Meet Me At The Coral Isles

The Family

CWs/TWs: mentioned/referenced transphobia

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"Look, Martyn's back," Grian said, looking up from his map. He paused. "He brought home a girl?"

"Boy," Martyn corrected, and Grian nodded. "He's in need of a haircut, so he asked me to cut his hair for him."

Cleo nodded suspiciously. "And how did you two meet?"

Martyn glanced at the former siren, who he realised he didn't know the name of, and smiled a bit. "We crossed paths while I was out hunting," he said. "And he found me again while I was looking for my blade at the beach."

"Cleo!" Bdubs swatted at his wife. "These two are soaked and probably freezing! They need towels."

Cleo glared over her shoulder at him. "Then get them some." Bdubs gulped and nodded, scurrying off to fetch some towels, whilst Cleo turned back to Martyn and the siren. "What's your name, sweetie?" she asked, her demeanor entirely different now.

"S-scott," he stuttered, clearly nervous. "Are you going to kill me?"

Martyn's eyes widened and Cleo gave Scott a confused look.

"No, of course not," she said. "Why would I do that?" She chuckled and held out her hand. "Come on, I'll get you some proper clothes and a bath. Martyn, you can bathe and change yourself."

Martyn sighed. "Thanks, Cleo."

.•● 𓇼 ●•.

"You can go ahead and take those off," Cleo said as she finished filling the tub with hot water. "I'll go grab you some of clothes while you get into the bath."

Scott nodded hesitantly and waited until Cleo left to get out of the clothes Martyn gave him, then stared at the tub in confusion. He slowly climbed into it, shocked at first at how warm it was, then relaxed as it reminded him of how hot the water was when he would hang out with Owen near the volcanoes. But... what was he supposed to do with it? Just sit in it? He already spent all his time in the water. Did humans like sitting in water? The way Cleo talked about it, it sounded like a normal thing humans did. Did they do it for fun?

"I got you some of Jimmy's clothes since he's really skinny," Cleo said, coming back with folded fabric in her hands. "But they might be long since he's pretty tall. I'll leave these with you. Take your time in the bath. I'll wait for you outside."

Scott nodded and settled further into the water when she left. He really didn't know what he was supposed to do, but this was nice. It felt like he was swimming, except he was still and not moving. Maybe he could see why humans did this. Unfortunately, though, he had to get out after a while because the water got too cold. He was a siren, not a cod. He couldn't handle cold water.

Cleo was right about the clothes. They were long, but they were also pretty comfy. They almost seemed to make his chest disappear, too, which was a huge bonus. He walked out and Cleo led him to the other humans, who were all sitting at a table in another room and laughing.

"Come on, it isn't that funny," Martyn said, blushing out of embarrassment. His hair was wet so Scott figured he sat in a bowl of water, too.

"Oh, it's hilarious," Grian said proudly with a smirk, waving a dismissive hand. "You and Timmy are too easy to poke fun at."

Martyn rolled his eyes, then caught sight of Scott and donned a goofy smile. "Hey," he said, and Scott waved with a small smile. "You ready for that haircut?"