Work Text:
“So, Temma, did you get a girlfriend?”
The tone was teasing, and it shouldn’t have evoked in Temma a visceral fear that he’d been found out, but it did. His mind was instantly turning towards several horrible scenarios -- he’d blurted out his secret while he was napping in the breakroom, someone had followed him home and had seen him, or even that Astel had somehow gotten out of the house and into trouble -- and it was only Roberu’s raised eyebrows that clued him in that he wasn’t reacting properly to what should’ve been an innocent question.
“What?” Temma asked, trying to focus but already unable to due to his paranoia. He suddenly wanted to go home right now to check that nothing bad had happened while he was away. “What do you mean?”
“You keep rushing home after work,” Roberu continued, leaning back in his chair and stretching with a loud yawn afterwards. Temma stared at his colleague, half in disbelief and half in disgust -- this kind of lax behavior would never pass at the main branch -- and opened his mouth to respond.
“He’s always rushing home after work,” another voice said, beating Temma by half a second. “Temma hasn’t socialized since he moved here.”
Temma turned to look at his boss, Shinove, who really shouldn’t have been pouring himself an alcoholic drink at 3PM on a workday right in the middle of the office. Then again, when was Shinove not drinking anything that looked completely unhealthy anyway?
Not that Temma blamed the guy, of course, because working daily 12-hour shifts would take its toll on anyone, him included. And despite his colleagues seeming like they didn’t take anything seriously, their team still managed to hit and even exceed company targets per quarter. They were fairly compensated and had fat bonuses to prove it.
What Temma didn’t understand, however, was why everyone in this office had the obsession to stay and hang-out after the mandatory twelve hours were done. Why was he being singled out for going home? Again?
“I attended a tako party once,” Temma tried, wanting the conversation to move on to something else before anyone had the brilliant idea to pry even deeper into his personal life. “And Roberu himself goes home right after too.”
“That party was mandatory attendance because it doubled as an all-hands meeting,” Shinove replied easily. His eyes were boring into Temma from behind his glasses, and the clink of ice in his glass seemed ominous as he took a sip of his drink before continuing. “And Roberu has a girlfriend.”
“I still attended,” Temma said weakly.
“Shien’s my boyfriend, not my girlfriend,” Roberu corrected at the same time, and then he was segueing back to his original topic and Temma was nervous all over again. “So, did you get a girlfriend, Temma? Or have you had one this whole time?”
“It’s none of your business if--”
“Aha!” Roberu cut-in excitedly, and Temma was wondering how in the world this loud-mouthed weirdo had ever managed to get a lover. That Shien person must’ve been out of his mind to find Roberu attractive. The orange-haired man just wouldn’t stop talking even at the best of times. “So you do have one! When I used to ask before, you’d say ‘no’ right away, so this is a dead giveaway. What’s she like? Is she a hot older lady with big breasts?”
“Isn’t that just your type, Roberu?” Shinove pointed out.
“All I’m getting from this is that Temma got a boyfriend instead,” a nasally voice spoke up from Temma’s other side. Izuru propped his chin up on his hand and looked at Temma with half-lidded violet eyes. He was usually a silent worker, so when he did speak, the rest of the team fell silent. “Or that Shien is somehow both a man and a big-tittied older woman.”
Of course, despite Izuru’s usual silence, that didn’t mean he wasn’t crude. In fact, Temma was sure that everyone in this room had some sort of perversion inside of them. Maybe it was from the long working hours that required a certain level of mental stamina to maintain. Temma had been here for a year now and there were no signs of their schedule adjusting to something more reasonable.
Whoever was left -- because a lot of people had resigned over the past year already -- must indeed have something not right going on in their heads or in their lives. Temma still wasn’t sure which category he fit in with. Maybe it was both.
“Shien’s a man,” Roberu said, cackling. The way he laughed had a tendency to get under Temma’s skin, like Roberu was purposely rubbing in the joy he’d managed to achieve in life -- the joy that had so far eluded Temma’s grasp -- right into people’s faces. “Do you want to know how much of a man he is? I have pictures on my phone.”
“No thanks,” Izuru replied dryly, before he was pulling his headset back on and turning back to his computer. An indication that he was returning to work and shouldn’t be disturbed. “Introduce me to the new hire instead when you’re free.”
At least, Temma thought to himself when the discussion turned towards the redhead that had apparently just started in the IT department one floor down, the discussion about me was dropped.
And yet from that time onwards up until he clocked out and trudged his way home, Temma could still somehow hear Izuru’s voice ringing in his ears.
All I’m getting from this is that Temma got a boyfriend instead.
“Not a boyfriend,” Temma muttered to himself, a belated response that no one else would hear. “Though I wish he was.”
The house was dark, but that wasn’t anything new. It was a house left by Temma’s grandparents, cozy and beautiful near the sea. It was meant to be a place of rest, of healing, and that was probably why Temma’s parents had encouraged the move. They’d probably seen that their only son was worn out and tired from working in the city and wanted him to take some time for himself away from it all.
Not that Temma had stopped working even when he’d moved out here, of course. He’d requested a transfer to the smaller regional branch and just continued his job as always. Perhaps he was meant to slow down -- and that’s why his coworkers kept asking him to join them for parties or out-of-office activities to unwind after work -- but Temma himself was the kind of person who couldn’t stop being busy because he didn’t really know what else to do with himself.
