Chapter Text
You find yourself feeling well rested once you wake up, which is quite a surprise. You’ve had fitful sleep ever since you woke up in your prison. You find yourself swimming in an aimless circle around the perimeter of your prison, waiting for the food to come down, however it doesn’t come. You find yourself upset that the schedule you can barely keep track of, but that has been the one constant for you, has been broken. Swimming to the metal fishnet up top to try and claw at the spot food comes in from.
Your fingers squeeze through the tight metal, scratching with no results causing an angry growl to leave your throat. Holding tight to the metal you raise your tail up to slam it into the covering of your prison, a vain attempt to knock something loose, at least that’s what you hope. Of course that hope drains up after slamming about ten times results in not even the nasty flaky food coming out.
You sink down in the water slightly, bubbles angrily rush from your mouth as you scowl at the spot food drops from. A sudden shout draws your attention to Sun and Moon who have managed to enter without you realizing. Your slamming of the metal fishnet probably stopped you from hearing the gate open. Sun is fidgeting anxiously while Moon looks confused, you give the two a hiss and dive below the water again, you knew yesterday’s meals were too good to be true.
You swim in an agitated circle, despite hearing Sun call presumably for you. You shouldn’t feel betrayed, this was only their third day as your new jailors, but after finally getting a full belly you can’t help the anger that is bubbling up (or the bubbles leaving your mouth in annoyance).
Did you cause the food to stop coming?
You try to think back to yesterday and figure out what behavior they didn’t like. Was it that you stopped responding when you realized you were getting nowhere with Sun? Were they actually angry that you sprayed them with water? Or when you purposefully ate your middle meal slowly to mock Sun? Did they get told something about that you had done before and decide to punish you further? You hadn’t attempted biting at them, for stars sake!
Your anxiety rises as your thoughts spiral, trying to figure out what had caused the land dwellers’ original kindness in offering actually edible food and what had suddenly taken it all away again. You swim in erratic patterns trying to keep reasonably calm but the upset of the whiplash changes keeps you in your dark spiral. You hear something calling out, but you aren’t sure what it is.
You really are a fool for hoping for a change.
A soft song starts playing, a strange quality to the way the notes are formed pulls you out of your thoughts. Fins twitching at the sudden change in the vibrations around you. It reminds you of the soft songs you had heard when you were small before being separated from the others of your kind. You slowly head back towards the surface of the water to understand where it’s coming from.
When you reach the thin layer where water and air meets you pause, watching as Moon moves slightly closer to the metal fishnet separating you from them and Sun. You realize that Moon is holding something in their hands, a box that has something inside moving in a steady pattern. You finally breach the water, swimming closer ending up bumping your chest against the prison wall. You glare at the wall in offense before your eyes snap up hearing Moon chuckle.
It’s the prettiest sound you’ve ever heard.
Wait. What? No. No, the song box is the prettiest sound you’ve ever heard. Yeah. That’s it. The land creatures are just new to you. You haven’t really heard noises of happiness come from any of them before. Or ever. Not since you came here at least.
You focus back in on the box, trying to push all of those thoughts out of your mind. You try and push your fingers through the metal fishnet, once again getting stopped but Moon seems to at least recognize you want the song box closer. You watch the little figure of a land dweller spin in a circle in the box, listening to the repeated song. You start singing along quitely once you have heard the tune a few times, only to get disappointed when the box slowly stops playing the song.
With your attention being on it, you startle badly at the sound of the food server starting up, eyes wide as a growl leaves your throat. Moon speaks to you softly, seeming to try and calm you down until the food lands into the water. You move to go and get your meal but pause, looking back at Moon and the song box, you don’t want the new thing to be taken just yet.
Moon tilts their head before Sunny says something to them making them chuckle before nodding and sitting down, winding the little handle on the side of the box up. Taking it as they aren’t going to go away you dive down quickly and fetch your meal before it can land in the algae covered floor of your prison and swim right back up to where Moon is.
“Well, I think we can say they like the music box.” Kore hums, lazily scratching down some notes on his tablet. He analyzes the way the mer watches the music box, obviously distracted as they eat slowly.
