Chapter Text
As a child, Shiver’s grandfather always teasingly warned them to watch out for mermaids on fishing trips, and especially to be wary of sirens. The mermaids were a mischievous bunch, and difficult to get rid of if they fixated on you. But the sirens were an unstoppable, violent force, impossible to get rid of, especially if you angered them.
The worst part was there was no way to differentiate between the two.
That sort of thing was ridiculous, Shiver realized as they grew older. Shiver’s parents especially hated the idea of merfolk for some reason, and insisted it was foolish to even entertain the notion.
Whether kid’s fairy tales were real or not, it didn’t matter. Shiver always had bigger fish to fry.
Today, though, they wanted time alone. Shiver wanted to take a boat into the ocean and get away from everything. At least for a few days. The only way Shiver’s family would let them take one of the boats out, though, was on the condition they returned with some fish to sell.
Shiver didn’t mind fishing, but they didn’t exactly love it either. Fishing was merely a means to an end for them. At least when it came to trawling.
The main draw for this trip, of course, was Shiver’s love of the ocean. They found a solace there unlike any they could find on dry land. Here, they weren’t supposed to be anyone or anything. It was the body of water that held the money they so loved, sure, but in the back of Shiver’s mind it was far more than that. It was the most sacred place nature had to offer them, close to the beginning of all life, and that was something they could feel deep in their bones.
The small boat bobbed playfully in the water as Shiver strummed their sanshin, singing with the sound of the waves.
It was only when their voice began to tire that they supposed it was about time to anchor, empty the net, and head home. It’d been long enough- a few days out at sea.
Shiver tied their hair up into a bun and put on their thick rubber gloves as the boat’s machinery hauled the net up past the surface.
Something about seeing the fish writhe in the net always made Shiver’s heart twist. But it came with the territory. This was business. It always had been, since they were a child.
The winch took care of automatically positioning the net over the ship’s hold. It was all business as usual until Shiver noticed there was something strange in the net, something much bigger than their usual catch.
There was something, or someone trapped inside. A person?
Shiver couldn’t see it very clearly, but it looked like a woman.
Shiver quickly opened the codend, letting the fish spill out into the hold. There was a little yelp as the woman tumbled into the pile of squirming sealife, and Shiver realized one thing about her almost immediately.
She most definitely wasn’t human.
She had long, pointed ears, dripping with sea water. In place of legs she had a long yellow tail, mottled with deep purple spots. Her toned arms were wrapped to the elbow with what looked like bandages, and her ears were studded with earrings made from eel’s teeth. Around her neck was a pendant made from purple seaglass.
Shiver didn’t have time to really look at her, or worry about the fact that mermaids or sirens or whatever she was were real, they were more preoccupied with what she was doing. Stuffing her face with their payload.
“Hey- stop that! Those are my fish you’re taking, thief!”
The creature looked up from her meal like she was annoyed more than anything.
“It’s Frye, and I’m not a thief. Those were the fish I was hunting first, before your stupid net came up behind me and ruined my breakfast,” Frye said around a mouthful of flesh. “Plus, finders keepers.”
Shiver felt their eyelid twitch as she stuck her purple tongue out at them.
Not only was she vulgar, she was childish to boot.
“This is my family’s livelihood, are you dense?”
“Livelihood my tail, you’ve got enough fish to feed a whole clan here!” Frye scoffed. “You greedy humans are all the same.”
“Give me my fish and get off my boat or I’ll throw you off myself,” Shiver hissed.
The two exchanged a glare that could cut through steel.
“Fine, twolegs, you want it that bad?”
A full body shudder ran through Shiver as Frye spat a half chewed chunk of fish right in their face.
Their lips parted in disbelief, disgust, and more than anything, offense.
“You-” It took everything, grinding their teeth, clenching their fists not to curse Frye out. It was unfitting for a Hohojiro. “You are just disgusting , you think just because you can barely swim and got caught in my net you can come here and try to humiliate me?”
…
“Yeah.”
THWACK-
Frye yelped and brought a hand to the cheek Shiver had used a fish to strike.
Instantly Shiver froze up, worrying they’d gone too far. They’d left the slightest red mark on her face, but just as quickly Frye burst out laughing, leaving Shiver completely bewildered.
“That’s gotta be the first time a human’s ever hit me with a fish,” she snickered. “Alright, I’ll cut you a deal. Let me keep the fish you smacked me with and I’ll leave you and your catch alone.”
Shiver narrowed their eyes down at Frye and held out the fish like they wanted nothing to do with it, and by extension, with her.
“Take it.”
Frye took the fish in her hand without hesitation and turned away. A little wince escaped her as she began to haul herself over to the edge of the boat. It looked like it pained her to move. It was then that Shiver noticed her back and arms- they were dripping with blood, covered with small cuts from the net.
