Two Different Worlds (Re-Write) - A Hermitcraft Mermaid AU

Chapter 8 - Friends

TW: Mention of alcohol at one point and a very minor sex reference. Trust me, it sounds worse than it actually is.

Scar's POV

"Hold up, where are you guys going?"

I sigh a little as Wels stops Ezra, BDubs and I, raising his eyebrows with an amused expression on his face.

"Nowhere." Ezra replies. "And even if we were going somewhere, it's none of your business!"

"Well Xisuma's trying to get food for later, and he asked me to make sure everyone will be ok while he's gone. So it kind of is my business."

I know there isn't really any way of getting around this. Wels takes every request and order so seriously, he isn't gonna let us anywhere without a good excuse.

"That's a coincidence!" I tell him. "We were actually going to help X!"

"Really? I didn't think he'd need hel-"

"You know how hard it can be to catch fish, we just wanted to make sure there's enough!" BDubs insists.

"And it's afternoon already, so we really should get going if we want to have enough by lunch!" Ezra finishes, the three of us leaving before Wels can say another word.

I spot Grian sitting at the same spot I saw him yesterday, legs crossed beneath him as he waits for us. I tell BDubs and Ezra to wait a while, before poking my head up above the water.

"Hi Grian!"

He jumps a little, before realizing it's just me and smiles.

"Hi Scar!"

I smile back as I pull myself out of the water and sit next to him. I'm about to mention Ezra and BDubs being with me when I notice him staring at my tail. The interest and amazement in his eyes makes me laugh, and he looks back up at me with a red face.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to be rude or anyth-"

"It's ok." I interrupt. "I'm guessing you don't see stuff like this a lot."

"No... to be honest I doubted merpeople existed until yesterday. It actually explains a lot now that I think about it..."

"Like what?" I ask.

"That you managed to save me in a storm like that, that you come and go out of seemingly nowhere, why you were all wet the other day... I just thought you were..."

"Crazy?" I finish, giggling a little.

"More or less." Grian admits.

There's a splash from where Ezra and BDubs are supposed to be waiting, and the latter pokes his head above the water while BDubs tries to stop him. I feel my face go red, and I turn back to the blonde.

"I- I'm really sorry, I'll be right back." I apologise, before getting back into the water and swimming over to them.

"Seriously guys?! You couldn't wait for 3 minutes?!"

"Hey, it's not my fault he's overexcited!" BDubs snaps, pointing at Ezra, who's squinting to get a better look at Grian.

"You guys are cute together! I was right!" He teases, before I pull the two of them back over to my new friend.

"Sorry Grian. Uh, you know BDubs already..."

"Hi." BDubs says, awkwardly waving.

"...And this is Ezra. He insisted on coming."

Ezra waves too, grinning like an idiot.

"Hi..." Grian responds, before tilting his head a little. "How many of you are there?"

"Nine... "We're a small group, but I like it."

"Oh! There's nine of us too!" My new friend tells me, pointing at the ship. He notices the look of concern on BDubs's face, and smiles. "It's ok though, they're all really nice! I'm sure they'd love you guys."

Then he laughs.

"They'd never stop telling me 'I told you so' if they did meet you though."

"Why?" Ezra asks, pulling himself up onto the beach beside me.

"Well... I was the one person in the crew who didn't think merpeople were real. Until yesterday."

BDubs frowns.

"What do you mean,'they think we're not real'?"

"Yeah, mermaids are kind of a myth for humans, most people think they don't exist and that they're all made up." Gri explains, confusing the 3 of us even more.

"I guess it makes sense." Ezra shrugs. "You know how far purebloods will go to avoid humans, interactions are pretty rare."

"Purebloods?" Grian repeats, it being his turn to be confused.

"Yeah... he means pureblood merpeople." I explain, before glancing at my friends. "So basically, 'normal' merpeople who haven't got any other kind of blood in their families."

"Are you guys like that too...?" The blond asks, almost hesitantly, as if he already can guess we aren't.

"Nope, we're half-human." BDubs tells him.

"How does that even work...?"

"A drunk human woman looking for lovemaking and a merman who has nothing better to do." Ezra admits, rather bluntly. "It happens more often than you'd expect, but most of them die before they're even a few weeks old."

"We're lucky enough that Ezra and his brother, Xisuma, found us when we were newborns." I admit, before laughing awkwardly. "I've heard the story far too many times, but I'll spare you the details. Or else you'd be stuck here all night."

At those words, Ezra suddenly notices how low the sun is, and curses under his breath.

"Scar, we need to go, it's later than I thought it was and Xisuma's gonna panic."

I turn to Grian, who looks just as disappointed as I do.

"Sorry... I can see you tomorrow though?"

"Yeah! We can meet up tomorrow!" He agrees, hugging me quickly before I leave.

And we do meet up the next day.

Then the next.

And the next.

It goes on for a few weeks, seeing each other every day, even if it's just a few minutes. Ezra and BDubs often come along too, and Xisuma gets less and less worried about where we're going when we return home safe each time.

Until one day that is, about a month after I met Grian.

"Scar? I need to talk to you."

Woo, cliffhanger  >:D

Idk, I'm bad at cliffhangers so it don't think it's that suspenseful. The chapter's also on the shorter side compared to the others, but I couldn't figure out how to end it so that's all you get XD

- Xan