A/N jawline

Calum isn't quite sure what to say. He's staring awkwardly at the woman who just claimed to be his mother, which makes absolutely no sense to Calum because she has a tail, and clearly has never been on land before. Which leads to a long series of questions that Calum really isn't in the mood to ask at the moment.

The other mermaids and mermen in the clan have stopped doing whatever people with tails do, and they are now watching silently, wide and curious eyes all trained straight on Calum. Calum flushes from all the eyes, and he tries to look anywhere but at the woman in front of him, and at all the bystanders nearby. Which incidentally brings him to catch eye contact with the one boy who brought him into this mess in the first place.

"Calum is your son?" Luke asks, his voice sounding shocked. "The one you said you lost in the storm?"

The woman nods fondly. "That's the one." Then she tilts her head, musing for moment. "Calum," she says, trying the name out on her tongue. "A beautiful name. It fits well."

Calum's head starts to spin, and he reaches out to the nearest object that currently is not spinning, which unfortunately happens to be Luke. The blonde allows himself to be clung onto by Calum, who, at this point, is having trouble remembering whether or not this entire ordeal is a dream conjured by his brain.

Nobody speaks for a long time, but Calum can feel the awestruck tension in the air. He can hear the whispers passing around the crowd, whispers of, "That's him!" and "How did he survive?", and Calum isn't quite sure what he survived to bring about all this amazement.

The woman inches closer to him, putting enough distance between them so that Calum won't swim off, but close enough so that Calum can see the resemblance of their features. "My name is Joy," she says. "I know you must be confused."

"You're not my mum," Calum says, and Joy smiles weakly. "You have a tail."

"So do you," Luke notably points out.

"Okay yeah, I know, but I also have legs up on land," Calum says, growing annoyed. Joy swims a bit closer, just a bit. Her face is gentle, laugh lines crinkling at the corners of her eyes. Her smile doesn't fade, regardless of what he said. She just continues to stare at her son with her warm brown eyes that look an awful lot like his, and she reaches out to touch his arm.

Her touch sends a spark through Calum's arm, and he loses his breath for a moment. The more he looks at her, the more he can see the resemblance, the more he can almost feel the loss touch of her hand in his. Calum tries to catch his breath, his head spinning like a whirlpool, sucking anything and everything into a spiraling mess. He can't seem to make sense of anything in his mind.

Joy hesitantly swims a little closer. "I know you must be so confused, with many questions," she says gently. Calum stares helplessly at her as she gives him a small smile. "I'm so sorry that I let you out of my sight many years ago."

Nobody speaks, the entire clan dead silent. They watch with wide eyes, their tails moving back and forth soundlessly as they listen carefully. Many of them stare at Calum with wonder and amazement, and it makes him want to crawl away in one of the caves and hide from sight.

Before he can say anything, a figure moves out from behind a cluster of seaweed, joining the scene. Calum turns to look and his blood turns cold when he sees a broad shouldered boy with sun-tanned skin, wavy brown hair that falls in thick curls below his ears, and a pair of piercing hazel eyes that look about as cold as they could be.

The other mermaids shift a little, moving around and going about their business once he comes into view. His eyes are narrowed, eyebrows furrowed. His lips are set in a line, and he gives Calum a look that clearly translates to something of distaste.

"What the fuck is going on?" the boy says. He looks about as old as Calum, maybe a few years older, but young enough that Calum has to wonder how he radiates so much authority. He can't be more than twenty years old, yet everyone seems to stir at his presence.

His voice is loud, a thick Australian accent with a slight twang that everyone down here seems to have. Joy turns around to look at him, frowning at the boy's rigid stance. Calum can't help but feel a bit intimidated. He never thought a boy with a mermaid tail could ever look so menacing, but he has been proved wrong.

"Ashton," Joy says, "do you remember me telling about my lost son?"

Ashton gives a look that makes it obvious that he has, and then he looks to Calum, his eyes hard. He swallows roughly. "This is him?"

Calum doesn't like the look Ashton keeps giving him, and he squirms uncomfortably.

"Yes," Joy says, sighing out in relief. "This is Calum."

Ashton stares at Calum for a few moments, his hands curled into fists. Then his eyes dart towards the blonde boy beside him. "Luke!" Ashton snaps, reaching over Calum in one fluid motion and yanking Luke away. "Get away from him."

"Ashton," Luke whines, squirming like a child in Ashton's grip. "He's fine, I found him myself!"

The curly-haired boy frowns. "I told you not to go exploring. It's not safe."

"Everyone else goes exploring!" Luke complains.

"You're smaller than a lot of stuff in the sea, Luke. If I'm not there to defend for you, it's not safe," Ashton says. His voice has softened incredibly, and he looks almost normal as he stares down at Luke worriedly. Luke crosses his arms and huffs, but doesn't argue.

Ashton pats Luke's back and Luke swims off in the other direction, disappearing behind one of the slick cave walls. Ashton watches him go before turning back to Calum, his steely eyes returning now that his apparent soft spot for Luke is gone.

Ashton swims closer to the dark haired boy and Calum can see each defined muscle in his bicep as he does, making him shut his mouth. He's the wrong guy to pick a fight with.

"You came from land, which means you're human. I don't trust you," Ashton says lowly.

