The morning comes late for Kurt. He blinks crusty, bleary eyes at the sunlight pouring in through his window, the sound of banging on his door reaching his ears. He rubs his eyes until he can see, and slowly lifts his head. Dave is still fast asleep, mouth slightly open, and Kurt smiles a little despite the noise, because he's too pleased and still glowing inwardly from the fact that he is curled up naked, legs twined, head on a heaving chest with a previously mythical sea creature turned human just for him, out of love.

"Is that you at the door, Father?" Kurt calls out, careful not to wake his lover as he slips out of bed and stumbles, his muscles confused and sore from their first time acting out a sexual deed (or several), and hurries to dump water in his wash basin and sponge his body clean, jumping in his own skin when he glances in the mirror and finds a few love nips and full bites on his skin.

Blushing furiously, Kurt hurries, too, to get dressed back in his nightclothes as his father answers, "Yes, it's me! Why is your door locked? It's never locked. And you missed breakfast and morning tea! Is something the matter?"

"I am… uh, quite ill, Father!" Kurt says, forcing a rasp into his voice. From his bed, Dave stirs, and frowns both in confusion and at the bright light of the late-morning sun. "I do not wish for you to c-catch it," he coughs. "Please," he adds with a groan as he tosses his lover's clothes to him off of the floor, "Carry on without me for the day."

"Oh. Well, all right, son. But try to get well again before your party, I would hate to disappoint all those guests by turning them away, since it's too late to send out notices of reschedule or cancellation!" Burt calls through the door. "Would you like me to send up a few servants with some healing soup?"

"Yes, please," Kurt says, although he immediately plans to hide Dave in his wardrobe until the servants have left. "Thank you, Father! See you some other time when I'm not as –" he fakes a sneeze "– sick!"

When he hears his father's retreating footsteps echo down the tiled hall, Kurt bursts out in wild laughter and collapses onto his bed, clutching his side.

"Was that not flawless? My acting is impeccable. He utterly bought that."

"…You are a wicked son to deceive your father so," Dave grins, climbing onto all fours on the bed to bend down and kiss Kurt sideways, their lips perpendicular, and a vague memory is flashing across his mind as Kurt's kisses him back. Breaking it, he murmurs, "We kissed that way before, but I can't recall how. You were lying in the grass, but where was I?"

Kurt frowns. "You have been different since you came to me last night in human form. Do you not remember being a merman, David?"

"Merman? Don't be ridiculous, Kurt! Mermaids and the like don't exist. I think I have lost some memory due to a fight of some kind. See, there is this mark on my thumb that is relatively fresh, from after I saw you last, but I don't know how I got it," Dave explains with a shrug, showing his hand to Kurt.

And, being the clever, quick boy he is, Kurt all at once understands: in order to be human, Dave had to sacrifice his merman side completely, memories included. However he came to be this way, it was done by something truly powerful to remove so much of Dave's life from him.

Swallowing, blinking, Kurt slowly comes out of shock and offers a timid smile. He props himself up on his elbow and uses his free hand to run his fingers through David's hair. "You're right, Dave. I must have dreamt it. Sorry if I confused you. Now then, how about some soup? I think I hear one of the servants knocking."

0o0o0

Kurt keeps Dave hidden for the next two days, feigning sickness as he stays in his room with the taller boy. They talk, mostly; Kurt tries to gage how much Dave knows and remembers, and almost get to know one another all over again, except it seems that Dave knows a lifetime's worth of details about Kurt's life and not much whatsoever about his own. When they aren't talking, they gravitate toward one another and kiss instead, and at night, they make love again, always trying to see what feels right and safe and good for one another.

Finally, on the day of Kurt's birthday party, people from all over the Caribbean idled colony of close friendship status or of noble blood show up at his door, and Kurt makes his lover sneak out the back and making his way around to the front, borrowing some unworn clothes from Kurt's wardrobe to guise himself as a guest to the party.

Kurt plans on introducing Dave as his true love to Burt, but no one else. Of all people, Kurt's father deserves to know, and as it happens, he promised his father as much anyhow.

When the party is winding down after gratuitous amounts of ballroom dancing, music, laughter, drinking, and food, Kurt pulls Dave aside – he had been careful not to dance with him all evening for fear of the reactions of others, and having his father know prematurely – and brings him to the governor's study.

Kurt then retrieves his father, telling him along the way that he is about to meet Kurt's true love, and that he shouldn't be so quick to judge.

"Why would I judge them? –She isn't a prostitute or something of the sort, is she?" Burt says, clearly confused.

"Not quite, Father. You will soon see," Kurt murmurs, and then, taking a breath, he pushes open the door to the study and closes it behind him. Dave jumps where he was standing, admiring the world map on the wall of every inch of land discovered to date.

