Chapter Text
Mondays were the worst. Just about any regular worker would tell you the same thing and Roman was no different. Letting out a soft groan as he threw his takeaway coffee cup into the bin on his way up to his manager's office.
He couldn't wait to see what boring, mundane tasks needed to be done this morning after his weekend off. The job was wonderful, don't get him wrong, but he really had thought he would be doing more than basic tasks after a year of working here at the aquarium - not to mention his marine biology degree that he thought he would be using to save sea creatures by now.
But no. He didn't even get to do the important maintenance tasks! He got to clean, he got to collect water samples, he occasionally got to feed some of the animals. It was as though they didn't trust him, despite the fact that he had more than proved himself - at least in his own eyes.
He was prepared for a similar array of normal tasks when he headed into his managers office today, but when he knocked and entered, it wasn't just his manager in the room. On the other side of the desk sat two scientists Roman didn't think he'd met before. One of them was wearing glasses and a tie with his lab coat, the other just wore a turtleneck, but had a briefcase on his lap that must contain something important.
Roman was about to apologise for interrupting and leave to wait outside of the door, but his manager quickly waved him in.
"Ah, Roman, just the employee I've been waiting for," She said - looking more happy to see him than she ever had before, "Meet Toby and Logan - Toby's here from our partner organisation, and Logan is our in house marine biologist."
"Hello," Roman said, with a friendly smile and a wave, he couldn't help but wonder how he'd never met Logan before, "Lovely to meet you, I'm Roman."
"Yes, Roman here is one of our most dedicated regular employees, and, if the gossip is true, you've been looking for a more interesting assignment for a while now?" His manager said with a small smirk, Roman couldn't help but blush with embarrassment at the call out, especially in front of others.
"I- oh, yes, I would love to do more for this aquarium, and more with my degree, ma'am." He said awkwardly. He really hoped that the scientists wouldn't notice how awkward this was starting to get, especially if they were about to offer him new responsibilities.
"Wonderful," Toby said, handing Roman a file he'd pulled from the briefcase, "We have decided to transfer a creature we've been studying to the aquarium's care. It has so far been uncooperative with our experiments and we've done what we can, so we need someone to care for and habilitate it into this new environment so that it's comfortable enough to co-operate with our experiments in a few months time."
"We would like for you to take care of the creature, for the most part," Logan spoke up, "But there will also be monitoring tasks we may ask from you as well, keeping an eye on the creature and reporting back to us any changes in behaviour and such, do you think you can do that?"
Roman took the file carefully, flipping it open. There was a decent amount of research in here, but what Roman was interested in was - there. He flipped through a few pages until he found a gallery of images. There wasn't a single one that wasn't blurry. And most of them were just a dark blur with streaks of purple. Roman sighed, flipping back to the beginning.
"Where is it being kept?" Roman asked.
"In the empty corner tank in the shark wing," His manager said, "It's been refurbished over the weekend to accommodate the new creature, and it'll released into the tank this morning, your duties will begin at noon with a feeding once it's been acclimated."
"It was last fed two days ago, in preparation for transport," Logan spoke up, adjusting his glasses, "Though it often refused to eat, so it will likely be hungry enough to do so."
"Ah - alright-" Roman said, frowning softly at the file. It seemed that the creature would eat just about any fish, but showed some preferences for fish from reefs or tropical waters in the Florida region, which was also where the creature had been picked up from a beach by the scientists. The instructions pinned to the first page of the file said he was to feed the creature twice a day starting tomorrow - where today it would only get one feeding. All in all, it was quite exciting to Roman, he got to be the caretaker of some beast that even the scientists couldn't figure out - it was practically a dream come true! Exactly what he'd wanted when he had first applied for this job.
"Alright then!" he said again, shutting the file, "I can do this, anything you want me to do before lunch?"
"Our other employees have got everything covered," His manager shook her head, "Don't worry about the rest of the aquarium now - just ensure you're ready for noon."
Roman nodded, taking the file and leaving the office, preparing for a boring morning of reading through scientific jargon.
