Summary: This'll be fun, Tao said. It'll be something you've never done before, Tao said. Chin-mae agrees that breaking into an aquarium on a night out is something he's never done before.

He wouldn't consider stealing an octopus as fun though. Or what happens afterwards because of it.

Contains M-21/Tao.

Washed Up

By Dark Ice Dragon

Tao staggered over and collapsed into the double bed as soon as Chin-mae opened the door to their inn room. Takeo followed after him and Chin-mae made sure the door was closed. It was late enough the receptionist had only glanced at Takeo and the quick make-up job Tao had done had been enough to not raise any eyebrows. Or to care that much.

The room had all they needed: beds and a bathroom.

Chin-mae went to the bathroom and poked his head in. "No bath."

"Good," Tao said with a groan. "I don't want to think any more about water coming out of that and trying to kill me in my sleep." He rolled over to worm his way under the covers. "If I'm able to sleep tonight. ...Don't think I'll be able to sleep for the next week."

"I was talking to Takeo," Chin-mae said as Takeo wiped at the make-up. There hadn't seemed to an allergic reaction to it.

[I can sleep in a bed,] Takeo said, smiling at him. [And...I agree.] He sighed, his shoulders slumping. [I don't think I'd be able to sleep in water any time soon.]

Chin-mae edged into the bathroom. He peered at the sink for a second before tightening the taps as far as they would go. There wasn't much else he could do for that, but the toilet...

He eyed it, not wanting to step any closer to it. He strained his ears but it sounded like a normal toilet. Just like they thought they'd been approaching a normal lake.

He stayed there staring at it before backing out again. They couldn't lock the toilet from the outside and they had one stool that was useless for pinning the door closed. So if something happened, they couldn't block it.

Chin-mae rubbed his wrists as he walked over to the double bed and Tao beckoned him over, waggling his fingers. He sat down next to Tao and exhaled as the other man started massaging his wrists. "Thanks," he murmured.

"You're thanking me?" Tao leaned into his shoulder, still massaging. "You're the one who saved our asses back there."

It didn't feel like it. More like an instinctual dream haze that was both so sharp and so fucking surreal to be believable. They'd been attacked by water.

"You sure I didn't imagine all that?" Chin-mae said, closing his eyes, now that he could.

"Heh. You can check out the car tomorrow."

Chin-mae grimaced. How obvious was the damage going to be? The car could still drive fine, but he didn't want to draw any more attention than they already had.

Chin-mae leaned back, feeling his muscles start to relax the longer Tao massaged his wrists, revelling in the peace.

"How's your head, Takeo?" Chin-mae asked. It had been a while since the attack, but maybe the headache had faded a little, now that he and Tao weren't screaming in his head anymore and they'd tried to shield their thoughts again.

[I'm sorry,] Takeo said and Chin-mae opened his eyes to glance at him. What-?

Takeo hadn't laid down yet, still sitting on the edge of the bed, his head bowed.

"What for?" Tao said, still massaging Chin-mae's wrist. "For having a headache?"

"Can't blame you for that," Chin-mae said, especially considering the circumstances and how loud he and Tao must have been.

Chin-mae blinked when he felt confusion that wasn't his own. Was that-

[It was my fault.]

Tao spluttered, wheezing a soft laugh. "I don't think any of us could have predicted we were going to be attacked by water!"

[But...] Takeo lifted his head to look at both of them. [It's because of me it happened.]

Tao's massage slowed. "Eh? How could it be?"

[It was attacking me,] Takeo said, his voice slow.

"You can't know that," Chin-mae said

Takeo stared at them both.

[Is being attacked by a giant wall of water normal here?]

Chin-mae stopped.

"Well..." Tao slowed his massage. "Not...really..."

"It's not something happens period," Chin-mae added. Unless it was something that was kept secret. Which...he wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Was there a group of people who knew merpeople existed and did what they could to make sure no-one else knew?

[Then it's because of me,] Takeo said, certainty back in in his voice. [I'm what's different from normal here.]

"You think someone wants to kill you? Why?" Tao yelped. "Okay, you can breathe underwater, but that's a little hard to do when you've been crushed by so much metal."

[I don't know why someone would want to kill me,] Takeo said, sighing. [I just know that that's what they were trying to do.]

"...Hey," Tao said, and when Chin-mae looked over at him, he was frowning, his eyes distant. "Do you think... Do you think that's what happened at the aquarium?"

Chin-mae frowned as well, trying to piece it together.

"Like, the room was trashed," Tao said, running a hand through his own hair. "Water everywhere, but if that was the only room that was touched, and nothing else had been taken or broken..."

"It could be," Chin-mae said, mulling it over.

Chin-mae started when Takeo stood up. [I should go.]

"Eh?"

Takeo had already taken a few steps when Chin-mae lunged forward to grab his wrist.

[Chin-mae,] Takeo said, looking at him. He didn't try to pull away from Chin-mae's grasp. [I've put you both in danger.]

"And you'll get us out of it," Chin-mae said.

Takeo blinked.