Maybe if he were younger, he’d have eased more into the slower pace of life in this small seaside town. Maybe back in university if he’d taken that year off he’d planned to do -- gone off and pursued his hobbies -- he’d be a different person. Happier. Calmer. Less like a husk that clocked-in and clocked-out and was too exhausted to do anything else but survive.
He’d tried once to get into the groove of things, to relax whenever he was home and to disconnect from everything else. He had the latest gaming consoles, subscriptions to several streaming services, and multiple gadgets to help him with this.
But in the end, he was still way too tired to do anything with all of his possessions.
So the house by the sea had always been dark and cold from the moment Temma moved in, and it probably would’ve stayed that way for years to come.
Except one little room had changed in the past week, and Temma was making his way towards it now. There was a faint light filtering out from the bottom of the door, and it was the first thing Temma saw even before he located his light switch and brought brightness to the rest of the house. He then dropped his bag on its spot on the floor and shrugged off his coat jacket, unable to stop the little jump his pulse made in excitement the closer he got to his destination.
He entered the bathroom, turning the knob slowly and walking inside, wondering why it felt as if all the warmth and life in this house was centered in this one place -- or, more accurately, in this one person --
Or was merman the correct term?
The reaction to his entrance was immediate. The blue-haired merman who’d been flicking at the water slowly in small, listless movements looked up and towards him, suddenly seeming alert. There was music playing, soft and faint from an old phone Temma had left by the sink, the voice of a man crooning out a love song providing a soothing backdrop to the sight Temma still hadn’t gotten used to despite seeing it daily now.
Messy blue hair streaked with yellow, vivid green eyes, and a mostly blue tail from the waist down that seemed like it sparkled and changed depending on the lighting. An actual merman. With a name even -- Astel, if Temma had understood him correctly the first time -- and a very attractive smile to match.
“Temma!” Astel said brightly, and he looked utterly delighted to see Temma, like the blond had made his entire day by showing up despite knowing that Temma always came to see him anyway. It made Temma’s chest hurt a little to see that smile. Had anyone ever looked at him like that before? “Welcome home!”
“Astel,” Temma said, finally allowing himself to feel relieved that nothing had gone wrong in his absence. He made his way inside, loosening his tie even as he sank down to his knees beside the bathtub and reached out to run a hand once through the soft blue hair. “I’m home.”
“How are you?” Astel asked, and he said it quickly now, as if eager to show Temma that he’d picked up even more of the language. When they’d started, Astel could mostly only talk in song lyrics -- a consequence of having a merman whose only interaction with humans was listening to their songs -- and didn’t seem to understand much of what his own words meant. “Temma is okay?”
Temma made a small, distressed sound in reply. It was meant to be an agreement -- an assurance that he was okay -- but somehow he couldn’t help but feel emotional around the creature he had trapped in his home. Astel was so nice to him, and yet--
Wasn’t it wrong to keep this bundle of sunshine caged in and all to himself like this? Wasn’t it selfish? He should’ve returned Astel to the sea right away, but here he was hiding the merman in his bathtub like an addict protecting his stash.
Maybe his line of work really did make him crazy, after all.
Astel frowned at Temma’s reaction, and he was also reaching out to pat at Temma’s head. He couldn’t quite reach at first -- he was pretty small and light, and probably if he had legs and could stand at his full height, he’d only reach Temma’s chin at most -- so Temma had to lean closer in order to feel the small hand rubbing at his head gently.
It was mimicking what Temma himself would do to Astel on the regular, and it wouldn’t surprise Temma at all if the merman thought this was supposed to be the human response to every single emotion put on display.
“Temma’s sad?” Astel asked, and he seemed to be rubbing a little bit more vigorously now at Temma’s head, messing up the blond locks entirely. Did he think that more enthusiasm was meant to be more comforting? “No sad you, Temma!”
“No, I’m just tired,” Temma replied, smiling despite himself. He took the hand from his hair and pressed a soft kiss to the merman’s palm in gratitude for the effort Astel had put into comforting him. “It’s ‘don’t be sad’, by the way, not ‘no sad you’.”
“Don’t be sad,” Astel repeated dutifully, and then he was saying something else that sounded lyrical to Temma’s ears even though from the tone itself, it was obvious that the merman was cursing in his own language. A small and annoyed pout formed on Astel’s lips afterwards and then he was saying the words again, louder this time. “Don’t be sad, Temma!”
“Human language is hard, huh?” Temma teased, finding himself chuckling afterwards. It was like all his fatigue was melting away from him, and all he had to do was spend some time around his unlikely housemate. “And I said I wasn’t sad. I said I was tired, Astel.”
More lyrical sounds that were probably curses. Astel snatched his hand away from Temma’s grip and there was a sudden splash, some of the water from the bathtub rising up to crash against Temma’s face.
Temma coughed when a bit of water got into his mouth and nose, and then he was hearing the light laughter from Astel -- warm, so warm, and so beautiful, that he was feeling completely relaxed now and finally home -- and then he was laughing too.
They’d met entirely by accident. Temma had been riding his bike home from work and had decided on a whim to pick up trash on the beach because Izuru had mentioned over lunch that it was a calming activity he did over the weekends to destress. And since Temma felt particularly stressed that day -- a deadline had been moved and he’d had to rush out results -- he’d wanted to give it a try to see if it worked.
He’d spent a good few minutes wandering in the dark and seeing absolutely no trash at all to pick-up -- he’d even thought that Izuru had tricked him -- before he’d finally spotted what looked like an empty bottle in the distant shallow waters.
