Mermen on Accident (DNF Mermaid AU)

Am I a Fish or Just Gay?

The shouting outside is chaotic, but nothing could be more chaotic than the utter dread coursing through my brain. At any moment someone could decide that they needed a mop and a bucket and come charging in, exposing George and I for the freaks we are.

"What do we do?" George whispers shakily.

I twist my neck and check the door. Shadows pass by as someone shouts.

"We have to get dry somehow."

George nods his head. "You first. Just roll on top of me. Maybe you can get off the floor better that way and you will get dry."

I look around frantically, looking for anything that could be helpful in a closet full of cleaning tools. I notice a high shelf with rags. If I could just reach those I could dry off. I swivel so I am hovering over George, hands on either side of his shoulders.

"I don't want to crush you," I whisper.

He shrugs. "It's fine. I think your whole body has to be dry, right?"

"I don't know. We are usually in the sun when we get out of water. It's going to take so much longer in here."

"Hurry up."

I slowly lower myself onto George's bare chest and twist my cheek so we are laying against each other. I pull my hands away from the wet floor and reach up to run them through my hair. I forget we were totally drenched by the aquarium water. My hair is dripping wet.

This is not going to work.

More shuffling outside causes me to tense up. I hear someone yelling about buckets. I twist my neck frantically looking in the direction of the door. Water trickles in slowly.

Why couldn't this be one of the times that George randomly changes back?

"Dream," George's breath ricochets off my cheek. I look at him, practically nose to nose. "What do we do if someone sees us?"

I breathe out through my nose and wet my lips nervously.

"We-"

The door swivels open pouring light in. George and I sit in shock staring at one of our chaperones for the trip. I watch with horror as his eyes scan our faces and then catch a glimpse of our sparkling fins and jerk back to our faces. He looks up in search of something, pulls a bucket from the top shelf and a mop from off the wall and closes the door behind him as if he saw nothing.

I can feel George's heartbeat on mine, racing towards critical speeds. I finally breathe and look over at George with confusion.

"What just happened?" I ask.

He shakes his head. Finally I notice that my legs have returned and I scurry to my feet, shoes splashing in salt water. George moves to sit up as well, with the extra room I have given him.

"How did he...? Did he not see us?"

George shakes his head again in confusion.

I reach up and grab the rags I had seen earlier and start handing them to George to dry off. It takes at least five minutes, and help from me holding him on my back for him to finally dry off. The both of us stand in the puddle of water, huffing after the hard work.

"Now what?" George asks.

"We need to get out of this closet without anyone seeing us."

I look around at the supplies. I hand George a bucket and I grab a broom and the both of us creak the door open very slowly. I peak my head out and notice the commotion. The fire department was there along with the entire staff of the aquarium, milling about and mopping up water.

I step out carefully and start sweeping water towards the exit. George follows me with the bucket. Someone grabs my arm and George gasps. I look over and find myself face to face with the chaperone who had seen us in the closet.

I start, "Excuse me-"

He shushes me and drags both George and I away from the watery floor and down a dryer hallway, by our elbows. I splash in the water and try to pull my arm from his grip, but it is deathly.

"Where are we going?" George asks.

Once again he is shushed. The man turns a corner quickly and pulls us into one of the theater rooms that is currently empty and not flooded. A quiet voice-over talking about manta rays plays in the background.

"Are we in trouble?" I ask when he finally lets go of our arms.

The man looks George and I up and down with squinted eyes. He adjusts the round glasses on his nose and tucks his hands into his dark jeans.

"I saw you boys in the janitors closet," he finally speaks up.

My heart drops. 

I knew that was why he had grabbed us. He was going to confront us about being fish. What was I supposed to say to that? 

"You did?" I question, finding my voice.

He nods his head. "I know what you are."

"And that is?"

"You're dating right? You boys are gay."

I swallow thickly, blinking twice. I look over at George and he gives me a confused side eye. 

"Right. You're right. You caught us," I respond awkwardly.

He smiles. "I knew it. I didn't want to embarrass you earlier when I saw you making out so I just had to pretend you weren't there. You're welcome." He clasps my shoulder awkwardly and I nod my head with a fake smile.

"Thank you sir. I appreciate you not... outing us in front of everyone. My mom doesn't even know." I laugh awkwardly and George joins me, grabbing my hand, maybe for extra proof that we were 'gay'.

The man tucks his hands into his pants pocket and laughs gently shining his pearly whites. Our laughter dies down and I shift awkwardly on my feet.

George squeezes my hand and I say, "Welp, if that's all you needed, we should probably help clean up that mess." I pull George around our chaperone who was standing between us and the door and pull the door open.

"Oh boys! One more thing," he calls out, making me pause and turn to face him.

His hand moves from his pocket and I notice something in it, a vial of some sort?

"For you," he says, before tossing the object at our feet.

It explodes into a cloud of smoke and my stomach jolts. My vision is blurred and filled with white smoke and I cough. I start choking and when I breathe in, it feels like my lungs have been filled with water. I get the tingling sensation I always feel before changing into my merman form and suddenly my vision clears. 

I cough violently trying to expel the water from my lungs until I realize I am underwater.

I still have a hold of George's hand and I quickly take in my surroundings. It looks like we are in an underwater cave, stalactites hang from the ceiling, and seagrass covers the seafloor. George and I are both floating next to each other, hands clasped and with our tails. We were at the bottom of the ocean.

In front of us was our not-chaperon, with a brown merman tail littered with black spots, like a river fish, emerging from where his legs once were. He grips his hands together in front of his bare chest excitedly.

He sighs happily. "I've been looking for you for a long time."

I swallow thickly.

"You're the humans from the prophecy aren't you?"

WHAAAAT?? This is crazy right? What are you thinking right now? How's the story so far? Already excited for the next chapter? Me too. >:)

1253 words