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Yamada rubbed at his tears, trying to get them to stop. It wasn’t the end of the world. It was just a break-up. Everything was going to be fine. But that didn’t mean it hurt any less. What was meant to be just a few minutes of self-pity turned to hours of crying until he was exhausted. At some point he had ripped off his shoes and put them next to him, dunking his feet into the water and trying to take his mind off everything. Tilting his head up to the sky, he watched the moon and the stars before grabbing the bottle he had brought with him and tossing it into the ocean. He had wanted to down it, but drinking wasn’t the way to deal with his problems.
Throwing the bottle didn’t go the way he planned, as instead of hearing a nice splash, he heard the bottle shatter and then a cry of pain. Yamada looked around to see a man half-submerged in water struggling to keep himself up on a rock. Right where he had thrown it. Gasping, Yamada rushed to his aid, hopping off the pier and rushing through the shallows. The man was splayed out on a rock, looking pretty weak. Yamada realized with a start that he had hit the man in the head with his bottle. A small trickle of blood dripped down his face, and Yamada gently tapped the man’s face.
His eyes went wide and the man tried to pull away, but he immediately looked dizzy. Yamada was gentle with helping him stay on the rock. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, please don’t call the cops! I can take you to the hospital or- “
“No…leave…” Yamada’s confusion seemed to show on is face before he felt the man slowly slipping back into the water. He made a noise of shock and decided it’d be easier to help this guy on land. Just as he went to grab the man’s legs, he was smacked with a hand. “Go away!”
Rolling his eyes, Yamada hefted him up, complete shock on his face when he realized that a long gray tail was where the man’s legs should be. He didn’t drop him or move, completely frozen in place. He gaped like a fish before the man-fish suddenly became much heavier. Looking to his face, Yamada realized he had passed out.
With a muffled screech of panic, Yamada raced them to his car and then to his apartments. He thanked his lucky stars that he lived on the first floor and had opted for less porch space and a giant tub instead. Once they were inside, the person placed in Yamada’s tub and the water flowing over him, Yamada sat back against the wall of his bathroom and stared at the…fish-person…in front of him. He had heard of them in fairy tales, but not in real life. He couldn’t recall the name, though.
And now he had this fish-person in his tub. He took a few minutes to examine the tail, which was of course interesting, but as his eyes trailed up, he felt his mouth go dry. Rippling abs and then a chiseled chest. A strong jaw and just a bit of light scruff that went up to a strong nose and then those piercing black eyes staring straight through him.
Yamada startled out of his staring when he realized the fish-man was awake now. “Gotten your fill of staring?” Gulping, Yamada smiled sheepishly. The man in the tub re-situated himself and Yamada tried not to watch the way his chest moved as he did so. He had always been more of a tits man.
“I’m sorry…I’ve never seen someone like you before.” The man’s eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms over his chest.
“I would believe that if you’d been staring at my tail.” Yamada gave another sheepish smile. Before he could even begin to defend himself, the fish-man slapped his tail against the water and winced. “Ugh…that was loud…”
Yamada winced a little as well. “I’m so sorry about that. I had no idea you were there and I’m so sorry to have hit you. I would have taken you to the hospital, but I didn’t think that would go well…”
The man nodded a bit, resting his head on his knuckles as he examined Yamada for himself. “They kill my kind on land. So, is that what you’re going to do to me?” He sounded oddly resigned. “You have me in this…thing…” Yamada realized with a start that this man had no idea of his world. It felt strange and new and all at once too much to try and teach him.
“That’s a bathtub. It’s like a small ocean to clean yourself in.” He looked shocked.
“And you’ve put me in this…why?”
“I didn’t want you to dry out?”
He nodded a bit, seeming to understand. “This small ocean is pitiful and not at all logical. The real thing is within walking distance with a heavy weight in your arms, so why not go there? Humans are so illogical.” He looked quite annoyed and again his tail slapped against the water and he winced but tried to hide it. It seemed the whole tail slap thing was involuntary. Yamada couldn’t imagine he’d keep hurting himself like that. His face was hard though, and Yamada realized with a start that he was posturing. He was trying to appear strong.
“Do you have a name? Something I can call you?” The man looked extremely annoyed.
“Nothing you can call me. It’s not in your language, but…I guess you can call me…Aizawa. That’s close enough.” Yamada nodded happily.
“Pleased to meet you! My name is Yamada Hizashi! You can call me Yamada. I took you to my house because I didn’t want to leave you in the sea to drown.” Aizawa gave him a slightly amused look.
“I wouldn’t have drowned.” Yamada’s face scrunched up in confusion before he blushed hard, realizing his mistake.
“Y-You’re right…so I took you exactly away from help…didn’t I?” An odd upturn of Aizawa’s lips had Yamada confused before he was making a sort of strangled noise and showing his teeth. Yamada was immediately alarmed. “Are you alright, Aizawa?” As he finished making that noise and looked to Yamada, a ghost of a smile was on his lips.
“I was laughing. You’re…amusing. So, if you’re not going to kill me, can you take me back to the ocean? I can get back to my pod and they can help me with this.” Aizawa gestured to his head. Yamada winced before glancing to his phone for the time. It was pretty early in the morning, really not the time to be carrying a fish-person to your car.
“I can’t. Not yet at least. If you want to stay hidden, and I’m guessing that’s much better for you, we shouldn’t leave until we’re under the cover of night. So, I can keep you company for the day. I can teach you about the human world. Is there anything you want to know?”
