Summary: This'll be fun, Tao said. It'll be something you've never done before, Tao said. Chin-mae agrees that breaking into an aquarium on a night out is something he's never done before.

He wouldn't consider stealing an octopus as fun though. Or what happens afterwards because of it.

Contains M-21/Tao.


Washed Up

By Dark Ice Dragon


[I...should get off,] Takeo said, and Tao snickered, nodding.

"Yeah, you're a little heavy."

Takeo hefted himself up, and he was stockier than a swimmer, not as defined, but Chin-mae had a feeling he would beat anyone in a race in the sea.

Takeo didn't move for a few seconds, his head cocked to the side like he was listening to something and. Right. Clothes. Takeo hadn't been wearing anything when he'd transformed but Chin-mae had been too distracted by everything else to worry about that.

He headed for the bedroom to find a few things that should fit Takeo as Tao rolled to his feet. He heard the hiss of the blinds getting closed when he was in the bedroom.

Takeo had started walking around with the kind of uncertainty of if his legs would hold him, but he didn't seem to be in any danger of falling over any time soon.

"Here," Chim-mae said, holding out the pile of clothes in his arms to him.

Takeo blinked at them, before ducking his head to look at himself. [I suppose I stand out like this,] he said, his voice wry, and huh, he was still using telepathy to talk. But that made sense — it would be hard to use vocal speech under water, unless he sang like whales. And if he did, there was no way Chin-mae and Tao would be able to understand him.

"You do a little," Tao said, tidying the mini-tank away, emptied of water. "It's a human thing to wear clothes?" He shrugged.

[I noticed.] Takeo took the clothes from Chin-mae and huh, he had webbing between his fingers that went up to just below where his claws started. [I can get used to them.]

Chin-mae looked away as Takeo changed after it was obvious Takeo could figure out how to put the clothes on without help.

"Why did that work?" Chin-mae mused, to distract himself, because what the hell. That didn't make sense.

"Because it's the power of true love's kiss!" Tao said, cackling.

"Right," Chin-mae said, rolling his eyes.

[Why couldn't it be?] Chin-mae turned to find Takeo had put on the trousers and shirt well enough, but he hadn't done up any of the buttons, the shirt hanging loose.

"Because..." Chin-mae trailed off, doubt rising as he frowned, studying Takeo.

"Well, the prerequisites for it to work are supposed to be both people love each other," Tao said, resting his chin in his palm, "but it tends to be the only person doing the kissing loves the kissee since the kissee isn't...always available."

Tao blew the air through his teeth. "But. Yeah. It's meant to be a kiss between two people who love each other."

Takeo blinked. [I see.] Then he scrunched up his eyes and shook his head.

"Hey, you all right?" Tao said.

[I...think I remember more,] Takeo said, and Tao straightened, grinning.

"Yeah? Like what?"

Takeo was staring out the window again, and he walked over to it, like he was in a trance. [I think that's my father trying to call me home.]

Chin-mae stared at Takeo, and then out the window as Tao spluttered.

"Your dad can control the weather?"

Takeo nodded. [It was something he used to do when we were away for too long and he was worried.]

"He called up a storm just to call you back?" Chin-mae said, his eyebrows raised.

[Mm. Our voices only carry so far, so feeling the change from the weather was enough to call us back.]

"But like..." Tao tilted his head towards the storm. "What if it was just a regular storm?"

Takeo shook his head. "We're attuned to water — we can tell the difference between a natural storm and one created by our father."

Oh. "And that's what this is," Chin-mae said. A magical storm.

"Damn," Tao muttered. "No wonder it hasn't blown itself out yet." Then he peered at Takeo, and Chin-mae could see him fighting to keep a grin off his face. "So your dad's powerful, huh?"

[Yes. He's the guardian of the sea.]

...Wait. Chin-mae covered his face with a groan, but he was too slow, already seeing the gleeful look on Tao's face.

