^^That's what his teeth look like in this fic btw

Tyler slowly crept back into his room. The window was left open and now the room was cold. Tyler shivered slightly as he took off his clothes. His shoes were wet, the boy stuffed toilet paper in them hoping that maybe it will soak up some of the moisture before his father wakes him up and forces him to go on another fishing adventure. Tyler sniffled a couple of times, the cold made his nose runny. The boy wiggled his cold toes as he searched for fuzzy socks in his drawer. It was the beginning of the summer and the weather wasn't the hottest. The spring wasn't generous with the sunshine either. 

Tyler placed his slightly damp clothes in his chair and turned the heating up. The boy wobbled into the bathroom feeling slightly dizzy. The boy washed his hands and face that he had dirtied while falling. Tyler had a pretty big scrape under his left eye that was starting to swell. That bruise is going to be hard to hide and Chris was extremely suspicious. Tyler left the boat like he found it and prayed to god his dad doesn't notice that the knots that were tethering the ship to the bollards weren't right. 

Tyler slipped back into the bed and laid under the covers staring at the ceiling. His whole body was shivering, no matter how many blankets or socks Tyler had on him the boy couldn't stop shivering. He tried closing his eyes but couldn't keep them closed or open because they hurt so much. Tyler cursed under his breath because he realized that he caught a cold and now he probably had a fever. The boy tried to come up with an explanation of how he got a fever but none of them seemed believable. Tyler decided that he's going to tell his father that he went for a walk at night because he couldn't sleep and forgot his jacket even though his jacket was on the chair dripping with water for some reason. The boy got up and stuffed the jacket into his laundry basket before smearing some dirt over it. 

"This is gonna be so fucking efficient." Tyler murmured stuffing blowdryer into his boot and turning the power on on the highest setting

Tyler held the blowdryer in his boot for about ten seconds enjoying the warmth till he sensed something burning and it smelled like burning old dirty socks. The blowdryer became hotter each second till Tyler dropped it on the floor making the device shatter. Tyler stuffed toilet paper into the boot again and tried to fix the blowdryer but his attempt was unsuccessful.

"Why am I like this." Tyler murmured accidentally knocking everything that was on the bathroom sink

The boy climbed back in his bed and started rubbing his hands together like a maniac. If he could've rubbed his feet together he would've done that too but it was just too much effort. Tyler clattered his teeth from the shivers that shook his body but at least his hands weren't cold anymore. 

The boy heard shuffling downstairs and then slow steps that were coming upstairs. The door quietly creaked and Chris poked his face in. Tyler stopped shuffling under his sheets and looked at his dad. 

"What are you doing in four in the morning?" Chris asked, his voice was still groggy 

"I uh.." Tyler shuffled under the pile of sheets. 

Chris looked at Tyler' sweaty forehead and shifty eyes and nodded.

"Oh... I'm gonna go back to sleep then." Chris slowly inched backwards

"No! Dad, it's not what you think!" Tyler threw the blankets off of him because suddenly it felt like he's a bun being toasted in the oven "I think I have a fever."

"Oh, well then." Chris chuckled softly and re-entered the room "How did you get a fever?" 

Tyler shrugged his shoulders and tried to appear nonchalant as if he was innocent. 

"I don't know, maybe because you threw  a bucket of water on me?' Tyler suddenly remembered his unpleasant morning

Chris let out a heavy sigh and sat on Tyler's bed. He placed his palm on Tyler's forehead. 

"I'm gonna make you chicken soup when I come back from the drugstore. " Chris kissed Tyler's forehead softly 

"Or maybe you should call mom?" Tyler suggested "She actually knows what she's doing with life."

Chris let out a chuckle and stood up.

"Who do you think nursed you when your mom was at work? I did. " Chris patted the blanket "And look at you, you're still alive."

"Barely." Tyler rolled his eyes and brought the blanket up to his chin because he felt cold again 

Chris grabbed the three blankets that were on the floor and Tucked Tyler in. Tyler flailed his arms around trying to free his body out of that toasty hell.

