Andersen sighed as he walked into his shared home. His Roommate, Lukas, was already getting dinner ready. Emil charged right past Andersen and into the kitchen where he would soon throw his backpack over the edge of a chair and pull up to do some of his schoolwork if he had any that is. Emil probably finished any and all schoolwork in the Teddy Room.

It was a nice setup Andersen and Lukas had.

They didn't originally intend on being roommates in fact Andersen didn't even know Lukas when it happened six years ago

Lukas needed a place to stay with his baby brother as they both were homeless at the time and Lukas straight-up knocked on Andersen's door and just asked to stay the night. One night, no more than that he swore and promised, originally Andersen was just going to turn them away but looking at little Emil and a very skinny Lukas he couldn't do it. Andersen decided to take the two of them in so Emil wouldn't sleep on the streets anymore.

Eventually, it turned into a roommate situation. Which was great, don't tell a soul, but Andersen was starting to get a tad lonely at the time. Lukas and Emil were a little strange in their own rights, but nothing rang any alarm bells, well they were perfectly fine now, in fact, thanks to Andersen's pushing Lukas was working on getting a degree in forensics and wasn't as skinny as he once was.

"Big brother, we're back." Emil was the one to announce while Andersen got to work on loosening his tie. God how he didn't care for these things.

Andersen rounded the corner as Lukas spoke next. "Oh? How was it?"

Emil shrugged. "Met a weirdo."

"Emil-" Andersen walked over and ruffled Emil's hair slightly. "Don't call him that."

"Oh?" Lukas inquired as he was focusing back on the food, though now he was reaching into a cabinet for a mug.

"Yeah-" Andersen sat down at the table and sighed. "Máxi brought some guy in, I don't know the full story, but he's... uneducated? It's an odd situation. He didn't know anything."

Lukas hummed. "Probably some Anti-vaxxer parent, I'm sure." Lukas then walked away from the stove and over to Andersen where he handed him a cup of coffee, a nightly thing between them. Andersen gave him a thankful smile and then brought the hot drink up to his lips careful not to burn his tongue. "Regardless, thank you for bringing Emil with you, Andersen, I do appreciate it."

"No problem, everyone down at the precinct loves him, and he's quiet. So that's always a plus. But you have to tell your work to stop calling you in on the fly."

Lukas chuckled at that. "You've clearly never worked retail." Lukas went back to the food, but he didn't stay for long as it seemed a thought hit him when a surprised "Oh!" Suddenly left his mouth and he came rushing back to Andersen like his life suddenly depended on it. "You'll never guess who got in contact with me!"

"Your missing family?" Andersen joked that earned his loose tie to earn a harsh jerk upwards.

"Ha-ha! This is serious. Tino did."

Andersen's joking mood shifted as Lukas let go of his tie, the whole mood around the table turned rather gloomy. "Emil, can you go to your bedroom, please?" Andersen cleared his throat. Emil looked ready to protest but stopped when Lukas nodded at him. So, he left. The moment his door shut, Andersen let out a slow sigh. "I haven't heard from them since-"

"Yeah, I know. I almost cried when I heard his voice."

"How are they-?"

"Fine, getting by." Lukas, forgetting about all of his cooking food, sat down next to Andersen at the table. He then tapped the table with his fingers for just a moment before sighing. "They really wanted to talk to you about something but you were at work. He said he didn't want to bug you, so he wanted me to tell you to call him back."

Andersen sighed and rubbed his face. "I'm not gonna lie, I wish you would have told me at work. I could have made the time."

Lukas gave a shrug in response. "I'm sorry, I was at work at the time as well, but Tino seemed absolutely adamant that he wanted to talk to you in particular."

Andersen let out a soft hum in thought. "You don't think it's about-"

"-Probably is. You know they don't think it was an accident."

Andersen tapped his fingers against the wood of the table. "That's why they cut me off..."

"It wasn't your call and they were grieving." Lukas thought about it. "Knowing Tino... he's probably wanting to apologize for yelling at you the way he did."

