Chapter 6: Life Debt

Gin just stood flabbergasted in his doorway. Unable to believe his eyes. In front of him, standing in his damn doorway, was his merman. Naked but for a seal fur skin around him and shivering from the bitter winds. Teeth chattering and dripping wet.

Gin had no words. There was nothing he could even say to this. So in the end he just stood aside and gestured for the man... merman? To come inside. Hurriedly the man took his cue and strode inside, soaking his rugs and his floorboards with every step. Gin quickly closed the door shut against the cold, windy night and went inside after him. Hurriedly moving to light a fire in the hearth to warm his unexpected guest from the cold.

He moved as if in a trance. Though he fumbled with the matches more than once trying to light it.

Once he got the fire going, he grabbed a blanket and some spare clothes the threw them at the man, along with some towels. "Dry yerself off an get dressed. Then come sit by the fire."

The merman blinked, then without a word did as he was told. Gin was surprised. From all the snarling and sassing before when he was caught in the net, he had expected the same again here. But he did suppose being freezing cold and shivering made him pliant.

Though he did also surprise himself with his own state of calm. But he couldn't help but stare as the mythical creature dropped his pelt and gave him a glimpse of his dripping body.

Damn, even now he looks beautiful. But the man glanced at him staring and Gin quickly looked away, blushing, caught staring. But thankfully nothing more was mentioned of it.

Once the naked man in his house was dressed and drying by the fire, Gin sat opposite him, trying not to stare and failing. "How the fuck'dya find me?" he wondered aloud, still amazed. "How'd you even get here? How'd ya even get legs? No' that long ago you had a tail and were stuck in me net."

Gin watched the merman sit back in his armchair. Arms around himself for warmth, still clutching his seal pelt to him. Though his brown eyes were steady and his gaze confident. Gin sat opposite him.

"That's a lot of questions," the merman said.

"I need a lotta answers," Gin countered.

The merman smiled. His teeth having ceased their chattering as he'd warmed up. "Fair. I would too, if I were you. Very well, I'll explain."

Gin watched the merman take a deep breath before he spoke. Even his voice was cool ans steady, and Gin knew the tone of a well bred noble in that smooth voice if he ever heard one.

"I owe a debt to you," he said simply to Gin. "And my thanks. When you cut me free from that net, you took my life in your hands. And I..." he paused, gripped his seal pelt tighter, glanced away, "Don't take a life debt lightly. And..." he stalled again, the regal voice and posture gone now, leaving behind a frail, normal man. "You... you could've reeled me in. sold me to the circus or kept me for your own pleasure. But you didn't. You cut me free. And I need to find a way to repay you for that."

Gin's heart thumped frantically in his chest. An eloquent response still failing him. He had no idea what to say. What did one even say to that? Somehow 'you're welcome' didn't seem to cut it.

"I..." Gin began, still fumbling around for a response and still failing. "I cut you free cuz it was the right thing t'do." he said. It was all he could say.

The merman met his gaze, and once again Gin was swept up in those eyes. "But you didn't have to."

"No," Gin said, because it was the truth. Because he could have left the creature to die, or sold him, or kept him confined. But none of those things were right. "I didn't."

"And now I owe you my life."

Gin paused, looked at his hands in his lap. Unable to meet those eyes that seemed to stare straight into his core. "And now you're here."

"Now I'm here."

"Look, I..." Gin began, nervous. He'd never had anyone else besides Ran in his home before, and the feeling was more than a little alien. "I don't know how you expect to pay me back for this."

His voice was trembling and nervous. His hands were shaking as he laced his fingers together in an attempt not to fidget. "I honestly don't think you can."

"Then let me try?" the merman asked, again those soulful eyes pleading with him. "Let me stay and find a way."

"I..." Gin paused again. Unsure. Something about this creature made him doubt even things he'd always been so sure of before. Unsettling, he noted. But not unwelcome, either.

He felt like he were standing on a precipice, trying to decide whether or not to jump off or make the long and awkward climb back down to the bottom of the cliff.

He stood at a crossroads.

One way lay a course of life he'd never dreamed possible, one fraught with its own risks.

The other lay a lifetime of regret that he'd never get this chance again if he refused.

It should have been an easy choice.

For anyone else, it would have been an easy choice.

A mer-creature of the deep bound to him by a life debt. Though such a debt was too heavy a burden to put on their shoulders. And too heavy for his heart.

There had to be another way. Surely.

Gin felt his heart thrash against the bars of the bonecage holding it inside him like some wild animal. Jumping with anxiety and excitement both at the possibilities laid out before him.

And somewhere among all that, hope. Hope things would be better if he followed this new course fate had set before him in the form of a mer-creature asking him to let him try.

He swallowed the lump that'd formed in his throat, hoping to find his voice steady. "alright," he said softly, "you can try."