Temma had made his way towards the object, secretly hoping it was one of those message-in-a-bottle things he’d only heard about but had never seen. If it was, and if it contained some good gossip, maybe he’d finally have something interesting happening in his life that would be good to talk about over lunch.
Except when he’d bent to pick up the bottle, his hand was wrapping around another hand -- wet and warm and small -- instead of the glass he’d expected to make contact with.
He’d screamed in surprise -- who wouldn’t?! -- and he’d been met with an answering scream in return. In retrospect, both Temma and Astel were lucky that the beach was deserted at that hour and that the nearest houses -- Temma’s among them -- were a good distance away from the shore that no one else heard the chaos.
The problem was, despite both of them screaming, neither of them had let go of the bottle. And maybe Astel would’ve bolted, but his hand was beneath Temma’s at that moment and Temma’s grip was hard in his surprise. He held on even tighter when he’d calmed down a bit and blue eyes traced the hand he was holding back to its owner.
“Are you a mermaid-- uh, merman?” Temma asked, his eyes on the tail that seemed to glow a little as the creature narrowed green eyes at him. “Wow. I didn’t think you guys were real.”
“My bottle,” the creature said, his voice cute and yet sounding a little accented as he seemed to be trying to tug the bottle and his own hand out of Temma’s grip. “Genie in a bottle.”
“What?” Temma asked, still not letting go because he had the feeling that if he did, he’d lose sight of this miracle immediately. “It’s just a regular bottle. It doesn’t even look like it has a message in it. Why would it have a genie?”
The merman frowned at him and opened his mouth before closing it, and then he looked like he was thinking very hard about what to say next.
“Let it go,” the merman said at last, and then he seemed to be singing the next few lines. “Let it go, let it go, can’t hold it back anymore~”
Temma wondered for a split second if he’d stepped into some sort of strange musical on his way home from work -- there were multiple stories about these things nowadays -- but then he shook himself out of that absurd thought and tried for a simpler explanation instead.
Perhaps the merman just couldn’t communicate in the human tongue and could only do so via songs he’d already heard before?
“Do you understand me?” Temma asked slowly, a part of him thinking he was completely losing his mind, but the other part not wanting to let go of this opportunity. If this was real, and if he was talking to a merman, then--
Was it pathetic of him to want to have the creature as a friend instead of wanting fame and fortune from this discovery? He never even entertained the thought of telling anyone else about the encounter. In fact, he was simply wondering if he could maybe reach an agreement with the merman to meet at the shore every now and then to talk. Surely they could tell each other so many interesting things, right?
“Understand little,” the merman replied, nodding. He seemed to finally be relaxing and stopped trying to pull his hand away so Temma felt it was safe enough to pull his own hand back. “But no talk. Sing? Let’s get down to business~? To defeat the Huns~?”
“That’s okay,” Temma assured, though he hoped the merman didn’t expect him to sing his own responses as well. He hadn’t sang since choir in elementary school, and he wasn’t about to start now. “You have a very nice voice.”
“Oh,” the merman said and it seemed as if his tail was splashing a little in the water as he smiled. “Thank you!”
Cute, Temma thought, finding himself smiling back. He reached out before he could stop himself, and he was stroking at the blue hair as he continued to talk.
“What’s your name? Do you want to be friends?”
“Astel,” the merman replied, and it looked like he was shivering a little under Temma’s touch so Temma pulled away reluctantly. “Yes. You’ve got a friend in me~”
“I’m Temma,” Temma replied, finding this whole encounter very weird and yet it was the first moment of peace he’d felt in he didn’t know how long. In fact, it was even a little bit funny because of the way they were communicating. “Do you like human songs? I can probably play some on my phone if you want.”
There was a lot of vigorous nodding and splashing that accompanied that so Temma did end up sitting on the beach and playing songs for Astel throughout the night. The merman seemed happy about this, and his elation was infectious to the point that when he sang along to some songs, Temma found himself joining in too without feeling self-conscious about his voice at all.
He hadn’t even realized how long they’d been there until his phone beeped to signify that it was running out of battery. His eyes caught on the time -- just three hours before he’d have to go back to work -- and he felt the exhaustion he’d somehow forgotten creep up on him all over again.
“I have to go,” Temma said then, unable to keep the sadness out of his voice. It had been so long since he’d felt this light, and the inevitable crash was affecting him more than it should. How could he just go back to his grueling work when he could stay and have this instead? Why wasn’t he born a mermaid too or something? Did mermaids even work?
“Eh? No go. Temma stay,” Astel insisted, pouting. He was adding in a few other things afterwards -- small upbeat sounds mixed in with human lyrics -- but Temma couldn’t make sense of the message. Was it the merman’s own language, perhaps?
At the very least, it looked like the feeling hadn’t been one-sided and that Astel had fun being with Temma too. Though that was probably because Temma was the source of Astel’s music and nothing else.
“Unless you want to go home with me, we’ll just have to meet-up again some other time,” Temma interrupted the impassioned -- but still so far incomprehensible -- speech.
