Chapter Text
It was a warm, sunny day, and Vash was soaking up the heat like a sponge. He had walked the whole two blocks from his apartment to his new job because of the temperature. Warm, but not burning hot. Perfect.
His favorite place in the whole city of Gunsmoke, No Man’s Aquarium, posted an ad on their website for a marine biology Mer specialist position. Vash had applied, thinking he wouldn’t get the job. He was just out of college and figured they wanted someone with more real-world experience.
But about a day after submitting his application, they reached out for an interview, and Vash was hired.
His uniform was just a dark, solid-colored, long-sleeved wetsuit and water shoes, which he already had thanks to his past lifeguard job. He did add on some wetsuit gloves to hide the unnatural blue of his left arm though.
As soon as he walked into the building, he spotted Rosa, the director of the aquarium and the person who interviewed him.
“Vash!” Rosa waved him over. When Vash caught up to her, she gave him his employee badge and showed him how to get in, explaining they would be doing a tour for that day. “I’m so happy you could start so early,” she said once they were through the gates.
“Yeah, about that. Why did you need a Mer specialist so quickly?” Vash asked, following behind and to the right of her.
“We got a new Mer and…” Rosa trailed off, looking sad and nervous. “Well, he’s… Aggressive. None of our staff know what to do with him.” She smiled again, clearly trying not to scare him off. “But, we can deal with that later! There’s going to be a lot of information, so feel free to call me if you have questions, Ok? You have my number, right?”
“Yup!” Vash let her lead him away from the topic of the aggressive Mer. He wasn’t scared, if anything, he was curious. Most creatures don’t just act out because they want to. There had to be a reason.
Rosa showed him where his locker was and gave him a quick tour of the animal exhibits. Then led him to the second floor, where the Mer’s were mixed in with even more animals.
He met the Mer manta ray, Theo. He was quiet, but nice. The Mer seahorse couple, Lilly and Ruby, who were calm, but clearly excited by how much Vash knew when they quizzed him. And the Mer dolphin pod, Kendra, the mom, David, the dad, Coral, their oldest daughter, and Aster, their youngest child. They were loud and very excited at meeting someone new, it was almost overwhelming.
Then Rosa got nervous.
“I… I think we should call it here for the day,” Rosa said when they left and were out of range from the dolphins.
“You mentioned an aggressive Mer, I want to meet them,” Vash countered, fully ready to find that Mer on his own if he had to.
Rosa must have heard some of that conviction because she sighed and agreed, still looking anxious.
“So, what exactly have they been doing to make you call them aggressive? And what’s their name?” Vash asked, trying to get a feel for the situation.
“We were told by the people who rescued him that he wouldn’t talk. All we know is that he’s an orca Mer.”
“Rescued him?” Vash interrupted.
“He was tangled in a fishing line and lost part of a fin.”
“Pectoral, flukes, dorsal, or ear?” Vash cut her off again.
“Uh, left pectoral, if I remember correctly.” Rosa was somehow not getting annoyed as hell with Vash. Surprising, but not at all unwelcome.
“Well, that explains why he’s here then.”
“Yeah, I’m told he refuses to let our Mer MD look at him, won’t eat, growls and snaps at everyone, and we aren’t even sure he knows any spoken English.”
“Spoken?”
“He knows ASL, but will only use it for the kids who visit the viewing window in his tank. We put plaques outside for the kids to learn and talk with him.”
“Huh, ok. You said he’ll bite, has he ever broken skin?” Vash asked as they walked through a door labeled ‘Caution, Employees Only.’
“He doesn’t bite, just snaps at us. He’s never hurt anyone while here.”
“And how long has he been here?”
“A little less than a week,” Rosa answered, leading Vash through another door, locked by an ID card reader. As Vash entered the tank, he looked around, analyzing what he could improve on. There wasn’t much.
The top of the tank was similar to the other Mer tanks. A large circular opening for the tank in the floor with a perforated metal ledge almost all the way around it with a small break for the ladder. There was a computer station and some camera monitors, most likely for charts and security.
The camera monitors showed a cave system, a coral reef area and an open water area in the huge tank. He read on their website that it was 7 million gallons, but it was a whole different thing to actually see the massive tank.
And then he noticed the five caretakers and the orca Mer at the edge of the tank. The Mer had short, very soft-looking, inky black hair, pretty dark brown eyes and (from what Vash could see) was ripped.
In other words, he was handsome as all hell.
Which was not what Vash needed to be focused on.
The caretakers were trying to feed the Mer… Kelp? Vash was really hoping that it wasn't kelp. Orcas and orca Mers were carnivores for fucks sake.
The Mer, for his part, only looked annoyed. He could have left, but he stayed perched with his arms crossed on the ledge, letting his caretakers do… whatever they were doing.
“Hey, Rosa? Are they trying to feed him kelp?” Vash asked.
“Um… I’m not sure. Let me ask,” Rosa said as she walked toward the group. The orca Mer snapped at the caretaker trying to feed him the kelp. “What is that?” Rosa demanded when she got close enough, Vash trailing behind her.
