"Happy anniversary!"
A round of applause and cheers swept through the area. Once again all the staff members were gathered for a party more than a year after the first event that had sparked everything. Yamcha clapped along with his co workers and smiled as he surveyed the crowd. Employees both new and old were in attendance to celebrate the one year anniversary of the Ningyo Grotto exhibit opening. The West Bay Aquarium had changed a lot in that time. The exhibit had brought in more money than they ever could have hoped for. Almost all the other parts of the aquarium had been given upgrades and they could still afford to have a free attendance day once a month. The only thing that had slowed down was the amount of questions asked at Yamcha's shows. The aquarium website had an extensive FAQ section for Tien specifically and thankfully the public seemed to be reading it. Even better was that the quality of the questions asked had increased as the quantity dropped. The only ones not answered were the ones about Tien and Yamcha's personal lives. As expected someone eventually put together that they were dating and the news had spread fast once they officially confirmed it. Nothing negative seemed to have happened so far and they were both thankful for the freedom.
"I'd like to thank all of you for putting up with me for a year." Tien said with a raised glass. Everyone shared a laugh and toasted. Yamcha made his way over to the temporary tank Tien had been placed in for the party.
"I've been with you for longer than that. Do I get anything special?" he asked. Tien chuckled and leaned over to give Yamcha a quick kiss on the cheek.
"You get all my love." he said. Yamcha pretended to be offended.
"Is that all? I might just have to throw you back. The beach isn't too far away..." he said. He preemptively raised a hand against the splash he knew was coming. "I'm joking. Love is all I need."
"It'd better be." Tien said. "Although I could tell you what your scent is, besides wet dog..."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I'm not sure I should. It's fun to keep you in suspense." Tien teased.
"Talk like that again and I'm not getting you anymore food from the snack table tonight." Yamcha warned. Tien laughed and set his glass down on the ground next to his tank.
"Alright, alright. I suppose it's about time you knew." he said. He crossed his arms over the side of the tank and looked thoughtful. "So you already know you smell like a wet dog..."
"We have established that many times." Yamcha said.
"It's true. That's not all there is though." Tien said. "There's also... a dryness to it. It's like sand. A beach. Complete with the salt from an ocean breeze. No matter what I can tell it's you. By now it's a comforting scent. Even out of the water I can still pick it up from you. You smell like nature, more or less. Like home."
"Tien... that would be so poetic if it weren't for the wet dog comment." Yamcha said after a moment.
"You wanted to know!" Tien pointed out.
"I know. Thank you for telling me. For me to be... home, to you, that... that means a lot to me." Yamcha said. He smiled and pulled Tien into a hug. "I love you."
"I know. I love you too, land mutt." Tien said. Yamcha laughed and pulled back from the hug.
"Tastefully put, koi boy." he said with a smirk. "For what's it's worth, to me... you smell like family."
"I'm a fish. Everyone here smells like me." Tien pointed out.
"And everyone here is my family too, in a way." Yamcha said. "This past year has been the best of my life and it's thanks to all the people here tonight."
"I could easily say the same." Tien agreed. "They've made it possible for me to stay with you."
"Speaking of family..." Yamcha said. He trailed off and began to shuffle through his pockets. Tien swam closer and leaned over his tank a bit further.
"What is it?" he asked. Yamcha finally found the paper he was looking for and unfolded it.
"It took a long time and a lot of forms, don't ask me how many, I couldn't tell you with a gun to my head, but..." he said as he held up the paper. "I got this in the mail this morning."
"Are you planning on telling me what it is?" Tien said. Yamcha couldn't help but let a goofy smile grow on his face as he got ready to read the paper out loud. He'd put a hell of a lot of work and money into getting it and he was gonna make revealing it count.
"Dear Mr. Zedaki..." he began reading. "That's me, by the way."
"I know your last name, you dork. Keep going." Tien said.
"We here at the International Foster Care and Adoption agency are pleased to inform you..." Yamcha read. Tien perked up a bit and looked much more interested.
"Foster care and adoption?"