----
At noon, Roman grabbed the bucket of fish that had been prepared for the creature. He had asked for reef fish, but apparently that wasn't a reasonable request when the creature could eat anything else. Roman didn't like it - he thought giving the creature what was thought to be its favourites would help to endear him, but apparently that didn't matter to their suppliers, so Roman would have to cope with feeding it cod for the time being. It didn't matter that he wanted to be endeared to the creature either - they had told him that was a stupid ask, but Roman still thought it was worth it if he wanted to get any good observations for the scientists.
Roman took a deep breath as he climbed the stairs with the bucket in hand, pushing open the door to the fake sandy beach that sat above the water in the large shark tank. It didn't matter what he wanted, really. When had it ever mattered what he wanted? He would have to do his best with what he had here, it seemed.
He'd spent most of the morning studying the file he'd been given, and apparently the creature was vicious, with claws and rows of sharp teeth like a shark and eyes that pierced the soul when it looked at you. Roman was hesitant to believe that, no marine creature could really see into your soul. Roman scanned the water now that he was actually in here, but he couldn't see the creature. It must be in one of the hides in the tank, which had been set up to look like a coral reef, with live coral and rocks dotted around everywhere and large kelp plants growing in one corner. Roman didn't blame it. If he'd been dumped into a whole new place without warning he'd probably hide too.
"Hello," Roman called, not knowing if it would respond to speech. Most fish weren't intelligent enough, but the file said that this creature was extraordinarily intelligent, responding to many of the scientists with body language and trill-like noises. It wasn't friendly to them at all, but it seemed as though it could understand them at least a little. So he would try. At the very least, it would let the creature know that someone was there, and that couldn't be a bad thing.
"I know it's probably been a pretty hard day for you," Roman said to what looked like empty water, feeling like an idiot as he did it but doing it anyway, maybe all the creature needed was a friendly face, after all - or maybe he was just watching too much Disney, "But I've brought food - I tried to get some reef fish for you, but they wouldn't let me - apparently that's a violation of policy or something, fishing laws and stuff - but I've got cod! For you!"
Roman took a fish and threw it into the water, followed by two more. He wasn't sure exactly how much the creature ate - the results from the scientist's file were inconclusive, especially since it seemed to like refusing to eat until it began to starve, no matter how much the scientists tried to feed it.
When nothing happened for a minute, Roman sighed and sat down next to the bucket. He had been tasked to care for this monster. But right now he saw no monster. Had this been some strange trick? Or maybe they had been late with the delivery and they hadn't told him that the creature wasn't actually in place yet. There were all sorts of reasons why it wouldn't be here yet, or why it wouldn't have popped up to grab it's food for that matter. Roman shouldn't let himself worry so much just yet.
If it hit the hour mark and nothing had happened, Roman would go and find that scientist to talk to. For now, though, Roman sat down cross legged and started to talk. He told the sea creature about his weekend off of work. He'd gone to visit some college friends - which hadn't really gone well at all. Most of his 'friends' in college weren't... the nicest, and it turned out that Roman had been invited out of politeness, they hadn't actually expected him to show. The sea creature wouldn't understand what he was actually saying anyway. Even if it could register what was speech and maybe tone like the file said, there was no way it understood English.
It took almost half an hour of him talking at the water and watching the dead cod float before something happened. A dark shape emerged from behind some coral, swimming slowly enough for Roman to see it's shape before it darted up, swiping one of the fish from the surface with what looked like a dark purple, scaled, clawed hand and darting away too fast for Roman to see anything else but a flash of paler purple where it's tail fin broke the surface.
Roman did nothing but watch with wide eyes as it disappeared again. Now that he'd been able to watch it go, he was able to make out the dark shape of of the creature hiding amongst the kelp at the bottom of the tank. Once it was done eating that fish, it came up again for another, and this time, Roman saw its face.
The creature looked.... worryingly human.
It wasn't human. Roman knew that. It had fins and a tail, bigger, violet eyes and far too many teeth - rows of sharp, sharp teeth that tore through the fish in an instant like a shark's. It had fins instead of ears and a cloud of dark hair that swirled in the water, but... the face had been almost human, especially when it looked at him for a moment when retrieving the third fish. Its eyes quickly taking him in before it disappeared again.