He then laughed a little at his own statement afterwards. Where would he even put a merman in his house? In his bathtub? There were two bathrooms in the house so technically he could afford losing usage of one, but why was he even thinking about this? There was no way--
“Okay,” Astel said easily. Then he was reaching out his arms towards Temma as if asking to be carried, and pairing that movement with completely human lyrics all over again. “Country roads, take me home~ To the place I belong~”
The days went on and spilled into weeks. Despite their rough beginning -- Temma had to figure out how and when to feed Astel, and the logistics of how to keep a merman alive inside of his bathroom -- they settled into some sort of routine eventually. Temma would feed Astel twice a day -- once before work and once after -- and then he’d leave the merman to his own devices. He taught Astel how to use the old phone, and told the merman to send a message if ever he needed help with anything.
Astel sent a message exactly once asking Temma to come home in the middle of his work shift -- ‘come home, Temma, play with me’ -- but when Temma said no and explained why he couldn’t, the merman didn’t try again.
Astel seemed mostly content with this arrangement, but there were also times when Temma would come home after work to find his housemate staring off into nothing like he was dreaming of a world far away from where Temma had him trapped.
“Astel, are you okay?” Temma asked when Astel’s lethargy became more frequent. It was obvious that Astel was trying to stay upbeat -- he still welcomed Temma home with a smile and sang songs to lift Temma’s tired mood -- but at the same time, he was eating less and less these days and was consequently growing thinner and weaker.
Temma lifted the small creature out of the bathtub and into his arms, wrapping Astel’s tail up into a towel and bringing him to the living room in a princess carry. He sank into the couch with Astel on his lap, feeling Astel lean into the embrace, the merman’s cheek pressed against Temma’s chest as if he were listening intently to the blond’s heartbeat.
“Astel?” Temma repeated, trying to push away the worry he could already feel growing inside of him. The merman had his eyes closed and seemed to be falling asleep in Temma’s arms. “Can you talk?”
“Sorry, Temma. Low energy,” Astel whispered, and then he was yawning and snuggling more into Temma’s embrace. “Not know why.”
“Maybe you’re just bored,” Temma said, hugging Astel closer to him and pressing a soft kiss to the blue strands of hair. A part of him knew by then that their current lifestyle wasn’t sustainable -- Astel seemed to be shedding scales as time went on, and the previously shimmering blue of his tail seemed to be turning a bit gray -- but he didn’t want to admit it even to himself. Surely Astel was just tired of being cooped up in a tiny bathroom and all he needed was a change of pace.
So, Temma bought an inflatable pool.
It had been an unspeakable challenge for him to blow enough air into the damn thing -- maybe he should’ve bought an air pump while he was at it, but it felt like too big of an expense for something he was only planning to use once -- and Astel had cycled between concern and laughing at him while he’d attempted it.
Temma would be completely put out by this reaction, but he was still very much relieved that he’d been right all along and all Astel needed was something different.
“Temma look like puffer fish,” Astel pointed out, giggling. His tail was slapping at the water in the bathtub as he spoke so despite his teasing, he still seemed very excited about this new development. “Round face. Funny.”
“Shut up,” Temma wheezed out, trying to desperately suck in more air into his lungs after a particularly big huff into the inflatable satanic object.
“Shut up,” Astel repeated with delight, and Temma groaned at the words, realizing he’d once again taught Astel a new thing that would probably be used against him. “Temma, shut up.”
“Don’t say that,” Temma said, sighing. Even as he protested, he knew he’d already lost. It was too late. Astel’s brain soaked things up quickly like a sponge, and he would surely--
“Don’t say that,” Astel repeated, giggling. He knew what he was doing. Astel was obviously smart despite his limitations when it came to Temma’s language, he just seemed to have made a hobby out of teasing Temma. The merman could be extremely kind -- stroking Temma’s hair comfortingly, singing to him, and listening to him rant on about his job for hours -- but he could also be purposely annoying like he was doing now.
“Temma, blow more. Fat face. Temma fat,” Astel said, clapping a little as if he were trying to be encouraging.
“Astel!” Temma said, shooting a glare at his companion in the hopes that Astel would behave until Temma was done with this stupid goddamned plastic pool.
“Temma!” Astel said in return, sticking out his tongue afterwards like the brat that he was.
I love you, Temma thought then, and the words in his mind didn’t surprise him at all.
Astel’s new residence -- the pool in Temma’s living room -- seemed to have returned him to a more energetic state. He even began sending messages to Temma at work, all of them emojis and random lyrics that didn’t really make sense but seemed sweet just the same due to the frequency that Astel sent them with (“Told you he has a girlfriend,” Roberu whispered to Shinove when they both saw Temma smiling goofily down at his phone).
It also allowed him to learn human things even faster. Temma would leave his laptop on a small table beside the pool and later on come home to find Astel playing music on it even as he played a game on Temma’s TV, the controller in his hands held away from the water at his waist.
Temma started getting back into his hobbies then, climbing into the pool beside the merman, and at first getting thoroughly beaten at a game he had bought with his own money and was playing on his own console. It fired up his competitive spirit and they started practicing together in the evenings, Astel sometimes resorting to dirty tactics like attempting to drag Temma under the water as they played.
Temma usually didn’t respond -- it’d make a mess and he didn’t want to get the rest of his living room wet -- but one night he’d finally gotten extremely close to nabbing first place (when before he’d usually end up third or lower), and Astel bumped into his shoulder at just the right moment, making Temma drop down to fifth in the race before it ended.
“Astel!!” Temma whined, and he was tossing the controller onto the couch and grabbing at Astel’s waist, his hands roaming as he attempted to tickle the merman in revenge.
Astel squealed -- he didn’t seem to expect an actual retaliation -- and then he was trying to raise his hands to not get the controller wet even as he was trying to wiggle out of Temma’s grip.
