(Warning: cringey content, swearing, alcohol addiction, violence)

[“Answer me.” I order annoyed. “Why not a mermaid family?”

“Because he doesn’t belong.” Another voice hisses.

I turn around and there is a far more intimidating mermaid about two feet from me, “Oh shi-” I think.]

I tense up, I’m not gonna let somebody break in and intimidate me in my own house.

“Who are you?” I demand stepping forward.

The mercreature I rescued panics and rushes forward grabbing my arm, “Don’t approach him, he’s a siren!” He pants. He looks the siren in the eyes, “He hasn’t done anything to bring judgment upon him, leave him alone.”

The male siren apparently, bares its teeth, “It has seen one of us,” it looks at me, “That’s enough for judgment.”

My mind thankfully is still as sharp as the old days, “You just said that he doesn’t belong,” I gesture to the merman cowering behind my arm, my eyes never leaving the siren’s, “So is he one of you or not?”

The siren waves a hand dismissively; “anyone who has the potential to put our existence in danger has to be either neutralized or destroyed.”

“Do you have proof I tried to endanger you or your kind?” I raise my voice firmly, “I bet you’ve already checked the lab, not a sample or a video taken, and I have treated him for wounds.”

The siren lifts it’s fins slowly in a sign of aggression. I know I should be wise and back down but not only am I taller, I’m bigger.

“He’s stronger.” Merman murmurs so quietly that I look down in surprise, my whole body is puffed up and tense. It was obvious I was squaring up. But part of me was still worried he could read my mind.

“You are just another curious human dabbling in a world you don’t belong to.” The male siren scoffs in contempt.

“Actually this is my job, if you actually looked into me you’d know that not only am I a marine biologist but a veterinarian.”

The siren smiles, starting to walk around me,“You also don’t appear to like people very much, as you have no friends, maybe we do have something in common.”

“You don’t have any friends?” I smirk, turning with him, the merman was holding my arm tighter than ever which would become a problem if a fight broke out. “Maybe you should try being nicer.”

He hisses, “And my job is to kill problems like you, good thing you won’t be missed.”

“Let go.” I murmur to the merman, shaking my arm. But he grips me tighter as I say, “If you’re supposed to protect the secret that mermaids like you exist,” he flares with indignation at being called a mermaid, “then maybe you shouldn’t go around killing renowned Biologists. That’s just going to get my government involved.” He keeps circling predatorily and I start looking for weapons. Honey slams against the door snarling. When the siren whips around to make sure the dog wasn’t getting out, I back up a few steps towards the mantle where I had an ornamental thing of driftwood.

The siren turns back, “Your government already knows about us and our laws.”

“Oh yeah?” I say loudly, ready to fight this bastard, “What law exactly have I broken by seeing one of your kind in need and helping them?” He narrows his eyes at me as I continue. “In fact, even if you somehow neutralized me I’d do it again, I didn’t start a job in this line of work for a fish face like you to try to scare me out of it. And you better hope you never get wounded because if you came to me for help after this I might consider letting you die.”

That made him snap. He snarls something in a different language and lunges. I jump back stumbling because of the dead weight on my arm but still grab the driftwood. I dodge his claws by a hair and smash him across the face with it. “Let go!” I yell to the frozen merman. When he doesn’t immediately, I pull him off violently and sling him towards the couch so he is out of the way. I get swiped by claws, the siren, holding his head, is blind with rage. ‘Go for the gills,’ I think to myself, remembering how uncomfortable the merman was when I touched his. I wait until the siren swipes for me again and smack his hand away creating an opening, I lunge forward. I shudder a little as I stick my fingers under his gills but then I get an immediate reaction. The Siren screams in pain and grabs my hand, collapsing at the same time. I use the momentum to flip him on his stomach, pinning his wrists together and holding them tight against his back. Grimacing, I grab underneath his gills again, “Consider me neutralized and I’ll let you go.” I growl.

He writhes, gasping, “Fine I consider it, let go you’re damaging them!” His voice startles me and I jerk my hand away, steeling myself when I see blood.

I continue talking, “If the government knows about you why can’t I, especially when I haven’t told anyone nor care to.”

“You are not held to their rules or standards so…” he pants going limp on the floor, “How can I?” I assume he means trust me or let me live.

“I am not interested in hurting you, I only defend myself, same for your entire species, when one of you is hurt or in danger I will help, but if your species tries to kill me…”

The siren is silent for a long time then growling softly knowing he is defeated he responds with, “Your promise is acknowledged, as well as your threat, consider it mutual!” He throws me off of him so hard I hit my head on the floor. He just stands, waiting for me. I stand slowly, but soon realize he’s not a threat anymore. “Do not go into the water anytime soon human,” he threatens, holding his neck tightly, blood slides down his arm and drips from his elbow.

“I’ll go where I want.” I say back.

“Then I will not promise that I won’t drown you my first chance,” he snarls angrily. I glare and bite my tongue, he is leaving and I know he's just trying to regain some of his pride. He shuts the door surprisingly soft and when I go to the window realize that he’s completely disappeared. 

“What was that?! I yell when I go back into the living room, “Why didn’t you let go when I told you to!”

“I was scared!” The merman cries. I gesture to my arm and realize it’s bleeding from deep scratches.

“Were you trying to get me killed?! I got more hurt by you then by the siren! You're lucky I thought of something, otherwise would you have just watched as I got minced?!” I pant angrily as he just covers his ears, eyes teary. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I mutter, “This is why you can’t be a part of my family, you don’t care about my safety at all.” I storm out of the room, “You’re more dangerous than what’s worth keeping.”