“Kelp,” The caretaker sighed. Rosa opened her mouth to respond, likely to chew them out, but Vash beat her to it.
“And what are you doing with it?” He asked, trying to stay calm and hoping he wouldn’t get the answer he was thinking.
“Trying to get him to eat.”
“Why?” Vash tried again when the caretakers just looked at each other, confused. “Why Kelp?”
“We’ve tried all the fish we have, he won’t eat.”
“And you thought feeding a carnivore kelp, a plant, was a good idea because?”
“We didn’t know what else to do.”
Vash took a deep breath.
“Let me try?” He asked
“Sure,” they said, shrugging and holding the fucking kelp out to him. Vash slapped their hand away, glaring. He walked over to a line of buckets, grabbed two salmon from one of them and made his way over to the ladder, the Mer watching his every move. Rosa stopped him with a hand on his arm when she realized he was getting in the water.
“I can’t let you get hurt on your first day,” she said.
“He won’t hurt me,” Vash replied confidently, smiling. He saw the caretakers look at the Mer, skeptically out of the corner of his eye and frowned.
“How can you be so sure?” Rosa was also looking at the Mer, almost glaring.
“Because those are the eyes of a good guy,” Vash turned to look and smile at the Mer. He still said nothing, but he looked a little shocked and his ear fins twitched in curiosity, so Vash took that as a win.
The others in the room, however, still looked doubtful and Vash just couldn’t let that stand.
“How is he supposed to trust us, when we don’t trust him?” Vash asked, shutting them all up long enough for him to get on the ladder.
He got in the water and away from the ladder, treading water, waiting for the Mer to come to him. After a few seconds of Vash and the Mer just staring at each other, the Mer grinned and lunged. Vash did nothing. Didn’t even flinch. Not even when Rosa and the caretakers screamed and gasped and looked away. Vash was a bit proud of himself for staying calm.
The Mer flicked his tail at the last second, right before he would have rammed into Vash, to circle him. Even with the Mer fully underwater, Vash could hear him laughing. Well, not hear, exactly. It was more like he could just tell. The way he was moving and the vibrations and ripples of the water just screamed of laughter.
When the Mer finally surfaced in front of Vash, still laughing, he spoke for the first time since Vash had been there. Apparently, he did know spoken English.
“Either you’re an idiot or you have a death wish!” The Mer cackled. “Who doesn’t even flinch when a killer whale Mer charges them?”
“Old habits die hard, I guess,” Vash laughed with him.
“What the hell does that even mean, Blondie?” The Mer asked, somehow laughing harder, holding his stomach.
“Blondie?” Vash dodged the question with a smile he knew was fake, holding the fish out.
“Yeah, Blondie, don’t have anything else to call ya. Now drop the fake smile, it hurts to look at,” despite the Mer’s harsh tone, he still grabbed the fish and swallowed them quickly.
Only one person had been able to tell when his smiles were real before, and she was gone now. So, when this Mer was able to look through him like he was glass, Vash was shocked into silence for a few seconds.
“Uh, yeah,” Vash did as asked. “What, um… What po- Actually, let’s start a bit easier. What’s your name? I’m Vash Saverem.”
Even years later, that name still brought a sour taste to Vash’s mouth along with its comfort.
“Nicholas D. Wolfwood,” the Mer crossed his arms, looking a bit defensive. As if Vash would make fun of him for a name.
“What pod were you from?”
“I think humans call it the N pod? We are- were up by Norway,” Wolfwood looked even more defensive.
“Were?”
“Well, I’m not there anymore, now, am I?” Wolfwood snapped.
“Sorry… So, let me think… Your main fish would be herring? And this water is way too warm if you lived in Norway, we’ll have to fix that. See if we can’t get some live fish for you to hunt as well.”
“Huh,” Wolfwood whispered.
“What?” Vash asked as he made his way back to the ladder.
“You know more than I thought you would,” Wolfwood followed him and rested himself on the ledge, again, to the left of the ladder.
“Yeah, I specialize in Mers, but have always found orca Mers fascinating,” Vash climbed out of the tank, sitting on the ledge next to Wolfwood.
“Weirdo,” he paused, then, quietly asked, “Really?”
“Yeah, I love your different languages and culture and hunting strategies. Like- Oh shit, wait, no. We need to get you food. Ask me again later, I’d love to ask you about your traditions,” Vash said with a real smile.
“You’re on,” and Wolfwood returned it.
“Hey guys?” Vash looked to the caretakers. “Do we have herring?”
“Yeah, we get huge shipments of them now, but we were never sure what to do with them, so we put them in the big freezer,” one of them said confidently. Vash resisted the urge to groan and put his head in his hands.
“I thought you tried every fish?” He asked, fake smile back in place. He heard Wolfwood snort at the panic on his caretakers faces when they realized how bad they just fucked up. Vash almost laughed too, but he had to be serious and annoyed at the moment.
