1. A Fishy Surprise

Viktor walked lonely with Makkachin down the beach of Kasetsu, Yuuri's hometown. Normally Yuuri would come with them, but this time he rather stayed home in bed because he felt slightly sick. Viktor really hoped it wouldn't turn into the flu, because in two days the both of them had a competition.

The silver haired skater scanned the empty beach for his dog then saw her sprint away as if she saw or smelled something interesting. Obviously a sea gull or something. Viktor decided to let the brown poodle vent out, like every morning.

Viktor stopped in his tracks then turns to look at the ocean. His mind wanders back to the first time he was on the same beach with Yuuri. It was only last year, but it feels much longer. Lots of things happened after that.

Suddenly Viktor's memories is interrupted by a loud, fearful scream coming from the direction Makkachin went. The figure skater quickly jumped to his feet and ran towards the boulders his dog disappeared behind, earlier.

"Makkachin!" Viktor called out, hoping the dog would react and come back. Makkachin didn't. Instead the dog barked playfully and another, frightened scream echoed through the air. It definitely sounded like a small child. "Makkachin!"

Viktor suddenly halted his sprint when he reached the boulders and realized it formed some sort of a wall. Viktor called out his dog's name and when he heard her reply with her usual, happy bark, he knew his suspicion was right. Makkachin had climbed her way over the boulder wall to reach whatever was behind it.

The silver haired skater looked up, eyeing the boulders to see if they were save enough to climb onto. The child's, fearful screams had now turned into soft sobbing and Viktor realized he had no other choice than climb over it as well.

Viktor had never been a strong rock climber and he hesitantly took his first steps on the slippery rock while his hand grasped firmly onto the surface of the boulders. He almost slipped two or three times before he finally reached the top and could see what was behind it. He saw an open, sandy area and the boulders he stood on functioned as an wall surrounding it. More boulders stood between the sand and the open water, creating an open pathway to the shallow water.

Makkachin had focused her attention on the sand and dug a small hole while the child had cowered back into a small corner of the boulder wall. Viktor wondered how the kid could have reached the secluded part of the beach. He looked too small and fragile to climb, and too young to swim on his own.

Without startling the small child, Viktor started to climb down the boulders carefully, then landed successfully on the sandy area. Makkachin left her small hole for what it was and greeted her owner by jumping happily around him. The small child whimpered in fear and made himself more smaller.

"Don't be scared," Viktor said with warm, gentle tone of voice and levelled himself with the child, eyeing him at a distance that he thought the child would feel safe. The child followed Viktor's every move with big, frightened eyes. His face was dirty and stained with tears. Viktor points at himself. "My name is Viktor Nikiforov and this is my dog, Makkachin."

The child kept his gaze locked on Viktor and Makkachin as he tried to recoil further up against the boulders. Silent tears rolled down his cheeks while his entire body trembled in fear. Seeing a small child in a state like that, ached Viktor's heart and he started to wonder where his parents were. Didn't they miss him? How could they let him wander around the beach alone?

"Do you have a name?" Viktor asked when he, slowly, took a step towards the trembling child. The child flinched in fear then darted his eyes around to find a way out. "Please, don't be scared. I don't mean any harm, okay?" Viktor quickly crouched again, levelling himself with the boy.

The little boy pin-pointed his eyes back on Makkachin, then onto Viktor then to the water behind Viktor.

"I promise you, I won't hurt you," Viktor said with a gentle voice and the boy's eyes snapped back onto him, scanning Viktor's face as if he tried to figure out whether he was lying or not. Viktor couldn't help notice how blue they were. Clear blue like the ocean. "You can trust me, okay?"

It took a few seconds but then the small boy finally nodded, hesitant. Viktor rose back to his feet and slowly approached the little boy, extending his arms at the same time. The boy looked hesitant at first but finally moved forward and collapsed into Viktor's open arms, sobbing loudly.

"It's okay, don't cry," Viktor cooed and ran his fingertips through the boy's dirty and messy hair, gently. "You're safe with me, I'll promise."

Yuuri made himself a cup of tea and sat at the kitchen table looking at the clock, repeatedly. Viktor was never away with Makkachin that long and it worried him. Every now and then he also glanced at his phone to see if he had received a text, but every time he found nothing.

The young skater kept telling himself everything would be fine with Viktor and that Makkachin was with him, but as the minutes past his fear grew. Then suddenly there was a knock on the apartment door.

Yuuri snapped his eyes at the door and his heartbeat increased. Viktor always took the keys with him so he had no reason to knock, right? Who would? The police, to tell him something bad had happened to Viktor?

