Deep Water Ch.01

"Sweet, did I mention I'm coming over for dinner tonight?" Devin smiled. Stoph laughed and nodded his head.

"You know you're always welcome. So did you go see Levi today?" He asked as he threw on more cheese.

"Yeah, he really is a sweet heart. He was so happy to see me. You should have seen him, he was doing flips when I said I was coming back tomorrow. Literal flips, like a dolphin." Devin laughed and stole a piece of cheese. He reached for another pinch of cheese but Stoph slapped his hand.

"Ow." He sucked on his fingers.

"Mermaids are really friendly. They get their bad rep from old legends and stuff. Back in the 1800's they were going extinct. They had to reproduce and they had no choice but to steal humans from ships to mate with. Unfortunately, because of the way they did such, the humans wouldn't survive." Stoph explained.

"They could just mate with each other?" Devin asked. Stoph shook his head.

"Mermaids can't reproduce with each other. Human's are their usual choice. They can also mate with dolphins and such but... yeah That's kind of creepy." Stoph laughed.

"Agreed." Devin had a distant look in his eyes.

"So you want some pizza?" Stoph asked.

"Yeah." Devin said with little interest.

"So you're NOT going to be here for dinner then?" Stoph smiled.

"Yeah."

"Good, because I was going to take Steve down to the seventh level of hell to have some caviar and guacamole." Stoph said.

"Sounds good." Devin said absentmindedly. Stoph chuckled.

"What?" Devin asked, coming out of his own little world.

"Nothing, you weren't paying attention." Stoph giggled.

"No, I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Stoph looked at him out of the corner of his eyes. "I thought I should tell you, Merpeople don't discriminate. Male and female, its all the same to them. They believe in loving who you love. Not what makes the most babies." Devin looked up.

"Thanks for the tip." He rolled his eyes.

"And Levi was single." Stoph smiled.

"How do you know?"

"Merpeople are tattooed when they're mated." Stoph explained.

"Isn't that a little... permanent?" Devin asked.

"They know when they've met their mate. As soon as they've consummated their coupling they get tattoos of their mates name and such in their own language. They're quiet beautiful actually." Stoph said.

"You know a lot about this kind of stuff."

"I was the devil's right hand man for thousands of years. What did you expect? I know stuff." Stoph shrugged as he tasted the sauce of the pizza before putting it in the oven.

"True." Devin shrugged and cracked open a beer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Devin!" Levi chirped before Devin even splashed the water.

"Hi." Devin smiled. Levi smiled before turning on his back and doing the backstroke up to the edge of the water, beaching himself in the mud.

"How are you?" Levi asked.

"Good, do you need more food?" Devin asked. Levi shook his head.

"Come swim with me, Devin." Levi smiled. The water had cleared up fast and was almost as clear as it was before.

"I don't know... I don't have trunks or anything." Levi gave a sad pur and splashed back into the water.

"Besides, I don't really want to get we-" He was interrupted when Levi appeared at the surface again. This time on his back facing away from him, he used his large tail to splash Devin with lake water. Devin sighed.

"Well now you've issued a challenge." Devin laughed and pulled his shoes off. Levi let out a scream and flipped back and splashed into deeper water. Devin chased him in and dived into the water. He opened his eyes underwater and quickly adjusted. He wondered if Levi could see clear underwater but not out.

As soon as he thought this he saw the flowing body of Levi come chirping up to him. His voice was just as clear out of water as in it, even though it seemed he could only make the familiar clicks and chirps as a dolphin. Devin smiled and Levi turned, swimming into deeper water. Devin followed him but had to come up for air.

"Oh yeah..." Levi said when he surfaced.

"What?" Devin asked, pushing the hair out of his eyes.

"Forget humans can't hold breath underwater." Levi smiled.