“...We thought we had,” one of them answered softly.
“Ok, well, I’ll let Rosa deal with all of you later. For now, let’s get Wolfwood here some actual food. Not fucking kelp,” Vash said as he stood up and waved to the Mer. “I’ll be back in a minute, Wolfwood!”
“Yeah, yeah, bye,” Wolfwood waved back lazily before diving underwater.
Rosa led Vash out the door, glaring at the caretakers and whispering a ‘good job’ to Vash. Who almost felt bad for the other employees, but ultimately, couldn’t bring himself to feel anything but pride for helping Wolfwood.
They grabbed one full feeding cart of herring from the freezer and wheeled it back up to Wolfwood's tank. When they got back, Wolfwood was still underwater.
“How do you normally get him to come up for food?” Vash asked, knelt at the edge of the tank, looking at the water.
“We… Um, aren’t sure,” one answered. Vash slowly turned to them, a very obvious fake smile on his lips.
“And what the hell does that mean?”
“He just… knows? We don’t know but he is normally at the top of the tank, so we’ve never had to actually call him.”
“He’s probably lonely and hungry then,” Vash sighed, looking back to the water.
Only to jump when he saw a distorted face staring back at him from below the water’s surface. They held eye contact for a bit, neither willing to break whatever was happening. Eventually, Vash blindly reached for a fish, still staring. He grabbed one and held it above the water, waiting to see what Wolfwood would do.
He slowly swam up to meet Vash, settling his arms on the metal and gently taking the fish with his mouth. They didn’t look away from each other the whole time.
Then Rosa coughed and the spell was broken. Both Vash and Wolfwood looked away. Vash knew he was blushing, but was Wolfwood blushing too?
No, impossible, Vash thought. It was probably just how warm the water was for him. Yeah, that was it!
“Right!” Vash clapped his hands together. “Let’s get you fed.”
“Yeah, ok,” Wolfwood said, hiding under the water a bit.
“So, I have a way to get you to hunt, even if it’s not the hunting you’re used to. Are you still up for it?” Vash asked.
“What does that mean?”
“You’re used to hunting live schools of fish, right?” Vash continued when Wolfwood nodded. “But we don’t have that right now, so I can hide the fish in the coral, and you can find them. We’ll make it a game! If you can find… let’s say, twenty fish in, uh, five minutes, I’ll give you… ice chips?” Vash stumbled over his words. He wasn’t really sure how big of a hit the ice chips would be, but when Wolfwood perked up and got a playful glint to his eye, Vash knew he got it right.
“And if I lose?” Wolfwood grinned.
“You have to let the doctor look at you,” it was Vash’s turn to grin. “And no cheating!” He tacked on, pointing an accusing finger at Wolfwood.
Wolfwood grumbled a bit but eventually agreed. Vash was helped into scuba gear by Rosa and the caretakers, grabbed a net of fish, made sure Wolfwood wasn’t cheating, and hid the fish. He came back up to give Wolfwood the go-ahead a while later and found Rosa doing an intake questionnaire with the Mer.
Wolfwood was… not the most cooperative. He kept making fun of the questions, but was still answering them. Only in kind of a round-a-bout way. Rosa didn’t seem to get that he was doing as asked, just being a bit annoying about it.
“Ok,” Vash said after taking his mask off. “Let me start the timer and you’re all good to go.”
“Fuckin’ finally! You took forever, Spikey.”
“Thought I was Blondie?”
“You can be both. You are both.”
“And… Start!” Vash hit the timer and Wolfwood wasted no time, immediately diving into the water.
After another while, Wolfwood came up and Vash told him his time.
“Seven minutes!?” Wolfwood cried.
“It’s not a technique you’re used to,” Vash tried not to laugh at the betrayal on the Mer’s face.
“Again!” Wolfwood demanded and Vash happily complied.
They went through the motions for a second time.
“Eight!? How am I getting worse!?” The Mer held his hair in frustration.
“Progress isn’t linear,” Vash tried to comfort.
“Again! I will get to five minutes!”
Vash hid the fish and Wolfwood found them with steadily decreasing times until he got four minutes and fifty nine seconds.
“Yes! I won!”
“Well…”
“Oh, oh no! Those didn’t count! They were… Practice runs! Yeah, practice!” Wolfwood tried to save himself.
“Sorry, but you lost,” Vash laughed as Wolfwood growled, looking like he wanted to strangle Vash.
“I hate to interrupt,” Rosa started and continued when the two looked at her. “But, I still have to show Vash a few more things before we close.”
“Oh, right,” Vash looked back at Wolfwood and smiled. “That was fun! I’ll see about changing the water temperature and getting you live fish. I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did!” Vash said, climbing out of the water.
“Yeah, yeah, see ya, Blondie,” Wolfwood grumbled before diving back under the water.
Vash frowned. That was a very abrupt escape. Maybe Wolfwood really was that sad about losing. Vash internally promised to bring him ice chips after the doctor visit anyway.
“So,” Vash looked to Rosa again. “What’s next?”