Chapter Text
All things considered where Peter is now is a lot better than where he was before. His new tank is Bigger and in an aquarium. The people who run the place claim that they saved him, but taking him from a smaller tank to a bigger one at the end of the day is just switching the prison that he is in.
From what Peter has herd the people around him saying over the years he knows that there are other mermaids, imprisoned in zoos and things far worse than his tank, but nun the less all he wants is to be able to get back into the ocean. He wants to see his kin again and go back to his life before he was captured and throne into the tiny tank at his old zoo.
Peter remembers when he was small having a full family with his parents, along with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, but over time they all left him. From what he can remember his parents were killed by some fishermen leaving him with only his Aunt and Uncle to take care of him. When he was captured, his Uncle Ben fought back to try to save them, but that ended up with his death. His Aunt May went along with him to the zoo but their tank was two small for the two of them, and the keepers did not seem to care. When his aunt died it crushed Peter because she was the only family that he had left, but he just had to accept it and live on.
Peter did enjoy his new tank, it was far mor spacious then his old one and in this one he at least had a bit of space to stretch his tail and swim around. At this aquarium he has a trainer who is kind to him. The trainer at the zoo that he was once at tried to teach him tricks but Tony does not do that, tony is a nice trainer, and Peter is starting to get attached.
One of the parts that Peter likes about his life in a tank is the people who come to see him. Nothing could beat the enjoyment that Peter gets when he sees an amazed little face of a child, trying to get a glimpse of the red and blue scales of his tail or a fully grown human, with as much childish joy contained in them by seeing a Merman that if it were not for their size, Peter would not be able to tell that they were grown. If he were in a good mood, he waves back when the children wave to him or he swims by slowly enough so that he can be seen clearly in pictures.
Peter is not as brainless as the aquarium keepers seemed to believe. He has been living around humans for much of his life and even before then he had some understanding of the langwidge that they speak, although his kin speak in a different way. Peter knows that the reason that he was brought to this aquarium is because of all the visitors that pay to see him. They long to get a glimpse of him and that ends up funding the aquarium. It is not all bad. For some creatures, all they know are the clear walls that have always been there with eyes always watching. Most of the animals in the aquarium are not like Peter. He remembers his life before the aquarium and the zoo, or at least a little bit of it. For the most part peter is glad to stay here to help the other animals. If him being at the aquarium, being kind to the visitors and hiding his fangs means that all the animals can live better lives, then Peter can learn to be ok with it. Peter has a great power, he is something that many people want to see and that brings much revenue to the aquarium, so he sees it as his responsibility to at least be a showy Merman, for the other animals’ sake.
Peter has learned to love the people who watch him, but there is one person who is special. He does not know when they first visited him in the aquarium but the first day, he noticed her was at the end of the first month of his life in his new aquarium. She was just sitting on a bench faced toward his tank with a pencil poised above a book of paper. Peter watched as she moved the pencil all around the paper. Back and forth she kept looking up toward him, and then back down at her Paige. Peter drifted toward her when she suddenly slammed her book shut, shoved it into her backpack, and with a glance over her shoulder back at him she was off. With a flip of Peters tail he drifted back toward where he was before.
For a reason that he did not know Peter felt hopeful. If that girl kept coming back perhaps, he could have something to look forward to. He did not know what she was doing or why she was there in the first place, but if he were verry lucky, she would return. There was something about her that made Peter be mor interested in her and what she was doing instead of any of the other people who come in droves, but for now, he just could not put a finger on it.
Peter could hear some noise other than the dulled sounds of the people on the other side of the glass and glanced up. It was what he thought it was, Tony was back, and he brought food. Peter knows that Tony’s life does not revolve around the aquarium but every minute of time that Peter gets to spend with Tony is an interaction that is not separated by a sheet of glass.
Peter energetically swims up toward the platform where Tony is standing with a bucket. Peter launches himself out of the water and swims some laps around the top of his tank before stopping just next to tonys Feet. Tony crouches down and smiles.
“someone was eager to see me,” he says. Tony dumps out the fish which are Peters lunch and then continues to talk to him. Tony is one of the only people who does not treat Peter like some other animal who does not have the comprehension skills to understand a word that he was saying. “so, on the way here Happy, you remember me talking about happy right,” he waits for Peter to nod before continuing, so he and I were just carpooling to get over to this side of town, because he had to get to his job and I had to come see my little fishy, when this squirl jumped in front of our car.” Tony continued his story, but Peter just enjoyed being close to another person. merpeople are social creatures and peter living all by himself like this is hard on him. “so, I got to go, remember there is this crazy invention that I have been working on and I do not want to leave it to long, but me or Ned will be back over to feed you again in a few hours,” tony sed as he stood up.
Peter just looked up at Tony with a frown and grabbed his ankle. “I know you don’t want me to go,” Tony sed crouching back down and putting his hand over Peters, “but I need to go for now. I promise as soon as I get this one thing done, we can play and do other stuff instead of this lunch lady relationship that we have currently. Peter let go of Tony’s ankle and sadly drifted backward in his water. He waved to Tony as Tony walked out the door, and with a wave over his shoulder he was off.
Peter let himself sink back through the water to his little cave built into the walls of his tank. There were worse places that Peter could be, but Peter did not love where he was.