Ann sighed as the cool temperature of the room washed over her. The indoor pool waters reflecting in tranquil waves against her pale skin.

There was no one else at the pool besides her and though she enjoyed spending the day shopping with her friends and perusing the sand, it was nice to be by herself now and then; and with everyone in their hotel rooms settling in for the night, now was the perfect time for a dip. It's practically like a tradition for her at this point.

With both of her parents being world renowned fashion designers, Ann had to travel a lot as a child. And when they weren't staying in one of their summer homes, they were hopping between hotels and cities. They were mostly busy with setting up fashion shows and picking the clothes for the models.

But on the rare occasions they were free, they would always take her to the hotel's pool.

She loved water growing up. When she lived in Finland, they couldn't keep her away from the ocean. Even when she didn't know how to swim, she would sit in the sand and swirl circles in the water and giggle each time the shore rose up to meet her. Her parents and baba even started to call her their *'vesi nymfi'.

When they would take her to the hotel's pool they would splash around with her 'til it was near closing time.

It was a tradition she enjoyed immensely with her parents until eventually she got older and her traveling and being uprooted so much seemed less appealing for everyone around.

The ceiling lights cast a golden glow down on the water and on her skin as she slowly started to tip-toe down the concrete ladder, easing in one foot at a time to get used to the cool water.

Ann sighed in delight as she walked off the last step and the water began to engulf her up to her waist, the density of the liquid slowing her movements. Its cool temperature was refreshing and the soft swaying of the low waves moving her body along with its own flow brought her a peace of mind. It was tranquil in the best way she needed it.

She leaned back in a float. She stared up at the ceiling and drifted along as she felt the water sway about, mischievously lapping at her skin and playing with the strings of her bikini top and bottom; a swimsuit that seemed to be a big hit with the boys.

Well, Ryuji anyway. Yusuke has a different way of seeing the world so his reaction was… It wasn't worrying at least. The reaction from the boy she actually wanted it from was kind of lackluster.

Maybe she should've worn a different one. He did already see her in this one when they took Futaba to the beach. She so should've brought that red one piece her parents sent her from their new summer collection. Though it didn't show off as much skin, the spandex fitted snugly on her body, hugging in places that accentuated her bust and derrière. She giggled to herself at the thought of leaving the every witty leader of the Phantom Thieves speechless.

"Enjoying yourself?"

Ann shrieked and flailed in the water, having been caught completely off-guard by the new voice, before managing to grab onto the pool's edge and righting herself once again.

Akira stood a little ways away from the pool. He was wearing his black swim trunks she had seen him in earlier and a pair of black sandals that protected his feet from the access water on the graphite tiles. His signature glasses were missing from their usual place over his eyes.

The perfect garb for swimming.

"Akira! What are you doing here?" She has no idea how she didn't hear the door open and close.

"I was looking for you. Your roommate said you went to the pool. So I got changed." Akira casually answered. He walked over to the wall where the chairs were and dragged the one closer to him to the area of the pool's edge she was holding on to and sat down, legs crossed and slouched over to lean in closer to her. Her face must've shown her shock because he tilted his head to the side and a small, sly smirk that always meant trouble for her heart appeared. "What? You don't like my swim trunks. You were staring pretty hard earlier."

A hot blush rose to her cheeks as she sputtered. "W-w-who was staring? I was d-definitely n-not staring."

"Really? That's a shame." The smirk didn't wane at all. He knew she was totally lying. He had even caught her stare a few times and returned it with a sly smile much like the one he was wearing now. "Because I couldn't keep my eyes off of you."

"How do you just say things like that like they're nothing?" Ann whined, her face surely the color of a strawberry by this point. Their relationship is completely new since they just started dating a few weeks before this *Hawai'i trip. She never thought that dating him would cause her heart to be in a constant state of arrest. Is there some type of smooth-talking class she doesn't know about or something? She mentally growled. One day she swears she's going to get him back for all these sweet compliments.

"You deserve to hear them, and I'll continue to say them until you tell me to stop." The smirk then dissolved into a smile that she's learning may be the one thing she loves more than water. He reached his hand out to gently caress her cheek with the back of his fingers. She moved back before they made contact.

"Wait, Akira. I'm wet. You can't-"

"You don't know how dirty that just sounded." His voice was low gravely and gritty and made a shiver run up and down her spine and made her suddenly feel much warmer in the cool water.

He surged forward and sealed her lips in a kiss before she could stop him.

She raised her hand to the back of her head to sift through his already wild hair as she lost herself in the feeling of his lips slowly moving against hers. She's still getting used to this: actually kissing him and the feeling of him completely engulfing her mind instead of daydreaming about what it would be like. He pulled away with a swiftness that left her in a deep pout and was borderline insulting whereas she was still seeing stars.

