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Chapter Text

Both students and scholars of every walk of life and topic crowded the main building of the Akademiya to witness the unveiling of a new exhibition and project that would run over the course of the next several years. The first tendrils and whispers of rumors of the new project had started weeks before though the only ones who knew exactly what it was going to be were tightly lipped. Those rumors varied from the subject being a new species of plant or creature to study, new infrastructure to be added to Sumeru City, or even a new form of categorization for geological specimens. 

Needless to say, no one could have anticipated the actual subject of the exhibition. 

An entirely new building had been constructed to be the center of research and where experiments would be performed. The grand opening of the event to all of the scholars and students was being held at the main building of the Akademiya before it was going to be moved into its proper building. Almost every student and professor was gathered in the hall, and the noise was deafening. All of the people gathered were whispering to one another, taking bets on what would be shown. The only limits were their imagination.

The Akademiya’s scribe, Alhaitham, couldn’t be more bored. Even he didn’t know what the new exhibition consisted of, especially since the higher ups in the chain of Akademiya’s leadership rarely clued him into their schemes. They just threw around buzzwords to get people excited without ever actually saying anything pertinent. Ground-breaking, never seen before, unprecedented: the list went on and on. 

Truth be told, Alhaitham didn’t particularly care what the Akademiya was going to unveil. All he had to do was record what was being said by the people presenting it. He looked at the time with his Akasha Terminal and sighed. There were still ten minus until the ceremony was going to begin, and that was if they even began on time. 

Knowing them, it’s going to be at least fifteen minutes, possibly more. They never start on time. I don’t see why I have to be here. The Akasha Terminal records information perfectly fine.

The thoughts came unbidden to his mind, and the scowl he already wore on his face deepened. The scholar knew it was all well and good to think that, but then he would be out of his easy job and would have to find another that wasn’t so convenient for him. A sigh passed his lips as he adjusted the seat he had claimed before the building had filled up. That was, in fact, the reason he had arrived early: to get one of the only seats.

Everyone was clustered around a rather large, cloth-covered object that was rectangular in shape and quite tall. It contained whatever the sages planned on unveiling, and the object’s unassuming size and shape lent no hints to its contents. After a few minutes past the time the announcement was supposed to start, as Alhaitham had guessed, one of the sages approached the small podium that had been set up in front of the object. He cleared his throat a couple of times and then began to speak.

“Welcome, scholars, students, and other learned individuals. Today the Akademiya is proud to show a little teaser of a new research project. This has been under wraps for the last few months, and we are now at the stage where it can be shown to everyone.”

Pausing for dramatic effect, his cold eyes swept across the crowd gathered in front of him, waiting until it was as close to completely silent that it could be.  His tactic to amp up everyone worked, and the room was filled with an almost electric energy.

“I’m sure you’re all excited, but there is something that I must ask you all to do.” He paused once more. “I ask that everyone be as silent as possible as to not spook our… specimen. ”

That wording and emphasis made Alhaitham look up from taking notes, a brief look of curiosity flashing across his face. His emerald gaze glanced over the crowd of people gathered, gauging their reaction. The scholar noted with boredom that his roommate wasn’t among those that were gathered, not that he had expected him to be. The subject of the research was obviously not architecture, so it wouldn’t have interested him anyway.

Finally once the noise had died down once more aside from the rustling of clothing and the occasional whisper. Satisfied, the sage motioned to the assistants he had brought with him. They began to slowly pull back the cloth, exposing a large glass tank that was filled with murky water. More and more of the curtain was pulled back until it was completely revealed. At first, it was impossible to see exactly what was in it. Suddenly, there was a flash of white that streaked by the front of the tank, and ripples appeared on the water’s surface.

Excited murmurs broke out amongst the people gathered though they were quickly shushed. The sage snapped his fingers, and a large machine was wheeled in. It positioned an arm above the tank that had a large sheet of metal attached to it, and it started lowering the metal divider down at the back of the tank. 

The white streak that had appeared before began thrashing in the water, creating more ripples and small waves from how powerful whatever it was. Slowly, slowly the arm began to push the divider closer to the front of the tank, gradually reducing the amount of space whatever it was had to swim. Soon, everyone assembled began to make out a more concrete form in the water. Several guesses were thrown out by members of the crowd, most of them guessing that it was a new species of fish.

Nothing could have prepared them for what they saw.

Gasps broke out through the people assembled as the divider finally reached the first portion of the tank, trapping the specimen against the glass. A mermaid was pressed against the glass, her hair flowing gracefully around her. Her tail was ivory, with scales that shimmered brightly even in the murky water. Her fins were golden and flowed through the small space of water that she had, the hue matching her bright hair. Her skin was pale, likely due to her never having seen the sun. Her eyes darted around, taking in everything around her. The hue matched her hair and fins though it was a much more intense gold, flecked with light oranges and browns.

Snapping his fingers, the sage ordered the machine and its arm to remove themselves from the water, and the mermaid retreated back further into the tank, obscuring her from view once more. Everyone started talking all at once, and the sage had to bang his hand against the podium several times to restore order to the room.

“And there you have it, folks: a bonafide, genuine mermaid, taken into captivity just a couple of months ago. Scholars happened across her path during an expedition, and they tracked her movements once they noticed that she was injured and managed to capture her. As soon as we were made aware of her existence, we immediately built the most up to date research facility to learn more about these majestic animals. As well as heather, of course.”

Once control had been regained of everyone’s attention, the sage cleared his throat again. “In just a moment, we will move it to its larger and more permanent tank. At first we will only allow those working on the research project inside the building, but soon we will open it up to all scholars enrolled or affiliated with the Akademiya.”

Alhaitham’s eyes had been glued to the tank ever since he had first seen that flash of those ivory scales in the water. His gut was telling him something was off. That sharp, emerald gaze of his had been unable to see any injuries on the mermaid, though a part of him knew that he’d only had a quick glimpse, but when their eyes melt for a fraction of a moment, he had seen fear. Fear and anger. Realizing that he had forgotten to take notes, the scholar quickly wrote down the rest of what the sage had said while the mermaid and tank were wheeled away to their new home. The silver-haired man made it his priority to see her as soon as possible. Being the scribe had its benefits at times like these, and he intended to put those benefits to use.

Something smelled fishy, and it wasn’t the mermaid.

The sage had continued to talk for almost an entire hour about how the research conducted would greatly benefit the whole of the Akademiya and many other such comments that Alhaitham hadn’t bothered to tune in for. He was focused on one thing, and one thing only: what the Akademiya really planned to do with the mermaid in their possession.

As soon as the sage finally left the podium, the scribe had taken his on exit as well, slipping out of the back of the main building. The research building was located near the bottom level of the Akademiya, close to Sumeru City properly. There was already a crowd gathering near the front of the building to try and get any look they could into the new building when Alhaitham arrived, though it was of little consequence to him. He just made his way through the crowd and slashed his ID card that said he had clearance to the Matra guard at the door.

“Scribe business.” They let him through without another glance, used to him coming and going between various Akademiya buildings often.

It wasn’t as if Alhaitham actually had work to do most of the time, bust he had made it a habit of coming and going just for such an occasion: to give him access like he had work to do there. He also didn’t say what he was going in for, knowing that whatever the Matra come to their own conclusions and just never bothered correcting them. He made his way into the facility, glancing at the convenient map in the entrance hall.

The building was spherical in design with rooms occupying the outer walls, no doubt to be used for various experiments or data analysis. The center of the building was dedicated to housing the mermaid with a large pool. The water was much less murky than the original tank had been, though it still wasn’t completely clear. To Alhaitham, the size of the tank seemed much too small to house someone that had roamed in the vast oceans of Teyvat. He filed that observation into the back of his mind to go over later.

A small number of Matra were gathered at one part of the tank, and they were all struggling with something in a large tarp. Whatever it was, it took all five guards to subdue it. Finally they managed to set it down on a large lift that began to rise over the pool, the corners of the tarp anchored onto the lift. It didn’t take much thought to guess correctly what was in the tarp, especially with the much smaller reveal tank positioned beside it. 

The mermaid thrashed in the tarp until it was directly over the tank. The crane lowered the tarp into the water and then released two sides of it, unceremoniously dumping the mermaid into the water. She trashed once against the tarp and then darted to the depths of the pool where it was much harder to see her. The people who made the pool had also built a small hideaway at the bottom to give the mermaid some form of privacy, and that was immediately where she darted into, curling up inside of it, out of sight.

The Matra seemed to finally notice Alhaitham observing them from nearby, and they approached him. “What business does the Scribe have in here? I can assure you that this thing isn’t going to have much to say.”

The silver-haired man just shrugged, cocking his head slightly. “I’m that’s above your pay grade. Unless…you’d like to tell the sages that you’ve delayed me?” He arched an eyebrow at them, almost literally oozing confidence.

The one who spoke just sighed after a moment of quiet contemplation. “Fine. Do what you want, but I don’t recommend going up top and provoking it.” He motioned to one of the other Matra that was holding his arm.

There was a clear bite mark on his arm, the pattern indicating that it had come from something with human-like teeth. It was deep too.

“It bites.” That was the last thing the Matra said before they all left, leaving the Scribe alone in front of the tent. 

If he could, Alhaitham would have congratulated the mermaid on managing to injure someone in such a way, especially considering she had no legs and was literally out of her element. He was impressed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He turned and regarded the tank in more detail since he was alone. Well, almost alone. There was no sign of the mermaid in the tank, indicating that she was still in her hideaway. Other than that object, a crudely put together half circle making a dome, there was nothing else in the tank. No plants, no enrichment. Just water and her “home.” Alhaitham knew it was probably to stop her from hurting herself and others, but it still irked him.

Alhaitham couldn’t blame the mermaid for wanting to hide out of sight after such an ordeal, having been paraded around like a zoo animal. He was curious about her, watching the tank impassively for a couple of minutes before  he moved away though he was still curious. The silver-haired man smiled to himself as he scanned the rest of the building. The list of scholars allowed to visit this area would be extremely minimal, and that made it the perfect place for him to also hide himself away and read to his heart’s content.

“I hope you don’t mind me commandeering your area as my own personal reading nook.” He said it mostly to himself before he pulled a chair up to the the tank and sat with his back leaning against it, opening his book.

Three weeks.

That’s all it took for Alhaitham’s life to turn upside down. At first, he only visited the mermaid for only an hour or two a day. He said nothing to her, instead choosing to eat his meals and read in peace. There was no sign that the mermaid had even acknowledged his presence, but then something changed.

After the first week, he had begun a to read passages aloud while he sat in his chair near the tank. Alhaitham didn’t know if she could understand him or even hear him, but he did it anyway. The books varied from physics, chemistry, and biology to math, history, and statistics. He often found his mind wandering, contemplating the mermaid’s culture. Did they practice advanced calculus like humans did? What were their languages like? Could they speak with fish? His innate curiosity made him push for contact with her, but his anti-social behavior did the opposite so the conflicting sides met in the middle, and he just read aloud to himself in her vicinity. 

After that first full week of him being there, he saw a flash of gold against the blue of the water from the corner of his eye. It startled him, and he instinctively halted his reading, but that flash was gone, back into her cove. Still, progress was progress. It made him smile because so far, the only thing the scholars researching her had accomplished was getting their tools snatched from them when they tried to prod her out of her cave.

Those tools were littering the bottom of the tank, and more were add any time the researchers tried to do anything with the mermaid. No one had seen scale or hair of her outside of her cove, other than that flash of gold Alhaitham caught at least. He began to notice small things about her and the routine the researchers had: it didn’t seem like she was being fed. He mainly only visited later in the day so it was possible that she had been given food at an earlier time each day, but he had the sneaking suspicion that she hadn’t.

What does a mermaid even eat?

He found himself thinking that more often than not as he sat with his back to the tank during his late evening reading sessions. 

After the second week of reading aloud to her, he began to see the flashes of ivory and gold more often, almost as if she had been peeking out of her little hideaway at him. Two weeks had been all it had taken for him to already make more progress than the scholars actually tasked with studying her. He wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it.

Then the third week came. It was late one night that Alhaitham wasn’t able to read at his usual time and instead had to actually do his Scribe duties that he had put off until the last minute. He didn’t think much of it, of course not expecting hat the mermaid would miss him or even if she knew he was gone at all.

That hold prove to be his undoing precisely because she had noticed his absence and had taken matters into her own hands. All it had been taken were the right set of circumstances: Alhaitham’s absence and a new person’s presence in the building.

One Hour Earlier

Kaveh was angry. Why was he angry? His annoying roommate had taken his house key. Again. And this time? The blonde was determined to track down his location and get it back. It was too cold at night for him to sit outside and wait for that damned Scribe to stroll his way home after staying out late only the Archons know where. 

It was with that mindset that he boldly strode to the new building, not even questioning that the door was unlocked and that there had been no Matra guards there. Kaveh hadn’t been to the building before, but he had noticed Alhaitham leaving there several times in the past three weeks, so he had assumed he’d be able to find him there that night. Instead he found an empty building. Well, almost empty.

A pair of intense golden eyes watched as Kaveh entered the large central chamber, his voice echoing out across the room as he spoke. 

“Alhaitham? Show yourself! I know you’ve been sneaking into here every night! Give me my archons-forsaken key back!” He stomped away from the tank, not even bothering to glance at it before he marched off to check all f the outer rooms.

Kaveh was startled out of his thoughts while looking for Alhaitham when he heard a loud yelp. Acting on instinct, he ran back towards the sound, sliding to a stop at what he saw in front of him: a girl, completely naked, shivering on the floor in front of the tank, covered in water. His brain effectively shut down.

He pulled off his jacket, not thinking as he handed it to her while looking away from her to preserve her modesty. “H-here! Put this on.”

The fact that it took her a painfully long time for her to put it on, the rustling of fabric going on for almost a full minute, didn’t register in him; he was only concerned about her safety. Once he as sure she was decent, Kaveh turned back to look at her, the questions dying on his tongue as soon as he had looked into those golden eyes of hers.

The blonde just stared at each other for a moment, neither breaking their eye contact. Finally, Kaveh glanced away first, his eyes falling on the large puddles and splashes of water on the floor, and he looked back at her.

“Were you in the tank?!” His voice had shot up an octave, making the girl to flinch.that instantly made him freeze, his expression softening. “Sorry…it’s just that I heard that the Akademiya is keeping some sort of beast in this building though everyone seems hush hush about it.”

He had been looking in the direction of the tank and missed how her expression hardened at the mention of a “beast.”

“Anyway,” he said as he looked back wt h r. “Can you walk? I haven’t seen you around before. Do you have anywhere to go?”

Kaveh wasn’t exactly sure why he asked that, but his heart shattered into a million pieces when he girl sniffled. “Oh, no! Don’t cry. It’ll be alright! You can come with me until you’ve warmed up and we can get you back home, alright?”

She brightened at his words, her eyes shining. With one nod from her and a bit of struggling later, Kaveh had his arm around the girl, supporting her as he took the the short way back to here he was staying. They passed no one in the streets on their at, which Kaveh was grateful for, especially since he was walking with a girl whose only clothing was his shirt. It would have been beyond easy for someone to get the wrong idea and get him into a world of trouble.

