When Elly got back from home with a change of clothes and a snack for them both she was surprised to see another merman in the pool. She almost dropped her bag and the takeout container she was carrying when he waved at her.
"Hello!" He called out in excellent English.
"Oh!" She stumbled, but managed to grab everything close so it didn't fall. A sleeve fell out from the bag and she ignored it, tossing the whole thing near her desk. The food container she took with her to place nearby her guests.
The new merman appeared frail, his face hollow with bones protruding as if he might have been recovering from an illness. His eyes were sunken but a beautiful, clear blue like the ocean, and he had blond hair that dangled past his cheeks in two long locks. His tail was yellow with white on the underbelly.
"Oops. Sorry!" His robust voice belied his sickly nature. "My name is Yagi. Aizawa thought it would help speed things up if I translated."
"Good idea," she grinned. "Nice to meet you, Yagi. Aizawa calls me by my nickname Ches because it's easier for him. My name is Elly, though. You can pick whichever you like."
"Thank you, Ms. Elly!" Yagi suddenly grew in size, his chest expanding until he was a hugely muscled specimen from the waist up. His tail shot up and out as well, and she smiled, seeing spikes now. It seemed mers could be different types of fish, and unlike Aizawa who was a shark, Yagi was a puffer fish.
"If it's okay, could I ask how you speak our language? Aizawa doesn't... at least, not a lot of it yet. He's only just learning."
Yagi coughed and deflated back to his smaller size. "Some of us know how from books your kind left behind. That's personally how I learned. One of the first ones I read as a child was made for water use, a child's book."
"Ohhh, like a bath toy!" Elly nodded. "Makes sense. A lot of humans don't think about the consequences of throwing things where they don't belong. In this case, however, it sounds kind of like a good thing." She opened the boxes of food and placed the lids underneath each. "You both want to try some? I've been bringing different food every day for Aizawa to taste. I picked up some sushi - that's raw fish that humans eat."
"Sushi?" Aizawa dutifully repeated the word. He sniffed at a piece and exclaimed, "This is octopus!"
"He likes octopus," Yagi supplied helpfully.
"Really? That's my favorite!" Elly pointed at a dish of raw slices without the rice. "Look, I always eat the tentacles first!"
"It's the best. Chewy." He paused. "Yagi, can you tell her -"
"You don't have to add that," Yagi murmured. "Just talk like you normally would if I weren't here."
"All right." Aizawa looked directly into her purple eyes. "I wanted to thank you for helping me. I heal fast, but what you did enabled me to cut my time in half. I'm much better now."
"I want to talk about that," she said cheerfully as she slowly moved her feet in the water. "The pool here is barren because it's meant for convalescent creatures, but, like you said, you're better. It's dismal, don't you think?"
Yagi nodded, adding something this time. "It's frighteningly quiet underwater." Then he dutifully translated for Aizawa.
"Yes. It's too empty." Aizawa thought carefully before responding. "What are you thinking?"
"I've got this list of creatures and undersea plants in the area." She held out her tablet which showed beautiful pictures of flora and fauna.
"Yes."
"Can you pick your favorites?" She demonstrated, tapping a checkmark at the end of one. "Good fish? The ones that you like to watch or eat? And plants? Pick anything that you like."
He poked at it to see how it worked, then nodded.
"Okay," he grinned up at her.
Yagi recoiled, then breathed a sigh of relief. "I didn't think you would accept their mannerisms like that, Aizawa. Human smiling? Really?"
"She likes it when I show my teeth."
"Yes, it's synonymous with our ear wiggling." His flaps moved as he spoke, clearly amused. "You'd better tell her that it's a sign of mating or aggression with mers, or there might be trouble later."
Aizawa set his jaw. "You tell her, then."
"Are you sure? Because -"
"I have to do this." He was deliberately focused on the tablet, though he couldn't hide the blush creeping stealthily up his neck.
"Ahhhh." Yagi turned to hide his wiggling ears. "Um. Ms. Elly?"
