Chapter Three

"C'mere little guy, it's okay—there we go." Tavros shifted the sting ray onto the stretcher and sighed in satisfaction as it was lifted out, barbed tail flapping in protest. Tavros followed shortly after, spitting out some water from the sting ray tank. That was something you certainly didn't want to swallow. Yuck. He hauled himself out and sat on the edge, kicking off his flippers and grabbing them before he went away.

"Oi, move your ass."

Tavros jumped up and hastily moved out of the way, letting the short tempered janitor scrub down the now vacant area he's been sitting on. His eyes lingered on Karkat briefly, and then he moved away, eager to get out his wetsuit and into something dry.

Once he was inside the staff room, Tavros quickly changed and grabbed his lunch bag before slipping into the other room. He shut the door behind him and walked to the edge of the pool, kicking off his sandals and letting his legs dangle in the cool water. "Gamzee! I'm here."

"I know you are, my brother, I heard ya in the other room." Gamzee surfaced a few feet away, grinning excitedly as he used his ball to help him float, giving his tail a rest, "Whatcha got in the bag?"

"My lunch. People have to eat too." Tavros smiled, opening it and pulling out his sandwich. He unwrapped it and picked up a half, biting into it hungrily. All that swimming around after sick sting rays really made ones appetite increase.

"What's that?" Gamzee let go of his ball and swam closer, his arms in front of him as he look curiously at the thing in Tavros' hands.

"A peanut butter and jelly sandwich." Tavros mumbled, swallowing and licking some purple jelly from his lips. It had been a shock at first, when Gamzee had first opened his mouth to ask a question, and Tavros had stared at him in a state of shock until Gamzee splashed him with water. Apparently he could talk, though he only spoke to Karkat since he was the only person who ever visited him. Gamzee hadn't known what to think of Tavros, though he liked him, but the second Tavros mentioned Karkat, Gamzee had figured he was fine. Anyone who knew his best bro had to be okay. And Tavros had found out quickly that once Gamzee started talking, he didn't stop.

He was from the ocean, some fishermen had caught him tangled in their shrimping nets and hauled him back to land. Gamzee didn't like to talk about it, though he did mention that was how he'd gotten those scars on his face. He said he'd been a 'grub' when that had happened (whatever that was) and had grown up in this aquarium when some nice people rescued him from the fishermen. He also said he didn't remember much of anything from the experience, and what he did know had been told to him by Karkat. He never got to see anything but this room however, and once a week Karkat came to clean his pool. Food was routinely delivered by a chute and Gamzee was incredibly lonely. Karkat sometimes stopped by and talked to him, which were the best motherfucking parts of the day as far as Gamzee was concerned. (Tavros noticed that Gamzee seemed to have picked up his swearing from the crabby janitor too). But then this shy little bro came in and started keeping him company, which was the best miracle of all.

After all this had been explained, Tavros couldn't stop from voicing his amazement, which earned a shrug from the creature in the water. 'it's just a story, bro' he'd said, and then asked if they could play with the ball some more.

Tavros looked now at Gamzee's fascinated stare, fixated on his sandwich. Peanut butter and jelly shouldn't be too bad for…well, whatever he was. Gamzee himself didn't know, nor did he seem to care. Tavros reached down and picked up the other half of his sandwich and offered it to him.

Gamzee blinked and slowly reached out, his fingers with the translucent webbing closing around the food and bringing it over to his face. He sniffed it curiously, and then took a giant bite right out of the middle. "Mngpth!"

"Heh, you're welcome." Tavros finished off his lunch and sipped on a juice box as he watched Gamzee thoroughly enjoy the sandwich. Once it was gone, Gamzee swam closer to Tavros and rested on the side of the pool, his tail floating lazily behind him.

"What's it like out there?"

He always asked questions like that, and Tavros did his best to answer, "Well, in the Aquarium is nice and dark and cool, lots of tanks with fish are everywhere. People walk around and look into the tanks to see the fish."

"What sort of fish?"

"All sorts. There are sharks, string rays, whales, jellyfish—"

"Jellyfish? Did I just eat that?" Gamzee asked, looking horrified.

"No! Oh god no. That kind of jelly is when you take fruit and squish it into a pulp." Tavros explained, "Jellyfish are…well the top of them is like a half circle and kind of squishy, and from the flat part of the half circle a bunch of tentacles dangle down. And if you touch the tentacles, they sting you."

"That's cool." Gamzee grinned, "Are there any fish like me?" He raised his tail out of the water and smacked it back down.

