Author's Note: As some background for the story, Seto's been finagled by his ecoscientist brother into helping gather stranded and sick animals after an oil spill on the coast. He finds more than he bargained for.
Also. I stole a line from the movie "Ever After." SHUT UP IT'S A BEAUTIFUL MOVIE.
Oil Spill
Seto sighed quietly as he set another oil-coated gull into another cage and watched as other people did the exact same thing. He'd never realized just how…
pathetic… these creatures could be after being so tragically caught in one of humanity's problems. They couldn't fly, they couldn't swim, they couldn't clean themselves or eat anything. It was sad; he felt so sick to his stomach seeing these poor helpless creatures suffering because of human error.
They were mostly finished, though; any animals found after today would have to be brought in separately. They could only do so much to fix what had happened.
Sighing again, the brunet turned and began toward the jetty, even though it had been technically cleared; people had found all of the animals living there and captured them. But, he felt the need to circle around the end of the jetty just to check and make sure; the tide was out, after all, and he had the chance.
It had been checked thoroughly, though; he couldn't find any more sea creatures suffering from slicked-down feathers or gummed-up gills. Well, he'd just check that large patch of seaweed, just in case, because sometimes birds liked to hide there for safety—
Seto felt the breath catch in his throat when he saw the hand black with oil, then hurriedly began clawing the slick, black-stained leaves away; what sort of moron would just go and swim in the ocean when it was like this? He was relieved when the hand moved—it formed a fist, then relaxed—so the person was still alive. Tearing the blackened weed from the person's head, he let out a quiet gasp as he found hazy brown eyes staring back at him out of a smooth, otherwise pale face.
The boy's lips moved weakly, but he quickly shushed him in favor of tearing the rest of the seaweed off of him. Once at his waist, though, the blond grabbed his wrists in a surprisingly tight grip. "No!"
Seto blinked at him in confusion. "…W-why? You need help—"
"Please don't take me to the lab. I can't go to the lab—they'll do
things to me there!" the boy whispered, tears forming in his eyes. "I'll die in there and I'll never get to see my family again!"
"What are you talking about?" the brunet asked in frustration as he began yanking at the plant again. "I'm not taking you anywhere but the hospi—tal…" He trailed off as he saw the pale skin melding into dark scales. "…Oh God,
no." Tearing the rest of the plant away, he could only gape as he saw the long, black, fishlike tail extending from the blond's hips downward.
The boy—obviously a mer-person, now—cringed and reached down to pull the leaves back over his tail. "P-please—don't tell anyone you saw me, a-and I'll figure it out myself—"
"You're hurt," Seto pointed out after a moment, gently taking the blond's arm and brushing his fingers over the scratches he found there. There were other patches of skin scratched open and sores exposed to the air.
"I-I couldn't see, and I ran into some barnacle-covered rocks—I-I just heard some of the fish screaming, and I had to come check it out—
Ah!" The mer-boy turned his head away sharply and covered his mouth to try and muffle his cries of pain as the brunet tried to brush the sand out of his wounds. "That hurts!"
"Of
course it hurts; you're wounded, you moron. They're going to get infected." Seto frowned and brushed his fingers over the smooth scales, then sighed quietly. "…I'll go get my truck. Wait here, and I'll take you somewhere I can get you clean."
The blond sobbed and grabbed at him desperately. "Don't take me to a lab! They do terrible things to mers there! I-I don't want to be probed or electrocuted—"
"I'm not taking you to a lab," the human assured. "I'm taking you to my home. The hot tub will have to do; you'd never fit in the tub, and I couldn't hope to get you clean in the pool. Besides, I have no idea what the chlorine would do to your body."
"…Promise you won't take me to a lab?" the blond whispered, frowning. When the older boy nodded, he whimpered and allowed himself to be covered by the seaweed again, hiding him from any prying eyes and keeping him from drying out in the harsh sunlight.
.-.-.-.-.-.
"Oh—that stings—" Joey trembled and clung tighter to the brunet, biting his bottom lip as he was dipped further into the cool water of the pool. "Do we really need to do this, Seto?"
"It's been two weeks since you've been in anything bigger than my hot tub. Yes, I want you to exercise a little before I take you back to the ocean," Seto stated firmly. "I've even changed it to salt water instead of chlorine."
The blond looked up at him pleadingly. "Please, Seto, I know I'm alright—"
"Then you'll be fine if I drop you."
The mer could only scream and flail as he was flung into the water, slapping into it in an almost painful manner. Once he realized he was underwater, however, he felt his body shift into its more aquatic form; webbing formed between his fingers as his ears grew into pointed fins, and he felt his lungs squishing as he became accustomed to breathing underwater again.
He swam a few quick laps—just enough to be breathing a little harder than normal—then surfaced again near where Seto had thrown him in and frowned at him. "That wasn't nice."
"I don't see you complaining," Seto replied, crossing his arms.
"…Well, that's true." Joey tilted his head a little, then smiled shyly. "Will you swim with me a little while, Seto?"