"Mmn?"
"I need to tell you that mers don't typically smile with our mouths. We wiggle our ear flaps to convey happiness. A show of teeth is either aggression or, ah, passion."
"Really? I mean, I kind of thought Aizawa didn't smile much, but he - wait. Wait, he shows his teeth a lot for me. Is he smiling at me, then?"
Yagi's ears moved so noticeably that she relaxed. "Don't worry. He picked up your habits because it made you happy."
"Oh." She thought for a moment. "So, is it like a smile but the more active they are, it's a larger one? Happier?"
He nodded.
Elly thought of how often she saw the dark-haired merman wiggle his ears and couldn't help it - she smiled.
After Yagi's visit the mers left for a brief while to discuss things - as Aizawa put it -- "so Kayama won't wreck this place trying to save us".
It was a good thing, too, because the mako-tailed merwoman had brought reinforcements. Yagi and Aizawa swam out a ways to sea to meet up with her.
She seemed cheerful. "I brought Hizashi."
Aizawa groaned. "We don't need Hizashi!"
"Oh," the newcomer scoffed. "Nice." He was blond like Yagi, but with a beautiful red and white striped shrimp tail and red eyes to match. One arm was similar to a human, the other bore a huge snapping pincher from the elbow down. "I'll crack that place wide open the minute you give the okay -"
"Zashi!"
"Awww. No cracking?"
Aizawa glared at him. "Keep your claw out of this. I came out to let everyone know I'm okay. And look, I might not trust all the humans either, but I do Ches."
"Oh?" Hizashi's ear fins perked. "Is that the name of your mate?"
"Kayama, what did you <i>tell</i> him?"
"Okay, okay!" She threw up her hands in disgust. "<i>You</i> won't admit it, but you're definitely interested. Did you get her a Gift in return?"
"I'm not discussing this further." Aizawa spun around so fast he created a wave of bubbles. "I need to get back. We swam so far out it's going to take me awhile."
"Sorry," Hizashi chirped, sounding anything but. "We kinda wanted to check to see if you were okay. You made it out, though, so you must be doing better!"
Aizawa muttered a curse and kept going. Although he'd professed to be much better, he was still sore, and he took his time working out any kinks in his tail on the long way back to the aquarium. When he got back he slipped through the stream and eagerly opened the gate. He couldn't wait to be alone with Elly - it was nice to talk freely, but having Yagi around was somewhat embarrassing.
<i>What happened here</i>?
He froze, stunned at the transformation he saw, and when he recovered enough he flicked his tongue out to taste the difference.
It was magnificent.
His favorite, tasty fish swam around fake coral reefs along the sides of the pool. The bottom was soft now, with real plants that rose up from the sand. Shells lay scattered about in some areas and there were schools of small bait fish darting about to encourage the others to feed. The sounds were a happy cacophony, so unlike what it used to be that he shook his head, shocked.
Elly was submerged in the corner of the pool releasing the last of the fish. She turned around when she heard the gate and waved at him happily.
"You did this for me?"
She scrunched her nose up underneath the mask she wore, pointing at her ears and then up. He followed her to the surface.
"Boy, your language is really different sounding under the water," she gasped.
He licked his lips and nodded, speechless. Having her in the water with him was a deciding experience for him. More than anything he wanted to touch her, stroke her hair and see how soft her skin really felt under his hands. Her scent was intoxicating, and his teeth were itching for a taste.
Fortunately she stepped out of the pool before he could get too excited, with her mask and the container that had held the fish in one hand.
"For me?" He repeated his question from before in a much simpler fashion, still stunned.
"I know, it's a little too much, isn't it? I kind of went overboard but I couldn't help myself -"
"Ches."
She looked up to find him grinning at her. He placed a hand near her and said, "Good," in as warm a tone that he could manage.
<i>Except now there's</i> two <i>special things you've given me, and I've got nothing for you in return.</i>
Kayama was right.
He had to find her a Gift.
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