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It had been exactly one week since Doc had started in the deep sea ward, and since meeting Xisuma, and realizing what the mer had wanted, he hadn't had problems. Most of his coworkers questioned how he'd managed in there, but he just shrugged most of the time. Especially since he himself didn't know how to explain it.
But Xisuma wasn't the part he was focused on.
It was that empty tank.
The location manager had said there was a microscopic mer inside, but it didn't make sense for there to have been one in there. After all the fish he put in there were bigger than the ones Ren got. So a tiny mer would have trouble eating them, but every morning when he went in to feed the tank, there were no fish. Not to mention, there would sometimes be odd shapes in the tank, like something had been eaten much bigger than a fish. That, mixed with the few instances he'd found security guards walking out of the deep sea ward with this narrowed look on their faces, made him suspicious.
Which led him to his running theory.
Microscopic Piranha mers.
It only made sense for there to be Piranha mers in that tank, maybe hidden? That ate whatever it was those security guards would bring in, and he was determined to prove it.
So this time, after he brought fish and watched them go into the tank through the automated mechanism, he waited. He waited to talk to the eaters for an hour.
Then another.
It was three hours he sat there.
Finally, he gave up at four.
"Fine. I'll give for now." He grumbled to himself, looking into the depths of the tank. The glass walls were straining with the weight of the water. "But what is it that's so important you're hiding?"
The tank rippled, almost like it was responding to Doc's question... But it was most likely just the fish swimming around.
"Alright then." Doc mumbles to himself. "Time to go home to my lovely bed and pillows."
Then, there was a reaction from the water. Like something had dripped into it. But there was nothing above them. Nothing that could have fallen in.
Doc turned and squinted at it.
Then it happened again, unprompted.
"Don't question," Doc murmured to himself, turning to leave again.
Big mistake.
Without so much as a warning, the ooze rose from the tank, a slow groan accompanying it as the tank was finally relieved of the pressure of the giant thing pressing up against the sides.
Doc would have run if he were able, but he couldn't even make it down one stair in the time it took for the sea monster to rise and form an anthropomorphic torso and upper body for itself.
He couldn't speak as it gripped the edge of the tank with one hand and reached out for him with the other.
Doc braced himself for something to slam into him, for the wind to be knocked out of him, to be crushed to pieces by the railing beneath his feet when the force spaghettified him through it
Instead, he was grabbed. Which was arguably worse.
The slime monster smelled of saltwater and vanilla, a slight tang of something hidden under it as it lifted Doc up to its eye level.
Two black orbs had taken the place of eyes in its face.
There was a beat where Doc made eye contact with the thing... it looked... distressed somehow. Upset. Something he was almost sure he had imagined or projected onto it since his life was now entirely decoded by the moos of the creature.
Doc braced to be swallowed up by thick, clear ooze.
Then he braced for worse when it made itself a mouth, the goo breaking and splitting apart to make an ovular slit that was essentially a straight trip into its core.
"Not go."
Doc froze.
"Stay."
Slowly, it dawned on him he wasn't dying.
He was being held quite gently actually. Like a child cradles their favorite trinket. Like you'd hold a baby animal.
Doc let his eyes wander up to the odd face peering down at him. It wasn't... human. More cartoon-like. Bobbles of slime for hair, a very rounded face. No nose or mouth. Just back peering eyes, bulbs made seemingly from slime.
"Oh." Doc breathes, trying to wrangle his emotions back down into something close to calm. "Hello."
"Hello." The slime echoes, little bubbles forming in its middle, suspiciously where it stomach would be if it were human. Doc watched them float up and pop. Gulping down siliva into his dry throat.
"You're- You're not water at all." He laughed to himself, though he felt fear in his spine. Locked in the bones before it could mess up his negotiations. "Okay. I'll... I'll stay right here. See?"
Doc turned to fully face the monster, it responded to him by blinking. Looking a little more at ease.
Doc let exactly a minute pass before he spoke again. The thing was still staring at him. "So... what are you exactly?"
"Jevin." The slime bubbles, his eye blubs turning into ovals in what Doc assumed was a blink.
"Okay then. Jevin." Doc smiles, wiping the small bit of salty goo from his coat hem. "I'll... stay here a bit longer each day, how about that? Talk to you for a while."
The slime looked at him, blinking again.
"Still go?"
The scientist thought hard about his phrasing. "Well, yes, I still have to go, but I'll be back almost every day. Most days."
"Alone." The slime blurts, squishing Doc against itself, a thick substance meeting the brunette's form, and he struggled to keep from suffocating in it. "No."
"You don't want to be alone, alright... I can... send in an intern? Maybe another scientist? I'm sure if you get to know some of them-"
Jevin knit whatever served as his eyebrows together, pressing Doc further, almost into the acidic layer of slime he'd so hoped not to become a part of. "NO!"
"Woah, woah." Do murmurs with his cheek pressed almost fully into the slime. He uses his Ren voice, the one he uses to calm him down. "Careful. If I touch the inside of you, you'll hurt me."
With that, Doc was abruptly plopped down onto the observation deck, and the slime backed up. Eye bulbs wide, looking scared. Traumatized.
"Sorry..." Jevin burbles, slowly sinking back into the tank like he was trying to hide, but keeping his anthropomorphic form. "Not hurt. Like You."
Dco sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Well. You know what. I'll make you a deal, Jevin. We can have me sleep in here tonight. How about that?"
Jevin perked up at that, bubbles forming in his slime and surfacing with soft pops. It was a shoe of affection, Doc realized. Something he did not do out of hunger, but happiness. "Really?"
Doc slipped off his lab coat and started rolling it. "Yep. Just for tonight."
Jevin moved closer, hands on the side of the tank, eyes peaking over. The metal groaned under his weight. "Really...?"
Doc hummed, rolling on his back to face the ceiling. "I'll be right here. All night. I doubt I could get up anyway."
Jevin swirled in his tank, like a dog trying to get comfortable, and slid back into liquid form, still bubbling softly, a gentle purring noise emitting from him. "Good night." He whispers in his odd voice, his eye blubs peering at Doc. Innocently anticipating.
"Goodnight, Jevin." Doc smiled to himself, hearing the slime swirl one more time in glee before finally going quiet.