CWs/TWs: transphobia, gender dysphoria. This chapter dwells a bit on feeling insecure about gender/assigned sex at birth, as well as the rest of the story. Please don't read this story if you're easily triggered by this. I'd rather you be safe than read my book.

Otherwise, enjoy <3

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"Enough of this 'transgender' nonsense," Scott's father shouted, making the siren wince. "You are my daughter and the princess of the Coral Isles, not some boy. Return to your room immediately and stay there." The King scowled down at Scott, who suddenly felt very small.

"Yes, Father," Scott mumbled, then slowly swam out of the throne room. He sobbed once the doors closed, too afraid of letting his father see him cry. All he wanted to do was cut his hair.

Instead of swimming back to his room, he left the castle and swam toward the reef. Being there always helped him relax, especially when he got to say hello to the pufferfish.

Except this time a human was there.

He was cautious as he approached the small boat; the human looked distracted, so he was taking his chances in exploring the rare specimen. Scott was rarely allowed out of the palace, and he'd never seen a real human in a real boat before. He just had to get a closer look. When Scott poked his head out of the water, he noticed the human was looking the other way. Perhaps he could play some pranks on the human? Or maybe just soak him. Both options sounded fun.

He slipped back under the water to breathe and swim to the other side of the boat. He knew he shouldn't let the human see him since he was probably a hunter, but he could resist. Maybe this human was friendly. However, as he started to swim to the other side of the boat, he felt a tug on his fin, and he turned around to find his tail stuck in the human's net.

"Oh, for Poseidon's sake..." He groaned and swam as fast as he could to tug his tail free, but instead nearly flipped over the boat. "Oh no." He continued to pull and struggle against the net, all to no avail. Frankly, it seemed he was only making the problem worse. He began to panic as he realised this was probably the human's plan; to lure in a curious siren by pretending to be distracted when really he was plotting to kill him.

"Huh." Scott froze when he heard the human speak and looked up to see him peeking over the edge of the boat. "And Cleo always said mermaids were ugly."

Scott wanted to scream. A mermaid? Really? It was so obvious he was a siren! Sighing, he tried his best to make the human feel guilty by giving him a sad, desperate look and saying, "Help me." He wasn't sure if he could hear, but he definitely got the memo. The human moved to cut the net, which loosened the part around Scott's tail.

The siren was able to pull away from the net, smiling now that he was free. Maybe the human was just harmlessly fishing for food. Scott looked up to look at the human, pausing when he saw the knife in his hand. If he made friends with the human, maybe he would cut his hair for him.

"Ceelan!"

Scott grimaced at the sound of his deadname, looking over his shoulder to see one of the royal guards searching the maze of coral for him.

He could meet the human another time.

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"Look, he's back!" Jimmy shouted gleefully as he spotted Martyn's boat in the distance.

Grian looked up from his game of chess with Joel. "He's back already?" he asked, then shrugged. "I didn't think he'd be that quick."

Jimmy blinked. "Uh... he's empty-handed," he said, turning to the others. "He doesn't have anything with him. Not even the crossbow."

Cleo stood up, half-alarmed and half-upset. "He's what?"

"Martyn!" Scar called, waving his hands in the air as his brother got closer to the ship. "Where's your mermaid?"

Martyn sighed. "Got away," he grumbled. "She got me soaked, too. Flipped my boat over and stole my stuff..." He sighed, trying not to smile at how believable that lie sounded. "Sneaky thing."

Cleo sighed. "Oh, well, it's your first job," she said, helping the boy onto the ship. "We'll give you some more supplies later, alright? For now, I guess you can help Jimmy and Scar with chores."

"Agh, chores," Martyn whined, making Grian and Joel snicker a bit. "How come you two don't get to do chores?"

"We finished our chores, Martyn," Grian said. "You boys are just too busy complaining all the time to get anything productive done." He sighed. "But one day you'll mature and get over it. Maybe."

"Hey!"

.•● 𓇼 ●•.

"Princess Cee-"

"Prince Scott."

The guard paused, glancing down at the young siren before he started to swim away from the guard again. "Your father will be mildly upset with you if you don't return to the palace, Princess," she finished.

Scoffing, Scott stopped at a particularly beautiful coral, admiring it and the little fish hiding inside. "Father doesn't care about me," he said. "He wants me to get married and have babies and then drop dead once there's an heir." He looked back at the guard, a genuine upset look on his face. "And you clearly don't care about me, either, since you don't take the time to correct yourself."

The guard didn't respond at first, instead staring down at Scott with a cold gaze, then sighed. "My apologies, my Prince," she said, bowing. "Forgive me."

"No," Scott pouted, turning away. "You always do this and it's not fair."

"Forgive me for speaking out of turn, but what's really not fair is the fact that my paycheck is reliant on your behaviour," the guard grumbled. "If you come with me back to the palace now, I won't tell your father you've been away."

Scott pondered for a moment. He wanted to stay and admire the reef some more since he hadn't been there in a while, but if going back now meant he wouldn't suffer the consequences of his actions... "Fine, I'll go."

As the guard led Scott back to the palace, the two of them were quiet. Scott didn't have much to say, other than the large amount of insults he's been building to hurl at the guard if need be. But he wanted to keep those for an occasion where he was especially miffed.

And the guard simply didn't say a word. How boring.