There was only one problem: Kaveh had conveniently forgotten that he didn’t have a house key to let himself in with. He stood staring at the front door for a moment, the girl leaning heavily on him as she was swaying unsteadily, until he had a realization: he had left one of the windows cracked that morning to let his room air out after painting one of the beyond hideous pieces of furniture Alhaitham had brought home to annoy him.

Kaveh gently helped the girl lean against the wall beside the front door. “Stay here, alright? I’ll be right back,” he said before he made his way around to the back of the house.

Luckily for the pair of blondes, the window was still open, and he was able to open it further and slip inside. The girl was as he had left her: leaning heavily on the wall. Kaveh gently helped her inside, noticing how much she was shivering.

As soon as they were inside, it finally dawned on the architect that he really had absolutely no information about this girl and why she had been naked on the floor of the new research building. Still, he knew she needed help, and that’s all that mattered to him. The girl was looking around at everything with wide eyes before she sank to the floor, her legs collapsing out from under her. She was dripping water onto the floor, and Kaveh’s shirt clung to her wet body.

Averting his eyes, he knelt down and offered her his hand. “Hey, let’s get you some clean clothes and into a hot bath, alright?”

She took his hand gently and let him pull her up and help her into the bathroom. Kaveh had helped her not into his own bathroom, but into Alhaitham’s since he knew the silver-haired menace probably wouldn’t be home for another few hours. That way the girl could relax for as long as she wanted and Kaveh would still have access to his own bathroom. Once he made sure that she was comfortable, he fetched some of the clothes that he usually painted in for her to put on.

It didn’t take him very long to get distracted as he began working on a new drafting project, focusing so intently that he didn’t hear the front door open. He also didn’t hear someone walking through the house until it was too late, because when he looked up, Alhaitham, as already opening the door to his room.

“Haitham, wai-“ was all Kaveh was able to get out of his mouth before he heard the Scribe open his bathroom door and come face to face with…a mermaid?

Chapter Text

The silence was deafening as Alhaitham and the mermaid stared at each other. The, without a word, Alhaitham shut the door to his bathroom and turned around to walk back into the living room where Kaveh stood frozen in place. The blonde immediately began backpedaling, the words tumbling out of his mouth when he saw the look in Alhaitham’s eyes.

“Wait, I can explain!”

The look Alhaitham shot Kaveh was clearly skeptical. “How?” That was all he said as he crossed his arms.

Kaveh hadn’t thought far enough ahead to actually have an explanation. He scrambled his brain searching for an answer. “She…wasn’t like that when she got here?”

That answer didn’t impress the scholar in the least, and the scowl that adorned his face deepened. Before he could chastise Kaveh’s answer, there was a loud splashing sound coming from behind the bathroom door. Alhaitham turned and opened the door once more instead of saying anything to Kaveh. The mermaid had splashed a considerable amount of water onto the floor and was stretching languidly in the tub. Her tail was curled awkwardly against one end of the tub, barely able to fit due to its length. She watched the two men warily, her sharp, golden gaze shifting from one man to the other.

Now that Alhaitham was able to get a good look at her, he couldn’t deny the fact that she was extremely beautiful, her golden hair framing her face. Before he was able to say anything to her, Kaveh appeared closer behind him, peeking over his shoulder. What he saw made him yelp and push Alhaitham aside to reach the mermaid. He grabbed a towel and tossed it at the mermaid. It landed partially on her head, the rest of it falling over her chest which had been Kaveh’s goal. The mermaid had been naked from the waist up, everything exposed to the two men. 

The fact that she was half naked didn’t seem to bother her at all, and she pulled the towel off her head and peered at it before she looked back up at the men with a curious expression on her face. It also hadn’t seemed to bother or alarm Alhaitham, and that was something Kaveh would definitely be bringing up with him later.

“…Thank you.” The words the mermaid spoke were soft and without an accent. 

She cocked her head slightly to the side, and after a moment of deliberation, began to lean over the side of the tub with her upper torso. She seemed to be trying to raise herself out of the bathtub but was struggling, her tail weighing her down.

“Can you help me?”

That made the men break out of their stupor, both of them moving forward to help them. Kaveh reached her first, bending down to try and lift her out of the bathtub. He hadn’t expected her to be so heavy and, upon attempting to pick her up, almost immediately fell forward. It was only Alhaitham’s quick instincts that saved the mermaid from being dropped like a log. He managed to catch her in his arms while Kaveh fell forward and winded up getting drenched in the water that soaked the floor.

Alhaitham lifted the mermaid easily, his arms positioned under her tail and shoulders in a bridal carry. She he,d onto his neck until she was completely out of the water. As soon as her tail completely cleared the water, something extraordinary happened: her tail split, slowing shifting form until it was replaced with a pair of human legs. Unfortunately for her modesty, she was still completely naked.

Kaveh grabbed Alhaitham’s bathrobe from the back of the bathroom door, much to the scholar’s annoyance, and threw it over the mermaid, completely covering her in the soft fabric. Alhaitham gently lowered her to the ground, but as soon as she tried to stand on her own two feet, her legs collapsed out from under her. She would have hit the floor, but Alhaitham saved her once more, pulling her close to him to stabilize her.

“I…apologize. I am unused to walking on land.” Her voice was still soft and apologetic in tone. She gently pressed her hand against Alhaitham’s abs to steady herself until she was standing up on her own.

Kaveh’s voice cracked and shot up an octave when he responded to her comment, finally knocked out of his own stupor even as the water dripped from him where he had slipped and fallen into one of the puddles on the floor. 

“ That’s what you’re apologizing for?! I basically aided a prison break!” He groaned to himself as he dried off some of the water with a towel.

The mermaid slowly gained her sense of balance as she tested her weight onto her legs, still using Alhaitham as a support. “So you agree that it was a prison.” That was her only comment, her voice harsh in tone.

Alhaitham seemed to have other questions in mind that he wanted her to answer rather than why she was in his home. “What is your name? For what purpose have you come here?”

She cocked her head slightly, a frown on her face. “I will be happy to answer all of your questions, scholar who reads a lot, as soon as I have gotten my bearings.”

After the mermaid had completely dried off and was dressed in spare clothes provided by Kaveh, she had perched herself on one of the long couches in the men’s living rooms, seemingly completely at ease. It reminded the two of them of a content cat. They sat opposite her on the other couch, separated from each other via the middle couch cushion. Neither seemed to be comfortable near the other. 

She began her tale in a soft voice that grew in strength and volume as she spoke about what happened to her. “My name is Lumine. As you’ve already seen, I am one of the merfolk.  I was migrating with some of my people when I was captured and…” Her frown deepened as she thought of the murky tank. “…Basically an attraction to amuse you humans.”

Alhaitham leaned forward, his emerald eyes observing her with interest. “So there are more of you? And you migrate.” It was like he was studying her as the subject of a science project, and judging from the frown on Kaveh’s face, he didn’t share that interest.

“Archons Haitham, that’s like her asking if there are other humans,” Kaveh scolded his roommate, surprised that the highly intelligent man would question something so simple.

The scholar just rolled his eyes. “I’m just covering all avenues. Nothing is too small of a question when analyzing a newly recorded life form.”

Lumi didn’t seem bothered by the questions, answering each one thrown at her while she sipped from a glass of after that Kaveh had given her. “Of course there are others. There are multiple races of us, just as I’m sure it’s the same with you humans. We have all sorts of fin shapes and colors just as there are multiple skin tones and cultures. The same is with humans, yes?”

“Is this your first time in human society?” Alhaitham’s eyes were bright as he observed her, something that made Kaveh roll his eyes.

“I have observed some human towns along the coasts before, but that was always from the safety of the water.”

The scholar nodded once as he thought quietly for a moment. That gave Kaveh time to chime in. “Are you hungry? Do you want coffee or something to eat?”

Lumine perked up at the mention of food, cocking her head to the side again as she thought. “Coffee? Is that a human food?”

At that comment, Alhaitham wordlessly stood up and walked into the kitchen to prepare some, surprising Kaveh with the gesture.

“Wow. I don’t think he’s ever made coffee for me, which is ridiculous considering that I’ve known him for years and that I literally live with him.”

Lumine gave Kaveh a smile. “Thank you.” Her voice was soft. “For saving me,” she added when he shot her a confused look.

That made Kaveh blush from the sincereness in her voice, and he coughed awkwardly as Alhaitham returned with two cups of coffee. He handed one to Lumine and took the other for himself, leaving Kaveh without any.

“Ugh, I should have known you’d do that,” the blonde said with a sigh as he got up and walked into the kitchen.

Alhaitham didn’t respond to that, instead watching quietly as Lumine sniffed her cup of coffee. He was unable to hide the tiny smile that graced his face when she took a sip and instantly scrunched up her face. “It’s…bitter. And hot.” Her expression showed pure betrayal at the drink she had been offered.

“You gave her black coffee?! I knew you were a psychopath, but geez !” That was how Kaveh announced his return to the living room, carrying his own cup of coffee as well as a small tray with a carafe of milk and a small bowl of sugar cubes. He offered the tray to Lumine with a smile.

“Here, put some of each of these cubes in there with a bit of milk and stir. I think you’ll like it a lot better that way since you aren’t a heathen like someone I know,” he said, aiming that last sentence towards Alhaitham.

Lumine did as he suggested, dropping a couple of sugar cubes into the black liquid, then adding milk until it was a lot lighter. Her eyes widened in surprise when she tasted it once more. “This is…good.” 

She warmed her cold hands with the heat from the coffee that seeped through the mug. “Thank you again. For keeping me company.”

Kaveh looked confused until Alhaitham nodded, realizing she was talking the scholar. “It was quiet in there, a perfect spot for reading without being disturbed,” the silver haired man said dismissively.

“I have a favor to ask of you both.” Lumine sat up to her full height, which, compared to the very tall men in her  presence, didn’t really seem all that tall. They were both silent, waiting for her to continue. “I need your help getting back to my family.”

Her words sat heavily in the air, and no one spoke while the seconds ticked by until Alhaitham shifted in his seat. It attracted the attention of the two clones who eyed him with interest.

“I don’t think the Akademiya is going to willingly let their precious specimen go free. I expect alarm bells to start ringing as soon as they see that you’re missing from the tank.” He wasn’t scolding her, instead just stating the most likely outcome. “They aren’t going to stop looking for you.”

Her golden eyes flashed angrily, and both men were unable to stop the thought that passed through their minds at the same time. Beautiful…

“If it’s a fight they want, then it’s a fight they’ll get.”

Kaveh felt the tension escalating in the room with that answer, and he cleared his throat to distract the pair and diffuse the situation. Both Alhaitham and Lumine looked at him, pausing their conversation. The seconds ticked by painfully slow, and the only sounds in the room came from their quiet breathing.

“I don’t think the Akademiya was right to capture you, take you from your home, especially not considering merfolk are sentient just like us humans. That being said, the Akademiya is full of scholars who will do their research regardless to how it effects others or how unethical their experiments may or may not be,” Alhaitham said as he studied the mermaid with interest.

Lumine looked up at him, a hopeful look in her eyes. “Does this mean…that you’ll help me?”

The scholar was silent for a moment as he studied her. “Only if you help me in return. I’d like to learn more about you, more about your species. Ethically of course. I won’t do anything that makes you uncomfortable. That being said, you’ll have to stay hidden from the Matra, though that might be easier said than done with how hard they’ll search. Considering the fact that an entirely new building was constructed just to house you, it’s safe to say that the Akademiya spent an unimaginable amount of Mora on you. Do you agree to these terms?”

Lumine looked down at her mug of coffee, swirling the sweet beverage as if it would uncover the answers she sought. Finally she looked up, her gold eyes locking with his emerald ones. “Deal.”

Chapter Text

The rest of the night was spent with the two men arguing about where Lumine would be sleeping while she watched their antics in amusement. At first, Alhaitham suggested one of the couches, but that as quickly vetoed by Kaveh, saying hat Lumine was a guest and deserved something more comfortable than the hideous, mismatched piece of furniture that Alhaitham had bought. That started another argument about each of their furniture choices which made Lumine laugh, the melodic sound momentarily distracting the duo. Finally, when she had had her fun of them arguing and was beginning to feel the fatigue of the day’s events on her, she spoke up.

“If it isn’t a bother, may I sleep with one of you two?” It was an honest question, no signs of falsehood coloring her voice.

The question made Kaveh sputter, his face turning bright red. Before he could stammer out a response to her question, Alhaitham beat him to it.

“Am I correct in observing that you get cold easily?” His sharp eyes had picked up the slight tremors that sometimes ghosted across her body, her cold hands wrapped tightly around her coffee mug to keep them warm.

She looked surprised that he had gathered that information on his own, realizing that he was much more observant than she had realized, but she nodded. “Yes. It’s hard to explain why exactly, but I am better at regulating my temperature underwater, something I can’t do in this form. Or well, at least that I haven’t learned how to do yet.

Lumine shuddered under his intense gaze but said nothin as he observed her, not breaking eye contact. It didn’t help that he was supposed to be waking up in only a few hours to finalize the draft of an upcoming project he was working on. Before he could speak, Lumine continued her train of thought.

“Is that odd? I would like to see which of you has the higher body temperature. The warmer I am, the more comfortable I will be. If this makes you uncomfortable, I am sure I can manage on my own.”

They both stared at her, one with a bewildered expression and the other a bored one. Kaveh broke the silence first. “How uh…how are you going to measure that ?” 

Lumine continued speaking like nothing was wrong, because to her, nothing  was wrong. Her kind saw no issues with sharing warmth for survival. “Well, I suppose the easiest way would be to…give you each a hug? Preferably without all of this,” she gestured to her clothing, “getting in the way.”

Kaveh’s voice shot up an octave, and he shook his head like a wild animal when he responded. “Wh- no! I’m not-“ he froze, looking at Alhaitham who had just shrugged and begun to remove his shirt without a second thought, ”- Haitham, what are you doing ?”

The scholar paused with his arms over his chest, his shirt pulled up to expose his stomach as he prepared to pull it off over his head. “What’s it look like? I’m removing my shirt so she can do what she needs to.” His tone was as bored as it could be, and it had Kaveh sighing loudly.

The architect gave in, groaning as he slowly undid the strings that tied his shirt and pulled it off over his head. When both men were finally shirtless, Lumine’s golden eyes swept over each of them. They were both fit, but their muscle mass varied greatly. Kaveh’s frame was thinner, more lithe, almost like a reed of grass that Lumine had seen growing near the water’s edge before. Alhaitham on the other hand,had a thicker frame, and his muscles were well defined. 

They both looked at her expectantly, one with a bored expression and the other with a flustered one. Lumine first walked up to Alhaitham, and he watched her with a neutral expression as she reached out and splayed her hand out against his chest. The emerald gem embedded in his chest caught her eye, and she tapped it lightly. He chuckled at her actions, the deep sound reverberating in his chest in such a way that she could feel the vibrations against her hand.

He was warm,very much so, and she moved forward to bump her head against his chest, the perfect height to nuzzle her nose against his chest. Alhaitham was silent through all of this, his hands on his hips, and he cleared his throat after the mermaid showed no signs of moving away.

“Satisfactory?”

That made Lumine look up at him, nodding silently. She finally stepped away from the silver haired man, walking over to Kaveh. He was visibly nervous, tapping his fingers against his leg. Lumine cocked her head to the side as she studied him curiously. 