"Yeah... trust me, if I could convince my boss to reopen Sven's case I would, but he said it was a clear and dry case of accidental drowning." Andersen shook his head and the air became uncomfortably tense around them. "..." Andersen put his mug down with a soft 'clink' as the ceramic rested against the wood of the table. "I should call him back." Andersen stood up and started to go towards his bedroom, but paused just momentarily to look back at Lukas. "How about a kiss for good luck?" Andersen gave Lukas a bit of a goofy grin as he asked and Lukas chuckled before shaking his head and walking over towards Andersen.

"Oh shit-" Andersen gave a nervous laugh, clearly he didn't think his request would work. Lukas simply fixed Andersen's screwed up tie.

"I'm out of kisses, but how about some advice? Don't you dare mention Sven to Tino."

"Yeah, no kidding." Andersen looked swallowed hard and made his way to his bedroom. He shut his door silently, looked at his cellphone, and just looked at Tino's name for a good hard minute, and with his thumb hovering over the call button he froze.

Andersen remembered the funeral, the black everyone wore, the tears in all of their eyes. little ten-year-old Sven's body in a casket.

He could only squeeze the blankets beneath him and grit his teeth.

Tino and Berwald were on the beach with their adopted son, Sven. Sven went swimming, according to Tino he was staying in the shallows, then Tino said he looked away for a moment to talk to Berwald and when he looked back Sven was gone. Tino said he jumped in the water right away with Berwald to find Sven when Sven didn't immediately pop back up. Cops were called less than ten minutes later.

Sven's body was found a week later on the western side of the beach.

The official cause of death was drowning obviously. Forensics say Sven was most likely caught in a rip-tide and struggled till he drowned.

Tino argued and pleaded that it couldn't have possibly been a rip-tide as he and Berwald had jumped right into the ocean and weren't dragged out to sea, but the case was closed. Maybe Andersen should have made a case or offered to do some more investigating for Tino and Berwald, but he didn't, and Tino-

Jesus, Tino took that to full offense. It was a side of Tino that Andersen never ever wanted to see again. Tino yelled, he screamed, and if it weren't for Berwald holding him back he probably would have gotten physical. The last time Andersen saw Tino and Berwald was at the funeral.

That was almost a year ago. So hitting this little button was a bit of a big deal and Andersen just needed a full second to take it all in and with a slow exhale out of his mouth he hit the button.

Tino answered on the third ring.

"Hei?"

"Hey, Tino. It's your cool brother-in-law!" Andersen worried he might have started that off wrong or too strong.

"Andersen… I missed your voice." Tino breathed out on the other end of the line. "I… I'm sorry-"

"It's all cool, look… I understand. I do." Andersen wanted to try and put Tino's mind at ease and he did his best not to mention anything specific so as not to trigger Tino in any way, shape, or form. "Lukas said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Uh, yeah…" Tino paused on the other side of the phone. A second passed, then two, four, eight, ten-

"You still there, Tino?"

"Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out a way to say this…" Andersen heard Tino exhale an uneasy sigh as it was clear that something was on his mind.

"Take your time… How's Berwald?"

"... He's… better now. It was a little iffy there for a while but-..." A pause. Seconds ticked away again and Andersen wondered if the call dropped, but then Tino finally found his voice. "Andersen?"

"Still here."

"... You see… there's a boy."

" A boy?" Andersen felt confused and wondered if Tino might be drunk.

"Yes, a boy. A little boy- Andersen, a boy found us!" Tino whispered his tone shifted and he sounded unbelievably over the moon. "You don't understand, we didn't find him, he sniffed us out. The other day… Berwald and I- we went back to the beach as it was the anniversary-" Tino paused again and Andersen could feel Tino's grimace from the other side of the phone. "Well regardless, Berwald had lost his glasses and… yesterday a boy came knocking on our door. He had Berwald's glasses. Andersen, the kid has no family!" Tino finally cut to the chase.

