After they ate dinner and watched a movie, it was time for them to go to bed. Oscar headed to his room and went to close the door but found Mer was right behind him.

"What's up?"

I am going to sleep.

"Your bedroom is over there." Oscar said, pointing.

Mer looked over at it and then back at Oscar. He rubbed his arm a little.

I sleep better with you.

"Mer-"

Please?

"I'm... flattered that you seem to get better sleep with me around but I unfortunately can't say the same. You squirm way too much and we also end up in weird positions when you're there. Nothing sexual, but just... not comfortable. I have to get some sleep, man." Mer looked upset and Oscar touched his shoulder. "I'm sorry, okay?"

You slept fine last night and I didn't have any nightmares.

Oscar sighed, knowing Mer was right and really didn't have any other reason why he couldn't sleep in his bed. Plus, it was proven twice that if he slept near Oscar that his nightmares seemed to not flair up so badly.

"Fine, I guess... Just make sure you brush your teeth."

Mer grinned and he immediately went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Oscar sighed and took off his shirt as he sat down on the bed and went to the alarm section of his phone. The weather said that it should be clear in the morning before it started storming again, so he wanted to try and take a run. Mer came back out and went to the other side of the bed, snuggling into the sheets. Oscar went and brushed his teeth as well and then got in the bed. Mer rolled over and put his head on Oscar's shoulder but Oscar moved his shoulder, pushing Mer away.

"Can you not sleep all over me?"

Mer frowned. Why are you being mean?

"You're being clingy."

I'm doing what I have been. You're being touchy.

"Maybe I just don't want you to touch me. I'm just not in the mood to cater to you."

Mer stared at Oscar for a moment and then got up and walked to the door.

"Where are you going? I thought that sleeping here helps with the nightmares."

You're being mean. Is this because of the Trent?

"What would Trent have to do with me not wanting you to be clingy?"

Because he hurt you and when you are hurt you... you push people away and are mean.

"I'm sorry if that's what it seems like but I just really want to get some sleep. The last couple times we have been at the brink of sleep when we passed out but this is a little different."

I hope my nightmares keep you up all night. he said with a frown and then sent an explicative to Oscar before opening and shutting the door.

Oscar laid in bed after Mer left and wondered why he really was upset. Mer was right and he didn't have issues before, so what had changed? The only defining factor seemed to be Trent but Oscar didn't get what that had to do with Mer either. He turned over in the bed, confused and ready to tell Mer he was sorry the next day.

++++++++++++++++++++

*8 YEARS AGO*

It had been four years since Oscar had met Mer and he and his father had been coming to the beach house every summer since. Things were great up until the year between then and now. Isaiah ended up meeting a woman named Vanessa and soon he was married to her, making her Oscar's stepmother. Oscar didn't have any issues towards Vanessa but he didn't really like her being around. He missed it just being him and his dad and although Vanessa didn't try to overstep her bounds as his 'new mother', her presence still left a sour taste in Oscar's mouth. With all the stress of his father dating and marrying someone else, trying to get used to her taking up his father's attention, and going into high school, Oscar began to stress eat, gaining a lot of weight between the summers. With the added weight, it added more stress, and it made him self-conscious about his body. Isaiah hoped that this trip to the beach house would improve his son's spirits.

It did not.

*********************

As soon as everything was unpacked from the car, Oscar ran to the shoreline, calling out Mer's name. He really wanted to talk to his friend, the only one who would listen and be there for him. The year had been so hard and he just wanted to talk with someone that wasn't going to make fun of him and call him names. He needed to be comforted... Only when he went out and called for Mer, he never came. He called and called and waited and waited, but the merman never showed up. Oscar thought maybe he was just not aware that he was there but he looked at the bracelet around his wrist. They had exchanged bracelets when they were younger and Mer was even able to get someone to put an enchantment on them so that they could tell when each other were near. Being divided by ocean and land made timing a hard thing to calculate, so Mer made it where Oscar's bracelet could tell when Mer was close to shore and Mer's bracelet could tell when Oscar was anywhere near the beach house.

The bracelet on Oscar's wrist was glowing pretty bright, indicating that Mer was nearby. If he was so close, why wasn't he coming to see him? After yelling for about three hours, Oscar gave up and went back inside. He tried again the next day and the next day, still with the same results. Oscar decided that Mer didn't want to see him anymore and had probably left the bracelet under a rock or something to make Oscar feel like Mer was near. It wasn't the first disappointment of the year...

Giving up on Mer's companionship, Isaiah had encouraged Oscar to try to get out a little more and see the town. He had been glued to the beach whenever they came the past four years and in all honesty, seeing something new would be nice. Isaiah and Vanessa walked hand in hand along the sidewalk as Oscar shuffled behind them, kicking rocks and feeling sorry for himself. As he passed by the mechanic's shop and saw a younger kid walking out. Oscar tried to keep his face hidden.

"Oscar?"