The brunet frowned; swimming with a mermaid—er, a mer, actually—was a once in a lifetime opportunity that he knew he'd regret turning down; however, he was getting plenty of pleasure just watching the clean, shiny black scales and pale skin zip back and forth through the water. "I'm enjoying just watching you."
"…Oh." The blond sighed and brought a hand up to hesitantly bite his nail.
Seto kicked off his sandals and sat at the edge of the pool, dangling his feet into the water. "May I see your hands?"
"Huh? Um, okay," Joey answered quietly, frowning in confusion, but offered him his hands nonetheless. He tilted his head as the older boy examined his hands only to giggle quietly when he lightly pinched and rubbed the webbing between his fingers. "That tickles!"
"Really?" The human reached out to gently fondle his hard, finlike ears gently. "Does this tickle?"
"Nyee!" The blond squirmed and giggled helplessly. "Yes! Let me go!"
Seto smirked playfully and caught his shoulders. "What if I don't want to?"
"Ah—Let go—" He squealed and jerked frantically to escape, accidentally dragging the brunet into the water as well. "Sorry, I—Oh!" Joey blushed as he was pulled up against the brunet's body and looked up at him in surprise. "…S-Seto?"
"…I think I've grown to care about you, taking care of you these past weeks," Seto stated quietly, then leaned his face into the blond's neck and sighed. "I'm taking you back tomorrow. If I didn't, I… I don't think I'd be able to let you go."
Joey looked up at him in confusion. He'd noticed that no one had come to visit the human while he'd been there; the most interaction he got was a few phone calls from his brother. He'd spent most of the past two weeks with him, actually, just talking or even just looking at him. He'd figured it had been a human thing, but… maybe it had been loneliness, the need to reach out to another person?
"…You know that keeping me would never work, don't you?" he asked softly, frowning. "Someone would find me and take me away. And this pool… it would never take the place of my home. There are no fish, no plants, it's not wide open… I could never live here with you."
"Hmm." Seto held him tighter. "'A bird may love a fish, signore, but where would they live?'"
Joey looked up at him again in confusion. "What?"
The brunet snorted bitterly and shook his head. "Never mind. I'll take you home tomorrow, Joey; I promise."
"…Alright," the mer replied, brows furrowing together. "…Seto, I don't understand—You're not a bird, and I'm not really a fish—"
"Shh." Seto pressed a finger to the blond's lips and couldn't help a sad smile. "I'm not asking you to understand. I'm only asking you to listen."
Joey sighed and laid his head on the brunet's chest. "I don't understand humans. You speak in riddles and try your best to confuse everyone—"
"I'm only trying to confuse you. And succeeding, actually."
"Ugh! Shut up!"
.-.-.-.-.-.
Seto grumbled as he heard his doorbell ring and debated whether he truly wanted to get up. It had been six months since he'd taken the mer back to the sea (a cleaner part, not the still oil-contaminated one), and he was once again consumed with the thoughts of how lonely aloneness truly was. Perhaps he should get a cat, or something. Wait, cats were mostly independent and really only depended on their owners for food every once in a while. Well, screw that thought.
He scowled when he heard pounding on the door. He most definitely didn't want to get up now. However, he realized that the person didn't want to give up, so he forced himself to get to his feet and trudged to the door. He glanced to make sure he had some mace near the door just in case it was a rabid fan (he
was one of the most eligible bachelors, after all) or a particularly insistent salesman, then slowly opened the door.
When he found some familiar brown eyes fringed by thick bangs, he blinked. When he noticed the pale skin hidden beneath a thick sweater and dark jeans, he blinked again. "…What the hell?"
"I—The Great Turtle told me some things, and I—I practiced—" Joey blushed and lifted a hand to his mouth nervously. "…May I come in?"
"…Since I'm hallucinating, I can only say yes," Seto replied, then moved to allow him inside. "It would, after all, be rude to leave my hallucination out in the cold."
"But, I'm real!" The blond looked up at him in confusion, clearly intending to ask about what he meant, then shook his head and sighed. "Please, let me explain? I know I just swam away without waiting for us to say our goodbyes, but please, I had a reason!"
"What do you think about cats?" the brunet asked, scowling at him as he crossed his arms. When he saw the mer-turned-human shudder in horror, he smirked; he
had been hurt when the blond had swum away immediately after he'd helped him into the water, and he was happy to say that hurting and scaring the blond made the hurt a little better.
"I-I-!" Joey bit his bottom lip, then ducked his head. "…I-I went to talk to the Great Turtle—the most ancient one in the seas—a-and he told me… He told me the story of how mers came to be—the one where a human fell in love with a fish and turned himself into one to join the fish in the sea.
"A-and he told me another story—about how then a fish fell in love with a fowl, and how she forced herself into a form that she could take on land, and so I practiced—I practiced all these months just to be able to have legs! I-I can still turn into a mer, but I've got legs now! So—so I can stay here with you, and you won't be lonely anymore, and… and… you don't want me anymore, do you?" he asked quietly, frowning, when the older boy didn't respond. When he still received no answer, he let out a shaky sigh. "…I-I knew there would be a chance you wouldn't want me anymore, b-but I had to try."
