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Breakdown lived in a large pond that bordered on being a small lake in the middle of a practice track. He’d had the thought several times that he should be bothered by it, and try to move to a larger body of water at some point, but at the same time he also didn’t care so much. It was comfortable, and he knew it well. Moving would be too much of a hassle for how little it would be worth.
He was a mermaid; larger and more dangerous than most of the others he’d seen. Not that he’d seen many but there were others in the large pond beside himself. They were frilly and bright, constantly flitting about near the surface to catch sun off their scales and gain attention from the centaurs running the track. They got along well enough and they particularly liked Breakdown during the long month of mating season, where his significant size was met with gratitude, but mostly they left each other peacefully alone.
Breakdown had no desire for their surface dancing. He was large and dark with a deep blue skin that didn’t flash in the light. His hands and face were a rusty orange color but they didn’t gather much attention at the bottom of the lake where he spent most of his time. He was alright with it, he could find crayfish to eat and the cold water at the bottom led to easy sleeping. The others were kind to him when he did need something, but it was rare.
He would come up to watch the races sometimes. They weren’t professional league by any means, just amateur matches held against one another for bragging rights. The track was supposed to be a practice track for professionals but was never utilized as such. Local centaurs had taken it up as a park to instead entertain themselves with. He’d poke his head up to watch them run, not cheering like the other mers would but still actively interested in watching them go.
The little red arabian was his favorite. Breakdown could only really remark that he was small and pretty, having never actually talked to him before. He wasn’t shy by any means he just didn’t know what he’d say. He’d fantasized about it more than once though. Laying on the bottom of the lake he thought over and over how easy it would be to just call out to him, maybe even learn his name and his interests. Maybe get to kiss him and tell him how pretty he was.
--
Knock Out had to stay late at the track. He was supposed to be waiting for some home maintenance contractors to finish up some issues with his lawn, but apparently they’d underestimated how long it would take and were having to do some overtime. That was fine and all, he just hadn’t planned on having to spend another two hours out and about.
He stayed the afternoon at the track with some of his pals. He’d ran a lot and was exhausted, expecting to go home but unexpectedly having to stay out. He trotted over to the lake to try and cool off after the run. The bank was covered in reeds and large rocks to bask on. While he was contemplating sitting down at the shore he heard a strange sound, not too unlike a flute but weirdly deep.
He felt drawn to it, to follow the sound. He refused to go into the lake but could walk around the shore through the reeds. Logically he knew it was one of the mermaids humming a siren song and he was familiar enough with the concept that he was able to recognize it as such.
On a rock in the shallows he found the source, one of the lake mers basking in the sun on one of the rocky outcrops. He was a thick and dark thing, Knock Out had seen this one poke his head above the water from time to time, but never got a good look at all of him beneath the surface. The siren song was pretty but simple, a deep and reed-ey nasal hum.
He cleared his throat to let the mer know he was there and startled to poor thing off the rock, and he flashed into the water quick as lightning. In a matter of seconds Knock Out was alone again.
“Are you there?” he called into the reeds, hoping the mer would come back, “I liked your song.” There was no answer to his statement but he stepped a little further into the water, wondering where he could have gone so fast.
He heard a little splash behind him and turned to see two large golden eyes looking at him from just above the surface. His fins were wetted down to his head so he looked like a sad cat more than a mer with just the top of his head showing. They made eye contact and Knock Out turned a little slower, wondering if the mer was actually going to do something other than just watch him. “I said I liked your song.”
He finally poked the rest of his rust orange head out of the water “Oh...thank you? I-uh- I didn’t know anyone was still here. I wouldn’t really have sang if I did.”
Knock Out laughed at that. “To be fair I’m not really supposed to be here anymore; I’m just caught up at the moment. I’ve seen you around.”
“Oh I’ve...seen you too.” He replied almost shyly. “I watch you race.”
Knock Out laughed again, “Of course you have. All the mers have. We love racing for you.”
“Oh you do?”
Knock Out found that response odd. “Yes? Well, you tend to just stick your head up but the others dance for us, it’s very fun.”
“Do you want me to dance?” He asked
“Not particularly. You don’t seem well suited for it.”
Breakdown wasn’t sure if that was a statement or an insult but the Centaur didn’t seem to mean it in a derogatory way so he shrugged it off. “I’m not. So I don’t. I’m Breakdown by the way.” He finally sat up, sitting on his tail to bring himself up out of the water and come nearly face to face with the small horse.
Knock Out took a startled step back, clearly having underestimated just how large this mermaid was. He nervously held out a hand, “I’m Knock Out.”
“Knock Out?” he took the little hand in his own, giving it a brief shake but mostly just wanting to hold it. “You’re a good runner. I’ve seen you win a lot.”
“Oh you really have been watching then~.” Knock Out practically purred.
“Yeah!” Breakdown exclaimed excitedly. “I- You’re maybe my favorite. I hope that isn’t weird, you’re not even a professional or anything but you come here so often, and there’s not much else going on.”
Knock Out practically started blushing at the admission, “I suppose it would get rather boring here, you’re not exactly in prime real estate.”
“I don’t hate it as much as some of the other mers do.”
Knock Out stepped back to sit on the rock Breakdown had been lounging on earlier, keeping his front legs in the water. “I’ve got some time to kill, you should tell me about it. Everyone else has gone home already.”
Breakdown slinked back down in the water to push himself forwards and up onto the rock, laying out behind Knock Out like he had been. “Really? There’s not a lot to tell. I just live here and don’t really go anywhere else. What about you? Do you travel? Do you have a job?”
“I-” Knock Out wasn’t sure what to do with all the questions. “-I do, somewhat. I don’t travel far but I do enjoy going places. I’m a doctor, I can’t exactly leave whenever I want. I have appointments and schedules to follow.”