“Are you alright? Is something wrong?” Her voice was full of concern, worried that she had somehow done something wrong.

There was a snort from Alhaitham that made Kaveh glare in his direction. “He’s just embarrassed. Don’t pay him any mind.” The scholar’s voice was filled with amusement.

“Anyone would be when compared to you, you muscle-bound jerk! Why do you even have that much muscle mass?! All you do is read !”

Lumine stood in front of Kaveh, and he finally looked down at her, hesitantly opening his arms from where they had been crossed self consciously over his chest. When she stepped closer, he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her to bring her closer and more fully give her an idea of how warm he was. That surprised Lumine, and she looked back at Alhaitham, wondering why he hadn’t done the same. 

Kaveh cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to him. She pushed her forehead against his chest, noticing immediately that he wasn’t as warm as Alhaitham was though he was still a lot warmer than she was.

“You’re freezing,” the architect remarked quietly, shuddering when she placed her cold hands against his stomach.

Lumine had been lightly shivering the whole time, finally stepping away from Kaveh. Instead of saying anything to either of the men, she walked back over to Alhaitham and leaned against his chest once more.

He deduced that she likely wanted him to wrap his arms around her like Kaveh had, but instead of doing it, he just arched an eyebrow at her. “Use your words.”

Her eyes widened at his remark, and she looked up at him with a pout displayed on her face. Kaveh just sighed in the background at the scholar’s stubbornness. Lumine knew that she was being challenged, tested by Alhaitham, but she gave in, too cold to put up a fight. She would have if she hadn’t had such a draining day.

“Please…put your arms around me,” she finally mumbled as she pushed her face against his chest until her voice was almost fully muffled.

He chuckled at her rods, the sound reverberated throughout his chest once more. She hadn’t meant to react to it, but her body did for her, a rosy tint spreading across her cheeks, up to the tips of her ears, and down the back of her neck. Alhaitham could see the blush on the latter spot, and he smirked to himself as he finally did what she asked, his muscular arms trapping her in his grasp.

“Hm. Kaveh is actually right for once. You’re freezing.” The scholar frowned as he said that, his arms hands moving up from her waist to lightly rub her arms.

Kaveh was not amused by the jab sent his way. “Hey!” He huffed as he watched Lumine melt into his roommate’s arms. He didn’t wait for verbal confirmation, pulling his shirt back on over his head. “I think we have our answer.”

That made Alhaitham shoot him a smirk right before Lumine extracted herself from his arms. “Y-yes, he has superior warmth,” she said softly. Suddenly a realization hit her, and she looked at both of them.

“I have completely forgotten to ask, so…may I learn of your names? I assume that humans have them like us merfolk do, correct?”

That made Kaveh laugh, and even Alhaitham cracked a tiny smile. “Yes, humans have names. I’m Kaveh, and you can just call him ‘asshole.’”

Unfortunately for the architect, Lumine didn’t fall for it. “I thought I heard you refer to him as…Haitham?” Her head was cocked slightly to the side as she tried to remember.

“Either Alhaitham or Haitham are fine,” He shot a glance at the annoyed Kaveh. “It seems that she at least possesses an intelligence higher than yours,” he said as he looked back at the mermaid. “Congratulations.”

The two men traded insults for a few more minutes while Lumine watched with interest. Finally though, she began to yawn, rubbing her eyes while she sat perched on one of the low couches. She could hardly keep them open, slowly falling asleep despite still being freezing. Alhaitham and Kaveh seemed to notice at the same time after a particularly loud yawn.

“Look, she’s exhausted, and you aren’t helping any by arguing with me about your appalling furniture choices.”

With that, Kaveh turned on his heel and walked to his room, leaving the scholar and mermaid alone together in the living room. “Good night, Lumine. I hope you sleep well” was all he said before he shut the door behind him and collapsed onto his bed, exhausted from the day’s events. 

“He really doesn’t like you, does he?”

Alhaitham didn’t respond, instead silently turning and walking to his own bedroom. He didn’t even look back to see if she had followed him, knowing that she would if she planned on staying warm through the night. It only took her a moment before she followed him into his bedroom, finally feeling relaxed and safe enough to study the room in higher detail.

Lumine had heard of libraries before though she had never been in one since things made with paper didn’t exactly fair well under the water, and from what she could tell, this would definitely fit the mental description she had of them. Many bookshelves stood against the walls, filled with books upon books in a seemingly random order. It appeared messy, with some books stacked in piles on the floor, on the window sill, against the bathroom door, and there were even a few laying on the bed.

Those few books were gently placed on the floor in another stack by the bed before Alhaitham sat down on the mattress, his intense emerald gaze sweeping across to Lumine in the darkness that engulfed the room. He hadn’t bothered to turn on a light as he made his way to the bed, able to dodge the piles of books without looking down at his feet. Lumine attempted to follow him, but the low light and the fact that she was unused to walking on land made it extremely difficult. 

She stumbled near the bed and knew she wasn’t going to be able to catch herself before she would hit the floor, closing her eyes and accepting her fate. Before she could hit the floor, a strong set of arms wrapped around her and pulled her onto the bed, letting her instead hit the soft mattress. Her eyes snapped open only for her vision to be filled with emerald green and silver, his hair brushing against her forehead.

“Close call.” His voice was directly by her ear, his hot breath tickling the side of her neck. He sounded more amused than annoyed, letting go of her to pull back and sit on the bed once more.

She sat awkwardly beside him. “Thank you,” Lumine said softly.

Alhaitham was still dressed in just his pants, and without another word, he moved to lie down under the blankets with his back facing her, giving the blonde ample room to lie down as well without touching him, leaving him with his personal space. It was something that she was beginning to learn that he valued greatly. Slowly Lumine scooted under the blanket that they shared, making sure that she wasn’t touching him. It left her partially out from under it, but there was no way she was going to say anything, not when he and Kaveh were graciously letting her stay at least for the night.

Unfortunately, she was unable to hide the chattering of her teeth.

“Was the line about you needing my body heat a lie after all?”

Lumine opened her eyes only to see his emerald ones staring back at her, his expression neutral. She had been so focused on trying to keep her shivering silent that she hadn’t heard him roll over to face her. Guilt immediately flooded her system, feeling that she was either inconveniencing or annoying him.

“I-I didn’t want to bother you…” she managed to say as another tremor rocked her petite body.

Alhaitham sighed and suddenly grabbed her by the forearms in his strong grip, pulling her close to him in one smooth movement, making the mermaid yelp as her face was buried against his chest once more. Almost immediately, she began to arm up, the tremors subsiding slowly. The silver haired man pulled the blanket higher up over both of them, almost completely covering Lumine, head and all.

“…Thank you,” she said softly, closing her eyes as she leeched the warmth from her human heater.

She almost didn’t hear his reply as she fell asleep, only vaguely hearing what he said. “Don’t mention it. I’ll have a lot of questions for you tomorrow. You can repay me by answering them.”

“….Mmhmm,” was the only reply she managed as sleep engulfed her.

Chapter Text

At some point during the night, Lumine had managed to get close enough to Alhaitham to cling to him for warmth, her head tucked against his chest. Either he didn’t wake up or didn’t care because he hadn’t moved at all. The blonde was the first to wake up, stretching languidly as the early morning sun peeked through the curtained windows while a sunbeam warmed her face. Now that the natural light afforded her a better view of the room, she could examine everything in detail.

In addition to the almost literal mountain’s worth of books, the shelves seemed to be coated in a fine layer of dust. The blonde could see the spots where books had been removed recently due to the clean spot left in their places. There were also a few piles of discarded clothing scattered across the room, mainly clustered around an almost empty laundry basket, like Alhaitham hadn’t bothered to pick them up after he removed his clothes. Aside from the books and clothing, there weren’t actually very many decorations. No pictures were hung on the walls, and the only knickknacks displayed were odd pieces that seemed to have no rhyme or reason.

Having fully inspected the room, Lumine turned back to look at Alhaitham and nearly yelped when she saw him watching her with a sleepy, almost bored expression. He said nothing to her, instead rolling over to face away from her as soon as she let go of him in surprise. Lumine waited for him to say something, but when he didn’t, the blonde sat up and leaned over him slightly to look at his face. He was already asleep again, a peaceful expression on his face as his chest rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm. 

Lumine watched him sleep peacefully for a moment, studying his face since she had a chance to while he slept. For all their differences in species, they really were still quite similar. Instead of possibly disturbing his slumber once more, she climbed out of bed, still a bit wobbly as she got used to using her “land legs.”

What I wouldn’t give to be back in the ocean…

The thought came unbidden to her mind, and she frowned in response to it. Lumine knew it wouldn’t do any good to think like that, and she pushed the thought from her mind. The blonde took one last glance at Alhaitham before she made her way into the living room, curious to see if Kaveh was awake yet. Once she stepped further into the room, she had her answer. The smell of something cooking wafted through the air, and Lumine breathed in deeply.

The blonde followed her nose, and it led her to the kitchen where Kaveh stood in front of the stove with his back to the door, humming to himself softly. He seemed to sense her, turning around and smiling.

“I had a feeling that was you I heard walking around. Haitham is not an early riser. Are you hungry?”

Lumine’s stomach growled, answering Kaveh’s question for her. She blushed, embarrassed, but he only gave her an amused chuckle. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said, pausing to stare at something on the stove before he looked back at her. “What do you usually eat, if you don’t mind me asking?”

After a moment of hesitation, she answered him. “Well, most of a merfolk’s diet is fish and whatever can grow underwater. We don’t really have fruits or other kinds of meat. I’ve never had human food, so whatever you want to fix, I’ll try.”

The two blondes shared a smile as Kaveh walked over to the doors to the pantry, beckoning for her to join him. Once she had, he opened the doors, and Lumine’s only response was a sudden gasp, the breath inhaled sharply. The shelves inside the pantry were almost completely packed, and there were packages of foods in all shapes, colors, and sizes. Everything was labeled for easy use, with selections from spices and canned goods to rice, flour, and various other grains. 

Lumine wasn’t sure what a lot of the food was, but it didn’t seem like Kaveh minded explaining and answering her questions. He actually seemed to enjoy it, telling her what each thing could be used for and what pairs well with it. After they finished with the pantry, he showed her the ice box and refrigerator which was packed with meats and cheese, as well as a large selection of fresh vegetables.

Very quickly, it was made evident to Kaveh that he had accidentally overwhelmed the mermaid because she spent a good couple of minutes trying to discern the difference between a jar of jelly and a jar of jam. He gently took the jars from her and set them back where they belonged, a smile on his face as he chuckled. 

“How about…you just tell me what kind of taste you’re looking for? Then I’ll make something for you to try.”

Lumine remembered the beverage she had had the night before that had been overwhelmingly bitter until copious amounts of cream and sugar were added. Her brow furrowed as she tried to pin down something she wanted to try, but it was an extremely tough decision for her to make considering she hadn’t tried a lot of it before. Suddenly, she had an idea.

“Could I try something sweet? Maybe some fruits?”

First Kaveh handed her a zaytun peach, and she turned it over in her hands like she was examining an intricate puzzle. She pressed her thumb down against the skin of the peach, almost dropping it when the juice started pooling under her digit, the firm skin of the fruit giving way to a softer center.  It leaked down over her hand and dripped into the floor. Startled, Lumine looked up at Kaveh with wide eyes, worried that he was mad she had gotten the juice everywhere, but instead, he laughed, tossing down a cloth that had been hanging on the stove door.

“Don’t worry! I’ll clean that up later. They are super juicy. Try some.”

She held the fruit up to eye level and gave it a tentative lick before Kaveh could stop her. Instantly, she dropped the fruit in disgust, wiping her mouth on her sleeve.

“Sorry, sorry! I didn’t know you were going to lick it. It has a slightly furry outside that some people find off putting if you aren’t used to it.” He picked up the fruit and washed it off.

“Here, let me cut off a piece.” Lumine watched Kaveh expertly cut the peach into pieces, wielding the knife with a gracefulness that surprised her.

It must have shown on her face, because when he handed the peach back to her, there was a slight blush on his face.

“I’m not used to being studied so closely,” he said softly as he ran a hand through his hair sheepishly.

She smiled at him, missing his embarrassment entirely. “You’re good with a blade. Are you a chef?”

A soft, sad smile appeared on his face for a second that made Lumine begin backpedaling. “No, no! I’m sorry! Forget that I asked. It appears to be a sore subject for you.”

That made Kaveh laugh, and he shook his head. “It’s not that. There are plenty of human chefs that are better than me.” He busied himself with cutting up a lavender melon next.

“Becoming a chef was one of the careers I was considering when I was very young, but I ultimately decided to become an architect.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Did you lose your passion for cooking?” Lumine was sitting in a chair at the kitchen table while he stood chopping fruit.

“Nah. I still love to cook, but…” he paused for a moment. “It’s because of a health hazard. I actually am allergic to peanuts.” The light blush was still on his face, but he smiled when Lumine looked confused. “They are like an edible tree seed. I think. It’s hard for me to describe because I can’t eat them.”

When she nodded, he continued speaking after handing her a piece of lavender melon. “I’d be putting my life on the line every time I stepped into a restaurant, so instead I decided to put my eye for detail into something else: design work. My parents would always encourage me to continue. Well, before…” he trailed off, a faraway look in his eyes. 

Clearing his throat, he continued. “Anyway, I like to design buildings with accessibility in king. For instance, we could install more ramps or make it easier for people with leg problems to get into buildings,” he said passionately, gesturing to her legs as an example. “Even just small details like having braille installed along the walls to guide blind people would help.”

He kept giving examples as Lumine took a bite of the lavender melon, humming in delight at the sweet taste. She looked up at him and smiled. “You have a very kind soul, Kaveh.”

The mermaid missed the way he blushed because she had begun to try the next fruit, a henna berry. This exchange went on for several minutes until Lumine had tried nearly every sort of fruit imaginable. Startling them out of their soft conversation was the sound of someone clearing their throat. Both blondes looked over to see Alhaitham leaning against the kitchen doorway, a neutral expression on his face. His hair was tousled like it hadn’t been brushed yet, and he was still shirtless, wearing only a pair of lounge pants.

Instantly Kaveh’s demeanor changed. “Why are you like this, Haitham?! Put some clothes on and show some decency in front of our guest, would you?”

Alhaitham didn’t seem bothered in the slightest by Kaveh’s words and instead just walked into the kitchen. “Why?” He said with his back turned to them. “I’m the one that slept with her last night.”

To Lumine it had seemed a normal comment, but Kaveh knew what the hidden meaning behind that was, making the blonde haired man sputter. It wasn’t unlike Alhaitham to provoke Kaveh, but this annoyed the architect more than usual.

Lumine chimed in obliviously with “is this a human thing? Do you normally go around in less clothes after sleeping with someone?”

She began to pull the large shirt on her up and over her head, but Kaveh made her put her arms down. “No, no! Don’t do that. He’s just being an ass. Please keep your clothes on.”

Lumine did as he said, leaving her shirt pulled down while she watched Alhaitham work at the counter. His back muscles tensed and rippled as he worked, and she watched almost in a trance. She couldn’t see what he was doing, but the smell of that bitter drink from the night before wafted to her, and she scrunched up her nose.

