Chapter Text
With a sigh, Neito hiked his bag further up his shoulder, glancing from the address on the paper he held to the name of the shop.
‘Bubaigawara’s Aquatics’ seemed to stare back at him, the bright blue of the writing standing out against the dark brown and tan of the building. He had only been there once, during the entire situation almost two years ago. With another small sigh, Neito raised a hand to knock on the door. They were expecting him, he knew that – he had called ahead and asked to work with them.
A work experience for his college degree.
The door opened after only about five seconds, Himiko wrenching it back with a sharp-toothed grin on her face. “Neito!” she crowed his name out, reaching forward and wrapping her arms around him. After the events of that day, almost two years ago, he had started doing his best to change himself. Hitoshi had a point, after all.
He couldn’t continue to be a creep and be okay with himself. Not when he had been forcefully dragged out of that mindset.
“Hello, Himiko,” Neito hugged her back. In preparation for this, he had been emailing back and forth with her, whenever she had the time. Her dad had allowed him to come do his work experience with them and he was grateful. “How’s your day going?”
“It’s going good,” Himiko tugged him inside, stopping him at the door. He took off his shoes, then followed her to the main room of the house. The store part was attached to the other side, Neito knew, and he would be helping out there as well as taking part in the rescues of local species that Jin did. Well, on paper they were local rescues. In practice, Neito knew, they would be rescuing creatures more along the lines of Neito’s old neighbors and his cousin. Jin had explained that during the phone call.
It was going to be a hard job and one that Neito would need to be prepared for.
Oftentimes, when someone had a captured mer, they did not want to part with them. Sometimes, like in the case of Prince Izuku, it was a captor trying to wear the captive down for something. Other times it was someone doing experiments on someone that was not a legally registered person.
Both of those situations made Neito angry.
They were why merfolk were hidden, why the Kingdoms in the ocean stayed silent. Neito had spent a week and a half under the surface of the ocean with a recovering mer and his family for company. Chizome still occasionally texted him when he was above water, sending hellos from his mate and their son. During the time they had been stuck down there, together, Chizome had almost died and Neito had needed to help him.
It had felt nice. Helping him survive, helping him make it through.
He had gone back to college, changing his focus to Marine conservation. His entire life had pivoted on that note, it felt like. Minoru, his cousin, had whined about how different Neito was these days.
His parents hadn’t noticed he went missing for almost two weeks.
Neito listened as Himiko babbled about something, leading him to where her father was sitting. He was watching over a ten-gallon tank with a single fish in it, frowning as the fish bobbed oddly in the water. It was breathing normally, it seemed, but it wasn’t able to swim correctly. Jin continued to frown as he turned away, fiddling with something in his hands. Eventually, as Neito watched, he finished his adjustments and reached carefully into the tank. The object in his hands was small and plastic, made out of tubing. “He’s having trouble floating,” Jin explained quietly as he nudged the fish into the contraption. “This is to help with that.”
Neito watched as the fish wiggled, moving to swim in a small circle. “That’s cool,” he leaned in a little closer, watching as the goldfish blubbed at him. “Will he be okay?”
“He’ll live,” Jin smiled, looking at Neito. “I’m glad you made it okay. I have the guest bedroom upstairs ready for you to stay – I know you mentioned renting out student’s quarters, while working with us, but it seems like a waste of money if I have the space.” He leaned on the counter, glancing at the fish in what was essentially a homemade wheelchair. “And it’ll save you having to commute. Plus, it’ll be nice to have someone else around. Himiko and I tend to rattle, a little.”
“That’s—Okay,” Neito almost felt like crying.
As a result of who he had been, he knew that now, no one had ever really wanted him around. He was abrasive and rude and he was trying to be better about it.
Changing who you were was really hard. There were so many opportunities for back-sliding.