“Sounds boring.” Breakdown laughed.
“Says the guy who lives in a pond, thank you.” Knock Out snorted back. “It’s monotonous and I have a lot of paperwork, but it’s not boring.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a doctor.” Breakdown hummed.
Knock Out leaned back, giving him a look over. “Well, you’re wild aren’t you?”
Breakdown cocked his head to the side, “what?”
“Wild, those other mers are eh...not. Kind of. Those colors and behavior it’s not really natural is it? They were probably put in this pond as pups.”
That was something that had never really crossed Breakdown’s mind before. “That’s...what?”
Knock Out turned around to really look at him, sort of realizing he had no idea what he was talking about. “You’re a wild mer, Breakdown. You were probably born in this lake when a flood happened and eggs drifted over from the river. The other mer aren’t wild.”
Breakdown didn’t entirely understand what that meant, “they weren’t born here?”
“No, probably not. Well, some of them maybe but they’re all about the same age. I’d figure someone laid eggs in a canal over in the city and rather than leave them to die they were put in this pond. It happens fairly often unfortunately.” Knock Out frowned. He didn’t understand how Breakdown wouldn’t know this unless he really didn’t talk to anyone. Poor thing was probably lonelier than he let on.
“You’re a doctor though, right?” Breakdown finally asked after a moment of silence ruminating on what Knock Out had told him.
“...Yes?” Knock Out questioned, not having much of an idea what he was getting at.
Breakdown flopped off the rock and was gone in a flash. Knock Out was again left alone and stunned at how fast Breakdown could be for something so large. He expected him to pop up again like earlier but found himself waiting for some time.
Roughly four minutes later Breakdown splashed back up onto the rock outcropping, nearly scaring the life out of Knock Out given how quickly and silently he had come up. If Breakdown noticed he’d scared the horse he certainly didn’t say anything about it.
In his hand he held a handful of old coins and little polished stones. “People throw these in the pond sometimes.” He held his hand to Knock Out. “I don’t know what they’re worth but I know I have to pay you. Is that enough?”
Knock Out looked at him in silence, wondering if he was actually serious. “I- uh. This is mostly just pocket change and some rocks. Are you wanting...a checkup? Is that what you want?”
Breakdown seemed to shrink in on himself, obviously not having really thought it through. “I- yeah. If that’s okay. I didn’t really ask I guess.”
Knock Out laughed. “Im not that kind of doctor, Breakdown. I can’t give you a checkup, I do outpatient surgeries. Like nosejobs and lip injections. Things like that.”
Breakdown seemed to deflate, clearly embarrassed at his own misunderstanding. “Oh. I...I don’t know what that is.”
Splashing his front legs in the water Knock Out replied, “I wouldn’t expect you to. Pretty horses pay me to look prettier, that’s all.”
Breakdown frowned and let the coins and rocks slide from his hand back into the water. “M’sorry.”
“Oh, don’t be sorry.” Knock Out playfully pushed his shoulder. “I can give you a look over but it’s not the same as a checkup. Get on your back.” Really, Knock Out knew he shouldn’t use his services for free but given the mer had excitedly tried to hand him $1.34 in change he knew it would be the right thing to do.
Breakdown wiggled awkwardly and flopped onto his back, wiggling his dorsal fins to the side to splay himself tummy up.
Knock Out couldn’t consider him a patient by any means, and didn’t even know enough about mer anatomy to actually do much beyond a simple check. He rested his hands over Breakdown’s thick pectorals and brought his head down to his chest, listening to his heart. It was steady and strong, but had a different rhythm than a Centaurs would. Knock Out assumed it was alright given it didn’t sound like anything was leaking past. “I’m really not qualified to be doing this.” He finally muttered. “I don’t know anything about you.”
He didn’t get up though, just slid his hands down to prod lightly at Breakdown’s stomach. “I think these are good? I don’t know.”
Breakdown shrugged, letting himself be poked. “I dont know either.” he replied with a chuckle.
Knock Out stopped his prodding and just let himself lay on the mer, both of them quickly realizing it wasn’t going to do anything remotely useful. “You have a nice chest, you know?” Knock Out hummed to himself. “It’s...thick.”
Breakdown practically laughed at that. “Yeah most of me is!”
That statement caught Knock Out’s attention and he perked his ears up. “Most of you?”
“Well yeah, look at me. I’m huge.” Breakdown brought a hand to rub Knock Out’s fuzzy ears.
“But...Most Of You means...also…” Knock Out flicked his tail suggestively.
Breakdown was a little dense but he quickly realized what Knock Out was suggesting. “Oh thats. Yeah. That too.” He grinned and started to scritch at the base of Knock Out’s ears, petting the red fluff of hair.
Knock Out laughed again. “I’ll keep it in mind for later then~”
“What really?” Breakdown sat up, pushing the Centaur off of himself. “I just met you!”
“Well, sure, but it’s not like I’m never going to see you again.” Knock Out’s ears flicked at him. “I come here almost every day. I already know you like me, I like you as well.”
Breakdown stared at him, almost disbelieving. “You don’t even know anything about me.”
“I know you’re lonely.” Knock Out responded. “I know you’re funny and kind as well.”
Breakdown stared at him in silence.
Knock Out continued, “I want to know you, as long as you’d let me.”
Breakdown chewed on his lip, thinking about it. This was technically exactly everything he’d fantasized about. This little red pony talking to him and getting to know him. He wanted to know everything about Knock Out as well. What he liked, what he didn’t, what made him laugh, what to avoid saying. Where he could press his lips to make him gasp.
He gave Knock Out a grin and laid back down onto the rock. “I wanna know you too...I think...I think I’d like that.”