "Can I...?" I nodded, and he brushed his fingers across my tail. He scooted closer to me and rubbed my tail. He slowly moved his fingers up to where my tail faded into my skin. Butterflies soared freely through me as his fingertips brushed my stomach.

"I-it's just like human skin," I stuttered, "Nothing different." He nodded. He seemed to realize that he had made me extremely uncomfortable and quickly pulled his hand away. "S-sorry, you just seemed so cool that I couldn't resist touching you... and I think I just made it even more awkward," he covered his red face in his hands. "Sorry, this is super weird." I laughed lightly, and he moved a couple of his fingers away. He chuckled, moving his hands away from his face. "It's okay, you can ask me anything! On one condition," I smiled at him. "For every question you have for me, I ask you one in return. That way, you learn about mermaids, and I get to learn about humans."

"It's a deal," he said, shaking my hand. We talked for a while after that; we'd exchange our knowledge, and then talk with each other for a bit before another question came up. I was having so much fun with this boy. He taught me some human games, like this one where you had to sing a silly little song while doing some complicated hand movements with your partner. He'd laugh whenever I messed up, and then he'd correct me.

We eventually got sleepy from having so much fun late into the night, and we leaned against the crate, side by side. He placed an arm over my shoulders, and I yawned, leaning into him. "Two questions," he said in a hushed tone. "Hm," I mumbled into him. "What's your name, and will I see you again?" he asked. These were the most important questions he had asked me all night. "I'll wish to see you every day," I responded. "And call me Hailey." He rubbed my arm, "Hailey. That's a beautiful name." I smiled softly. "Now I have to ask you two questions. What's your name, and will you remember me?"

I lifted my head to look up at him; he was looking into my eyes with a sleepy expression on his face. "My name's Jake, and of course I'll remember you, Hailey." I liked how my name sounded when he said it. I shifted myself and laid down on his lap, my tail flopped to the side. "Jake," I tested out the name, liking how it felt so natural to say. He lifted my head up a bit and moved so that we were both laying down on the floor. He placed my head back down on the floor next to him. I turned and gazed into his eyes that were looking straight back at me. I reached over and, holding his face in my hand, pecked his cheek. Mermaids kissed other mermaids to show affection and love. I didn't know if humans did the same thing. Judging by his flushed face, they did. I laid back down and smiled at him. He smiled too. I moved closer to him, and he wrapped me in his arms. It was so warm and soft here. I drifted off to sleep, happy here with Jake.

A/N: So, little background stuff, they're 15, Zander and Luke did come back, but they saw them having fun so they left them alone. A couple hours later, Hailey had to leave, so yeah. They were both sad when she had to go.