"So," Tao said, and dammit, he should cover Tao's mouth right now, "does that make you a prince?"

[...Yes?]

Tao burst out laughing again, though not as hard as he had earlier. "Looks like you were right, Chin-mae!"

"I wasn't being-" Chin-mae cut himself off with a strangled sound. He hadn't been serious and tried to make the most ridiculous guess he could and he was right?

"So!" Tao said, clapping his hands once, his grin as wide as he could go, and dammit, Chin-mae knew that look. Tao had an idea and he wasn't going to be swayed from it. "If yer dad's looking for you, we'd better go get prepared to help you get to him!"

Takeo's eyes widened. [Eh? You're going to-]

"Of course we are!" Tao heafted himself up to sit on the window and was swinging his legs. "We already busted you out of an aquarium, so going on a trip to the sea is easy."

In comparison to what they'd already done, accompanying Takeo really wasn't that much. But... Chin-mae narrowed his eyes at Tao. "How are we getting there?" There wasn't much point trying to dissuade Tao once an idea had firmly settled on an idea, only to help him work with it.

"The train would be the fastest way way there," Tao said, nodding. "And that way, we'd be back home in the same day." Tao chuckled. "Or we could stay the night there — been a while since we took a trip, heh."

Chin-mae sighed. This was why Tao needed someone with him once he'd started getting excited by an idea. "Tao. That's not going to work."

Tao blinked at him, his eyes wide. "Eh? Why not? We could even go-"

"You're forgetting we're going to be with Takeo."

Tao frowned, then looked back at Takeo. "...Oh, right," he said with a soft laugh, covering his face with a hand.

[I don't look like you that much,] Takeo said, smiling, and there was a hint of sharp fangs behind his lips.

Tao snickered, waving a hand in the air. "Yeeeah. I mean, we could get make up to help conceal your skin but..." Tao frowned, studying Takeo. "I'm guessing you're not like a frog that breathes through their skin, but hm. And we could find contacts for you too, but thaaat probably won't be comfortable."

[What are contacts?]

"They're things you put in your eyes-" Tao stopped when Takeo flinched back. "Yep, no contacts, gotcha. Sunglasses would help too!"

"And if they get knocked off?" Chin-mae shook his head. There was too many chances of something going wrong if they took the train. "We can take the car," Chin-mae said, dryly. "We'd still be able to be back in one day, or we can wait until I'm off work. That way we've got a couple of days to prepare." And even with the lists Tao was going to make up, that was still going to take some time.

"Hmm, good point." Tao brought his hand to his chin, tapping his cheek. "We'd probably need a couple things to cover up the windows too, because that would be a lot easier than wrapping Takeo up, hm."

Chin-mae watched Tao for a few seconds, seeing him formulate a few plans before saying, "Go to bed," as he shook his head.

Tao scrunched his face up. "Aww, come on, I can't go to sleep now when I've got all this planning to do!"

"Yes, you can," Chin-mae said with a snort. "How much did you sleep just now? You're probably going to fall flat on your face soon."

"But I'll have done some work!"

"And maybe drooled over it too."

"I'll still have it saved," Tao grumbled.

Takeo tore his gaze from the window. [I may have been missing for a few days, but my father can wait a few more hours or days for me to return.]

"There, see?" Chin-mae said. "Now go sleep."

Tao groaned, his shoulders slumping. "Aw, Takeo, I thought you'd be on my side!"

[I wouldn't want you to collapse because of me.]

"Wouldn't," Tao grumbled as he staggered off towards the bedroom, and that was proof enough that the lack of sleep was catching up on him already.

Chin-mae heard the creak of bedsprings and turned to Takeo. "What about you?" Then he blinked, glancing at the tank Takeo used to occupy. Obviously, he didn't need that anymore. "You can sleep on the couch if you want."

Takeo shook his head, pulling up one of the chairs to sit on as he continued to stare out the window. [I've slept enough already.]

