Elly left and was gone for hours after they shared brunch. Hizashi grew anxious awaiting her return, especially because several of the other people that had been there when he woke the first time showed up. Kan was not among them, and though he was thankful - he didn't trust him at all -- he found that didn't really care for anyone else, either. They definitely looked at him like a curiosity and not a person. There were far less questions than when Elly was with him and more of an insistence, as if they couldn't be bothered to treat him as an equal. One even offended him by trying to measure his tail without asking!
When the man didn't listen to his repeated objections Hizashi startled him by casually lifting his giant pincer out of the water. The message was suddenly very clear and he was left alone after that.
He was fed that night by someone he didn't see, a few fish tossed into the pool while he was taking a nap. Disgruntled, he didn't eat the offering and went back to sleep in the hopes that when he woke she would be there.
When she showed up the next morning he was more than relieved. Feeling like a fool, he wished her good morning and could barely control his ear fins wiggling with happiness.
Elly was just as happy to see him. She'd spent an awkward evening worrying and a sleepless night, so much that her eyes had dark smudges underneath. She'd really missed him, and with that thought came more that caused her mind to spin. She forced herself to focus but when he flung himself forward to greet her she watched, entranced, as water ran down his sculpted chest, past glittery scales and hardened flesh...
Realizing she was staring she tore her gaze away and busied herself with getting breakfast set up. There was fruit salad and grilled fish instead of the raw ones out of the bucket for him. She frowned when she sat and noticed the fish laying uneaten above ground.
"Was there something wrong with the fish last night?" She paused to point at them. "Weren't they fresh? I told them fresh."
He sighed in the middle of biting off the head of the strange, crispy fish. Mers didn't cook, so the texture and flavor was startlingly different. He chewed relectively for a moment and decided he liked it. "No. I was worried because you didn't come back."
"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I spent so much time with the sharks that I was exhausted, and I barely had time to catch the bus." She thought of how lonely he must have been and stared disconsolately at a grape before stabbing it with her fork. She thought, too, of how she barely got any sleep for thinking about him. "I should've just slept here again but I had to get my mail and stuff."
"You should go back to your home at night," he said slowly. "What's the use of having one if you don't use it? I'm not a pup anymore, I can look after myself. I'll admit, though..." He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I did miss you."
"I missed you, too."
"Oh, yeah?" He flashed her a practised smile and she laughed softly.
"I see you're trying out our customs."
"Well, sure. Mers don't show teeth to each other often, but you guys do."
"How do you smile, then?" Hizashi blushed, his ear flaps slowly moving up and down. She got the hint and grinned widely. "I've seen you doing that and wondered why! So do you only use your teeth as a sign of aggression?"
"Yeah, and also, uh." He grinned abashedly at her, the gesture coming more naturally as a flirt. His teeth were almost the same as a human's, but his canines were pointed just enough for her to notice. "For impressing a potential partner."
"I guess it works, because your smile makes you even more handsome." Elly said this without thinking and then froze, horrified at her boldness. While it was true they'd been skirting around the edges of something, this seemed too casual too fast.
Lucky for her, however, Hizashi had already been smitten for some time. His smile grew broader and she noticed his ears wiggling faster as well.
It was still embarrassing, so she awkwardly picked up her phone and found her streaming music service. "Hey! Uh, do you like music?"
His face lit up more at the sounds of 90's pop filling the room. "I <i>love</i> this song, yo!"
They spent the next hour listening to music before she had to go to work checking on the tanks. Thinking about the injured sealife she was attending to brought Hizashi up sharply when he realized there was no way his friends would know if he was all right. He decided he needed to let them know how he was doing.
He sank down into the water, watching her until the door closed. When she was gone he went to the gate, unhooked it and slipped out. The connecting area was little more than a stream, but big enough to allow him to swim down into the main body of water. He sighed and looked around, gathering himself for a moment.
"Aizawa." He didn't know if his friend would be in the area, but it wouldn't hurt to see. He used more force, clicking harder. "<i>Aizawa</i>."
He rushed at him out of the shadows of a nearby dock, eyes flashing red with worry. "Quick, over here!"
"Hey." He swam casually over but tugged away when he grabbed his arm. "Calm down, I wasn't stolen. I was injured and they let me recover in safety." He showed him the nicely healing puncture on his tail.
"How did you escape?"
"I didn't -"
"Then it must be a trap to you to lead them to more of us!" He hissed lowly with alarm. "We have to <i>move</i>."
"No, you don't get it, they're okay. Well... she is, at least."
"What?" Aizawa stared at him flatly. "Are you in your right mind, Hizashi?"
"I swear it. She helped me, and isn't keeping me hostage at all. See how easy I got out? No one followed, either. You can relax, it's not a trap or anything."
He shot him an even flatter look. "Really."
"Really!"
"Why are you still here?"
Hizashi shrugged. "I'm not fully healed, and it's way easier to rest in there with no predators or other mers around."
As if on cue, a shark of indeterminate species swam by and they respectfully moved aside to give it room. "How long are you gonna stay, then? You two aren't compatible. I know you've got a crush on this walker for some bizarre reason, but it can't logically work."
Hizashi's face fell. "You don't know that."
"How are you going to mate? You're a shrimp and have very specific parts that don't align with mammals."
"Mating isn't <i>everything</i>."
This time Aizawa raised his eyebrows. "Do you want to be celibate for life?"
"I don't hafta - wait, no way, nuh uh, I'm not talking about this with you. Full stop, bro."
"I'm not your -"
"I'm going back."
"You're really going to do this?"
"Yeah." Hizashi nodded, folding his arm across his claw. "I need to be with her. I've never felt like this before, yo. I'm serious."
His friend sighed in defeat. "I'll let the others know you weren't taken by force. I can't gaurantee they won't show up to try to rescue you or talk you out of this, though."
"I know. Just try and make sure nobody panics <i>too</i> much."
"No promises," he grunted sourly.
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