Coffee…

The memory of the taste lingered, and she turned her head away to instead watch as Kaveh flipped something effortlessly in a pan. After a moment, the blonde male noticed Alhaitham watching both of them, and he turned to scowl at him.

“Why are there pieces of fruit scattered around?” The scholar asked with a blank look on his face.

Kaveh just put his hands on his hips, his brows furrowed in annoyance. “I was letting Lumine taste test some because she didn’t know what she wanted for breakfast.”

Alhaitham’s expression turned inquisitive, he walked over to the counter where the fruit pieces were, and began to line them up in a seemingly random order.

“Uh…Haitham? What are you doing?” Kaveh was confused, watching the scholar while he plated the food for Lumine and himself.

The silver-haired man didn’t look up from his task as he spoke, “I want her to try them again.”

“Why?”

“The merfolk could have different taste bud sensations when exposed to new food, and I want to quantify that.” Satisfied by the ordering of the fruits, he looked up at Lumine.

“Can you try these again? I will count it as a part of our agreement in exchange for helping you.”

The mermaid in question looked over the fruits with apprehension, unsure if she could actually fit any more food into her stomach at the moment. “Can…we do this later?”

She didn’t need to explain why. The queasy look on her face was answer enough. Kaveh interrupted them, handing Lumine her own cup of coffee. Her face blanched before she noticed that it was much lighter and smelled sweeter. Alhaitham watched as she took a sip before he answered her question. 

“Is there anything in particular you want to do today?”

She squirmed under his intense gaze, looking to Kaveh for support. Unluckily for her, the architect had his back to them as he ate, mainly because he was ignoring his roommate. Realizing that she had to answer him, she took in a deep breath, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt before she looked him in the eyes, raising her chin up.

“I want you to take me to where the maps are kept.”

Both of the men looked at her before Kaveh broke the silence. “Why not use the Akasha Terminal? I’m sure it has maps.”

At that comment, Alhaitham scoffed. “One, she doesn’t know what that is, and two, she obviously meant sea maps. Actually, think for once, Kaveh. What use would a mermaid have for land maps?”

“Will that be alright? Can one of you accompany me?” Lumine was attempting to diffuse the situation as best she could before the two men started arguing.

Kaveh hesitated a moment before he exchanged a glance with Alhaitham. “I’m afraid I won’t be of much use there. Haitham is much better suited to help you get what you need. It’d be suspicious if I suddenly started asking around for maps that I’ve not had a reason to before. At least with him being the Scribe, he could come up with a good excuse.”

Haitham nodded, agreeing as he finally sat down with his breakfast. Lumine was unable to stop herself from peering down at his food, curious about what he’d chosen to eat in comparison to Kaveh’s breakfast. They had remarkably different meals. Kaveh’s was colorful and had multiple components, the smell making her mouth water. Alhaitham on the other hand, had just some sort of bland-looking mush, all one color and texture from what she could see.

The silver-haired man caught her staring, and he arched an eyebrow at her while he took a bite. “What? It’s porridge.”

“He doesn’t care much for cooking and just eats whatever is fastest,” Kaveh explained, rolling his eyes. “He’s impossible to cook for, always complaining about the texture of things so we end up with a mountain of dishes just so his food doesn’t touch.”

Alhaitham’s expression was bored as he continued eating. “Kind of like how you’re complaining now? At least I don’t have an allergy to an extremely common food in most local dishes.”

That made him sputter, pick up his plate, and take it away to be put in the sink. “I can’t help what I’m allergic to!” He was snappy, his expression angry.

They continued arguing about almost every topic under the sun, and it wasn’t long until Lumine had had enough. She sighed loudly and walked out of the kitchen, intending to find out what she needed with or without them. That stopped the arguing fairly quickly, with Kaveh following her out of the kitchen, leaving Alhaitham to finish his meal in peace.

“Wait! You’ll get lost when you go alone! You also can’t go out looking like that. The Matra will stop you.”

She paused with her hand on the front door. “I have no other clothes to wear. Is there somewhere I can procure them?”

Alhaitham had evidently finished eating because he stood in the kitchen doorway, watching the blonde pair. “There’s a clothing shop nearby.” That was all the information he offered them.

“And how’s she supposed to pay for them? With your money? Your financial freedom?” The taunt was clearly laced within Kaveh’s tone as he turned to glare at the scholar.

Lumine watched the two men with a bored expression, her arms crossed over her chest. “I will repay you with a treasure from my home if you assist me, Alhaitham.”

She hood that that would be of interest to the scholar, noting with satisfaction the way his eyes gained an intense aura. “That sounds acceptable to me. We’ll leave as soon as I am out of the shower. Prepare yourself for the day.” With that, he walked to his room, closing the door behind him and leaving the two blondes alone together.

Kaveh stared after the silver-haired man for a moment before he sighed and sank down onto the couch near him. Leaning his head back against the back of the couch, he began to hit it repeatedly as if he was trying to get rid of the memories of the last few minutes. He finally stopped when Lumine hesitantly sat down near him, not too close but not too far.

“Is he always so…”

“Rude? Apathetic? Blunt?” The architect provided multiple terms for his roommate, not bothering to mince words.

“…Intense?”

That wasn’t the answer he must have expected because he paused and turned to look at her with furrowed brows. “Well…I guess he’s that too.”

After another moment’s silence, he sighed and stood up, stretching his back. “I need to be getting ready too. Let me see if I can find you more acceptable clothing to be walking around in and not my painting clothes.”

Lumine looked down at the clothes he wore while Kaveh went back to his room. She felt of the fabric where there were paint splotches, the texture pleasing to scratch her nails across. She had assumed that the shirt was supposed to have those splotches, but apparently she was wrong.

This is why we don’t bother with clothing under the sea…

She looked up when Kaveh came back into the living room, cocking her head to the side when she saw that he was empty handed. Seeing her curious expression, he just sighed and ran a hand through his hair. 

“I…need to do laundry,” he mumbled with a slight blush covering his face out of embarrassment. “You’re going to have to ask Haitham if he has anything you can borrow. We usually switch laundry days, so he should have something you can wear.”

After he fidgeted with his own clothes for a moment, he excused himself to go take a shower in his own bathroom as well, leaving Lumine to her own devices for the first time since entering the two men’s home. She busied herself by examining the random objects on the display shelves, coming to the conclusion that humans must like to collect and gather random objects like a dragon would its hoard.

She was suddenly startled by the sound of loud cursing coming from Kaveh’s room, and she nearly fell in her haste to confront whatever it was that startled her, her instincts honed to protect herself from danger. After a moment, the cursing subsided, and her heart rate finally slowed down to a normal level, no longer hammering against her ribs. She heard the sound of a door opening and turned to see what it was, catching sight of Alhaitham leaving his bedroom.

His hair was dripping water, the drops running down his face and to his bare chest, and Lumine couldn’t help but stare. She found her mouth suddenly dry as her gaze traveled down his torso, noticing just how handsome he was now. Since her fight or flight responses had subsided, her mind was able to busy itself with other thoughts. The night before flashed before her eyes, and she suddenly remembered how she had had her face pressed to his bare chest, the memory causing a blush to appear across her cheekbones.

Alhaitham ignored the way she was looking at him as he walked back into the kitchen. “I thought that idiot was going to give you some clothes.”

She had followed the scholar into the kitchen like a lost puppy, or in this case, a lost fish. “He was, but he said he needs to do laundry?” She paused before she voiced her question. “Why did he suddenly start yelling and cursing?”

The scholar turned to look at her, a wide smirk on his face. “I heard him turn on the water so I waited a second and then flushed my toilet. It made his shower blast him with freezing water.” He seemed proud of this action, much to Lumine’s confusion.

She continued to follow him, watching as he pulled a towel out of a machine and dried his hair and torso before he pulled a shirt out of a pile of clothes on the same machine, slipping it over his head. Lumine watched as the muscles on his back rippled as he pulled it down. It didn’t help that the shirt was skintight, almost like he wasn’t wearing one at all, and it flustered the mermaid. 

After he was fully dressed, he reached into the pile once more and threw something over his shoulder at the petite blond. Unfortunately for her, her hand-eye coordination was lacking, and the clothes hit her directly in the face.

She yelped, flailing while she pulled the clothes off of her face, nearly running into the door frame. “What’s this?”

He arched an eyebrow at the question he clearly found to be obvious. “The clothes you’ll wear until we get you more.” It wasn’t a request.

“Oh.” She stood in the doorway a moment until she realized that he was waiting on her to move out of the way, and so she did, watching as he walked past her to grab his shoes that were by the front door.

“Hurry up. I don’t have all day to entertain you.”

Lumine nodded, not that he could see with his back turned, and fumbled with the clothes she had on. It took her a few minutes to take them off and slip into Alhaitham’s clothes. The shirt he gave her went down to her thighs, and the pants were much too long. She wasn’t wearing any underwear since neither man had any meant for a woman, but it didn’t really bother her considering she had no use for them when she was in the water. After she finished dressing, she walked back into the living room to find him waiting for her by the door.

“Are you ready?” When she nodded, he turned and opened the door. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

First stop: the clothing store.

Chapter Text

The walk to the most popular clothing shop in Sumeru City took much longer than Alhaitham had wanted, mainly for two reasons. The first was that Lumine had to walk a lot slower than the scholar was used to traveling because she was still wobbly on her feet. A few people had even stopped her to make sure she was okay, mumbling about being drunk so early in the morning as they walked away. The second reason it took longer was because the blonde kept getting distracted by every little thing: butterflies, flowers blooming in a window sill, the sounds and smells coming from a cafe, and even children kicking a ball back and forth.

By the time they finally reached the clothing shop, Alhaitham had a headache, and it showed on his face through the scowl that adorned it. He knew that Lumine wasn’t trying to annoy him; She was just curious, and he knew he’d be the same way if their situations were reversed.

“This way.” He attempted to keep his voice neutral, but was unsuccessful, his words coming out sharp, his tone annoyed despite his best efforts.

Lumine hesitated at the entrance to the shop, her hand frozen touching the door as she looked at the floor. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “It’s just that everything is so new.”

Instead of saying anything, he oh so lightly brushed his fingertips against the small of her back as a way of saying that he didn’t mind, opening the door, his hand right above hers, his chest close to her back. She could feel the heat radiating off of him, and she barely resisted the urge to lean back against him.

Once inside the shop, Lumine’s eyes grew wide again at all of the clothing choices and colors that assailed her eyes. A young woman at the register near the door smiled at her, but it faltered slightly when she saw who was with her. Alhaitham ignored it and steered the blonde through the store towards the women’s section.

“Pick something out.” Instead of staying to help her, the scholar went to one of the stools used for trying on shoes and sat down, pulling a book out of Archons know where. He began reading, quietly turning the pages, leaving Lumine to her own devices.

The blonde was quickly overwhelmed, spending several minutes just staring at the different racks of clothing. “I…think I need help picking something out. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Alhaitham didn’t look up from his book, turning the page as he spoke. “Get a sales associate to help you. They’ll know what suits you better than I would.”

As if summoned, a young woman appeared beside Lumine, seemingly from thin air, her face composed in a bright smile. “Did I hear someone needing help over here?”

Not waiting for Lumine to answer, the woman put her hands on the blonde’s shoulders and began steering her towards a section of dresses. “What are you looking for today?” She worked as she talked, taking multiple dresses off of the rack and putting them up to Lumine to see how they looked.

“I’m…not sure,” she stammered as the woman pressed another dress to her. “I think I need a little bit of everything.”

“Oh, that’s something I can definitely help you with. What’s your budget?”

The answer came from Alhaitham immediately, the scholar still able to hear them. “Money is of no object. Just get her a couple of complete outfits. Shoes too.”

The associate’s eyes lit up with glee at that answer, and she grabbed Lumine’s hand to drag her further away. Once they were definitely out of earshot, she whispered in the blonde’s ear. “Don’t worry. I’ll pick something out that he’ll definitely like.”

Lumine didn’t understand the double meaning behind those words that the associate spoke, and that would prove to be Alhaitham’s first downfall of many when it came to the mermaid.

“Alright, let’s get started then!”

The next hour went by in a blue for the blonde as she tried on multiple outfits until the associate was satisfied. Once she had an entire shopping basket full of clothing, she left her back to Alhaitham. It looked as if he hadn’t even moved once aside from turning the pages of his book, one leg resting crossed at the knee. Hearing their approach, he looked up with a bored expression.

“Did you get everything you need?”

The sales associate gave Alhaitham a knowing smile. “Oh, did we ever! I think you’ll be very happy with what we picked out.” She turned to Lumine then. “Would you like to wear one of the outfits out with you?” Her eyes lingered over the clothes that were much too long and ill-fitting of the blonde.

“Yes please.”

Alhaitham went with the store associate to pay for everything while Lumine went to the changing rooms. The most challenging part for the petite mermaid was the bra, and she almost decided to go without it, hating how constricting it felt. SHe tried, unsuccessfully, to make it loose enough to be comfortable but quickly gave up.

Why do humans choose to suffer like this?

Staring at her reflection in the mirror of the changing room, Lumine did have to admit that she liked how she looked, even if she generally would rather be naked. Her outfit was simple: just a sundress that billowed around her, reminding her of her tail under water, the color a deep and dark green to match Alhaitham’s clothing. The shoes the associate had picked out for her were wedge-heeled sandals. 

The store associate had nearly fainted when the blonde had rolled up her pant legs to reveal that she had been barefoot the whole time and had been rushed to try on several shoes until those were the ones decided on. To her surprise, she was able to walk better in heels than she had barefoot, at least at first. The rest of the outfit was completed with a set of bracelets that adorned her left wrist.

Finally wearing an outfit she could call her own, one that actually fit her, Lumine made her way back to the front of the shop where Alhaitham was just putting his wallet back into his pocket. He looked up when he heard her approach, his eyes dragging up and down her form. The blonde took the bag of clothes from the associate, not realizing that the scholar was still silently appraising her.

The associate definitely noticed though, putting on a smug smile as she had Lumine do a little spin where she stood. “Well, what do you think? She’s pretty cute, huh?”

His eyes hadn’t left her form until she turned to look at him with curiosity, and he then focused his gaze above her head, his face a carefully neutral mask with his usual slight frown. After a long moment of silence, he just turned away from them and began walking towards the exit, not waiting to see if Lumine followed.

“It will suffice” was all he said.

Lumine sent one look over her shoulder as she followed. “Thank you for helping me!” She waved goodbye at the sales associate who gave her a wink and beckoned her over for one last comment.

“He seems like a tough nut to crack. Just do what I told you, though, and he’ll be putty in your hands.” With that, she pushed Lumine towards the exit once more.

Once outside, Alhaitham turned and gave Lumine another, more thorough once over since the associate wasn’t watching them. She had to force herself to stand still and not shiver under his intense gaze. As the seconds passed, she felt a bead of sweat roll down her face, the scholar still silently studying her. Finally, he turned away and began walking once more silently, heading up a hill that Lumine vaguely remembered from the night before.

“The associate did well. The clothes suit you.”

Her eyes widened at the sudden compliment, stumbling to catch up with him.

“I-…thank you. How much do I owe you? I don’t want to be in debt to you more than I have to.” She had begun to worry about the price once she noticed how high quality her clothes were compared to the people passing her by.