He gasped quietly as he was suddenly tugged into the brunet's arms, blushing when he felt the older boy nuzzling against his neck. He wasn't given the chance to be truly embarrassed, however, because then his face was being tilted upward and he quite suddenly found himself being kissed. And being kissed
well. Seto didn't ask for permission, because frankly he didn't care whether Joey wanted it or not. All he needed to continue was the hesitant tilt of the blond's head so that his mouth was closer, and he decided that was all he needed to shove the blond up against the door and thrust his tongue into his mouth. Unfortunately, the kiss had to be cut shorter than he would have liked; it was hard to kiss someone when they started giggling like a moron.
Frustrated, the brunet leaned back to glare at him. "What's so funny?"
"Your tongue. It felt like an anchovy had gotten stuck in my mouth!" Joey giggled nervously and looked away from him. "I've never been kissed like that before. It was slimy and kinda weird. Like an anchovy."
Seto blinked slowly, then tilted his head. "An anchovy?"
The blond blushed again. "…You know, the little fishies…"
He'd missed the point entirely. "When have you
ever had a live anchovy in your mouth?"
"…I've had a lot of live anchovies in my mouth. The point of eatin' anchovies is t' just swim through a school and voila! Mouthful of fish. They're squirmy until you crunch 'em." Joey frowned in concern as the older boy shuddered and moved away from him. "Seto? Seto, what's wrong?"
"Let's just… go buy you a toothbrush… and… Urgh…" Seto covered his mouth and pressed his other hand against the wall to steady himself. "Just… wait here a minute!"
The blond watched him dart into another room and slam the door in confusion. "Seto? Are you ok—" He flinched as he heard the other boy wretch and took a step back. "…Do ya need somethin'? Like, some seaweed, or—"
"JUST STOP TALKING, THANKS. UGH-!"
.-.-.-.-.-.
"…I guess I hafta stop talkin' about stuff I did in the ocean, huh?" Joey asked quietly, staring at his toothbrush as he tried to mask the sadness in his voice. Riding in the truck as a human felt much different from riding in the back as a mer. "'specially the games we played."
Seto sighed and glanced at him for a moment before turning his gaze back to the road. "You can talk all you want about things you did in the ocean. Just don't talk about eating live fish or anything like that. That…" He swallowed thickly. "…That was what made me sick. Just the thought of you—Oh God…" He slammed on the breaks.
The blond squealed as the truck was swerved to the side, falling against the door, then turned to give the older boy a reproachful look. When he saw that he'd paled and was staring intently at nothing, he realized he'd nearly gotten sick again. "…You guys don't eat live fish?"
"No, we kill them, gut them, and cook them. Our stomachs can't handle raw meat." The brunet took a few deep breaths before sighing quietly and turning to look at the mer-turned-human. "Can
your stomach handle raw meat, now that you've got legs?"
Joey frowned and brought a hand up to his lips. "I dunno. The Great Turtle said that the transformation should be complete, until I decided t' change back into a mer, but… I don't think I've completely mastered turnin' into a human." He looked up at the brunet in concern. "When ya kissed me, my knees went all wobbly. I think I need to practice changin' forms some more."
Seto blinked at him for a moment, surprised, before his lips twisted into a sweet smile as he pulled the blond into his arms. "No, it's normal for your legs to do that when I kiss you." He leaned down to give him a chaste kiss. "They'll probably do that for a while."
The blond mewed into another kiss before turning his head away, blushing. "…U-uhm… I… I know I shouldn't be askin' this, 'cause the Great Turtle said I should wait until we're sure we love each other—" He squeaked quietly in embarrassment at having said it aloud. "…B-but he said… he said that if we really l-love each other, you can do somethin' with my legs that'll make me so happy that… that all I can do is scream and cry?" He looked up at the older boy bashfully. "Do ya know what he was talkin' about?"
The brunet hummed thoughtfully, then nodded. "Yes, I suppose I do." He leaned down to kiss him again. "But let's just stick to kissing and holding each other for now, okay?" he added, turning back to the steering wheel. "We'll go buy some clothes for you tomorrow; I get paid the first and third week of every month from my trust, so I should have enough to buy you a decent wardrobe."
Joey blinked up at him in confusion, then snuggled up against his side. "Okay. I don't know what any of those things are, but I trust ya."
It was then that Seto realized just how much Joey had given up for him. Joey seemed like a social person, and he realized with a growing sense of loathing that he'd probably have to take Joey out so he
could socialize, maybe even introduce him to Mokuba's
friends (he used the term loosely, except for Yugi and Tristan, who actually seemed to like Mokuba as a person rather than a personal loan office).
Until then, he'd have to teach Joey all the things he had to know about human society. …Perhaps he'd even like to go see the animals that had recovered from the oil spill, because they were being released soon. Others were still a little too sick, but most of them were ready to go. Maybe Joey, a being originally of the sea, could help calm them…
He realized that keeping Joey with him would require a lot of work, but when the blond laid his head on his shoulder and heaved a contented sigh, he suddenly didn't mind.