Tao chuckled softly behind him. "Yeah, that's kinda the rule with me: if I drag you into something, it's also my job to make sure we get out of it."

Though the situations they'd had before hadn't been life or death...

Takeo stayed silent, still not trying to move away.

"Look," Chin-mae said. "We don't know who's attacking you or why-" And they might never know. "-but for all we know if we split up they'll still hunt us down since we've already associated with you."

Takeo looked stricken.

"Yeah," Tao said, taking a deep breath and his foot had started to jog. "Look what happened at the aquarium — if they were really after you and only you, they wouldn't have killed all the other fish in the room as well."

[Oh...] Takeo slumped, his hair blocking Chin-mae's view of his face.

"So there's not much point trying to split up," Tao said. "That's the way of getting killed faster. And it's not your fault someone's trying to kill you."

[It could be,] Takeo said, his voice soft, but he sat back down on the bed. He sighed. [But until I remember everything, I won't know.]

"Well, of what we know about you so far," Tao said, "you aren't a killer, so it's probably not someone wanting revenge!"

Chin-mae blinked at the high chirping noise Takeo made, his shoulders shaking. It took Chin-mae a second to realise Takeo was laughing.

[Thank you, both of you, for everything.]

"Heh, no problem," Tao said.

Chin-mae yawned as he sat back down. "We should sleep." It was surprising he'd stayed up this long and hadn't collapsed yet.

Tao chuckled. "You think I can sleep when water could come in through the window or the toilet and kill us?"

"Not much you can do about that," Chin-mae said, drawing Tao into a hug.

"Yeah, I know..." Tao sighed into Chin-mae's shoulder.

Hm. When he had Tao's attention, he raised an eyebrow and then tilted his head back a bit.

Tao blinked and a second later, he brightened, nodding.

"Hey, Takeo," Chin-mae said, looking back over his shoulder, "do you want to come over as well?"

[Huh?] Takeo didn't say anything else, as if he was waiting for Chin-mae to explain.

[You...want me to be with you?]

"Yeah," Chin-mae said. "If you want to." After everything that had just happened, being alone would make things worse. "It's a big enough bed."

But...was Takeo all right with touch?

[I would appreciate that,] Takeo said. [Thank you.]

"Great!" Tao said, shifting back to give him more space. "The more the merrier."

Chin-mae shuffled up as well as he felt Takeo climb onto the bed, not sure if he should turn and lie on his back or if he should stay as he is.

Takeo didn't seem to mind, settling down after a few seconds.

It was a little weird having two people in bed with him rather than one, but Chin-mae was already drifting off, exhaustion dragging at his eyes.

xOx

Tao couldn't sleep. Which wasn't surprising in the slightest, the events still replaying over and over in his mind. He reached over and held Chin-mae's hand, squeezing it. Chin-mae didn't react, already fast asleep, but Tao was glad he was still there and everyone was still alive.

He was either going to stay up the entire night or he was going to only fall asleep when he was completely exhausted.

He could play around on his phone for something to do rather than constantly thinking of being attacked while he slept.

At least he wouldn't feel anything if they were attacked.

Unless he woke up just long enough to struggle and still die.

...Great, thanks, brain. Now he definitely couldn't sleep.

Rain beating against the glass used to be soothing to listen to, but now, Tao just expected the next sound to be something smashing through the glass. Tao didn't like having his back to it, but he didn't want to be facing it either and staring at the water as it dribbled down the glass.

He squeezed his eyes shut and sighed.

He could hear someone else moving around, and that wasn't Chin-mae. He peeked over and Takeo looked like he was sleeping, though there was a crease on his brow, his breathing a little sharp.

"Hey, Takeo," Tao said, reaching over to shake his shoulder. Chin-mae wouldn't wake up from that — he was used to Tao tossing and turning during the night.

The wind picked up, howling past the window, and really, Tao had seen a lot of movies. If there were any cats or dogs around, they would have been yowling or barking already and trying to leave the room.

But nothing was going to happen, right? He was just overthinking and jumping to conclusions. Except the last time Takeo had been like that-

Tao jerked when Takeo startled awake, scrambling back and hitting his head off the wall with a cry.

Tao flinched when he something banged in the toilet, the hiss of water following after it and oh shit oh shit this was not happening, but he shook Chin-mae's shoulder anyway.

He didn't need to, Chin-mae already awake and scrambling upwards.

The bathroom door crashed open and uh. It was another mass of water, but this time it had a humanoid shape. Like Takeo's.

They almost looked exactly like Takeo. Aside from being made of water. But Tao could still make out the familiar markings along the skin, and their hair was fuller, almost curly, and it reached their mid-back.

Was this something different from before, or exactly the same?

The merperson's attention was on Takeo, ignoring Tao and Chin-mae (which Tao had to admit, he was a little grateful for).

[Who...are you?] Takeo asked, staring at them.

[Hmph,] the other merperson said, crossing their arms. [I see you can't recognise your own little sister.]

Aaaaand this is where I leave off for the moment. I want to have more time to outline what's going on and stuff, so I'll be trying to fill in the rest of the nano goal with one-shots.