He paused at the bottom of one of the ramps that led to a higher section of the city, turning to look at her. He had an amused expression on his face, his lips turned up in the slightest suggestion of a smile. It was the first time she had seen such an expression on his face, and she couldn’t stop the runaway thought that crossed her mind.

He’s so handsome …

Her heart lurched painfully in her chest as they watched each other until he finally explained why he was smiling. “The information you’ll give me about your kind is payment enough. It’s not everyday that someone so… extraordinary comes along with such insight to be learned from.”

His compliment made her face heat up, a soft blush spreading across her cheeks and up to the tips of her ears. “Oh, uhm-…okay.” She had to almost jog to keep up with his long strides as they walked.

By the time they reached the entrance of the Akademiya proper, Lumine’s chest was heaving while she tried to catch her breath, the beginnings of several blisters on her feet from walking in the new shoes. As soon as they paused at the door of the Akademiya to open it, the Matra guarding the doors waved them over.

The guards eyed both Alhaitham and Lumine as they waited for them to approach their station, their gaze lingering on the petite blonde. It made the panic rise through her throat, her heart hammering against her rib cage. Alhaitham, though, was as calm as could be, even if he was scowling at the men.

A sudden pressure at the small of her back startled her, and she looked up at Alhaitham with wide eyes as he lightly rubbed circles against her with his thumb. It calmed her, and she took a deep breath to steady herself, angling her chin up in a show of confidence as they reached the guards.

“I haven’t seen you around here before. What is the purpose of your visit here?” The one who spoke sounded both stern and bored at the same time.

Before the blonde could come up with a response, Alhaitham removed his hand from her lower back and instead, in a rare form of physical touch for the man, put his arm around her shoulder and slotted her in against his side. “She’s my new assistant. Surely you know that I’m the scribe for the Akademiya, yes?”

Lumine gave them her best poker face, just nodding a couple of times. The other Matra guard came over and leaned down closer to the blonde, reaching up to grab her chin. Right before he could, he suddenly found his wrist gripped tightly by the Scribe, his eyes narrowed and a deep frown on his face.

“I wasn’t aware that the Matra employed such brainless imbeciles that they would touch someone without consent. That sounds like a matter that should be reported to the General Mahamatra.” The threat was clear in his voice, even Lumine could see that, though she didn’t know what it meant.

Immediately, the Matra guard cursed, yanking his wrist back from the silver-haired man’s grip, jumping back a step. There were tears in his eyes from how tightly the scholar had been twisting his wrist. The other guard instinctively lowered his spear ever so slightly towards the pair, making Lumine gasp and take a step back. There was an intense moment of silence where no one moved, attracting the attention of some of the people passing in and out of the Akademiya. The one who had lowered his spear finally straightened the weapon back into its relaxed position at his side.

“We’ve been ordered to check all suspicious individuals. There’s been an important piece of research that’s gone missing.” He didn’t have to state what that research was, not when the pair were painfully aware.

What Lumine was unaware of was that Ahaitham was angry, intensely so. “That piece of research is a living being, not a book or a set of equipment. You would do well to remember that.”

Lumine looked at the scholar with wide eyes, surprised at the level of respect he had for her, her heart lurching traitorously once more. The two Matra looked at one another before they both stepped back out of the way, the one who had spoken before doing so once again. 

“R-right, well you’re clear to move on, but you, ” he gestured to Lumine. “Don’t touch anything you aren’t supposed to and stick with the scribe so you don’t get into someone’s way or get lost.”

With that, Alhaitham finally removed his arm from around shoulder, walking into the area owned by the Akademiya. There were still a couple more walkways that inclined up before they reached the main building, and Lumine seriously considered taking off her shoes and going barefoot once more. The only things stopping her were her own stubbornness and the fact that she didn’t think Alhaitham would approve of it. 

Why she cared so much about his reaction was a mystery even to herself, one that she was determined to solve later when she was alone.

When they stepped into the main building, the pair was buffeted in cold air from the air conditioning, and it made Lumine shiver, still unable to correctly regulate her temperature. She said nothing, however, as she followed behind Alhaitham to wherever he was leading them to. It was mostly quiet in the building as they walked, their footfalls on the tile floor the loudest sound around them. Finally they reached their destination: a practically empty corner of the library. There were only a couple of Akademiya students talking amongst themselves at one of the tables that filled the area nearby. Neither of them looked up when Alhaitham and Lumine entered the area.

Alhaitham turned to say something to Lumine, but he paused, his brow furrowed when he noticed her shivering. Still silent, he shrugged off his outer layer without a second thought and deposited it on her head. Startled, the blonde gasped as his scent enveloped her. It reminded her of the smell of spices and books, both of which she had been around in the past day. Breathing in deeply, she felt at peace, wrapping the jacket around herself, instantly much warmer.

Lumine felt his gaze on her, but when she looked up to meet his eyes with hers, he was already walking up to one of the shelves. Like a lost puppy, she followed him until she stood at his side.

“Thank you for lending me this,” she said softly, rubbing the soft fabric between her fingers.

He just let out a quiet hum as he traced his finger along the titles of the books. Lumine felt utterly useless at this point, unable to read anything written since it all just looked like gibberish to her. It was only for a moment, but she saw that slight smile cross his face once more as she puzzled through sounding out some of the titles. The blonde was beginning to learn that Alhaitham wasn’t as cold and uncaring as she had first suspected, and she rather liked that realization.

He seemed to find what he was looking for because he clicked his tongue and pulled a large book off of the shelves, a small later of dust flying into the air as it was removed as if no one had touched the book in a very long time. Alhaitham turned on his heel without saying anything, walked over to one of the tables to sit down, and motioned to the seat beside him.

Lumine followed him and dutifully sat down beside him, sneezing when he opened the book and dislodged more dust into the air. The smell of old paper permeated the air, and the blonde breathed in deeply, the smell reminding her of the man beside her.

“It seems as if this book isn’t used very often. Why is that?” She spoke in a whisper in the quiet room, feeling as if she was still too loud.

He flipped through the pages and answered the blonde without looking up. “The Akasha Terminal gives Sumeru City citizens with maps digitally as well as information about anything else you’d like to know. Books like these are becoming outdated and useless in the eyes of the Akademiya as technology advances.” 

Lumine might have been imagining it, but his tone almost seemed to be a bit somber as he said that. “It smells like you.”

Alhaitham turned to her, arching an eyebrow. It was the most attention he had given her directly since he saw her in her new clothes. “I smell like dust?” His tone was amused, knowing exactly that that hadn’t been what she meant.

She just wrinkled her nose in response, purposely denying him a response that he could further tease her with. She had looked back down at the book, missing the way his sharp eyes trailed over her form in his jacket. If she had seen it, she would have been able to file it away has him merely being intellectually curious and left it at that, but considering that she didn’t  know how he normally acted…she would have never guessed that the scholar had actually begun to gain a personal interest in her. No longer did he just see her as a research specimen, but a woman that was both beautiful and graceful. 

No, he wanted to get to know her personally, ask her questions to probe into that enigmatic mind of hers, and find someone who was as interested in knowledge as he was.

Alhaitham forced himself to return to the subject at hand, flipping through more of the pages until he found what he was looking for: a chart with listings of the waterways and oceans of Teyvat. He pushed the book in front of Lumine before he explained what it was, trailing his finger over where Sumeru was, tapping over Sumeru City.

“Here is where we are now.” He moved his finger along the large river that ran through the nation that led out into deeper water. “If I remember correctly, and I do, you were found in this area here.” He tapped the city of Port Ormos.

Lumine leaned over the page and traced her finger over the water around the coast. “Is there a map of the sea levels and terrain surrounding the coast? It’s hard for me to translate this into something I would recognize just from looking at this map of land.

She looked up only for her to catch the scholar staring at her with those intense emerald eyes of his, and she shivered unconsciously under his gaze. “W-what is it?”

Instead of addressing her question, he pulled the book back over the table until it was in front of him once more, flipping through it silently. Seconds ticked by until he finally sighed and shut the book, leaning back to rub his eyes. “I was hoping I’d be wrong…”

He stood up and walked back to the shelves, pushing the book back into the slot it had come from. Alhaitham spent a moment scanning over the rest of the titles until his gaze landed on a large blank spot at the end of the shelves. Lumine came up and looked where he was, noticing that there were several clean spots on the shelves where someone had removed a large number of books recently.

“The sea level charts and marine floor topography maps were probably moved to the building with the new exhibit.”

Lumine was about to ask him why he called it that and not where she had been, but she realized that the couple of people at one of the nearby tables could probably hear them, and if he had said that, it would have given her away. The blonde wanted to praise his quick thinking but didn’t because she was unsure of how he would react to it.

The feather-light touch of his hand on her lower back startled her out of her daze, and she looked up at him with a curious expression. “Let’s get going.”

This time, the silver-haired man paused to make sure she was following him and then led her back outside. Lumine’s shoulders sagged as she realized how long the walk back down to the exhibit building was and how much worse her feet were going to hurt. She refused to say anything though, walking quickly to keep up with Alhaitham’s long strides.

By the time they reached their destination, Lumine could feel the sting of her raw heels and she just knew that they were bleeding, and yet, she still said nothing about it to Alhaitham. She refused to seem weak and slow him down, not when he was helping her like this. For all she knew, humans’ feet always bled like this because of their shoes.

The building that housed the exhibit loomed ahead of them at the bottom of the ramp, the entrance guarded by more Matra members. Lumine hesitated, but before she could stop walking, she felt Alhaitham’s hand on her lower back once more, the soft pressure pushing her forward both physically and mentally, soothing her worries.

She knew that the fact that she was so content around someone who belonged to the same organization that captured her and put her in a glorified fish bowl was ridiculous, but she couldn’t help it. Her mind snapped back to the present when she heard the scholar whisper softly to her. 

“Just let me do the talking. All you need to do is be my companion, silent and pretty.”

A part of her brain stopped working for a moment, and she looked up at him with wide eyes. Did he just call me pretty…?

Right before she opened her mouth to voice that thought, the Matra members finally noticed them approaching. They glanced first at Alhaitham, their faces immediately turning to scowls which didn’t go away when their gazes shifted to Lumine.

“This building is closed while the investigation is in place. No entry allowed except for those who are affiliated with this research exhibit.”

Alhaitham just cocked his head slightly, the hand on Lumine’s lower back pressing harder against it, his thumb idly tracing circles in a soothing motion. He already had a reply ready, anticipating that very remark.

“Surely you know who I am, correct? Unless you’d like to explain to the sages why the Scribe of the Akademiya wasn’t allowed to go collect data and organize the reports on this, I suggest that you let us inside.”

The Matra gathered at the entrance exchanged looks, clearly hesitating. It seemed to Lumine that the threat of having to report to these “sage” people was a very unpleasant experience judging by their expressions and body language was anything to go on. The guard who spoke went back to the others, and they spoke in low tones to each other, low enough that Lumine couldn’t hear them clearly. After a minute of them arguing with each other, they finally moved aside.

As soon as Lumine moved to go with the Scribe, they lowered their spears to block them, suspicion coloring their expressions. “Who is she?”

“My assistant. This work is important and needs to be looked at with more than one set of skilled eyes,” Alhaitham replied smoothly.

After a suspicious glance her way, they relented and unblocked the doorway, letting the pair pass them and go into the building.

Chapter Text

As soon as the pair entered the building where Lumine had been held in captivity only the day before, they were hit with the smell of seawater. It immediately made the blonde freeze in her steps, breaking out in a cold sweat, suddenly unable to breathe as she was overcome with the memories of being trapped in that small tank. Alhaitham noticed immediately, and he grounded her by moving to face her, placing his hands to where they were cupping her cheeks and leaning close to her.

“Hey, Lumine? Lumine!” He moved his hands from her face to her shoulders, shaking her slightly.

That succeeded in snapping her out of her daze, her eyes wide as she stared at the scholar. “Ah…sorry, sorry. I don’t know what came over me,” she said softly as she shrugged off her hands, shaking her head to clear it.

“It’s a perfectly understandable reaction. You were a prisoner here, and what likely happened when you were helped by Kaveh was that you were in a fight or flight response. Adrenaline flooded your system to get you out of the situation, and now that you’re here, safe , your body is no longer in shock so it’s reacting normally.”

Lumine stared at him quietly as she let that information sink in. It was certainly logical, and she was impressed by how quickly he had pieced that information together. Once she had calmed down and ready to move forward, before she could take even one step forward, she suddenly felt Alhaitham move his hand to brush against hers before he took her wrist in his fingers, his thumb rubbing circles on the back of her hand. 

The first thing she noticed was the temperature difference between them. Compared to her freezing and icy hands, his were pleasantly warm, and she could feel the heat coming off of him even with two of his fingers and his thumb covered. She squeezed his hand after a moment of hesitation, and he squeezed back instantly, making her feel much safer.

Since it was daytime and she was free to look around at her surroundings, Lumine took in all of the sights of her place of imprisonment. As they made their way to the records room of the exhibit hall, they passed several rooms where people were working to analyze the previous data that had been collected from her. There were also several Matra guards looking around and keeping an eye on people. To get to the records room, the pair was going to have to cross the open area where the tank was located, and Lumine’s mouth felt dry just thinking of it.

As if sensing her fear and discomfort, Alhaitham squeezed her hand harder, grounding her to the present moment, not in the living nightmare of being a goldfish in a bowl. “It’ll be alright,” he mumbled, his voice deep and comforting to her.

It didn’t take long for the pair to reach the large open area containing the main “exhibit.” The tank had been drained, the glass still stained slightly from how murky the water had been. Several people were inside the tank, wandering around aimlessly as they tested the glass for Archons know what. Lumine couldn’t help but smirk to herself at how helpless they seemed, especially when their prized possession was looking at them just as they had looked at her. Judging from the chuckle that came from Alhaitham, he seemed to be thinking the same thing.

He kept his hand in hers, lightly rubbing circles into the back of her hand until they had exited the central chamber, leaving the noise of the scholars and Matra behind them. Lumine instantly relaxed once they were out of both eyeshot and earshot, and Alhaitham released her hand after a long moment had passed, almost as if he was reluctant to do so.

"The records room should be right down this hallway if I remember the layout correctly."

Sure enough, down the long hallway that the pair was walking down was the records room, a small sign on the door confirming it. The door was unlocked and swung open noiselessly, revealing several shelves of books. The walls were covered almost completely in charts with various data. At the back of the room, there was a large board filled with pictures: pictures of Lumine’s tail, the webbing between her fingers, the fins that protruded right under her ears, even photos of her upper body there. Suddenly, she felt exposed. Very, very exposed.

Alhaitham moved in front of her, blocking her view of the photos. “Focus on me.” His voice was stern, though not unkind, deep and commanding.

It successfully calmed the petite blonde, and she nodded after a moment. “Sorry, it’s just that…I feel like I have no privacy. Everything is just on display in the open. I’m surprised they didn’t dissect me while they were at it.” Her voice was dripping with hatred, the molten gold of her eyes hardened into amber.

“You’re more valuable to them alive. A dead specimen can only give so much data, after all. I don’t doubt you would have stayed unscathed for long, however. They already drew a lot of blood and took samples from your tail, didn’t they?”

