The Fool By The Seaside | mclennon

3

Chapter 3

[AN: Okay so Stuvartk is supposed to be Stuart. But that name is too human sooooo. Also, the sea creatures aren't actually speaking english but I'm about to invent a new language so pretend its a translation.]

Paul didn't go back to the beach for a week. He tried to distract himself from all thought of the merman. MerMAN. Paul wasn't queer, half fish or not. Yet, at night in his dreams he couldn't escape the image of John being pleasured by Paul's hand in his tail. It was a gorgeous sight, and Paul had woken up many times with the effects of it clear on his body. But it couldn't be! Paul had always liked birds, had never so much as looked at a boy twice. Not even Elvis. Yet, here he was getting hard over a merman. Which he figured was even worse because John wasn't even human. And yet, those cries of anguish that had followed Paul as he ran away? They had sounded pretty damn human.

Those cries haunted Paul as well, and he cursed himself as time went by. He had used John, made him trust Paul and then abandoned him. God, he was such an arse. He had been selfish, and he doubted John would ever want to see him again.

And Paul was right. When he finally gathered enough strength to go back to the beach, John wasn't there. So Paul sang a song, but John didn't come. He stayed there until nightfall and his merman never appeared. He left feeling distraught.

But he came back the next day, and sang a different song. But John didn't show up. And he didn't show up the next day either, or the next.

Shit. Paul had really screwed up.

"You let him do what!?" Stuvartk exclaimed, moving his hands away from his sculpture.

John groaned and buried his head in his arms. He was visiting his friend Stuvartk, who wasn't a Marrow but a Marine Man. They were very similar to Marrow, but they didn't have a tail. They still had fins and gills but they had two legs. John had always envied Stu's legs. If he had them, he could go to the human world. Stu had several times tried to explain to him that it didn't work like that, Marine Men legs were covered by a thin coat of an epidermis very similar to a jellyfish's, and it would make it impossible to walk unless they ripped it away. Which would obviously be very painful. But John never listened.

Right now John was thrown upon a bed made of a polished rock that served as a bed for Stuvartk, his tail curled up and his head buried in his arms. He had come to Stu hoping to find sympathy and comfort, but of course his friend would yell at him instead.

And yell he did, "How could you be so stupid, John?" Stu swam closer, "He could have killed you!"

"No!" John's head snapped up, "Paul isn't like that!" Wasn't he? He first had wanted to touch John's tail, but then? Maybe he would have wanted to take a piece of it with him.

Stu scoffed, "How would you know, John? You barely know this 'Paul!' For Poseidon's sake, he's a human! Humans want only one thing from Marrows,"He leaned close, "Their beauty."

John flinched back and curled up even more. He buried his head in his tail and put his arm around it.

Stu sighed, "John, you know I'm right."

John didn't speak.

Stu sat close to his friend and brushed his floating hair with his hand, "You have to forget about this man. Stay away from the surface, you know the rules."

John made a keening noise, "But he sang to me." Singing meant affection, everyone knew that.

Stu put his slimy arm on his friend's shoulder, "Singing is not special for humans, John. They do it all the time."