Coby followed Ash slowly up the stairs, wincing when a lance of pain shot down his side. He hissed and Ash stopped, turning to gaze down at him with concern.

“You okay?” he asked, taking a few steps down to close the distance between them.

Coby nodded. “Yeah, just a little sore, that’s all.”

“That didn’t sound like a little soreness, Co,” Ash said, not letting Coby skate with the deflection. He glanced down at Coby’s middle, relieved not to see blood staining his shirt, but still worried the merman had already overexerted himself.

Coby averted his gaze, hugging his midsection with one arm. “I’ll be okay, Ash,” he said, trying to reassure them both that the pain he’d felt really hadn’t been that big of a deal. “I’m nowhere near fully recovered so I expect to be in some amount of pain for a while.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to be,” Ash said, reaching for him. “We can set you up in one of the rooms downstairs if it—”

“No.”

The answer had come so quickly it made Ash flinch.

Coby bit his lip, the tips of his slightly pointed ears turning red. “You said your room was up here, too, right?” he said quietly.

Ash nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off Coby. “Right across from yours.”

Coby swallowed hard. “I want to be close to you,” he said. “If that means enduring a little bit of discomfort to do so, I will.”

Ash furrowed his brow, taking in Coby’s expression. He knew Coby was in pain and it bothered him, but worrying too much over him was only going to annoy Coby and possibly cause him to push Ash away, something Ash didn’t want. He felt a heat wash over his skin, his nerve endings tingling uncomfortably at the thought, as though his entire essence was against the idea of Coby being so far gone from him.

He slid his hand up the back of Coby’s arm, squeezing his shoulder gently. “Alright,” he said after a moment. “But if you need to slow down, either on the stairs or anywhere else, tell me. I’ll match your pace.” Immediately, he felt the heat fade, the uneasiness in his soul dying with it.

Coby finally lifted his eyes to Ash’s, a flash of light dancing behind the brilliant blue. Ash’s heart fluttered and he felt his own ears heat up.

“Come on,” Ash said, taking his sleeve-covered hand and leading him the rest of the way up the stairs, around the top and down the hall that led to their rooms. He thumbed behind them. “My dad’s room is at the end of the hall, so are the girls’.”

“They share a room?”

Ash nodded. “Lynn’s going to be moving to the room downstairs in a few months once it’s done getting remodeled.”

“Where does your brother sleep?”

“He doesn’t live here.”

“What, why not?” Coby asked, surprised. Family units always stayed together, usually in the same garden of three or four dwellings each. A son leaving his family for any reason outside of duty was unheard of.

Ash came to a stop between two doors, his eyebrow arched in confusion. “Because he’s got his own place in town with…” He stopped abruptly as he remembered the family culture of the merfolk and how close they were. “Oh, right,” he muttered to himself, shaking his head stupidly.

Coby tilted his head, still confused. “He has his own home? Away from here?”

“Yeah, he’s married and has a family, actually,” Ash said, leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets. “He owns his own business and they live in the apartments above it. Up here, families don’t always stay together for a variety of reasons. One of which is when they reach a certain age and want to live independently from their parents.”

“Have you reached that age?”

Ash laughed. “I passed it a few years ago.”

“So why do you still live with your family?”

Ash stiffened, his eyes going dark. Coby watched as a muscle worked in his jaw before his Adam’s Apple bobbed. “I just moved back in,” he said after a minute, his voice rough. “Little over a month ago, now.”

“Why?”

Ash said nothing, just nodded at the door in front of him. “That’s your room,” he said, his tone suddenly cold. He knocked twice on the door next to him. “This one’s mine. If you need anything, this is where I’ll be.” He pushed off the wall without looking at Coby and opened his door. “I need to get some homework done. Go ahead and get yourself settled in.”

“Oh–” 

Ash shut the door hard in his face.

“--Kay…” Coby stood staring at the closed door, a cold barrier between himself and Ash. He had never heard Ash speak that way before, never felt such ice pour from his energy. He wondered if he’d done something wrong, said something he shouldn’t have. Maybe he was angry that Coby wanted him to visit his older brother, knowing Ash had no desire to be anywhere near him, something Coby simply didn’t understand.

Family units stayed together. That was the truth Coby knew. He didn’t have any siblings, but he had plenty of cousins that he grew up with and was close to. Some of them were even part of the sect he was in. He was grateful they hadn’t been in the caverns when Da-Hana and his men massacred the Sons trying to get to Coby and the relic. He wondered if they were worried about him, if they feared he’d died, too.

Unconsciously, his hand went to his side, to the pouch that hid under his hoodie. He could feel the energy flowing gently within, calming him. 

Maybe Coby was overthinking things…maybe it wasn’t him Ash was angry with. Of course, he had no way of knowing one way or the other, and Ash was in no mood to talk anymore.

With a heavy sigh, he turned around and opened his own door, stepping into a decently sized room occupied with a bed, a dresser, a desk, and a closet. He stepped inside and closed the door, leaning against it as he looked around the space. His new clothes and bag of bandages and medicines were set carefully on the bed. There was a piece of paper on top of his clothes with a handwritten note on it. Coby picked it up and read it with a small smile.

Welcome home, Co-Bieasah!

    Love, The Turner Family

There were doodles of little hearts, fishes, and even an attempt at a merman with a trident that made him giggle softly. He appreciated the warm sentiment, feeling slightly more at ease with his situation. He set the note on the desk and walked over to the window which overlooked the backyard and the cliff face beyond. He could watch the ocean waves crest and fall from where he stood, heard the crash of the water against the rocks, even smelled the tang of salt in the air, even with the window closed.

He wasn’t home, and he wouldn’t be for some time. But he was as close as he was going to get for now.

**