Jon watches from his perch in the cave as Gavin swims back and forth. He tilts his head. “What are you doing?”
“I’m sorting,” Gavin says. He stops short, hesitating, before moving the shell he had just placed in one pile to another pile.
Jon watches for a few more minutes before he asks “Why?”
Gavin huffs. “I have to prepare for a bois trip to Rainbow Rock.”
“Rainbow Rock?”
Gavin stops short, mouth wide open as he stares at Jon. “You don’t know about Rainbow Rock?”
Jon raises an eyebrow. “Should I have?”
“Everyone knows about Rainbow Rock.” Gavin swims over, grabbing Jon’s hands. “That settles it. You have to come with us to see it.”
Jon shrinks on himself. “I don’t know. I don’t want to intrude on your guy’s lover vacation.”
“Nah, son. It’ll be fun. I want to see your face.”
“Won’t I be a third wheel?”
Gavin thinks for a second. Then he grins. “What if we make it a family trip!”
“A family trip?”
“Yeah, we’ll invite Geoff and Jack and Ryan! Matt! The eel boys. We can make it a whole day. Please, Jon? It’ll be fun.”
Jon makes the mistake of looking into Gavin’s eyes. Gavin stares at him, wide and pleading. Jon sighs. “Fine.”
~
The sun is starting to rise and Haywood’s boat is busy. “Are we sure we have everything?” He asks, looking over his checklist. “Food? Drinks? Towels-”
“Yes, mom,” Geoff says as he carefully places his surfboard down.
Jack swats at him. “Be nice. Ryan is doing us a favor by transporting us.”
“I could swim,” Geoff sniffs.
“Then do it,” Ryan says.
Jack sighs. “Stop.”
“Yeah, stop your bitching,” Michael says, popping up from the water. They all look down at him. “We have to get a move on if we want to get a good spot.”
Geoff sticks his tongue out at Ryan. Ryan narrows his eyes, opening his mouth to say something but is stopped by Jon climbing up the side of the boat. “Oh hey, Jon.”
Jon smiles at him. “Hey, Ryan.”
Ryan stops. “Are you ok?”
“Of course, why?”
“You just look a little….sad, I guess.”
Jon waves him off. “I’m fine, just a bit tired.”
Ryan side-eyes him. “Ok.”
They both startle as a wet thumping sound slaps against the boat. Tentacles clutch at the rails and Matt pulls himself up, an eel boy in each hand. “Sorry, we’re late. These hooligans couldn’t pay attention for two seconds to get here.”
Trevor pouts. “Matt, that’s so harsh.”
“Yeah, Matt,” Alfredo says. “We’re angels.”
“Uh-huh,” Matt says. He dumps them down on the boat. “Are we good to go?”
“Almost,”Ryan says. “Let’s get everyone together and make sure we have everything we need.”
~
It takes another thirty minutes before they set off. While most of the mermaids opted to swim alongside the boat, with the lads leading the way, Jon decides to stay in the boat, saying he wasn’t that great of a swimmer to keep up with them.
He stays in the captain's quarters, talking with Ryan.
“Don’t distract him too much,” Geoff says, leaning against the doorway. Though he’s speaking to Jon, his smile is directed at Ryan. Ryan’s face starts to burn.
“Oh,” Jon says. He looks at Ryan. “Am I distracting you?”
“What? No, no. No distracting here,” Ryan is quick to say. Geoff starts laughing and Ryan flips him off behind his back.
“Why don’t you go distract Jack,” Ryan says, turning to give Geoff a look. Geoff raises his hands and bows out.
It’s silent for a few seconds. Ryan clears his throat. “You know he was joking, right?”
“I know,” Jon says.
“But,” Ryan says.
Jon’s lips twitch. “But. I don’t know. Do you think I’m a bother to the group?”
“No. Why would you say that?”
Jon shrugs. “I feel like I’m forcing my way into your guy’s group. Like, you’re pitying me and that’s why you allow me to stay.”
They’re silent again. Then Ryan leans towards Jon, grabbing his hand. “I’m glad you’re part of our group. And I have never pitied you.”
Jon looks down at where Ryan’s hand is clasped with his. He smiles. “Thanks.”
Ryan gives his hand a squeeze before letting go. “And I’m pretty sure if any of the lads didn’t like you, they would let you know. Geoff certainly would.”
Jon laughs. “That’s...yeah, that’s true.”
“So face it, Jon. You’re part of the family now. You’re just going to have to get used to it.”
They’re interrupted by shouts. Ryan looks down to see the lads pointing at the distance. Squinting, he can see the outline of land. “Looks like we made it.”
~
Rainbow Rock is huge. Jon blinks at it. “How have I never heard of this place before?”
“Beats me,” Michael says. The two of them are swimming around, helping Ryan look for a good spot to park as Jeremy and Gavin get the usual spots. “Were you raised under sand?”