“You did pick out a nice one.” Sunny chuckles lightly as he sketches the mer while they are eating, picking at his bowl of dry cereal. “I’m glad they calmed down, I was worried when we heard the slamming in the main lab…”
“It was a bit unexpected…” Kore nods.
“I haven’t seen any light cycles for simulating darkness, so it’s a little surprising they were trying to get the food… I would have thought that they would avoid it given they hadn’t been eating anything that they were given for so long.” Sunny frowns.
“Yes, I think they may have more awareness of the schedule than we previously expected…” Kore frowns, he really shouldn’t have done the change so abruptly. It never goes well for the researcher if the creature in question if they expect things at specific times, usually it involves a lot more biting. He wishes that they could communicate to the mer about the changes they want to make somehow so they won’t be so stressed out.
“We should probably make this the only change for a little bit then.” Sunny hums, tapping the tablet pen to his chin for a moment. “And go about something more incremental. Despite how much I really want to clean that tank out.” He groans.
Kore hums in agreement, tilting his head at the fanning of the fins at the side of the mers head. They seem to be slightly agitated suddenly. “Sunny… Repeat what you just said.” He watches the mer carefully now.
“That we should make this the only change?” Sunny tilts his head confused.
“No, no, after that.”
“More incremental? That I want to clean the tank?” That does the trick, the mers fins frill out, agitated as they watch Sunny a bit more closely, backing away slightly from Sunny and closer to Moon.
“Interesting… I think they have picked up a word or two… And not for a good reason…” He huffs out a sigh, writing down some notes quickly.
Sun keeps talking about making their prison ‘clean’, one of the few land creature words you’ve gotten to learn that is new to you, and the one which has only led to painful things in your neck the last few times it’s been said. Though usually when someone says ‘clean’ they already have the thing that makes you dreamless sleep in hand. Since they don’t have it, you assume it’s happening later than now but you won’t know when. You finish your food off quickly now, not wanting to be forced to sleep without a full stomach.
Moon says something to Sun while you eat before Sun gasps and shakes their head. Sun’s waving hand gets your attention. You frown, watching with narrowed eyes at your jailor, you already can’t understand each other so asking is useless. Sun waves their hand again to make sure they have your attention before saying ‘no clean’ .
You… Are confused. No clean? Does that mean they aren’t putting you to sleep today? Your face must show you aren’t sure before Sun repeats ‘No clean. ’ Followed by ‘Clean for you. Later.’ Which is also unhelpful because you don’t know when that will be. And you can’t ask when because they don’t understand you.
Moon rolls their eyes and taps Sun, before their hands move in a strange pattern. Sun perks up and starts copying Moon in a few gestures while using others. It is strange… Eventually both stop speaking in favor of using just their hands which they somehow understand each other easily.
Using your hands to speak… That would make things far easier if you could do it too. You know how to read some land dweller language… Many, many years ago there was a pair of small land dwellers that you had accidentally revealed yourself to. The two had taken the time to teach you some basics of reading and what they were, small things like plants, ocean life and so on. Trying to speak the words that the land dwellers had taught you had been a miserable failure then, unable to produce a majority of the sounds they had made. It had only been a short number of days before you had to leave the shoreline they had been visiting you at.
You haven’t thought about that pair in a long time… No, don’t reminisce when your jailors are next to you.
You watch Sun and Moon for a while longer before finding yourself getting bored and swimming away from them to dive down in your tank. No use trying to push for anything at this time, you’ll just have to wait and see what they want of you, and how soon they’ll try and make you dreamless sleep…
It’s been thirteen visits and they still haven’t come to ‘clean’. You’re starting to get suspicious of Sun and Moon trying to relax you into a calm state before suddenly coming to do the ‘clean’. At least your food has been on a schedule again. Not the old one you were used to, but a better one that has three meals. The middle meal is lighter and always shared with Sun and Moon sitting outside the clear wall of the prison.
The only change, which is as frustrating as a shark trying to steal your meal, is that Sun and Moon aren’t speaking much anymore. Or at least not speaking in a way you understand clearly. They are talking with their hands more often.
