HEADS AND TAILS ⇝ MASHTON [✔]

huit

"are you okay?"

ashton froze when he heard a familiar voice. he had no choice but to face the beautiful human, even though he prayed to poseidon that he would never see him like this.

he gulped, leaving his head down to avoid concern that would grow when michael would see his tear stained cheeks. 

"ash?"

ashton internally cursed at himself for his stomach getting butterflies over the nickname that everyone called him, even his parents. but for michael to say it with that heavenly voice of his, it made him feel special. 

he tentatively raised his head up, looking at the galaxy haired boy through his eyelashes.

his heart clenched at the sight of michael's beautiful green eyes clouded with worry and concern, he didn't realize how close he was to him either. michael crouched down to the curly haired boy, taking in his tear stained cheeks and red, puffy eyes. 

to say that michael felt bad was an understatement, he never wanted to see ashton like this. he much preferred the curious and bubbly ashton that he played 21 questions with just a few nights ago. 

"are you okay? what's wrong?" michael asked with a soft voice, feeling protective over ashton's vulnerable state.

"y-yeah, i-i'm f-fine," ashton stuttered, not wanting to answer the other question.

"hey, it's okay, you can trust me," michael put a hand on his shoulder, his thumb rubbing over the dips of his collarbones gently.

ashton bit his lip, thinking for a moment. he didn't have anyone else to talk to his problems about this, not when the problem were the people he always talked to about his problems.

he didn't know what to do in this predicament, he wanted to get the feelings off of his chest, but at the same time he didn't want to burden michael with all of his problems.

not to mention the fact that he would have to reveal himself as a mer-man, and he didn't know how to react to that. for the most part, ashton trusts michael. he felt safe around the human, despite what everyone has been saying about them. he just didn't know how he would react to the sight of a flipping fish tail attached to the lower part of his body. 

he took a deep breath, deciding to follow his heart instead of his brain just this once.

"can i t-trust you?" ashton asked after a beat of silence.

"of course you can, ash," michael said with a reassuring smile, not taking his hand off the boys shoulder.

"promise me you won't tell anyone," ashton whispered, letting his forehead rest against michael's own. 

said boy cheeks flushed a tinge of pink at the close proximity of ashtons lips ghosting against his own, "i promise."

ashton sighed, wondering if this was still a good idea or not. it's not like he could back out of it anyways.

"i j-just, er, i have something to show you first before i tell you anything," ashton added, his heart pounding in his chest.

michael frowned, but nodded for him to continue. it was obvious that he was trying his best to keep up a facade for the merprince. 

despite the negative thoughts consuming him right now, he spoke in a reassuring tone, "okay, just don't feel pressured to do this, yeah?"

"yeah, okay," ashton replied shakily, before taking a deep breath and hoisting himself up over the edge of the little pool.

michaels eyes widened in surprise, looking at the tail before him. he couldn't deny, it was absolutely beautiful. 

the tail was white at the top and turning gold at the bottom. the fin had all of the colors of the sea on it, transitioning into white with blue tips at the very end. he couldn't seem to take his eyes off it, which made ashton blush under the intensity of his gaze. 

after a moment of silence, michael breathed out one single word, "wow."

ashton furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "you are not, f-freaked out or a-anything?"

the human shook his head with a smile playing on his lips, "i feel like i should be more freaked out than i'm feeling right now, but i honestly can't fucking believe how beautiful your tail is."

the merprince was stunned, no one ever complimented him like this before. plus, he thought his tail was so boring, and that many others had much more beautiful tails than his. 

"so, a merman, huh?" michael asked.

"i guess, yeah," ashton muttered, still not processing the fact that michael wasn't freaked out, or screaming at him like a monster. it made him feel warm inside his chest. it made him feel the one thing he didn't realize he needed until now.

acceptance.

michael hummed, trying to process all the thoughts that were consuming his head left and right. sure, he looked like he was keeping his cool right now, but he was internally freaking out. out of all the people in this world, he was the one to discover that mermaids are real?

despite all of this, he didn't want to put himself first. so, he took a deep breath and tried to be a good friend to the merman. 

"so, uh, what's wrong with being a mermaid and all?" michael asked, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

ashton sighed, tracing the soft sand beneath him, "my parents don't approve of me being around humans." 

the galaxy haired boy hummed, nodding for him to continue. despite still looking at every intricate detail of ashtons tail, he was listening intently.

"they said that humans were dangerous and all that kelp-" michael snorted at ashton's use of cuss word, "-and that i should keep away from the surface at all costs."

"and i started to sneak up here when i was sixteen years old. i almost got caught several times, but luckily no one caught up with me yet. then, my best friend started to tell me the real reason why i wasn't allowed to go to the surface, and it just, i don't know, it made me incredibly hurt that they kept this from me from so long; and to hear it from my best friend made the situation worse. so, i ran. the guards were chasing after me and everything, but i think i lost them when i went past the border. and then i swam back and ended up here, where you found me," ashton chuckled darkly.

he continued, "i only wanted to accomplish one thing in my life michael, and that was to explore the land."

the merprince could feel the sting of tears on the corners of his eyes, and he wondered how he could look so weak in front of the human.

michael said nothing, he knew words weren't what ashton wanted as comfort. so instead, he pulled ashton close to his chest and scratched his head softly, not caring if there were tear stains on his shirt.

the two closed their eyes in the comfortable silence, barely registering that ashtons tail was close to drying up. 

after a while, ashton gasped softly as he felt a tingling sensation in his tail. it didn't hurt, per say, but it wasn't very comfortable either. michael opened his eyes in confusion when he heard the strange sound, but widened his eyes when he saw that the tail was slowly forming into human legs.

however, ashton didn't want to open his eyes to see what was happening, the sensation was to uncomfortable for him. it was as if feeling pins and needles that he sometimes felt in his arms, but it was taking over the lower half of his body. the merprince wasn't disliked every minute of it. 

when the sensation stopped, ashton slowly opened his eyes, his back still pressed against michaels clothed chest. he shrieked in horror when he saw the weird things that michael described as legs attached to him instead of his mermaid tail.

michael looked in shock and confusion, holding the smaller boy tightly to his chest. he tried to avoid looking as he was completely naked, and he didn't want to see what was down there. 

"h-how could have this happened? is this how my father got to be with my mother? i thought they just met up somewhere like this," ashton mumbled to himself, seemingly not registering that he was still pressed tight to the humans chest and that he could hear every word. 

the galaxy haired boy furrowed his eyebrows in thought, biting his lip before having an idea come to face, grinning widely towards the curly haired boy.

"now i could help you."