Jin came around the counter, offering a hug, and Neito nodded. Himiko stepped in as well, curling against her dad’s side and holding Neito’s arm. “Why do you two rattle? This house is not that big.” he looked around, leaving the hug slowly. There was something comforting about how much smaller the building was than the one he grew up in. At least this one, unlike his home, felt warm and comfortable. Loved in a way he couldn’t put into words. Neito looked at Jin, who shrugged.
“Merfolk always tend to rattle when they’ve lost someone,” he stroked his fingers along the glass of the tank, watching the fish float along happily now that it had support. Clearing his throat, Jin smiled at his daughter, nudging past her towards the part of the building that was their home. “I’m here often enough that I’m a good bet for dinner. You and Himiko, as the only method of rent I’ll ask for, can figure out who makes breakfast and lunch on what days.” He patted Neito’s shoulder as he passed by. Hesitating at the door, Jin looked back at him. “You did good, back then. You were scared – I could tell – but you still did your best to help. Sometimes that’s what matters,” he met Neito’s eyes, sighing. “More than almost anything, actually.”
He slipped through the door and Neito watched it close behind him.
Himiko braced her chin in her hands, her elbows on the counter. Her eyes, a cold sort of golden, stared at him intently. Like she was trying to figure him out, dissect him by sight alone.
“He’s glad you’re here,” she said after a minute of silence.
When Neito didn’t say anything, Himiko stood up straight and stretched, yawning quietly. “So I might make you cook with me for a little bit,” she grinned. “I remember you, rich boy. How well can you cook? If the answer isn’t very well, I’m going to have you help me until you’ve learned some basics.”
“A…A little,” Neito held his head up high, adjusting his bag on his shoulder.
Himiko nodded, changing position and stretching again. The movement was something Neito remembered from Hitoshi and Denki being on land, the last time they had been. Merfolk seemed to need to stretch their shoulders and backs out more when they were on land. It made sense, if he thought about it. Those muscles saw more use in them and the difference in buoyancy would make their bodies shift in odd ways.
“A little might cut it for a few days, enough not to starve,” Himiko tapped her chin with one finger, looking off to the side. Her eyes seemed to flash as she turned her gaze back to him. “But I think we can do better, what do you think?”
Neito laughed a little, nodding. “I think so.”
“C’mon,” she took his hand and led him back into the living part of the building, half-dragging him up the stairs. With a giggle, she pushed open a door and motioned into the room. “Ta-da! Here’s where you’ll be staying.” She tugged him inside and pushed him towards the bed. Neito sat down, setting his bag next to him. Himiko crawled onto the bed as well, tucking her legs underneath her and leaning forward on her hands. “How’s Prince Izuku doing? Prince Shouto?”
“The last time I spoke with them, they were both doing well,” Neito smiled, curling one of his legs underneath himself and turning to face her. “Hitoshi and Denki have their son now – I think they’re planning on their second kid, soon.”
“What about Tenya? And – oh, Tenko too!”
“I haven’t spoken to them all that much, but I know they’re doing pretty good,” Neito fell into the conversation with her, feeling the remaining gloom of his parents’ household leaving him as he did. There was something about talking to her, talking to Jin as well, that just felt more comfortable. Like they were actually people, instead of shadows he had to obey on occasion. His father had always been distant, disinterested, and his mother was always away. Always throwing parties in the name of charities they didn’t actually care about and friends they didn’t actually like.
The two of them always fought and Neito had enough of their yelling to last him a lifetime.
As the sun started to go down, the two of them still talking, Jin came to the bedroom door and knocked quietly on it. “Dinner is ready, you two,” he smiled when Himiko saluted him, hopping off Neito’s bed and following her father. Neito took a moment, a deep breath, before he followed them as well.
Dinner was a lively affair, closer and more comforting than he remembered the meal ever being before. When he spoke up, Jin and Himiko welcomed him into the conversation. Neito almost wanted to cry when, instead of ignoring him, Jin added his knowledge in, acknowledging a couple of points he had made. Was this what it was like to have a good family?
