He Came from the Ocean (Coffee-Tastic and Yukio Takamiya)

[Coffee-Tastic]

Nett looked down to Boat too, then ahead, keeping up with Mar's walking pace, himself staying quiet again, trying to focus on nothing in particular. The sea breeze was, in fact, relaxing and he shouldn't be costing the gentle cool wisps with any more bad thoughts. He and Mar will be saving up money together, his instinctual burden of eating flesh was dealt with in a way and the both of them will be happy. The worst thing that could possibly happen is if the two of them were pulled apart. As long as that hasn't happened, they'll be golden.

 

They kept walking on for a bit, Nett relaxing down completely and even being able to bear poking out at the water to see the people playing in there and some others further out on their body boards and even further out were people using the winds to sail board together. The ocean didn't look so empty when it was filled with people, he thought. Nett gave a small yawn and looked at Mar, "Can we go back home? I'm getting somewhat tired."

[Yukio Takamiya]

"Yeah, I can see that," Mar said with a chuckle. "Yeah let's head back before you fall asleep while walking." With Nett's hand still in his hold, he turned back and headed back the way they came from. They went back to their shoes and slipped them on before going to the bus station to catch a bus back.

 

When they got home, Mar went ahead to transfer Boat into the tank where Cabin resided. For a while, he watched as Boat tried to get close to Cabin but had to turn away at the last moment since he couldn't cease movement. Mar smiled at that. Trying to eat Cabin the moment they met, Boat would eventually give up after a few tries.

 

Moving to the pantry, Mar had dinner ready in half an hour. He called to Nett and sat down to eat. After clearing the dishes, he took his bath and settled down on the mattress waiting for Nett to join him. The merman hadn't been in good spirits that day and Mar couldn't help but frown at that. Perhaps he should have brought him somewhere else instead of the beach. "You didn't look happy at all today. I'll take you somewhere better than the beach tomorrow okay?"

[Coffee-Tastic]

"I just have not been by the water in some time. If we're going to live in the place we want, I will have to get used to being near the ocean once more..." He said, hoping to have Mar forget his moody behavior, "I didn't feel as bad the longer we were there, so that's proof that's true." Nett had taken a bath right after the boy, being fresh, clean and needy to be next to Mar once again. He immediately came into bed with him and in two seconds, he was in his arms and he tangled his legs with Mar's, the ultimate position of comfort for the merman.

 

"The taste of food has been coming back for me since yesterday, so I think I want to try eating some new things with you, if that's okay." So far, the only things he has eaten were fish, hot dogs and a crepe he forced himself to eat. The pork didn't count because he was sure his animalistic desires were to blame for that coming back up. And the human meat didn't count because that didn't classify as human food. Even though it technically WAS 'human food'.

[Yukio Takamiya]

"Is that so?" Mar asked turning to look at Nett. "Then I'll take you out to try different foods tomorrow,"he smiled and placed his head on Nett's chest, arms wrapped tightly around the merman's body. Mar yawned and closed his eyes,"I just want you to be happy,"he mumbled and fell asleep instantly.

 

When Mar awoke that morning, he did his morning routine of washing up and cooking breakfast before starting his work. But when he went to his website, he saw a new comment in the comments box. 'Check your e-mail.' Frowning, Mar went to his newly created e-mail account and opened the inbox. An unknown sender had sent him a message. 'Meet me at the park tonight at 7pm. This concerns your beloved merman, don't be late.' Mar closed the page and went back to his work refusing to think about the message. But a single question echoed at the back of his mind,'who other than Greyson and himself would know about Nett being a merman, or was the sender Greyson himself?'

[Coffee-Tastic]

Nett watched the instantaneous sleep fall on his human, grinning a little as he pet his head until he fell asleep as well... His dream didn't contain anything in it. Everything was just simply blackness and everything was warm and right in his world. Somehow still being aware he was asleep next to Mar, the merman was content in this darkness. There was no Greyson, no bad people. Only himself and the soothing radiation the boy next to him gifted his body.

 

It turns out that Nett was a lot more lazy than he thought after all that walking. He refused to get out of bed and kept falling asleep every time he woke up. It didn't have to do with him being unhealthy at all. It was purely just his laziness. Nett knew they'd be going out again too, so he wanted to save his energy. The mattress was too comfortable and the smell Mar left on his pillow was too powerful... When he did wake up, it was just a a few hours past noon and he went right to go see Cabin and Boat, "Sorry for sleeping so much," Nett didn't know what he was doing, but he put his finger deep into the water to see what would happen, "Is it too late to go?" Cabin continued to suck on the glass, but Boat came around to his finger and gave it a quick nibble that felt like a kiss. He found it extremely cute but none of that showed on his blank face.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Mar closed his laptop and stood up to stretch,"nope, you woke up just in time. I've just finished." He walked over to Nett and watched him dip his finger into the water. Boat moving towards his finger urged Mar to pull Nett's hand away. But when the arowana simply nibbled on his finger, Mar sighed in relieve. It was lucky that Boat had decided not to bite or Nett's finger would have been bleeding by now. He didn't know what went through his mind when he decided to get a carnivorous fish. But the good thing was that arowanas ate fish pellets.

