When they did get back and discussed it (after Emil let Tino gawk at the recipe book, never questioning how the merman could read) they decided to go with lemon shortbread cookies and regular shortbread cookies with Nutella. They had let Tino sample a tiny bit of the chocolate hazelnut paste and he was in heaven. Mathias hovered around with the camera, hoping to catch Tino's very expressive reactions. He was not disappointed.
"Eggs are always soft and jelly!" Tino protested when he held one up in his hand. "This is too hard to be an egg!"
"That's just the shell." Emil explained. "It's not like a fish egg; it needs a harder protective casing on land, but it's still fragile. Watch."
He cracked the egg open and poured it into the bowl. Tino's brows lifted, and he followed Emil's lead, cracking his own open. Shell flew everywhere and Emil had to help him pick bits of it out of the batter, and Tino's long hair while Mathias chortled and fought to hold he camera still on the startled merman. Tino studied the two halves of the shell intently. He got it after a while.
Tino was in awe watching Emil put the ingredients together. He had to ask where each of them came from; flour from grain, vanilla from a plant, sugar from a stalk, etc.
He was so fascinated by everything they told him that it made them all feel like scholars. They continued to answer question after question as they mixed the dough, dropped it neatly on cookie sheets, and placed them in the oven. Tino let Emil do that, as he was still startled by the wave of intense heat that flared up from the oven door. While they had done their best to fill out the corners of Tino's broad knowledge on how their technology worked, he was still easily spooked or surprised by it. He had screeched like a banshee when Emil pressed the timer button on the stove and a series of loud beeps chimed out, and had nearly fallen and hit his head on the counter. Thankfully, Lukas was on hand loading the dishwasher, and had managed to catch him in time, even though all three of the others had lunged to do the same. After that they had shooed Tino out of the kitchen, putting Berwald in charge of him for his own safety. A firm glare from the big man convinced Mathias to put away the camera after capturing the almost-injury, and leave their charge alone for a while.
"That noise was much too loud." Tino muttered when Berwald led him out to the back patio. He was clinging to Berwald's arm even though he no longer had need of it to walk properly. "I'm not used to hearing anything like that. I'm sorry though…I've made trouble for you all."
Berwald shook his head in an emphatic negative, and pulled out a comfy deck chair for Tino. The merman gladly sat down, releasing Berwald's arm and rubbing his legs after he'd done so.
"It's calm and quiet out here." Berwald reassured him. "Really relaxing. This is my favorite spot; this and in front of the fireplace."
Tino looked out on the view of thick trees, tall hills rolling up into mountains beyond their canopies. It was a very soothing view even if the leaves weren't out yet this early in the year. Finding Berwald was right, Tino let himself listen to the quiet for a moment, just gazing over the image of nature on land. He was distracted when Berwald pulled his own chair a bit closer, the legs scraping a little on the paved brick floor. Scattered around his chair were piles of wood shavings, and the merman cocked his head in curiosity when he spotted them.
"From my carving." Berwald explained, seeing the look. He opened a set of carving tools that had been rolled up on the deck table, and then held up a small figure for Tino to see. Large violet-blue eyes squinted at the odd creature, trying to figure out what it was he was seeing. It just fit in Berwald's huge hand, and looked rough on one side and more fleshed out on another. The rich grains of the wood shone beautifully where it was smoothed out.
"It's a moose." Berwald explained. "We have a lot of them around here."
"Moose..." Tino repeated, reaching out to run his fingers along the rough outline of big antlers. He held Berwald's hand with one of his own while his free one inspected the carving, and Berwald grinned just a bit.
"It's not finished yet, not even halfway done."
"But…it's incredible…how you made this…" Tino said in wonder.
Berwald broke into a rare little smile at the merman's gushing.
"Thanks. I make a lot of these to sell in a local tourist shop at home. I'm trying to open my own woodworking business. Have to get my house finished up first, though."
"That's right!" Tino said, impressed. "You're building your own house!"
"Renovating an existing house, but yes, basically. It's pretty old so I got it at a low price, but it's huge, with a big piece of property and a shed. That means more work, but once it's all done it'll be amazing."
Tino smiled at the notion of Berwald having a large home basically built with his own two hands. A few seconds later though, his smile faded into a more neutral expression.
"Why such a big house if it's just you? Planning on taking a mate and raising children soon?"
Blinking in surprise at the bluntness of the question, Berwald looked briefly uncomfortable. Tino instantly sensed this and pulled back from the man entirely, waving his hands.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to ask something I shouldn't have! That's none of my business but I'm just so curious about everything and-."
"It's alright." Berwald cut off his rambling apology. Tino relaxed a little, but curled up in his chair, a tight little ball with his arms around his drawn-up knees. "To answer your question, yes I'd like to get married so I wanted a big house. A big house for kids; I love kids. I've always wanted one or two of my own. I'll need to adopt a few."
Tino bit his lip as the urge to question why rose to the forefront of his mind, but he restrained himself, and Berwald could see that. The man couldn't help but draw out the seconds just to see the little merman squirm with his curiosity.
"Why do you need to adopt?" He finally blurted out. Berwald laughed internally before answering,
"I'm not planning on marrying a woman."
When Berwald said this it was in a frank tone, not ashamed or secretive, but Tino still reacted with surprise. Perhaps too much surprise for all of it to be genuine.
"Ohhhh!" He exclaimed. "You would take a male mate? Like Lukas and Mathias?"
"Just like that. I don't know if or when I'll find someone…I tend to frighten a lot of people away. But if I do find the right person, it'll be a man, so we'll have to adopt."
Cocking his head slightly to the side like he did when he was especially unsure of something, Tino asked.
"Why not have your own children with the mate you choose?"
"Like I said, I'd marry another man. So we couldn't have our own."
Tino made a face as though he were being teased.
"Can your males not conceive when in pairs?"
Berwald's eyes flew open and his jaw dropped in probably the biggest expression Tino had seen him make.
