Chapter Text
Tesla wished that there was some sort of record player or dvd player in the building so that the bookstore she worked at would have music. Instead, Tesla was stuck with the sound of Joachim's snores from where he was napping on one of the store's beanbags as she was elbow deep into restocking the shelves.
No customers were in the store, Joachim didn't count as he was more like a mascot at this point, so Tesla felt free to grumble to herself about the lack of music. It felt like a crime committed specifically to spite her. Tesla was usually the only clerk in the store anyway, so she should be able to do what she wanted.
Tesla was leaning into one of the gigantic boxes filled with new books, balancing on her stomach because her feet didn't quite reach the ground, when the bell tied to the door handle jingled, signaling a new customer entering the store. Tesla pushed herself up to her feet, breathing heavy from exertion.
"Welcome in!" She called and as much as she wanted to finish restocking the books so she wouldn't have to do it later, company policy dictated she had to greet every customer, so Tesla hurried over to the cash register from the back room.
She brushed her hair out of her face, her bangs sticking to her forehead from the sweat that had begun to bead at her hairline. Focusing her eyes, Tesla was struck speechless, completely forgetting her usual speech, at the sight of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in front of the counter.
The other woman looked bemused at Tesla's sudden silence, the tilt of her lips perfectly accentuating the rest of her features. The blue of her short hair reminded Tesla of the sky when she floated in the ocean, of happier and simpler times at the beach.
Tesla found her voice again after a couple seconds of internally stuttering,
"Hi! Is it your first time at our bookstore?" She knew it was, Tesla had never seen the woman before, she worked almost every shift. A lot of new tourists came through in the summertime, so it wasn't unusual to see new people.
"Yes," Tesla almost swooned at the sound of the woman's soft yet sure voice, "I recently moved here for my job but wasn't able to bring any of my books along. I was wondering if you had any recommendations for science fiction books?"
Tesla perked up, giving recommendations was usually the worst part of her job, but getting to spend time in the aisles of the store with a beautiful woman made the tedious process sound much more fun.
"Of course! Follow me!" Tesla's heart pounded as she directed the woman to the science fiction aisle. Turning around when she got to the science fiction section, she realized that she had forgotten to ask the woman what she was looking for.
"Is there anything you're particularly interested in or disinterested in?" Tesla clasped her hands together. The woman tapped a nicely manicured nail on her lips.
"I'm especially interested in books regarding the ocean. I'm a marine biologist so my life has always revolved around the water." She finally decided on, a small smile settling on her lips.
Tesla briefly froze at the other woman's words. Her heart stopped for a second before she internally scolded herself for being so irrational. She lived in a town on the beach, people who liked the ocean were common, the other woman had no idea that Tesla was a mermaid. Besides, marine biologists weren't the ones to study mermaids, those were usually marine anthropologists.
"We have several science fiction books that are set around the ocean!" Tesla turned and began grabbing the specific books out of the shelves, placing them in the other woman's hands.
"Lovely," The woman praised once Tesla had handed her all of the science fiction books they had that involved the ocean, "I'll take them all." Tesla blinked in surprise. They didn't stock that many books, being a small store and all, but the other woman wasn't holding an insignificant number of books in her arms.
"I'll check you out now then." Tesla spotted a glimpse of Joachim, still passed out in the bean bag, as she left the aisle with the other woman close behind her. She hoped that he wouldn't wake up while the other woman was in the shop, as she knew that her cheeks were flaming red. It wasn't her fault that she was weak to pretty women but if he saw her she wouldn't hear the end of it.
Tesla checked her out relatively quickly, making small talk throughout the process. She learned that the woman's name was Lieserl Einstein but that she preferred to go by Einstein, that she lived out near the lighthouse in the outskirts of the town, and not only did she move to Tesla's small beach town recently but she had moved into her new place the day before.
Unfortunately, the new information only spurred on Tesla's infatuation with the other woman. By the time that Einstein had left, holding her bag full of new books, Tesla was staring at her with hearts swirling in her eyes.
"So who was that woman? Is she a tourist or new here?" Joachim's voice piped up right next to Tesla, who yelped. She didn't not notice that Joachim had woken up or that he had walked over to the cash register.
"You're going to give me a heart attack, don't sneak up on me like that." Tesla snapped, ignoring the questions about Einstein. She was still trying to calm down her racing heart, from chatting with Einstein and from the scare.
"Oh," Joachim's eyes widened in realization, "You have a crush on her." A horribly wide grin spread across his face and Tesla felt her cheeks burn hot at the words.
"No I do not !" Tesla lied, albeit unsuccessfully. Joachim just laughed, rubbing his hands together.
Tesla groaned, burying her face in her hands, she was in for a shift full of getting made fun of by a teenager.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Tesla picked up dinner on the way home from work, her roommate Edison texting her halfway through the shift to ask if she would pick up pizza. They had limited options for takeout in their small town so they usually ended up eating pizza when neither of them wanted to cook.