Hesitantly he threw another, and the merman swam up once more to take it.
Roman shrugged, and kept throwing fish into the tank until one of the fish was thrown back at him, smacking Roman square in the chest. He couldn't help but laugh as he dropped it back into the bucket.
"Okay, okay," Roman laughed a little, "You've had enough, I get it."
But it's not like he had much else to do now. He was supposed to look after this creature, and he hadn't exactly been given any other duties for the day, so... he supposed he'd just spend the rest of the day observing the merman.
He'd make sure to bring a notebook tomorrow, maybe if he saw more of the creature then he could draw it. Or at least make notes about it. The scientists would probably be happy with him for that.
----
The next day, Roman returned earlier in the morning. The night before, he'd barely been able to sleep as thoughts spun through his head. Almost all of them were about his new assignment.
There was no question about it, the 'creature' he'd been tasked with looking after was a merman. Roman was still reeling from the fact that such a creature actually existed. A being from myth! Roman wondered how exactly it had ended up in the care of the scientists - let alone him.
He was sure that eventually he would be given more duties again, rather than just watching over the merman all day, not that he particularly minded. The idea that the mythical creature even existed was wonderful, the fact that he got to spend all day around it! He got to talk to the creature - even if it couldn't talk back - and he could make notes, maybe write stories...
There was, admittedly, an inkling of worry in the back of his mind. In almost all the stories he'd read about mythical beings, they wanted to remain hidden from humans. And now this poor merman was about to be put on display for all the world to come and see it. It felt... wrong. Roman couldn't exactly go against the scientists - they'd fire him for not doing his job otherwise and then how could he interact with the merman? But it still felt a little odd.
There was also the fact that he was... just a little bored.
Roman suspected things would change at least once the merman's exhibit was opened to the public. Right now it was in a closed off hall whilst the mer was getting used to the new environment. The aquarium staff had explained that the doors would remained closed for two weeks, and until then, Roman was told to watch over the mer and report back on its behaviour - keep notes of how much it was eating, it's habits, anything else interesting he might notice whilst observing the tank. Roman sighed softly as he watched the water. At least today he'd brought a few things to keep himself occupied, and he was still being paid for the hours he would spend sitting around, so at least it wasn't all for nothing.
----
"Good morning!" Roman called brightly as he opened the door, "I've got breakfast!"
Something in the water shifted and Roman smiled as he picked up the bucket - he'd greeted the mer like that the day before too, so he had a small amount of hope that it recognised what he said as a greeting. Pushing away the thoughts for now, Roman threw a handful of fish into the water, this time the mer didn't hesitate to swim to the surface to take them. It even looked at him for a moment, purplish eyes just staring at him before it bit down on one of the fish and ducked back under the water. Roman sighed softly - he wondered if eventually it would be comfortable enough around him to stick around on the surface for longer than a few seconds.
Roman spent the rest of the morning drawing the merman. It wasn't accurate, it couldn't be when Roman had only seen it a few times, but he could always draw it again another time. Whilst he drew, he kept talking. He rambled about nothing really, his own interests, a show he had been watching, his art. It didn't mean all that much, but it didn't matter when the mer couldn't understand him anyway. Really it was just nice to talk without being worried about someone telling him to shut up for once.
He had to leave for his lunch, leaving most of his things at the back of the tank and heading to the staff break room to eat and when he returned he found the mer was still hiding from him.
Honestly, Roman was starting to think this creature - or was it more of a person? Roman honestly wasn't sure - wasn't as violent as the file said it was. The file mentioned it attempting to attack any scientists who even approached the tank. But now it was just hiding from him. Roman hummed, suddenly wondering what would happen if he went into the water. The creature hadn't attacked him so far, maybe it wouldn't do so at all?
It was a stupid idea, he knew it was a stupid idea, but Roman was very good at stupid ideas. He was also amazing at not thinking them through, which he didn't think too much about it as he took off his shoe and sock.