"No, don't be crazy," Yuuri spoke to himself and slowly rose up from the kitchen seat and walked towards the door, opening it slowly. Makkachin immediately raced inside and ran to the kitchen to see if Yuuri had prepared his breakfast while they were out, but it turned out he didn't.

Yuuri's mouth dropped agape when he saw Viktor standing in the hallway carrying a small boy in his arms. It looked like he was sleeping with his face buried in the crook of Viktor's chin. The child was wearing nothing but a long, dirty t-shirt and his arms and legs were just as dirty.

"V-Viktor!" Yuuri finally gasped. "Who is that?"

"I don't know," Viktor replied as he made way past Yuuri and walked towards the living room where he nestled the boy onto the couch before turning around and looking at Yuuri who slowly came into the living room as well. "All I know is that I found him at the beach, alone and scared. That T-shirt is the only clothing he's wearing and by the looks of it, he's been there for days."

Yuuri's eyes widened. "Do you think we should call the police. Whoever neglected this boy should go to jail."

"The police will inform child care instantly and place him into foster care. Trust me, that's not what he needs right now. I think the best thing is to let him sleep for a few hours, give him a proper meal and allow him to take a bath. We can always discus later what we do with him. Besides, we don't know for sure he's neglected. For all we know he got separated from his parents. We can always check newspapers for missing children."

Yuuri nodded. "Maybe you're right. But that leaves us with another problem. Either one of us first needs to do some grocery shopping."

"That would be me, since you should still be in bed," Viktor said with a smile and walked back to the front door. "I don't think you need to worry too much. The kid is exhausted and most likely will sleep for hours and…

"Don't worry, Vitya. Even if he wakes up while I'm alone, I know what to do," Yuuri said with a reassuring smile, even though he wasn't so sure himself. Viktor nodded in understanding and left.

Makkachin let out a disappointed sigh then Yuuri turned his head and found her sitting next to her empty bowl. Her eyes darted back and forth between him and bowl as if she tried to tell him something.

"I'm sorry, Makkachin. I was so worried something had happened to you and Vitya, I totally forgot to fill your bowl," Yuuri said then opened one of the kitchen cupboards and took out the bag with dog nibbles before pouring some of it into the dog's bowl. Makkachin licked Yuuri's bare toes as if she tried to tell him it was all forgiven.

Yuuri stole a glance into the living room and saw the boy was still fast asleep, then sits back down at the kitchen table and grabbed the newspaper, scanning it for the missing children section. He found nothing.

Makkachin finished her breakfast then wandered into the living room where she sat down beside the couch, facing the small boy and watched him as he slept quietly. There was something weird about the boy, but her human took it home so it was okay, right? Besides, maybe she could become friends with it just like she became friends with the other human her human grew attached to. This little human, if it was a human, just needed a little bit more time, because he looked scared at the beach, when she tried to play with him.

In the kitchen, Yuuri scanned some old newspapers with the same results. No one seemed to be looking for the small boy Viktor found at the beach. Did someone really abandon him like he thought in the first place? Who could be so cruel?

Yuuri dragged in a deep, sad sigh then poured himself another cup of tea when suddenly the front door swung open, revealing Yurio and his cat.

"Do you have any idea how hard it was to find this place?!" Yurio hollered then stomped the foot he used to kick the door open back onto the floor, then barrelled inside. The cat squirmed free and disappeared into the living room.

Yuuri looked at Yurio with frightened eyes then suddenly remembered the teen would stay at their place until after the cup of China. Yurio drops his backpack into the corner of the kitchen, nonchalantly.

"Where's Viktor?!"

Yuuri opened his mouth to reply when suddenly a frightened and high-pitched scream came from inside the living room. The two skaters quickly rush inside and found the little boy, lying on the ground in fear, making a desperate attempt to crawl away underneath the couch while his frightened eyes were pin-pointed on Yurio's cat.

"Who's the scrawny little brat?!" Yurio asked.

Yuuri sighed. "Viktor found him on the beach and took him home."

Yurio rolled his eyes. "I should have known. Viktor always tends to take strays in. Anyway, where is my room? Vodka and I have to unpack our things before we head to- what's the name again of that indoor Ice rink you used to practice?"

"Ice Castle," Yuuri replied, then frowns; "Vodka?"

"Yes! Vodka is my cat, and Viktor's stray brat is stressing her out."

"Please don't use those awful names, Yurio. He can hear you." Yurio just rolled his eyes, took his cat back into his arms and decided to look around the apartment and pick his own room. Yuuri kneeled down beside the couch and peered under it. "You can come out again. The awful boy and his cat are gone."