"No we can't, but I can hold my breath for a decent amount of time." Devin dived back underwater. Levi followed him. Devin had been on the swim team in high school and college and still had the slim body and swimming skills. Levi spoke underwater and although he couldn't understand the foreign language he was astonished at its beauty. Like a whale and a dolphin combined. The sing song voice could drag any man from his home into the deep sea. Devin surfaced and Levi followed him.

"Your language. It's beautiful." Devin smiled.

"Thank you." Levi smiled. The gaze was broken when Levi swam backwards, splashing Devin with his tail.

"Stop that!" Devin laughed and swam after him. Levi dived underwater and that's when Devin noticed the purpose of the beads at the end of his hair. They weighed down the hair so it didn't float every which way and get in his eyes. It kept his hair as neat as it was while on the surface. Devin chased after Levi but he was much faster than Devin was, and ever would be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Devin, how is Levi?" Steve asked, as he was walking in from checking the mail. "And why are you all wet?" He stopped in the middle of his lawn.

"He started it." Devin said with a straight face. Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Uh huh... Well. You coming over for dinner?" Steve smiled.

"Not tonight, I'm tired." Devin rubbed the back of his neck.

"Alright well I'll see you later."

"Night."

Devin closed the door behind him and immediately showered and climbed into bed. His dreams were filled with the beautiful sound of Levi's voice. He dreamed about the shimmering blue green scales of his tail and how beautiful he looked underwater.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Devin was woken by a loud banging on his door.

"What what what, Jesus." Devin rubbed his eyes.

"Devin, come on quick." Steve ran towards his truck, where Stoph was already waiting.

"What?" Devin squinted at the bright sunlight.

"They're draining the lake." Steven shouted, without turning around. Devin was awake instantly. He grabbed his boots and ran after Steve barefoot. He put his shoes on in the car. They arrived at the lake to see it almost entirely empty. It was only noon, they must have been draining for hours. Steve walked up and addressed the guy who looked like he was in charge.

"What's going on here?"

"Because of the flood there was a lot of wreckage. We have to drain the lake and clean it up." The guy said hardly looking up from his clipboard.

"I'm the sheriff here, and I'm going to need you to call this whole thing off." Steven said.

"I'm afraid you don't have any authority on this matter." The scientist smiled. Steve cursed and nodded and Stoph and Devin, who raced off around the lake to find Levi. While Steve tried to stall the men. They ran around to the back of the lake where they couldn't be seen by the men draining the lake. And found Levi quickly. There was only a fraction of lake water left and it was obvious he was struggling. He barely fit in the small puddle that had been sectioned off from the main part of the lake. His gills moved quickly, struggling to take in oxygen from the more mud that water substance.

"Levi." Devin gasped. He reached down and stroked his smooth skin.

"We'll get you out of here." Stoph whispered. He looked up towards Devin.

"We need to get him out of the water and dry him off. That will make him lose the tail and grow a pair of legs." Stoph explained.

"Uh, okay here. My jacket." Stoph followed Devin and took off his jacket as well. They dragged a very heavy Levi out of the mud and onto the drier ground. They quickly wiped the mud and water off of him and within no time his tail was gone and a two long legs took their place. He lost the fins on his arms and legs and his gills had disappeared. And when he blinked you couldn't see the second pair of eyelids that reminded Devin oh so much of a shark. It became all too apparent that the new legs were all he was wearing. Devin quickly covered him up with a jacket around his waist and used Stoph's jacket to cover his shoulders.

"Come on." He tried to pull Devin up but he only fell back down.

"He's never had legs before Devin. He doesn't know how to stand or walk." Stoph explained. Devin looked down at the frightened helpless merman and bent down, he scooped him up and carried him around the lake. Without being noticed they slipped back into the truck, with Levi sitting against Devin.

"Stay here." Stoph said and jogged over to Steve.

"Steve, come on we can go fishing another time." He shrugged. Steve looked at him like he was insane and Stoph smiled, blinking innocently, nodding towards the truck. Steve looked at the truck and saw the wide eyed frightened face of Levi.

