Mermay 2021: 7

 Aizawa came to underwater.

He slowly recalled the events leading up to his new convalescence - the fight with the squid, the horrifying meeting with the lampreys in the deep wreckage of the ship. It was hard to remember anything past that, so for now he wrenched himself awake enough to identify more of his surroundings. The undersea chatter was lighter than usual; he recognized the sound of the pool at the aquarium right away. But he wasn't laying on the sand on the bottom, he was suspended in warmth and softness.

He opened his eye - there was a shock, he either damaged it badly or lost one -- and saw that Elly was half in the water with him, holding his upper body in her arms. She wore a wetsuit and her eyes were closed, her chest rising and falling softly as she slept.

His Gift lay shining brightly around her neck.

Aizawa purred, pleased, though he felt a pang when he knew she'd only probably taken it as a token of friendship.

"I told her about our practice of Gifting."

He jerked his head around, causing pain to flare up but ignoring it. Yagi swam up, his sunken features grave as he regarded his friend.

"You told her?"

"Yes." He gestured at the woman, her eyes heavily bruised again from her worry over his injuries. "She chose to wear your offering knowing what it meant."

Aizawa's gills fluttered rapidly. "She ...accepted?"

"Erghh, my <i>everything</i>." Elly groaned.

Yagi motioned above water where she was waking up. "Do you want me to translate again, or should I leave?"

"I think we need to be alone for this." He blew out a stream of bubbles. "Besides, I'm getting the hang of it."

When Elly woke she opened her eyes and looked down into the dark charcoal pupils of the leopard shark merman. He was floating in front of her with his nose just under the water and his dark hair tied back for once. The long, black ponytail trailed out behind him as he waited patiently.

She reached out for him without a second thought. "Please don't get hurt for me again," she pleaded, setting her forehead on his when he rose up to her level. "<i>Please</i>."

"I'm sorry." He somehow knew exactly what she was saying. It was clear from her body language and how tightly she held him, though she was careful not to squeeze too much. "I won't," he promised. "But you deserved the best Gift I could find."

"Damn it, Aizawa..."

He chuckled, his ear flaps wiggling - the left, anyway. The right had been torn and glued back together again, and it hurt too much to move. "Okay, okay."

"You're getting better at English." Most of his speech had been in her language, though he'd reverted to a few of his words.

"Yagi's been teaching me, too."

"Whoa!" Kan was suddenly standing over them. "You two have sure gotten friendly." Elly jumped, startled, but Aizawa glared silently at the big man, his good eye narrowing. He sighed and knelt down. "Look. I know I was aggressive the first few times we met, but see it from my side. If one of us was thrown into your circle, what would you guys do?"

Aizawa thought about it for a moment. "Hnf. I guess at least some of us would act the same."

Kan shrugged as if to say <i>well, there you go</i>. "Your English took a leap, by the way. It's better when we can all understand each other."

After he left, Elly demanded to check Aizawa's injuries before anything else. He bore her gentle ministrations patiently as ever, and she was soon finished.

"Seriously, though," she commented as she got out of the pool, "you're <i>really</i> better at English. Suspiciously so. It takes people up to six months to get fluent and this is only a few weeks." She rummaged around in her bag and got out new clothing, setting the pile aside.

"Maybe our kind has speech adaptability. Come to think of it, we learn how other species talk on the go as we meet them. Sea creatures are limited in that regard. I never thought about anything higher up."

"I got enough of that to know you just said you don't know." She laughed. "We can always look into it later."

"I didn't ask, but -" He pointed at his bandaged eye.

Elly's lips thinned. "It's probably going to be okay. I had to do reconstructive surgery, and I've never done that on a person before."

He uttered a soft sound of regret. "I frightened you."

"I said it before, but yes, damn it! You came in here looking like you... wait. Yagi said you actually fought a kraken?!"

"Big squid?"

Nod.

"Could go up against a whale?"

Nod, nod.

"Yes."

"See, <i>that's</i> scary as hell!" Her legs gave out and she collapsed in her chair at the desk. "My god, you could have died. I don't - I couldn't... how could I go on after losing you? You're more special to me than anyone I've ever known!"

Aizawa choked on a lungful of air. His ear flaps settled all the way down and he instinctively began to purr in an attempt to calm her down. "I'll be more careful."

"Okay. That's all I can ask." Elly grabbed her clothing and headed towards the door. "I'm going back home to change and puck up dinner."

"Can I make a request this time?"

"Sure." She faced him, curiousity in her purple eyes. "What would you like?"

