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Jason was just a merling when he met Bruce. Still, tough and hardened by the treatment of his father and the subsequent loss of his mother, Jason didn’t back down when he was caught trying to steal the krakenmer’s fresh kill. He was hungry, dammit, and the strong currents of the last week’s storm had carried him far into deep, unfamiliar waters where he was the prey rather than the predator. Too small to fight for his food and on the brink of starvation, Jason had seen the krakenmer emerge from the depths, dragging a large, weird-looking scaly shark behind him, and thought, surely the krakenmer could spare a small morsel. Of course, Jason wasn’t stupid enough to charge the krakenmer while the shark’s blood still stained the waters. He spent the day carefully following the krakenmer until he reached his den and deposited his meal into the midden surrounding his lair. Jason expected him to eat right then and there, figuring he could scavenge from the leftovers, but then the krakenmer turned and jetted swiftly back into the depths, leaving his prize behind.
Jason’s stomach ached with hunger, and he glanced apprehensively at where the krakenmer had disappeared to before darting forward. He’d tear some meat off and be gone before the krakenmer ever came back. Reaching out to the corpse, Jason’s claws clacked against the thick scales of the shark, scraping against them before sliding right off. The merling chittered angrily at his dull, juvenile claws that weren’t developed enough to hunt armored prey. He tried to carefully press his claws beneath the edges of the scales and pry them up, but the scales were too resilient to budge. Still, Jason didn’t let that deter him. He kept trying until his claws ached, until he was forced to give up with a pained hiss as one of his claws popped clean off, a little waft of blood drifting off his fingertip. It mingled with the thin cloud of shark’s blood in the water, and Jason’s stomach rumbled at the dense, almost nauseating scent of plasma that surrounded him. He curled around his aching stomach and thought petulantly that blood shouldn’t smell appetizing and sickening at the same time.
Wait. Jason’s head snapped up, eyes catching on the currents around him. If the shark was bleeding, then there had to be a wound, a spot where the armor was compromised. He just had to find it… There! Jason followed the currents that were carrying the blood to a spot under the shark’s neck where the krakenmer had pierced its jugular. This close to the mouth of the shark, Jason could see the flat, thick, but wickedly sharp teeth of the shark, and he shuddered, meeting its eyes instinctively to make sure it was dead. The shark’s eyes were just as armored as its body, and Jason couldn’t look away from its dead stare. It was no ordinary shark, and the merling could only be grateful that the krakenmer had killed it before Jason ever had a chance to run across it in the unfamiliar waters.
His stomach tightened painfully, and Jason finally shook himself out. The shark(?) was dead, Jason was hungry, and there was a meal for the taking right in front of him. He swam closer to its neck and reached out, his claws mere centimeters from their prize before Jason was yanked back by his tail!
An undignified squeal left Jason’s gills, and he thrashed around, trying to escape as he was slowly brought in front of the krakenmer’s upper body. Hanging upside-down from his tail, Jason’s panic turned to anger as the krakenmer let out a seemingly amused blast of water from his siphons. Hungry, exhausted, and outraged at getting so close to his goal of dinner without managing to obtain it in the end, Jason started chittering angrily at the krakenmer. He waved his hands and bared his little baby fangs, hissed and clacked and chattered until he finally grew tired and just hung there, his gills flaring as he breathed hard and fast.
The krakenmer just smirked at him once he was done, and Jason felt his fear come back as the krakenmer drew him closer and swam towards the midden. He was about to become part of his meal now, wasn’t he?
Resignation filled his ribcage, and Jason mourned the lack of fish filling his stomach in his final moments. Wrapping his arms around his middle, Jason closed his eyes and wished that the krakenmer would make it quick at the very least. The tentacle that was holding him tugged hard, and Jason felt himself swoosh through the water. He tensed, expecting to meet sharp teeth, only to land gently against soft sand. The tentacle receded, and Jason risked opening his eyes. In front of him, the krakenmer had settled upon his mass of tentacles and was watching him with a weird, kind look in his eyes. The krakenmer placed a hand against his chest and let out a bwoosh of water from the siphons at his hips.
Jason blinked. Did the krakenmer just introduce himself? Jason pointed at him and copied the sound as best he could with the gills at his neck.
The krakenmer nodded, his eyes shining with delight that looked out of place against the backdrop of his black mantle. He then gestured to Jason and waited.
Hesitantly, Jason flared his gills and let out a hiss, followed by a second, sharper hiss that cut off quickly.
