Chapter Text
Tommy officially hates water planets. From the humid air to uncertain seas, everything about them is simply awful.
Their ship had taken on another long delivery mission to a water planet far from the inner worlds. Some fancy place that other species couldn’t live on due to how hostile the creatures under the waves were and how big they’d need to be to survive it. Not that Tommy cared all that much, he didn’t want to live on some drowned planet. That’s for damn sure.
Except now he is, for a few months at least.
Their ship had refused to run once they delivered their package to one of the giant fucking mermaids that call this planet home. Huge fuckers who’d have to whisper when you talk to them so they don’t blow your eardrums out.
Admittedly, they are kinda cool. They look like the mermaids from old human stories. But instead of just a pretty tail, they have ear-fins and large sails down their backs, scales on the corner of their cheeks, and more fins down the sides of their arms and two big ones on each side of their tail. That isn’t even mentioning the horns, Tommy had thought they were crowns of bone at first, but the bastards have actual horns. They're more like sea dragon mermaids than fish mermaids.
But still, that isn’t the point. The point is that their ship refuses to get back into the air and now they're stuck on one of these damn shipping docks for who knows how long.
“This is the fucking worst,” Tommy complains loudly, hiding his face in one of his pillows and biting down the urge to scream. “It’s so fucking boring here! I mean, why couldn’t they at least make the docks more interesting?!”
From the doorway of his cabin, Puffy, the ship's captain, laughs.
“This is a working dock, Tommy.” She says. “No one comes here for anything interesting, we just drop off packages and leave. At least it’s nicer than some of the other post stations we’ve been to.”
Tommy huffs, lifting his head from his pillow to glare, not pout, at his captain. Her curled horns are slightly smudged with oil and dirt, and her equally curly white hair is so dirty it looks more gray than white. No doubt from trying to figure out what's wrong with their ship.
Still, he didn’t care about it being a working station. They're stuck on a planet made entirely out of water and he has nothing to do! That has to be some sort of torture, he’s sure of it.
“Can I at least help with fixing the ship? None of you let me touch anything! I’ve been sitting in my room for two days now!” Tommy groans, flopping face-first back into his pillow loudly.
He can hear Puffy sigh from the doorway, her hooves echoing from the metal floor of the ship as she steps closer, pausing at the side of Tommy’s bed. He can feel the slight dip when she sits down on the edge, but Tommy ignores it.
“You know it’s too dangerous for you, Tommy.” She reminds him gently. “You’re human, your kind is far too fragile to be working on the ship without protective gear and we don’t have that for you.”
Tommy glares into the darkness of his pillow, lips twisting harshly. It’s not that he even wants to work on fixing the ship, but there’s nothing else for him to do here and it seemed like the most interesting thing on this stupid blue planet.
“But,” Puffy says almost reluctantly, a sigh spilling from her mouth. “I suppose you could go explore the dock for a little while. But- but—”
She cuts in when Tommy whips his head up from his bed, excitement dancing in his chest and eyes practically sparkling with glee. Still, her pausing words do nothing to dampen his spirits.
“You have to come back before the end of the day, and try not to get into too much trouble, please. Wear your cloak and put on your face paint too.”
Immediately Tommy groans in dismay. “Seriously? I doubt the mermaid fuckers even know what a human is!”
“It’s not just them, Tommy.” Puffy scolds. “There are other ships here with people that do know what humans are. It’s better to be safe than sorry, alright?”
“Fine.” Tommy sighs, slipping from his bed with less enthusiasm than before while Puffy also stands with him. Still, it's better than sitting in his room all day and Tommy wasn’t going to let it dampen his mood.
“I can help you with it if you’d like.” Puffy offers and Tommy glances up thoughtfully, having to tilt his head to properly meet her gaze.
As a ra’am, Puffy is far taller than him, which is annoying, but useful for a captain.
“No, I got it.” He says instead, shaking his head as he pulls his cloak from the hook at the side of his bed.