“W-wait- ah, hold on a second.” Hot embarrassment burned in Shiver’s cheeks. They had no reason to go back on what they said thirty seconds ago like a stammering idiot. And yet… “I can’t just let you go out into the water bleeding. A shark might get you.”
A shit eating grin crossed Frye’s face after a moment, and she tilted her head sideways.
“Aw, so it is true that humans will pack bond with literally anything. You care about me already, huh?”
…
“On second thought, a shark might see how annoying you are and look the other way.”
“Hey!” Frye’s tail lashed at Shiver’s deadpan tone. Eventually, though, she looked a bit taken aback, long ears hanging low. “I- uh, I’m sorry, okay…You were just bein’ nice.”
A rough wave shook the boat and made Frye tumble back into the pile of fish. She looked like she would rather have died than Shiver having seen that.
Shiver sighed.
There was no way a creature this pathetic was a siren. This was an absolute bottom of the barrel mermaid, and Shiver had to get her out of this pile of fish now if they wanted to help her.
It wasn’t like she could just walk where they wanted her to.
They couldn’t exactly carry her either. How Shiver wished Big Man were here. He was always kind enough to carry any heavy loads for them, and would always help them whenever they got into troublesome situations like this.
There was a comically high pitched squeak as Shiver decided holding Frye by the underarms and dragging her into the cabin at the front of the boat was the best way to go.
Shiver gingerly set her down across the pair of seats closest to the console, which held their sonar, radio, and map. They turned to check one last time that the hold was closed, only to turn back around to see the mermaid playing with the steering wheel, making little whirring noises.
The fish she’d fought so hard for had been set aside, dripping reddish water all over the console. She’d already bitten the head off too.
Shiver fought back the irritation at the knowledge that they’d have to clean all that later and took the seat beside Frye. There was a little glovebox with some first aid items inside beneath the console, and Shiver popped it open and grabbed a washcloth they made damp with a water bottle.
“Hold still,” they muttered.
The radio hooked to the console screeched with static and Shiver tensed at the sound of their mother’s voice.
“Shiver, is everything alright? You should’ve been docked an hour ago, and Big Man tells me he hasn’t seen or heard from you all day.”
Frye’s eyes were trained on Shiver in that moment, waiting to see what they would say.
When Shiver didn’t respond, their mother added,
“Do you need me to come help you?”
“Everything’s fine. Just a bit of trouble with the net. I’ll be right home.”
“I see. Take care out there.”
There was a little beep accompanied by static as their mother hung up. Shiver could now direct their focus back to Frye. They took the washcloth and diligently cleaned each of her wounds, pressing on them to stop the bleeding.
With that done, they could apply some antiseptic. Shiver took the bottle and applied it to a cotton pad, carefully swiping it over a wound on Frye’s arm.
It was then that Shiver realized they really hadn’t looked at her before. They’d been so focused on getting Frye away from their money before, that it was just now that they noticed her eyes. They were unlike any Shiver had ever seen, something like a bright and precious amber. That look of absolute defiance she’d given them earlier filled Shiver with irrational rage, but now, the look in her eyes was far softer, hard to read as she looked off towards the sea.
It was probably for the best Frye wasn’t looking at them. Shiver hoped with everything they had that she wouldn’t catch them staring. It was hard not to when they noticed the way a few stray strands of sun bleached black hair escaped her loosely plaited braid and framed her face so beautifully, despite being completely soaked.
There was also something admittedly cute about the way a pair of little fangs poked out from between Frye’s lips as she pursed them.
Another thing Shiver hadn’t noticed before was how Frye’s face was speckled with little purple spots that continued down her neck, chest, and arms. On the sides of her ribs and neck were thin purple gill slits, but she seemed to be able to breathe through her nose as well, that much they could tell by the rise and fall of her chest. Not that they were looking at her chest.
Anyway, while applying antiseptic to the wounds on Frye’s back, they noticed a thin, diluted blood dripping down the nape of her neck.
With two fingers Shiver pushed Frye’s braid out of the way to stop the bleeding they’d missed, but just as quickly they pulled their hand back as Frye tensed. They’d overstepped again.
“I-I’m sorry, is it okay if I…”
Frye hesitated for a moment and nodded.
Again, Shiver gently set her hair aside to allow them to work. With the cotton pad they delicately dabbed the wound near her gills with antiseptic. Frye still shuddered to the touch.
After that, there were only a few more wounds to go.
“There. I stopped the bleeding and your wounds are clean. You’ll be far better off now.”
It was then that Frye finally met their gaze again, and the sight made their heart flutter. Her eyes shone like the glitter of the sunrise over the sea.
“Thanks,” she said firmly. “I won’t forget this.”
“If I ever see you again, I’m making you into sashimi," Shiver warned. When Frye didn’t look threatened, and instead cracked a grin at their words, Shiver felt their face flood with warmth. “Take your stupid fish and go.”