CWs/TWs: referenced transphobia

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Scott stared at the human boy in front of him, slightly startled at his sudden appearance. As he wondered where the boy had come from, he couldn't help but noticed the boy was staying under the water for quite an awful long time. Tilting his head to the side, Scott asked, "Don't you need to breathe?"

The human's eyss widened and he struggled to swim up to the surface, thrashing around as he gasped for air. Scott peeked his head above the water, letting out a surprised squeak when he noticed there were other humans swimming toward him and the human. He dove back underwater hoping he wasn't seen, then looked down to see the human's foot was stuck in seaweed.

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Martyn was sure he was going to drown. He'd been so busy staring at the siren that he didn't notice the seaweed tangling around his ankle or the fact that he literally could not breathe. He could barely get his head above the water as each time he pulled on the seaweed, it got tighter and pulled him farther down. It was like the damn thing was made of leather.

I'm going to die, he thought as suddenly he couldn't manage to get his head above the water anymore, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. I'm going to die because my dumb ass thought a fish looked pretty.

Suddenly, two pairs of hands were grabbing him and the seaweed unravelled from around his ankle, allowing him to swim up for air. He coughed and gapsed for air, spitting out salt water that had gotten into his mouth as Scar and Joel helped him out of the water. He watched sadly as the siren's tail fin splashed a bit in the water as she swam away into the ocean.

"What were you thinking?!" Grian shouted as Scar and Joel got Martyn back to shallower water. "You could've drowned, dumbass!"

Martyn rolled his eyes. "But I didn't," he said, giving Grian a sassy look. "I'm fine."

Grian sighed. "Whatever. No more cannonballing into the water for you," he said, jabbing a finger at Martyn's chest.

Martyn whined. "But it was fuuuun," he whined. Besides, I got to see that pretty siren again.

"Nope, no more jumping off rocks," Grian huffed. "You stay in he shallow water."

Martyn groaned. "Whateverrr." He glanced in the direction the siren went and sighed. At least I know I can see her again.

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Scott had to admit, he was slightly disappointed when he saw other humans come over to help the boy. He knew the boy was a hunter, but he let Scott go instead of killing him. He didn't know how the other humans would react to seeing a siren.

So he sighed and moved farther away. He didn't go back to the Coral Isles, he still had to talk to the boy yet. He still wanted the boy to cut his hair.

He watched as the other humans teased the boy, playfully pushing him and splashing him with water and laughing with him. Scott smiled as the boy's laughter rang out the loudest, the sound like music in his ears. It was such a beautiful, joyous sound. Scott hadn't heard laughter like that in a long time. Sirens in the Coral Isles weren't happy like that.

Soon, the humans were getting out of the water and Scott's stomach churned as he thought he'd lost his chance with the boy until the boy started running back toward the water, diving into it. His head poked up through the surface and he waved to the other humans. "I'll meet you back at the ship!" he shouted, earning positive responses from the others, and he began swimming toward Scott.

Scott lowered himself slightly underneath the water so he could breathe, but still see above the water. Was he coming to talk to him?

"Hi," the boy whispered, hiding behind a rock from the humans. He was smiling brightly and it made Scott's stomach do flips. "Sorry for the whole net thing. I won't kill you, I promise. I'm supposed to be hunting a mermaid. Since you're so pretty, I figured you're a siren instead."

Scott's eyes widened. "You got it right this time," he said, astonished. "Before you said I was a mermaid."

"I'm a little dumb," the boy said with a laugh.

Scott blinked. "Okay." He paused to sink underwater to breathe before coming back up. "Do you have your knife?"

The boy looked a bit confused. "No, I left it on the ship," he said. "Why?"

"Oh... I..." Scott sighed. "I was hoping you could cut my hair for me," he fidgeted with his hands, "but you can't really do that without your knife. I assume the rest of those humans are hunters, too, so they might not be friendly with me..."

The boy smiled a bit. "We only hunt if we're being paid," he said, "but I get it if you're scared." He hummed, brushing his wet hair out of his face. He looked so pretty. "Why do you want your hair cut? It's so pretty."

Scott bit back a groan as he ducked underwater to breathe for a second. Why does everyone say that? "Because I'll look more like a boy," he said quietly when he broke the surface.

"Ohhh. Oh! Oh-" The boy blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were a girl," he said nervously.

