Aiden had a calm day and slowly rolled out of his cocoon way later that morning. With reckless giddiness he prepared for his evening get together.
Aiden was pretty sure humans had some form of mating rituals. The problem was he didn't know their proper customs. As much as he wanted to get some advice on attracting a human it wasn't as if he had anyone to consult. The other mermen, never. The possibility of them glaring at him all the time because they thought he wanted to covet the pod human was unpleasant. The mer elders, bad choice. If they caught on to his feelings or plans they would probably stop him.
***
For merkind it was all about the tail. Sure, a potential mate could be chosen for their personality, beauty, fishing abilities and seaweed basket weaving. Most, however, were chosen by their tails. A mate's tail represented mer's tastes and survival.
There was the choice of aesthetic. The shape and feel of a tail could be pleasing. A tails colour is also an important aspect to consider as it would be horrible if you spent the rest of your life staring at a colour you hated.
One of the older mermen had mated with the last mermaid to be born in our pod. The couple had lasted about two years. Because mating is for life, the couple couldn't completely separate but they lived in separate nests. Their relationship problems could have stemmed from them forcing a relationship, personally I thought it was from their dislike of each other's tails as that was often the topic of their fights.
She had died a few years back, leaving her mate behind.
Seeing the widowed merman was kind of sad. His strong personality and barbed tongue faded until he became a shadow of his former self, timid and quiet person. As his mate's death seemed to finally dawn on him, the lonely mer abandoned his pride. He took to sleeping in her nest. At some point shortly after her death, he seemed to find life unbearable. He would refuse to eat and stare with glazed eyes at the water. Shortly after he stopped eating he died.
It scared Aiden.
Being dependent on someone to survive, having a chain that bonded their fates together. Aiden didn't want to be tied to someone who he could never escape from. He knew that not everyone in a relationship ended up happy. Being able to leave, to escape a toxic relationship at any time was something he valued.
He never planned on bonding with anyone. Better safe than sorry.
***
Aiden pushed his way to the surface, propelling him skyward with the twist of his tail. A nervous giddiness seemed to have overtaken him. On one hand he couldn't wait for his nighttime date with Xander, on the other he fretted that he would make a big fool of himself. Aiden swam between a lovesick fool and a careless one.
How should he greet Xander? Aiden tried to guess what humans complimented when courting each other.
Maybe human mating rituals had something to do with their legs?
Aiden wondered if the length, softness or shape were what helped a human choose a mate. He wondered if he should compliment Xander's legs that evening or if that was something only mates were supposed to do.
Should he compliment Xander on the obvious strength of his legs? Being able to stay standing on a wooden plank while being tossed around by waves seemed noteworthy.
On second thoughts, Aiden decided against it.
Better safe than sorry.
Aiden decided to learn more about human culture before aggressively pursuing his crush. After a little more research.
***
A merman posing as a human, who would have guessed.
He had expected a human to be the one to enter his world not the other way around. He disapproved of the elders' solution but it wasn't as if he could fix the problem himself. Aiden found it cruel that a human had to be stolen from their home to save his pod but his emotions would have no impact on changing their decision.
The only thing that Aiden had some power in was how he treated the human. He was adamant that he would show the same kindness and respect as Xander and Malai had given him.
***
When Aiden surfaced, the last remains of the red sunset were fading into twilight. He looked around making sure no one was around, human or mer, to see him leave the water and walk onto the beach shore. No one was around, all the humans had gone somewhere else, probably a special viewpoint to watch the sunset.
He awkwardly pulled the human shirt over his head and shimmied slightly into the human shorts, getting both end parts of his fin tail just barely in both leg spaces. Aiden got somewhat changed into the human clothes. The problem was that his current body wasn't made to fit in those, much less when they got wet and seemed adamant on clinging uncomfortably to his scales.
As Aiden dragged his body from the water, his shimmering scales seemed to sink into a layer of skin. Even after his tail became human legs, Aiden's legs seemed to shine from the wrinkle of stars reflecting on the evaporating sea drops. After his legs had partially dried he hurriedly pulled up his pants, embarrassed from his newfound awareness of his nudity.
At least the night sky and the towering tree shadows hid the red flush of Aiden's face from nearby chirping cicadas.
***
After Aiden finally got the warm burn from his face to cool down, he backtraced his path to the Sea Star shack.
Even as Aiden approached the shack, he could see light coming from a hole in the wall of the building. From outside, Aiden could hear the sound of excited chatter and lighthearted laughing. He felt nervous standing at the entrance of this other world, but Aiden wanted to explore the world of his crush and find what seemed to make the people inside so happy.
Aiden took a breath, then grabbed the handle of the door the same way he saw Malai and Xander do yesterday.
Gathering his courage Aiden turned the handle and heard the door creak open. He stepped inside and joined the buzzing crowd.
***