The table where they had tied her down and pulled her scales off one by one flashed through her mind, and she began trembling, remembering the pain as if it had happened seconds ago and not the day before. Lumine shivered, unconsciously reaching down to brush her tail only to remember that she had human legs at the moment. She took a moment to relax, letting out a shaky sigh before she looked back at the scholar.

“Can we move quickly? I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to.” Her voice was soft, almost pleading.

Alhaitham studied her for a moment before he nodded. “Just tell me if it becomes too much, alright?” His voice was softer than it normally was, and she appreciated his concern. 

Normally the scholar would think that it was ridiculous to be caught up in fear that had passed, but for some reason, the sight of this trembling, petite girl tugged at his heart strings and wanted nothing more than to protect her.

Lumine’s voice brought him out of his contemplative thoughts.”Okay.” She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “What are we looking for? Since I can’t read the language, I won’t be much help in that regard, but I can look at the charts and maps.” She just wanted to feel helpful, detesting how useless she felt.

Alhaitham seemed a bit surprised, one side of his mouth quirking up slightly into a smile. “Alright. The charts along the back wall show the coastline and the inlet where they apparently captured you. Start there and see if anything looks familiar.”

Doing what he said, Lumine wandered over to the charts along the wall. The writing was complete gibberish to her, but she traced her fingers lightly over the lines of one of the charts, following the coast as she tried to remember the way she had come. Truth be told, Lumine had only been in that inlet on accident, sheltering from a bad storm. She hadn’t even known she was close to the Sumeru border.

After several minutes of silence while she looked over the charts, the blonde felt a presence beside her and looked over to see Alhaitham standing next to her. He was quietly looking over the charts, emerald gaze flitting back and forth as he mentally mapped it out and cross referenced it with what he had just read. 

“I can’t recognize anything. I’m sorry I’m so useless…” She balled her fists at her side so hard she felt her nails digging into the flesh of her palms, and tears were beginning to well up in her eyes.

The scholar didn’t say anything while he kept scanning the charts, but he did wordlessly put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it slightly. Instead of sounding angry when he spoke, he sounded almost…apologetic. “No, it’s alright. I underestimated the difficulty of mapping the coast when you’ve only seen the underwater portions of it, but don’t fret. I have an idea.”

Lumine perked up immediately at the mention of an idea, cocking her head to the side. Before she could ask him what he had thought of, there was the sound of someone entering the area, and the pair turned around at the same time to see who had entered. Instantly, the blonde began to panic. As soon as her eyes met those of the man who had entered, she was instantly reminded of one of the people that had been plucking scales from her tail while she was strapped to that table.

There was a surprised expression on the researcher’s face when he looked up and saw them. He approached them, glancing behind the pair at what they had been looking at. “Can I help you two? This area is off limits to the general public and shouldn’t have been open.”

“I’m Alhaitham, the scribe. I was just coming here with my assistant to copy some of the preliminary data down into the archives.” The silver-haired man was able to smoothly answer just as he had with the guards outside, and Lumine made the mental note to praise him for how resourceful and quick on his feet he was later when they weren’t in public. 

The researcher looked between the pair once more, frowning. “I’m sure you saw the state of the tank in the central chamber. The specimen is missing, so all of the research has been halted until it is retrieved.”

Once again, Lumine’s nails were digging into the skin of her palm, this time in rage at how she had been described, like she was some ((((THING))) and not a living, breathing person, a toy for them to play with and then discard. Alhaitham seemed to share the sentiment because he scowled and crossed his arms, towering over the researcher while looking down at him.

“Just how incompetent are you all to let something so valuable escape ? Did you not think of it finding another way out? Surely you didn’t think it was just like any other animal. Clearly it had sentience and high intelligence.”

Lumine knew he was only referring to her as “it” and using that tone to cover up the reason why they were there and to protect her, but the words he spoke pierced her like a dagger, and she began to tremble slightly. She tried to play along, nodding slowly at his words to make sure that the lie was successful. It seemed, though, that the researcher had just noticed her. He stepped forward, his brow furrowed.

“Have we met? You seem…familiar.”

Warning bells began ringing in her head as he approached, and she only just resisted the urge to hide behind Alhaitham, knowing that it would give her away. Before she could even open her mouth to speak, the silver-haired man placed his arm around her waist and pulled her against his side. It was an intimate gesture, one that wasn’t helped at all by the blush that appeared on her face.

“This is my… assistant , Lumine. She just came from abroad to study here. I trust you to keep this little incident between us?”

The researcher frowned, shifting on his feet uncomfortably. He knew there was no way he could really challenge that statement. Instead, he just cleared his throat. “Well…I’m afraid that I’ll have to ask you to leave. The Matra will be doing a sweet of the city to recapture the specimen, assuming it’s still alive, so I suggest you two get out of here.”

Alhaitham just nodded once. “We will take our leave then. Good luck retrieving the asset.” He paused, pressing his lips against Lumine’s head in a sort of chaste kiss. “I appreciate you keeping this between us.” 

Lumine just squeaked, her face bright red, her brain short circuiting. He moved his hand to her lower back, leading her out of the records room. He was unable to stop himself from getting in just one more jab. “How they managed to lose something that couldn’t just grow legs and walk away amazes me. Clearly the Akademiya’s standards are much lower than when I first joined.”

With that, he pushed Lumine along, the both of them silent until they had passed the researcher and walked back into the hallway. Once they were out of earshot, Lumine looked up at Alhaitham.

“I’m sorry… this trip was a complete waste. Nothing was recognizable to me. I have no idea where I am.”

Instead of getting annoyed or angry with her, he just shook his head. “Not so. We now know the inlet where you were picked up, so today was fruitful in that regard.”

The blonde gave a soft sigh of relief at his reassurance, but when they reached the main chamber where the tank was, she was unable to tear her eyes away from her prison. The Marea were gathered around the spot where she had landed after jumping out of the tank, and her heart jumped into her throat. Sensing it, Alhaitham steered her away, moving until his frame blocked her view of the spot.

“Don’t worry,” he murmured softly. “They aren’t going to get you, not as long as I am here with you.”

His words soothed her, and she visibly relaxed as they neared the exit. The pair managed to pass the remaining Matra and researchers without raising any suspicion, and soon enough, they were back outside under the bright sun. Alhaitham took the lead once more as they began to walk up the ramps leading to his home, and Lumine was reminded once again of how much her feet hurt. Still determined not to say anything, she grit her teeth and started walking, only making it a couple of steps before her legs buckled.

Alhaitham turned around immediately when she let out a yelp, a worried expression on his face. Lumine was sitting on the ground, her legs played out in front of her. The scholar’s sharp eyes went straight to her feet, and he cursed to himself.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” His voice was firm, annoyance coloring his tone, though it wasn’t completely unkind as he knelt down to gently take her ankle to turn it and take her shoes off. He removed them ever so gently, and the damage was exposed: her heels raw and bleeding.

“I didn’t want to bother you. I’ll get used to it.” If Lumine was anything, it was stubborn.

She attempted to get back up, but she was unable to stop from wincing as she put weight on her feet once more, unable to get up. Alhaitham suddenly turned around, still kneeling on the ground, his arms held behind him. Confused, she just stared at him.

“What are you doing?”

She stared blankly at him as he turned his head and looked over his shoulder back at her. “Get on.” His tone left no room for questions. 

When she didn’t respond right away, he sighed and backed up closer to her. “Put your arms around my neck and wrap your legs around my waist. I’m going to carry you back home.”

Lumine blushed at how he said it, but she did as she was told, awkwardly clinging to his back. As he raised back up to standing position, she yelped and clung onto him tighter, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

“See? That wasn’t so hard now was it?” His tone was teasing as he gripped her legs to keep her steady on his back up the ramps towards his home.

A few people looked at them with curious expressions, but Alhaitham didn’t seem to mind one bit, easily carrying Lumine like she weighed nothing at all. Since the blonde was still wearing his jacket, all he had on his upper body was the tight black shirt underneath it, and she could feel his body heat warming her from how close his back was to her front.

Breathing in, Lumine could smell the scent of spices and flowers once more. Merfolk didn’t use perfume or cologne, and the blonde was terribly curious about why he smelled so good. She shoved that question out of her mind for the moment, instead focusing on holding onto him so she didn’t fall off.

“What now?” She asked, still feeling incredibly useless after the day’s lackluster results.

He looked sideways to make eye contact with her, his face suddenly so close to Lumine that she could count the individual eyelashes he had, staring into those intense eyes of his. She squeaked and leaned back in surprise, nearly toppling them over with the shift in gravity she caused. In response, he leaned forward to counteract it until Lumine was secure on his back once more.

“Please stay still,” he said with an exasperated sigh.

“I-I’m sorry,” Lumine said sheepishly, burying her face in the crook of his neck once more as the blush crept back up onto her face.

He continued speaking, answering her earlier question. “Our next step will be bringing you to the docks of Port Ormos to see if you can recognize any of the terrain.” 

She hesitated, not saying anything, and he slowed his pace. “What is it?”

“It’s nothing.” 

He didn’t press her on the issue, though she just knew he was curious. Instead, the rest of their walk was filled with comfortable silence, each lost in their own thoughts. When they reached his home, the sun was starting to set. Lumine was still learning to regulate her temperature, so the fact that the temperature varied so much during the course of one day made her feel sickly.

Alhaitham set the blonde down at the doorstep lightly, making sure she was steady before he reached into his pockets to take the key out of his pocket. Lumine managed to stumble inside once he had opened the door, but as soon as she was fully inside, she collapsed. She finally let herself show how much pain she was in, tears collecting in her eyes, threatening to overflow down her cheeks. Biting her cheek, Lumine wiped her face to get rid of her tears, not wanting to look weak in front of the scholar.

Instantly, he was at her side, his arm around her shoulders that had started to sag. “Shhh, let me see.”

Lumine held back the whimper that threatened to escape and slowly, carefully peeled off her sandals. Her feet where the straps had rubbed and on her heel where the back of her shoe had chaffed were angry, raw, and bleeding red spots and blisters. She sucked in a breath as the cool air hit the wounds, making them burn. She couldn’t see Alhaitham’s face from the angle she was sitting at, but she could guess his reaction.

He stood up suddenly, leaving the blonde alone on the floor while he walked to a cabinet in the living room and pulled out what looked to be a first aid kit. After rummaging in it for a moment, the scholar came back and knelt next to her once again.

“Hold still. This is going to sting, but we need to make sure your wounds don’t get infected, alright?” His tone was soft and kind, soothing the distraught mermaid. If Kaveh saw him now, he’d automatically assume the scholar had been possessed by a ghost of kindness.

“…Okay. I trust you.” It was said softly, but it made him look up at her with an unreadable expression on his face.

As if realizing he was staring, Alhaitham just cleared his throat and looked back down at what he was doing. Uncorking a bottle of peroxide, he poured a small amount onto the blisters and raw skin on Lumine’s feet, and she immediately sucked in a breath through her teeth, unable to stop the unconscious instinct to jerk her leg away from the liquid. 

“Told you” was all the scholar had to say as he patiently waited for Lumine to stretch her leg out once more so he could finish disinfecting it.

Once the wounds were finally clean, Alhaitham spread an antibiotic cream over the spots, making sure to be as gentle as he could. Lumine was looking away, gritting her teeth while she desperately tried to distract herself from the pain, her mind wandering. She did have to admit that, despite the pain, Alhaitham’s steady pressure on her leg above the wounds felt good, and the thoughts soon gained a mind of their own as she began to imagine what it would feel like if he touched her tail like that.

She felt her face heating up the more she thought about it, not realizing that he had stopped applying ointment and had wrapped the wounds in bandages. He watched her impassively, already guessing what she had been thinking about, unable to stop himself from teasing her.

“You know, if you keep looking like that every time someone touches you, you could get into trouble very quickly.

Lumine’s eyes widened and her mouth popped open at his words, her head snapping up to stare at him, realizing he had been watching her for who knows how long. He just chuckled, the low and deep tones reverberating in his chest, definitely not helping Lumine’s blush. Of course, Kaveh chose that time to arrive home, and upon opening the door to see Lumine on the floor with her legs sprawled out and Alhaitham kneeling before her, fingers pressing into her calf, he nearly shrieked in outrage.

“Just what do you think you’re doing, Haitham?! Taking advantage of her when she’s still learning to walk. I should-“

Alhaitham cut him off, rolling his eyes. “It’s definitely not what you’re thinking. She was too stubborn to let me know that her shoes made her heels and ankles raw. They’re covered in blisters so I disinfected them and put ointment on them. That’s all.”

Kaveh narrowed his eyes, approaching Lumine to get a good look at her bandaged feet. Satisfied, he and Alhaitham helped the petite mermaid stand up, walking her to the couch. She sat down, leaving room on both sides of her for the men. After they were seated, she cleared her throat.

She hesitated, but it was only for a moment as she steeled her resolve. “I need to tell you both why I was captured, why I was in that inlet in the first place.”

Chapter Text

Both men looked at Lumine expectantly, patiently waiting for her to begin her tale. They had a feeling, an inkling, that it was not going to be a happy tale, especially since it ended in her captivity. It took her a moment of fidgeting with the hem of her shirt before she was ready to speak.

“The only reason I was in that inlet in the first place was because I was separated from my family. It was my own fault, becoming distracted by something glittering on the seafloor. It must have been put there by the researchers in the hopes of catching one of my kind, and I was stupid enough to fall for it.” By her tone, it was clear that she was angry, though whether it was towards herself or the ones that captured her, it was hard to say.

She paused to take in a breath, squaring her shoulders, looking both men in the eyes. “Once they must have seen the shimmer of my tail in the water, they closed off the entrance to the inlet and trapped me.” At some point, Lumine had closed her eyes as she retold the events, her nails digging into her flesh from how hard she was clenching her fists.

“They had a large net. It was…it was electrified and began shocking everything it touched. So many aquatic creatures died to capture me.”

Alhaitham immediately scowled at the thought of Lumine being literally electrocuted in the water. Similarly, Kaveh seemed aghast at the idea. But still, she continued her tale.

“The shock paralyzed me, and then they scooped me up and tossed me in a smaller net, shackling my arms behind my back. Once they brought me back here, they took sharp instruments and pulled off some of my scales, ripped off a piece of my fin, cut off some of the webbing between my fingers…”

She was unable to continue, covering her mouth, trying to not vomit as the memory of how painful it was resurfaced. The room was eerily silent as those words sank in. Kaveh was visibly outraged, but Alhaitham’s face was neutral. Lumine stared at the floor as the silence stretched on before suddenly, the Scribe spoke up.

“They’re never going to get you. Not again. I’ll make sure of it.” Alhaitham’s voice was filled with conviction. 

Kaveh turned his head and glanced at Alhaitham, a surprised expression on his face. Huh.

He stared at his roommate for a minute, his mind racing. Alhaitham never got involved in something unless it was of great importance and benefit to him, and yet, he seemed willing to go the mile for this little mermaid. Before Kaveh could say anything, the scholar spoke once more.

“Our next step is going to be bringing you to an area of water and making sure that you’re fit enough to go out on your own. Is that alright with you?”

Lumine nodded, finally coming out of her traumatized stupor from remembering what happened to her. “Yes, yes. That would be good.”

“Plus I’ll be able to observe you and take notes.” There it was. The old Alhaitham was back.