 

Mar took Nett by the hand,"let's go." They left the house and Mar headed for the towb area. There were plenty of eating houses to choose from and Mar hoped that Nett's reaction to the food wouldn't be the same as eating the crepe or pork.

[Coffee-Tastic]

"Hm." He looked around while walking along side of Mar, curiously looking around at as much things as he could, per usual. Watching people was so interesting. He would be able to see how some people picked at their noses and then looked at that they got when they thought nobody was looking. He saw how one guy lowered their hand down a woman's back and grabbed her butt, getting the girl to laugh and playfully hit the guy on the shoulder. He even saw how a dog was licking the hand of a baby to the point of the human larvae giving the animal a half eaten jelly sandwich.

 

Upon looking around, he suddenly caught the smell of something. Nett sniffed the air and turned his head to where he smelled it. It smelled like a bland bakery but better somehow. It was buttery and... He didn't know what else. He pointed to the place it came from and looked at Mar as if he could read his mind. He pointed to the International House of Pancakes. Aka IHOP.

[Yukio Takamiya]

As they walked through the town area, Mar couldn't decide on a suitable place to take Nett to. Everything seemed okay to him but he didn't know how Nett would feel about his decisions. Which was why relieve came to him so easily when Nett pointed to IHOP. Mar could admit that the smell was nice but pancakes wasn't his most favourite of foods. Still, if Nett wanted it, he shall get it. Taking the merman's hand, Mar headed for the shop.

[Coffee-Tastic]

***************rewrite**

 

"Hm." He looked around while walking along side of Mar, curiously looking around at as much things as he could, per usual. Watching people was so interesting. He would be able to see how some people picked at their noses and then looked at that they got when they thought nobody was looking. He saw how one guy lowered their hand down a woman's back and grabbed her butt, whatever that meant, getting the girl to laugh and playfully hit the guy on the shoulder. He even saw how a dog was licking the hand of a baby to the point of the human larvae giving the animal a half eaten jelly sandwich. Very entertaining.

 

His scanning eyes sucking up every little thing he could, the merman couldn't help but see a familiar black car on the street with the same tinted windows he saw when he was job hunting. Staring at it with a less settled expression, he also saw it was starting to lower the driver's side window. Nett knew that there were different cars that existed and some cars looked alike. That car might not have the same person inside of it, but before he found that out he looked at Mar and tried rushing him, though keeping his calmness again, "Where are we going? I'm getting really hungry... It won't concern me where we go as long as we get there."

[Yukio Takamiya]

***rewrite***

As they walked through the town area, Mar couldn't decide on a suitable place to take Nett to. Everything seemed okay to him but he didn't know how Nett would feel about his decisions. Which was why he was relieved when Nett said that anything would do. "Anywhere will do? How about that grass patch over there?"Mar joked. He grabbed Nett's hand and pulled him towards a particular shop,"how about some chinese?"

[Coffee-Tastic]

"Grass?" He mumbled and looked at the plain patch of grass before he understood he wasn't being serious, a tiny smile on his face for a moment was his version of a laugh, "Chinese then. Ok," he paused, catching along with him, "By now asking what that is doesn't matter. You can tell me what the food is made of when we get it... Hopefully no grass." He didn't care if the person in the car was the same as before and he didn't look back in curiosity to see if it was still there, he and Mar were going to get Chinese together, nothing bad would happen as long as they were together.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Mar let out a small laugh,"I doubt the shop would get any customers if they added grass as an ingredient,"he said as they entered the eatery. Choosing an empty seat, Mar picked up a menu and handed it over to Nett before picking up another one. After a while, he decided on simply a bowl of noodles with curry as its soup base and looked over to Nett. "Have you decided on what you want?" Mar had forgotten that Nett didn't know what was used for the food and that he couldn't read.

