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Lizzie didn't like going into the town at all. She much preferred keeping her time on land restricted to Scar and Grian's house. She had no interest in interacting with any humans that weren't Scar or Tango.
In all honesty, Lizzie would much rather still be living in the open ocean. She loves her brothers and she stays here for them, but Lizzie doesn't think she'll ever really trust humans.
Life at the port is full of opportunities to get caught by a human who's not as kind-hearted as the ones her brothers were lucky enough to meet. All Lizzie wants is to keep the three of them safe, and the best way to do that was to stay in the ocean.
But despite all that, here she was going into the market. As much as she hated it, Grian was busy helping Scar with some building thing and apparently he really needed some tool or other. Lizzie never really could tell her brother no.
So Lizzie finds herself wandering through the market stalls. She has a cloak on, the hood pulled high to hide the fins on either side of her head.
She stops at a stall that looks promising. She recognizes some of the items from watching Grian and Scar building earlier. She moves towards the stall, hoping to get a closer look, when someone rushes in front of her. She tries to stop but trips, falling into them and taking them both crashing to the ground.
"Hey watch where you're going you idiot!" Yells the guy she fell into, angrily. As if he wasn't the one who had rushed in front of her? Lizzie scoffs.
"I need to watch where I'm going? You're the one who made me trip in the first place!" She stared the guy down. He is also wearing a cloak, although it's a bit longer than hers and brown instead of the dark gray of her own. It definitely looks like it had been thrown on in a rush, the fastener sideways and the cloak higher up on one arm than the other.
The man finally looks up at her. He has deep brown eyes and brown hair with a streak of green at the front. When they lock eyes his face changes from anger to nerves almost immediately. Wait, what? Can he see my fins, what's going on?
After a moment of him just staring at her silently she speaks up "Hey, uh, are you okay?"
The man's eyes widen then he rushes off the other direction without a second look.
"Well that's rude," Mutters Lizzie as she watches him run off. The last she sees of him is a flash of light brown under his cloak as he turns into an alleyway.
~~~
The next time Lizzie meets him, she is on a very similar mission. She's at a bakery in the market. Jimmy had practically begged her to go get cookies for him. Apparently Tango was going to arrive at the port today and Jimmy wanted to be at the docks when he did.
That put Lizzie on cookie duty. She wasn't overly excited about the task but it wasn't as bad as it used to be. She's gotten used to the town, used to hiding her siren nature. Going out to the market doesn't bother her nearly as much as it used to.
When she walks into the store, it is quiet save for the soft ringing of the bell hanging on the door. There's no one behind the counter and she hears a voice calling from the back of the shop.
"I'll be there in just a moment, sorry!" Lizzie had just barely started to look around the shop when she hears the door open and a voice start speaking from behind her.
"Oh. It's you." Lizzie turns around to see the man who had run into her at the market only a few weeks ago. He was wearing the same cloak as last time, although he has the hood down this time. He doesn't look upset or annoyed, just kind of surprised.
Lizzie does not feel the same.
"Wow, ready to talk to me this time, are we?" She scoffs, turning back towards the counter. The man walks up and stands next to her awkwardly.
I take it back. I hate the market.
After a moment, the man speaks again.
"I'm sorry I tripped you last time we met" She glares at him and he winces"…and blamed you and ran away"
"Better."
"I really am. I was in a bit of a rush and I didn't mean to be such an ass." Lizzie looks over at him again. He looks a little awkward, with a hand over the back of his neck, but he does genuinely look sorry. She sighs before speaking up.
"You're ok." She gives him a small smile that she hopes is reassuring. They both look back towards the counter.
"So what are you here to get?" She's slightly surprised by the question but she recovers quickly.
"Well, my brother wanted to be at the dock waiting when his boyfriend gets here so he sent me to go get cookies for everyone," She chuckles, "I didn't get much say in the matter."
The man lets out a snort.
