Love snaps, 2

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

Hizashi 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 aggressive 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, though it felt very unnatural to sleep out in the open instead of his hidden hole deep under the sea. He knew that she was there to provide him comfort and protection, however, and the thought both eased his mind a little and excited him.

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 bright blue fabric in both arms, rolling it up to shove under a desk for the day.

"Good morning!"

She jumped, then laughed out loud. "Oh my god. I forgot you spoke our language for a second there. I'm awful in the morning before my coffee... aaaand there I go, rambling already. Good morning."

"What's coffee?" Hizashi's antennae twitched with interest. He'd always wanted to learn more about the human world, and he had the perfect opportunity here.

"It's a hot drink that helps wake us humans up."

"Oh." He thought about this for a moment. "Like how we eat clams and mussels and stuff for breakfast."

She raised her eyebrows. "You do?"

"Uh huh. It kind of ...perks us up, yanno?"

"I imagine it's the taurine levels in that type of seafood," she murmured to herself. "Hmm. Interesting."

"I could definitely do with a hit this morning," he grumbled with a frown. "I'm stiff and I feel like I huffed some puffers. Bleah."

Elly ignored his comment about the puffer fish for now, more concerned with his injuries. "Can you swim down there and back again? I'd like to see how your motor skills are coming around."

"Sure." He dove all the way to the bottom and sped across to the far end, tilting more than he'd like but otherwise able to move.

The door to the far side opened at that moment, and the big man from the other day walked in. He had a bucket 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 give our bottom feeders in the tanks? Algae wafers?"

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

"Yes, but I thought we'd try a few different things. His type is carnivorous, Kan. Besides, it seems demeaning to feed him that. It looks like slop."

Kan set the bucket down none too gently near the pool. "Bullshit. I doubt he cares." He tipped it over and a slurry of algae wafers, half dissolved, splashed into the water.

Hizashi had to squint to see, but he heard most of this from underwater as his natural movement was backwards. His mouth thinned when he saw her grow upset, and he growled when Kan made the threatening gesture. He decided he did <i>not</i> like this human and he felt protective of his protector. In his haste to get back to her he did a stupid thing and pushed himself, curling his tail faster in harder crunches. He was shaking and he barely avoided the mess of algae in the water when he arrived.

"Hizashi, you've gone white!" She gasped in horror and grabbed a bag nearby, jumping into the water to steady him.

"Yeah," he grunted. "My bad, I wanted to uh. I mean, I just pushed myself too much. The wound's not healed yet and ohhhhh. Shells." He curled up tight, panting. "M'fine..."

"Your pereio and pleopods say otherwise, buddy." Elly ran a hand over his carapace, encouraging him to unfurl. He did, but with a small exclaimation of pain that caused all his appendages to twitch even harder. "You broke it open," she said worriedly. "It's okay, I can seal it shut again. Maybe another small dose of antibiotics, looks red but not too bad..." She kept a steady stream of talk as she worked, and he relaxed under her gentle ministrations. Sealant was applied and she gave him another shot to combat infection. She hesitated on giving him a painkiller, however.

"You need to eat with that, but..." She sighed as she stared at the swirling waters of the pool. "I'm sorry about the algae tabs. Someone checks in here in a little while and we can send him out for food. Hang in there and if it gets too bad tell me."

He nodded and closed his eyes.

It was thankfully only a few minutes 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, Hizashi thought.

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

Elly responded in a much more genial tone, confirming Hizashi'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 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!"

Hizashi was laying lazily on his side 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."
Hizashi had never seen so much human 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 odd smell of the inside, which was strangely squishy, like a sea sponge. He opened his mouth and took a bite.

His ear flaps flipped up right away as the salty meat and moist substance hit his tongue. He quickly finished the rest in two more bites and snapped his claw excitedly on the surface of the water. In doing so, he fired a larger bullet than he intended and it struck the far side of the pool with a resounding <i>splash</i>, spraying water everywhere.

"Oops."

"Wow," she whispered in awe. "You really have the capabilities of a pistol shrimp."

"Uh huh." He cleared his throat. "I don't, err, go off like that a lot. Really. It's just that these things are <i>awesome</i> and I'm so hungry."

"Here." She offered him another sandwich and he wiggled his ear flaps happily as he ate it. "Stay still please - I'm giving you that painkiller now."

"Uh huh." He watched as the shot went in. "I've seen those things in the water and on the beach sometimes but never knew what they did."

"Oh." Her face fell. "I'm so sorry. They should never, ever end up dumped like that. I get so angry when humans pollute, especially our precious oceans."

"We don't mind some of it! In fact, that's kinda how I learned your language. I found a some magazines and books on the beach when I was young." He paused, remembering. "I'm one of the only mers that can walk a little on land, so I was always the one to go looking for human stuff after dark."

"How'd you avoid being seen?"

"I picked up better speech patterns listening in at the beach. It was mostly younger ones like me, so they weren't too observant. I hid in some rocks or buried myself part way in the sand. Besides, no one believes anybody if we're seen once in awhile."

"I think I figured something out." Elly grinned. "Let me guess; they were rock and teen magazines."

"Whoa! How'd you know?"

"You have a certain way of talking." This time she blushed as she rushed on, "it's not bad! I think it's kind of cute."

His ear flaps moved so fast he put up his hand to brush his hair over them. Untied, the blond tresses fell down his back and fanned out in the water around him. She noticed his hazel eyes had concentric circles as pupils, mesmerizing and, she thought, hauntingly beautiful. They stared at each other, getting closer until one of his antennae touched her cheek, tickling it.

She coughed and sat up quickly. "Oh! I almost forgot. Are you all right with being alone for awhile? I've got to check on a shark we just got in."

"I'm cool." He sighed, disappointed but understanding. She cared for a lot of sea life and he liked that about her.

"You can use my personal tablet if you want - it's like a book but you touch the pages to get where you need to go." She showed him how to use it and was amazed at how fast he picked it up.

Hizashi sighed again as he watched her rush out the door into the back workings of the aquarium. He set the tablet aside and instead of reading anything replayed the memory of her telling him the way he spoke was <i>cute</i>.