Meiko had been over at her friend's apartment for the last 2 hours or so trying to convince him to let her borrow something she desperately needed for her 'surprise.' "C'mon, Gakupo, there's no need to ask so many questions. You know I won't do anything reckless!" Not sure about my aquatic friend, though. "You've let me before."
He gave her a sideways glance, tying his long purple hair into a ponytail as he usually wore it. "As I recall, you had blackmailed me."
Meiko snorted. "Yeah, I guess I might have…" She straightened up, her face serious again. "But, I'm a changed woman, okay? You can trust me!" She followed him as he walked into his kitchen, setting a pan on the stove.
A long sigh escaped his lips. "Alright, alright! I'm expecting some company so just get out of here already." He handed her a set of keys and turned the burner on. "And don't do anything irresponsible!"
"Ooh, your girlfriend coming over?" Meiko teased, taking the keys from him.
"Whatever, just go already. Sheesh."
Meiko smiled. "Thanks! I'll pay you back for it okay?"
He laughed. "Sure you will. See you later, Meiko."
She waved, closing the door as she left his apartment.
She walked into her bathroom, noticing an inch or two of water covering the tiled floor just as she opened the door. "Oh great. Wonderful." She deadpanned, rubbing her temples. "Kaito, what have you been doing now?" She looked up noticing that the merman's long tail was sticking out of the bathtub while his torso and face were submerged under water. She chuckled, coming up closer to the bathtub. "Just what are you doing?"
He stuck his head out, pushing his soaked blue locks out of his face. "Well, the top half of me was feeling a little dry…"
"Yeah, but doesn't it hurt to be laying like that? Have you healed already?"
He laughed somewhat nervously. Oh, yeah. Right… The injury. "Well, uh… Not quite. It still hurts quite a bit actually."
"Do you want me to change the bandages for you?"
"No! No- it is alright. I shall be fine, thank you."
"Okaay then." She said a bit suspiciously, taking a seat next to him.
"So… What was that surprise you mentioned to me earlier?" The merman sat up straight once more.
"Oh well-" She stopped midsentence, staring at the merman. "What is that?" She pointed to his chest.
He looked down, noticing the small marking just over his heart, a tattoo made of swirls. Curling, and glowing a soft blue. He squeaked, jumping up and practically falling out of the tub. His cheeks turned a dark red. "It- It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
"What do you mean 'It's nothing'?! Maybe it's normal for mermaids but I've never seen anything like that before! What does it mean?" She scooted in closer and, without warning, ran a finger over the marking. The blue glow became brighter.
The merman squeaked again, hiding his hands in his face. "No, don't touch it!" Came the muffled voice from underneath his webbed hands. "You will only make it worse!" He groaned, grabbing a hold of her hand and moving it away. The glow dimmed.
She smirked mischievously, reaching out with the other hand.
"No, really stop it." He tried to keep a stern look, holding both her hands in place, but his cheeks were still pink. Honestly, she doubted this gentle merman could ever truly be intimidating.
"I will if you tell me what it means." She yanked her arms back, trying to free herself. The chair slid from under her and she fell back, taking the merman with her.
He landed half on top of her; his cheeks grew bright red as he tried to keep his erratic heartbeat under control.
"Hey, get up already."
"S-sorry. It's just… You smell really nice. Err- I uh- I did not mean to say that." He squirmed off of her as best he could and sat up.
She sat next to him. "I need to change my clothes now. There's water all over the floor, thanks to a certain merman." She laughed, smoothing her damp hair back in place. "And thanks." She blushed slightly, crouching next to him. "Do you need help getting back in the tub?"
Kaito laughed. "Yeah, that would be helpful."
"Okay, Kaito, let's go!" Meiko walked into the room, clothes changed and a bag in hand.
"Go?" The merman looked surprised. "Where are we going?"
"Oh, you'll see." She walked up to the tub and extended her arms toward him.
He couldn't help the blush that spread on his cheeks as he wrapped his arms around her neck when she picked him up out of the bathtub. I'm done for. He thought, biting his lip and burying his face into the crook of her shoulder and neck.
"The stars are really bright today." She looked up at the sky as they left the apartment complex. "It looks beautiful."
He looked up at her face, her eyes shining and a warm smile on her face. "Yeah."
She looked down at him. "You know, this is a fairly abandoned road we're taking, so I didn't come up with a plan in case someone happens to see us. Or… you mostly."
He swallowed thickly, latching on tighter to her. "Then let us hope that does not happen."
They arrived at a rather large building and she set him down for a moment to unlock the door.
"What is this place?"
"You'll see." She held the door open and picked him up again.
They stepped inside and he was hit with an overwhelming stench. "What is that smell?"
"It's chlorine. People use it to clean things."
"I don't like it." He groaned, burying his face in her shoulder again.
"Well, you're gonna have to get used to it for now." They passed by a tiled room with showers and stalls and entered another larger room.
Kaito brought his face back out and saw a large rectangular pit, that took up most of the space in the room, filled with very unnatural looking blueish green water. The stench was even stronger here than it had been near the entrance.
"It's called a pool." Meiko explained, upon noticing the disturbed expression on his face. "We use it to swim in."
"Why not just use the ocean?" The merman asked, looking appalled by the thought that humans would use this when they had a perfectly good ocean to swim in.
"Well, uh. It sometimes gets too cold to swim there and some people prefer to not be in the hot sun, and sometimes the ocean gets pretty dirty…"
"And whose fault is that?!"
"You got me there. But whatever, I'm gonna put you in there so you can swim, okay? Just be careful not to reopen your wound." She walked over to the edge of the pool, crouching down.
"It smells bad. I don't want to go in." He whined, tightening his hold on her.
"Quit complaining. You want to be able to stretch don't you?"
"I guess…" He pouted. "Go in with me!"
"No. I didn't bring a change of clothes or anything." She slid him into the water tail first and set her bag off to the side. She sat near the edge and the merman's arms wrapped around her suddenly, pulling her into the pool with him.
(A/N): Sorry this one took so long! I had midterms to work on and then I was doing some art stuff.
Askkaimei's mod on tumblr drew some fanart for this fic and i nearly freaking cried holy shit. I tried to post the link but I freaking can't. well, that sucks.
If you've got a tumblr and you're not following them, you totally should. It's a great askblog!
Thank you so much for all the support so far!