Mermaid!Harry againnn (Patreon)

Okay, so this ISN'T a continuation of the first one I did, but I hope you guys like this one just as much! Spring is here and I love a good gloomy, mermaid-y kind of spring

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Harry is petrified. 

Dark, bare branches had begun to spot with life; sprouts of green leaves and brightly colored fruits had mottled the thick brown bark. The water that plods against the sand had gone from feeling like icy tendrils to the gentle lick of warmth from the sun. Azure blue skies with soft, rounded clouds shaded pure white replace the arctic grey haze the cold had carried with it. 

A shift of seasons was always so pleasant to Harry. It meant swimming to the surface and letting himself bathe in the sunlight, preferably on an isolated boulder tucked away and far enough from shore that nobody would bother him. Speaking with the fish that reside in higher waters than he normally treads, entertained by their tales, songs, and pretty vicious arguments. Traveling large distances to tend to his coral reefs and speak to the sea turtles, comfort mother whales during birth and leading them a safe range from any sharks that might be lurking in the waters surrounding them. 

However, with this shift in season and all the lovely things that come with it, humans do too. 

Lots and lots of humans. 

It is not that Harry dislikes them any -- he has always been intrigued by the creatures, with endless wonders of what their lives are like outside of their weird, colorful garments they wear to play and splash in his home -- but he’s scared of them. From all the lore he had heard of them, they sounded absolutely frightening. Hooks that tempt fish with food and drag them to the surface, netting that only tangles when there’s a struggle, men in long white coats that poke and prod and hurt those they capture. Harry’s kind had always been instructed to steer clear of them and if there was a human near, you swim away and you swim away fast, as simple as that. 

Yet somehow Harry had been caught, like a right idiot. There was a salt water lake that was connected to the ocean in which he frequented, because there were some nice flat bedded sunbathing rocks and the area was mostly uninhabited, save for an older looking couple that stayed in a cabin on the edge. They only visited during the very hot months though and got just as far as the end of a long, rickety wooden dock to stick their feet in. 

And he had thought that he was safe! He’s been coming here for a very long time and there’s never been anybody new at that cabin apart from then, so he pressed himself up onto one of the flat bedded rocks that is partially shrouded by thick green bushes and shrubbery that grew further out than the rest. He hid most of his tail beneath it and let his upper-half lay in the sun, soaking it in, letting it melt into his muscles and soothe him. The night prior he had slept very little, so when his eyelids grew heavy, he had succumbed to them without much choice in the matter, and was quickly whisked to a land of sleep that he had struggled to find the night previous. 

When he’d woken, it was the a human woman, in a small wooden boat, with eyes wide as saucers. 

He’d immediately began scrambling but his tail was tangled in what felt like netting that was also hooked to the branches he’d been hiding himself with, which only furthered his panic and the struggle only tangled him more. He was just out of reach of where it had hooked among the wood. He was petrified. So fucking scared, no matter how the human shakes her head quickly, holding out her hands, “No, no, it’s okay, it’s okay I --” she squats some, “I’m not going to hurt you I -- some kids through the net in the water and it floated over to you, you got tangled,” he’s still panicking, tail flicking back and forth, water splashing, “Please! Please, you have to stop, you’ve got to be quiet,” she rushes, telling him seriously, “I scared the kids off but they might come back if they hear a commotion.” 

Harry only calms some, at least he stops splashing -- if there’s one thing he knows about humans is that their offspring as guppies are terrible, awful, no good creatures. That’s enough to have him merely eying her warily, but when she steps towards him, he flinches away from her, “I promise,” she begins, pausing her movements and keeping her hands out in front of her like she’s showing him that she has nothing to harm him with. She was adorn in one of those weird, bright garments, so there was nowhere to hide any hooks or cattle prods, and her small wooden boat was empty apart from her, “I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to get you out of the net. It’s cutting into your. . .it’s cutting into your tail.” 

He looks down to see that much is true -- there are deep indents where it pushes into the flesh, threatening to make him bleed. Thus far he had no nicks nor gashes on his tail and he sought to keep it that way, but he couldn’t get out of this by himself. He had to trust her whether he wanted to or not, because he was too far from the branches to unwind it himself. 

Perhaps she saw his dilemma strewn across his face, because she nods towards his side, pointing out a particularly point rock, “Grab that, yeah? If it makes you feel safer, hold onto it and if I try anything funny, you can fend me off.” 

