A/N: I can't get enough of Kurtofsky involving mermaids. Or, rather, mermen. And thus, here is another little AU ficlet in which Dave is the merman this time, and Kurt is the son of a governor in a Caribbean colony.

"Father, is the sea in this part of the world really full of pirates and mermaids and sea monsters?" the little boy asks sweetly as he glances up from his perch on his father's knee as the man reads him a bedtime story about swash-buckling pirates and heroic sailors.

Governor Burt chuckles and shakes his head as he shuts the book for a moment, holding his place with a finger, and presses a kiss to his eight-year-old son's forehead. "No, Kurt. Pirates exist, but not any of the mythical creatures. There are only humans and animals in the world, son, and nothing more."

"Oh. I see," Kurt nods, and he reaches out with his small hands and tries to re-open the book. "Go back to reading, please, Daddy."

"All right, son. But only a few more pages; I need to get up early tomorrow, before sunrise. There is a lot of work to be done."

"I know, Father," Kurt returns with a smile. "I just wanna finish this chapter."

"We will, but then it's off to bed with you!" Burt teases, tickling where he has a hold on Kurt's ribs.

Kurt squeals and bats his father's hand away, almost losing his balance and falling to the bed. But he remains upright, a smile still on his face, but as his father's voice returns to its calm reading-tone, Kurt starts to get sleepy. And by the time the chapter is finished, Kurt is fast asleep, his head on his father's chest.

"Goodnight, Kurt," Burt says softly as he settles his son into bed and kisses his chubby cheek. His face turns sorrowful; he just lost his wife half a year ago, when Kurt was a freshly turned eight-year-old. She died of a nasty case of influenza, and since then, Burt has had to run his small English colony in the Caribbean Sea all by himself.

It's not as difficult to raise a son by himself, however. Kurt is a loving, compassionate, obedient, and intelligent child. He is kind to the servants, he has flawless manners, he speaks respectfully, and he unconditionally loves his father and accepts that his mother is gone. Burt couldn't ask for more.

But his little boy has a secret.

A few hours after Burt leaves the bedroom of the mansion, Kurt stirs awake at the same hour he always does: precisely at eleven thirty. He has been oddly waking up at this hour since his mother died. In fact, he first did it the night she passed away, because it was at precisely that minute that she left her earthly form in her bedroom at the other end of the mansion.

And Kurt had instinctively known that the sea would heal him, so every night that he wakes up at this time, he opens his bedroom window, shimmies down the trellis of flowers outside, and then pads down in his bare feet and pajamas to the sea. He sits on a bank of soil, sand, and grass and always dips his toes into the water.

On this particular night, however, he sees someone out in the water, far away from the docks and ships, and looking small and young, like someone Kurt's age.

"…Hello?" Kurt calls out timidly as he stands. His feet get cold with dew on the warm spring night, and he cups his hands over his pale-pink mouth. Above him, the moon is just round enough to shed some light on the water's reflective surface. "Hello!" he calls again, louder this time.

The figure comes closer, and soon, Kurt is sitting down again as the person swims rather fast and reaches him. It's a boy, like Kurt himself, and he is completely wet like he has been in the water a long time, but as he places his forearms on the bank beside Kurt's drawn-up legs and curling feet, the boy smiles, and his hands don't look pruned like Kurt's skin gets when he's in the tub too long.

"Hi," the boy in the water says with a toothy grin. "What's your name?"

"My name is Kurt Hummel," the governor's son replies, feeling his heart race with excitement. He scoots back and lies on his stomach until he is resting his chin on his forearms in front of the boy, mirroring his movements. The water must be pretty deep off the side of the bank, Kurt realizes, because the boy is still bobbing like he is treading water. "What is your name?"

"I don't have one," the other boy replies, cocking his head. This is a lie; he has one, of course, but it is too long and strange for any human to comprehend. So the boy says instead, "You could give me one, if you like. A secret name only you know to call me by."

"Oh! Wonderful idea!" Kurt exclaims, giggling behind his excitedly clapping hands. He studies the boy's face. There is a beauty mark on the boy's cheek, close to his nose and the corner of his mouth. His eyes are dark in the moonlight, but Kurt supposes that they are either green or brown, because they are not light enough to be blue like Kurt's own eyes. And the boy has dark hair, a little curly even when flattened down with water. Kurt narrows his gaze and glances up and down. "Hmm. You look like a David or a Dave to me, like the boy in the Bible who fights a giant. Is that a good name? David?"

"I like that name," the boy in the water replies, smiling again as he tries it out on his tongue. "Da-vid. Daaave." He nods firmly, as if making it official."Yes, I like it. But I like it best when you say it. Say it again, won't you?"