For some reason the happy undertone that Tino had made Andersen uneasy. "At least… that's what he says… Andersen I'm calling not just to apologize but… as much as I want to just take this kid and run… I need to ask you a favor."

"Which is what?" Andersen swallowed a lump in his throat.

"... I'm going to send you a picture… can… can you please make sure he's not a runaway?" The hurt was there in Tino's voice. Andersen heard Tino let out a sharp intake of breath, clearly just asking this was tearing him up inside. Of course, it would. It would hurt anyone in Tino's situation.

"... Of course, Tino."

"Berwald… he's absolutely in love and smitten with this child. He doesn't want to do this, but it wouldn't be right… you know?"

"Yeah." Andersen relaxed just a bit.

"Thank you."

"Tino?"

"Yes?"

"... You should come over for dinner sometime. I know Lukas and Emil also miss you two."

"I'd like that, Andersen."

Matthew learned something interesting. Something that surprised him. The water humans used did not affect his legs as it wasn't ocean water. He found this out when he stepped into a 'shower' that late-night under Maximo's orders. He was absolutely terrified that his little secret was completely over right then and there. As Matthew couldn't exactly tell Máximo he couldn't shower. Yet, when he stepped into the warm water... nothing happened.

That was a relief, a huge one, and a weight was lifted from his shoulders. His father's words did echo back at him at that moment in the shower. 'As long as you don't go back into the ocean you'll be fine.'

Máximo was nice enough, or just shy, to give Matthew instruction through the door on how to bathe. "-I mean it, amigo, do not open your eyes when you use shampoo, you'll regret it!" was one of his warnings. Matthew found the Shampoo, he saw it started with an 'S'. He was learning! Still, he was curious and did accidentally open his eyes while washing his hair.

Yeah, he regretted that as his eyes started to sting.

"Gah!"

"I warned you, dammit!"

It was not a pleasant feeling, but he found the stinging pain went away after a while.

Still, aside from that little hiccup, Matthew got clean and holy crap, he smelt amazing. All sorts of aromas that he didn't even know existed. He got himself dried and dressed into 'night clothes' as Máximo put it. The funny thing was Máximo forgot to buy these clothes so he just gave Matthew a very large shirt that went down to his ankles. "How big is this shirt?" Matthew asked as he sat down on the couch.

"Ah..." Máximo scratched his head awkwardly as a blush crept across his face. "Big enough." he finally settled on saying. He then coughed and tried to straighten himself up. "I'm sure you're probably tired-"

"-I'm not-"

"-Good. Because we still have to go over the alphabet before you see the eye doctor."

"Cool." Matthew grinned, but in the back of his mind, he was thinking of Liam still. He still just couldn't get over seeing his oldest brother trying to beckon the children into the ocean. Why? Especially when Liam saved them before. He was trying to not let his mask slip so Máximo couldn't see his uneased state.

"Okay." Máximo sighed and sat down right next to Matthew and pulled out a sheet.

This sheet had letters. They were both big and small.

"Alright, now it's the most important we get you recognizing letters first and foremost, we'll get to reading tomorrow after the appointment, but you see during your eye exam the doctor is going to ask you to read letters, not words."

"Gotcha."

"Good." Máximo nodded. "So this order of letters you see here? It's called Alphabetical. It's a certain order they're in and it starts with this-" He pointed to the first letter. "A."

"A."

He moved his finger to the next letter. "B."

"B."

"Good. C."

"C."

The lesson went on like that for a good while, Máximo showed him each letter and pronounced them, the third time around he silently pointed to them and let Matthew pronounce them. The fourth time around, he pointed to each letter in random order to test Matthew. Matthew wasn't perfect at it but he was starting to understand.

But Máximo wasn't done. "This will help you learn them better as well." He put the paper down on the table and pulled out something long, thin, and yellow. "This is a pencil." He showed Matthew, he showed the pencil off for a moment. "We use it to write."

"Like a crayon?"

"Almost, but a pencil has a finer tip, is used mainly for writing, and is made of lead. Now did Emil show you how to hold a crayon?"