It's more of a short, shoulder cape that goes down to just past his biceps, paired together with a hood, rather than a proper cloak. He still needs to move freely after all, but it's good enough to keep people from seeing his notably human features.
“Alright,” Puffy nods, stepping out to leave before she pauses at the doorway. “And make sure not to fall into the water, that makeup isn’t waterproof.”
Immediately Tommy scowls, remembering the last time he’d done that, and proceeded to have streaks of pinkish-purple face paint running down his cheeks.
“I know,” Tommy grumbles, rummaging through the drawer of his side table to look for the said tube of makeup.
“Okay, okay, have fun out there, kid. Remember not to get in too much trouble.” Puffy laughs as she leaves, likely going back to dealing with the ship repairs.
Tommy huffs and rolls his eyes, stepping away from his side table and moving towards the small, circular mirror that hangs on the same wall that the door is connected to. It’s a tiny thing, barely bigger than his head and certainly not enough to see Tommy’s entire body, but it's enough to see his face with and that’s all that really matters.
Pulling the cap of makeup off with his teeth, Tommy squeezes some of the face paint off onto his finger. It’s barely a dot, but it’s enough for what he needs.
Thankfully, avians are the species closest to humans in terms of looks. They're similar in height and facial structure, though some have pointed ears, others also have rounded ears like humans. The only big difference is the colored markings on their face, fancy lines under their eyes, and feather-like smears of colors on their cheekbones.
It's easy to replicate, especially after having so much practice, and once Tommy was happy with his look, he smears the rest of the paint off his fingers using an old rag and spit out the cap from his mouth, closing the tube and haphazardly tossing it back into the drawer.
Being a human is hard, and not just because they’re a fairly fragile species.
Genetically blank, is what Tommy had been told his whole life. That’s what humans are.
A species that could quite literally adapt into becoming anything, any species at all. And with the scientific advancements, many were stolen away to become a part of a dying race or something of the like.
Though, admittedly, it isn’t like humans are in short supply, and stolen isn’t exactly what happens. There are more than a few planets made up almost entirely of humans, and Tommy knows more than a few who were happy to become something else. Something less fragile and weak in a space full of species that could easily squash them like bugs.
The orphanage Tommy had run from was well known for turning abandoned human children into something else, sending them off to families who’d pay millions when there were no children of their own species to adopt.
It still made the blonde’s nose wrinkle in disgust, more than a little thankful that he managed to get away before he was turned into something else.
He likes being human, thank you very much.
The last he heard, the orphanage already had some family lined up. A rich one too. They were dreamons. Or something like that.
He's pretty sure that place is running illegally, anyway. At least, that's what Puffy told him. Apparently the whole 'selling children to desperate families for millions' is actually trafficking. He's not really sure what happened to it, but he assumes Puffy did something. She looked pissed for days until one afternoon she'd been in a good mood and hadn't stopped for a week.
It wasn’t like anyone could just steal a human and turn them into a new species, though. Of course not, there are still rules and procedures and forms before the process could even be started. But this is space and there are millions of planets one could hide on, losing one random child, human or not, when there are planets full of them in the inner worlds isn’t a big deal in the long run.
Still, it isn’t a problem that Tommy has to worry about now with his new paint job done, and he takes one last glance in the mirror as he puffed his chest out proudly.
It looks good, but that isn’t important now.
Almost instantly, Tommy is bounding out of his room and down the hall. Practically bolting down the ramp of the ship and out of the hangar they’d been stuck in for days now.
He can hear Puffy shout something out to him, but he doesn’t pay it any mind and almost cheers once he’s past the hangar doors.
Tommy hasn’t seen much of the dock, but it’s an amazing dome-like structure that stretches far, far into the sky. Big enough to house some of the largest shipping vessels out there. The roof is even made out of clear glass so the sun can light the open area with soft rays. Everything is some shade of blue, the pillars and tiles of the floor carved delicately with odd symbols and images. There are even weird cylindrical tanks filled with some kind of aquatic plants. Swaying gently in some sort of artificial current.