[Coffee-Tastic]

The whole time with the menu, he stared at Mar for a bit, but then pretended like he knew what he was looking at by opening the menu and looking over the scribbles slowly to look like he fit in better. He kept his eyes on the menu even when Mar asked him his question, only giving him a glance, "No, I haven't... Mar, are you okay?" He didn't mention the fact he couldn't understand he menu, waiting to see how long it would take for him to realize it for himself. How could he forget something like that? He must be getting sick... Or maybe something was on his mind. It wasn't like Mar to be that mindless.

[Yukio Takamiya]

"Huh?" Mar asked not understanding Nett's question. He propped his elbow on the table and rested his head in his palm while waiting for Nett to decide on a dish. His mind wandered back to the e-mail that he received earlier that day. Somehow, he had a feeling that the sender wasn't Greyson yet he couldn't be too sure. Mar really hoped that whatever was going to happen wouldn't be too terrible. He had enough on his hands as is. Coming out of his thoughts, Mar wondered what was taking Nett so long. He looked at the merman who had his eyes glued to the menu but not moving like he was reading. Then it hit him, Nett couldn't read. He smacked his forehead and got out of his seat, coming round the table to Nett's side. "Sorry, I forgot. I've been out of it lately,"he said taking the menu from Nett. Mar now understood Nett's question earlier, but why didn't he say anything?

 

"Which one looks delicious to you?" Mar asked referring to the pictures in the menu. "Tell me and I'll let you know what are the ingredients used."

[Coffee-Tastic]

Out of it, huh? Nett only knew when Mar was bothered by something by the look on his face and his obvious behavior, but for once, he was starting to pick up on other things like forgetting he couldn't read. It took him a long time to figure it out. What could be in his head that blurred that out, he didn't know. "That one," he pointed to one that has fried rice and boneless spare ribs. He only picked it because the other ones had noodles, which looked like worms to him, and the red sauce over the meat reminded him of fish guts, "... How come you've been out of it?" He asked, closing the menu and putting it to the side so Mar didn't try to avoid his question in any way.

 

It wasn't exactly fair for Nett to want to squeeze out Mar's reason for being 'out of it' because he was hiding something too, but he doubted it was worse. And unlike his own problem, he thought maybe he could do something about it.

[Yukio Takamiya]

"I don't really know myself. Perhaps its because I'm tired,"he said. Mar wasn't about to let Nett know about the e-mail he received. The possibility that someone else other than Greyson and himself may know about Nett's identity, who knows how Nett might feel once he knew. "I'll be fine with enough rest, nothing to worry about,"he reassured the merman and raised his hand to call the waiter.

 

When the waiter arrived, Mar took his own menu and pointed to the dishes as the waiter took them down. Once the waiter left, Mar tapped his fingers on the table, avoiding eye contact with Nett should he try to pry again.

[Coffee-Tastic]

"..." He waited for the waiter to leave, sitting closer to Mar and moved the boys head to face him, "You told me to tell you when something was wrong. That applies to Mar as well. I want to be of help to the person who takes care of me all the time... If there is something wrong, I'd like to know."

 

He wanted to really help him, but even though he had good intentions here, it only hurt him more to be saying these things. If it was Mar telling him these things again and suspecting that there was something wrong with him, Nett would refuse to speak a word. If Mar ever did actually suspect something with him, he'd feel three times as bad. He didn't want that, so for himself, he'd make sure to keep it hidden way better than Mar was doing. Watching the boy, he was mentally takin notes on what not to do. No being mindless. No adverting eyes. No saying that he was tired... Because Mar doing all of that wasn't convicting in his eyes.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Mar blinked when his head was turned to face the merman. His heart clenched at Nett's words but he was set on keeping this to himself. He didn't want Nett to feel uncomfortable with the thought that more people knew. Especially when he was cautious of humans and feared being used for experiments and the like. Until Mar was sure of the sender's identity, he wouldn't say a word.

 

"Just a few problems with work and the customers are giving me a headache," Mar said with a sigh, hoping that it would be convincing enough. Nett was already suspicious but Mar hoped that he wouldn't pry any further. With the change in his eating habits, Mar could tell that Nett was worried and troubled. He worried of what Mar would think of him and afraid that they would drift apart. And he wasn't the only one, Mar was afraid of that too.

 

He lifted a hand and ruffled Nett's hair,"I know that you care but you don't have to worry too much." He smiled to reassure the merman. Everything was a mess now, so many problems to deal with. Mar was tired, he could feel the weariness weighing on himself. All he wanted was to live happily with Nett without anyone to bother them. He couldn't do anything about Nett's diet since he was born that way but the interference of others in their lives, Mar didn't like it.