The sudden loud splash immediately broke that daze.

Ann has only seen the transformation a few times, so she was still in a state of awe - and she is sure she always will be - at the golden glow that shone under the water as human legs turned into a fish's tail.

So far only she and Morgana knew of Akira's secret: that he's a merman. Not even the rest of the thieves or Sojiro knew. It showed how close he kept the secret to his heart, and even though she found out by accident, it's nice to know that he felt so comfortable around her that he feels he can transform so freely.

But she was still painfully aware that he was transforming a very public place!

"Akira!" Ann hissed as her reckless boyfriend broke through the surface of the water with a dramatic hair toss, his tail slowly bobbing underneath the water. "What if someone walks in? And don't they have cameras in here?"

"Don't worry. We have enough time." He dove back underwater. Ann let go of the edge and turned to press her back against the smooth rock, slowly kicking her legs to keep her afloat as she watched Akira swim.

It was ethereal how he glided through the water, much like how a bird would fly in the sky. He looked like he was in his natural habitat.

To watch him swim reminded her of the dolphins at the Särkänniemi amusement park. Her parents used to take her during the summer to watch the dolphin show. She remembers watching the dolphins with such childlike wonder when she was that lonely kid back in Finland. Seeing her boyfriend now, she'd take watching him over those dolphins any day. Whenever he swam he'd always have the biggest smile on his face, just like he was a little kid again and it made her adore him all the more.

There was a tug to her hand and she looked down. Akira was still underwater, swimming on his back in the clear water, gently tugging her down to join him.

A deep intake in and she dove under. The chlorine in the water burned her eyes slightly, but despite the slight irritation she still managed to see her boyfriend in front of her as he grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him. The water was their only witness as they swam side-by-side in the man-made body of water.

Back and forth they swam, sometimes doing laps around the pool like they were in a swim meet and others just letting the water move them as it may as they stayed tethered to each other by holding each other's hand.

Ann was laying on top of the water while Akira swam small laps under the water when her wandering mind caused her to ask this question.

"Do you remember the time when you first transformed in front of me?" Ann asked. Akira's brow furrowed underwater, the words probably sounding distant and garbled underwater even with the great listener that he was. She rolled her eyes and urged him to come up for air. When his head was above the water. She repeated the question. He laughed.

"Of course I do. My heart was nearly beating out of my chest."

She hardly believes that. Her boyfriend looked nowhere close to looking that nervous. Remembering that day, he looked pretty calm. At least calmer than she would think someone would be while revealing such a secret. "Really? You looked calm enough."

"I praise my acting skills every night.

"Were you seriously that nervous?"

"Terrified. Even more so when I turned around and saw you crying."

Ann swiftly punched him in the shoulder and pouted at the laugh that came after. "Oh my god! Are you never going to let that go!"

"Never." He surged forwards and slanted his lips over hers. He caught one of her hands when she half-heartedly tried to push him away and held the other hand under her to keep her afloat as she started to respond back, extremely distracted.

The sharp static from the intercom made them abruptly pull apart.

"Thirty minutes, thirty minutes until the pool closes ladies and merfolk. So if there are any lovebirds playing footsies in the water, you might want to get out of there!"

The voice was clearly warning them but it sounded like…

"Futaba?"

He looked over his shoulder as he resurfaced from the water, now over at the pool's edge. "She may have found out."

Ann shook her head. "It's a miracle that you're able to keep it a secret at all."

"Hey! I told Morgana. You and Futaba are the only two that found out by accident." He exclaimed after he pulled himself and his tail up onto solid flooring. He stretched out his hand towards his tail. With his palm out and his fingers straight out, he slowly brought his finger down and his thumb in, making a fist. There was a hissing sound and steam started to emit from his tail, creating a thin cloud that shortly obstructed her vision of the process.

By the time she paddled back over to the concrete stairs, Akira was standing back on his two human legs and holding out her towel. She graciously took it from him.

"Walk me back?"

"Whatever you wish, milady."

1. You know when you have the entire chapter planned out and then when it comes to typing it out the story just completely runs away? Yeah. because that's what happened here. Still made it to 2,000 though

2. Seriously that ending was so hard to come to.

3. I would if Morgana gets suddenly gets hungry whenever Akira transforms? You think he's tried to get a nibble once or twice?

*vesi nymfi = water nymph in Finnish

*Särkänniemi is an actual theme park in Finland and they did actually have dolphin shows before the dolphinarium was closed.

*The name of the island is Hawai'i while the name of the state is actually Hawaii. You learn something new everyday.