“Bellamy!” shouted his roommate Finn. “I will flush your fancy ethically-sourced coffee beans down the toilet if you use up all the hot water. Hear that?” Bellamy heard a faint shaking sound through the bathroom door and the shower curtain. “I’m ready!”

Sighing heavily, he spun the dials on his claw-footed tub and shut off the water. His skin was looking pretty pink, anyway, so it was probably for the best. Bellamy climbed out of the tub and toweled himself dry.

“Put my coffee away, Finn! I’m done!”

“You’re lucky,” they grumbled, the hallway creaking as they retreated.

Bellamy returned to his room with a towel wrapped around him while he forced his mouth open and closed a few times, trying to loosen the clenched muscles in his jaw. As he swung his door closed, he heard the sound of… paper flapping? He paused, blinking in the direction of his window where the sound came from. 

On the winter-frosted glass was something vaguely picture-sized, held down with a neat cutting of black tape. Bellamy felt the hairs on his arms rise as he slowly crossed his room. A chill had settled over his rug, making it unusually cold under his bare feet. Clutching his towel tighter across his chest, he leaned over his dresser to the window and peered at the picture.

His heart stirred up a noisy thudding in his ears as he plucked up an image of a little boy, no more than two or three, reaching up to hold the hand of a man with white stubble and long silvery hair. The tide lapped at their feet. Where the sea foam gathered at their ankles sprouted scales that looked in the Polaroid like silver coins. The boy’s hair was fair and opalescent, and his eyes were turquoise.

“Oh, shit,” Bellamy murmured, unable to look away from the scales on the boy’s legs. On his legs.

Under the image, in a neat script, the question was asked:

Who made this a secret?

Bellamy dropped the photo when his phone started vibrating loudly on his nightstand table. He swore again, dropping to a crouch to fish the photo out from where it slid under the edge of his bed. On his knees, he shoved it under his pillow, then reached for his phone.

Orion was calling.

He scowled, setting it down and turning away to get dressed. He wasn’t about to talk to Orion standing in his towel. He didn’t super want to talk to Orion at all. Hadn’t Orion spent enough time with Bellamy while he was sulking or freaking out all day? And now this picture…

But by the time he had pulled on a fuzzy hoodie and joggers, his phone was vibrating again. Bellamy walked over to it and stared at Orion’s name.

He was shaking his head when he lifted it to answer it. “What?”

“Come get food with me.”

Bellamy grinned but smothered it so it didn’t sneak into his voice. “No.”

“Yes.”

He could have easily stayed home and doomscrolled till he passed out. But that was before a childhood picture of himself had appeared in his room. Someone had been in his room. It was violating. Unsettling. Thinking of his window sliding open while he was in the shower and Finn was threatening his coffee beans.

“Oookay,” said Orion, “your silence has gone on long enough that I know you’re gonna say yes. Which is good because I’m outside your apartment.”

“Shit, did you put this picture in my—” Bellamy bit his tongue too late.

“Picture?” Orion’s voice dropped a worried half-octave.

“Never mind.” Bellamy glanced out his window, which faced away from the street. “Uh… Let me… Fine.  I’ll be out in a minute.” He unplugged his phone, wedging it between his ear and shoulder while grabbing a pair of thick socks from his dresser.

“I’m so excited to pry out this ‘picture’ information from you,” Orion quipped before Bellamy hung up on him.

The night air was relatively mild for February, getting his hopes up for an early spring. Orion’s antlers caught his attention first; his colleague was facing away from him toward the street, illuminated by the streetlight he was leaning against. He’d changed into black skinny jeans that made his big thighs and ass look extra juicy. Bellamy realized what he’d just thought and immediately felt his face heat up.

Snow crunched under Bellamy’s boots as he stepped up next to Orion, making the shifter’s ears twitch and turning Orion’s head toward him.

Bellamy gave him a crooked smile. “I haven’t eaten dinner, so what are you feeding me?”

“Nothing until you tell me about that picture thing,” Orion answered without missing a beat.

Bellamy glowered.

Orion tilted his head back, long lashes veiling his oblong eyes as he gave Bellamy a sidelong look. “Did you really think I would sneak into your room like a creep?”

