Chapter Text
“Iwaizumi-san, I’m back.” The manager of Jelly World looks up from where he’s sweeping the floor, preparing to open the aquarium, not surprised to see Kunimi entering through the automatic doors with pockets weighed down and a jar of water held in hands, held securely like it’s a precious treasure.
He’s sopping wet, drenched from head to toe. But that’s become a common sight. Iwaizumi stopped asking after the first few weeks, just accepting it as part of Kunimi’s resource collecting method. Who doesn’t enjoy a nice dip in the ocean every now and then?
“What have you brought this time?”
“A flower hat jelly.” Iwaizumi drops the broom in his excitement, appearing in front of Kunimi in the blink of an eye, peering into the jar of water with the enthusiasm of a child.
“An Olindias Formosus?! That’s incredible, Kunimi! I don’t know how you found it, because they should never be this far north, but that’s incredible! Ah, there’s three! There’s three!”
“Do you want me to put them in an empty tank for now?” Sobering up, Iwaizumi stands straight and clears his throat into his sleeve like he wasn’t just having a moment over the rare find.
“Yes. I think we should have a few out back. If you can find a spare tank in the hydrozoa corridor, we’ll transfer them there later.” Even though the flower hat jelly isn’t technically a true jellyfish, Iwaizumi was too enthusiastic about the marine creatures to turn them away. Henceforth, he’d had a spare corridor renovated into the hydrozoa corridor, so he could keep all these specimens and share them with the world.
Kunimi watches him pick up the broom again, sweeping with a skip in his step and whistling a merry tune. He hides a small smile behind his jar of flower hat jellies. Seeing his manager acting like a child is incredibly amusing, especially when he’s usually quite stern and calm.
Even though he was only hired three months ago, Kunimi expects he’s the only person to have seen Iwaizumi that excited so frequently, since he keeps bringing in rare and unusual finds. Many times, when they’ve had longer before opening, Iwaizumi tries to squeeze out the details of how he’s finding them.
Kunimi always taps the side of his nose knowingly and walks off.
He pays for it by getting the morning shifts the next week. Never let it be said that Iwaizumi Hajime isn’t petty as fuck.
As he empties the flower hat jellies into their new, temporary home, he pauses, wondering if maybe he should share the secret. Hmm... No, no. Not yet. As much as he trusts Iwaizumi, he doesn’t think this secret should be shared. Not until he’s seen something of equal value.
“Morning, Kunimi~. Resource collecting again?” The door to the prep room opens as Hanamaki steps in, taking off his coat and wellington boots before he goes into the staff room. He stops to try and peer over Kunimi’s shoulder.
“What are these ones then?” Unlike Iwaizumi and Kunimi, Hanamaki can’t identify the jellyfish just by looking. He’s in charge of their small Elasmobranchii tunnel, filled with sharks, rays, skates, and sawfish. Those, he can identify the species of with just a glance. His favourites are Devil fish and longsnout Butterfly rays.
It says a lot about his personality.
“Olindias Formosus.”
“... Meaning?”
“Olindias Formosus~.”
“Aww, Kunimi! Don’t be sassy so early in the morning!”
“A flower hat jelly.” Hanamaki coos as he peers at the tiny things – little baby jellyfish that will grow up in the aquarium.
“Cute name. They’re pretty.”
“Mhm. They’ll go in the Hydrozoa corridor.”
“Wait, you mean they’re not jellyfish?!” Kunimi holds back a laugh as Hanamaki stares at the three jellies, glaring like he’s personally accusing them of being Hydrozoa.
“Technically, no. But they’re still called Jellies anyways.” Dubious, Hanamaki scratches the back of his head and steps away.
“Alright, well... You might wanna get dried off. You’ll catch a cold if you stay like that.” He gestures to Kunimi’s dripping wet clothes and soaked hair, puddles around his shoes. The deadpan stare he gets in return is well worth it, and his lips grow into a smirk.
“Sorry to dampen your mood~.”
“Hanamaki-san, I will put a jellyfish on your face, one day.” Laughing, the Elasmobranchii supervisor waves a hand in dismissal, ducking into the changing rooms to get into uniform. Kunimi sighs and tugs over a stool so he can sit down and watch the flower hat jellies for now.
He smiles. Just a small, faint smile, but a smile all the same. Watching them reminds him of how they came into his possession, from the waterside to the aquarium. Although he would quite like it if he could stop being submerged all the time.
As he’s deep in thought, there’s a chime through the speakers. The aquarium is open for business, Matsukawa attending the ticket desk. With another heavy sigh, Kunimi goes into the changing rooms, grabbing a spare bag from his locker with clean, dry clothes and a towel in.
“I’m heading out. See you on lunch break!”
“Will do, Hanamaki-san.” Always on the go, Hanamaki is off, whistling a merry tune. His musical glee is infectious, and Kunimi finds himself humming under his breath as he gets into uniform, towels off his hair and brushes it, before making his way to the Hydrozoa corridor.
He doesn’t do much. Sweeps up the odd patch here and there, answers questions that kids may ask him, and gives an educational talk once every hour. It’s a good job, one that he’s always been interested in, and one that he loves.
For the next few weeks, he spends more and more time resource collecting, stopping by the aquarium even when he’s not on shift, much to Iwaizumi’s amazement. Sometimes, Kunimi buys a ticket with his staff discount and walks around for hours, taking his time to appreciate the marine life like he can’t do on shift.
Matsukawa sometimes jokes that he must be an ocean baby, since he’s always in the aquarium or by the waterside. Kunimi always shrugs and smiles knowingly.
It’s a Tuesday four weeks later when he’s strolling towards the large jellyfish exhibit for their Moon Jellies, a huge circular window about three times as tall as him. It’s the main attraction of their aquarium, and it’s beautiful.