"Bye." He said to the man with the clipboard before running off with Stoph. They climbed into the truck and drove towards home quickly. They got home and had a second of hesitation before Devin started towards his house. Steve and Stoph followed him inside where he laid the quivering merman down on his bed. He immediately grabbed a pillow and clutched it to him.

"I'll be right back, okay?" Devin said. Levi looked like a frightened animal. Devin stood and left the room.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with him?" Devin asked.

"I don't know! Take him back to the ocean? I mean he was afraid to come to the human world right? Land? But now he is already here. So does it matter?" Stoph shrugged.

"Please don't send me back." Levi appeared at the doorway. The three men shared a look.

"Why not?" Steve asked. Levi seemed hesitant.

"You can talk to us, Levi. We're your friends." Devin took his hands. Every time Levi moved his head the beads on the end of his hair would click together making a delightful sound.

"I cannot go back." Tears fell down his face slowly. Devin's heart broke and he took the small man in his arms.

"I wont make you go back." He whispered lovingly. Levi sobbed into his chest and wrapped his arms around him. Devin glanced at Stoph who just shrugged.

After Devin finally got Levi to sleep, he Stoph and Steve sat in the kitchen sipping coffee.

"I don't know why he would be scared to go back. As far as I know Merrow's are very peaceful creatures. They're all very loving and kind." Stoph shrugged.

"He is obviously terrified of whatever is going on there." Steve said.

"But what is it?" Devin wondered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Good morning." Devin smiled when he saw Levi's beautiful blue eyes open.

"Good morning." Levi said in his silky soft voice.

"How are you feeling?" Levi shrugged in reply.

"I think you need to tell me what's going on, why don't you want to go home? And why did you lie to me?" Devin asked. Levi lowered his head, it was obvious he felt bad about lying to Devin.

"I just cant go back." Levi said simply.

"Why not? I want details." Devin wouldn't back down. Levi seemed hesitant but gave in.

"I have been banished by my people. If I return they'll kill me. Or the ocean will. Without a family I'll starve. Among other threats." Levi said. Devin thought for a moment, not looking away from Levi's eyes.

"Why?" Levi sighed, like he knew the question would come up but was hoping it didn't.

"I had an arranged marriage. I refused to marry him and shamed my family." Levi said.

"Wait, Stoph said that your people value free love and all that jazz." Devin tried to understand.

"We do. For the most part. I'm not a usual case." Levi said vaguely. Devin gave him a look to continue.

"I'm royalty." Levi sighed.

"Now was that so hard?" Devin smiled. Levi glared at him and played with the sheets. "Like pulling teeth." Devin laughed. "So is there anything that is actually keeping you in the water? Can't you just live up here?" Devin asked seriously. Levi looked up at him with a face that said the thought had never occurred to him.

"Well, no. I guess not. It's just... The ocean is my home. I've never left it. I don't even know how to walk, how am I to survive in this world? When it's so different from my own." Levi asked.

"That's what friends are for. Come on, swing your legs over to the side of the bed." Devin stood up from the bed.

"Why?"

"We're going to teach you how to walk." Devin smiled. Levi looked like he was going to be sick but did as he was told. After some struggling he managed to get his long legs over the side of the bed. Devin moved so he was on his side of the bed and, with hands under his arms, lifted Levi so he was leaning on Devin.

"Whoa." Levi held onto Devin like his life depended on it.

"I've got you." Devin promise. Their eyes met and Levi blushed and looked away.

"Now," Devin started. "Walking is almost nothing like swimming, so this should be fun." He laughed, and Levi giggled.

"Stand up straight, I've got you don't worry about falling." Devin promised again. Levi attempted to stand up straight but teetered back and forth ominously.

"Now, remember to stay up straight or you're going to fall. Just one foot at a time okay? Lets start with the right." Devin moved behind him, hands still under his arms, and used his right foot to nudge Levi's. Levi slid the foot forward and looked like he was having balance issues.