The small boy looked at Yuuri with frightened eyes. His body was trembling and Yuuri could see tears well behind the boy's eyes. Then he heard someone walk into the kitchen and realized the door had been open the entire time.

"Yuuri, is everything okay?" Yuuri looked up and saw Viktor carrying bags filled with groceries. "Please tell me everything is okay."

Yuuri sighed; "Yurio is here and Vodka, his cat, scared the boy. He's under the couch right now and I think he won't come out for the next few hours."

Viktor sends a half-smile to Yuuri then says; "How about you make a few sandwiches for him while I'll persuade him to come out. I think he'll remember me, so it will be easier." Yuuri nodded then took the groceries from Viktor and headed back into the kitchen while Viktor kneeled down onto the floor beside the couch and poked his head underneath it. "Hi, you still remember me?"

The little boy nodded hesitantly.

"It looks like you found a very comfy yet very narrow hiding place here. Are you sure you want to stay here?" The boy nodded again. Viktor smiled. "Aren't you hungry? I bet Yuuri made something delicious for you."

Viktor extended his hand underneath the couch as an invitation for the boy to take it. It took a few seconds but the boy finally understood the gesture and took Viktor's hand then slowly crawled from under the couch. Then his clear blue eyes scanned the room. Viktor understood why.

"Don't worry, the cat isn't here. How about we eat something and then try to take a bath, huh? I'm pretty sure we can find some clean and decent clothes for you."

Viktor stood up then helped the boy onto his feet as well and started to make way to towards the kitchen, but the small boy took only one step on his wobbly feet before sinking back down to the floor. Tears popped back into his eyes.

"Please don't cry," Viktor cooed and helped the boy back onto his feet then lifted him up in his arms. "See, everything is fine," Viktor said and took the boy into the kitchen where Yuuri placed a plate with sandwiches onto the kitchen table. Viktor positioned the small boy onto a seat then placed the plate in front of him before sitting down as well and looked at Yuuri who sat down at the other end of the table. "The poor kid can barely walk, that exhausted he is."

Yuuri sighs sadly. "Viktor, I scanned all the newspapers from the last few days and neither of them mention a missing boy with his description. Maybe it is best to call the police and have child service take a look. We can always volunteer ourselves to take him in until they found his parents or someone who wants to adopt him."

Viktor shakes his head. "You know it won't work like that. They have foster families to do that job. How about we let him stay for two or three days before taking actions. He's too exhausted to get dragged from one place to another right now."

"Maybe you're right," Yuuri said with an understanding nod then looked at the small boy sitting parallel of him and chuckled when he saw the boy scan his food with a crunched nose.

A little while later, Yuuri filled the bathtub while Viktor knocked onto the guest room door and called out for Yurio.

"What do you want?" Yurio asked, poking his head around the door as he opened it, scowling madly.

Viktor smiled. "I was wondering if you had some clothes for Zale?"

"Wait, you named him already?! Does Pork Cutlet agree with this?!"

Viktor shrugged. "I will tell him later. First he needs a bath and clothes. Do you have some?"

"He's what, six years old? I'm 16, you idiot. My clothes won't fit!" Yurio scowled and wanted to shut the door, but Viktor stopped the door with his foot.

"Maybe, if you cut the leg sleeves of your pants shorter, it might fit. I think you can do the same thing with some of your old shirt, right?"

"VIKTOR!" Yuuri suddenly yelled from inside the bathroom and the silver haired skater rushed inside instantly. He found Yuuri sitting on the edge of the bathtub washing the little boy whit a frozen expression on his face. Viktor followed Yuuri's gaze.

"Wait, what's that?" Viktor finally gasped and pointed at the blue tail that draped over the edge of the bathtub.

Not taking his eyes off the tail, Yuuri whimpers; "So you see it too?"

"Yes!"

"It's not a dream?"

"No!"

"So we are both awake?"

"Yes!"

"Are you sure you're awake?"

"Of course I'm awake, Yuuri!"

"Wait, what is going on?" Yurio asked, stepping into the bathroom as well then saw the little merman in the bathtub and smirks; "Hey, there's a tail at the end of his body."

"WE KNOW!" both Yuuri and Viktor exclaimed, in sync, then Yuuri sighed tiredly. "What are we gonna do now?"

Viktor strokes his chin then suddenly smiles. "How about we just keep him?"

Yurio slapped his forehead then strolled outside the bathroom, mumbling; "Yeah, I bet Pork Cutlet's parents LOVE to become grandparents of a fish."

Yuuri looked at Viktor as if he just turned bonkers, but Viktor beamed like the sun and felt like a parent already.

So, what do you think. Please fav/follow or review if you like me to continue this story LOL