"What?" Berwald asked, sounding choked. "No, of course not."
Tino's face fell slowly, as though the reality of Berwald's words was slowly dawning on him. He leaned forward deliberately, his big eyes searched Berwald's for some hint, some smallest indication that his words had simply been a jest. When all he saw there was confused sincerity, Tino looked so crestfallen that Berwald felt guilty revealing to him what, for anyone else, was a common fact of life.
"Men here…can't...? So…Lukas…cannot bear Mathias' children? But…why?"
Not knowing exactly how to go about explaining something so obvious that it would sound insulting, Berwald cleared his throat and took a deep breath before giving it a try.
"Tino…that is why there are male and female genders to begin with; the females have the organs to bear the children, the males have the organs to impregnate. That never changes, at least for us."
No response to that. Tino sat back in his chair, curling in even tighter on himself. The merman's eyes filled a bit, a glassy sheen coating them, threatening to pool and trickle down his face. His lips contorted as he closed his eyes and fought the urge to weep. Berwald didn't press him, just let him come to terms with this apparently overwhelming information. When he'd gotten himself under control Tino spoke again, his voice fragile and quiet.
"That is…very sad."
Berwald gave Tino another moment before responding with his own burning question.
"Can your males bear children like the females?"
"Oh yes," Tino answered at once, "if two males pair together our bodies adapt to carry young and continue repopulating. The same happens to females who pair; they adapt to produce sperm. We've always been a scarce species, and we need every advantage to ensure we survive. That includes any one of us being able to carry offspring. That is why children are so important."
Berwald couldn't hide the surprise and wonder at hearing such an incredible truth about Tino's people.
"That's amazing." He said softly. "I…that's amazing. Granted there are so many of us that it's not an issue that men can't become pregnant, but we've only just started to accept the fact that gender doesn't matter when it comes to couples, to say nothing for changing genders. In order to do what you say your people do naturally, we have to undergo expensive and painful surgery. The outcome is permanent too."
"Really?" Tino looked startled. "You can't change back?!"
"Not once you've undergone the modification."
Tino shuddered.
"You have it hard on land."
"I won't deny that." Berwald agreed. "But there are always kids without parents who need loving homes, and that's where adoption comes in."
This notion cheered Tino up and the tears began to fade. He gave a special little smile, one that spoke of a long-ingrained conviction.
"Children are wonderful." He said happily. "They…they are so special and so innocent and they carry our future. So yea, I can see how great it would be to take in a little baby with no parents and raise it up with love and hugs and kisses! I…I've always wanted…to bear a child."
Still in awe that this was a possibility for the adorable little male creature sitting beside him, this phrase made Berwald's heart absolutely throb. Berwald studied his face, seeing the shy look and the way Tino avoided eye contact. He had the distinct feeling that Tino was somehow vulnerable about this revelation.
"Why haven't you?"
Tino came back from whatever happy fantasy he'd been lost in, and his eyes grew sharp. His brows lowered, his mouth thinned, and he set his jaw.
"I…I wasn't wanted…by the one I wished to court."
The air seemed to grow tense at these words, and neither of them seemed to want to move lest they break it. Tino finally did with a huff of air and a nervous laugh.
"Then I was eagerly pursued by someone I didn't want to court…but I just couldn't justify having a child with someone I didn't love regardless of how much I wanted one. Let's just say…it was part of the reason I volunteered to come ashore about three months ago. I needed to get away."
Tino sighed, looking more bitter than Berwald had thought capable for his cute face. Then he seemed to realize the bigger man was just staring at him. That smile inched its way onto his face and he waved a single hand.
"I'm sorry…none of that is your problem and the last thing you want to hear from a merman is the drama that brought him ashore."
"No, it's alright. I had no idea." Berwald assured him. When Tino wouldn't look at him or respond, Berwald leaned forward and wrapped a big hand around the back of Tino's head, giving it a comforting stroke.
"Trust me, I know how much rejection hurts. I'm sorry that happened to you."
As if feeding directly off the attention, Tino seemed to brighten, and he made a small purring sound. He turned his head and rubbed his cheek, catlike, along Berwald's palm. A split second later he seemed to realize what he was doing and stopped.
"Sorry…you probably thought that was weird." He said sheepishly.
"A little, but it's alright." Berwald said, sitting back. There was a flush on his cheeks.
"We're really physical, affectionate folk." Tino explained. "I was told by my mentor not to go overboard since you humans are more…reserved."
"It depends on who you meet." Berwald said. "There are some touchy-feely humans, and some who would rather die than even shake hands."
"Oh! I know how to shake hands!" Tino said proudly. He stuck out his slender hand for Berwald to take, which he did, then made the definitive motion. "See? My mentor showed me that. Wow, you have rough spots on your hands…is that from all your hard work? And carving?"
"Yea, you get a few calluses when you work with your hands as much as I do."
"Can you show me how you're carving that…mo-ose?"
"Sure."
Berwald let Tino watch him as he began to use his tools. Each one had a specific purpose, and could create a different texture or help him carve out tiny details, depending on what he wanted. Berwald switched off between a few of them as time rolled on, and the merman continued to watch him in fascination as the figure was fleshed out more and more, bit by bit before his eyes. Both of them listening to the silence and the faint, rough sound of tools on wood. After their unintentional heart-to-heart, they needed some quiet.
A twig or two snapped in the forest long moments later, shattering the silence. The merman looked up swiftly, instantly rigid and alert. He looked questioningly at Berwald.
"Deer." Berwald said, pointing to a spot nearby. "Look closely. They hide well."
Tino did so, and his eyes turned to saucers when a few does came carefully edging out of the trees to the patch of sprouting grass a hundred yards from the porch. They started to graze there, lifting their heads and flicking their huge ears as they went.
"So weird." Tino whispered, straining his neck to get a better look when they wandered a bit around the corner of the house. "But pretty."