"You need to sweat your fever out, stay under the blankets." Chris instructed 

"It's literally hell!" Tyler screeched "Why are you doing this to me?" 

"You did this to yourself." Chris looked at Tyler's clothes on the chair "Sneaking out like that, do you think that I didn't notice?"

Tyler bit his lip nervously, his life started slowly flashing before his eyes but luckily Tyler didn't have a heart attack because his father didn't say anything about knowing that Tyler took the ship for his "romantic" midnight trip. 

Tyler laid under the four blankets, his body was frying from the heat like he was a chicken in the oven. The boy tossed and turned trying to fall asleep. It sucked because he managed to get sick just before the summer had started. It's not like he was planning on going out with his friends (mainly because he didn't have any) but it still sucked. He was sweating non-stop and couldn't open a window because he couldn't even walk properly. The salt filled air was supposed to make him feel better but all it did was make the boy sick to his stomach or maybe it was the chicken soup that Tyler had to eat. He liked the chicken soup but eating it every day- not so much. 

When Tyler finally got better he was allowed to go outside. He had almost forgotten about his little trip that night. Tyler walked with his hands in his pockets breathing in the fresh air. He still hated the ocean but now it wasn't as scary as before. It was mainly because Tyler had taken so much medicine he felt like he was tripping out on drugs. He had a weak smile on his lips that felt permanent. Tyler wobbled to the secret place on the beach where there were no people around because it was... A secret place, That Tyler found. On his own. 

Tyler didn't know what to call it other than a beach on the beach. The area was hidden by dense trees and rocks. It was a little lower than the main shore and more out in the ocean so the water was deep straight away with only a few shallow places. It was a really weird place, nature must've been drunk. Tyler sat on a log that he had taken down himself and drew patterns in the sand. He listened to the sound of the waves that were calming him for the first time in his life. 

The boy had been sitting there for quite a while with his back turned to the ocean. He mumbled random nonsense under his nose like he always did when he was alone. He heard a splashing behind him that was kinda annoying because it disturbed the beautiful melody of the waves rhythmically colliding into each other. It sounded like someone was splashing the water around. Tyler turned around wanting to throw a pebble into the water but froze in place in mid-throw. He stood there awkwardly holding his hand up in the air and looked down. 

Tyler slowly lowered his hand and looked at the water where a pair of mismatching eyes stared right back at him. Tyler swallowed thickly and felt his cheeks heat up because the merman had probably been there for a long time and heard all the rambling he was doing. The merman stared curiously at Tyler, the boy was still unsure what to do. He did an awkward wave. 

"H-hi." he said

The creature tilted his head to the side and mimicked Tyler's movements. He giggled when he successfully waved and splashed the water with his tail almost soaking Tyler with it. The boy shielded his face from the cold droplets. 

"Ah, no, stop!" Tyler dodged the wave created by the merman's tail 

The man looked at Tyler with childish curiosity in his face. He mouthed silently, trying to recreate Tyler's words. 

"Can you understand me?" Tyler asked

The merman looked at him without blinking and gave the boy a half shrug and a half nod. It looked weird and adorable at the same time. Tyler couldn't think about anything else than that he really wanted to touch the merman's hair. Tyler sat back down again. The merman was popping himself with his forearms on the sand, his lower half in the water. 

"What's your name?" Tyler asked but clearly, the creature didn't speak English or any other human language

The boy pointed at himself.

"Tyler." 

The merman pointed at himself.

"Ty-l-er." 

Tyler shook his head and let out a soft chuckle.

"No, no. Tyler." he pointed at himself "That's my name. Tyler. "

The merman pointed at himself again.

"Ty...Ty-ler? " 

The boy let out a sigh. He shook his head. 

"I am Tyler." the boy pointed at himself a few times and then shook his head when he pointed at the merman "What's your name?" 

The creature's eyes wandered around Tyler's face for a moment. He opened his lips to say something a few times but nothing came out. Finally, after silently mouthing words the merman quietly spoke.

"J-Joshua." the merman pointed at himself, his words were a little bit choppy "Jo-Josh."