I slam the door to the lab startling Honey who starts whining anxiously. I lock the door and making fists struggle to get a hold of myself, ‘Stupid, emotional outbursts are for normal people you’re more intelligent than this, you only said that part about family to hurt him, you’re better than that.’ I look at my arm and it starts throbbing painfully. I hurry to treat it. After a minute I realize I’m going to need stitches. ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me…I’ve never sewed myself up before but it’s not like I could go to the hospital saying that this was an accident. Nor did I want to wait.

I prepare my arm by numbing it while holding something against it to slow the bleeding. Once my arm is numb I disinfect the wound and start on the stitches. It takes a lot longer than if I were doing it for someone else. ‘Damn, I want a drink.’ I think, placing my head down on the table. After Honey puts her head on my leg I sigh and scruff her ears, “I’ve been a crummy owner recently haven’t I?” I murmur. She pants happily.

After I pet her for a while I get up. Unlocking the lab door I open it. The merman is still in the living room, I let Honey out holding onto her leash, she immediately goes rigid bristling. “No baby.” I murmur and she looks up at me confused. Laying down at my feet. I dig through the bottom cupboards until I find the bottle I was looking for. Grabbing a glass I go over to the table. Sitting heavily I look into the living room for a while and then sighing harder, use the table to help me stand.

I go into the living room, he’s curled into a ball on the couch, crying softly by the looks of it. I stand there feeling nothing. “Hey…kid.” I start going over to crouch beside him, I touch his arm gently for a second, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled at you, I realize you are scared. Why don’t you sit with me while I make a really bad decision?”

After a long pause the merman blubbers, “Why would you,” gasp, “make a bad decision if you know it’s one?”

“Humans are like that.” I chuckle humorlessly. He gets up, holding his arm, head down and follows me to the table. Honey growls and I make a soothing noise patting her head, “It’s okay,” I make sure to hook her leash to the lab door so she reaches me but not him. I sit down and pour some alcohol from the freshly opened bottle into the cup.

He wrinkles his nose, “It smells like the lab,” he notices my arm, “I’m so sorry.” He blubbers and I take a sip. ‘It’s been so long but it feels amazing, and terrible at the same time.’ After a long pause where I don’t respond he whispers, “Will you forgive me, I wasn’t trying…”

I pour another cup, “I know,” I cut in. My body starts to feel warmer. “You wouldn’t be here still if you did it on purpose, and I’m not angry at you, not anymore. It’ll heal…just…next time I’m in a fight because of you could you not immobilized one of my arms?”

“But we don’t really use our arms to fight, we use our tails mostly!” He exclaims, “I thought you’d use your legs!” I laugh. ‘Not a bad idea.’ And take a large mouthful, finishing the second cup. He continues nervously, “Though the siren used his claws but you don’t have any…” He goes to grab my hand and I move it away.

"Yeah well humans usually are a bit more civilized about problems, what was his problem anyway?”

“He has a problem with me, so I think he was trying to hurt me in a way.”

I look at him, “What does he have against you other than your love for humans?” The merman looks away uncomfortably, “I mean…that’s enough to be ostracized from our entire society so yeah.” I sip on the third glass, looking at him from over it, feeling the wonderful effects, as though I’m no longer a part of the terribly cold world. “You’re…blushing.” He says shocked.

“Yeah that’s one of the symptoms of being tipsy.” I say quietly.

“Does it taste good?” He asks sniffing again with a face.

“No, I only drink for the buzz.” I say and again feel the twinge of shame only to push it away, ‘I don’t need to make excuses for myself, it was only a matter of time before I broke and started drinking again.

“Can I have a sip?” He asks, making me stiffen.

“How old are you, and can you even process alcohol?”

The merman fidgets, “I’ve been an adult for a while.” ‘Why does it even matter, he’s not human.’ I think hazily.

“Do you have what’s called a liver?” I ask not expecting much.

“I have a lot of human-like organs.” He insists.

“I don’t know kid, I grumble rubbing my beard, ‘I don’t want to be responsible for killing him.’ He looks at me then stealing the cup from my hand throws it back.

“Hey!” I exclaim. He makes a face and gags, tongue out. I take my cup back, “If you start to feel pain let me know, I’ll need to make you throw it up.

“I’ve had this before,” He coughs. “I stole it from the docks.”

“And you were fine after drinking it?”

He blushes, “It made me feel weird but yeah.”

I relax and sigh, “I’m putting it up, unless you want more?”

He nods eagerly, “It looks like it makes you happy.” I snort and pour a small cup for him then go get myself a new cup.

“What’s an adult in mermaid standards?” I ask over my shoulder, curiously.

“When you can sexually reproduce.” I pause, ‘I mean what did I expect?’

Turning around I ask, “How long have you been an adult?”

He concentrates really hard for a long time, “I think I’m about 24 in human years.” He says cutting straight to the point. ‘Which means I’m a good twelve years older than him.’

We drink in silence for a minute, I’m enjoying it shamefully and amused by his reaction to each sip, he’s drunk as a skunk I realize when he starts falling forward.

“I think you’ve had enough.” I slur, ‘Sounds like I’ve had enough too.’ When I lean him backwards he gives me zero time to react as my face is so close to his. He wraps his around around my neck and I jerk back but he’s surprisingly strong and I have to grab his hands from behind my neck to pull him off and break the kiss. He’s unconscious before he can face the consequences. ‘What the hell was that?!’ I think, dazed.