"Those are the females." Berwald explained. "The males have big antlers to fight each other off over them, so they look more intimidating."
Tino shuddered.
"I guess mating rights are alive and well in every animal group."
Berwald hummed in agreement, turning back to his carving.
Tino turned in his seat to get a better view of the retreating deer, and loudly shrieked at the sight of Mathias, camera in hand, kneeling right behind his chair.
The deer scattered at the inhuman wail, and Berwald nearly had a heart attack. Mathias didn't look unaffected either, as he almost fell over from his crouched position. Tino apologized frantically, but Mathias just laughed it off while Berwald rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Everybody alive out here?" Lukas asked, appearing in the doorway. "What on earth happened?"
"Mathias scared me!" Tino accused, pointing childishly at the man. "And he scared the deer too!"
Lukas raised an amused eyebrow at this, and looked expectantly at his partner.
"You scared the deer, Mathias?" Emil called sarcastically from all the way in the kitchen, having heard the entire incident.
"Hey, I didn't mean to!" Mathias defended. "They were just sitting there so peaceful, and I had to film it."
The other man's dark blue eyes narrowed suspiciously, but Lukas let it go, shrugging it off and changing the subject.
"Cookies are done."
))((
After Tino's life changing discovery of baked goods, the rest of the afternoon flew by. They showed the merman how to use the washer and dryer by putting in all the clothes they had bought for him at The Bend, showed him how to use the toiletries they'd got for him, and then finally a short lesson on shoes ensued. It wasn't too difficult considering there were no laces to tie on the flip flops, slippers, and boots, but they still showed him the basics of the tennis shoe knot on Emil's shoes to give him some practice.
Neither Berwald nor Tino said anything more about their conversation about the birds and bees, but they would catch each other's eyes sometimes and there would be an odd feeling of connection. Perhaps it was their common desire for a child. Perhaps it was the fact that they both hinted at rejection from someone they cared for. Either way they knew each other better now, and they didn't seem inclined to share this with the others.
There was plenty to distract from that topic, too. The tour of the pool room excited Tino greatly. The smaller building was connected to the main house by a little breezeway, the door of which opened into the pool. The lights were adjustable, but Lukas explained how they liked to keep them low and relaxing. The pool itself was a fairly large size, especially for a private lodge, and its pale blue surface was smooth as glass.
"You want to jump in right this second, don't you?" Emil asked when Tino walked right up to the side and gazed down at his reflection in the water. The longing in his eyes was tangible.
"Kind of…" He admitted, chewing on his bottom lip. "Yea, I really do…but show me the rest first. Is that the hot tub?"
"Sure is." Mathias led him over to the generous tub, and showed him the basics of turning on the bubbles. Tino giggled when the clear surface began to froth and bubble.
"That's so amazing!" He exclaimed. "I can feel the heat from here!"
"Trust me, it's incredible after a long day." Mathias said, turning puppy-dog eyes on Lukas. "It would sure be nice to get one of our own."
Lukas' mouth thinned into a hard line.
"We don't have the money, idiot, or the room!"
"Could always start a donation line for it." Mathias muttered.
"The site isn't there to support your selfish wants." Lukas said, almost mechanically like he'd said it many times before. "We should be thankful it supports us for our current living."
"Is that the sauna?" Tino asked, wanting to divert the conversation away from the tense subject. He pointed to a wooden doorway with a few instructional and caution signs around it.
"Yea, but we really shouldn't go in there until we're dressed for it."
"Could we go get dressed for it?" Tino asked, trying to keep the pleading out of his voice.
"Well, we do have some time before dinner, so, why not?" Said Lukas.
They all flocked back into the house and broke off to their separate rooms to put on their swimming attire. Thankfully Lukas had been farsighted enough to buy Tino swim trunks, and with a bit of help from Emil on how to tie the drawstring, Tino was proudly wearing them. He was thrilled, and kept tracing the large print of leaves and flowers with his fingertip.
The merman was nearly wriggling out of his skin while waiting for the rest of them to finish changing, but he went still when he saw them coming down with bare chests and swim trunks. He openly scrutinized their exposed upper bodies, having not seen them before.
"What are these?" He asked, stepping close to Mathias and running his fingers over a patch of freckles on his chest.
"Woa, space invasion there!" The man said, but didn't really mind. "Those are my freckles."
"Fr-eckles…" Tino repeated, squinting at the sprinkles of darker pigment on Mathias' pale skin. "Like markings…they're pretty!"
"Hear that, Lukas?" Mathias winked at his partner.
"Yea, yea, doesn't take a genius to see how charming freckles are." Brushed off Lukas with a roll of his eyes. Mathias grinned.
"Damn, you're sweet to me."
Tino then turned his attention to the others, scanning their bare chests eagerly, searching for more markings. Emil, like his brother, was completely pale without any freckles at all, though there was a mole or two dotted on their backs. Berwald, though, like Mathias, had a few faint freckles over his skin. Tino grinned and made a little 'aha!' sound when he spotted them over his shoulders, tapping at them triumphantly with his fingers as though he'd found the prize in a treasure hunt.
"Don't get much sun," Berwald told him, "but when I do they get a lot darker."
Tino began looking down at his own milk white skin and pursing his lips.
"I don't have any markings." He said slowly, sounding surprisingly sad about it.
"Is that a bad thing?" Lukas questioned. Tino didn't answer, but seemed to be lost in thought as he stared at his arms.
"Well, hey, swimming time!" Mathias reminded him, lifting the suddenly glum mood that had descended onto the merman. His face lit up with that smile they all had memorized at this point, and nodded vigorously.
Mathias was the first one into the pool, after setting up the camera on its tripod in the far corner of the room of course, shattering the smooth surface of the water with a massive cannonball. Tino chirped happily and loudly at the very sound of splashing water. Emil followed Mathias in a more reserved manner, walking down on the shallow steps into the pool, encouraging Tino to follow. The merman did, white teeth showing in a smile as he carefully eased down the first step. His toes touched the water for the first time and he giggled, stepping in further, running his hands lovingly through it.