Edison and Tesla clashed a lot, having differing opinions on most topics, but she was the only other mermaid that Tesla knew and so Tesla reluctantly lived with her. She trusted no one else to have her back when she went swimming, even if Edison only went swimming at night in her original form when it was absolutely necessary to stave off the ocean sickness.
"I'm home!" Tesla called loudly into the silence as she kicked off her shoes in the hallway leading into their house. She heard a muffled affirmation from further in the house so she determined that Edison was probably showering after work, something that was usual for her as she hated sand getting in her clothes. Tesla had been confused why she took the lifeguarding position in the first place after a solid week of Edison's complaints, but it had become a normal part of her schedule at this point.
Tesla yawned, setting up the pizza on the small dining table in their kitchen and going to grab a plate and a glass of water. Her mind drifted to Einstein and, while Tesla knew it was unlikely since she had just purchased a lot of books, she hoped that Einstein would return to her bookstore again soon.
Tesla was already on her second slice of pizza when Edison walked into the kitchen in her pajamas, her hair still damp from the shower. They briefly exchanged pleasantries, ignoring that they had argued just that morning over cereal preferences, while Edison sat down and began to eat.
Dinner was a quiet affair, Edison noticeably exhausted from her lifeguarding shift and Tesla busy thinking about Einstein.
She was having a hard time focusing, brain stuck on the watery pools of dark blue that made up Einstein's eyes, reminding her of the deep ocean waves. Unfortunately Edison noticed her lack of focus.
"Did something good happen at work today?" Edison snarked right before taking a bite of her pizza slice. Tesla was startled out of her thoughts, immediately slamming her guard up. She knew Edison would endlessly make fun of her if she found out about Einstein.
"No."
"Really? No pretty girl walked into your shop?" Edison wasn't fooled by her immediate lie, being much more observant than Tesla wanted her to be. She tilted her head in faux innocent curiosity.
"No." Tesla hesitated slightly and Edison's eyes widened. Tesla internally cursed at her unintentional pause.
"You need to stop falling for beautiful tourists, they're not going to stay just for you." Edison spoke condescendingly. Tesla rolled her eyes, what a rude thing to say ! Besides,
"Einstein's not a tourist. She just moved here for marine biology." Tesla corrected Edison's words, Edison only nodding sarcastically in response.
"Mhm." Edison hummed, obviously not believing her. This was why they argued constantly, because Edison couldn't stop being a bitch . Tesla ignored the fact that she had fallen for tourists who had left her at the end of summer before. Einstein was different, she was a new resident after all and not a tourist.
"I'm not lying." Tesla huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. There's no reason for me to lie . She angrily stuffed more pizza into her mouth.
"No, no I'm sure. Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at night." Edison did not sound sure. She, in fact, sounded just as disbelieving as she had moments before.
"Fuck off." Tesla snapped. They had been having a perfectly good dinner without arguing before Edison had decided to be nosy.
Edison rolled her eyes, "Yeah, sure okay." And she stood up to leave, collecting her plate and putting it into the sink. Finally, Tesla could have a nice quiet dinner without any poking and prodding into her love life.
"I'm joining you tonight at the beach by the way. Do not leave without me." Edison turned around while in the doorway, pointing an accusing finger at Tesla. It was rude but not completely unfounded, Tesla had left her behind once.
"Ugh, fine." Tesla groaned, throwing her arms in the air in annoyance. She was glad that Edison was finally joining her, if only because she thought Edison's insistence on only reverting back to her original form when she started to develop ocean sickness was stupid, but that didn't mean she wanted to have to sneak around the town at midnight with two people instead of one.
Tesla grabbed the last slice of pizza out of the box before throwing away the box. She wandered to her room, eating the pizza on the way. I'll do the dishes later , she promised herself.
First though, she was going to get ready for bed and sleep a little before they headed out to swim around midnight. Edison was already done with her shower so Tesla had the bathroom to herself and she was going to make the most out of it.
Hours later, Tesla emerged from the bathroom with reddened skin that almost perfectly matched her fire red hair, from her practically scalding hot bath. Edison always argued with her bath temperature preferences, preferring to keep her baths cold so they were close to ocean temperatures, but Tesla would never give up her hot baths. They made her feel like she was enveloped in a warm blanket, a wet warm blanket but still a blanket.
After twisting her hair up so it wouldn't bother her while she slept, she hadn't washed it because it would be getting soaked with salt water in a couple of hours anyway, Tesla flopped into her bed. She was trying to get a couple of hours of rest before she woke up to go swim with Edison.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The moon was high in the sky, shining a gentle light onto the quiet streets, when Edison and Tesla slipped out of the house, Tesla clutching a bag with their towels in it. The two of them were unusually silent as they snuck through the empty streets, staying on the outskirts as they made their way to the beach.