“No, no, stop, Temma!”
He ended up in a fit of giggles, Temma pulling the controller out of Astel’s hands himself and tossing it to safety even as he yanked the shaking merman onto his lap. Astel was still laughing, but he looked beautiful -- he always looked beautiful, and Temma was too far gone by now to even try to deny what he felt --
“Astel,” Temma whispered, his hands coming up to cup Astel’s cheeks, to tilt his face up at an angle so Temma could lean in and press their foreheads against each other’s.
Astel’s giggles tapered off into silence, but it wasn’t the bad kind. Instead, he seemed curious, his green eyes wide as he met Temma’s gaze. His own hands came up to rest on Temma’s wrists, and his touch was gentle.
“I want to kiss you,” Temma continued, the words quiet and yet still asking for permission despite the fact that he was already moving even closer, their noses bumping lightly at this distance. “Do you understand? Can I do it?”
He wanted to make sure, because though Astel had learned a lot about humans -- and he’d probably watched enough movies by now to know the direction of Temma’s thoughts -- this was the kind of thing Temma didn’t want to force between them. If Astel only saw him as a friend, then--
“Yes,” Astel replied, and Temma saw green eyes slip shut in permission. One of Astel’s thumbs brushed gently at the skin of Temma’s wrist in a slow and rhythmic movement -- much like when Astel would stroke Temma’s hair -- as if encouraging him.
Temma pressed their lips together once -- as softly as he could because he still didn’t want to startle his companion with this development -- and then Astel’s eyes were opening again when Temma pulled back.
“Temma,” Astel said, his tone cute and adorably confused. “Finished already?”
“No,” Temma muttered -- didn’t the merman realize that Temma was trying to hold back for Astel’s own sake here? -- and then he was deciding that he was going to take one proper kiss before really stopping. “Part your lips.”
He didn’t let Astel answer this time, already taking the merman’s bottom lip into his mouth and tugging down gently. Astel made a small sound that was hard to interpret, but his eyes closed again and his mouth opened enough for Temma to slip his tongue in.
It was a slow kiss -- Temma tracing the insides of Astel’s mouth with his tongue -- and like a flower opening up, Astel was relaxing into the kiss, his entire body leaning into Temma’s as he began to kiss back, his tongue shyly tangling with Temma’s own.
It was like a slice of heaven, and for a moment Temma was forgetting his resolve to do things slowly so as not to scare Astel. He moved his hand from Astel’s cheek to the merman’s hair, grasping there and tugging backwards to tilt his head back more so Temma could kiss him deeper.
Astel’s grip on Temma’s wrists grew harder but he didn’t pull away. It was enough to remind Temma of what he was doing, however, so he slowed down and pulled back, both of them breathing heavily when the kiss ended.
“Stay with me forever,” Temma whispered then, wanting to say a different set of words to profess his love, but not confident that they would be received well -- or if Astel would understand how much Temma felt for him at all. Temma wrapped his arms around the merman on his lap and tugged Astel closer to him, pressing several fleeting kisses to the blue hair and trying to satisfy himself with just that.
“Okay,” Astel said -- though Temma wasn’t sure if the merman understood what exactly he was agreeing to -- and then he was leaning into the embrace, his own arms coming around Temma to hug him back.
They stayed like this for a while, up until Temma had to start preparing for bed so he would get enough sleep for the upcoming work day. When he was shifting Astel off his lap, the merman stopped him with a hand on his chest.
“Wait,” Astel said, and then he was pressing his free hand against a spot on his own chest and scratching at the bare skin there -- wincing and making a small sound of pain as he did so -- until he’d produced a small and yet shining gold and blue scale. He held it out to Temma afterwards, a small smile on his lips. “For you, Temma.”
Temma didn’t quite understand the significance, but it felt important so he took it, holding the warm and shining thing in his own hand and already planning to turn it into some sort of necklace so he could keep it close to his person.
“Thank you,” Temma murmured, and he was pressing their lips together again one more time -- gently, so as not to trigger his own desires too much -- before continuing. “I’ll get you something in return too.”
Shopping for something tangible that would convey his feelings to Astel proved to be a difficult endeavor for Temma. Not so much the shopping itself, but more of finding the time to go out and buy things. He was simply too busy, and anyway, he preferred staying at home to be with Astel during his free time instead of walking through stores to find what he had in mind for a gift.
Eventually, he ended up deciding to browse online instead, his fingers unconsciously fingering the scale he had hanging around his neck -- he’d placed it in a clear pouch and hung that on a simple string so he hadn’t had to purchase anything -- as he scrolled through listings of jewelry.
Would it be too hasty for him to buy a ring? Would Astel even understand what a ring meant to a human in a relationship? (Astel had said yes to forever, but did he know what that meant?) Maybe Temma could hang the ring onto a necklace and only properly explain when more time had passed and Astel knew for sure what he was getting into.
On another tab, Temma had a search query open, basic and to the point -- ‘how to have sex with mermaids’ -- but he’d lost his nerve to go through the results the moment he’d pressed the enter button so he’d immediately tabbed out of it. Besides, it wasn’t like random people on the internet would know, right? Temma would probably be better off asking Astel himself, but then he’d have to explain his urges and--
“Temma?”
A nasally voice, and Temma was looking up to see Izuru’s violet eyes focused on him. His black-haired coworker seemed slightly confused and at the same time irritated with him for a reason Temma couldn’t fathom.