Chin-mae had the feeling Takeo wasn't talking about resting. "All right," he murmured, turning to go get ready for work.

xOx

Takeo was still staring out the window when Tao woke up again, and hm. "Hey, are ya hungry?" Takeo looked drier now at least.

Takeo shifted to look at him, then nodded.

Tao beamed at him. "All right! I'm not sure if-" Tao opened the fridge and there were a lot more bags in there. "Okay, Chin-mae went shopping before leaving." He lifted his head to call out, "Do you cook your food, or do you have it raw?"

[Raw, thank you.]

"Got it." Well that made it easy to prepare. Tao hummed as he got his own food and brought it all out to Takeo, bringing along his laptop as well.

Takeo's attention was back on the window and maybe they should hurry up them going if Takeo was like this. He had to be homesick.

[There are still things missing,] Takeo said, pushing himself away from the window to walk over to Tao. [I know there's more, but I can't seem to reach them.]

"Give it time," Tao said, digging into his food and opening up his laptop. "I guess it wasn't the curse that made you forget." Even saying that made Tao warmer inside. They still had no idea how it happened, but he'd broken a curse! Now if they could figure out how to get Takeo's memories back...

[Clearly.] Takeo pulled his hair away from his face, settling it behind his shoulders and Tao blinked, seeing his lack of ears.

...Huh, sunglasses wouldn't have worked either. Not unless he got one of straps that held onto the glasses legs that pinned them to the head.

[What are you doing?] Takeo asked as Tao tapped on his laptop.

"Getting you clothes, heh." He eyed Takeo for a few seconds, changing his search parametres. Takeo was wider than Chin-mae in the chest, but he stood taller than Chin-mae even though their torsos seemed about same length. "Do you have any favourite colours?"

[Favourite...?]

If Takeo said blue, Tao wouldn't be surprised.

[I'm not sure,] Takeo admitted. [But...I like the colour of the plants in the tank.]

Huh. "Green it is then!" Or maybe it was because Takeo was constantly surrounded by blue that he didn't want to see it anymore. ...Could Takeo even see blue?

A few more clicks and Tao added some items to his basket. "Okay, what else do we need?" Maybe a scarf would be good. People wouldn't look at Takeo weirdly if he had a scarf while it was raining, and that could cover half his face!

[How...does that work?] Takeo asked, continuing to eat his fish.

"The laptop or the site?" Tao threw in a couple more items, and oooh, was that on sale now? He'd been waiting weeks for that to go down! "The laptop's...mechanical." He didn't know enough of what Takeo knew to be able to translate all the details. "The site is like a really fast way of talking to someone. I tell the site what I want, and the site tells other people to bring the stuff I want here!"

Takeo studied the laptop. [It's that easy?]

"Basically," Tao said, nodding. "These should all arrive tomorrow. So!" he said, grinning at Takeo. "Do you have anything else you can think of that you'll need?

xOx

Chin-mae couldn't hear anything when he returned from work, and when he poked his head in, the lights were off and he couldn't hear Tao's laptop running. That was good. That meant Tao had actually gone to sleep. Maybe Takeo had convinced him to go to bed.

It was quiet inside and Chin-mae frowned at the empty sofa. He couldn't hear anyone else moving around...

Tao was sleeping alone in their bed. Which left only a few other places in the house, if Takeo hadn't left for some reason. Chin-mae doubted it, but he might have.

He poked his head into the bathroom and he paused at the doorway, unsure. The lights were out, and Takeo was in the filled bath.

"Takeo?" he murmured, walking over. Takeo was a merman who could breathe underwater so him being there shouldn't have any problems, but it was still unnerving to see a body just floating there, unmoving.

[Mm?] A splash, and Chin-mae breathed a sigh of relief when Takeo moved, sitting up to rest his arms on the edge of the tub. [Chin-mae?]

His eyes glowed in the dark, huh.

"Ah, sorry," Chin-mae said, shaking his head. "I was just making sure."

[Tao had offered the sofa, but this feels but this feels more comfortable.]