Aizawa looked pointedly annoyed. “Can you fix my head then? I was hoping to get back soon so I could get this seen about.” Yamada nodded a little as he moved to get up.
“I can do my best. I know how to do first-aid and some more advanced stuff, but don’t hold your breath.” Aizawa watched Yamada closely as he came closer. When he was finally close enough, Yamada gently parted Aizawa’s hair and searched for the wound. Aizawa’s hair was soft to the touch, and he smelled like sea-salt, distracting Yamada until he was just running his fingers through Aizawa’s hair.
“Have you found it yet?” Yamada was snapped out of his admiring and blushed, glad Aizawa couldn’t see.
“Not yet, I’ll keep looking.” Finally, Yamada located what appeared to a small cut that was the source of all the bleeding. It didn’t need stitches and it looked to be done bleeding as well.
“Found it. It’s just a little cut. I just need to clean it up and then it should be good.” Aizawa nodded a bit and Yamada pulled away. Just as he did so, Aizawa’s tail slapped against the water again, catching Yamada off guard.
With a yelp from Yamada, he slipped into the tub and right on top of Aizawa. Both men grunted a bit before their eyes locked. No words were exchanged as the two watched one another. Yamada gulped and licked his lips, trying to figure out what to say, but a lot of his attention was focused on how soft Aizawa was. Soft and warm and all at once hard and ridged. He was smitten. Fuck.
Aizawa looked immediately surprised before he looked over Yamada’s body again. “Are you alright?” Yamada nodded a bit. He couldn’t find words right now. “You know, the way you’re laying on me is a bit…sexual …to my species. Please, remove yourself.”
Yamada scrambled into the water to right himself as Aizawa watched him closely. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to- “
“You didn’t know. Just…be careful where you touch.” Yamada nodded as he got out the tub, now completely wet.
“O-Okay, well…I’m going to go clean up. Do…whatever you want!” Yamada rushed out in a hurry, closing the door behind him before rushing to his room and trying to get ahold of himself. He rubbed his face after drying himself off and changing before he sat down in his bed. His thoughts raced as he laid out, trying to get his head on straight. Why couldn’t he have just met this guy at like a coffee shop and been able to relentlessly flirt? But no, he had to be a fish-person that Yamada threw a bottle of jack at. Rubbing his forehead, Yamada sighed. This was confusing to him. Was it bad to think of a fish-man as sexy? He couldn’t be sure.
After a few more minutes of sitting and stewing, Yamada stood up and poked his head into the bathroom. Aizawa looked very annoyed. “I hope you know I have nothing to do in here, so leaving me like this is not very logical.” Yamada blushed a bit and ducked his head.
“Sorry about that. Are you hungry at all? I could bring in a TV or something.” Aizawa glanced at him before nodding a bit.
“If you could get me some seaweed, I’d appreciate it. And I don’t know what that other thing is, but if it’s breakable I don’t think it’s a good idea. My tail tends to fling things apparently.” Yamada nodded and rushed to his kitchen, grabbing some dried seaweed from his cabinet and bringing it to Aizawa.
“I’m sure it’s different than that what you’re used to, but I think that’s the closest you’re going to get.” Aizawa nodded a bit and examined the seaweed before he sniffed it. Deeming it safe, he began munching, making no indication weather he liked it or not.
Yamada sat down against the bathroom wall and watched him, not sure where to go with this. He had a whole day and there was nothing to do. Biting his lip, he decided maybe he did have something to do. “I’ll be right back.”
Aizawa watched Yamada leave and then come back, setting things up far away from the bathtub, but enough for him to see. Finally, Yamada sat back down next to the tub and clicked on the TV. Aizawa was startled at first before Yamada clicked the remote to turn on the movie he had put it.
“It’s a TV. You can watch stories acted out on here. We’re gunna watch some if that’s alright?” Aizawa nodded slowly before glancing at Yamada.
“It can’t hurt us…can it?” Yamada shook his head a little.
“Not unless we put it in water when it’s plugged in or it falls on us. I’ll make sure those things don’t happen.” Aizawa nodded and seemed content.
That ended up being how they spent the rest of their day, sitting around and watching movie after movie, Yamada only getting up to get more dried seaweed, which Aizawa loved, and snacks for himself. When Yamada checked his phone and discovered it was already around nine, their movie marathon ended. He clicked off the TV after the credits started and Aizawa looked up at him as he stood.
“What’s the next movie? I really liked the one with the frog and the magic. Do you have any other movies like that one?” Yamada chuckled and shook his head.
“Actually, it’s time to go. I can take you back to the water and you can go home.” Aizawa glanced away from Yamada, observing his surroundings thoughtfully.
“You should come to the sea more often. And you should bring movies with you so I can watch more. Will you do that? And more seaweed?” Yamada chuckled and nodded.
“It’s a date then.”
~*~*~
A week and a half later, Yamada felt like a fool. He was lugging a projector and a giant white sheet along with supports down the beach and to a little cove he had found and marked for Aizawa. He had about twenty or so bags of dried seaweed and lots of snacks for himself. But it was around nine at night, and he just knew some cop was going to stop him and ask him to go home.
He felt like a fool all the way through setting everything up and then sitting down with his chair mostly in the water. He laid down a plush towel next to him and began setting up the movie. He felt like a fool all the way up until he heard the slap of a tail against the water and sand. That was when he finally started to feel something else.
Butterflies in his stomach.