Ever since that Grimm jellyfish had entered the picture Dad has been going on more missions. This left Mercury alone in an empty house with jackshit to do. Course, whenever dear old Dad was away on long-term missions Mercury would make the trip to the nearest town, a fun few hours walk. Every other day though, he would be watching his jury-rigged TV. Watts could be a prick, but the man had standards and decency - "Everybody needs a break from their routine, and it's not like you're using that brain for much anyway".
Mercury was flipping through channels, feet kicked up and body relaxed, when, in a brief reflection on the screen, he noticed the jellyfish floating in the doorway. He'd waited a minute, expecting Watts or Hazel to speak up, but nothing happened. "Creepy as fuck, but alright."
He returned to his channel surfing in an effort to ignore the fear creeping up his spine. He may have only been 12, but he'd seen plenty of Grimm, he knew what they could do. It was as he was surfing that a weight appeared on his shoulder. His body, already pumping with adrenaline, had catapulted off the sofa and straight into the pile of empty whisky bottles beside the coffee table. Not his best work, definitely would have earned him some extra "training" had Dad witnessed it.
The Grimm was floating behind the couch, just to the side of where he'd been sitting, idling. Mercury didn't dare move and, as the seconds passed into minutes, neither did the Grimm. Eventually He just scoffed at the entire situation. "It's not just gonna kill you out of nowhere Merc. Tyrian was probably just fucking with you, trying to scare you like a child. You'll show him."
With a most casual air Mercury returned to his spot on the sofa, the Grimm at his back once more. If Tyrian wanted a show then he'd have to look elsewhere.
Remote in hand, and feet kicked up, Mercury returned to his channel surfing. The next time the Grimm placed a tendril on his shoulder he didn't jump, merely a flinch and a stifled gasp. He was a professional. He could handle surprises without blowing his cover. And that's just what he did. With barely a moments hesitation he returned to his channel flipping. Was he actually paying attention to the channels? No. Was he flipping them just for the sake of having something to do whilst waiting for the Grimm to go away? Maybe.
Although not noticing it, Mercury had slowed down his channel flipping considerably – to the point that he only changed the channel every few seconds now rather than the rapid flicking that he'd started with. What he did notice, however, was the apparent fact that the Grimm had retractable spikes on it's tentacles, as he discovered when the tentacle on his should was suddenly a few inches longer and bone-white.
Like the professional he was training to be, Mercury didn't even flinch. He died a little on the inside, sure, but on the outside he was still casually searching for something to watch. His flipping had slowed to a channel a minute, every second burning with tension and dread. The chances of this being a prank had just plummeted like the weight in his stomach.
It was an excruciating 13 minutes later when the Grimm had removed its' tentacle from his shoulder and he hacked out some strained laughter. Mercury revelled in his freedom, taking the chance to actually watch some TV now that his life was back in the balance. "The Bachelor? Lame. How does this garbage have 4 seasons?" He took a second to think about it and laughed at himself. He almost lost his life and now he was trashing a reality show. He was still chuckling as he changed the channel again, only to go silent as he felt the tentacle, spike and all, land on his shoulder again.
In his fear ridden state only one idea came to mine. With no sudden movements, he carefully pressed the button that returned the TV to the previous channel. Immediately the Grimm removed it's tentacle from his shoulder.
/
An 18 year old Mercury was on the sofa, screwdriver in hand, and checking over his legs as he ranted to Simon; "I'm telling ya bro, I'm going to fucking kill him. I've put it off for years and I'm done. I've put up with his "training" shit for so long and he just doesn't care. I'll never be good enough for his twisted mind." He took a breather to look over at the Grimm floating on the couch next to him. "You've got my back, right?" Simon raised a tentacle in a short wave before using another to raise the TV's volume. Mercury just rolled his eyes before turning his attention to the screen, another girl was walking away from the stage. 6 years and 12 seasons had turned the boy into a fan of the show, but not for the suspense or romance; "Aha, called it! Told you Lily wouldn't make it past the second round! She's pretty but her personality is shit. Bump it." Mercury raised his fist and awaited the customary fist-bump. When no tentacle hit his fist he turned a confused look to the Grimm, only to find a confused looking Watts in the Grimm's fishbowl of a head and Marcus Black standing in the doorway just meters away... He hadn't heard either of them, the raised volume and his own shouting and laughter had drowned them out.
Mercury, the experienced professional that he was, kept a casual facade as he greeted his father and Marcus Black; "Sup?"