Slowly, he dipped his foot into the cold water, there was a second where nothing happened - bar Roman shivering from the cold water - and then there was a shrill shriek, and the merman was rushing towards him.
Roman yelped and pulled back his foot just as the merman swiped at his leg with vicious claws and an even more vicious snarl.
He was glared at for a moment, before the mer hissed at him and turned back into the water. Splashing Roman with his tail for good measure. Roman made a noise that would be embarrassing if there was anyone but the mer around to hear him and huffed, pulling back on his sock and boot with a huff.
"Point well made," Roman said, shaking his head, "No going in the water, got it."
He had just sat down, but after a second thought he grabbed the bucket and threw a couple more of the fish into the water. He hoped they would be seen as the apology that they were, and by the way they were snatched up almost immediately, he had some hope that they were the interpreted the right way.
It also occurred to him that this merman was apparently from a reef. Why was the water that cold?
He would have to talk to someone about adjusting it when he did his report for today.
----
Over the next week, Roman was given more tasks than just feeding the merman. He was now collecting water samples daily - incredibly difficult at first when the mer kept swiping at him, but easier as time went on. The mer seemed to be getting more and more comfortable with him being around. it didn't hunt him when he went near the water anymore, just watching from a distance. Roman assumed it was to ensure he wouldn't go further in than necessary to collect the samples.
There was also the fact that the merman seemed far more comfortable in general now that the water temperature had been adjusted properly.
He had also been given a camera on his fourth day and had been told to photograph the merman if and when he came to the surface. The merman certainly didn't appreciate the flash, but after he'd turned it off he had actually managed to get a couple of decent pictures. He hadn't continued after that, though, since the camera seemed to be off putting to the creature. Roman gave the photos he did get to the scientists, who seemed happy enough about them regardless.
The merman had been staying nearer the surface in the last few days. It was nicer - Roman had been able to do a proper drawing of him in his notebook - and he was definitely a him. Roman wasn't sure how he knew, it was just a sort of gut feeling and he'd started to feel bad about calling him an it.
It was strange - but he was almost starting to get worried for the mer. He was viewed as an experiment to these scientists. It's not like they cared at all for him - they thought he was just a violent creature. He'd only even tried to hurt Roman when he'd overstepped a boundary, and the swipes had clearly stated what those boundaries were, and Roman had tried his best to keep them in mind. Roman wasn't sure what to do about it, but right now it just amounted to not sharing so much as he probably should in his reports and notes.
It was all he could do for the moment.
----
Tomorrow, the exhibit would be opened up to the public. Not a whole lot had changed about their routine, though Roman knew it would be different as of tomorrow.
For now, though he still fed the mer twice a day, he'd figured out that four fish was usually the right amount. He'd also gone out and sourced some lionfish for the mer, since his request for tropical fish from the aquarium's suppliers had been denied.
Living in Florida, lionfish were fairly easy to buy. Since they were an invasive species, people were able to hunt them with permits and such. Roman didn't know all that much about it, but he was at least happy to be able to provide the merman with a type of fish he seemed to prefer, even if it was coming out of his own pocket instead of the aquarium's budget.
The merman seemed to have enjoyed them, at least. Their spines had been removed, so there was no risk of the creature getting poisoned, and the file said they'd tried feeding him lionfish while he'd been in their care and he reacted well so Roman was happy to spend a little bit of money on them. He was mostly just upset that he wouldn't be able to get them for the mer all the time. They'd have to be an occasional treat, considering Roman really wasn't paid enough.
Today, though, something new happened.
One of the fish - the regular cod this time - was thrown back. Unlike usual, the mer was peeking over the edge of the sand, watching him expectantly.
When Roman did nothing but stare at the fish, the mer took a large bite of the fish in his hands, before nodding his head towards Roman. Did it want him to do the same?
"You... you want me to eat this?" Roman asked, carefully reaching over and picking up the fish whilst keeping his eyes on the mer the whole time. The mer tilted his head, before gesturing forward again. Roman frowned, "I can't eat this - it's raw."
He shook his head, trying to signal a no with a langrage barrier this strong was difficult. He ended up just offering the fish back.