Hearing someone call out his son's name, Isaiah turned to look at his son as Oscar tried not to draw attention to himself. The boy ran across the street and rubbed his hands on the rag he was holding.

"Oh, wow, it is you. I didn't recognize you for a minute there but I recognized your dad. Hi, Mr. Isaiah." He said, waving to Isaiah. "You may not remember me; I'm Jeffrey."

"Oh, yes, I remember you. It's nice to see you again. How is your dad?"

"He's doing alright. We're working on a car right now but he said I could come say hi. How's it been, Oscar?"

"Okay, I guess." He said somberly.

"Jeffrey, enough talk! Come back over here!" Jeffrey's father yelled.

"Okay! Hey, if you're here for the summer again, we should catch up. My dad's off on weekends."

"Yeah, cool. Maybe."

Jeffrey left and Vanessa smiled at Oscar. "And you said that your only friend was that Mer kid. See? He's a friend."

"He's not my friend, Vanessa." he spat. "He's an accomplice to another kid here who bullies everyone. I almost died because of him."

Vanessa's smile fell and she cleared her throat a little. "Well... he doesn't seem like he's that bad. The other kid might be bad but he wasn't. Why don't you give him a chance?"

Oscar didn't really care but Vanessa was right. Trent was the one who usually caused the problems and Jeffrey ended up being dragged in most of the time. Oscar actually didn't think Jeff was a bad guy, but inevitably, Trent was attached to him at some point in time. Considering Mer had abandoned him (so it seemed) maybe having a 'land' friend would do Oscar some good.

"Hey, can I meet you at the place? I'm... gonna go get Jeff's number."

"We can wait for you."

"Nah, go ahead and go. Just don't order without me."

Isaiah nodded and they walked towards the restaurant. Oscar walked back over to the mechanic shop just as Jeff was coming around the car.

"Oh, hey."

"Hey um... I don't have your number to meet up so... could I have it?"

Jeff smiled a little. "Sure."

"I mean, unless you were just being nice and stuff but didn't mean anything. If not, that's fine..."

"I wasn't just being nice." Jeff said with a small frown. "I was asking genuinely to hang out, but now that you mention it, I guess we never did exchange numbers that one time. I mean, Trent sort of messed that up."

"Is he um... still around?"

"Yeah, but I don't hang out with him anymore. After that stunt he pulled with you, I just really couldn't trust the guy anymore. I mean, he almost let you drown. Either way, yeah, I'll give you my number and we can meet up."

Oscar smiled as Jeff told him his number and put it in his phone. He sent Jeff a text so he would have Oscar's number and he left to meet his parents at the restaurant. He told Isaiah and Vanessa about the interaction and for a small while since Oscar had arrived, he was feeling pretty good.

*********************

A week or two went by and he and Jeff had hung out a lot. Not having Trent around really opened Jeff up to being friends with Oscar and it made Oscar feel better. As Oscar walked the shoreline waiting for Jeff to text him where to meet for lunch, Oscar thought he saw a bright blue thing out of the corner of his eye. He looked over and saw someone looking around a rock, staring at him. Even though Mer had abandoned him, Oscar didn't feel right not having the bracelet on that he had made him, and so he looked at it, finding it glowing. Oscar breathed in and walked closer to the water.

"Is that you, Mer?" At hearing his name, Mer craned his neck out more. "I see you..."

Mer dived into the water and Oscar thought for sure he was leaving when a few seconds later, Mer popped his head out of the water a little closer to the shore. He blinked at Oscar as he knelt down in the sand. Mer dipped back under the water and let a wave help him up to the shore. He crawled up the beach and a little ways off from Oscar and then turned over onto his back. Oscar walked over to him and looked down, taken aback. He didn't think Mer could get any more amazing or beautiful and yet here he was with all his magnificence...

"Hey." Mer just blinked at him. "Where have you been?"

Watching.

"Watching?" Oscar said with a lift of his eyebrow. "I've been calling you for weeks and you've been ignoring me?"

I was... confused.

"About?"

You do not look the same. I wanted to make sure that you were you.

Oscar was sure that Mer meant no maliciousness in his words but it didn't make him feel any better.

"So you just ignore me? You couldn't even show up for a second?"

I am here now. Mer said, turning his head.

Oscar laughed bitterly and turned away. "I should have known that something as amazing as you wouldn't want to be around someone like me."

Mer grabbed Oscar's ankle to keep him from leaving as Oscar turned around.

I do not understand.

"How could you not recognize me?! I know I'm fat but damn, Mer! You've changed a lot too and I knew you the second I saw you!"

I... did not mean to hurt your feelings- Mer started but Oscar yanked his ankle from Mer's hand and stomped off.

"You're a bad friend, Mer! You didn't even come when I needed you! What were these dumb bracelets for if you're just going to ignore me when I need you!?" he screamed, pulling his bracelet off and throwing it into the sand. "Screw you! I don't need you!"