They both seem to realize it upsets you to not be able to hear tone but keep doing it anyway. If they are at the top of the tank and go too long without using their voices you can send a wave of water up at them, otherwise you smack the clear wall a few times to make them speak. Usually that just leads to Sun getting panicky about you hurting yourself though.
You decide not to swim up to the clear wall as Sun and Moon enter, you’ve been waiting for them there most of the time at the beginning of visits, but you are annoyed so they don’t get to see you. You scrunch yourself into the lower edge under the viewing wall to hide yourself. Your face twists in displeasure as the algae along the bottom of the tank touches you. It’s slimy and gross and you wish there were little cleaner fish with you to take care of it. You’d even take snails with their slow pace eating it up.
You hear the two land dwellers head up to the top of the tank and decide to shut your eyes. It’s not like they would think you had escaped, something you haven’t been able to accomplish since the metal fishnet had been put on the top of the tank. You really wish you could laze half out of the water like you could when you first woke up here. It was nice being able to at least breach more of you than just your face out of the water.
The sound of the meal dispenser goes off making your fins twitch. You don’t bother to rush to meet your meal, waiting for it to sink down to you before you move ever so slightly to get it before it touches the bottom. Once in hand you scrunch back up in your spot and eat. You faintly hear the confused tone Sun speaks with to Moon who sounds just as confused. They eventually pull out the song box and start it up, trying to lure you to the surface.
Damn it, why did you have to show that you liked it? Now they are using it against you. You feel your tail twitch to move upward to go and listen to it but will yourself to stay down. Further confusion continues as you finish off your breakfast and try to find a decently comfortable position that the algae doesn’t touch too much of you in.
That endeavor turns out is not possible.
Every which way you turn the algae touches you. It’s gross and uncomfortable and makes your scales crawl every time you feel it. Nothing works, no amount of ignoring it works. It’s awful, horrible, disgusting, vile, worse than the food they had been giving you- No wait that was worse, that was indigestible garbage.
Your fins perk, feeling the new body in the water. Snapping your head upwards you are shocked to see one of the land dwellers is in the water and swimming down to you.
“Why wouldn’t they be up here, they’ve come up every time we’ve come up here, what changed?” Sunny pouts as he watches the water, waiting for the mer to swim up.
“I don’t know… They seemed to be doing well acclimating to our presence at meals. Partaking with us and everything. They didn’t even react to the music box…” Kore frowns heavily, scratching away at his tablet.
“Do you think they are sick?” Sunny asks, turning to his partner as he rubs at his bracelet. “O-or maybe something happened while we were at the dorms?”
“Sunny, catastrophizing won’t do any good.” Kore huffs, putting a hand on Sunny’s to stop him from rubbing his skin raw.
“B-but they aren’t coming up.” Sunny glances at the water in worry. Vaguely they can see the dark shape way down at the bottom, but can’t clearly make out what is happening.
“Maybe they want to be alone?” Kore offers as an explanation, hoping to keep Sunny from making a rash decision.
“Kore, they have consistently tried to interact with us, I don’t think they really want to be alone.” Sunny says dryly. “Hmm…”
“No, Sunny.” Kore grumbles, knowing the look in his partner’s eyes means bad news.
“I haven’t even said anything yet!” Sunny crosses his arms.
“You don’t have to. I know that look. It’s dangerous. You read all the reports like I did.” Kore scowls. “I am not letting you in that tank.”
“But the tank is awful, they can’t be comfortable, and what if they are sick? We have to get them treated as soon as we can!” Sunny waves his hands around in annoyance that Kore is attempting to stop him. The mer needs help, and they can provide it. And it had been eating at him since they started that the tank is filthy. His mind is already made up anyway, nothing Kore says is going to change it.
He’s going into the tank.
“Sunny. This is too soon. We have to make sure the Mer understands we aren’t a threat. We haven’t even been here a month!” Kore follows him to the station that holds all the cleaning and diving gear that’s for the tank, residing halfway up the stairs.