Scott was quick to swim into his bed when they returned to his room in the palace. He loved his bed, it was so comfy. And he didn't have to deal with the King when he was in bed. He could dream about a life where he was who he really wanted to be.

"Princess Ceelan this, Princess Ceelan that," Scott grumbled as the guard walked away. "Why can't anybody just call me what I want to be called? I'm the son of the King, for Poseidon's sake." He stared at himself in the mirror and played a bit with his hair, sighing. "I do love my hair, but... They won't see me differently if I keep it." He hummed. "If I can find a knife, maybe..." He gasped remembering the human boy in the boat. "Perhaps if I met the boy again, he could cut my hair."

Scott didn't waste a moment darting back toward the reef.

.•● 𓇼 ●•.

Martyn sighed and stared off at the ocean, remembering how beautiful that mermaid looked swimming so gracefully in the water with her hair flowing stunningly behind her. And the gorgeous fins on her tail...

He jumped when something whacked his butt, and he turned around to see Jimmy holding a mop.

"You're supposed to be helping us get this done faster," Jimmy said. "Not make us take longer trying to clean around you." He handed Martyn the mop. "C'mon."

Martyn sighed and stole one more quick glance at the water before beginning to help clean. Though, he was distracted the whole time.

"Say," he said, ignoring Joel's groan at the fact that he was still talking, "have humans and mermaids ever, y'know... like, dated?"

Bdubs gave Martyn a questionable look. "Dated?" he echoed. "I don't think so. I know there's a history of humans and sirens being together, but that ended in war because of hunters."

Martyn frowned. "Like us."

"No, not like us," Cleo cut in, then she elbowed Bdubs. "And I wouldn't call them hunters, either. I'd call them merciless murderers. They killed anything and everything for absolutely no reason other than to just kill, and they're part of the reason why some species are extinct now." She sighed. "But sirens are much friendlier than mermaids, despite the stories you might hear from people who've never seen a siren or mermaid. Sirens just have a bad reputation because of drunk sailors."

Jimmy blinked. "So, mermaids are the scary ones?" He nodded a bit when Cleo nodded. "Weird." He went back to mopping.

"I fell in love with a siren once," Grian murmured, smiling softly. "He was so lovely. But..." He sighed and the smile faded. "He was killed by a hunter."

Martyn almost felt himself tearing up at that. What if the mermaid, or maybe she was a siren, was killed by a hunter? What if Martyn had to kill her? Well, he really didn't have to since he was meant to kill a mermaid, but still. The thought hurt.

"Can we get back to cleaning?" Scar whined. "I wanna go swimming after this."

Martyn chuckled. "Sure."

Martyn was quick as he finished mopping the deck, then went into the galley to wash dishes with Grian and prepare lunch for the rest of the family.

"Can we please go to the beach to swim?" Scar pleaded to Cleo after quickly finishing his soup. She opened her mouth to answer, but Scar continued before she could really say anything. "I'll do everyone's chores for tomorrow, promise!"

Cleo chuckled. "I was going to say yes anyway," she said with a smile.

"But, hey, if you're offering," Grian said, nudging Scar with his elbow. "If you want to clean the seagull shit off the crow's nest, be my guest."

Scar gasped. "But she said yes to before I-"

"No, no, you already made your proposition," Joel interrupted with his hands up. "You get to do all of our chores now."

Scar looked at Cleo, his mouth and eyes wide open, but she only shrugged.

"You offered."

"Oh, come on!"

After they all finished their meals, Bdubs set sail for a beach nearby the Coral Isles.

"Be careful in the water," he warned the boys. "Sirens are friendly, but they're very territorial and they don't appreciate humans trespassing on their reefs. Just stay in the shallow areas."

The five boys snapped their feet together and saluted Bdubs. "Yes, sir!" they shouted in unison, pausing a moment before giggling.

Getting off the ship, Scar was brave enough to dive from the bow straight into the water, scaring everyone. Once they discovered he was fine, Grian and Joel dove in after him. The others opted for the safer route.

"Come on," Scar begged Martyn, who stood barefoot on the beach with his trouser rolled up to his knees. "Join us! The water's great!"

Martyn smiled, but shook his head. "Are you kidding?" he said. "I just got dry!"

Scar whined, Grian and Joel trying to shove each other under the water behind him. "Please? We can pretend to have magic water powers!" Upon saying this, he spread out his arms to push the water roughly in Martyn's direction, getting him wet again. "Oops."

Martyn laughed and rolled up his sleeves. "Okay, now I have to," he said. He spotted a large rock a little ways away, then grinned. "Hold on, I'm gonna jump off that rock!"

Scar looked over as Martyn jogged over to the rock, clapping in victory that he convinced the blonde to come into the water.

Martyn got a running start, rushing toward the rock and lifting himself up onto it, then lept off the edge and cannonballed into the water...

To suddenly be face-to-face with the siren he saw that morning.

.•● 𓇼 ●•.

NEW STORY, WOOOOO!!!

This one won't really have a "plot", it'll just be a lot about Scott and Martyn's relationship, Scott's transitioning, other things like that.

But yeah! I'm super excited for this one. (I say this for every book, I know, but I genuinely mean it).

Anyway, I hope you guys all enjoyed and I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day or evening wherever you are! Love y'all <33 /gen/p