[Coffee-Tastic]

Nett moved his face closer to his, studying him more. He still wasn't convinced, but he wasn't getting anything. His eyes lowered and he turned to sit forward, not moving away from his side however, "I worry because you are the only one I have," he looked back at Mar again for a moment, kissing his cheek, "I want to make sure that person is okay. That's he feels comfortable and happy just like how that person does the same for me... I don't believe that it's just your work and the customers, so tell me what it is when you're ready." Being open in the fact that he's not biting the excuses, Nett hoped that Mar would sooner or later tell him what was wrong.

 

Mar might be feeling helpless in the fact that he had to work for such a long time in order to get out of the city. If that was the case, he'd really really promise to get a job... He'd be the one at types store. He wouldn't dare eating any of the animals if it meant losing his job there. He'd give all the money he made to Mar and into the money pile going to their future. If the problem was...

 

His eyes widened slightly, turning away so Mar didn't see his initial shock. Was it too strange to be going out to eat normal food after him eating human meat? He hoped that wasn't he case. Nett didn't want to eat anyone right now, he wasn't flesh hungry. He was just regular hungry, he swore... If that was the problem, he'd make sure to enjoy the food. Even if he didn't like it, he'd make it look like the best thing ever.

[Yukio Takamiya]

"Thank you Nett," Mar said and placed his head on the table. He felt extremely guilty for keeping this from Nett, after all this concerned him as well. He did feel comfortable and happy being with Nett. "I received a message this morning,"he said without looking up. "It told me to meet someone tonight saying that it has something to do with you," Mar was reluctant to continue. Once Nett knew that someone else knows his identity, his wariness of humans would increase. "But you don't have to worry, I won't let anyone take you away," Mar lifted his head off the table and pulled Nett into a hug.

[Coffee-Tastic]

He was shocked, but not because there apparently was someone who knew about him. He was shocked to hear that Mar was sent a massage about him. It must have been Greysons friend. He didn't want Mar to know about the deal they had, how he was at the whom of whoever that was. That's what he was keeping from him directly, but now the guy was going to talk to Mar? He didn't want that. He didn't want Mar to know anything about what he had to do in order to be given the good he needs to live. Not even Nett knew what it was, but he was sure his partner could run down a giant list of what bad things could go on. He did t want him to worry about anything concerning how he got human meat.

 

When he was hugged, he put his arms around Mar quickly and held him hard, "Just... Just don't go. Ignore it, Mar. It probably isn't good, so just ignore it. We could be in bed together and be happy. Ignore it. Please. I don't want any more bad things happening."

[Yukio Takamiya]

"Nett, you don't understand," Mar protested. "I have to go or else they'll take it as a sign that I'm not taking them seriously. More bad things will happen then," he said. He placed a hand on the merman's back and started rubbing to hopefully comfort him. People were starting to stare but Mar ignored them. A waiter stood hesitantly at the side with their food unsure if it was appropriate for him to interrupt. Mar beckoned him forward with a finger never ceasing his rubbing, then shooed the guy away when the food had been served. "If you don't want me to go then I won't," Mar finally said with a sigh. "If it makes you happy."

[Coffee-Tastic]

"It makes me happy." He said, feeling more relief for himself than Mar. Mar worrying about who it was isn't going to be worse than him knowing the deal he and Greyson had. It was better this way, "Very happy..." Whatever happen because of him not going, he was willing to take the responsibility. As long as Mas was always kept out of the loop. Nett kept looking at the boy, but soon his nostrils were filled with a sweet, meaty smell. Drawing gaze to his plate of food he looked at the red sauce and dipped his finger in it to taste, "What did I get?" He asked, wanting to move away from the talk of emails and mysterious people, then put his finger in his mouth. He Thought it looked like blood, but it was thicker and stickier. It also tasted different... but different in a good way. "I might like it... I like the red stuff."

[Yukio Takamiya]

Mar was suspicious. Nett was being overly relieved but as usual, he let it be. He suspected that Nett was hiding something from him. But Mar didn't want to force Nett to do anything. Until he was ready to voice out his problems, Mar would wait.

 

He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat. He laughed when Nett said he liked the red sauce. "That's ketchup. You can't eat it alone, its best to eat it with whatever you've got there." He smiled, pleased that the atmosphere had lightened up. Mentally, he reminded himself to get a bottle of ketchup from the grocer.

[Coffee-Tastic]

Nett nodded and followed suit on Mar's actions, picking up the chopsticks and eating. He thought that ketchup would be fine on its own, it was a nice taste, but he wouldn't start eating it straight when he was advised not to... He could do it at home if they ever had it there. Anyways. He ate and kept himself glued to Mar, the stress of the talk dying down fast in him. Net was really good at forgetting about worries when he had him around.