"I don't really know how to swim as a human." He admitted nervously as he got out to waist level. "I've spied on humans swimming before, so I think I have an idea, but…"
"Don't worry," Emil said, trotting behind him in the water, "we won't let you drown or anything."
"That would make our fail levels go up to critical." Mathias laughed. "Imagine if we managed to drown a merman!"
"Tino, do you even know how to hold your breath?" Lukas asked, not getting into the pool but heading to turn on the sauna and then the hot tub.
"Um…I don't know." Tino said, looking suddenly worried. "I've never had to before. I could…try it…I guess."
"You'll have to if you want to go under the water. Do what I do."
Emil took a large, audible inhale, and then deliberately held it in. Tino imitated him, but only lasted a handful of seconds before looking frightened and letting out the breath with a chorus of panting.
"That's…kind of awful…" He grimly declared. "That's what you have to do to go under?"
"Only if you want to." Emil said. "You can swim around with your head above water just fine."
Tino dipped himself lower so that his shoulders were submerged, and Mathias whistled.
"Look at his hair!"
The golden curtain was now floating behind Tino and around him like an ethereal veil. The merman chuckled and twisted in the water to twine long lengths of it around his arms.
"It's not as much of a bother in the water." He explained, running his arms and hands through it familiarly.
"You know," Lukas said, stepping down into the hot tub, "I hate to be the one to say this, Tino, but we're probably going to have to cut your hair at some point if we plan on taking you back home."
Nodding in understanding, Tino gave his mane a long caress before flipping it back over his shoulders.
"I assumed that. There's no way I can keep managing it on land."
"But how did you manage it in the sea?" Emil asked, taking the liberty of mirroring Tino's earlier movements and wrapping a long portion of hair around his arm. "Didn't it get tangled by the smallest thing?"
Shaking his head, Tino yanked it to one side, and the length of hair that was wrapped around and around Emil's wrist and arm suddenly slipped away.
"It's too silky to tangle." Tino explained. "It can't catch on anything; it just slips right around any obstacles."
"Wicked sweet!" Mathias declared, swimming closer and clawing his fingers at the ends of Tino's hair. Just like he'd said, the strands were so soft that his clenching fingers were left empty as the silky hair slipped out of his grasp. "Bro…that is sick…"
"I'm sick?!" Tino asked, horrified.
A short detour into more human slang words ensued, and Tino ended up laughing off his misunderstanding as he did all of them. He then tried out swimming with his new legs in the shallow end, while Mathias and Emil splashed around him and helped where they could, showing him how to tread water and kick his legs. Tino tended to try and kick both together in a crude echo of his tail movements, but found very quickly that scissoring his legs in the water worked much better.
All the while Berwald and Lukas looked on from their spot in the hot tub a few feet away from the edge of the pool. Berwald was frowning more than usual because he had to take off his glasses due to the heat of the hot tub fogging them up, and couldn't really see what was going on. But he could hear the hauntingly beautiful sound that rang out under the water when Tino decided to try singing a single note. He couldn't hold his breath enough to do more.
"If only we could get the camera down here!" Mathias bemoaned. "We need to invest in a waterproof one anyway."
"You need to stop lusting after superfluous things." Lukas told him, though it was impossible for him to sound angry or stern while resting in the soothing embrace of the frothing hot tub.
"Just think of the water spirit we might have been able to catch on camera last year if we'd been able to go into the lake after it!" Mathias reminded him.
"Would've eaten you." Berwald pointed out, rubbing a hand down his damp face. "I wasn't there for that one."
"Oh yea." Mathias recalled, before shaking his head like a dog and sending water droplets flying in every direction. The other two were struck in the face, and they snuck up on him to deliver a joint attack, sending a tidal wave crashing up into Mathias' head. He went down to avoid them, and came up sputtering.
"No fair, you two!" He wailed. "There are rules you know!"
"Unless you're the one playing." Emil chided with a smile.
"There aren't any rules in the sea," Tino teased, "when it comes to play!"
With that he began to dart about and seize their legs at random, tickle their sides, spit water at their faces, anything he could to get them riled up and chasing after him. In the midst of the commotion Lukas and Berwald shared a few words.
"So, you going to build a pool in your backyard now?" Lukas asked, seeing Berwald trying to keep his glasses clear of fog. He'd put them back on when the playing in the pool had begun, and was struggling to keep watching them all.
Berwald didn't answer the teasing question, opting to stay silent like usual. Lukas went on.
"He looks really happy in there, doesn't he? It must feel nice to be in the water again. I can't imagine what it would be like to be forced to live in a different environment like this without any idea how hard it would really be. The gravity must be killer."
"Can't imagine." Berwald echoed, shaking his head in empathy.
"Do you think…we should try to take him to a marine biologist, like Kiku, maybe? Just for insight?"
Berwald frowned deeper.
"So they can lock him up in some tank as a specimen?"
"Kiku wouldn't do that. I don't think any scientist would; this is a person, who can think and communicate on a human level. There's no way they could get away with it, especially now with all the media exposure and conservationists."
"Still think they would want to try." Berwald said quietly.
"Well, running a few tests wouldn't be harmful to him, and there is quite a lot we can discover just through discussion with him. I'd love to find out how those gills work, and his vocal abilities in and out of water, and that telepathic bond that his folk share…There's so much that I'd want to study if I were a scientist, but not at the cost of his humanity. They run plenty of tests on humans for study that don't do any harm, you know. Even when they test animals they do it humanely now; it's the 21st century and there are standards for how science is to treat living things."
Looking a bit more persuaded, Berwald nodded.
"Guess I would like to know about his voice. That chirping and all. It's nice."
Lukas gave his friend a sidelong glance, studying his face. He wasn't sure if it was the heat of the tub or something else that caused the big man's cheeks to look redder than normal.