Chin-mae nodded. "Not surprised. Anyway," he said, taking a step back, "I'll let you sleep."

[Goodnight,] Takeo said, slipping back into the water again.

"Night."

Tao was still sleeping when Chin-mae got to their room and when Chin-mae climbed into bed, Tao turned towards him with a soft grumble.

"Are you actually sleeping or are you pretending?" Chin-mae muttered into Tao's hair, but Tao didn't respond, so Chin-mae closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

xOx

Tao woke up feeling better than he had the previous days and he stretched before getting out of bed. Takeo was up and huh, he must have slept through the deliveries, because Takeo was wearing new clothes, this time ones that fit him well.

"Yo, those are looking much better!" Tao said, getting something to eat.

Takeo moved an arm across his chest, his expression curious. [I can see why you wanted me to get new clothes. They're not as restrictive.]

"Feels nice, doesn't it?" Tao said as he opened up his laptop, double-checking what he'd done on it. "All riiight, so if that's all our stuff arrived, that means we're ready to hit the road! You wanna double check with me the route we're taking one last time?" It wouldn't hurt, and while they were on a little bit of a time crunch, Tao just felt better if their route lead them past as many bodies of water as possible for Takeo's sake. Even though it shouldn't do anything. It was better to be prepared for anything unexpected.

Smiling, Takeo nodded and moved to sit next to him.

xOx

"That should be the last of it," Tao said, his eyes roaming over the bags in the back of the car, "but lemme just check."

Chin-mae nodded as Tao pulled out his phone, muttering under his breath.

The lights in the streets had just started to come on, and Chin-mae watched the rolling clouds as they meandered overhead. "It shouldn't take us that long to reach the coast, but you think you'll be all right?" he asked Takeo, who bundled up in as many clothes as Tao could get him to wear.

[I should be. I've been fine this entire time I've been out the water — honestly, I think my biggest problem would be overheating in all these.] Takeo picked at the jacket.

Chin-mae grimaced. "Sorry about that, but we can't take any chances." It was still too easy for someone to peer through the window as they went past.

[I know.] The car moved a little as Takeo shifted. [I can take a few hours of a little discomfort.]

"And then you'll be home," Chin-mae murmured, his gaze drifting. He was glad Takeo would be back with his people again, but... He'd gotten used to Takeo's presence. He shook his head. It wasn't like they could keep Takeo locked up in their house all the time. It was bigger than the tank, but now that Takeo was bigger too, there wasn't that much difference. And compared to Takeo being in the sea with his own people... Yeah. It would just be unfair.

"Okay, we've got everything!" Tao said as he exited their house, making sure the door had locked behind him. "Let's go, let's go!"

xOx

Tao couldn't stop bouncing his leg as he leaned an elbow on the window, watching the scenery go by. "It really has been a while since we've done this, huh?" Tao mused, the restless energy in him refusing to settle or let him sleep.

"Mm."

Tao turned to Takeo. "Hey, Tak-" He paused at Takeo's hunched form, hearing his quick breathing. "Yooou don't look so great." More like 'green around the gills' and if Takeo hadn't been wearing a scarf, Tao would have been able to check.

[Does-] Takeo huffed, taking in deeper breaths. [Does it always feel like this?]

Tao shared a look with Chin-mae through the rear-view mirror, their eyebrows raised. A merman getting motion sick? He hadn't expected that.

"Yeah, this is a pretty smooth road," Tao said. It could be a lot worse, but he wasn't going to add that. "I thought you were used to this?" The sea was constantly moving, wasn't it?

[The sea doesn't feel like this...]

He sounded downright miserable and if this was what he was like after a couple of minutes in the car... Damn, this wasn't going to be a fun ride for him.

Chin-mae scrolled down the window on the passenger side in front of Takeo, letting in the cool night air. "Does that help?"

Takeo made a soft groaning noise. [I think... I think that's making it worse. I feel like my lungs are getting clogged up.]