“And besides the first meeting we had, they haven’t shown aggression. The longer we wait to clean the tank, the higher the chance they get sick. They’ve gotten a touch more color back but they haven’t recovered.” Sunny tells Kore as he starts shucking off his clothes to pull on the wetsuit. Red and yellow striped swim trunks had already been on under his slacks.
“I can’t believe you were already wearing swim trunks. You were planning on doing this today.” Kore scowls at him. “You’re being an idiot.”
“That’s not very nice to say, Kore.” Sunny huffs, strapping on some other pieces of equipment. He grabs a set of flippers and a pile of cloths and other gear to wipe up the algae.
“I am not trying to be nice!” Kore hisses, following Sunny up the rest of the staircase. “I am trying to make sure that you are not injured or anything worse!”
“I’m going to be fine.” Sunny stops at the top of the tank and starts pulling the rest of his gear on. “They aren’t going to hurt me.”
“You don’t know that!”
“And you don’t know that they will!” Sunny spits back. “It’s going to be fine, Kore. You’ll see.” Sunny punches in the code that opens up the hatch for someone to enter the tank, the metal mesh moving surprisingly soundlessly.
“Sunny, stop. Please. I can’t let you do this.” Kore grabs his shoulder trying to make Sunny look him in the eyes.
“Have a little faith in me.” Sunny says softly before putting the regulator in his mouth and stepping into the water.
You move before you really realize what you are doing, quickly swimming upward to meet the land dweller. None of them have ever come into the water with you. You’ve always been separated by the metal mesh. Air and water do not mix. You circle them, studying the various tools they have to swim with you.
Sun is the one in the water, their hair framing their head much like the real sun viewed from under the waves. Their bright blue eyes widen in surprise under the clear face holder as you come up to them. Freezing all movement beyond the rise and fall of their chest as they breathe. It seems like they are breathing from the device in their mouth or at least that’s what you assume.
A long moment of stillness passes before Sun’s hand raises and they give a tentative wave. It makes you laugh, seeing Sun so shy.
You swim another quick circle around them before diving below and then back up to them, crowding into Sun’s personal space. There’s only a few inches between you and their face. Being so close up you find they have little brown speckles across their cheeks and nose. Their yellow hair shifts with the movement of the water and when they turn to keep facing you.
You back away as they reach a hand out to you, putting distance between your bodies once again. They just keep it out in front of them, as if waiting for something. You don’t have anything to give them… Tentatively you reach a hand out toward them only to stop and pull back. You shouldn’t get closer, you don’t know what they are planning.
Sun’s shoulders slightly fall as you pull your hand back to your chest. They are quick to perk back up however, swimming slowly over to the clear wall of the tank. You follow slowly behind them, wondering what they are doing. They pull open a bag that they had on their arm, pulling out a big white square and starting in the upper corner of the clear wall they begin wiping. You blink in surprise, watching them meticulously clear the area that they are working on.
You find Moon staring at you and Sun from down below at the bottom of the clear wall. You were wondering where they had gone off to. They make motions with their hands pausing and waiting for Sun’s response. Sun makes some signs back after tucking the square under their arm and motioning back quickly before getting back to wiping away the algae from the glass.
You move in closer to Sun, causing Moon to frantically sign and speak loudly causing Sun to turn and blink at you in surprise. They really shouldn’t be so shocked. It is your prison they are in after all.
You point at the white square, starting to tint green with lingering algae, and then point at the bag on their arm. You assume that they brought more than one of them to take care of the algae. Sun tilts their head and you repeat the motions trying to get them to understand. It takes another moment before it seems to click and Sun reaches into the bag and passes you a square. It sort of feels like sea sponge but also a little like seal fur?
“ Thank you. ” You quietly say before swimming to the opposite side of the clear wall and wiping it free of algae. You don’t bother being as meticulous as Sun as honestly any amount of algae removed is for the better.
When your square is too green to make a change you swim back to Sun, hopeful to get a new one. You’ve gotten at least a quarter of the clear wall already. Sun has barely gotten their length in scale. They blink and scrunch their nose up at how green your once white square is which makes you laugh again, taking the fresh one while Sun puts the used one into a separate bag on their arm.