"It sure is a treat when he chirps like that, isn't it?" Lukas asked. "It's like a little water-bird."
"Mm-hm." Berwald hummed in agreement, then seemed to realize that Lukas was looking at him, and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Smiling secretly, Lukas just shook his head and looked out to the pool again. The frolicking had quieted down a bit, and Tino was showing Mathias and Emil how easy it was for him to float on his back. He was just bobbing gently in the water, arms and legs outspread and head tipped back as he relaxed. The younger two respected his space and didn't try to tip him over or pull him under. They weren't sure how he'd be able to handle that, after all.
"He's going to have to be able to swim when we take him home." Lukas said, watching the happy contentment on Tino's face as he closed his eyes. "Do we even have a local pool?"
"Maybe I will have one put in." Berwald muttered, having just cleared his glasses, and was staring at Tino just as Lukas was.
The other man said nothing, but smiled.
))((
Eventually Tino made his way into the deeper end (with Mathias and Emil beside him just in case), which really wasn't as deep or deadly as some pools, but to a merman with no real experience swimming with human legs, it was still threatening to an extent. He was still at home in the water despite the new swimming style, however, and once he caught on he started to almost literally swim circles around the younger two. Even with no experience swimming with legs, his upper body was built for this, and the strength he retained was a huge advantage.
He still hated holding his breath, though, and that meant that submersion was quick and never more than a second or two. Tino didn't say anything, but this did bother him. He wanted to go under, wanted to feel the weight and pressure of the water holding him again, but he couldn't. Well, he supposed he could…but he had no idea what the outcome would be if he tried…this water did smell different than his home water, but what harm could really come of trying to filter it through his gills? Just a little? Having the opportunity so tauntingly close was starting to eat at him.
Finally, his self-control broke, and he decided to test it out.
Tino glanced over at the hot tub, meaning to watch Lukas carefully and wait until he looked away to go under. Unfortunately, at the same moment he turned to look at Lukas, Lukas turned to look at him. The man was sharp, had to be after all the years he spent doing what he had, and he spied the mischievous glint in Tino's violet-blue eyes. Lukas' expression became startled, putting the pieces together, and he nearly lunged out of the hot tub as his mouth opened to shout a protest.
Tino never heard what he said. He dived.
On pure instinct, without any conscious effort, his gills opened. Water flooded through and over them, and Tino found that he could breathe. The water was somehow heavier, with a funny smell, but it didn't hurt him. Thrilled, Tino shot down to the bottom, rolling over to smile up at the surface. He could hear the frantic rush of activity, could see Emil and Mathias coming after him. They couldn't keep their eyes open and so they were swimming blind. A split second later he was startled when both Berwald and Lukas dove in with a mighty splash to join the search.
Feeling guilty that they were all apparently so worried for him, Tino pushed off the concrete floor of the pool and shot upwards, nearly colliding with all of them. A bubble of confusion and noise, and they were all at the surface, closing in on Tino with worried faces, all speaking at once.
"Are you insane?!" Lukas was demanding of him.
"Did you do it? Did you breathe?!" Mathias was excitedly asking.
"Does it burn? Are you hurt anywhere?" Emil pleaded.
Berwald didn't say anything, instead opting to reach out and take Tino's head into his big hands. He just held him there, carefully but insistently as he studied Tino's face with anxious eyes.
"I'm fine!" Tino chirped a second later, laughing loudly. Being crowded in by loud and animated people reminded him of home. "I can breathe in this water! I can do it!"
Lukas looked skeptical, then angry.
"Tino, that is still very dangerous. What if you don't feel the effects right now, but they come back to make you sick later?"
"I don't think that will happen." Tino tried to assure him. "This water doesn't feel like the poll-polluted water I've had to swim through before. If I can handle that, I can handle this."
When none of them looked convinced, Tino ducked his head and let out a sad chirp.
"Please..?" He muttered.
They weren't made of stone, but they still all looked to Lukas, Berwald drawing his hands away from Tino's head as the merman started wriggling with nerves. Lukas stared at Tino, head ducked, eyes watching him keenly from beneath his lashes. He finally sighed and gave a shrug.
"You know your own body, Tino. If you believe you'll be alright, then go ahead."
Without even so much as a 'thank you', Tino instantly let himself drop down into the water again, and swam back to the bottom. The rest of them watched the watery image of the merman as he settled on the floor beneath them, stretching out and rolling about like a happy seal.
"Camera." Mathias said at once, and splashed gracelessly toward the stairs, nearly killing himself trying to get out and towel off enough to dash for it. He held it out over the pool, following Tino's blurry movements.
"He's really doing it." He informed the camera's unseen audience. "Look at him down there, he's so happy!"
The rest of them spread out around the edges of the pool to watch as well, and could clearly see Tino crawling along the bottom and rolling about.
"Disney got it so right!" Mathias laughed, when the slender body stretched out on its back along the concrete, arms sifting through his own golden hair. It was clear how content he was, and how happy.
So happy, that Tino started to sing.
Mathias didn't need an expensive underwater camera to catch that beautiful sound. They all froze, and listened. The sound was clear, bright, and so beautiful that over the several minutes that they heard it, tears formed in all their eyes.
"It's…like a boys' choir…isn't it?" Emil asked softly.
"Yea…" Mathias answered vaguely. "Wow…"
Tino turned his head up during the end of his song to see how his human friends were liking it. He couldn't make out much, so he slowly let himself float up to the surface. He finished the song's last note while he was an inch below the water, and then let his head slip out into the air. He was startled to see the looks on all their faces.
"What's the matter?" Tino asked, worriedly. "Why are you all so sad?"
Throats were cleared, eyes were wiped, and sniffling was heard as the four men pulled themselves together. Oddly enough it was Berwald who spoke first.
"Enchanting."
That was all Tino needed to understand why they looked the way they did. His heart swelled with happiness.