Matthew nodded and so did Máximo. "Good, hold this the way you did the crayon."

Matthew did. Then Máximo put his hand on Matthew's in an attempt to guide him. With gentle persuasion, he helped Matthew put just enough pressure down to write. "You don't need to add a lot of pressure, just enough to make a mark," Máximo instructed. Then he helped Matthew write for the first time. Matthew wrote a big and sloppy 'A' on the paper. Máximo could see the stars in Matthew's eyes as he looked down excited at the writing.

Máximo would be lying if he said Matthew's excited face didn't make him smile in return.

Then like that it was on for Matthew, wanting to learn and be the best he could be. It took to the letter 'E' before Matthew started writing by himself without Maximo's help. He really was a fast learner. Still, Máximo went over the alphabet a few more times, enough times for Matthew to start to get bored, maybe even tired, of reciting the same letters over and over again.

Máximo lost count of how many times they went over the alphabet but he did grow tired himself and his back was getting stiff. "Alright, amigo, it's almost midnight, I'm getting tired. We'll do this one more time in the morning, alright?"

"Alright!" Matthew smiled sweetly as Máximo stood from his spot on the couch and stretched before rubbing his lower back.

"Oh," before Máximo completely walked away he paused. "And Matthew... you sleep with the pillow under your head. Not beside it." That's not what he originally wanted to say. Matthew could see it written all over Maximo's face as he paused in the middle of the sentence.

"Of course, silly me." Matthew smiled and pushed his questions down.

"Good night, Mattie," Máximo called before retreating to his bedroom. The door clicked shut and soon Matthew was engulfed in darkness. He rested his head on the pillow and threw the covers over his body, but sleep didn't want to come to him

Matthew had too many questions swirling in his mind. His mind just kept flashing back to Liam. Yeah, the teaching was a good distraction, but that's all it was, and probably why Matthew was so eager to learn, it was all so he could distract his mind. Well, the distraction was over and reality was starting to set in. It was a horrible reality.

The questions were endless. 'Why save the kid just to drown him a year later?'

'Why are you attempting to drown children?'

'Marius?'

'Does dad know?'

Dad hates humans, this is true, but... to drown the children? That just seems barbaric and completely unlike his father or Liam. Matthew tossed and turned hoping for the sweet embrace of sleep and yes, it did eventually come, but it came far too late for Matthew's liking as his mind was still restless, the last thing he remembered thinking was 'I should talk to Dad or Liam myself if I'm given the opportunity.' and he hoped to do that in the coming days.

Kiku was warming up to Alfred. Of course, he was already warm with Alfred before this but he was warming just enough to lean into Alfred's arms as they both lazily watched TV. This was obviously a big deal as before Alfred wasn't even allowed to touch Kiku, but now Kiku was allowing it. He even allowed it when Alfred wrapped his arm around his shoulder. Alfred could make out the blush Kiku had and just smiled to himself as he blushed as well. Neither of them making eye contact with the other. The light of the TV bounced around Kiku's face and it was at that exact moment did Alfred decide: Yeah, I made the right choice.

Alfred frowned a little as his mind was forced back to his father-

Alfred smiled as he approached the familiar blue and white skiff boat. He didn't fully approach it, not yet, instead, he playfully poked his eyes up over the water to watch his prey. Kiku's back was turned and he was casting his net out to try and catch some fish. A little evil grin grew across Alfred's face as he stealthily slinked along the water, using his tail almost like a sea snake or eel would. He didn't want to splash or make noise.

Alfred bit his lip as he grew close enough to touch the boat, he was ready to throw his whole weight on one side and send Kiku falling down, maybe even causing Kiku to yell out in shock but the moment he touched the cold metal of the boat-

"Don't even think about it, Alfred-san." Kiku turned his head to look at Alfred in question.

"Aw!" Alfred cried out in disappointment and even threw his hands up in the air. He then pouted and crossed his arms. "How'd you know?" Alfred swam onto his back bringing his tail forward now.