Moon has of course been watching the whole time, tension in their stance as they stare up at the two of you. You decide to work on a lower zone so that you can clearly see Moon’s face through the wall. They seem a bit surprised and confused by you switching locations. Once you have a large portion of the clear wall cleared you give them a sharp toothed grin. You get a roll of their eyes in return which makes you chuckle and give a twirl before continuing on until you once again have to get a fresh white square from Sun.
It’s about an hour later that your prison has been wiped down. Most of it your doing since you move much faster than Sun in the water. You made sure the floor of your prison was actually clean enough to settle comfortably on, you won’t have to lay in that filth again. Sun had gotten Moon to get a tool and special big bag to get rid of the pile of the flaky food you had pushed into the corner.
You are absolutely ecstatic. You grin and hum happily now that everything is a lot less green. You swim up to Sun who was doing one last pass over some things in your prison making them pause. They tilt their head at you as you swim in close like you had when they first entered the water with you, putting your hand out to them. It takes them a moment but eventually Sun puts their hand in yours. Your thumb delicately traces their skin, before you tilt it and turn it. It amuses you that they don’t have anything between their long fingers.
You aren’t paying enough attention, not realizing when their other hand carefully reaches up and is placed on your cheek. You freeze, eyes snapping up to Sun. The lights above the tank make their hair sparkle in the water, a halo of light around their head as they look down at you with a smile that is nearly hidden by the air giver in their mouth. Sun then points to themself and then up. It must be time for them to leave…
You almost don’t want them to go but you know they can’t stay in the water with you. You wrap your hands around theirs and swim up to the top of the tank, pulling them behind you. Moon had been lying in wait at the top of it for them. Pushing them to the exit you dive back down, scooping up the last of the debris from the tidying of your prison and bring it up to them. Pushing it out of same hatch that Sun had climbed through.
You pause, realizing this is the first time that hatch has been opened since the metal fish net was installed. Moon distracted with the trash as Sun pulls off some of their equipment. You push yourself out of the water, startling the two land dwellers as you drag your torso up onto the metal. The two startle and make noises of surprise and concern but you just flop over with a hum, letting your tail hang in the water as you rest your head on your arms, eyeing the two with half lidded eyes before a wide yawn overtakes you.
“Oh my gosh that’s cute.” Sunny whispers with glee. The two of them had both been startled as all get out when the mer pulled themself out of the water and onto the metal grate covering the tank. But they didn’t do anything beyond flopping down onto the metal and resting on it, tail lazily swaying back and forth below them. “Where’s my tablet? I need to sketch this.” Sunny bounces lightly in place with a quiet giddy giggle.
“Sunny.” Kore sighs, shaking his head as he passes his partner his designated tablet. “I… I do have to say I’m impressed…”
“I know right!?” Sunny barely is holding back a squeal, “You probably missed it since you were climbing the stairs but they swam up to me and put their hand out, like I had when I first got in. And they just quietly looked over my hand and stuff. I even was able to put my hand on their cheek and they understood when I was gesturing I needed to come out-“ He gets cut off by a rumbling noise from the mer, the creature in question squinting at him. “Ah whoops sorry, I take it you want quiet time.” Sunny chuckles softly, bringing his volume back down a little.
“…They were quite quick to join in after watching you start cleaning off the algae. Correctly guessing you had more cloths in the bag with you.” Kore hums, eyes continuing to watch the mer in case they decide to not lay there anymore. “They seemed to recognize you and I were communicating, waiting before drawing your attention away…” Kore lets out a soft sigh before putting his hand on Sunny’s shoulder, “You did scare the fuck out of me.”
“I was a bit surprised too… But uh I’m really glad it all turned out fine. I think they like us.”
“Or at least recognize we have been trying to make things better.” Kore snorts.
They both jump as the mer suddenly sits upright, fins flared with a startled look in their eyes. It isn’t long after that they hear a bang followed by another as the gates are forced open and voices shout from behind the gate. The mer hisses, a heavy scowl on their face.
“Shhh, it’s okay. Kore, can you see who it is?” Sunny whispers fretfully, trying to not panic.
