Mermen on Accident (DNF Mermaid AU)

Worst Fear

George was seated on my bed with his leg propped in my lap. I was looking at his ankle that he hurt earlier.

"Does this hurt?"

I twist his foot towards me. George watches tensed, but makes no movement to show it was hurting.

"No."

I move his foot the other way slowly, feeling around his ankle.

"How about this?"

The farther I go the more George's face contorts.

"Yes. Yes. Ouch!" He clenches the pillow I had given him and scoots all the way to the head board.

"Sorry," I mutter, looking at George.

"It's fine."

I push his foot flat. "How's this?"

"Fine."

I point his toes. "And this?"

"That hurts a little."

I'm quick to move my hands away. George lightly chuckles at my reaction.

"It's just the one way. And if you put pressure on it, like when I'm walking," George says.

I move my hands back to his ankle and massage it slowly. "Do you think we should go to the doctor?"

George shrugs. "I'm sure I'll be fine. Honestly."

I look at him wearily. He has a habit of pretending everything is okay. He doesn't like the attention it brings or the inconvenience he can be.

He senses my distrust and rolls his eyes. "Seriously Dream. I'm okay! I'm just a bit of a klutz."

I sigh. "I just feel bad. It's kind of my fault."

"Well..." George smirks. "A lot of this has been your fault. It's time to stop blaming yourself and start fixing your mistakes."

I smile. "Wow. I should write that on my mirror."

George punches my arm. "Oh shut up."

I giggle.

We fall silent.

"You know..." My eyes find George's. "We still don't know why you turned into a human while we were in the ocean."

George blinks and folds his arms in his lap.

I continue, "I thought I knew how this mermaid stuff worked, but it feels like every time I think I've figured it out, something else crazy happens." My hands stall and rest lightly on George's ankle. "Like, the other day when I was in the shower, I was just sitting under the stream and suddenly the water just stopped. And it wasn't like someone turned it off, the water literally was floating in the air. And then I moved my hands and it went back to normal. It was so weird."

George nods his head. "Yeah. I did something like that with my sink when I was brushing my teeth. It just kind of stopped mid stream." He pauses, and then adds, "And the fact that you broke a bike lock with your bare hands earlier is kinda crazy."

I sigh. "Yeah... But, why would you just change forms underwater?"

George shrugs. "Do you think it's anything to do with Sapnap's potion? He did say there would be some weird effects, and there definitely were. Like changing into mermen just from touching regular water instead of ocean, like he said was normal. And when you-"

"Wait," I interrupt. "Does that still work?"

I move George's leg off my lap and walk into my bathroom. I twist the knob and water flows from the faucet. George watches from the edge of my bed. I stick my hand under the water and watch as it turns from clear water to green. I pull my hand away and stare at the shimmering goop as it drips from my fingers.