Mer squeaked after Oscar, unable to yell after him otherwise. When he didn't even turn around, Mer let out another sound that sounded like a cross between a dolphin squeal and a whale song. It took all Oscar could do to ignore the somber cry but he was done feeling like a fool. Mer scrambled over to where Oscar took his bracelet off and grabbed it up, getting the sand out of it. He held it close and looked around in confusion, wondering what he did wrong. He made a sad noise and put the bracelet on his other wrist so that he wouldn't lose it and went back into the water.

*******************

That interaction was the start of the worst summer he had had in years. After dismissing Mer, when he met up with Jeff again, Trent had gotten wind of Oscar's return and barged in on Jeff's plans. Seeing that Oscar had put on weight, Trent began to relentlessly tease Oscar over and over again. Oscar tried to let it slide, but soon, Trent was taking things too far and embarrassing Oscar in front of girls and even in front of Jeffrey, who was supposed to be his friend. Jeffrey never joined in with the bullying but he couldn't stop Trent either. Trent had gotten a slender frame and a growth spurt, making him taller than both Jeff and Oscar at the moment. His mom had also lucked out and ended up marrying some rich guy who frequented the town, coming into some money. The man had a lot of influence in the town and so Trent would threaten Jeff's dad's business if he tried to protest.

What Oscar thought would be a new chapter of forward progression and upbuilding turned into the most degrading summer ever imagined.

++++++++++++++++

**PRESENT**

Oscar woke up with a start, putting his hand to his heart. He tried to breathe steadily to calm down and ran his fingers through his hair. He hadn't thought of that summer in a long time... Thinking about everything that Trent had done to him that summer just made Oscar want to vomit and he pulled his knees up to his chest. That was the summer he almost didn't make it back home because he was so distraught...

Thinking about it made him realize just how mean he had been to Mer then and now. Mer was right and sometimes instinct kicked in without realizing it and humans weren't good at seeing it. When Oscar saw Trent, his body reacted without even knowing why and his brain started to saddle up for something that wasn't coming... and he took it out on Mer again.

"Fuck, I'm a horrible person." Oscar said to himself as he looked at nothing in the dark. "Fuck!" he yelled, his voice breaking. "He didn't care about him, he cared about me!"

Mer wanted to be with him because he knew how Trent made him feel, what Trent made him do. He was trying to subtly help Oscar and comfort him by being there for him when he knew the nightmares would come. Just as Oscar had been there for him...

++++++++++++++++++

**8 YEARS AGO**

"Nobody fucking likes you, you fat ass lardo. Go back to where you came from and leave us alone." Trent growled, shoving Oscar down into the sand. "Better yet, go walk out into the ocean and drown."

"Trent! What the hell's your problem?!" Jeff yelled, shoving Trent. "Why can't you leave him alone? He's never done anything to you."

"You wanna join him, Jeff?"

"I don't care what you do to me, just stop trying to humiliate him."

Oscar laid on the ground where he had been pushed, trying to find a will to not do what Trent said. He was garbage, especially after how he treated Mer, and it wasn't like anyone cared about him at school. His dad would miss him but...

"Hey, Piggy," Oscar looked up at him and Trent pointed to the ocean. "Remember when we had that little test to see if mermaids were real? You wanna do it again?"

Oscar just stared at him for a moment when he suddenly felt calm and smiled a little.

"Sure, why not?" Trent's smile left. "After all, if it ends up the same way and you get spirited out to sea, I just won't try to save you this time."

Trent looked like smoke was about to come out of his ears as he grabbed Oscar up and started pulling him but not towards the shoreline. Instead, he started pulling him towards the pier. Oscar tried to pull away but Trent was stronger and he was able to keep a tight grip on him.

"Let's see that weird fish grab me this time if I'm too high."

Oscar was going to say something back to him but then remembered the fight he had with Mer earlier. Mer wasn't going to save him this time and Oscar knew it. Plus, he deserved it after treating him so poorly. After trying his best and not being able to get free, Oscar and Trent ended up at the end of the pier. Jeff had stayed behind and Oscar wasn't exactly sure what he was doing. Trent turned Oscar around so that he was looking at him dead in the eyes.

"Any last words?" Oscar shook his head. "Good."

Trent didn't waste any time and pushed Oscar over the edge. Oscar was sure he was going to die that day but he didn't...

+++++++++++++++++++

1: it may sound really heartless, but it's a fact that people who gain or lose a lot of weight can be really unrecognizable. when i worked as a receptionist, there was this one woman who had lost a lot of weight and looked so different i thought she had given me the wrong ID. she hadnt gone and changed her ID from when she was bigger to now and it literally looked like a different person. that's why mer was confused

2: if you get pushed from a pier you will die. like 99.2% likely due to angle and impact

3: you know what SWEET HOME taught me? that bullies can be bullies just because the sky was nice and you happened to be there. sometimes bullies have no reason