Joy interferes. "Ashton, he's my son--"

"I don't care whose son he is!" Ashton snaps, narrowing his eyes. "You're human, which means you don't belong here." He narrows his eyes and Calum blinks, trying to look anywhere but at him. Ashton pauses. "Stay away from Luke," he adds.

Calum barely has time to glance back up before he's turning and swimming back through the mess of seaweed, disappearing on the other side. Calum huffs, crossing his arms unhappily.

Joy rushes to his side. "You are welcome here, Calum. No matter what Ashton says."

He's grateful for the comfort of the woman, still not able to wrap around the fact that she's apparently his mother, but he just nods and smiles anyway. Calum is annoyed by the boy, angered that he has the audacity to judge him so hard when he doesn't even know him.

Calum makes a move to leave, but Joy catches his wrist. "Come back tomorrow, alright?"

Calum hesitates before nodding, and Joy looks relieved. The boy quickly swims away from Joy and all the other mermaids wandering around the clan, passing the coral floors and cave walls in a blur. He's angry, furious and confused beyond imaginable. He doesn't know what to do about Ashton and he also doesn't know how to handle the fact that he does indeed have a tail. He doesn't know how to handle any of it, and it's making his head spin.

He swims away from the clan and back towards the beach, pushing as hard as he can. He can't help but feel like he isn't the best swimmer, but he hopes he's getting better. He's worried that if he spends too much time out of the water, like he did before, his deathly symptoms will come back. And that's the least thing he wants.

He reaches the beach quickly, and he is grateful to find that the beach is mostly empty, only a few people walking around, and none of them take notice to the boy walking out of the ocean on his own two feet. Calum walks barefoot across the beach, shaking out his hair and sending water droplets everywhere. He wipes water out of his eyes, although it doesn't sting at all, and heads up towards the house.

He feels weird as he walks across the pavement, his legs feeling a bit wobbly as they regain their strength back. Calum closes his eyes at the mess in his head, feeling confused and dizzy from everything happening to him recently. He wants to lay in bed and go to sleep for a day, and wake up without any of this ever happening.

The dark haired boy opens the front door, brushing sand off his feet before walking to his room.

"Where have you been?" a voice snaps, frightening Calum. He jumps, looking up to find Michael and Laura standing in his room with frenzied eyes and crossed arms. Michael speaks again, "We were worried about you!"

"I just--" Calum starts but then stops, knowing he can't say anything about the whole mermaid thing. "I went for a walk."

Michael eyes his damp hair and sandy feet, raising an eyebrow but not saying anything. Laura shakes her head.

"Michael told me about what you said. That you feel cured," she says, her voice achingly hopeful. Calum shifts uncomfortably at her stare.

"I do. I feel great," he mumbles. Laura lets out a breath.

"Regardless, Calum, you can't just go off and disappear like that! What if you start bleeding again? Or what if you pass out from dehydration?" Laura scolds. Michael looks at Calum with a softer face, his eyes looking tired and lips turned down. Calum realizes just how much anxiety he must have put Michael through.

"I'm sorry. I really am. I'll ask you guys before I leave next time. I promise," Calum says sincerely. Michael blinks tiredly, nodding a little in response. Laura sighs again and wipes her eyes.

"I've scheduled a doctor's appointment for you, Calum," Laura says, her voice gentler now that she knows the boy is safe. "I want to be sure that this isn't just temporary. All this 'cured' talk."

Calum nods, feeling bad for leaving so much when he knows his best and friend and family must be so worried about him. He vows to only go back under the sea if he has an excuse, or at least at night when they don't have to know.

Laura grabs her keys and heads out of his room, getting ready to leave. Michael puts his arm around Calum's shoulders, looking at his friend with concern.

"I was worried about you, buddy," Michael says softly, leading him out to the car. Calum stuffs his hands in his pockets and stares down at his shoes.

"I'm sorry," Calum says quietly, genuinely feeling bad. Michael smiles a bit and pats his shoulder, messing up his hair.

"I'm just glad you're okay."

~*~

The doctor was just about as shocked as everyone else was about Calum's miraculous recovery from his life-threatening illness. She stared at the screen at Calum's scans with awe and confusion, occasionally glancing back at the boy with wide eyes.

Short story short, the doctor marked Calum off a as a miracle and left it at that. Laura cried at least three times and Michael stared at Calum suspiciously, and Calum tried to look as least suspecting as possible.

He had trouble answering the questions the doctor's asked when he couldn't mention anything about the ocean, despite that being the exact reason why his symptoms went away.

Either way, the three of them couldn't be happier as they drove back home after the doctor's appointment, Laura discussing ways to celebrate and Michael talking about their future plans for surfing, while Calum does his best to dodge the subject.

Calum can't help but feel bad for ditching the pink haired boy during his struggle to find out exactly what has been happening to him, so he spends the night with Michael on the beach, avoiding the water but letting the two of them catch up on the time they spent apart.

He rests in his back on the sand, staring up at the stars and listening to Michael talk endlessly about every topic on Earth, and he wonders how long he can manage to keep such a huge secret from his best friend.

---
A/N: so Ashton has been welcomed into the story

so the 1975 is coming to Alabama in November and I really want to go but floor tickets are so expensive and none of the other seats allow you to see the stage very well I cry

I will never understand those people who always get floor seats to every concert they go to I'm like do you have a tree growing money in your backyard or what

anyway though Calum is a mermaid and he doesn't want to be! I would kill to be one tbh

thanks for reading! thanks for 3k. I love you