"Okay" The bathtub was filled to the top, and Rin stood to go to his bedroom.
And there was no merman.
He quickly panicked; he hadn't noticed almost 30 minutes had passed since he left him in his bed. Had someone found it? Had it just vanished? He gave up his thoughts and started walking cautiously around his house. Not 30 seconds had passed when he blew a sigh of relief.
"There you are" The merman was sprawled on the floor. Clearly, he had been pulling himself around the house and his tail was thrashing up and down. When Rin spoke he stopped moving and Rin noticed the cuts in his tail, small cuts all over, and even a few scales were missing; but it was still the most amazing thing Rin had seen, and from so close.
When he carried him for the second time, he noticed the scales in his forearms and the way he was breathing so heavily, like something was crushing his chest. The merman was shaking as Rin carried him, his head tucked below Rin's.
"Okay" Rin said as he lowered him on the tub. "This isn't the ocean, but it's better than nothing" the merman fit sitting on the tub and, as it was not such a long tub, his tale bent slightly where knees would be so he could fit.
Rin was in full awe. He knelt beside the tub and watched as the merman tried to duck his head under the water, clearly annoyed when he couldn't. His tail seemed to have bits of glass stuck on it, probably when he was being pulled out of the sea; where in the sand lay thousands of shards of broken glass from when they had tried putting the merfolk on tanks before taking them anywhere, and they had broken them by hitting their tails against it.
"Do you..." Rin looked at the merman cautiously nodding a little. "Have a name?"
The merman looked slightly uncomfortable, but only slightly as he open and closed his mouth. "Haru" he pronounced the words carefully. "Have food?"
Rin nodded. "Food? Like seaweed"
"No" he shook his head "no, mackerel. Fish"
Rin stood and brought out a pack of raw mackerel he had on his refrigerator. He returned and handed them to the Haru, and he took them gracefully, bowing his head lightly. Rin watched as he ate the fish, almost swallowing them whole.
After a few minutes of awkward silence Rin noticed the pink tone the water was taking and noticed the tail was still bleeding.
"Haru?" The merman turned to look at him. "Do you want me to help you? With the cuts I mean. You're still bleeding"
He nodded. "Do you have...a name?"
"Rin" he said as he stood again. "I can take the shards of glass, but I have to take you out of the water for a few minutes, okay"
"How long?"
"Ten or twenty" Rin eyed the tail again. "You have a lot of cuts"
Haru nodded and Rin ducked his arms in the water to pick him up, getting wet with bloodied water himself. He sat him carefully on his bed. "Don't crawl out again, got it?" He nodded and Rin went to look for a pin.
After some minutes they were sitting on the bed together. Haru's tail was over Rin´s legs as he was carefully taking out the glass from the light blue scales. Haru let out hisses every time one came out, and Rin muttered an apology and continued.
Soon Haru was back in his tank, but this time a small blush covered his cheeks. Rin walked to his room and checked the time. 2:30 in the morning. "Hey, I have to..." When he peeked into the bathroom he noticed Haru had rested his crossed arms on the edge of the tub and rested his head on them; and was sleeping peacefully. Rin smiled to himself. "Goodnight, Haru" he whispered as he lay on his bed again, not caring it was a little wet from when Haru had sat on them.