Eventually, the mer took it, but its eyebrows were creased and it looked upset as it snatched back the fish and dove back to the bottom of the tank and out of sight.
Roman spent the rest of the day wondering what on earth that has been about. The mer had clearly wanted him to eat the fish he had thrown back. Why would he have wanted him to eat one of his fish? That was the question plaguing Roman's mind. Was he trying to feed him?
He supposed he never really ate around the merman, he wasn't allowed to. He brought his own lunch and ate in the staff break room - or he'd use his lunch hour to leave the aquarium entirely and go buy something from one of the nearby fast food places or convenience stores. .
But then maybe since he'd never eaten around the mer, he was worried Roman wasn't getting food?
Why he was worrying about him, Roman couldn't fathom, especially not when he hadn't seemed to show any kind of compassion towards the scientists who's care he had been in before. The mer hadn't been vicious towards him, which made Roman wonder if he'd somehow managed to earn the merman's care - or even his trust.
But if he was worried about Roman because he hadn't seen him eat, then the obvious solution would be to eat around it. He wasn't technically allowed to do that. He wasn't supposed to bring his own food into the tanks at all - since it could be damaging to the creatures if they ate anything he dropped. In this case, though, Roman was fairly certain the merman was resilient enough to handle a bit of granola.
He wouldn't risk bringing an entire lunch in with him, that would be stupid. But he'd grabbed some of his break time snacks - granola bars, mostly - to show the creature to assure it that he was, in fact, eating.
The next time he fed the mer, he sat down cross legged on the edge of the beach and pulled out his granola bar after giving him his fish and then removing his gloves. He peeled open the bar and putting the packaging in his pocket just in case - he didn't want the mer eating plastic by accident.
Usually, the mer would grab its fish and hide again, but this time he swam over, cautious but curious it seemed. his eyes were fixed on the bar Roman took a purposefully large bite of. He only spoke again once he was done chewing, and now the merman was right in front of him. This was, Roman was pretty sure, the closest he had gotten to be to the mer so far.
"See?" Roman said, gesturing with the granola bar, "I have my own food."
What he hadn't quite expected was to have the bar snatched out of his hand by a clawed one, the merman taking another large bite of his granola before he could even reach out, chewing it slowly and then dropping it back into Roman's still outstretched hand and disappearing back into the water. A flabbergasted look never left Roman's face as he stared at the now slightly soggy granola bar in his hand.
Roman had absolutely no clue if that was approval or not, but the mer hadn't bothered him about food again since then, so he could only assume that the mer was happy he had food available.
It may have helped that Roman started taking his breaks outside of the tank, sitting on one of the observation benches to eat his snacks and his lunch instead of heading out to the break room. It had gotten pretty busy in the first week of the museum being open, and the amount of people gawking had led the mer to return to hiding, aside from the feeding time before the aquarium opened, Roman had hardly seen him at all.
Slowly, but surely, though, the mer returned to being as social as he had been before. Now, whenever the museum wasn't so crowded, the mer would come and sit with him on the other side of the glass with a fish he had saved. It almost became a little ritual to them.
-----
It was nice, for a little while, as things progressed in the same way they had been.
Days went on, Roman kept talking to the mer, he kept doing the difficult jobs he'd been given and eating his lunch outside of the tank. But today brought a change of routine, Roman had been given another stupid job to do, and somehow they had managed to get even more extreme with the jobs they planned to get Roman to do. He had to clean the algae off from the inside of the tank. He'd been given a wetsuit and diving equipment and he'd been told to dive. Despite the reports he had given telling them that going in the water would get him attacked
Roman wasn't sure whether they were stupid or trying to kill him.
Maybe it was both.
But they'd had him sign a waiver a few days into this assignment. Now they couldn't be held responsible if he somehow got hurt.
No matter who did it, though, the tank did need cleaning. The only safe way to do clean it would be to move the merman, and that was probably more hassle than they wanted to deal with. Roman might as well be the one to do it, and he had noticed the outside edge getting more and more cloudy with algae... He was expendable anyway. He was well aware that the higher ups of the aquarium didn't like him all that much.