"My name's Joel, by the way"
"Lizzie. Nice to officially meet you, Joel"
"You too, Lizzie" The pair falls into a comfortable silence. Lizzie is just about ask Joel why he's here when there's a voice from the front of the shop.
"Sorry to keep you two waiting! What do you need?" Says the shopkeeper as he practically rushes into the room from the back, his hair somewhat disheveled. Lizzie steps forward.
"Hello! I would love to buy some cookies…"
After Lizzie gets her cookies, she waves to the shopkeeper and gives Joel a smile and a small goodbye as she walks past him.
~~~
After that her and Joel just kept running into each other. Lizzie saw him nearly every time she went to the market. And, against her better judgment, Lizzie found herself looking forward to these meetings. Joel was overly snarky and sarcastic at times, but Lizzie was starting to see that beneath all that he was very kind and sweet.
As much as she didn't want to, she could feel herself falling for him.
Having a partner has never really been an option for her. It's only been her and her brothers since all of them were little. There was never time for her to have a partner between taking care of all three of them. And besides, it's not like they met very many sirens over the years. Certainly not ones her age.
And while none of that was true anymore, and Joel was wonderful, he was human. Lizzie knows that there are humans that are kind. Humans that can be trusted. But how is she supposed to know if Joel's one of them.
Lizzie doesn't want people she cares about getting hurt because she had a crush on human.
~~~
Lizzie was walking through the markets, just looking around(maybe hoping to run into Joel), when she suddenly heard noise from a nearby alleyway. Lizzie moves closer, curious, and quickly realizes she recognizes the voice she's hearing.
"Shit! Ugh why can't I- come on!" It's Joel's voice, and he seems to be in some kind of distress. She quickly turns into the alleyway to see what was wrong.
"Joel are you-" Lizzie stops short upon realizing what she was seeing. Joel had his cloak on, but it was kind of halfway wrapped around his body, like he got stuck trying to put it on. But that wasn't what made Lizzie pause. Sticking from underneath the cloak was a large bushy brown tail. In Joel's hair were two round brown ears she was certain had never been there before. And his feet were now paws, fur trailing up to around his knees. "Oh. Huh."
The expression of fear Joel had been wearing quickly shifts to one of surprise and confusion.
"Huh? That's all you're going to say?"
"So if you've been shape-shifting to look human and you have features like that… you're a tanooki, right?" Joel narrows his eyes at her, suspicious. He backs up then speaks.
"How do you know that?" Lizzie suddenly remembers that Joel thinks she's a human and gasps.
"Oh! Sorry, sorry one moment" and Lizzie pulls down the hood of her cloak, revealing the fins she has on either side of her head. Joel's eyes widen.
"Wait, you're a siren?!" Lizzie laughs.
"Yep"
"Why do you live on land then? I thought sirens stayed in the sea."
"We usually do. And I would have preferred to. However, both of my little brothers somehow managed to fall in love with humans, so here we are" Joel's eyes light up in understanding and he nods.
"Well, personally I'm glad you live here. If you had stayed in the sea, we never would have met." She smiles at him.
"You know what, me too"
~~~
Only three days later Lizzie was in the same section of the market when she saw Joel again.
"Lizzie!" She turns on the direction of Joel's voice and sees him on the other side of the street holding a bouquet of flowers.
"Hey Joel!" She says as she walks over to him. He looks a little nervous but smiles as she gets closer "What are you here for today?"
"Well, actually, I've been looking for you" Lizzie raises her eyebrows, surprised by his answer.
"What for?"
"I-uh" Joel pauses for a second then takes a deep breath and continues "I wanted to ask you on a date." He holds out the flowers towards her.
Lizzie froze. Her stare flits between Joel and the flowers as she processes what he said.
"Lizzie?" She shakes herself and looks up at Joel.
"Yes. Yes I would love to go on a date with you," She reaches forward and takes the flowers.
Joel smiles at her and she smiles back.
Lizzie has been worrying about herself and her brothers her whole life.
Maybe it was finally time to relax.