Most of the floor is a mix of metal, specifically in the hangars, and glass, in the open areas, too. Letting people up top see the massive fish and fucking mermaids swim under their feet. It's cool and there are even plush benches to sit on. Which is a bit strange, since this place works as a sort of post office, but Tommy isn’t complaining.
Still, that isn’t even the most interesting part. It's the pickup stations that are really cool and Tommy takes the moment to slip into an empty one once he has the chance.
Puffy had described them to him when she was delivering their package, but the way she talked about them didn’t do the giant rooms much justice.
The pickup stations are like giant, enclosed marinas with floors made entirely of glass and massive pools for the equally massive mermaids to swim up and get their items. Here, though, the roof isn't made of glass and instead, it's dense metal. The only lights that illuminates the room are on the floor or the bottom of the walls, making everything a bit ominous and reflecting the glowing blue of rippling water.
There are even more big water tubes along the circular wall, ones that reach up to the roof, and are also filled with plants and small scenes of the ocean floor below.
It's fucking cool.
Tommy wasn’t allowed inside when Puffy and the rest of the crew were handing over their deliveries, but since this one is empty, he doesn’t have to worry about it at all!
Though, admittedly, the pickup station is a bit intimidating. Tommy can’t help but wonder how big those fucking mermaids can get. He hasn’t seen one up close, just the one that passed under the main part of the dock when he’d peeked outside of their hanger.
Puffy was the one to tell him that they have to whisper so they wouldn’t burst people’s eardrums.
Tommy spares a glance outside of the room for a second, just to make sure no one else is entering, before practically skipping over to one of the fancy plush benches against the wall. He all but throws himself onto it, falling back into the soft pillows that are surely softer than his actual bed.
Still, Tommy turns his head to the side so he can watch the ocean below, almost mesmerized by the fish swimming right under the glass.
It’s kinda scary, though.
The ocean is so deep that Tommy can’t see the bottom of it, and apparently, this is supposed to be the shallowest part of the area. But all he can see is the steadily darkening tone of blue, no rocks or color or even water plants.
It’s like looking into an abyss, endless and watching.
Literally, it is quite literally watching him.
There’s a massive fish just below where Tommy has partially let himself hang off of the bench. Hovering just under where his hand touches the glass.
Tommy is sure that it’s the same size as him, probably bigger, but it sure is a dumb-looking thing. Blank eyes and a thin, but long, body with weirdly flowy tendril-like fins. It's a pretty ugly color too. A dull gray with a near-white underbelly, like the sharks from Earth. Thankfully, Tommy can’t see any teeth in its mouth, so maybe it's just curious of him like he is of it and isn’t tempted to eat him.
Tommy slips from the bench carefully, landing on his hands and knees before slowly getting up and walking along the glass, being careful not to get too close to the pool.
The ugly fish follows him slowly, not quite keeping up but not falling behind either.
Tommy grins brightly, almost giddy as he speeds up into a skip, watching as the fish gets faster to keep up.
Maybe they're like the dogs of this world.
Though they’d be pretty ugly dogs if he were being honest.
Eventually, Tommy stops and crouches down, resting his hands and knees against the glass to get a better look at the fish.
It's still staring blankly at him, vacant eyes not even following Tommy’s fingers when he wiggles them off to the side. It makes him giggle quietly, he’ll have to show it to Puffy later. She’d definitely have a laugh over the dumb thing.
However, the fish seems to startle suddenly, its whole body jerking back before it swims off in a hurry.
Tommy frowns, a bit disappointed that he couldn’t show it to Puffy now, but maybe it’ll come back.
“You probably shouldn’t mess with that fish, it’ll drag you into the water the first chance it gets.” A soft but loud voice whispers from behind him.
“Fuck!”