"When you move one foot, put your weight on the one that isn't moving. Okay?" Levi nodded.

"Next foot now." Devin nudged his other foot and Levi moved it up to his right one.

"No, no. Move the next foot further than your first foot." Devin smiled, trying not to giggle. When Levi had taken a few steps with Devin supporting his weight, Devin moved on to the more difficult subject.

"Now, lets try some balance. Just stand up straight. With your feet apart." Levi did as he was told and looked up at Devin, who had moved in front of him, for approval.

"Good. Now, I'm going to let you go just a little bit, try and stay balanced. I'm here to catch you if you need me." Levi looked worried, but trusted Devin, who slowly let him go. He balanced for a moment on his own and then nearly fell, but was caught by the vigilant Devin.

"Good! Now, lets try this." Devin taught him how to catch himself with his feet if he were to tip forward or backwards. And soon, Levi was able to take a few tentative steps around the room.

"You're a fast learner." Devin smiled. Levi smiled, standing on his own, before he began to fall. He tried to catch himself with his foot but only threw himself farther forward. Devin jumped out to catch him and barely made it. They both fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

"I don't care what you say. Gravity sucks." Levi cursed. Devin giggled and soon the two had a laughing fit on the floor.

"Good morning you two." Steve said, watching the two giggle and tickle each other. They looked up, blushing and Devin helped Levi, who still hadn't learned how to stand up after falling.

"You've been learning!" Steve smiled when he saw Levi standing on his own. He nodded and beamed.

"I brought food." Steve walked into the kitchen. The smell of breakfast floated through the house from a covered plate.

"Levi do you know if you can eat things other than fish?" Devin asked. Levi shrugged.

"I've never tried."

"You seriously mean to tell me that you have NEVER had anything other than fish?" Steve grimaced when Levi nodded. "You poor deprived child, let me feed you." Steve pulled out more covered plates from a bag.

"I don't know, what if it makes him sick or something." Devin worried.

"Stoph said it should be fine, just as long as he doesn't eat too much." Steve nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve's statement was soon forgotten as Levi got his first taste of food other than fish. The boy went mad. Stuffing every edible (And some not) item into his mouth. He moaned his approval whenever shoving a new piece of food into his mouth. Steve and Devin watched the young man dash around the kitchen, mixing different foods to the point of being just wrong.

"Should we... stop him?" Steve asked, as Levi shoved sausage and bread into his mouth.

"Have you see the teeth he has? Let him eat. Maybe getting sick will teach him a lesson." Devin shrugged.

"Doesn't that seem a little cruel?" Steve asked, neither of them had removed their eyes from the tornado in the kitchen.

"Eh, he has to learn some how right?" Devin shrugged. Steve nodded silently.

An hour later, most of the kitchen was devoid of anything remotely consumable. The entire contents of the kitchen now sat before Levi in the white porcelain toilet bowl.

"Ooh, it hurts." he groaned for the eighth time. Devin was starting to feel bad for letting him eat so much.

"I know, it will get better, I promise." He held back the beads of Levi's hair and rubbed his back as he vomited again.

"My mouth tastes gross." He whimpered. Devin reached over and grabbed a bottle of mouth wash.

"Here." He raised Levi up and put him over the sink. "Swish some of this around in your mouth. But don't swallow it." He warned. Levi nodded and did as he was told.

"Better?" He gave a weak nod. "Good." Devin picked him up and carried him into the bedroom. He laid him down on the bed. Levi immediately curled up and hugged a pillow. Devin disappeared for a moment before returning with a bowl, just in case. He set the bowl by Levi's bedside and told him if he was going to be sick again, to use the bowl. Levi nodded quietly and Devin crawled in beside him. He spooned against him carefully, rubbing his back and stomach trying to soothe the cramps that plagued the thin man.