"You are very predictable," Kiku explained emotionlessly as he started to throw some bait out into the water for the fish.

Alfred swam down under the water and moved under the boat, careful not to hit the propeller or get caught in the net. He learned that lesson.

If it were anybody else, or even a big fishing boat Alfred would have cut the fish free, but Kiku explained how he needed the fish to eat and Alfred accepted it. For Alfred, Kiku was the only human he allowed to capture the fish. Was Alfred showing favoritism? Maybe.

After all, Kiku made a good point, the merpeople ate fish so shouldn't the humans?

Alfred popped his head upon the other side of the boat so he and Kiku were facing each other. "Did you bring me anything today?" Alfred asked as he rested his arms on the edge of the boat. He then rested his head on his arms.

"As a matter of fact, I did." Kiku reached into the bag he kept by his chair.

"Awesome! Thank you."

"You haven't even gotten it yet."

"I know, but still, thank you. I love the little trinkets you give me."

Kiku's face turned a slight shade of pink as he continued to rifle through the bag until he found what he was looking for. He came over to the edge of the boat and got down on both of his knees so they were at level. With both of his hands, he offered his trinket to Alfred. It was small and plastic, a toy.

Alfred was ecstatic. "Wow!" He picked the toy up and inspected it for a few moments. It looked to be a land animal, it was so cute! "What is it?"

"A dog."

"It's adorable!" Alfred held it close to his chest. "Thank you- oh, I got you something!"

"Alfred-san, you didn't-" But before Kiku could finish Alfred went under the water. Alfred overheard two fishermen talking about gifting people who would gift them first. So it was only right for Alfred to gift Kiku in return, right?

So, already prepared ahead of time, as Kiku fished at the same spot, Alfred already had his gift waiting. He hid it in an old octopus nest that was no longer in use. He stuck his hand between the two rocks and pulled out the shiniest and strangest stone he's ever seen. Quietly he put his new trinket in between the rocks for safekeeping and went back towards the surface. He hoped Kiku liked this strange sparkling stone.

Alfred excitedly broke for the surface and went for the same way towards the boat. As this shiny stone was small he only used his open palm to show it off to Kiku.

"Where…" Kiku questioned with wide eyes breaking his emotionless facade.

"It's the shiniest stone I've ever seen! We like shiny things, so I thought maybe you might like the shiny stone as well!"

Kiku went for it but stopped and instead pulled back. "I- Alfred-san, I really can't accept this."

"Take it! I insist."

"... you didn't take this from someone did you?"

"Huh? No, I found it! Like I said."

That did seem to ease Kiku's mind a little and he grabbed the weird, sun-colored stone that had a perfectly round center, from Alfred. "Thank you."

"No problem! It's the least I could do with all the gifts you've given me!"

Alfred and Kiku stayed in the spot and talked for hours, they talked for so long that by the time Kiku was packing up to leave now with more fish in his cooler, the sun was starting to set. It truly did hurt Alfred to have to see Kiku go. Every time they had to say their goodbyes it hurt and just reminded Alfred that they weren't the same species.

"See you tomorrow?" Kiku gave just the faintest smile at Alfred's question.

"Of course, Alfred-san, I wouldn't miss it."

"Bye."

"Goodbye."

With those parting words, Alfred went back under the water and stayed clear as the boat roared to life. Those propellers were something to be feared as they rolled and twirled at dangerous speeds that could cut a fish to bloody bits. Still, Alfred watched and waited as the boat moved until it was eventually out of his view.

Alfred just smiled to himself before doing a happy flip in the water. Kiku just made him so gleeful even if watching him leave was one of the more heartbreaking things.

Still, Alfred was eager and ready to add his new trinket to his ever-growing, little, collection of things that he knew to keep hidden from his father-

But Alfred's heart absolutely sank when he made his way back towards the abandoned octopus nest as his father was there.

How much had he seen?

It seemed he saw enough as his dad was now holding the toy dog in his hand and was looking at it with an obscene amount of disgust. Like this toy had personally hurt him.