Tommy whips around with a gasp, eyes wide with horror as he scrambles back on his hands and the heels of his feet until his back is pressed against the front of the bench. His heart races in his chest, pounding so loudly in his chest that Tommy is sure it can be heard echoing in the pickup station.
Lazying partially out of the pool is a massive fucking mermaid alien, Tommy is barely the size of his fucking forearm, with his arms crossed over each other as he hangs off the edge of the marina-like opening. His chin is rested on his arms, head tilted curiously to the side and jewelry pierced ear-fins lowered calmly.
His hair is curly from what Tommy could tell, winding around three sets of opalescent horns that grow upwards and curve back into slight arrow-shaped edges, like a crown with the color and shimmer of white pearls. It matches eerily well with his bright golden eyes and the space blue of his scales.
Quickly, Tommy shakes his head with a cough, willing his racing heart to calm while he picks his jaw off the ground.
“I- what?” He wheezes, realizing that the alien mermaid has been talking to him.
Tommy isn’t sure how he didn’t notice before, considering the fucker is loud even when he's whispering, but at least he has enough consideration to repeat himself.
“I said I’m sorry for scaring you, I didn’t mean to.” The mermaid says sheepishly.
“I was not scared.” Tommy cuts in with a scowl, but the fucking alien only sends him an amused look, tilting his head a bit more until his cheek rested on his arm too.
“Uh-huh.” He says, unbelievingly, and Tommy opens his mouth to give the dickhead a piece of his mind, but the mermaid beats him to it.
“Anyways, I’m here to pick up a package. Are you my deliverer?”
“Oh, no, I’m not.” Tommy shakes his head. “I was just bored and wanted something to do since our ship broke down.”
The mermaid seems to deflate with a sigh, closing his eyes in what seems like dismay, and Tommy takes a minute to peer down, noting the fuckers massive tail slowly swishing in the water below the glass.
When he glances back up, Tommy notes the putout look on the alien's face and feels, maybe, just a tiny bit bad for him.
“Do you know when your shipment was supposed to come in?” He asks tentatively, finally shifting to sit up with his back properly propped up against the seat of the bench. “I can ask around for you.”
The mermaid croons an odd sound, Tommy doesn’t recognize it, but it reminds him, annoyingly, of when old ladies would coo over how ‘cute’ he is.
That better not be what it fucking means.
“I’ve been coming by for two days now, and it still hasn’t shown up.” The alien sighs again. “It likely hasn’t reached planet side yet.”
“Oh,” Tommy says lamely.
The mermaid seems to think for a minute, brows scrunched curiously as he stares off into space for just a few seconds.
“Is it alright if I wait around for a bit?” He suddenly asks. “I usually like to wait around for a few hours to see if my package comes in and I don’t accidentally miss it.”
“Oh, yeah of course.” Tommy sputters, surprised that the alien is even asking. Tommy isn’t a worker here, after all, he already told the guy that he’s just some stranded delivery crew. “I can leave, if you’d like?”
“Nah man, it’s fine.” The mermaid waves the idea off. “Some company would be fun if you’re up for it, though.”
Tommy blinks, a bit caught off guard before he grins. He’s got nothing better to do anyway, and he’s disguised so no one would know that he’s human. Surely he can stay until the mermaid has to go.
“Sure!” Tommy beams, crossing his legs and planting his hands on his ankles as he leans forward. “Then you can tell me more about that ugly fish.”
The alien laughs, though it was more of a soft chuckle so he doesn’t make Tommy’s eardrums bleed.
“Alright, alright.” He says. “I’m Wilbur, by the way.”
If possible, Tommy’s grin gets wider.
“I’m Tommy.”
Tommy has been meeting up with Wilbur for a few days now, in the same pickup station as usual, and finds that he actually enjoys the mer’s presence. Though it’s not like he’d ever tell the bastard that.
Which, for such a cool-looking species, mer is such a boring name, though it’s not like human is any better either.
