Mermay 2021: 2

 It was close to evening when he was brought in, so eventually the staff of the aquarium left for their respective homes.

Aizawa didn't know where he was or that they were truly gone until the next day. He woke several times that night to scout around the pool, checking to see if the aggro male or any of the others had come back. They did not. He was, however, surprised to see his tentative new friend remained, curled up in a bundle of cloth beside his temporary living space. He eventually drifted off, his tail laid in an unnaturally straight position so as not to stretch the wound open as it healed.

He was awake when the seabirds started screaming outside the gate that led to the ocean. He welcomed the sound gladly since it was a change from the eerie silence of the pool.

"Ugh," Elly groaned, rubbing the small of her back as she woke. "The sleeping bag was probably not a great idea." She sighed and gathered the yellow fabric in both arms, rolling it up to shove under a desk for the day. The merman growled at her from his pool and she turned back to greet him as well. "All right," she smiled, dusting her knees off briskly. "Let's start. Good morning!"

Aizawa tilted his head to the side. Her greeting was warm, and he responded in kind. "Good morning." Then he tapped his chest and spoke his name. The walker was obviously delighted. She reached out and laid a hand on his arm, then tried to say it herself. Her pronunciation was horrendous but the effort was there; he showed her his teeth in an imitation of her smile and she grinned back.

It was, however, far more difficult for him to pronounce her name. Aizawa tried, but simply couldn't get it right. Dejected after five solid minutes of trying and not hearing it come out of his mouth like she was saying it, he frowned, shrugging.

"I don't know why it doesn't sound the same." He snapped at the air in irritation.

Upon seeing his sharp teeth she had a revelation. "It's hard for you to pronounce L's because of your teeth!" She pursed her lips, thinking. "Well... if you want, you can call me something else. Aizawa?"

He perked up, looking at her curiously.

"How about... Cheshire? Oo, um, <i>Ches</i>?"

He was confused for a moment. <i>Wait, does she have two names, or did I misunderstand</i>? Then it struck him. <i>Oh, it's a nickname</i>!

His ear flaps rose to the challenge. "Ches." A pause, and then he flashed her a huge, toothy grin. Elly smiled and repeated his name while touching his arm again. He reached out and did the same for her.

The door to the far side opened, and the big man from the other day walked in. He had a bucket of fish in one hand and a look of pure distaste on his gruff features. "I got <i>his</i> breakfast."

Elly glanced over and wrinkled her nose. "Is that the same thing we feed the sharks?"

"Yeah, so what?" He pointed at Aizawa with a stabbing motion. "It - he's -- half shark, right?"

"Yes, but I thought we'd try a few different things. Besides, it seems demeaning to feed him out of a bucket like the exhibit fish."

Kan set the bucket down none too gently near the pool. "Bullshit. I doubt he cares." He tipped it over and a couple of fish splashed into the water. "I'm not target feeding him, though. If he wants that shit you better do it."

"I'm the one most qualified anyway." She shrugged.

Aizawa was starving after spending an uneasy night wounded in strange surroundings. He grabbed the biggest fish but didn't eat it. Instead he darted back to Elly's side, holding it up to her with a questioning look on his face.

"Ches?"

She shook her head but thanked him warmly. "I like sashimi, but that's a bit too raw for me. You eat."

He nodded when she passed it back to him untouched and swam to a corner to tear into it alone.

Kan whistled under his breath. "Look at those teeth! I hope you know what you're doing, kiddo."

Elly glared at him and pulled the bucket closer so she could toss him another. "If you want to claim time with him, you can. I'd be more comfortable if I was here but I'm not limiting contact to myself."

"Nah. You do it for now." Kan snorted. "He doesn't like me, anyway. Do your research, but the <i>minute</i> the bastard tries to act up I'm voting to sedate him."

"Bastard," Aizawa repeated clearly, his eyes locked on the other man.

Elly stifled her laughter behind her hand. "See, Kan, he's learning quickly. You better watch what you say from now on."

Kan scowled and stormed out of the room.

Aizawa watched him go with a grin. It was becoming his favorite new gesture. He loved the way it creeped out the tall walker but made <i>Ches</i> smile.

She brought out a series of laminated picture cards and they got to work learning more of each other's languages.