"It's fine," Scott said. "I don't blame you, I look like one. Father won't let me cut my hair, which is why I need you to do it."

The boy rolled his eyes. "I can just tell how much of a joy your father is," he said sarcastically, and Scott snickered. "I'm sorry about that."

Scott shrugged. "It's... fine," he said, dipping under to breathe. "But you can do it, right? You'll cut my hair?"

"Sure, why not," the boy said. "If you follow me back to the ship, then I can cut your hair there."

"But there are other humans on the ship," Scott said shyly.

"They won't hurt you."

Scott looked away. "I don't think I could get on the ship."

The boy gasped and slapped himself in the face. "That's right, you don't have legs," he groaned. "I'm so stupid."

"That's not true," Scott said, and the boy gave him a contused look. "I can turn into a human, but that's not what I meant. I'd be too scared to get on the ship."

The boy blinked, gaping at the siren. "You... can turn... into... a human..."

"Yeah..."

The boy continued to just stare at Scott, making him feel every so slightly uncomfortable. It was like the boy was broken, stuck in that expression. It was so odd.

"Hello?"

The boy blinked and shook his head. "Sorry, you can turn into a human?"

Scott rolled his eyes. "Yes, but I've never done it before so don't ask me to," he huffed. "I can't go on your ship, uh... Wait, what's your name?"

"Martyn," the boy said cheerfully, then his demeanour changed. "But that is a problem. If you disguised yourself as a human, you could pass as my friend and get on no problem. They wouldn't suspect a thing."

Scott quirked a brow. " Did you miss the part where I said don't ask me to turn into a human?"

"Probably," Martyn sighed. "However! I would be able to cut your hair."

Scott sighed. "Fine. But don't look."

Martyn nodded and faced the other direction whilst Scott slipped back under the water and took a deep breath. Closing his eyes, he thought long and hard about turning into a human, deeming himself successful when he couldn't breath underwater anymore. He did his best to get above the water, not having ever used his legs before. Thankfully, Martyn got the memo and helped him.

"You... look so different as a human," Martyn said. "Your hair even changed colours."

Scott looked at his hair, finding Martyn was right. It was no longer blue, but a very light shade of blonde. "Oh. It almost matches yours," he said, smiling up at the human boy, who blushed.

"I guess so," he said, smiling nervously. "Come on, let's get to shore." He started to swim slowly, helping Scott along since he wasn't used to swimming with legs instead of a tail. "That's it," he said once Scott began to get the hang of things, "you've got it!"

Scott smiled. "I do?"

"Yeah!"

It took a few minutes to get to shore, and when they did, Martyn made a discovery that had him more flustered than anything ever had before.

"Oh my god, you're naked!" he shouted, turning around and covering his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me you were naked?!"

Scott looked down at himself and his face turned red. "I didn't know," he murmured, attempting to cover himself. "I'm sorry."

"It- it's fine," Martyn said, then he took off his shirt and the scarf wrapped around his waist to hand them to Scott, keeping his eyes squeezed shut. "Use these."

Scott nodded and crawled out of the shallow water to slip the shirt on. "Uh... what do I do with this?" he asked.

"Wrap it around your waist," Martyn said, "to cover your... privates."

"What privates?"

Martyn chewed on his lip for a moment. "Human females have reproductive parts down there and it's not decent to show them," he explained.

Scott nodded. "How do I do what you're doing?" he asked. "I want to be up there with you."

Martyn glanced at Scott before looking away. "You mean standing?"

"Yeah, that."

"Uh..." Martyn sighed and turned to face Scott, feeling slightly taken aback at how adorable Scott looked in Martyn's large shirt. "Here, give me your hands." He held out his hands and Scott held out his, then Martyn pulled him to his feet.

"Woah-" Scott stumbled into Martyn to balance himself. "This is weird."

Martyn giggled. "Yeah? Here, try to balance by yourself." He let go of Scott's hands, then caught him when he fell over.

"Sorry."

"That's okay, you can try again," Martyn said, and then proceeded to spend an hour teaching Scott how to stand and walk without leaning onto him. "There, and now you're all covered up," Martyn said after tying the scarf around Scott's waist. "Let's get to that ship, shall we?"

Scott, his eyes sparkling, nodded. "Yeah!"

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I like this chapter