“Do you think mermaids are real, mister?” He grinds to a halt, throwing himself back against a wall before anyone in the room can see him enter. He peers back around to see Iwaizumi crouch down in front of a small child holding a mermaid helium balloon.
“You wanna know the truth? The reeeeeal truth?” The child nods, and with a playful slyness, Iwaizumi looks around the room as if to make sure no one is listening in before putting one hand up to his mouth and whisper-shouting.
“Mermaids are definitely real.” Kunimi thinks that maybe, just maybe, Iwaizumi is saying it so there won’t be a breakout of tears. But... Something about his voice is so enthusiastic and honest... It’s like when Kunimi brings rare jellyfish in. He really, truly knows what he’s saying.
“They are?”
“Mhm~. It’s a big ocean out there, and I bet there are tons of mermaids living in their family groups and hiding from prying eyes.”
“Why hide?” Kunimi watches as Iwaizumi’s lips twitch into a frown, and his eyes lose that brightness.
“There are bad people who hurt mermaids out there. They have to stay safe by staying hidden.” He blinks, as if shaking off a haze, and grins at the kid, pressing a finger over his lips.
“Keep it a secret, okay~?” Kunimi lingers a second longer. He could just casually walk in like he’s only just arrived, but... Something about the tone of Iwaizumi’s voice makes him want to wait. To see what happens next. He hears the jingle of keys.
Brow furrowed, he peers back around the wall, and is flooded with betrayal. See, there’s a door in the Moon Jellies room that Kunimi had been told was ‘for decorative purposes only’. It was even painted the same colour as the wall, like it had never been opened.
But here, right in front of his spying eyes, Iwaizumi unlocks and opens the door. Kunimi huffs under his breath, waiting until Iwaizumi vanishes from sight to slip out and follow after. Much to his delight, the slowly closing door is open just enough for him to stick a pen in the gap.
He holds it until the footsteps inside are far enough away and then he peers in.
“It’s okay, I know you’re there.” Kunimi clicks his tongue in irritation, slipping the door open further and stepping in, Iwaizumi smiling at him smugly with hands in pockets, almost glowing as he stands in front of a huge tank of pure blue water, a coral reef at the bottom and long seaweed grass around the edges.
“How did you know?”
“You’ve got jars in your pockets. They tend to make a noise when they hit the wall~.” Scowling, Kunimi steps to Iwaizumi’s side. He glances up at the large, supposedly empty aquarium wall.
“What’s this tank for?” Amused, Iwaizumi slaps a hand on his back, pushing him closer.
“I originally was going to wait until you’d been here a year before showing you, but since you overheard my conversation, I think you’re ready.” Before Kunimi can even form the words in his head to ask what Iwaizumi means, there’s movement within the tank, long sea grass rustling.
Kunimi thinks he spots a flash of teal, and looks questioningly to Iwaizumi, who only nods and pushes him closer towards the tank.
“I- I don’t under-... Stand...” He trails off as a face comes into view, but it’s not his reflection in the glass, it’s someone on the other side. He swallows, eyes scanning what’s in front of him as if he doubts it.
A mermaid. Brown hair that flows freely in the water, matching brown eyes like driftwood, with golden speckles. A teal tail with aqua patches, long fins like a Beta fish, and-
Part of the tail replaced by a prosthetic. Kunimi glances over his shoulder at Iwaizumi, who sighs and steps to his side, pressing a hand to the glass. The mermaid presses his own webbed hand back, grinning happily.
“This is Oikawa. He’s been my best friend since I found him 7 years ago. He was injured – harpooned – but my dad and I managed to treat him, kept him in a bathtub, and built him a new tail. The only problem was, after all that we’d been through together, he refused to go back in the ocean.”
“Well, it’s not like I had anyone to return to! The Hunters killed my pack!” At the scoff and snappy reply, Kunimi jumps backwards in surprise. Japanese. The mermaid speaks Japanese.
“You- You can talk. You can talk human languages.” The mermaid flips his hair, bottom lip jutting out as he looks down his nose at Kunimi.
“Well, duh. Iwa-chan was too thick-headed to learn mine, so I learnt his.”
“That’s a lie and you damn know it, Shittykawa! You didn’t even try and teach me!”
“Because you were so slow! You couldn’t learn in 4 weeks what hatchlings learn in a day!” Whilst they argue, Kunimi stares. Kunimi stares, partially aware of Oikawa moving in an elegant figure of eight, but mostly fixed in his thoughts.
Iwaizumi believes in mermaids.
Iwaizumi is best friends with a mermaid.
“Kunimi?” The hand on his shoulder jolts him out of his daze, and he gives Iwaizumi a small, reassuring smile before turning to Oikawa, who peers at him in interest.
“You’re young, aren’t you?” Kunimi tilts his head, opens his mouth to answer, then stops. He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and clicks. Oikawa’s eyes widen, his tail pausing in movement for a split second.
Then, he’s pressing himself against the glass, all sunshine and rainbows and enthusiasm.
“Where did you learn that?!” Iwaizumi looks between them in confusion as Kunimi whistles something back, and then Oikawa makes noises vaguely like a dolphin, until the two of them are just making sounds.
“What- What’s going on?”
“This kid can speak my language! He speaks my pack language!!!” Kunimi shrugs, slightly blushing and a little guilty as Iwaizumi gapes at him, pointing slowly between Oikawa and Kunimi.
“You-... His...? How?”
All this time, Kunimi has been waiting for a secret of equal value to show Iwaizumi how he manages to collect rare jellyfish, crystals and items from the seafloor. His eyes glance briefly at Oikawa, at a mermaid, and he decides that yes, this is it. This is the secret of equal value, and it’s time to unveil his trick to the aquarium manager.
“I have something to show you... And someone I’d like you to meet.”