“Izuru?”
“You know I’m dating the IT guy, right?” Izuru asked, and he was pulling off his headphones as he swiveled in his chair to properly face Temma.
“Uh, no?” Temma replied, resisting the urge to look over at Roberu or Shinove for help. Was this a consequence of his refusal to socialize after work? He wasn’t all that caught up in Izuru’s life given that the black-haired man didn’t exactly broadcast his private dealings as much as Roberu did on the regular.
Izuru frowned, and he looked like he was opening his mouth to speak again, but then Roberu’s voice was piping up from Temma’s other side and providing some clarity to the situation.
“He’s dating Miyabi,” Roberu explained. “The redhead we hired seven months ago?”
“Okay?” Temma said. He hadn’t even met Miyabi yet, seeing as their departments were different and Temma didn’t really hang-out with Izuru. “But what--”
“He just sent me a message saying you were searching up how to fuck mermaids on the company net,” Izuru interrupted. “And also searching up engagement rings.”
“Oh my god,” Roberu exclaimed before Temma could even begin to think of a reply in his complete and utter shock at the words. Someone was monitoring the company net?! Since when?! “Your girlfriend is a mermaid?! And you’re planning to propose?!”
“Wait--” Temma started, his panic shooting up to the maximum and making it hard to breathe all of a sudden. How could he salvage this situation? What kind of lie could he--
Izuru let out a little snort of amusement and he was shaking his head at Temma. “When I told you to pick up trash on the beach, I didn’t mean a mermaid. But of course you’d pick the weirdest possible option and then proceed to never talk about it.”
“Izu--”
“Oh, so some of them are still around,” Shinove said, and Temma was putting his head into his hands and desperately trying to think -- to anchor himself -- because he already didn’t know what in the world was going on. Why were his officemates reacting this way? And why were they talking as if mermaids being real was a fact of life?! What strange town had Temma even moved to?! Was everyone here like this?!
“I haven’t seen one for years, but I’m sure it’s still Oga leaving me those pretty shells. They’re definitely still out there,” Roberu began, and Temma knew he’d lost complete control of the situation. The only saving grace was that his coworkers didn’t seem to have any ill intentions towards mermaids. To think that just two tabs on his browser and Temma had almost put Astel in danger--
“Wait, why were you even looking at my search history?!” Temma blurted out, blue eyes narrowed as he raised his head out of his hands to glare at Izuru. Somehow he was finding himself more annoyed now than anything else. Thinking about the disaster these guys had almost brought upon Astel due to their snooping-- “What about my privacy?!”
“You don’t really talk to us so we were curious and had Miyabi keep an eye out,” Roberu explained, and then he was cackling to himself. “A girlfriend. I was right. I was right! Shinove, treat me out! You promised!”
“Hey, I said it could be a mermaid given the timing when it started,” Izuru pointed out crossly. “I should be the one getting the free dinner.”
“Shut up! You’re both wrong!” Temma found himself shouting, his irritation overriding all of his other feelings. Why hadn’t they just asked him instead of spying on him?! But wait, they’d tried that and Temma had been the one who’d refused to hang-out with them and talk.
Maybe he could start trying to be more open to his coworkers? They didn’t seem like bad people, and nowadays, Temma wasn’t too caught up in work that he just wanted to run away when his shift was done. He was able to destress properly at home, and Astel’s messages while he was at work kept him sane and reminded him to take breaks. So perhaps he could stay for one after work gathering or two?
But first, before he could be friends with these guys, he had to clear up one thing.
“He’s a merman and he’s my boyfriend,” Temma said in a calmer tone, and then he was turning his head towards Shinove and raising both eyebrows as he did so. He normally wouldn’t dare tease his boss, but by now he’d had a lot of practice when it came to bantering. “So, since I’m the only one who’s actually right, do I get the free dinner instead?”
Heading home after his first night-out with his coworkers had Temma on a bit of an emotional high. He’d enjoyed their company more than he’d thought he would -- even finally meeting Miyabi after apparently working in the same place as the guy for months -- and had ended up staying longer than he’d planned. He’d sent a message to Astel beforehand informing the merman that he’d be late coming home, but had been too caught up in things to check his phone for a reply up until the group had dispersed for the night.
He glanced down at his phone as he walked to his bike, scrolling down to the bottom of his chat thread with Astel.
There was no reply.
Temma didn’t think too much of it at first. Maybe Astel got too immersed in playing a game all over again and Temma would come home to see that cute expression Astel got on his face when he was trying to concentrate.
It was only when he got home and saw that all the TV was off that a deep feeling of dread settled in the pit of his stomach.
“Astel?” Temma called out, and he was hurriedly going from room to room, opening doors to try and find where the merman could be hiding. “Astel? Where are you? I’m home so--”
Please welcome me home.
He should’ve known the moment he’d seen the empty pool in the living room, but Temma didn’t want to believe it. After all, where would Astel go? For that matter, how would he go? He couldn’t stay out of water for too long -- an hour or so at most based on Temma’s own estimates -- and his mobility was limited due to his lack of legs.
Had Astel been taken away then? But by who and why? The source of Temma’s happiness, the one who’d retaught him what it was like to have fun--
A glimpse of blue at the corner of his eyes and Temma was turning abruptly to run into the kitchen. He probably should’ve checked there first, but he’d thought that maybe Astel had moved to the bathroom or had gone to the bedrooms and not--
“Astel!”