"I'd heard before that our songs could cause powerful emotions in humans, but I didn't think much of it." He said, grinning.
The next second, however, all their dazed and teary expressions morphed into wide-eyed disbelief, and they stared at him with newfound interest.
"What?" He asked, as Mathias suddenly thrust out as far over the water toward him with the camera as he could.
"Dude, you're glowing!"
))((
Tino looked down at his body, and was met with a brilliant surprise. It took them all a second to adjust to what they were seeing. All along the sides of Tino's face there were spots of blue and white light glowing in the dimness of the pool room. Long, elegant lines of spotted and speckled lights created ethereal patterns along the merman's body.
"My markings are back!" Tino declared, sounding ecstatic. "I thought they would be gone when I was a human!"
"Oh my god, come into the shallow end, let me get a better look!" Mathias cried excitedly, nearly bouncing as he went over to the steps. Tino swam over and pulled himself up onto the step just above the water, cringing at how heavy he felt.
With his body out of the water they could now see the extent of the beautiful markings. They started as sand-fine scatterings at his brow line in the middle of his forehead, then grew larger as they trickled down past his temples and the sides of his neck. From there, their lines curved out over the caps of his shoulders and down his arms, tracing the sleek shape of his muscle structure. Apart from the patterns on his arms that flowed in single form from his face, there was a strip of them in the center of his chest, tracing the natural line of his body all the way down past his navel.
"Sit up for me." Mathias instructed, as Tino had been a bit bent over his knees. Tino obeyed and turned, revealing another band of dotted pattern connected to the lines at his shoulder, outlining the bows of his shoulder blades and then cascading down his spine past the small of his back.
"Oh, they're on your legs too!" Emil pointed out, swimming up beside Tino. Berwald and Lukas were right behind him. Tino stared in amazement at his own appendages. Sure enough, another band of spots ran down the sides of his legs to curl around his ankles and sprinkle out on the tops of his feet.
Matthias did the best he could at getting a full pan of Tino's body with the camera, looking him up and down. The markings all had a similar pattern; larger, brighter spots of light in the center, then the spots flared out from there in graduating size, the outside of the bands being nothing more than pinprick speckles. They were truly breathtaking.
"Bioluminescence." Lukas supplied in an awestruck whisper.
"I didn't want to say anything," Tino said, looking at his hands happily (the lights went all the way down to the tips of his pointer finger and thumb), "but I was missing them a lot, especially when I saw your freckles. We're all born with our own unique markings. No two are the same. So I was sad when I realized they'd gone with my change."
"Woah." Emil said, shaking his head in wonder. He did what they all wanted to do, and ran a hand down Tino's arm, watching as his fingers briefly blocked out the glow from the pattern.
"They're like freckles," Mathias commented, "except they glow in the dark."
"You do have some on your cheeks!" Emil agreed, running a fingertip over the very fine trail of light-freckles that ran from cheek to cheek over the bridge of Tino's small nose. They reflected like little stars in his violet-blue eyes. "So pretty…"
"Thank you. My clan, my family, determined my colors, and so my markings are white and blue. Other clans closer to the…" Tino thought for a moment to pull up what he'd learned. "Atlantic Ocean, have markings of green and blue, and further out in the depths there are clans of red."
"Wow." Mathias said, having planted himself at a side angle to see most of Tino's markings.
"Did you have lights down your tail too?"
"Oh yes, they are much bigger! My tail is lavender close to my waist, but then the color darkens into a purple-blue midway and my fins are really dark. I didn't think my markings would show up on my legs if they did come back!" Tino said, sounding flustered with how happy he was.
"Your legs formed from the same makeup as your tail." Lukas pondered. "So it makes sense."
"But how come they just now came back? Where were they before?" Emil asked.
"Our lights only go out when we go through something traumatic enough to put us into shock." Tino explained softly. "When I was little I saw a clan member being cared for after most of his hand was bitten off by a shark. His lights had gone out even though he was still alive. But he'd lost a lot of blood. I guess…I was in a state of shock because…the change was brutal on me. But you've fed me up and made me feel safe, so my body has recovered. And being back in the water again…made me feel like I was home…and I guess that was enough for my mind to recover."
Mathias eyed him closely from around the camera's lens.
"So, do you glow like that in the sunlight too?"
"No, you can't see them at all in the sun. The darker it is the brighter they glow."
"I thought only creatures who live in the deep, deep ocean needed bioluminescence…" Lukas pondered, studying Tino in fascination. "You weren't down so deep where there was no sunlight, right?"
"Oh no, we can't go that deep. Even for us the pressure is too much."
"Curious." Was Lukas' only other comment before shrugging it off.
"We can see each other across greater distances because of our markings." Tino said. "It makes hunting easier to coordinate."
"Can you change them just by thinking about it? Like Cuttlefish or Squid?" Emil asked. Tino shook his head.
"The brightness just changes based on what lighting we're in. We can't really control it more than swimming to areas of different brightness and darkness."
"This," Mathias said, "is incredible."
They all let that statement hang in the air for a moment as they admired Tino's bespeckled skin, while he looked too happy to be self-conscious. But the hypnotizing stasis couldn't last for long, as Mathias quickly recovered and demanded,
"Get back in the pool, I want to record you swimming around with your lights! We'll be able to see you so much better through the water now!"
Tino giggled, and obliged.
))((
Getting out of the pool was awful for Tino. He had just been reacquainted with the wonderful sensation of being weightless, and then he had to try and haul himself up onto the shallow stairs again. But as much as he loved swimming again, the hot tub was calling and he had to persevere. Lukas and Berwald both helped him, grabbing him by the arms to steady him and take some of his weight, but he still hated the immense heaviness that assaulted him. Sinking down into the hot tub helped ease the frustration, however, and Tino let out a very strange, very animalistic moan that vibrated in his throat.
They were all crammed together in the tub, as it was large but not enormous, and all eyes went to him as he let out the sound.