“Well, ok, first of all. Rude.”
Michael snorts. “It's true. But that's ok. We're here to educate you.”
“Didn't you mistake a fork for a tiny Triton last week?”
“Shut up.” Michael shoves at him. “Hey, at least I'm not like Jeremy.”
“Whose not like me?” Jeremy calls out, swimming up behind them.
“We were just talking about how stupid you are.”
“Hey!”
“You ate a shoe because you thought it was a fish.”
“...fair.”
Jon looks at him. “Did you really?”
Jeremy shrugs. “It didn't taste half bad.”
Michael gives Jon a look. “I don't know what I see in him.”
Jeremy slings his arm around Michael's shoulders. “Because I'm amazing and wonderful and perfect in every way?”
“Oh, you're something alright.” Michael slaps his hands on Jeremy's hair, pushing him down. Jeremy laughs, floating backward before slapping at Michael with his tail. Michael dodge's before tackling him. The two go spinning.
Jon watches for a few seconds, smiling to himself before he starts to swim away.
“Hey.”
Jon stops, looking over his shoulder. Jeremy and Michael swim up to him. “Where are you going?”
“Oh, um, I thought you guys wanted some alone time-”
“What? You think we were going to fuck?”
“No, no, I-that's not, I just thought-”
Michael rolls his eyes. “Come on, you dummy. Let's continue exploring.”
They move to either side of him, bumping shoulders. Jon smiles.
~
The lads have goaded Ryan into playing with them as Jon, Geoff, and Jack watch. Geoff sips on a Diet Coke as Ryan gets pulled underwater, Jeremy and Gavin laughing at him. “How did we get stuck with such idiots?”
“Because we are so generous,” Jack says.
“Ah, that must be it.”
Jon flips water up with his tail. “They really are great, though.”
Geoff follows his gaze, smirking. He leans over to elbow him. “Ryan sure looks handsome, huh.”
“What?” Jon’s face goes red. “I guess...if you’re into that sort of stuff.”
“Oh, I think I know who's into that sort of thing.”
Jack sighs. “Geoff lay off him.”
“Aw, but Jack.”
Jon side-eyes them. “Yeah, it’s not like I’m the only one secretly checking out someone.”
Both of them sputter. Neither of them can look each other in the eye, though they’re desperately trying to. Jon laughs at them. Narrowing his eyes, Jack stands up, walks behind them, and shoves Jon off the boat.
Jon pops out of the water, sputtering. He pouts at the two laughing at him.
~
“Your food looks disgusting.”
“...you are eating a whole raw fish.”
Jeremy waves the fish around. “Yeah, because it’s healthy for you. Look at all that floppy goop your eating. Disgusting.”
Geoff stares at him. “It’s a sandwich!”
Jeremy nods. “That’s what I said. Floppy goop.”
Ryan puts his arm on Geoff’s shoulder. “Ignore him and his uncultured tastes.”
Jeremy snorts. “Well, the jokes on you. I don’t know what that means.”
“I’m pretty sure he called you a dumb-dumb,” Gavin says.
“Oh.” Jeremy pauses. “Hey.”
“Don’t listen to them,” Michael says. “They just haven’t tasted how good we can make fish.”
“You kill fish. And then eat them.”
“Exactly,” Michael says, grinning to show off his teeth.
“What do you think, Jon?” Gavin asks.
Jon looks up. “What?”
“You’ve had both right? Which one is better?”
“I’ve...I’ve never had raw fish,” Jon says.
“What? Why?”
“Because I don’t want to? It looks gross.”
“You have to try it,” Michael says, pushing the fish at him.
“Eh,” Jon says. “I’m good.”
“Wait, why?”
“Because I don’t want to?”
“But you're a mermaid?”
Jon bristles. “I was a human first, you know.”
Everyone stops. Michael backs up a bit. “I’m...sorry. I wasn’t thinking. “
Jon looks away. “That’s ok.”
They eat in silence for a few seconds.
Gavin looks between everyone. Tapping his finger against the fish, he hesitates. “Tell us.”
“What?”
“Tell us about your human life.”
Michael slaps at him. “Idiot, I’m sure he doesn’t want to talk about his life before the transformation-”
“No,” Jon says. “I-I don’t mind. I would love to-I would love to talk about it actually.”
Ryan places a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to. I know it must be hard for you.”
Jon smiles at him, placing his hand on top of his. “It is. But...I haven’t really talked about my life when I was human and I...I don't want to keep it in anymore.”
The group stares at him. Ryan smiles back, giving his shoulder a squeeze. “Then tell us all about it.”
Looking for someone to role play with (on discord preferably) who likes ragehappy ships and isn’t scared of dark roleplay themes, 18+ preferred as well.