Helping with the dishes, Neito worked quietly as the father and daughter pair moved around the kitchen, still chatting. He let their atmosphere surround him, listened to their laughter.
He tried to imagine a life like this – raised in warmth and happiness. Sure, they might not have the most money in the world, but they actually seemed happy. Neito had been raised in cold corridors and empty rooms. Stiff and uncomfortable clothing for the purposes of looking ‘proper’ and keeping up appearances.
After dishes, Himiko dragged him outside, having forced Neito to change into his swim trunks and a baggy t-shirt.
“Here,” she stopped moving at the edge of the water. They were, if he wasn’t mistaken, at the same place he had practically been tossed off almost two years before. “I can tell you recognize it, yeah?” Himiko grinned, crouching down at the edge and looking over the small cliff nearby. Now that they weren’t being actively attacked, Neito could tell it was about twenty feet down just a little ways away. He was grateful that Katsuki and Hitoshi had dragged him in off the end of the dock.
Even panicked, he wasn’t sure he would have been able to make it off the small cliff.
“I do,” Neito crouched down next to her.
Himiko laughed, stripping off her shirt to reveal a bikini top. She was wearing a matching skirt, though he knew she probably wasn’t wearing the bottoms to her suit. “This is supposed to be a work experience, I know, but I want you to be comfortable with swimming. It'll make some things a lot easier and give you a better perspective about some of the work you'll be doing.”
“Some of the work?”
“There’s a couple of creatures I want to check in on,” Himiko shrugged one shoulder, folding her shirt neatly on the edge of the dock. “C’mon.”
She slipped into the water neatly, surfacing again a few moments later. Her gills were exposed now, scales trailing down her arms from her shoulders. If he looked closely, Neito could see her tail swishing below her, the same golden color as her eyes. He followed her example, pulling off his shirt and folding it next to hers. “You know, it’s kind of funn-AH!”
Himiko laughed as he fell beneath the water, flailing all the way down until his head was back above the surface. “Sorry, you just seemed to be hesitating,” she explained, still giggling. Her grin was sharper, when she was in her original shape, and Neito started treading water as she continued to laugh.
“Not exactly!” he frowned, splashing water at her.
She splashed him back, shrieking happily when he slapped a stronger wave at her.
There was very little sunlight left as they played. True to Himiko’s word, they did check in on several creatures. As she moved along with him, guiding him through the water, she explained what was happening with each one. It was a better way to learn, Neito decided.
After what felt like hours in the water, Himiko led him back to the dock. She hauled herself up first, then grabbed his hands and dragged him up next to her.
Sitting together, Neito nudged against her shoulder, pointing at the stars above them. They lived somewhere with very little light pollution and he could make out some of his favorite constellations. “That one,” he grinned when Himiko tilted her head. “Cetus. The whale. It’s always one of the best ones to see.” He turned his head back towards the sky, sighing. They were slowly drying off, Himiko’s tail turned back into legs, and for once in his life…
For once in his life, Neito felt like he belonged.
Himiko wrapped her arms around his, already wearing her shirt again. “Let’s go back soon, yeah?” she was softer around the edges now, quieter, and Neito looked at her again.
She was staring up at him, her eyebrows drawn down. “To the house?”
“That works too,” Himiko smiled. “I was mostly meaning I’m dragging you back into the water again and soon. You like it better down there.”
“Do I?”
“You do,” Himiko hummed. “I can tell you do. I’m not sure you’re as human as you think you are. That or you’re running away from where you came from as fast as you can – Either way,” Himiko smiled, gentler than before. “Ours now. I think my dad’s plot is to make sure you know you can stay, even once the work experience is over. He told me, before you got here, that he was worried about you.”
Neito covered his face with his hands, feeling tears burning in his eyes. “Thank you,” he whispered.
They sat there, together, until a slight breeze picked up.