"Oh, hello. Sorry, but you will have to clear out, my son is suppose to –"

But Kurt cuts his father off very quickly and states with a forced smile and a gesture of the hand, "Father, this is David. He is the reason why I do not wish to marry, even if there are plenty of lovely girls here."

Burt Hummel stops dead, confusion forming dark storm clouds on his brows, but then, suddenly, his face turns as stoic as the sea. "Ah, I see. This is why you asked that odd question earlier this week. You were seeking approval, weren't you? Because you love him."

Dave looks worriedly between the two Hummels, and sighs a little with relief when he sees that Burt isn't disgusted or coming into a rage.

Kurt seems to relax as well. "Yes, Father. Thank you so much for understanding."

"I do understand. And I love you no matter what you choose, because you are my son and the last piece I have of Elizabeth, and you are such a good boy. But Kurt, I'm not sure what to do about this. Many people… they would not be very understanding, and I want to keep you protected," Burt relays as gently as he's able, turning to look his son in the eye.

Kurt's expression falls, and he looks pained. Swallowing, he nods firmly, his voice thin as he answers, "I am aware, Father. And that is why I would like to ask your permission to help me leave. David and I plan to go somewhere no one will care how odd it looks for two men to be romantic together, and where ridicule from the church or anyone else is long out of earshot."

"It pains me to see you go, Kurt, but if that is what you wish… then I will help you, son. I would rather die myself than have you harmed because others might see this as a sin. So yes, I will arrange that." he turns, smiling, to David. "You better treat my boy well. He means the world to me."

"I wouldn't dare treat him unwell, sir. He is my world as well," Dave replies solidly, taking a step forward and puffing out his chest a bit.

"Good. In that case, let us return to the party, and I will make arrangements tonight."

And with that, they left the study one at a time, Kurt stealing a fast kiss on the hand of happiness and celebrations from his lover.

0o0o0

A month following his birthday, Kurt waves to the docks below to his Father in the middle of a crowd of family and friends waving goodbye to the group of people on the ship Miss Gleeful, headed for America. Kurt weeps happily, tears flowing from his eyes in a steady trickle like rainwater down glass, and as Burt Hummel and everyone begin to shrink from the size of normal people to the size of Kurt's index finger, Kurt turns away.

He turns and steps into Dave's chest, hugging him tightly and burrowing his face into the taller boy's clothes. No one on board knows the details of their relationship, and no one asks. They simply leave the pair be, and as David soothing strokes Kurt's hair and kisses the paler boy's temple, he murmurs, "We did it."

"We did," Kurt agrees with a sniffle as he pulls away enough to look up at David's loving gaze. "And now, we can have that happy ending, right?"

"Of course," Dave answers with a light chuckle. "Just… keep me away from the edge of the boat. It took me forever to get on it without panicking from the look of the ocean, and now I need to stay away from the water or else I might faint," he teases, but he actually means every word. He is terrified of the ocean, and he isn't sure why, exactly. The mystery of it? The danger? No matter. He has Kurt and the promise of a new life, and that right there is more than he could ever bargain for.

"I shall protect you, fair maiden," Kurt jokes, laughing and rubbing his thumbs back and forth on Dave's back.

"If one of us must be a maiden, I would say it is you," Dave rebuttals not unkindly.

Kurt pulls away, scoffing with a disgusted sound. "Why, I never!"

David laughs again, pulling Kurt's body back to his. "I jest, of course, love. I jest, like you were. I know for a fact that you are plenty manly, and can protect me from the Big Bad Ocean. And I thank you for that."

Kurt hums, warming up to a smile as he sinks back into the former merman's embrace. "Mm, you're welcome."

"Now let's go down below. I am feeling a tad nervous from the lack of land nearby."

"As you wish," Kurt says lightly as he guides his lover down to the hold of the ship, where the cabin bunks and galley are located, and below that, their luggage and supplies.

And as they say, the two lives happily ever after, living a full live in a cabin they built themselves in a forest near the Appalachian Mountains. And because they lived far from the sea, Dave never lost his memories of the love of his life, and having no recollection of anything else, lived freely and contentedly.

While Kurt never forgot how they met and how real it was, he did learn to shove it to the back of his mind and use it instead as a story to tell the children of the village he often visited at the edge of the forest for supplies. Except he changed Dave into a mermaid and altered the story to make it how he and Dave could have been: married, and in full remembrance.

And he called the tale, The Littlest Mermaid, and while the story shifted from teller to teller, Kurt will always remember the true original, one he calls with a smile in his head, The Not So Little Merman.