"Of course. Nice to meet you, David. Would you like to be my friend?" Kurt wants to know, because being taught by a private tutor and kept safe in his mansion since he was a toddler, Kurt hasn't met many people his age, let alone other boys to play with.

"Sure. Would you like to join me in the water? We can play games," Dave offers kindly.

Kurt pouts. "I would if I could swim! Father hasn't taught me yet. He says that it is dangerous to learn in the sea."

"No, it's not. Here, I will teach you. Come with me in the water, and I will teach you," Dave coaxes soothingly, beginning to pull away from the bank and gesture with a hand.

Kurt nibbles on his bottom lip. He wants to trust David, but he isn't sure if he can. But why would David harm him? What reason is there?

"All right," Kurt murmurs, and he messily yanks off his nightshirt. He shivers with the light chill of the night, his arms wrapping around his undeveloped chest. "Is the water cold?"

"Not if you get accustomed to it first," Dave instructs. "Inch yourself slowly into the water. Here, I will help you, since it drops almost straight down from the ledge." And he swims back gracefully, holding up a hand to where the governor's son stands in front of him. "Don't worry, Kurt. You're safe with me. Take my hand."

The second Kurt does, he's tugged into the water. He lets out a squeak at the splash of bracing seawater, and clings to David to keep from drowning or sinking. But as his legs kick wilding in the water and he trembles in the slightly older boy's grasp, his feet brush something scaly and smooth, like the side of a fish he touched at the market once.

Kurt's eyes go wide and he yelps, his gaze flickering to Dave's face. The other boy is chuckling, clearly amused, and Kurt's heart skips a beat. "Are… are you not human?"

It's then that Kurt spies the gills on the sides of David's neck, and feels the thick skin of Dave's cool arms around him. "No, I am not human, Kurt. I'm what your people call a 'merman.' But that's okay; I can still be your friend. And don't worry, no matter what you've heard, I won't hurt you." He truthfully wasn't trying to pull the wool over Kurt's eyes; he merely wanted to be closer to the human boy, and he couldn't leave the water, so the boy had to come to him. And the boy did, so David beams, content.

"A-all right," Kurt stutters both with a shiver and a blush. "I'll trust you." He suddenly smiles. "And you know, who better is there to teach me to swim than someone who is half fish?"

"Who better indeed?" David laughs, bringing Kurt's body closer for a second to reposition him. He holds Kurt from behind by the hands, and tells him, "Now, I want you to swish your feet back and forth in opposite directions, like two pendulums in a clock. And then I'm going to release your hands, and I want you to lean forward on your belly and push the water to the side, over and over. Got it?"

"I think so," Kurt says, already moving his legs. "Let go. I think I can do it."

And do it he does, within the first couple tries. Dave congratulates and praises him. "Amazing! You learn so quickly. You can now swim."

"I can swim, I can swim!" Kurt exclaims, turning into a bit of a doggie-paddle as he tries to stay afloat, salty water leaking into his mouth every now and then. Dave swims fluidly alongside the tiny human boy, and guides him back and forth along the bank close to Kurt's home.

But soon, Kurt gets tired, and David helps haul him up onto the bank again. Kurt rolls over onto his back and pants heavily, smiling a bit.

"That was fun. I want to practice and get better. May I see you again tomorrow night, David?"

"Of course you may. I will see you each and every night, if you like. Say the word, and I will," the merboy agrees with a smile.

Kurt scrambles into sitting position and tugs his nightshirt back on. He stress down the other boy and says firmly, "Then promise me, because I am saying the words right now: I want to meet you each night so I can get better at swimming and have a real friend. Pinky-swear." And he holds out his right pinky, waiting for Dave to take it into his own.

Dave frowns his arched brows and hesitates to mimic the movement and grasp pinkies with Kurt. "This feels odd. You humans have strange customs. But all right, I 'pinky-swear' to meet you each night at this hour. But if you do not show, or come less and less often, then I will do the same, and eventually, we will not see each other at all."

"Understandable," Kurt stumbles over the long word, but makes it out in the end. He nods once, and then unclasps their fingers. He stands up fully and starts to walk away. Turning back halfway, he waves over his shoulders. "Goodbye, David. See you tomorrow night."

"Farewell, Kurt." And just like that, Dave does a backflip in the air (making Kurt gasp and stare in awe, mumbling, "Wow…" under his breath) and splashes into the water, swimming under the surface and out of sight to somewhere in the distance, toward the horizon of deep ocean blue.

Kurt treks uphill back to his home, climbs weakly up the trellis, and then falls into his bed, completely exhausted, but also completely content.