"Let me finish." Yamcha said. "As I was saying, we here at the International Foster Care and Adoption agency are pleased to inform you that your approval has been finalized. As of this day you are now officially the legal guardian of..."
Most of the people around them had stopped talking when Yamcha began reading the letter and were now listening in. Tien had almost pushed himself out of his tank trying to see the paper. Yamcha faltered for a moment as he let the emotion of the next sentence get to him.
"The legal guardian of Chiaotzu Shinto."
"YOU ADOPTED CHIAOTZU!?"
"We will be contacting you for further details on transportation and the settling -"
"You actually did it!?"
"The settling in of your new child. We are looking forward to working with you and wish you and your new family the best." Yamcha concluded. He laughed happily as Tien's tail thrashed wildly in his tank.
"You adopted him?!" Tien said, still in disbelief.
"Yes! I did!" Yamcha said gleefully. "He'll be arriving here in a few months and -"
He was cut off by Tien hugging him. To do so he had leapt out of his tank. As a result of this they both ended up lying on the patio floor soaking wet. Neither minded. Most of the party goers nearby were cheering but they didn't pay any attention to it. Yamcha was still in the throes of excited giggling and Tien had joined in.
"You seriously adopted him. You got him safe. He's okay." Tien said.
"And he's excited to hear the result, I'm sure. If you could get off me I can go get dry and make a video call to him. He's at a foster home right now." Yamcha said. Tien opted to go in for a kiss first. Yamcha gladly complied.
"I can't thank you enough." Tien whispered once they separated.
"You don't have to. I know how much he means to you." Yamcha said. "I really would like you to get off though. You're kinda heavy."
Waiting for their timezones to align properly took a bit of waiting. The first chance they had to call was a few minutes before they had a show scheduled. They both agreed that a short call was better than none. Cela lent them their laptop and brought it down to the pool so Tien could be included. After a minute or so the image flickered to life and revealed a smiling child sitting on a bed.
"Ten!" he exclaimed. "It's me! Chiaotzu!"
"I know! It's so good to see you." Tien said. He bore the softest expression Yamcha had ever seen on his face.
"Hey, Chiaotzu! Remember me?" Yamcha said. All the talks trying to get custody of Chiaotzu had forced him to brush up on his Japanese and he was glad for it.
"Yamcha! You're here too!" Chiaotzu said. He paused for a moment. "Does this mean you got all the grown up stuff finished?"
"I did! All those boring forms are filled out and done. You know what that means?" Yamcha said. He'd explained things a few times to Chiaotzu before over the phone.
"It means you get to adopt me! Right?" Chiaotzu said.
"That's right! You're gonna be coming over here in a few months and you'll get to stay with me." Yamcha said.
"You're coming home." Tien added.
"That means you're my new dad! And Ten too!" Chiaotzu realized. He giggled and happily bounced up and down. Yamcha laughed along with him.
"It does!" he said. "I promise we'll be the best dads we can."
"We'll take care of you and protect you." Tien said. Yamcha noticed he was getting choked up. Tien already had tears in his eyes but still smiled anyways. "No one will hurt you anymore."
"Don't cry Ten! You're gonna be my favorite dad!" Chiaotzu said. He looked at Yamcha and gave him a thumbs up. "And Yamcha will be my other favorite dad!"
"And you're gonna be our favorite kid! We'll see you soon, okay?" Yamcha said. "We have work soon but we promise to call you again later."
"Okay dad! And dad!" Chiaotzu said cheerfully. With a last couple of goodbyes and waves the call ended. Tien sighed and wiped some tears off his cheeks.
"You gonna be okay?" Yamcha asked.
"Yeah. I've never been better." Tien said with a smile. "How about you, Mr. Always wanted a family?"
"A little emotional but I'll recover." Yamcha said. "The thought of work will do that to you."
"I know what you mean." Tien said. "...There's going to be a lot of stuff for us to work out."
"Even more paperwork. Oh joy." Yamcha said sarcastically. "I know there's a lot ahead of us. For now let's just get this show done."
"Lead the way, land mutt."
"Only if you promise to follow, koi boy."