"A friend of mine is always talking about peet? Peet zah? I think?"

"Pizza! Your friend has good taste." She grinned. "We'll get a couple with different toppings."

Aizawa would have asked what "toppings" were, but she was already out the door. Oh, well. He would find out.

"Hey." There was a knock at the gate, and he wandered over to look. The shrimp mer was pushing his face up close, grinning maniacally with his mustache tendrils trembling with mirth.

"Hizashi, why are you here?"

"Ha, your Intended chewed you out." Hizashi snickered, snapping his claw in tiny clicks to accompany his laughter.

"Intended," Aizawa sighed. He opened the gate and let him in.

"You look like chewed up meat, buddy. Gonna be awhile before you can consummate your partnership. Yer not mates yet!" Hizashi whistled, looking around. "Nice digs, yo."

"I haven't heard that term in ages."

"We haven't used it in awhile." Hizashi thrust a large tentacle out at his friend. "Kayama got you this. You'd better eat if you're gonna heal fast."

"It might not be the best time for tentacles," he said wryly. "Besides, Ches is getting food."

"I heard." Hizashi curled his tail, the smaller legs along it wiggling with excitement. "Pizza! Can I stay? I promise I'll be good!"

"I suppose... especially since you're the one that won't shut up babbling about it."

"Woohoo!" He tossed the tentacle to the larger feeder fish and they attacked it ravenously.

Elly cracked the door open later without paying much attention. She'd showered and changed into a tank top and jeans with sandals and was being very careful with the stack of large, thin boxes in her arms as she walked over.

"Hey, Aizawa, I picked some up but I don't know if you like anchovies..? Is that racist or something?" She stopped short as Hizashi flashed her a huge grin. "Oh! You brought a friend over again!"

"Hi hi!" He waved wildly. "I'm Hizashi! Aizawa's best friend - ouch! Quit that!" He snapped as the other man elbowed him.

"My name is Elly, but you can call me Ches if you like." She set down the boxes and pulled a small wad of napkins from a pocket. "Here, eat, if you want. There's plenty."

Hizashi gleefully tore into a slice. Aizawa was more cautious, but his eye lit up when he bit into the one with anchovies.

Elly munched on pepperoni, her favorite. "You're a... pistol shrimp? Is that right?"

Hizashi nodded, his mouth full of cheesy goodness. "Mnhhm. You know yer fish, don't'cha? I saw you a few times around the reef myself."

"I study all kinds of sea creatures. In this aquarium, I try to introduce my kind to your world so that they respect it."

He swallowed mightily, then tilted his head at her, his spiraled eyes swirling in a mesmerizing way. "But it's still like a prison. Right?"

Elly shook her head. "Not this one! We take in the sick and heal them to release. The larger ones in the tanks are mostly injured creatures that would have trouble in the wild."

"I told you, she's a good person." Aizawa sniffed at the current piece he held in his hand. "What <i>is</i> this? It's - it makes my mouth burn!"

"Oops. That one has hot cherry peppers - sorry! I should've warned you. Here's a drink, quick." She popped the top of a can of soda and handed it to him.

"Is that why you rescued this guy? Twice?"

"Ha! I know what you're getting at, but he can come and go as he pleases here. The gate's easily unlocked and our beach is private." She stroked Aizawa's dark hair away from his face to better see his visible eye. "That better?"

"Yes. Thank you."

Hizashi's ears flapped so fast he got elbowed again.

They spent several hours talking until the shrimp mer decided he had to leave. "I hafta get back to my home before those stupid eels try and move in again," he explained. "This was great, though! It was awesome meeting you!"

"You, too!" Elly waved at him from where she was neatly stacking the empty boxes for recycling tomorrow.

"Yeah, yeah," Aizawa grunted, shoving him out the gate. "Now leave us alone."

"OoooOOOoooh."

"Hizashi!"

His laughter floated into the room in the fragrant breeze off the ocean.

"You need more rest," she told him as he swam back. "Let me get my bag and we'll go to bed a little early."

"Ches?"

"Mmn?" Her bag was spread close to the water and she fluffed it out carefully.

"Nothing. Good night."

"Good night." She stared off into the distance, a blush forming on her cheeks.

"You okay?"

"Oh! Yeah. Yes." She cleared her throat and unzipped the sleeping bag, climbing in quickly. There was no need to tell him that she had gotten an almost uncontrollable urge to kiss him. She didn't even know if mers did that! And besides, he was still badly injured.

"Sleep well." Aizawa watched her for awhile, then sank underwater to curl up for the night.