Tao winced as Chin-mae closed the window again. What did people do for motion sickness?

"Try closing your eyes or look at the sky instead," Chin-mae said. "Don't try to look at the things close to us."

Takeo didn't seem to be getting any better and Tao turned around to dig out a bag because it sounded like-

"Hurk!"

Tao yanked one out and shoved it in front of Takeo, hearing the wet slap as he emptied the contents of his stomach all over it, feeling the car slow to a stop. A bit late, and they couldn't open the door anyway, in case someone saw Takeo.

"Ooof," Tao said, rubbing Takeo's back. "Yeah, that's not fun."

[At least I don't have more water rushing into my mouth,] Takeo grumbled, still trying to vomit when nothing was coming out.

Tao winced. "That's something I don't want to ever experience." At least Takeo could breathe through water, but maybe things got confused since he had two ways of breathing.

And he was going to stop thinking about that now, the thought of drowning will vomiting making him queasy.

Tao continued rubbing Takeo's until he stopped.

[I think...that's everything,] Takeo said, still panting.

"Sounded like it," Tao said, taking the bag from Takeo and knotting it. "You think you'll be okay now, or do you want to wait some more?"

Takeo grimaced as he leaned back against the seat. [I won't be able to be sick anymore, but I think my stomach would still want me to stay still for now.]

"Then we'll stay here for a bit," Chin-mae said as Tao nodded.

"I need to get rid of this first anyway," Tao said, and he dashed out, closing the door as quickly as he could.

It didn't take Tao long to find a bin and he threw the bag in, running back.

"I love my jacket!" Tao declared once he was back inside the car. He hadn't gotten wet in the slightest.

Takeo looked better, though his eyes were closed and there was a half-empty bottle of water in his hands.

[How don't you feel sick after that?]

"We're used to it," Chin-mae answered as Tao shook off what excess water he could.

"Heh, you don't have to, since you'll be home soon," Tao said.

[Mm, yes, I will be.]

Tao glanced over at the wistful tone. Did he...?

[Anyway,] Takeo said, [the faster we reach the sea, then the faster I don't have to feel like this.]

"Yeah..." Tao said as Chin-mae started driving again. It suddenly didn't feel like it was going to be a triumphant return.

xOx

The car was quiet after they started moving again, Tao sitting next to Takeo with a new bag ready, just in case. It didn't seem like it was needed, Takeo having dozed off a while ago.

"Guess it tired him out," Chin-mae murmured, keeping an eye on them both.

"Hopefully. That should mean he wouldn't be sick again any time soon." Tao peered at at the darkness. "Hey, we're getting close to a lake, aren't we?"

"Mm. Should be a couple of minutes."

"Should we wake him up?" Tao said, studying him.

Tao straightened when Takeo startled awake. "You okay?"

[Go!]

Chin-mae tensed, the urgency clear in Takeo's voice.

[Go!]

"Hey, Takeo," Tao said, reaching over to pat him on the shoulder. "It's okay — it's just a dream."

Chin-mae frowned, squinting at the darkness. There was something ahead off the side of the road, but Chin-mae couldn't make it out.

[I'm not dreaming!] Takeo was panting again. [Can't you feel that?]

Feel- Chin-mae's stomach dropped as the shape in front of him got caught in the headlights. "You fucking kidding me?" he hissed as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

It was made out of water, rising up maybe two stories tall, and it had to be from the fucking lake they had been driving towards.

It also wasn't moving, hovering there like a swaying wall.

Like it heard him, waiting for them, the water crashed towards them. It didn't stop once it fell, Chin-mae hearing the impact even over the rain, and it rose back up again, picking up speed as it roared towards them.


I originally had Takeo with hair that glows at the tip in the dark to help draw in prey, but I thought that might be a little too much, haha.

I realised that Takeo probably wouldn't use the term 'run', heh.

And aaahaha, I didn't expect that I'd written that much today. XD