Taking a deep breath, Roman looked around for the mer. He really, really hoped he wouldn't be killed for this job.
Any normal person would simply quit at this point. It was the rational, logical thing to do when told to get into a tank with a dangerous, vicious predator. But Roman had never once been called logical and he didn't really know what rational meant. So Roman would be doing this. Taking care of the merman was his job after all.
Slowly, Roman lowered one foot into the water. There was no reason to stall. Immediately, his eyes were drawn to the shadows amongst the kelp, and Roman saw the mer begin to swim over. Closing his eyes, Roman stepped further into the water. He was terrified that the mer would kill him, of course, so he refused to look as he waded further into the water of the tank.
Honestly, he should make better life choices.
He took a deep breath as finally he went under. The scuba diving equipment allowing him to do so. His eyes were still closed as he descended towards the bottom of the tank.
Suddenly, he felt a sharp prod to his side and yelped, jerking away. He opened his eyes, blinking to adjust to the light in the water through his goggles, only to come face to face with the merman himself. The mer was staring into his eyes with his bigger, violet ones. The eye contact was intense, though his expression was passive - maybe even curious. He wasn't snarling or swiping at Roman, which was... something. Roman could work with this. He could work with anything that wasn't dead
With his presence acknowledged, the mer began to swim slowly around him gently poking at his arms and sides and legs, and then tapping at the goggles on his face. Roman wished he could speak, because the creature was being weirdly... friendly. Roman tried tilting his head, and the merman returned the gesture, before swimming away. Roman couldn't help but watch him for a moment, swimming amongst the corals that they had planted in the tank. It seemed today was not the day he would be getting attacked after all. That was... nice.
The mer continued to watch him curiously as he scraped the wall of the tank. Eventually he came to lean against one of the closer rocks to watch, tail flicking idly behind him. Roman couldn't help but enjoy the company. The work would've been boring otherwise.
Roman couldn't help but smile as he left the aquarium for the day. It was... kind of nice to hae a friend in here.
----
The next day, when Roman arrived at the tank, the merman immediately came up to the surface. Surprising Roman, though of course it wasn't unwelcome. Roman smiled when the mer shifted to sit on the sand next to him, watching him intently.
Roman ended up offering the fish bucket to him and then just sat and talked whilst the mer ate, and it was almost like he was having a real conversation for once.
Even if the merman couldn't understand him properly, at least he listened.
----
Roman had just been on a short weekend vacation.
He'd taken three days off to go upstate to visit his family, and he didn't expect anything at all to be different when he got back.
What he didn't quite expect, was for the mer to attack him at first sight.
Roman cried out, dropping his bucket and hitting the floor hard as the merman pinned him by the shoulders. Roman's shirt was immediately soaked through from the tank water and Roman had his eyes squeezed shut as he prepared to finally be killed by this creature.
Moments later, though, he felt something cold but soft pressing against his cheek. Not the sharp pain of claws, just... gentle. Roman's eyes opened slowly to find them merman pressing his cheek to Roman's.
"Oh," Roman said softly as the merman nuzzled him, hands gripping tight enough into his shirt that he could feel it ripping just a little, but right now he didn't mind. His head was still racing with thoughts about just what exactly was going on. The mer let out a soft trill and buried his face in Roman's neck and Roman was left wondering what in the world could give the idea that this creature was anything but gentle.
The gentle trills softened further until it was pretty much just a soft purr. And Roman knew already that he absolutely wouldn't be telling the scientists about this. It felt so personal. Almost intimate in an odd way. Roman had become friends with this creature somehow. He'd done it on his own despite what the aquarium had put him through, and he didn't owe the scientists any of this.
Roman didn't know how much touch would be okay right now, Usually if he ever reached out to touch the mer it would be a sure way to get the mer to dive back into the water and hide again. Now it seemed that clearly the mer wanted it.
Slowly, Roman raised his arms to wrap them around the mer's middle. Holding him gently so that it would be easy to pull away if he wanted to. It was quite clear from the way the mer's purring just got louder that it was not what he wanted.