“No, sorry, you’re clearly the type to wait outside when you show up unannounced.”

Orion chuckled. But he didn’t move, hands in the pockets of his jean jacket, breath billowing out in a cloud.

Bellamy took a breath, held it, and let it out in a slow hiss. What was the point? He was obviously going to tell Orion about it. Who else could he tell, anyway?

He pulled the photo out of his pocket and handed it to Orion.

Orion’s hum of curiosity dropped into a lower, softer groan as he read the question written on the bottom edge. “What am I looking at here, Mr. Hirsch?”

“I don’t know,” grumbled Bellamy, snatching it back from him. “Can we please speculate somewhere that isn’t so fucking cold?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, frowning slightly. “Of course.”

Bellamy headed in the direction of the shiny boxcar diner across the street until the tugging on his jacket sleeve pulled his arm back. Frowning, he stopped, looking back to see Orion pinching his sleeve between two fingers.

“Do you like pasta?” Orion asked.

Bellamy grinned. “Uh, yeah. I’m not a freak.”

Orion started off southbound, jerking his chin down the street. “Two blocks. Can you make it without freezing?”

“I could if I were riding an elk,” Bellamy commented, though he skipped after his colleague nonetheless. “Question, do you even own a car?”

Orion smirked. “Eldwick has a perfectly mediocre public transportation system if I can’t make it somewhere comfortably on hoof.”

“I would be happy to drive us,” Bellamy groaned. Although he was obviously being dramatic, he was also fucking shivering already and it was embarrassing. Embarrassing but also… He thought of scales around his ankles. Logical.

“We’ve already made it half a block, what’s the point?”

“My dignity and hypothermia is the point.” At least Orion gave him no shortage of things to be sassy about. It would have been nice if he’d actually been distracted by the banter, though. He lifted the picture again, frowning at his little face on the beach.

Bellamy hadn’t actually remembered being at the sea in his lifetime. The nearest shoreline was one most folks took a flight to. Maybe a six-hour drive. His parents were older, though, and hadn’t traveled much with him. Perhaps, thought Bellamy, they didn’t travel so Bellamy wouldn’t have the opportunity to learn that salt water gives him scales.

“So,” began Bellamy as he gazed at the picture, “I’m… I’m not human.”

Orion’s pace slowed, studying Bellamy’s features. His expression shifted several times as if he was trying to make up his mind on what to say. Finally, his eyes glittered as he said, “Obviously.”

Bellamy scoffed loudly and slipped the photo into his breast pocket. “What do you mean?”

“Didn’t I say something about that to you yesterday?”

“You’re really not clearing your name as the best person to have sneaked through my window,” Bellamy snapped.

Orion sobered, pausing to turn fully to face Bellamy. “Hey. I wouldn’t do that. That’s creepy and intrusive. You have no reason to believe me, I know.” His stubbly chin tilted down as if to bring him a little closer to Bellamy. “You just have to trust me. It wasn’t me.”

Bellamy spun away, gritting his teeth. He swallowed hard. “But it would be so much easier if it were you. If it were you, then at least it wouldn’t be a creepy stranger with secrets about my heritage climbing into my window while I’m naked in the shower.”

“Oh, is that why you smell like coconut?” Orion blurted, and then clamped his mouth shut with a spray of redness climbing onto his cheeks. “Er, sorry. That was creepy.”

A giggle tumbled from him despite himself. “No, my conditioner is very expensive and deserves to be smelled.”

Orion’s path drifted toward a modest shop front under a neon sign that said LEANING TOWER, and of course, the letters leaned away from the crooked Pisa tower.

“Ever eaten here?” asked Orion as he held the door.

Bellamy shook his head, purring under the blast of heat from the radiator over the door and stepping into the cozy orange lighting.

“Bummer.” Orion came in after Bellamy. “They have a great vegan lasagna.”

“Kay, bye.” Bellamy headed for the door again.

Orion threw his body in the way. “Nooo! Please! I need that lasagna!”

Bellamy could have, but his comfort-seeking monkey brain chose not to stop himself from running into Orion. The shifter’s body was big, soft, and so warm against Bellamy. His cheek might have even nuzzled a bit into Orion’s chest, and wasn’t put off by the chill on his denim jacket.