Alfred swallowed hard and resisted the urge to snatch the toy out of his dad's grip.

"-You know." His father started only seconds later. He never once looked at Alfred, just at the toy. "It's one thing to have three out of my five children watch humans. It's a whole other thing when one of those three is actively talking and engaging with them." He snarled before finally focusing on Alfred. His father's green eyes absolutely enraged.

Alfred swallowed, unsure of what to say or do.

"Well? Explain yourself! Under what circumstance is this okay?!" His father shook the toy at Alfred.

"How'd you find out?" Alfred finally asked after a few moments.

"It doesn't matter."

'Liam.' Alfred rolled his eyes, it was clear that Liam must have been tailing him. Alfred crossed his arms and turned his head away.

"This is going to stop. Now-" His dad started but honestly at that moment something in Alfred just snapped he was tired of being told what to do.

"No!" Alfred huffed his response and decided enough was enough. "I like Kiku!"

You would have thought Alfred had slapped his father by the shocked expression that came across his face. "I beg your pardon?!"

"You heard me! I like Kiku! I've been talking to him for years now and it's not going to stop just because you said so!" Alfred exploded as he snarled right back at his father.

"Have you forgotten who you're talking to!?" His dad tightened his grip on the toy and Alfred thought about just snatching it, but he didn't, instead, he stood his ground and possibly dug his grave even deeper.

"I'm tired of this! Just because you have a vendetta against the humans doesn't mean I do! They aren't that bad as you've been making them out to be!"

"I know more than you!"

"Do you?!" Alfred all but screamed at his dad as he clenched his fists so tightly that he was tearing into his own palms with his nails. "Because I don't think you do! You can't possibly know how I feel-"

"-Alfred, enough is enough-"

"-No!"

"Alfred-"

"I like Kiku! Just because you can't get someone to like you the way Kiku likes me-"

"You will not talk to me like that-"

"Just because nobody loves you doesn't mean you should stop me from loving Kiku!"

Silence. Alfred went too far, he knew it. His father's face turned red and his breathing became heavy. "You think this is love? This?!" His father gestured towards the toy. "This is nothing! This is just a toy!" Alfred watched as his father's hand glowed an emerald shade of green and before he knew it, in a blinding green flash, the little dog was nothing more than melted bits of plastic that floated off away from the two of them.

It crushed Alfred to watch.

"-Plastic and fake." His father opened his palm and any remaining bits of plastic were gone. "Just like this insane delusion you've given yourself. You can forget about the other toys as well, I've already taken the liberty of destroying them before coming to get you."

"..." Alfred narrowed his eyes as a few heavy seconds passed them by. "I…" Alfred gritted his teeth. "I absolutely hate you!" He finally exploded.

"Well get in line behind Peter! You're my son and you're coming home-"

"No… I'm not…" Alfred backed up a little away from him. This man, there's just no way this man could be his father. What father would ever do this and think it was reasonable and sane? "I am never coming back to you… I hope you're happy, Arthur… I really do." And with that Alfred fled.

"Get back here!" He heard his father maybe try and give chase but not even he could keep up with Alfred at that moment. Alfred made a promise to himself that night, that he would never ever return.

"-You've been quiet." Kiku's voice forced Alfred back to reality. Alfred let out a slow and uneasy breath that he's been holding in. Kiku reached up suddenly and used his hand to touch Alfred's. It was a gentle touch that made Alfred blush a little.

Alfred couldn't hold back his smile as he noticed something. "Is that the shiny rock I gave you?" He ran his thumb over the 'rock' that rested on Kiku's middle finger.

"It's a ring. I guess someone must have lost it in the ocean. It was a little big for any of my other fingers…" Kiku commented as he twirled it with his thumb. "I am not one for jewelry, but I like this ring and will wear it on occasion."

"Hey, Kiku?"

"Hm?"

Alfred wanted to tell him about the collection, about his father, and about why he changed into a human, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. "...I'm glad you liked it." Alfred finally choked out as he looked at the ring. "It looks good on you."