The krakenmer quickly copied the sound through the gills that ran along his ribs, tilting his head for confirmation.
The merling nodded, wondering how in the world his life had come to this, being on a first-name basis with Bruce, the formidable krakenmer of the depths that he was told bedtime stories of as an even tinier version of his current self.
One of Bruce’s tentacles reached out towards him, and Jason flinched before realizing that it wasn’t reaching for him but for a pile of rocks next to him. The tentacle grabbed and removed one of the stones, revealing a cubby loaded with mackerel. Jason’s eyes went wide, and his stomach groaned loudly, making him glance hopefully towards Bruce. The krakenmer nodded and gestured toward the fish before moving over to the shark-thing.
Jason wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and he quickly grabbed one of the fish, not even paying attention as Bruce let out a long whistle. He had already torn into the mackerel, savoring the abundance of flavor in its soft flesh, when a blue blur sped by him. He jolted, just as startled as the mer who stumbled upon him. The mer turned and chittered inquisitively at Bruce, who answered with a simple gush of water through his siphons. Jason furrowed his brow at the response, but it seemed to make sense to this new mer, who rolled his eyes before swimming over and snagging a mackerel for himself.
The mer clacked and pointed at himself.
Jason stared, dumbly introducing himself with his signature hisses as he marveled at the idea that someone had the gall to name their kid Dick.
If Dick was offended by his stare, though, he didn’t show it, just settling in next to Jason as he tore into the mackerel.
They were silent for a bit as they ate, and Jason watched in awe as Bruce easily secured his tentacle hooks around the armored plates on the probably-not-a-shark and tore them clean off. He descaled it thoroughly and then used his hooks to shred the flesh before bringing it to his mouth, where his sharp teeth did the rest.
Dick noticed him staring at the delicious morsels Bruce stripped off the fish and grinned, whistling to grab the krakenmer's attention as he nodded his head toward Jason.
Bruce didn't answer vocally in any way, but one of his tentacles extended toward Jason with a mass of shredded, fresh flesh.
Excited to try the fish that he'd missed his chance for earlier, Jason plucked some flesh from his tentacle and popped it in his mouth. Ammonia immediately burst across his tongue as the dense meat bled oils into his mouth the second he bit down. He gagged, spitting out the putrid meat and swimming a few feet away to wash his mouth out with clean salt water.
In front of him, Dick… laughed? The blue mer didn't chatter or squeal in amusement like Jason would expect, but instead, his mouth opened as a flurry of bubbles escaped him in bursts, a watery, crackling cackle resonating through the water.
So surprised by this strange mer, Jason forgot for a second to be angry. But once the laughter calmed down, he clicked angrily at him, getting madder when Dick only chittered with proper laughter this time. Then Jason remembered Bruce and chattered angrily at him too, questioning his sanity with a high-pitched squeal of disgust.
Bruce blasted a laugh at him before looking thoughtful and reaching up to what Jason had failed to notice was an edifice filled with caverns and holes behind him. That must have been where Dick came from. Actually, now that Jason was paying attention to his surroundings and not just his food, he realized Bruce had led him to an area with the shallower depth he was accustomed to.
Before he could ponder further on the subject, though, Bruce had grabbed a small tuna from one of the caves and presented it to him as a peace offering.
Anger forgotten, Jason excitedly hooked his little claws into the fish and tore it open, biting into the soft, inner flesh with relish. He hadn't had tuna since long before his mother passed away, and it had always been one of his favorites.
Things were quiet for a bit, and eventually Jason looked up and noticed Dick staring at him. He blinked, looking between the tuna he was eating and the mackerel Dick was eating. Did he want some tuna too? He weighed whether or not he wanted to offer him some for a moment before deciding to ignore his stare. Dick was the instigator who had him try that nasty thing Bruce seemed to love; he didn't deserve to have any of Jason's tuna.
Dick stopped staring after a little while, and Jason ate until he couldn't anymore. He was full for the first time in days, and before he knew it, his hunger was replaced by pure exhaustion. He couldn't keep his eyelids from sinking, and before long, Jason was asleep.
Gently as the merling slept, Bruce gathered him in his tentacles and swam into his large den, where he reached up through the rocky tunnels that spanned the entire cave system until he could hand Jason over to Dick, who had gone ahead to prepare a soft nest of seaweed for the merling to rest on.
The next day, Jason woke to a new home, a new brother, and a new father who had already proven himself to be twice the mer his predecessor was.