Temma fell to his knees beside the limp form of the merman on his kitchen floor, and he was automatically hooking his arms around Astel’s torso and pulling the merman into his arms so he could carry Astel back towards the pool in the living room. Temma didn’t bother with pulling off his coat or emptying his pockets, he just practically stumbled his way into the water, trying not to think about how Astel wasn’t moving at all, how the blue scales were mostly gray now, and how he was receiving no answer despite his constant pleas for one.
He tried not to think about how Astel had probably gone for food because Temma hadn’t come home in time and how the merman probably got hungry -- ravenous, like was his norm -- due to all the energy he needed to function, and how long it’d been since Temma’s shift had ended.
More than an hour.
Enough time for the water tracks leading to the kitchen to be completely dried up and leaving no trace of Astel’s journey from one side of the house to the other in his search for food. Enough time for his scales to lose their brilliant shine. Enough time for him to--
No, no, no. He wasn’t dead. He wasn’t dead. He wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be. He wouldn’t. He said he’d stay forever. He’d promised. Temma was gonna buy a ring. Things were finally going right. He was finally making more friends. He was finally happy. He was--
“Wake up,” Temma whispered, feeling the tears spring to his eyes and start to spill like an endless waterfall. He hugged the merman close to his chest, sinking into the water with him up until Astel was completely under and Temma could feel the liquid splash against his chin. His chest hurt. Breathing hurt. Everything hurt. Was this his fault? It was his fault, wasn’t it? He should’ve given Astel back to the sea a long time ago, but he’d been selfish. He’d wanted-- “Astel, please, I’m home, so wake up.”
There was no reply.
Temma didn’t know how long he was in the water, Astel clutched to his chest tightly like a lifeline that he didn’t want to let go off. He felt wrung dry and his skin was pruning from overexposure. His head and his eyes were aching from all the crying and he wasn’t sure if the empty feeling that was settling inside of him was preferable to the pain or not.
He didn’t even know if his vision was functioning correctly because either it was his imagination -- buoyed by a desperate hope because he had nothing else other than that -- or if Astel’s tail really was regaining its original blue-ish color, albeit extremely slowly. Was Astel breathing or was Temma just shaking too much to tell? His fingers were numb so he couldn’t even properly take the merman’s pulse. Where did one feel for a pulse anyway? Temma’s thoughts were so scattered that he didn’t even know what to do anymore.
There was a ringing in the background, but there’d been ringing for what felt like hours now, stopping and starting all over again. It was probably Shinove, trying to call and ask why Temma hadn’t shown up to work yet despite never missing a single day in close to two years.
Temma didn’t have the energy to find his phone or to talk to anyone, really, so he ignored it. He kept ignoring everything up until there was a loud slam from the direction of the front door and Roberu was suddenly there, saying something about how it was good that Temma had left the door unlocked and that Shinove was worried and--
“Oh,” Roberu said, when he’d made it to the side of the inflatable pool and seemed to have gotten a good look at what Temma had in his arms. “I see. Hang on, let me make a few calls.”
The sea felt cold and unforgiving.
Temma didn’t want to give Astel up to this, because he didn’t think the warm person he loved deserved to be thrown into what felt like icy waters lapping at Temma’s waist and freezing his legs as he walked a little bit further in. Roberu was yelling encouragement from the shore, but the wind was making it hard to make out the other man’s words.
Earlier, Roberu had called Shien who’d apparently run around on his boyfriend’s behalf on the shore near Roberu’s home, calling out the name of a merman that Temma’s coworker had befriended since the tender age of 6.
And here that merman was now, popping out of the water in front of Temma and looking majestic. Dark skin, dark hair, and green eyes -- did all mermen have green eyes? -- along with what looked like a horn sticking out of the side of his head.
“Oga?” Temma asked, the name rasped out of an already dry throat. When was the last time Temma had drank something? He couldn’t remember.
No, his thoughts remained consumed by the slight form in his arms that he was just now reluctantly passing to the nodding merman. There weren’t many words -- Oga clearly didn’t have the same speech capabilities that Astel did when it came to the human tongue -- but perhaps the merman could see how distraught Temma looked because he did attempt to communicate before he left.
“Heart,” Oga said, and he was raising his chin -- his arms were full of Astel at that moment -- to point at the scale visible through Temma’s wet clothes. “Okay.”
“What?” Temma asked, his right hand coming up to wrap around the scale protectively. It was still warm despite the chill of the cold air seeping in through his clothes. Would it always be warm in the same way it would always remind him of Astel?
Oga’s eyebrows drew together and he was muttering a few things to himself in his own language, before he cleared his throat and adjusted his grip on Astel so he could point first at the blue-haired merman’s chest and then at Temma’s fist closed around his own necklace.
“You have Astel heart,” Oga said slowly and carefully. His voice was deep, and maybe at any other time in Temma's life, he would've found it soothing. “He go back to you.”
Temma didn’t reply, but that was only because he’d once upon a time heard that if you said your wishes out loud in front of anyone, they wouldn’t come true.
Two weeks passed. Temma made sure to drop by the beach everyday in order to squint at the waters and try to see if Astel was anywhere in sight. His coworkers took turns coming with him -- perhaps he wasn’t coping as well as he’d thought despite his efforts to try and convince himself of Oga’s parting words to him -- and they kept inviting him out to keep him busy even when work was done.