Tesla had found an alcove, deep in the rocks where the beach met the mountains, that she could comfortably hide her clothes and bag in while she swam years before. It had been her hiding spot since she had first moved into the town and it had served her faithfully for years.
Tesla and Edison crawled in between the rocks, being almost cave like in their shapes all nestled together, with a small, inconspicuous looking tidal pool blocking the entrance. What most people didn't know, however, was that the tidal pool was much deeper than it looked, with a spacious tunnel connected to the rest of the ocean just out of sight unless viewed inside the alcove.
Tesla changed first, shucking off her clothes and folding them inside their bag, which she placed deep into the dark alcove. She let herself get slowly acclimated to the temperature before pushing hard on the sides of the pool, propelling deep into the depths of the tidal pool until she had reached the tunnel and had plenty of space for her change.
There, in the familiar protection and embrace of the cold water, Tesla allowed herself to change back into her original form.
The inner skin of her legs stuck to the other side, connecting her legs together, muscles and ligaments shifting to better fit the new shape. Dark red scales began to slide out from under her skin, completely covering her legs and twisting up her hips, the scattered topmost scales reaching her waist. A thick red membrane sprouted out from her feet, a thinner lighter in color membrane stretching out from it to make her fins.
Lastly, the gills on the side of her neck opened, opening and closing to let water in and out, Tesla finally breathing after holding her breath for several minutes.
The process didn't hurt, in fact the feeling of Tesla's scales emerging from her skin felt like she was scratching an itch that had persisted since she last wore her tail.
She opened her eyes when the changing was complete, her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the tunnel around her. Tesla was well aware that Edison would be entering the tunnel as well soon so she flipped her tail, adjusting her position so she was facing the ocean end of the tunnel rather than the beach.
With one flap of her tail, she was off, shooting through the tunnel until she had reached the open ocean. Tesla trilled with happiness, her vocal cords being another, smaller shift that happened during the change.
She enjoyed her job and living as a human but here Tesla could relax in a way she never could as a human. Her time spent as a mermaid was pure bliss. Coming out to the beach to swim each night was the highlight of her day. Nothing could top it, although the beautiful woman, Einstein, coming into her shop that morning came pretty close.
Tesla's moment of peace was interrupted by Edison emerging from the tunnel, her light blue scales glimmering in the moonlight. Edison warbled, flicking her tail at Tesla to say she was going to the coral reefs only a couple minutes swim from where Tesla was.
Tesla chirped back, glad Edison would leave her alone for a little while. Tesla usually stuck to the shallows near the rocks and the tidal pool by herself, despite the risk, while Edison liked to dive deeper into the depths and hang out with the schools of fish.
After an hour or two of Tesla drifting with the waves, slight as they were under the water, Edison returned. It was time to leave. Tesla went back up the tunnel first, taking a deep breath through her gills before starting the change back into human.
She hoisted herself out of the tunnel, seeing Edison's scales reflect the moonlight as she entered the tunnel after Tesla got out. Tesla dried herself off with the towel, all of their secrecy would be for naught if someone saw her with wet clothes walking home.
Tesla pulled her clothes back on, deeming herself dry enough, and Edison was just beginning to hoist herself out of the tidal pool when they both heard loud voices, freezing as light flooded the beach.
“Are you sure there were mermaid sightings around here?" A feminine voice complained.
Tesla immediately shoved herself to the back of the alcove, praying that she was out of sight. She watched as Edison dove back down into the tidal pool, presumably to hide in the tunnel.
Another voice chimed in but Tesla was unable to hear what they were saying, the blood thrumming in her ears muffling the voices. She held her breath, afraid that any noise would get her caught.
It felt like an eternity that Tesla hid, shoved into the corner of the alcove as voices had a conversation. She retained nothing of what they said, her panic taking over her brain.
Finally, the lights switched off and the voices grew quieter and quieter before they ceased completely. After a couple of more seconds just to make sure, Tesla threw a small pebble into the tidal pool, to signal to Edison that they were gone.
Edison got out soon after, quickly drying off and putting her clothes on silently. They were even more careful heading back home, both of them on high alert.
While mermaids weren't reviled or necessarily disliked, most mermaids who lived as humans didn't disclose that fact because of mermaid scientists. Those who studied mermaids, known as marine anthropologists, often kidnapped and experimented on mermaids to learn about them.
Their town, for as long as Tesla and Edison had lived in it, had never had marine anthropologists. That's partially why they moved there in their teens, having left their pod a little while prior. It had been a safe haven for them for many years.
Once Tesla and Edison got home, before they went back to sleep, they had a hushed conversation about the little things Tesla was able to catch while hiding from the scientists.
Both of them agreed, they would have to be much more careful going forward.