"Feel anything like the deep sea vents?" Lukas asked, interestedly.
"Yea, a lot like." Tino groaned out.
They all made idle chit-chat (Except for Berwald, who just sat quietly and let out deep breaths from the heat every now and again) for a few moments as they enjoyed the hot water burning the cares and aches of the day from their bodies. Tino leaned his head back along the edge as he'd observed Emil doing, and let out a contented chirp, letting his arms drift through the seething foam. It felt so incredibly good, so like the deep vents but also different, having his head out of the water and just his body submerged.
That gave him a thought.
His eyes closed and he sunk down completely until even his head was under the nearly-burning water. He could hear the startled voices above him, but it didn't matter because being immersed in such wonderful heat made him feel like he was wintering in the Warm Place. His heart flooded with happiness and contentment.
When he broke the surface he began panting heavily, having held his breath longer than before.
"You're not supposed to go under in water this hot." Lukas warned, as Tino caught his breath and leaned back along the side of the tub.
"Oh come on, like you've never done it at least for a second?" Mathias chided, slipping an arm around Lukas' shoulders. Lukas allowed this, settling in closer to the bigger man's body.
"My point is, it's frowned upon."
"Why exactly?" Emil asked, splashing handfuls of the hot water up on his own face. "Who even makes those statements?"
"Hot water's good for the skin." Berwald added.
"But submerging in it can be harmful."
"Oh forget it!" Mathias whined, kissing Lukas' wet cheek. "Just enjoy it."
Lukas didn't answer, but sighed and closed his eyes, letting his head lean against Mathias'. Tino was watching this closely, a knowing smile on his face. These two were wildly in love, even if they pretended to bicker, or really did bicker, it didn't matter. They loved each other.
Tino couldn't keep his eyes from wandering to Berwald as he sat there beside him, almost looking bored, glasses fogging up every other minute. During the times when he had to take them off and wipe them on a towel Tino observed his body discreetly. He couldn't help it; the man was broad and strong, his build screaming of safety, refuge, and comfort to someone as small and affectionate as Tino. He was also aware that he was still healing from the pain of rejection and so it might be all too easy to fall for the first strong, unattached human he saw. Still, that didn't change the fact that Berwald was a specimen of a man. So he inched a bit closer. He couldn't help it; his was a flirtatious folk.
"Berwald?" He asked after a few moments of sidling up to the larger man. Blue eyes looked down at him through a mild haze of glass. "Um…do you mind if I ask you…when is the day of your birth?"
Berwald's eyebrows rose slightly as he considered the question. Tino prattled on ahead before he could answer.
"I hope that's not a difficult question, I mean I don't even know if you have the same unit of measuring days and years that we have in the sea, but either way I'd like to know because knowing another person's day of birth is important and special!"
Mathias was huffing with silent laughter across the tub, and the two brothers were looking more interested than amused at Tino's ramble. The corner of Berwald's mouth twitched in a small grin, before schooling itself back into calm thoughtfulness.
"I was born in the summer. June 6th. Does that help?"
Tino smiled and nodded, but then his face morphed into a confused one and he shook his head.
"June…June…so June is summer?"
A short conversation took place trying to explain the 12-month calendar to the merman. It went over surprisingly well, with Tino explaining that it was very close to the system they used in the sea, but it was slightly different because of the amount of light and their ability to gauge based on how much of it filtered down into the water.
"Isn't it at all difficult to see under there?" Mathias asked, rubbing at his own eye subconsciously.
"No, we can see through the water just fine. Better than Berwald probably can right now, out of the water!"
The merman was about to reach up and smear the fog on Berwald's glasses for fun, but then he caught sight of his hand. He let out a tiny gasp of horror as he saw the wrinkles forming on his fingers and down his palms. The light of his markings was a little distorted in the tiny folds of skin.
"What's happening to me?" He asked, presenting his hands for them to inspect.
"What do you mean?" Emil asked, not getting it yet. Tino sputtered, so worried he couldn't form proper words, and simply shook his hands wildly out in front of him.
"It's ok, Tino." Berwald assured him, catching his flailing hands and holding onto them. "Look."
One huge, wet paw was presented to him. Sure enough, Tino saw the same wrinkles on it. The rest of them held out their hands as well to show him, and he breathed a bit easier.
"It's just a sign you've been in water too long." Lukas explained. "I don't know what your skin might have been like in the sea, but as a human you can't really stay submerged that long without your skin wrinkling up. We're not meant to stay in water. We should probably get out anyway. The sauna's heated up by now."
Looking uncertain and still a bit disturbed by the odd change to his body, Tino followed them when they started getting out. Berwald helped steady him as he hauled himself out of the hot water and instantly began shivering. Thankfully when they stepped into the wooden room, a wave of intense heat chased the chill away. It was so hot that Tino had to breathe deeply for a moment or two before getting used to it. The air was heavy with the heat, but not in an uncomfortable way.
The sauna was a completely wooden room with two stacked rows on either side of the small floor space. A heating unit stood in the back center, covered in large rocks. Emil was the first to go to it and poured water over the rocks, using the ladle and bucket of water on the floor. Steam erupted from the rocks, and filled the room with a much-needed dose of moisture. Tino watched in fascination.
"Too bad we can't bring the camera in here." Mathias lamented. "But then again, I can take a few minutes off, can't I?"
He climbed the steeply stacked wooden rows to the second level, where he plopped himself and then patted the spot next to him with a wet slap of his hand, looking at Lukas. The smaller man wordlessly climbed up to sit beside him.
"You're supposed to be off this entire trip, you know." He reminded Mathias, relaxing back against the wooden wall. "No one's making you film all the time. Try to breathe for a second, ok?"
With little squelching sounds, they all settled themselves around the sauna on different levels. Tino stayed on the bottom one, not trusting himself to climb since he still felt heavy after leaving the water again. Emil sat on the level just above him, on the other side of the sauna, and Berwald was on the same level just far enough from him to give him personal space.