What an odd request -- had Harry been proposed this in any other situation he doesn’t think he would’ve taken it. He couldn’t imagine hurting a single soul; however, now he reaches for the rock and clutches it tightly in his palm. The sharp edges cut into his skin but he thinks nothing of it, worry weighing heavy on his brow as he scanned her every motion. She lowered herself to her knees, using one hand to support her leaning weight on the edge of the boat as she sank the other into the water. With but the force of her arm, she propels herself closer to him until the bow knocks into the side of the boulder he’s sat on. 

The boat wobbles side to side, as does she, and Harry’s grip only stiffens. 

The girl is careful in her movements, grabbing hold of a branch to guide her boat closer to the land so that she had at the very least some stable ground. This subsequently gets her nearer to where the netting had tangled, though she still has to lean over quite a bit to reach it. Diligent, careful, steady hands work to unwind the nylon strings quickly yet efficiently. Very little time had passed before she was moving to his tail, gaze meeting his own, concern and irresolute, “I just have to work it off, okay?” Harry gives a short, stern nod, “Alright, let’s do this.” It seems more to herself than it is to Harry but he nods again anyway. When her fingers touch tentatively to his skin, he flinches and she flinches as well, seeming just as startled. Sparing him a glance he looks from her, back to his tail, and she places her fingers around the net. They’re warm against him and seemingly more prudent than they had been prior which he hadn’t imagined possible, but he’s glad for it. 

As soon as she’s freed him, Harry jumps into the water immediately.

He swims home quickly, relief flooding him yet tears prickle at his eyes. 

                                                                .                                .                            .

Y/N is alarmed. 

Not scared; just an overwhelming sense of consternation. How was she supposed to continue her day as normal when she’d just untangled a fucking mermaid from a net? And of course she would be alone when it happened, so she had nobody to tell and surely nobody would believe her! She’s not even sure she believes it if she’s honest. 

She can’t get it out of her brain. Seeing a more than attractive man lying on that boulder, chest smooth, eyes closed and soft hair spread out amongst the rock. Though there had been a few children -- young children, who shouldn’t have been away from their parents probably -- crowding around him, with wide eyes and she followed their gaze to his. . .tail. When she’d yelled at them to bugger off, they attempted to whine about how their net had gotten swept up in the wind but she shooed them with shouted threats of telling their guardians and Santa that they were being naughty. 

Had Y/N known watching over her grandparents cabin would have led to her jumping into their old, rickety canoe hastily with only one paddle because there was a mermaid caught up in a net, she might have second thought it. Or invited someone out to stay with her at the very least, because then maybe she wouldn’t feel like she’d lost her mind in the two days that she’d been there. A smart person would’ve ran to the cabin nearby, convince them to follow her so that they could see and also help, but she acted off impulse. No time to think, because first of all she wanted to see if he really was a mermaid, and secondly, he needed help and that was clear enough. He was all tangled up in the net and from what she could make of it, there was no way he could get out of it himself. 

And when he’d opened his eyes; wide as saucers, a seafoam green in a panic gaze on her like that of a vulnerable animal staring at a hunter. How was she to explain to him that she wasn’t going to hurt him when he woke up with his tail in a net and she was the only person around? That had been at the forefront of her mind. 

His appearance was hard to ignore, because even in his frightened state he was gorgeous. Like something out of a fairy tale and well. . .well, she guesses he is. She tried not to look at him too much out of fear that he might get even more frightened by her burning stare, but she gave glances as she had worked on the rope. Most of the curves of his face were defined, yet he looked warm and welcoming, with flushed cheeks that his walnut brown curls cling to. He was muscled but not intensely. Enough so that Y/N knew if he wanted to, he could take her out need be, if she had tried anything fishy but hell she wasn’t even thinking of that. 

After he had jumped into the water and swam away, Y/N is left only with confusion. She stayed sat still as a board in the boat, wondering if that had been real, and if she should have asked questions, and why she felt the need to come out here and help him without even a lick of thought to all the lore of sirens luring sailors in. Had it happened? Had she imagined it? No, she couldn’t have, the net was still here and so was the imprint of his body -- where he had laid seemed polished almost; like the boulder had become new. 

A ripple of thunder growls distantly through the sky and when she looks up, she sees the once white clouds bloated swollen with rain. 

It’s the first cold drop against her cheek that gets her moving again.