His logic mind broke past the neediness and pulled him back from Orion’s chest. Bellamy gave a half-hearted sigh. “Fine, you can still feed me.”

With his big hand on Bellamy’s shoulder, he turned him back toward the counter which served as both host stand and cashier, holding up two fingers. The hostess, who looked like a teenager, smiled and grabbed two plastic menus and led them to a booth near the kitchen. All the better, since it would be warmer. Louder, though, too, Bellamy noticed, and bustling with restaurant staff pushing in and out of the kitchen.

“Dude, am I a cold-blooded fish?” Bellamy whispered.

As if anybody would care. He was sitting down with an antlered man and the hostess had furred ears on the top of her head like a kitsune. There was a table of Folk in the middle of the tiny restaurant, gossamer wings glittering under the pendant light overhead.

Orion pushed into the booth with a creak, giving the table a generous shove in Bellamy’s direction, though his expression didn’t look like he was doing that for any nefarious reasons. “I don’t think you can surmise exactly what you might be based on scales on your ankles in what we are just assuming is an undoctored picture, presumably of you,” he observed. “Maybe you can wait to go into investigative mode till this weekend—?”

“Would you be able to put this out of your mind?” Bellamy snapped.

Orion paused, slowly shaking his head. “You’re right. Sorry.”

Bellamy looked down. “Sorry. I just… I wish this hadn’t happened after the day I had too. But it did. I’m not really sure what to do about it, though. I’m just gonna have to confront my parents and hope they’re willing to be honest with their grown son and… go from there. And I do kind of want to figure out who snuck into my room.”

“That’s fair.” Orion nodded. He ordered his blessed vegan lasagna.

Bellamy chose the fettuccine and an Italian soda, extra whip please, because of his sweet tooth. “Is the sweet tooth common for mermaids? What else is there—mermaid? Dolphin shifter?” He snorted.

“I don’t know about that one.” Orion’s smile was kind, if not repressing a bit of judgment.

“Sorry!” Bellamy cried. “Obviously they aren’t plentiful in fucking cold-ass Eldwick.”

Orion looked up at the ceiling as he thought for a moment. “I’ve met mermaids, but most live in Atlantis, not on land. You could be a water spirit—an aspara or a sea nymph. Maybe a siren? Usually that would come with a strong singing voice.” Orion looked over with a dark brow raised.

Bellamy paused. “Um… so… fun fact…” His heart dropped and his stomach clenched even before he could form the words. “You know in middle school when you get to choose if you wanna do choir or orchestra or something?”

Orion said through his teeth, “Yeah…”

“Yeah, that didn’t happen for me,” Bellamy said. “My parents were really encouraging—about basically any other skill or interest I had. So I guess I didn’t really notice the absence until you said that…”

“Fuck,” Orion muttered, still baring his teeth.

“It’s a… good place to start, I guess?” Warmed by the heat from the kitchen, Bellamy slowly unwound his scarf and pulled off his hat, fixing his hair with his fingers. “It’ll give me something to do if I get expelled from grad school, I guess.”

Orion pressed his lips together and gave one sharp shake of his head. He hummed in disagreement. “No, so, I’m not a good listener, and I meddled.”

“Orion!” Bellamy cried.

“I can’t help it!” Orion put up his hands, wincing. “Like I said—I just… know people, and I have reason to believe that Dr. Williams’s position at VADR is more unstable than she thinks, and… we’ll see, okay? Regardless, don’t worry about her, okay? Just keep getting your hours in.”

“I’d kill you if I wasn’t also grateful for your support,” grumbled Bellamy, feeling the traitorous warmth of affection spread from his chest and into his veins. He combed his fingers through his hair again, which Orion watched like an entranced cat. “If this thing with the valkyries had happened before you got there, I imagine I’d be out of there before the week was up.”

“Don’t get me started on the unethical treatment of the intern,” Orion said with a sigh. “That’ll just bleed right into my rant about unpaid labor.”

Bellamy grinned, setting his fist on his chin and leaning across the table. “Oh, do tell.”