It was funnier to call Wilbur a mermaid anyway, but the dickhead was only amused by it so Tommy stopped after a little while.
Still, Tommy makes sure not to tell Puffy.
It’s not that he likes lying to her, of course not, she's his captain after all! But she’d definitely scold him for being reckless and hanging around so close to the water and around a water species no less. She might even try to stop Tommy from meeting with Wilbur and he really doesn’t want that to happen.
Not just because he’d have nothing to do again, but he also… well he thought of Wilbur as a friend. As much as one can be after only a few days, but they just got along well. Even if Tommy made it a point to tease and banter with him every chance he gets.
So he continues to sneak around Puffy’s watchful eye until he’s out of her sight and can meet Wilbur at the marina again.
Except this time, Wilbur is there before him.
Usually, Tommy would have to wait a few minutes before he shows up. But today, Wilbur is already hanging off the side of the pool, quietly humming to himself with his chin rested on his arms and his eyes closed.
Tommy is tempted to simply watch him from afar so he could listen to more of the mer’s humming. It's a pretty sound, something soft and sweet and nothing like anything Tommy had heard before. Though, admittedly, Tommy hasn’t listened to any music in a while, usually Puffy would put on some strange amalgamation of songs from her home world and while they sounded cool, they were nothing like this.
Tommy shifts his feet, edging a little closer, but his toe stubs the lip of the pickup station’s entrance. A dull thud has one of Wilbur’s ear-fin perking up as he opens his eyes.
“Tommy!” Wilbur whispers a greeting, ear-fins perking up as a wide grin spreads across his face, revealing fairly sharp teeth that Tommy still hasn’t fully gotten used to yet.
Still, Tommy grins back, anyway.
“Wilbur!” Tommy greets back, making his way over to the giant mer with his arms spread wide, dropping them once he gets closer. “Hove you finally got your package yet?”
If possible, Wilbur seems to get even more excited, ear-fins swishing up and down while the earrings and jewelry hanging from them jingle loudly.
“I did,” He says softly. “I took it home before coming back.”
Suddenly, Tommy feels a bit dejected. Now that Wilbur has gotten his package, he doesn’t have a reason to hang around the docks anymore. He’d probably go back to whatever he was doing before this. Tommy should feel happy for him, and he does, but now he’s going to be alone again without Wilbur.
Of course, he still has the crew, but it’s not the same when they’re all too busy working on the ship.
“So you’re not going to hang around the docks anymore then, huh?” Tommy says, trying his best to keep his smile from faltering.
Except, Wilbur laughs, quiet as usual, but like Tommy had said the most ridiculous thing in the entire world.
“Of course not.” The mer croons deeply and Tommy feels the weight on his heart lift. “I can’t leave my little gremlin hanging, after all.”
“Hey!” Tommy shouts in offense, but he’s not really offended. In fact, he's glad that Wilbur is staying. Obviously, he’d never tell the dickhead that. He’d be teased relentlessly if he did, though Tommy has a feeling that Wilbur knows and just isn’t saying anything.
Thankfully, the bastard doesn’t bring it up.
“Now sit down already, Toms.” Wilbur scolds jokingly and Tommy does so with a snort, sitting cross-legged a few feet away from where the mer’s arms are. “Let me tell you about the giant clam that tried to eat my lunch when I was at a reef nearby.”
“What is it like living in the ocean?” Tommy asks on another day, idly sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet just barely grazing the water.
He didn’t know the glass was so thick, but it's well past the length of his shins.
Wilbur hums thoughtfully. “I assume it’s like living on other planets, just underwater.”
“Really?” Tommy says doubtfully. He can’t imagine how it’d be anything like other planets, not with their waterproof electronics and their forges set in fucking underground volcanoes. If what Wilbur said about that bit was true, anyway. There’s no way in hell it could be similar to mostly land-filled planets.
Still, Wilbur continues with an amused snort.