"Oh... you're just so sweet, aren't you," Roman said, voice ever so soft as he shifted one hand to run through the mer's wet hair. He couldn't help the smile on his face as he continued to let himself be... cuddled, he supposed. He would just let this go on for as long as the mer wanted it to. Who was he to stop it? Hesitantly, he started to hum gently, hoping it might mimic a purr at least a little, hoping to let the mer know that he did like this, it was good and he needed the merman to know that.
Eventually, the mer pushed himself up, moving to sit beside Roman instead and eat the spilled fish Roman had dropped when he'd been jumped on.
Well... that was certainly a development.
----
It turned into a habit.
Every time Roman happened to take a day off, a break of any kind, he'd come back to all sorts of affection. Be it gentle head bumps or nudges, or even just sitting down next to him to eat instead of returning to the water. Roman couldn't believe that they'd come this far already. It was even nicer to talk to the mer next to him than the tank at large.
"You know I can't believe my brother," Roman huffed. The merman laid on his back beside him, ripping the meat from a lionfish. His tail was swaying idly back and forth in the water as he listened to Roman complain.
"I know I've told you about him before, but god," He sighed deeply, "We had another family thing at my place - that's why I was gone yesterday - and Remy doesn't usually come to family stuff because he always ends up causing so much drama when he does. There's always some sort of argument - no matter how much we all try to avoid it, he's always so obnoxious too."
Roman sighed deeply, and the mer reached out to nudge him gently. Even if he couldn't understand Roman, it seemed he could tell enough to know he was upset. It was nice that he was offering comfort either way, Roman leaned into the nudge.
"I know, it just kinda sucks," Roman says, throwing up his hands, "Every time he shows up the whole family ends up in a huge argument and then they're yelling at each other over dinner and then some of them stayed over - which is why I was late too you know - and everything was so tense, I love my brother because he's my brother, of course, but I hate that he always comes in and ruins everything."
Roman curled up and dropped his head to his knees, the merman sat up gently nuzzled his shoulder, Roman smiled.
"It feels really stupid," Roman sighed softly, looking at the mer, who looked back at him, tilting his head, "You're my only friend, and you can't even understand what I'm saying to you."
It was a little miserable, Roman knew it was, talking to someone who didn't understand him and probably never would. Roman wasn't a language teacher, he knew Spanish, but that wasn't a damn bit of help when the mer spoke a language unknown to human kind. The scientists had noted down that he had a language, but they had made no effort to decipher it. Roman didn't think he would have been given the information even if they had.
He'd tried his best, he knew what sounds the merman made when he wanted Roman not to touch him, and he'd learned how he communicated asking for food. He was pretty sure that the mer understood that 'merman' referred to him - like a name - and Roman kind of wished he'd picked a different name, it felt... mean, that he thought he was named his species. Roman was certain that the merman had his own name in his own language, but Roman had no way to ask for it, and he had no idea how to give his own name to the merman, so really he was... stuck?
----
"Roman," His manager said, having called him into her office for a meeting one day after his lunch hour, "I've noticed some very interesting developments with you in charge of the merman's care."
"Oh?" Roman asked, a spike of anxiety stabbing into his stomach. He didn't even know why the fact that they'd noticed was worrying him so much.
"Indeed - although your reports have been rather regular, we've noticed you getting more friendly with the mer - even... affectionate-? its been performing much better for the crowds, if nothing else, but it hasn't been aggressive to you?"
"Not particularly," Roman shook his head, still feeling oddly uneasy, "Even when I've cleaned the tank it hasn't attacked."
"Well... this is most interesting, I'm sure the scientists would be excited to learn about this development - they might want to study it's behaviour with you, since you seem to have been able to bond with it, I'll be calling them later this week to see if they're interested in restarting their experiments."
"...Right," Roman took a deep breath - that was probably why. He didn't want the poor merman to end up as a lab rat all over again.
There was no way Roman would let this happen. It didn't matter that he had absolutely no idea how he would go about making sure it wouldn't happen. He didn't have all that much power here. But he knew he at least had to at least try.
He would have to get the merman out of here.