That comment made Kaveh roll his eyes, but he didn’t say anything at that moment. Instead, he smiled at Lumine. “Oh, by the way, I brought home some ingredients to make some padisarah pudding for you. Hopefully you’ll like it.”

“Wow. You never bring any special ingredients home to make me anything,” Alhaitham said in a sarcastic tone.

And at that, they both began to argue with each other. Lumine just sat on the couch and listened to them, a slight smile on her face. It was a lively atmosphere and one that she greatly appreciated. A few minutes later, the blonde had leaned her head back against the back of the couch and had fallen asleep, her chest rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm. As soon as the two men noticed, they both stopped arguing, watching her with kind expressions on their faces.

“You make dinner. I’m going to take her and put her to bed. She deserves some peaceful rest after what she’s been through.” The scholar had whispered his words, scooping Lumine up into a bridle carry, her head leaning against his chest.

Kaveh just nodded, the men coming to a rare agreement. He made his way to the kitchen while Alhaitham carefully brought Lumine to his room and laid her in his bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she rolled over onto her side, sighing softly as she nuzzled her nose into the blanket he had pulled over her. He made his way back through the house and into the kitchen where Kaveh stood at the stove. He must have heard him approaching because he began speaking with his back still turned.

“You’re different around her.” It wasn’t a question, and Alhaitham knew that.

“I don’t know what you mean.” There was no sarcasm or sneer in his tone. He was being honest.

Kaveh sighed. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t notice, not with how bad your social skills are.”

“I don’t have bad social skills. I just choose to not engage how people typically do.”

At that, the architect turned and gave Alhaitham a skeptical look. “Mmhm. I totally believe that. Not.” He turned around and went back to cooking, determined to make something that Lumine would remember as one of her favorite foods for a long time.

“Then why are you so nice to her when you couldn’t be bothered to be anything other than blunt to everyone else?”

“…” Alhaitham was silent for a moment, as if considering his next words carefully. “She’s different.”

Kaveh groaned and ran a hand over his face. “That’s exactly what I mean!”

The two men continued to argue until dinner was finished, neither giving up his side. They did make sure to be quieter than usual at least so that Lumine could get more rest.

Dinner passed without incident aside from their normal bickering. Lumine had gotten used to it, even laughing at one of the quips the scholar lashed out with, much to Kaveh’s shock. And finally, it was what Kaveh had been waiting for: dessert. He went into the kitchen for a moment, excusing himself politely. There was the sound of the fridge opening followed by the architect walking back in, carrying three dishes of padisarah pudding.

The pudding was violently purple and topped with a flower, one that Lumine didn’t recognize, of course. Her eyes were wide as Kaveh set one of the bowls down in front of her. The first thing the mermaid did was lean forward and smell it, her mouth watering. The dish smelled sweet, and she couldn’t wait to dig in.

“It looks and smells amazing, Kaveh!”

His chest swelled with pride at her words. “Thank you. Go on, take a bite.” He set similar bowls in front of himself and Alhaitham.

The scholar looked surprised for a fleeting moment but then his normal bored expression found its way back onto his face. He took a bite, still focused on Lumine’s expressions. He did acknowledge the effort at least. “This is acceptable I suppose.”

“Well, I didn't make it for you so you can say whatever you want to about it.: Kaveh’s tone was snarky though he was mainly focused on Lumine as well.

The mermaid wasted no more time waiting and took a small spoonful of the pudding, holding it up to her face before taking a bite. Immediately, a smile spread across her face, and she hummed in delight before immediately taking another bite.

“This is amazing! What’s it made from?”

“Well, you take petals from Sumeru roses and padisarahs and juice them. Then you add milk, sugar, gelatin, and a few other things. Mix the ingredients until smooth and then chill for a while.” There were more steps, but he wasn’t going to bore her with them.

Lumine continued eating until there was nothing left, even going as far as to scrape the spoon against the sides of the bowl to get the last remnants of pudding. “So this was made from parts of flowers…I never knew they could be used like that.”

After Kaveh received a few more compliments from the mermaid regarding the pudding, Lumine stretched, looking at Alhaitham. “So what do you want to know? About me or my kind, I mean.”

The scholar leaned forward in his seat at the table, his emerald eyes staring intently at her. It made Lumine nervous, and she shifted in her seat. “Did I say something wrong?”

“Not at all. I’m just surprised that you’re willing to give up your information to me so freely, to a human.

She pondered his words for a moment before meeting his gaze and smiling. “Well, you’re different. You and Kaveh have been nice to me so I don’t mind. I sense no malicious intent behind your request to learn more.”

“Alright then. Can you change your legs back into your tail? I’d like to look more closely at it.”

“I’ll need to be mostly submerged in water. Could I use your bathtub once more?” Once he nodded, she got up and was about to stumble her way to the bathroom, but she was stopped when he scooped her up into a bridal carry once more. “Ah! What’re you doing?!”

He just looked down at her as he carried her to the bathroom. “I’m making sure you don’t injure yourself further. We’ve got a lot of traveling to do tomorrow.”

Alhaitham set her down on the edge of the bathtub and turned on the water. “Turn this knob here to make it hotter. Turn it the other way to make it colder. I don’t know what temperature you prefer, so it would be best to do it yourself to ensure you’re comfortable.”

She did as he said, adjusting it until the water was on the warmer side, though it definitely wasn’t as hot as a human would normally make it. Without another word, she began to remove her clothing, having completely forgotten about what the store associate had picked out for her. She paused when Alhaitham made a strangled noise deep in his throat, Lumine’s sundress already pulled over her head. 

“What…are you wearing?” His voice was strained, and he was suddenly very interested in a blank spot high on the wall.

She looked down at her torso, a confused expression on her face as she stared at the garments the sales associate had chosen for her. A pale green bra that left basically nothing to the imagination accentuated her bust, the lace where the cups would normally cover drew the eye right to them. The associate had done excellent work and had made Lumine try on almost every lingerie set until she had been satisfied.

“Oh, this is what the store associate said you would like.” She looked up at him, her eyes bright and innocent. “Do you?”

Alhaitham still pointedly refused to look at her and was even considering not answering her, but he knew that he probably should. “I…don’t hate it.” It was true. From what he’d seen before he looked away, it fit her perfectly, and the colors were pleasing to the eye against her pale skin.

That hadn’t been the answer that Lumine had naively hoped for, and she then made quite the mishap in human interaction:  she stood up, though wobbly, and exposed what she was wearing for the rest of the lingerie set, nearly sending Alhaitham into heart failure. He’d only caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye, and he was going to have to have a deep conversation with himself after this for his body’s betrayal.

The bottom half of the set was the same pale green, and it was complete with lace and garters that hadn’t shown through her sundress. It was very frilly and also left little to the imagination. She looked up when she heard Alhaitham clear his throat.

“Is something wrong?” She took a step forward and stumbled when her ankles gave out, instinctively grabbing onto the nearest thing she could to steady herself: Alhaitham.

He had also instinctively put his hands on her shoulder and the small of her back to steady her, his warm hands brushing against her cool skin. Immediately though, he made sure to let go of her lower back. “Nothing is wrong. I just…think you shouldn’t be showing so much skin. Most humans don’t show this much to each other unless they are…intimately involved.”

The pieces of the puzzle suddenly connected in Lumine’s head, and she blushed as deeply as Alhaitham was, and she took a step back, away from him. “I-I didn’t know. I’m sorry. I’ve made you uncomfortable.”

If she ever saw that associate again, she was going to give her a piece of her mind.

The blonde looked down at the water that was filling the tub, and she sighed. “Well, you’re going to want to look away then. I have to remove all of my clothes and then I’ll change back into my merform, alright?”

Alhaitham immediately turned his back to the mermaid, his shoulders still as he stared at the wall once more. “Just be careful getting in, alright? It’ll be slippery, and I don’t want you injuring yourself any more than you already have.”

She finished removing her clothing and raised her leg to step into the bathtub, and of course, gravity betrayed her once again. All she could do was close her eyes after yelping loudly, body tumbling forward towards the tub. Luckily for her, Alhaitham had quick reflexes. He pivoted on his foot and grabbed her, tugging her backwards, his arm wrapped securely around the middle of her chest.

The silence stretched between them. Lumine did had to admit that Alhaitham was still extremely warm against her chilled body, and she leaned against him unconsciously. Little did she know that Alhaitham was close to having a full meltdown if the mermaid was going to keep putting them in situations like these. He had glanced down to make sure that she was safe, accidentally giving himself a perfect top-down view of her breasts.

“Just…let me help you into the bathtub so this stops happening.” His voice was tired. He was tired and just wanted to observe her as a mermaid, not develop troublesome feelings about her.

Lumine just silently nodded and allowed him to maneuver her into the water which she sank into with a content sigh. She willed her body to change, her legs pressed together and sticking straight out in front of her. The changes started at her waist, the legs connecting and sprouting scales. The scales rippled along her legs until they reached the end of her feet, her large, golden tail fanning out and curling up against the end of the tub, too large to fully fit inside of it.

Similar scales sprouted on the sides of her arms, small fins jutting outwards from her forearms. The last set of fins to materialize were the ones connected to her ears, elegantly sloping from the sides of her face. Her chest was bare, the most human-looking part of her aside from her face.

Alhaitham watched her intently through the whole process, his embarrassment at seeing her naked body pushed to the back burner as his thirst for knowledge took over. Instantly, several questions popped up in his head, and he was unable to hold them back.

“Did that hurt? It seems like it would be extremely painful.”

The blonde smiled and shook her head, reaching to turn off the water that was threatening to overflow out of the bathtub. “It’s more like…it itches, and completing the transformation soothes the feeling. This feels much better than the legs I had before.”

“What about the wounds that you obtained in your human form? Do those just disappear with the transformation?”

With another shake of her head, she lifted her tail to better expose its sides. There was a small patch on each side of her tail near the bottom that looked raw, the blood dripping into the water, starting to turn it red. “No, the damage stays unfortunately. Otherwise, the best thing to do would be to constantly shift back and forth when injured.”

Lumine paused for a moment, her smile widening at the curious look in his eyes, noticing his fists cleaned at his side. She held up her hand, spreading her fingers to show a webbed film spread in between them. “Do you want to feel?”

“Yes.” He answered instantly, and it made her laugh.

Almost hesitantly, the scholar reached out and touched the webbing with one finger, his gaze intense. Lumine let him feel it between his fingers, wiggling her own back and forth to show how the film moved. Alhaitham pulled a book and pen out of seemingly nowhere and began to write quickly as he observed the mermaid.

“Would you like to touch my fins or tail? Don’t worry, I don’t bite,” she said as she laughed, holding out her arm, fin pointed out towards the scholar.

He gently brushed his fingertips along the fin on her arm, his eyes widening when it didn’t give under the pressure of his touch. These are much more rigid than I thought they would be. Why?”

“Well, it’s hard to explain unless you’re really swimming in the water, but some of the deeper currents are strong enough that we need our fins to be rigid enough to move against them.”

“Ah, I see.” He then knelt down closer to her, reaching his hand over the side of the bathtub to touch her tail.

Lumine was glad that he didn’t see the shiver that went through her upper body at his touch. If anything, her tail was one of the most sensitive parts of her body, a blush appearing on her face as he stroked her fin, still scribbling in his book with his free hand.

“And what about…”

Alhaitham continued to ask questions, and Lumine humored him, answering them as best as she could, until the water was long past being cold. Finally, he noticed her shivering and realized what had happened. Cursing, he stood up suddenly and went to the small closet in the bathroom, grabbing a large, fluffy towel from it for her.

“Let’s get you warmed up.”

The blonde let her body slowly shift back to her human form. Alhaitham had tried to not watch as it happened to preserve her modesty, but his curiosity won over it, and she shivered under that intense, emerald gaze. As soon as she was fully transformed back into a human, however, he politely looked away though she could see a slight blush peeking through his hair on the tips of his ears.

“Thank you,” Lumine said as she gratefully accepted the towel, wrapping it around herself, her hair still dripping water. She was about to shake her head like a dog to get some of the water out, but before she could, Alhaitham dumped a second towel onto her head.

His voice was warm and teasing when he spoke. “Use that instead of slinging water across my bathroom, please.”

After Lumine was sufficiently dry, she ((((SLOWLY)))) walked herself out of the bathroom and into Alhaitham’s room to change. The scholar left to go sit in the living room to give her privacy. Unfortunately for both of them, the store associate had also picked out the blonde’s pajamas, if they could be called that. The matching set was almost completely sheer, making sure to draw the eyes to Lumine’s…assets. There was nothing she could do about it though, and as such, fussed with it until it was on, then peeking her head out of the bedroom door, her golden eyes meeting Alhaitham’s.

The scholar arched an eyebrow, uncrossing his leg. “What’s wrong?”

“Uhm…the store associate also picked out my sleeping clothes.”

That was all it took for the blush to return to Alhaitham’s face, and that instantly attracted Kaveh’s attention. The architect had been sketching something on one of the sofas, and he glanced between the pair, expecting an answer. He had never seen Alhaitham blushing, and he desperately wanted to know the details. When he got only silence and not an answer, he sighed and stood up to go to his room.

“You two keep your secrets. I’m going to bed. Try to keep it down.”

The pair exchanged confused looks, and Alhaitham just shrugged. “I think he’s irked that you and I get along, which is because you aren’t infuriating like he is.” He paused for a moment, running his hand over his face.

“I’m just going to lend you one of my shirts. It should cover enough for you to use it as a nightshirt, if you’re amenable, that is.”

Lumine nodded, opening the door to the bedroom a bit wider, exposing more of her body. Alhaitham had to stop himself from staring at her, almost unable to resist the urge that his body was sending him to see that soft, pale skin of hers. Luckily for him, she hid behind the door so that she wasn’t fully exposed. He walked into the bedroom, digging through his clothing dresser until he found a shirt that fit him loosely, tossing it at her.

“Try that on.”

The blonde pulled it over her head, unable to hide the smile on her face at how soft the fabric felt on her skin. The fact that it smelled like Alhaitham was another reason for that smile. Lumine was unable to deny the fact that she was beginning to really like the scholar’s scent.

“Thank you.” Now that she was warm and relaxed, she realized just how exhausted she was, unable to stop the loud yawn that came out of her.

It made Alhaitham chuckle, and he went to the bed, straightening out the blankets before he pulled off his shirt and rolled into bed. “Come. Sleep.”

She did as she was told, pulling the blanket over herself. As she had been the night before, she was still chilled, but the difference was that this time, she voiced her displeasure.

“I’m cold.” She paused. “Can I…move closer to you?”

There was a long moment of silence after she asked that the blonde began to wonder if Alhaitham was already asleep. Finally, he spoke a single word. “Yes.” Rolling over, he opened his arms, clearly expecting to scoot into his embrace.

And so she did.

With her head tucked against his chest and his arms around her, Lumine quickly fell asleep, leaving Alhaitham alone with his thoughts. Never before had he been so affected by another person, and now his body was betraying him, his heart racing with just a simple smile from her. All of the time spent around her in revealing clothing and tucked so close against him didn’t help, and he began to puzzle through his feelings.

