au yeah autumn challenge

[sunrises]

Soulmates - Riku / Namine (Kingdom Hearts)
College - Lloyd Irving / Colette Brunel
Single parent - Tyler Lockwood / Caroline Forbes
Enemy - Ochaco Uraraka / Izuku Midoriya
Laundromat - Peyton Leverett / Maxine Hunkel
Hogwarts - Stefan Salvatore / Misty Day
Famous - Tom Bronson / Sharpay Evans
Kwami swap (Power Swap) - Yato / Hiyori Iki
Summer Camp - Evan Tildrum / Tani (Ni No Kuni II)
Secret agent - Izuku Midoriya + Bakugou Katsuki
Mermaid - Senel Coolidge / Shirley Fennes
Royalty - Stefan Salvatore / Jesse Wells
Fake dating - Stefan Salvatore / Freya Mikaelson
Reincarnation - Jason Grace / Piper McLean
Life Swap - Stefan Salvatore + Eugene Woods
Neighbors - Roxas / Olette (Kingdom Hearts)
Sidekick - Iris West + Ashley Williams
Circus - Shizuku Mizutani / Haru Yoshida
Reverse Crush - Katsuki Bakugou (MHA) / Leila (Riordan-verse)
Coffee shop - Ryuji Sakamato / Makoto Niijima
Childhood Friends - Stefan Salvatore / Elena Gilbert
Crime - Tenko Midoriya + Hana Midoriya + Izuku Midoriya
Historical - Barry Allen / Iris West
Office / workplace - Sebastian Debeste / Kay Faraday
Friends with Benefits - Goro Akechi / Haru Okumura
bff swap - Sean Diaz / Ally Parker
Internet - Masayuki Hori / Yuu Kashima
Gym - Eijiro Kirishima / Katsuki Bakugou
Time travel - Max Carson / Lester Papadopoulos
Roommates - Jeremy Gilbert / Kol Mikaelson
"Dealer's Choice" - Roland Crane + Evan Tildrum

PROGRESS: 31/31

Comments

mermaid - Senel Coolidge / Shirley Fennes | wordcount: 1629

[sunrises]

The first time Senel saw a mermaid, he was nine years old. His parents had brought him on a fishing expedition to capture coral samples for the University of Werites Beacon, and he would spend hours peering into the depths of the clear blue water, wondering just what lay in wait below the choppy waves.

Dad had warned him that giant squids liked to eat little mischievous boys, and Mom's laughter hadn't made him feel much better. The octopi in the lab had always waved their tentacles at him! The fish gathered together whenever he passed, and the sea had always felt so vibrant. He longed to feel the wet sand beneath his toes, and to watch the sea pull sand in and out of the shoreline. To watch the sea bless the land with seaweed beyond anyone's wildest imagination, and to bask in the sun as the water surrounded him.

The sea wouldn't hurt a little kid, he reasoned. Only books and radio dramas (and his Dad, he supposed) stressed the dangers of non-existent sharks and killer whales. He would be fine, leaning over the edge of the railing and watching manatees race past their slow boat.

He waved at a couple of them, and he swore, he saw their paws rise in greeting.

Then they twirled, underneath those giant waves, and the tails gave way towards incredibly human faces. A young girl - she had to be younger than him, with how wide her eyes were - rushed towards him, leaning up to catch a better glimpse of his face.

Her hair glimmered like the stars, with the edges turning a faint blue as they kissed the surface of the water. Yet she didn't even notice as she stretched out her hand towards his cross-shaped scar.

Senel drew in a breath, closing his eyes and hoping his guess wasn't wrong. He leaned in even closer, even closer to feel her smooth fingers caress his cheek and -

The boat rocked, and he fell backwards, towards the ice cooler and his father's samples. He groaned, rising to his feet and running back towards the railing.

She was already gone.





On his sixteenth birthday, Senel applied for his junior boating license. He had told his parents that he wanted to help them ferry samples between the mainland and the island, but honestly - he wanted to see that mermaid again.

No one would believe him without the bare minimum photographic proof. He couldn’t blame them, either; his parents were the most respected marine biologists, and even they struggled to popularize the giant squids and octopi in their labs. The average person would need more: they craved videos and narratives that pushed their beliefs and confirmed their deepest, darkest agendas.

Sometimes, Senel wanted to eschew that scientific model of theorizing and theorizing; he wanted to dive right into those waters and find the very sea creatures that inhabited his daydreams and every so often, his nightmares.

The licensing test had been easy, and purchasing a boat even easier. After school, he would juggle boxes of samples from the university and ferry them over to the University of Rexalia, where Professor Will would analyze them and either confirm or deny his parents’ hypotheses.

This time, however, the Professor accompanied him back to the island on his glass-bottomed boat.

“You didn’t have to come,” Senel said, keeping his eyes on the calm waters ahead. This time of day, the water was soothing, almost otherworldly in its beauty. Yet, despite seeing it every day, never boring.