“Well, maybe not entirely similar, but we have cities and towns here too.” He says. “They’re just more spread apart because of how big our planet is and since we can travel long distances without much effort, we have no reason to have them grouped together.”
Tommy leans forward curiously, a feeling of awe building in his chest.
“What are the cities like?”
“Well,” Wilbur tilts his head in thought. “Most of them are made up of big spiraling buildings and giant cave tunnels. We use white stone and marble to build a lot of the infrastructure but a few buildings are made of metal too. They’re very pretty and carved with images and symbols, the roofs are made from melted down pearls and decorated with corals.”
Tommy can hardly imagine it. Thoughts full of giant castle-like buildings, bigger than anything he’d seen before, fill his mind. Tons of different colorful mer cross his imagination and all Tommy can really think of to compare it to is the old, old Greek and Roman temples and buildings that he’d seen in books. Covered in coral with opalescent roofs and those odd plants, like the ones on the dock, popping up everywhere.
A part of Tommy wants to see them for himself, curious if his imagination was anything similar to what Wilbur is describing. Probably not, but it’d still be a cool place to visit.
Like Puffy would ever let him, though.
Wilbur sighs fondly, an almost distant look in his eyes.
“They’re beautiful, especially when the setting sun hits them at just the right angle.” He spares Tommy a soft look. “I think you’d like them. I don’t visit very often, though.”
Tommy frowns, tilting his head as his brows scrunch in confusion. “Huh? Why not, they sound awesome!”
The mer just shrugs.
“My family, my father and brother and I, live pretty far from them. It’s not hard to swim there, but they’re busy places with a lot of noise. It can get overwhelming pretty fast.”
“Oh,” Tommy says. “Well, I don’t visit cities very often either.”
Not that he doesn’t want to, but a lot of people meant a higher risk of getting caught and the only time Puffy let him go off into a city was if he was with her or some of the crew members. And even then, it’d have to be cities from planets in the outer worlds.
“I usually just live on the ship, but I get to see a lot of new places and planets, so I guess it’s fine that I don’t visit cities very often,” Tommy says idly, kicking his feet and splashing up tiny drops of water.
Wilbur smiles fondly, resting more of his weight onto his crossed arms as he relaxed. Practically hanging off the side of the pool, but not struggling to do so at all.
“Why don’t you tell me about some of them, then.” He says, shifting his head just a tiny bit closer to Tommy’s side. Close enough to where Tommy could reach out and touch him if he wanted to.
Still, Tommy grins brightly, rambling on about a planet called Enderion in the far outer worlds, even farther than the planet they’re on now, and how it was cold for a desert planet and had little to no sunlight. The only thing keeping it mildly warm and visible were the faraway stars that seemed to multiply and shift every time you looked at them.
Wilbur listened with rapt attention, expression still softly fond while Tommy ranted and raved about how he’d gotten sand all over his room and it took him months to clean it all out.
However, Tommy doesn’t notice the odd gleam in Wilbur’s golden eyes.
Something wanting and possessive, a tinge of dark, adoring fondness that is gone the second Tommy looks back at him dramatically.
“I don’t even know what’s taking so long!” Tommy groans in dismay, laying on his back against the glass floor while he throws his arms into the air before letting them fall with a small thud! “It’s been like- weeks now and none of them will even let me help either! I can’t do anything at all! They won’t even let me bring them their fucking tools! Tools! It’s ridiculous!”
Wilbur snorts softly from where he lazes partially out of the pool as usual, chin still resting against his folded arms and tail not even swishing in the water. The mer is completely at ease, ear-fins low and content and eyes half-lidded while Tommy is sprawled out across the floor with a heavy scowl.
A scowl, not a pout, no matter what Wilbur says.
Still, Wilbur laughs, ear-fins switching and jewelry jingling softly like wind chimes.
“You always complain about not being able to help with the ship,” The mer teases, and Tommy huffs with pink cheeks. “Wouldn’t you be more annoyed at having to do actual work on the ship?”