It made the empty house he returned to everyday a little bit bearable, but at the same time, every corner was rife with memories and Temma didn’t know how he’d even managed to live in this lonely place before Astel had come into his life. He ended up playing games instead to distract himself and sleeping only a few hours per day -- the bare minimum -- before he could rush through his morning routine and back out the door towards work.
Overall, it felt a bit like he was regressing back to his old and permanently exhausted self, but now with an added bonus of heartache.
“At least you know he loves you,” Miyabi was saying, and it was obvious that he was trying to be supportive as they walked the length of the beach together. The redhead had somehow been roped into alternating with the rest of Temma’s coworkers in watching over him, and in Temma’s opinion, Miyabi seemed to be trying to rival Roberu with how much he talked during these little walks. “Oga says the heart scale is what mermaids exchange during their marriage ceremony.”
“How did you learn their language again?” Temma asked, not wanting to talk about Astel too much because everything still hurt whenever he attempted it. Was Astel really coming back? Or had that just been something Oga had made up to make Temma feel better?
And even if he did come back, would he be able to stay? It seemed as if mermen weren’t meant to coexist with humans on land, given that Astel had already started weakening even before the incident had happened.
“Not sure, I just understand them when they talk,” Miyabi shrugged. “Maybe I have the bloodline of--”
“Temma!”
The voice was so achingly familiar that Temma was automatically turning towards the waves and looking around to spot where--
Astel waved at him, and then the blue-haired merman was getting closer, and Temma himself was moving towards the waves to meet him halfway. Somehow, just seeing Astel lively and grinning at him washed away all of Temma’s previous worries and strengthened his resolve. He'd do whatever it took to keep Astel beside him. Even if it meant sacrificing his sleep to bring Astel back to the sea daily--
“Temma, guess what?” Astel said excitedly when Temma reached him. “I--”
Temma didn’t let Astel finish, he was automatically reaching out both hands to pick Astel up out of the water and crush him into a hug. Astel let out a surprised sound at the action, and then his own arms were coming around Temma to reciprocate. Temma buried his face in Astel’s wet hair, trying not to cry from the relief that he felt all over.
It was only when Miyabi started talking from the shore that Temma realized something was different about the merman in his arms.
“That’s Astel?” Miyabi asked, and he sounded all at once appreciative as he wolf-whistled. “Nice legs.”
“Legs?” Temma started, and then he was looking down and immediately scrambling to slip off his own coat to shove it onto his apparently completely naked human-looking boyfriend.
“Don’t look at him,” Temma said to Miyabi, trying to cover what parts of Astel he could cover with his own drenched clothes. Astel was being thoroughly unhelpful throughout this, the blue-haired merman -- or perhaps he could just be called a man now? -- just giggling all throughout. “He’s only mine to see.”
“I’m just gonna go on home then,” Miyabi said with his own laugh, and he was pulling out his phone even as he walked away. “I’ll let the others know too.”
“Who’s that?” Astel asked when he’d stopped giggling, and he was tilting his head up at Temma curiously. “Friend?”
“Friend,” Temma confirmed with a nod, and the word reminded him of how he’d actually started becoming friends with his coworkers and their lovers, so he was patting at his pockets in consequence and trying to find--
“Congratulations! Temma has friends! Not loser Temma anymore!” Astel exclaimed, and he was clapping all over again like he meant it as a compliment. It was like he’d never left, and Temma was torn between enjoying that -- he’d missed Astel terribly, even his teasing -- and getting annoyed at the insult his boyfriend had just lobbed at him.
One of his hands closed over the metal in his pocket and he was pulling out a ring -- just a simple golden band, nothing too fancy -- and grabbing at one of Astel’s hands so he could hold the ring over a single finger.
“Astel, I wanted to ask--”
“Oh, Aruran -- All Father -- gave me earrings,” Astel interrupted, and he was shaking his head to draw Temma’s eyes towards the twin golden earrings dangling from both his ears. “Give me human parts. If I take off, back to tail.”
“That’s nice, but--”
“Legs hard,” Astel continued, and he seemed to be getting into it now, lifting one leg and then the other as he spoke. It showed Temma flashes of skin he didn’t want to be seeing right now -- pale skin moving out of the coat jacket Temma had thrown over his lover that looked stupidly oversized and yet so attractive on Astel’s small frame -- since it was a wholly inappropriate place for him to appreciate Astel’s body. “Surprised Temma can walk on them.”
“Astel,” Temma hissed, and he was shoving the ring onto Astel’s ring finger before he reached out to pull the jacket closed and snug around his boyfriend.
Astel blinked, tilting his head and looking confused all over again. “Temma?”
“I love you,” Temma said, bending down so he could sear their mouths together in a hard kiss. He kept one hand on the front of the jacket while the other wrapped around Astel’s waist and pulled him closer. Astel let out a soft moan, and it seemed as if his legs were giving way due to Temma’s fervor, the merman’s entire body falling against Temma who caught him easily.
When the kiss parted, Temma decided he could explain the ring some other time -- it wasn’t like Astel had explained the scale he’d given Temma either -- and what was important now was a different set of words. Words that had changed his life for the better, and the words that he’d been yearning to hear from Astel’s lips all over again these past two weeks that they’d been apart.
“Welcome me home, please.”
Astel smiled indulgently, and he was reaching out to rub at Temma’s head all over again, the action warm and familiar now, almost more pleasurable than even the kiss they’d just shared.
“Welcome home, Temma,” Astel said. “I love you.”