"Um, no, not really." Tavros had spent hours researching through the Aquarium's documents for papers on Gamzee, but had turned up with nothing. "I guess the closest thing I could call you would be a mermaid. Or I guess merman. But you don't really look like one exactly. More like a…seal mixed with a merman and maybe a Tiger shark, since you have those cool markings."

Gamzee looked down at the white crescent moon markings on his forearms, "What's a seal?"

"A big blubbery animal with teeth like yours, only bigger."

"Woah." Gamzee's eyes were wide, "I bet they're the most terrifying thing out there."

"Ha, not at all. They mostly sit around all day and chill out. But not much is known about them when they're in the water." Tavros loved talking about his knowledge of sea creatures, especially to someone who seemed as fascinated as he was, "Tiger sharks are more dangerous."

"How dangerous?"

"Extremely. Though they don't really go for people."

"Huh…" Gamzee rested his head in his arms. "Karkat doesn't really tell me a lot about stuff, but he sometimes tells me about things going on outside. He went to a celebration or something this weekend, and brought me back a balloon." Gamzee's face lit up, "It was red and it looked so cool! But it floated up to the rafters and Karkat yelled at me again."

Tavros glanced up but didn't see it. Karkat most likely got it back for Gamzee, despite yelling at him.

"Hey, Tav?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for talking to me and shit. I know you've got shit ta do and whatnot, but you still come anyway. Means a lot."

Tavros smiled warmly at Gamzee, "Of course, I like talking to you."

Gamzee grinned happily and pushed himself away from the wall, swimming over to the platform, "Wanna swim with me?"

"I, uh, what?" Tavros said, taken aback as he watched Gamzee sit himself in the shallow water at the base of the ramp.

"Swim." Gamzee said, "It's a motherfucking fun thing to do."

"I suppose…I could. At least for a little bit." Tavros pulled off his shirt and shorts, leaving him in a pair of boxers as he walked around to the platform.

"Hey, why are you wearing two pairs of pants?"

"One is underwear, the other one is pants." Tavros said, walking up to mid-calf in water to where Gamzee was sitting. His eyes moved over his body and towards his tail, mesmerized by the glimmering scales.

Gamzee followed Tavros' line of sight, "Do you wanna touch it?" he asked suddenly.

"Is that okay?" Tavros looked at Gamzee, receiving a grin and a nod in return.

Tavros moved to Gamzee's side and knelt next to him, biting his lower lip as he looked at the muscular, powerful tail lying before him. The scales were overlapping like that of a fish, but nowhere near the same in appearance. Each scale almost seemed to be its own shade of purple, ranging from lavender to the darkest of sunset indigo. They overlapped in a way that the middle was lighter, progressing to darkness until the back was a beautiful, rich dark purple. Tavros gently placed a hand where Gamzee's thighs should be and ran his fingers along the scales.

There weren't at all like fish scales. These were harder along the front, becoming softer and more flexible along the sides—obviously for movement. Tavros had been right about the muscle; he could feel the strength behind this incredible tail, capable of propelling a merman out of the water to catch a ball.

"It's amazing." Tavros whispered, drawing his hand away from the smooth, shiny scales.

"I'd trade it instantly for a pair of those motherfucking legs." Gamzee sighed, "It's just a tail bro. But legs…those fuckers are freedom."

Tavros looked up at Gamzee's sad expression, "Yeah, I know what you mean." He sat beside the merman, their shoulders almost brushing as they stared out at the empty pool. "I was in an accident a few years ago. It was really bad and I almost lost my legs. The doctors managed to save them, but nobody thought I'd walk again. I was trapped in a wheelchair—a seat with wheels—and I couldn't walk."

Gamzee watched Tavros quietly, his golden eyes trained on his friend's face.

"But I didn't let it get me down. You know, I have a brother. He told me, after the accident, that life is about what you make of it. Something bad happens; fine. Sulk a bit. Feel bad for yourself. But then pick your ass up off the ground and turn it into something positive." Tavros smiled and looked down, "He helped me a lot then. And I learned to walk. I can't run or jump or even climb things that well, but I can swim. Swimming was what helped me rehabilitate. So I guess you could say swimming is my freedom."

"Shit Tav…" Gamzee's voice faltered. He had no idea what to say to that.

Tavros turned and smiled happily at Gamzee, "So basically, don't feel too bad, okay? I hate seeing you upset."

"Alright bro." Gamzee grinned and flipped his tail, splashing Tavros, "It does have its uses after all."

"Augh, hey!" Tavros sputtered, and then splashed Gamzee.

The merman laughed and dove back into the pool, swimming around Tavros as the young man leapt after him. They swam after each other, their noisy laughter and splashing echoing in the large room. When Tavros got tired, Gamzee let him wrap his arms around his shoulders and float along behind him.