Tommy thinks about it for a moment, groaning as he rolls over onto his stomach, away from the edge of the pool.
“Yes.” He says with a grumble, voice slightly muffled from where his left cheek is squished against the glass. Tommy sighs before pushing himself up onto his elbows, threading his fingers together and occasionally tapping the tops of his feet against the floor.
“But it’s better than doing nothing when you’re not around.” He pouts—scowls, he scowls. “When I’m at the ship, all I do is sit in my room and nap or play games on my communicator. They’re not even good games either because Puffy says they’re ‘bad for my brain development’.”
Tommy grumbles at the mere thought, rolling his eyes heavily as he recalls the conversation with his captain. If he didn’t have some dumb parent lock on his communicator, which was extra dumb because Puffy isn’t his mom, then he’d be able to do all sorts of stuff to entertain himself.
Though, he pauses, maybe it wasn’t all bad. He wouldn’t have met Wilbur if he were just held up in his room all day playing games.
Still, he’d never tell Wilbur or Puffy that. First, because Wilbur would be an annoying bastard about it, and second because Puffy would say ‘I told you so’ and then proceed to scold him for hanging out with Wilbur next to the water.
So he’d keep his mouth shut until the end of time.
“Awe, Tommy.” Wilbur suddenly coos, and Tommy whips his head over to start at the mer with wide eyes. He didn’t say that out loud, right? No, no, he knows he didn’t. He’s not that absent-minded.
“Do you like hanging out with me?” He croons adoringly and Tommy can’t tell if it’s teasing, genuine, or a mix of both.
Immediately Tommy sputters in denial, face completely flushed red as he scrambles to sit up with his hands clenched into fists.
“No!” He shouts, absolutely mortified, but Wilbur croons again. “Shut up! I didn’t say that at all! You’re just a giant dumb fish that likes bothering me!”
Wilbur only laughs, his entire body shaking with the force to keep himself from getting too loud.
“You don’t have to be embarrassed,” The mer says with a teasing tone, though it’s far, far too fond. Tommy feels his face get redder. “I like hanging out with you too.”
“Shut up!” He repeats, hiding his face in his hands. “Oh my god, forget I even said anything!”
Wilbur coos again and Tommy wants nothing more than to melt into the floor and drown himself in the sea below. Surely it’d be better than this embarrassment.
“Alright, alright, I’ll stop, I’ll stop,” Wilbur says, though the amusement in his words is thick and clear. Tommy glares at him from behind his fingers. “Awe, won’t you look at me, Toms?”
“Fuck you.” He scowls, face still warm.
The mer laughs, leaning forward until his face is hovering just a few feet away from where Tommy sits.
“Okay, okay,” Wilbur croons, softer this time and lacking the teasing adoration. “How about I get you a gift to make up for it, huh?”
Tommy narrows his eyes and slowly lowers his hands from his face.
“What kind of gift?”
Wilbur’s golden eyes seem to sparkle in excitement, ear-fins perked and the sail along his spine raised just a little bit.
"It’s a surprise,” He says. “But you’ll like it, I promise.”
Tommy regards the mer suspiciously, he knows Wilbur would never do something outright mean to him, but he also knows that he isn’t above teasing him either. However, Wilbur hasn’t ever teased him by using a gift and seems so genuinely excited that Tommy sighs.
“Okay, but if it’s fucked up, I’m tossing it right back into the ocean.”
It’s a pretty shitty warning since Wilbur could easily just grab it back, but Tommy doesn’t really care about that. It's the point that mattered.
“Alright, alright.” Wilbur chuckles before he unfolds his arms and pushes up to his full height. Not anywhere near the roof, but the fucker is still massive and it's still a slight shock to Tommy’s system. “Wait for a minute, I’ll be right back.”