The Professor had smiled right back at him. “And miss the opportunity to work with your parents? Never.”

“Your funeral,” Senel grumbled, knowing full well that for those nerds, the evening would be the exact opposite.

As soon as they landed in the harbor, the Professor seized the boxes from Senel’s grasp and carried them towards Senel’s all-too-patient parents. Senel hung back, partially out of a desire to give them privacy, but also partially out of a desire to inhale that salty air one last time.

He sat down at the edge of the pier, dangling his feet off the edge. His sandals were slipping, but no big deal. He would just swing his leg up and - and watch it crash land straight into the water.

Right as he reached to pull his shirt off, a pale hand reached for his sandal and held it up to his face. The young girl’s long, blonde hair still glowed as the edges touched the water, but a blue-flowered crown was nestled on top of her forehead, and her loose, seaweed-knitted top was intricately interwoven with seashells and tiny silver beads.

“Whoa.” Senel peered down at her, slipping his fingers in her palm and lightly gripping his sandal. “Th-thanks.”

Her cheeks grew a faint red as she mimicked his gaze. “Th-thanks,” she said back, with a quiet, uncertain voice.

He couldn’t help his laughter as he slipped his sandal back on. “No, you’re supposed to say you’re welcome.” He paused, drawing it out, “You’re…. Welcome.”

She nodded, enthusiastically calling back with an accent he couldn’t place, “You’re welcome!”

As she sunk back underneath the waves, Senel got the sneaky feeling that he had seen her - no, that he had felt her before, and dammit. He hadn’t even photographed her.





So instead of indulging his parents' and Will's giant nerd fest, Senel piloted his boat into the middle of the ocean, halfway between Rexalia and Werites Beacon. He had slipped into his swim trunks, and slung both his goggles and his waterproof camera around his neck, just for good measure. The ocean wasn't impossibly deep here, but it wouldn't be safe for long periods of time either.

He had to know her. He had to understand just why she had returned years later, because it couldn't possibly be for a mere sandal.

Mom and Dad always said that any grand experiment began with a hypothesis. The common denominator in both scenarios had been him and the ocean. While he wasn't a scientist, and the urge to examine a scenario over and over again didn't run through his blood, he had a working theory. That girl wanted to see him again.

He hadn't ventured into the water much between elementary school and high school, and not for lack of desire. His parents' work had taken them across the world, and his education was more important than chasing a so-called imaginary mermaid.

As he sat on the edge of his boat and drew a breath, he felt two hands tug on his own. The force pulled him underwater, and right as he opened his eyes, he felt salty lips press up against his. Senel choked back air, staring at the young girl he had seen mere hours ago.

She intertwined her fingers in his, pulling his arms around her waist, and in that moment, his fingertips glowed with an electric energy - one he had never felt before. He wanted to feel it again.

So when she let go, he didn't hesitate to cup her cheeks and kiss her again, and again, and again.





He woke up face-down on his glass-bottomed boat, with the smell of chlorine and seaweed clinging to his wet t-shirt and swim trunks. His goggles were haphazardly lying beside him and his camera - well, his camera was still around his neck.

Senel bolted upright, peering down at the green light in front of his portable camera. Good. It was still running. When he got home, he could examine the data and confirm (or God forbid, deny) his long-awaited hypothesis.

If that mermaid was real - if that kiss had been real - then he would have proof to last him a lifetime.






Unfortunately, Mom and Dad had been less than pleased with his midnight kiss-and-run, and so, his piloting license had been revoked for the next six weeks.

("What were you even thinking?" Will had asked, skeptically glancing at Senel's sopping wet hair and clothes. "It's not even the proper time of year for a polar bear run.")

Senel should've seen it coming. He should've seen them revoking his camera too for good measure, and he should've seen his parents dropping him off at school every morning to ensure he didn't sneak off to parts unknown. They even signed him up for the boy's swim team. As if this whole situation wasn't embarrassing enough.

On the first day of swim practice, the coach whistled to signal their attention. He droned on about safety, about the competitions the team would endure, and about the drills they would do every morning before class.

Then his eyes fell on the girl's swim team, and on a young blonde girl giggling with her friends. She lacked those glowing blue edges, and the flower crown that had adorned her head, and even the seaweed knitted top that marked her from all the others - but when their eyes locked, her smile was far too familiar for him to forget.

When the crowd broke, she rushed to him, slinging her messenger bag across her shoulder. "Hey."

"H-hey." Now Senel could feel his cheeks turning red. "Do I know you...?"

"Maybe." She shrugged, her smile betraying her feigned nonchalance. "I'm Shirley. I hope we'll get along this year, Senel."

As she reached out to trace her fingers over his cross-shaped scar, his fingertips again tingled with electric energy. He drew in a breath of understanding, fighting back the grin that he so desperately wanted to share with her.

"You know," he found himself saying as he wrapped his hand around her wrist, "I think this year's going to be pretty memorable."