"So, we just sit here?" Tino asked after a few silent moments.
"Pretty much." Emil answered. "It's supposed to help sweat out the impurities in your body and cleanse you. Traditionally though….um…well…"
Tino waited patiently for the youth to finish his thought, but Lukas rescued him.
"Traditionally you're supposed to be naked in a sauna." He explained. "Or at least only have a towel for minimal modesty. You reap the most benefit that way."
"Yea, then you dash outside into the freezing cold." Mathias chipped in. "It's awesome rolling around naked in the snow!"
Emil covered his face with his hands, the redness obvious from around his fingers.
"Don't remind me of that image."
"Hey, you had fun!" Mathias protested. "You see, Tino, on one of our first trips here to Finland we went the traditional route at a different location and were told how it was done, so we all participated. Our little Emil is still shy in the nude."
"Who wouldn't be!?" Emil blurted, rubbing at his arms. "I'll admit it was nice, though, even if the sight of your bare ass in the snow will haunt me until I die."
Tino let out a repressed giggle at Emil's words, which swelled into a resounding laugh. Just the very idea of these four very different men naked together and trying to come to terms with it was enough to make him split his sides with laughter.
"I forgot that you can't hide yourselves without your clothes!" Tino blurted between laughs. "That explains a lot!"
"What do you mean?" Berwald asked him.
"Well, I meant to ask you all about this anyway," Tino admitted, calming down, "but from what I could see of my own body, your sexual organs are always exposed, aren't they?"
The silence following his question was deafening, and then Mathias roared with laughter. Emil looked utterly shocked and covered his face again, while Lukas looked genuinely stunned. Even Berwald's mouth dropped open.
"Oh my god! Why, oh why, couldn't I have the camera in here for this!?" Mathias bellowed, his entire body shaking, his belly rippling with the force of his mirth. "Oh god, our little fish boy is comic gold!"
Tino frowned at the mixed reactions, but he was becoming used to them by now.
"I take it," he said blandly, "that you don't usually talk about your own bodies so openly? Especially if you don't like being naked in the first place?"
"Not really." Berwald clarified for him, clearing his throat.
"Though, we are Scandinavian so it's not like we are shy about it." Lukas followed up calmly, factually. "Our people embrace nudity more than others (Emil being an exception), but there are many cultures where not wearing clothes isn't just uncomfortable, it's an offense that can land you in trouble with the law."
Tino huffed at all that.
"As sensitive a person as I am, being one of the mer folk, you humans have a different set of insecurities and sensitivities that are pretty odd!"
"I don't think it's odd." Emil muttered.
"Tino, I'm assuming your kind don't need clothes," Mathias said, overcoming his laughter, "but are you telling me that your…um…you're not exposed at all?"
The merman shook his head, taking a deep breath and rubbing at the water on his skin that was beading up and drying in the heat. It was a fascinatingly enjoyable sensation.
"No, our genitals are cradled in a protective flap that lies seamless against our tails. We only expose them when we need to relieve ourselves. Or…"
It was Tino's turn to look uncomfortable now, and he shifted a bit before Lukas finished for him.
"Mate?"
"Mm-hm." Tino responded, rubbing his drying feet together to help the process along.
"That's gotta be convenient." Mathias said bluntly. "At least you don't have to worry about anyone kicking you in the balls like we do!"
Tino looked scandalized.
"What? Is that something that happens?"
An awkward conversation followed about the undignified and lowest form of physical revenge or confrontation to be bestowed upon a human male during a fight. Tino's hair fairly prickled with discomfort.
"I think we're due for a subject change." Emil piped in a moment later, through the red haze glowing around his face. Berwald saved him this time, pointing casually at the long ends of Tino's hair.
"Haircut." He said simply. Tino nodded, trailing a few ropes of his damp hair around to fiddle with.
"I do feel like it should be done soon." He said sadly.
"Seems a shame to just throw all that beautiful hair away." Lukas admitted. "There are plenty of donation centers that would die for hair that long and perfect."
Another short conversation ensued to explain wig making and such to the clueless merman. He became very excited with the idea.
"My hair's so long it could make a lot of wigs!" He said cheerfully. "It could help a lot of people!"
"We'd have to find an organization that would accept hair cut at home, though." Lukas pointed out. "Otherwise you'd have to go to a salon and fill out an application. It's not like you have a home address or social security number or anything. But if that's what you want to do, I think it's a great idea. Emil, how are your braiding skills?"
Emil looked up at his big brother, indifferent.
"How often have you seen me braid hair?"
"Just asking. I can't braid, and they always need it braided or in a tie. We don't have any hair ties on us."
Lukas glanced at Mathias, who rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"I know how."
They all looked at Berwald, surprised.
"How the hell?" Mathias asked.
"My cousins are all girls." Berwald answered. "Grew up watching them do it and they made me learn. Never thought it'd do any good."
Tino lit up with excitement.
"Show me! Show me!"
He wriggled over on the bench until he was right next to Berwald, and held out a thick section of his hair to the man. Big, confident hands took the damp golden hair gently, complying with the eager merman's demands. As if watching magic, they were all quiet as Berwald's strong fingers easily separated the section into three strands and began expertly weaving them together at Tino's scalp. It took him a good seven minutes to get down to the very end, and then he handed the braid back to Tino. The merman ran his fingers over the braid reverently.
"Wow."
"Still finding out new stuff about you, muscle-man." Mathias commented cheekily.
"Can you do more?!" Tino asked, seeming eager but his words edged with panting a bit with the heat and his excitement. "Please? Can you put lots of braids in my hair? Before I have to cut it off? Please?"
Emil and Mathias both chuckled at the notion, and even Lukas cracked a smile at how Berwald was struggling to respond to the request. Though they all knew he couldn't resist those big, pleading eyes.
"Okay."