Then, he sinks back into the water, twisting elegantly under the ocean and beating his tail once in a powerful swoosh that has the giant mer moving deeper into the water with awe-inspiring speed and grace
Tommy scoots forward to watch from a better angle, nearly leaning over the side of the pool and careful not to put too much weight forward unless he wanted to be an idiot and fall in.
Eventually, after barely a few seconds, Wilbur slowly disappeared from view, body fading until he was nothing but a dark blue speck that eventually vanished.
It’s still unnerving that the water could be so deep.
Tommy can’t help but wonder how far down it goes, especially when this is supposed to be one of the really shallow areas. Yet somehow, it's still deep enough that he can’t see Wilbur anymore.
Tommy leans away from the lip of the marina with a shiver and a grimace.
Looking too far into the ocean for too long always gives him a bit of the creeps.
Sure, it's safe but… he remembers some saying about looking into the void and it looking back at you. This is water, of course, not space or pure darkness, but it's still close enough.
It takes a minute for so for Wilbur to start making his way back up, nothing but a little blue dot again that slowly gets bigger and bigger with more details until the mer is pulling himself onto the lip of the pool, soaking the area so Tommy has to scramble back to avoid getting wet.
“Here,” He says, holding out a palm that's bigger than the size of Tommy’s head. Yet he still can’t help but lean closer to get a better look at the ‘gift’.
It's some sort of white, metal contraption the size of Tommy’s palms. There are two pieces intertwined with each other in some weird, complicated way. The metal twisted and turned perfectly without any chips or cracks. It's smooth, with round edges and round ends, like a tiny rod was bent into shape and filed down so there weren't any sharp edges.
But there are also carvings along all of it too, beautiful things depicting fish and waves, Tommy can’t help but slowly reach out in awe. His hands barely even twitch at the cold, wet chill against his palm when he lifts it from Wilbur’s hand.
“What is it?” Tommy asks, lifting it above his head and noting how light it is, like he's caring something made out of plastic instead of metal.
“It’s a puzzle toy,” Wilbur says and Tommy immediately sends him an unimpressed look. He isn’t going to give it back though and before he can open his mouth, Wilbur beats him to it. “Don’t give me that look.” The mer scolds lightly. “You’re supposed to pull apart the two pieces without breaking them, and then put them back together the same way.”
Tommy frowns at him, but still glances down at the puzzle, experimentally giving both pieces a slight tug.
It doesn’t give.
Tommy twists it another way, turning one side towards him and the other away from him before trying to tug them apart again.
It still doesn’t give.
However, instead of being frustrated, Tommy is more intrigued. Surely it wouldn’t take him that long to figure it out but—
“Where did you get this?” He can’t help but ask, running a thumb over one of the intricate carvings, humming in surprise at how smooth the metal was.
Tommy glances up, curiously eyeing Wilbur’s expression. It’s annoyingly fond and Tommy scowls in response, though the mer ignores it.
“It was mine from when I was a pup.” He says, smiling softly. “My older brother made it for me, and I’d play with it often.”
Tommy’s scowl falls and he feels his chest swell with an emotion he doesn’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole, face slowly turning pink as he glances back down at the puzzle toy. He’s not… delighted, or touched, or—or grateful, or anything like that at all!
Still, Tommy frowns a little, sparing Wilbur a look.
“Are you sure I can have this?” He can’t help but ask, it sounded very important to him.
“Of course, you can.” The mer croons gently, golden eyes adoring as he presses himself down to the glass floor to make himself smaller. “I wouldn’t have given it to you if I didn’t want you to have it.”
Tommy can feel his face turn redder, fingers fidgeting with the puzzle as he stares at it, partially trying to hide his face in embarrassment.
“Thank you,” He mumbles softly, but Wilbur still hears him.
The stupid mer’s face gains that disgustingly soft look again, eyes practically shining and Tommy has to look away. Though he can still hear the fondness in Wilbur’s tone.
“Of course.” He says. “I’m happy to give it to you, my little gremlin.”