“We can’t leave them unattended.” Kore frowns. “It sounds like they are coming in regardless.
The mer lets out another hiss of agitation as the gate opens and the security officers start flooding in. Shouts in preparation of the worse as heavy footsteps clank up the stairs. There is a threatening growl as the first officer, Vanessa, and quickly after Mike get to the top of the stairs, shock sticks in hand.
“What do you think you’re doing!” Kore hisses at them.
“We were going to ask the same thing!” Mike hisses back, eyes trained on the mer. “They aren’t supposed to be out of the tank. That’s why the metal was put on top. Why aren’t you two following protocol?”
“We had it open due to cleaning.” Kore stiffens slightly as the mer growls at the word. “They were laying peacefully until you all suddenly stormed in. So back off.”
The mer lets out another heavy growl, hand slamming onto the metal making Sunny squeak. Kore’s quick glance to his partner makes him grimace, realizing Sunny is one raised voice away from a panic attack. The mer lunges, making everyone yelp and jump back, the crackle of electricity in the air, but instead of aiming at the guards, they aim towards Sunny. They push their body over his, blocking his view of the guards while still growling lowly at them. A defensive stance despite being half contained in their tank still.
“Dr. Astra, you need to move, now.” Mike grits out through his teeth.
“If anyone needs to move it’s you and your squad of dolts!” Moon steps in front of Sunny and the mer, blocking Mike and Vanessa’s path forward to them. “Get out of our lab.”
“You two are gonna-“
“ You two are the ones in danger here. Get out. Now .” Kore practically growls.
“You get that thing in the tank and get down to the lab.” Mike finally backs up, having to reach out and forcibly drag Vanessa toward the stairs. As soon as they are both out of sight, Kore turns to the mer.
His eyes widen in surprise, finding that the mer has pushed their face into Sunny’s torso, a heavy purr like noise rumbling from their chest. Sunny seems to be coming down from the near panic attack that he was going to have, hand resting on the mer’s shoulder.
“Sunny…” Kore speaks softly, stepping carefully around the mer so he can get behind his partner. “We need to go. Are you able to come with me?”
“S-soon.” Sunny’s heart is still hammering hard in his chest. “Just- Just give me another minute…” The mer glances up at Sunny from his lap and starts making the purring noise louder. “H-heh… Seems like they want to help.”
“Seems so.” Kore gives the mer a small nod, letting the conversation die out. When Sunny lets out a long shaky exhale the mer backs off. Letting Sunny pull his limbs back under him. They give one last look before shifting back into the tank, eyes watching Kore from the hatch. Kore sighs, standing up and moving to close it.
He hovers at the hatch before addressing the mer quietly. “…Thank you for protecting him.” Kore firmly pushes the hatch shut as the mer swims down into the tank. Sunny had gotten up behind him, picking up his tablet and trying to relax his breath a bit more before giving Kore a nod.
Time to face the music.
It’s been three ‘days’, if you go by the number of meals you’ve had. Three days of no Sun and Moon.
There’s only been a guard that has come in a few times. The ones that had stormed up to you, Sun, and Moon with the green eyed one. They don’t do much. Just watch you from the gate. You think it’s stupid.
You much prefer Sun and Moon’s company. They at least talk. They eat with you. They interact with each other. This land creature just stands and stares. At least you are feeling better. The algae being removed and the steady meals has done a lot for your health. You no longer see your ribs quite so defined in your torso. Your tail is looking healthier too, the white speckles standing out against the deeper gray that’s almost black once more.
You swim in a circle, keeping a vague eye on the guard as you do. Until you hear their voices. Fins perking up as you swim to the clear wall, the guard unnerved at your sudden movement but you don’t care. Sun and Moon are finally back.
The guard startles as the gate raises, Sun entering the lab just a few steps before Moon does. You can’t help the excited click that escapes your throat as you move to swim up to the top of the prison. You chirp and click, waiting for them to join you. It takes a few minutes, they end up in some kind of conversation with the guard which makes you upset. You let them know by making your noises louder. Your land dwellers need to get up here. Now.