It was becoming apparent that her throat wasn't built to speak his, as a lot of it were guttural sounds and growls, though she did well with the chirps and whistles. Aizawa, though he couldn't pronounce L's properly, was doing much better. Time flew and it was a few hours later when the door opened again and a different man stuck his head in. He had dark hair and skin and a far more kinder countenance than the other one, Aizawa thought.

"I'm going for a coffee run. Ya want anything?"

Elly responded in a much more genial tone, confirming Aizawa's thoughts. "Hey! Is it the shop on the corner?"

"Uh huh."

"Uh... bagel sandwich with egg and meat, any kind. And a large coffee, light and sweet, thanks."

"Will do."

As he was disappearing out the door she had an idea and called out to him again. "Actually... wait. I have an idea." She scribbled hastily on a piece of paper and handed it to him.

The man blinked a bit, then laughed. "That sounds about right. Good thinking!"

Aizawa was swimming lazily on his back watching her tap on a rectangular device she held in her hand when her coworker came back. In one hand he held a large bag from which delicious smells were wafting. He sat Elly's coffee down and handed her the bag.

"I got it all - and specifically requested the lox. Thought he'd enjoy that one, right?"

"Great! It went okay on the research tab?"

He nodded as he grabbed a clipboard and headed out. "No problem."

Elly took the food out, one by one, and unwrapped them from the paper they were in to set on the flattened bag. She took her meal and set it aside, then called the curious merman over.

"These are bagel sandwiches. They're good."

Aizawa had never seen so much walker food, let alone any of it close up before. He sniffed the "sandwich" closest to him and watched as Elly took a bite of hers and chewed. Following her actions he picked it up. The firm substance on the outside belied the meat and strange smell of the inside, which was strangely squishy, like a sea sponge. He opened his mouth and took a bite.

His ear flaps snapped up right away as the salty meat and moist substance hit his tongue. He quickly finished the rest in two more bites and slapped his tail excitedly on the surface of the water. In doing so, he forgot his injury and swore a little as it stung.

"Ouch!"

"Oh, did you hurt your tail?" She set her food down and pointed at his tail. "Can I look?"

"Ugh. It was my fault. That thing was <i>tasty</i>." Aizawa swam over to the steps built into the side of the pool while she sat up to her knees in the water. To her surprise he hoisted himself beside her and laid his tail across her lap, the bottom fin slapping water up in a fine spray.

Elly cleared her throat and pointed again. "Okay?"

"Yes," he told her in her own language.

She checked the medical glue to make sure it was holding, prodding with a very light touch. The jagged bite from the moray was healing well, though it was clear it would leave a scar.

"Wow. Just like a leopard shark," she murmured, stroking the dark patterns on the side. "You're much larger, but I assume the colors are for camouflage, too."

Aizawa had a hard time staying still as her hands gently traced his tail. They were so smooth and different, and the fact was he hadn't experienced close contact with anyone since he was a pup. Her fingers brushed higher and closer to his extremities as she examined him.

He jerked back into the water to hide the bulge forming under his slit. Elly was splashed directly in the face and coughed, wiping water from her cheeks and pushing her hair back.

Aizawa cursed himself as he caught his breath underwater. Was he so touch-starved that he responded to any little gesture like this? She was a healer, not his mate. She was doing this to make sure he was getting better and here he was, imagining his teeth sinking into her skin as they writhed under the water together in a frenzy of copulation. He pushed up to the surface and found her wringing her shirt out.

"S - sorry," he apologized. He frowned as he struggled to come up with a reason for his actions with the very limited vocabulary he knew. He finally huffed in irritation and made a gesture towards the part where his genitals lay under a slit in his tail. "You walkers cover yourselves," he faltered in his language, plucking at the cuff of her pants. "We don't. You were getting a little close to me."

Elly listened to him with growing concern, afraid she'd committed a terrible faux pas of some sort. He seemed to be embarrassed, and she realized she'd been close to where his sexual organs were located. Her face blushed bright red. Here she was, scolding the others to treat him decently, and she'd been doing the equivalent of a doctor stroking someone's thighs while examing an injury.

<i>She'd just assaulted him</i>.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry. I - I didn't mean to be so, so, ah, so forward." She bit her lip and bowed down, face flaming and completely mortified. "I'm used to treating creatures and your tail was so beautiful. I just... forgot."

The look of sheer horror on her face meant she realized what she had done, and Aizawa knew she was apologetically babbling though he only knew a couple words. "Okay," he said softly, trying to convey the depth of more than that one word. Then, "we still have a lot to learn about each other."