Eventually they stop talking to the guard and climb up the stairs. Sun greeting you quietly which is odd. It’s also odd how far back they are standing. You scrunch your face up in annoyance that they are hesitating, you had protected them from the meaner ones. You didn’t bite them when they were in your prison. So why are they staying away?
“ Sun, Moon, come closer. Want to see you. ” You scratch at the metal fishnet trying to get them to come to you. The two look at you before they share a glance with each other. Neither makes any motion to change their position however.
With a frustrated slap of your hand in the water you make a quick circuit of your prison before stopping under the hatch you now knew of. You try to push at it but it doesn’t budge, just like every other time you’ve tried over the last few days. “ Open please. Want to see you. ” You try again, to communicate with the two land dwellers. “ Open. See you. ”
But they just stand there. Not doing anything to help you out or at least tell you no. Biting the inside of your cheek you decide that you’re going to have to attempt to speak their language which will hurt your vocal cords a little but you’d pay that price in order to get them to come closer.
“Sun. Moon. See you. Open. Please.” You manage to get out before it’s a bit too much for you to maintain, sinking down in the water and waiting for them to hopefully open the hatch up.
‘Holy fuck the mer just spoke.’
Kore and Sunny both blink in shock, staring down at the mer that waits under the hatch. They turn and look at each other, eyes wide as they quickly glance back down.
“They called us Sun and Moon?” Sunny finally breaks the silence, taking a hesitant step forward. The mer seems to take this as them needing to explain because they pull their face out of the water and with a finger pushed out in one of the holes they point to Sunny first.
“Sun.” They then turn to point at Kore, “Moon.” They sink back into the water, blowing bubbles quietly waiting for them to get out of their stupor. Kore breaks first with a disbelieving laugh at the new situation.
“We can’t do that though, Mike said-“ Sunny begins, starting to rub at his wrist.
“…You know what? Fuck what Mike said.” Kore gives a smirk. Moving over and unlocking the hatch, pulling it open. The mer waits a moment until he’s backed up before dragging themself up onto the metal again.
“Oh we’re going to get in so much trouble again…” Sunny whimpers. The mer zeros in on him, chirping and making grabby hands to get him to come closer.
“Maybe. But we’ve been the only ones to get results with them so… They aren’t going to fire us yet.” Kore grins. “Isn’t that right, Starlight?” Kore coos to the mer, earning himself a confused head tilt. “Your tail is quite lovely,” He gestures to the tail that they can both see more clearly now, “It looks like the stars.” The mer seems to take it into consideration before clicking once and focusing back on Sunny.
Sunny only manages to take one step closer before the mer lunges, snatching Sunny’s arm and pulling him with a slight spin so his back ends up against their chest. Their purring noise starts up almost instantly, chin resting on Sunny’s head. Kore has to stop a laugh from bubbling up.
“Why are they doing this???” Sunny is quite lost at the sudden ease of contact with the mer.
“I believe that they are trying to keep you from panicking, like they did when the guards finally left the area.” Kore can’t hide the smirk that graces his lips as he scratches some quick notes onto his tablet. “Which is fascinating, just not as fascinating as them speaking English of all things.”
“Why Sun and Moon though?” Sunny tilts his head to look up towards the mer who makes a humming noise before reaching a hand out and tapping the tablet in Kore’s hand, specifically at the symbol on the back. “Ooooohhh… How did you know that was a moon?” Sunny asks but the mer just puts a damp hand over his face to make him quiet.
“I don’t think they can speak in full sentences, Sunshine.” Kore snorts. “In any case we can definitely build from here to increase communication.” The mer lets out a huff before putting their hand on Kore’s face instead, making Sunny laugh at his partner’s disgruntled expression.
“I think they don’t want us talking about work stuff right now.” Sunny chuckles. An undignified squeak escapes his lips a second later as the mer decides to press their not so warm face against the back of Sunny’s neck.
“Seems they like you.” Kore laughs, taking a moment to write a few notes down. As soon as he’s done the mer reaches over and tugs at his pant leg to draw him closer. Kore relents and as soon as he’s in range the mer pulls him against their chest as well.
“Seems they like you too.” Sunny snickers.