He was unable to deny the conclusion that came so easily to him: he was beginning to develop for the petite mermaid in his arms, even if he hadn’t known for very long. Alhaitham knew that those feelings were going to grow, and instead of feeling alarmed by those feelings, he felt almost…at ease with them.

Gently rubbing small circles in her lower back with his thumbs, Alhaitham slowly drifted off to one of the best sleeps he’d had in a long time.

Chapter Text

The next morning came all too soon for the pair curled up in bed together. Lumine was the first to wake up, or at least, that’s what she thought. The sunlight filtering in through the window was what roused her from her slumber as it warmed her face. She yawned sleepily and then froze, realizing that she was still in Alhaitham’s arms. She assumed he was still sleeping and snuggled closer against him, basking in his warmth that radiated off of him. The blonde opened her eyes to take a peek at the sleeping scholar only to find him gazing at her with a soft expression on his face.

Her eyes widened when she saw that she’d been caught, averting her gaze. “S-sorry, I didn’t realize you were awake.”

“It’s alright. I didn’t want to wake you,” Alhaitham said with a chuckle. Almost reluctantly he unwrapped his arms from around the blonde, sitting up in bed and turning away to stretch, his back audibly popping. “How are you feeling?”

Lumine was momentarily distracted by the sight of the scholar’s muscles rippling in his back as he stretched, and he had to repeat his question, turning towards her with a slight smirk on his face.

“O-oh, I feel much better.” And warm…

She decided to not voice that last thought, instead sitting up as well. The shirt Alhaitham had lent her was bunched up around her thighs, exposing the creamy skin of her legs. Unbeknownst to her, the scholar’s eyes were locked onto the sight until he realized what he was doing, hurriedly glancing away to a spot on the wall that was suddenly very interesting.

“That’s good. We have a lot of ground that needs to be covered today, but I have an idea that should eliminate more of the walking so that you won’t be able to injure yourself again.”

They both got out of bed, Alhaitham taking his clothes to the bathroom to change, giving Lumine the bedroom to change in peace. The next outfit the associate had chosen for the blonde was more casual and more appropriate, just a pair of pants that flowed elegantly around her, reminding the mermaid of the feel of water rippling around her. After they had both changed, the pair enjoyed a quiet breakfast together since Kaveh had already left for the Akademiya for the day.

Once they were prepared, Alhaitham knelt down on the floor again with his back facing her. “Hop on.” Once again, there was no room for argument with his statement or in his tone of voice. “I’m not going to let you hurt yourself again,” he added as an explanation.

Lumine sighed and just did as he said, moving closer to him to wrap her arms around his neck once more. “Just don’t drop me, alright?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said, the smile on his face clear in his tone.

It didn’t take long for Lumine to piece together the plan Alhaitham had for their journey. There was a cart waiting for them on the outskirts of Sumeru City pulled by a large sumpter beast. The scholar handed the person sitting in the driver’s spot on the cart a bag of Mora after setting Lumine down on the back of it. He made sure that she was steady and tucked against one of the sides of the wagon before he jumped in himself, settling down beside her. Alhaitham placed his arm behind the blonde’s shoulders to give her a more comfortable head and neck rest.

The sun was steadily rising through the sky as they rode along the road to Port Ormos, bringing with it the warmer temperatures so that Lumine wasn’t chilled for very long. It also helped that the man whose side she was tucked into was the equivalent of her own personal heater.

“So…y’all on a date?” The sudden question brought the pair out of their comfortable silence. The driver of the cart was glancing over his shoulder at them, curiosity written plainly on his face. “I gotta say, there are closer spots to have one than goin’ all the way to the Port.”

Lumine had cocked her head to the side, an inquisitive look on her face. Before she could say something and blow their cover, Alhaitham smoothly replied. “Something like that. She wants to see the coast.”

“Oh, well then I gotta say that that’s an awfully nice idea for a date that y’all are doin’. I’ll speed us up a bit to get you there faster.” He paused as he spoke softly to the sumpter beast pulling the cart, getting it to pick up its pace. He then glanced back once more. “I have a few suggestions about some sights you and your pretty little lady might wanna check out if you’re willing to listen.”

The scholar and his “pretty little lady” looked at each other before Lumine nodded. “Is there a good place to get fish?”

That made the driver laugh, and he nodded with a smile on his face. “Of course! There’s no place with fresher fish in Sumeru other than at Port Ormos. I recommend the fish with cream sauce. It’s a nice way to warm up on this chilly day. Speaking of, isn’t it a bit too cold to be swimming?”

“Oh, I don’t get cold in the water, so I’ll be fine.” Lumine hadn’t meant to let that little fact slip, and her eyes widened as she realized that it might be seen as something weird to say, but the cart driver just laughed once more.

“Well, that’s good then!” He paused as he scanned over the horizon and the path ahead of them, leaving the pair to go back to their comfortable silence.

The rest of the ride was mostly uneventful. The driver entertained Lumine by telling her various tales that were native to Sumeru. He had correctly assumed that she was a traveler, though he had no idea to the extent that was true. By the time the cart was pulling into the Port, the day had continued to warm up enough that Lumine no longer needed to curl up against Alhaitham’s side to keep warm, though she did so anyway. She was getting quite used to the heat he radiated and the comforting scent of books and spices that came from him.

Alhaitham helped Lumine down from the cart, keeping a firm hand on her waist. “Thank you for the ride.” He reached into his pocket to pull out another bag of Mora, but the cart driver shook his head. “There’s no need to pay me more, lad. I was already headed in this direction to pick up some supplies, and telling some of my old stories was enough extra payment.”

The last thing the driver said before he went along his was was that Alhaitham had better keep a close eye on Lumine because of the recent increase in illicit activities in the port, softening that warning by saying that it should be safe enough as long as the pair stayed in the busy streets and out of the back alleys.

Once the cart driver had gone along on his way, Alhaitham tugged Lumine along by the hand, beginning the walk through the Port and down to the water. The blonde went along with him, looking around at her surroundings. Something was cooking in one of the taverns, the windows open to let the aroma spread throughout the area, and Lumine breathed in deeply, savoring the scent of the food, and more than that, the salty scent of the sea. It instantly invigorated her, and she began to walk a bit faster even with her short legs, even making the much taller scholar speed up beside her.

Alhaitham chuckled to himself, still easily able to keep up with the petite mermaid, keeping a watchful eye on how she was walking to make sure she wasn’t going to injure herself again. It didn’t take them long to find their way to the docks, especially since the scholar was familiar with the city. The docks were fairly busy, swarming with fishing vessels returning with their morning hauls, the fishermen yelling out to passersby to try and get them to buy their fish.

Lumine seemed to have a better time ignoring those people that Alhaitham had assumed she would have, especially since they were selling fish, and he made sure to bring it up as they reached the end of the docks. She just had a simple response to his statement. “I can find fresher fish. Those have been in the boats for a few hours.”

That piqued his interest. “Oh? How could you tell from so far away?”

She just gave him a secretive smile. “When you live under the sea for as long as I have, you get a pretty good eye for underwater life.”

Alhaitham scanned the docks with his sharp eyes, pausing when they landed on a small boat. “Come on. We need to find a more secluded spot.”

Agreeing with him, Lumine followed the scholar, keeping close as he paid the owner of the boat a small amount of Mora to borrow it. Alhaitham climbed into the vessel first, offering the blonde his hand for her to hold as she stepped onto the boat. She hadn’t expected its movement on the water, and she stumbled forward until she collided with the silver-haired man’s chest. He instinctively put his hands on her waist, steadying the both of them.

“Be careful,” he said, amusement coloring his voice.

Lumine blushed slightly, still in his grasp before she quickly extracted herself from his arms and sat down in the boat, looking out towards the sea. Alhaitham sat down as well, taking the oars. The muscles in his arms captivated the blonde as the scholar rowed them out into open water, around the nearest bend. He smirked at her when he noticed, and she quickly looked away, focusing instead on the scenery.

Calm down, Lumine, it’s just a human. He’ll forget you soon enough after you go back home.

It took them several minutes to find a fairly secluded place along the shore where there were no other boats around. Alhaitham stopped rowing and focused on Lumine. “Is this spot alright? I don’t know how much privacy you need.”

“Yes, I think this location is fine.” Lumine began removing her clothes without saying anything though she noticed Alhaitham’s intense gaze focused on her.

It made her self conscious, and she turned away slightly as she removed the rest of her layers. Before learning that humans only exposed their bare skin to people they were intimate with, Lumine had no qualms about going without clothes around the scholar. But now that she knew, it made her feel like it was something that she should hide from him, but she also felt that she wanted him to see her like that. Shaking her head to clear it of those intrusive thoughts, she finally finished discarding her clothes, turning to lean over the boat.

“I didn’t want to rip the clothes you paid for,” she mumbled as a way of explaining her actions.

Lumine sat on the side of the boat, her feet dangling off the side, and once again, Alhaitham watched mesmerized as Lumine’s legs started to stitch together, her arms sprouting fins as well as the sides of her head. Once the transformation was complete, and with a soft smile aimed at Alhaitham, she slid off the side of the boat into the water with a loud splash. The scholar leaned over the side of the boar to watch as the mermaid twisted and turned in the water, her hair flowing gracefully around her.

He was unable to stop the thought that crossed his mind. She’s beautiful…

Realizing what he was thinking, he shook his head only to suddenly splashed with a large wave of water as Lumine resurfaced and swiped her tail at him, thoroughly drenching the scholar. It had surprised him, and Alhaitham lost his composure for a moment as he wiped the water off of his face.

He was more confused than anything, arching an eyebrow at the blonde. “What was that for?”

The smile that graced Lumine’s face was breathtaking in the afternoon sun. “Come swim with me!”

That surprised him, but before he could tell her that he would rather stay in the boat, she swam closer and lifted her upper body out of the water to rest her arms on the side of the boat. “Come on, Haitham. Your clothes are already wet, so there’s no reason not to, and besides, how many people could say that they have swum with a mermaid?”

Ah. She had him there.

He gave her a heavy sigh that was for more show than anything before he took off his coat and arm coverings that would have only restricted his movements in the water, also taking off his shoes. He was left in nothing but his pants and tight shirt, unable to stop the smirk that showed at the intense stare he could feel coming from Lumine as he sat there in the sun with the water dripping from his hair. Without another word, he grabbed the oars, surprising Lumine.

“What are you…-“

He maneuvered the boat to the nearby shore, tying it to a tree at the water’s edge. Once he was finished, he began to wade into the water, watching as Lumine stayed a safe distance from the shore. The sunlight glinted off the water and onto his torso, highlighting his muscles.

“I don’t want the boat to get away from us while we swim. It’s quite the distance back to Port Ormos without a boat to ride in,” he said as explanation for his actions.

He stepped further into the water until it reached the middle of his chest, and that was when Lumine decided to swim closer to him. Alhaitham’s eyes were glued to her form in the water as she gracefully swam around him in circles, and he reached out a hand to lightly brush against her tail. It wasn’t long before the scholar began to shiver from the temperature of the water which was still chilly despite the warm climate. He dunks himself fully underwater to force his body to acclimate itself.

The blonde laughed softly as his head breached the surface of the water, now deep enough that it went over his head. Alhaitham’s hair was plastered to his forehead, and Lumine couldn’t stop herself from reaching out to push it out of his eyes, clearly able to see both of them for the first time. She froze hen she saw the intense look reflected in those eyes, her hand staying on his face for a moment too long.

Before she could break away from him, they both heard voices coming from around the bend, and Alhaitham pushed Lumine against a nearby large rock, blocking her tail from view with his body. It looked intimate to say the least, but neither of them had that on their mind at the moment. The couple on the boat that appeared didn’t seem to see them, and they passed the pair without incident. 

The scholar kept his eyes on the boat until it had passed, unaware that Lumine was mentally short circuiting due to his closeness and the fact that his hands were pressed to the rock on either side of her head, her back against the rock.

“H-haitham?” She cleared her throat. “You’re too close…”

That made him look at her, his nose almost brushing hers from how close he was to her. His feet were touching the bottom once more, and the mermaid’s tail was slotted between his legs partially. Instead of immediately pushing himself away from the rocks, in a rare show of affection, he smiled and bonked his forehead against hers. Alhaitham pushed off of the rock and into deeper water immediately after doing that, leaving the mermaid even more frazzled. 

Lumine swam after him, easily catching up the scholar. They spent the next few minutes just floating along quietly, enjoying each other’s company. Alhaitham kept touching the mermaid’s fins and tail as she effortlessly moved through the water with so much grace that it was almost as if she was gliding. Lumine didn’t mind showing off for her, glad someone was paying attention to her, even almost preening in front of him.

After they had their fill of swimming, it was time for them to do what they had originally come there for: finding Lumine a way back to her kind. Alhaitham’s went back to the boat and untied it, maneuvering it deeper into the water while Lumine dived deep into the depths to see if she could recognize any of the sea floor. Several times she was gone so long that Alhaitham would begin to wonder if she had just decided to leave, but she always resurfaced and came back to the boat eventually.

It made the scholar realize that he didn’t want to lose her. No, he wanted her to remain by his side, even going so far as to daydream up plans of them working together on various projects. Alhaitham wasn’t the type to idly daydream his future, but he couldn’t help himself. He came up with multiple things they could study together: mapping the seafloor, merfolk history and education, engineering more dynamic human diving methods based on merfolk; the possibilities were endless.

He was so engrossed with what he was thinking that he didn’t notice Lumine resting her upper body on the boat once more until she splashed him with a large wave of water. Again. He sputtered, probably the most unbecoming thing Alhaitham had done in front of the mermaid, and he coughed as he wiped the seawater from his eyes.

“…Yes?” He asked, his throat slightly scratchy from the mouthful of saltwater he had just inhaled.

Lumine arched an eyebrow at him. “I said I think I recognize a nearby dip in the sea floor that is a bit deeper into the bay. Can we move closer and look there?”

“Ah…yes. We can.” He was unable to hide the disappointed tone in his voice, realizing that she may be one step closer to leaving his life.

She paused, studying his face. “Is there something wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing. Show me where you mean.”

Lumine wanted to ask the scholar what was wrong, but she also didn’t want to borrow him so she did as he asked, slipping back into the water. She circled the area she wanted him to move to before she dove deeper into the water to observe her surroundings, leaving Alhaitham alone with his thoughts once more.

It didn’t take her long before she surfaced again, swimming up to the boat. The blonde hesitated when she saw Alhaitham’s expression, momentarily uncertain. “Are you sure everything’s alright?”

His emerald gaze snapped to her, and he nodded once. “Yes.” He hesitated for a moment as if he was picking his words carefully. “Did you find out which way you’ll need to travel to go back to your home?” …. to leave?

To Alhaitham’s relief, Lumine shook her head. “I think I’m going to need to look elsewhere. I was mistaken about this area looking familiar.”

“Alright, well, it’s about to get dark soon. Are you ready to head back home?” He hadn’t meant to imply that his home was hers as well, but that was how she took it, a soft blush covering her cheeks. 

“Yes, let’s go.”

Chapter Text

The sun was setting behind the horizon by the time the pair had returned to Sumeru City. They had hitched a ride on another cart, both thankful that they wouldn’t have to travel back on foot, especially because Lumine would definitely have injured herself further. She would also have refused to walk in the first place, making Alhaitham carry her. Instead, she had fallen asleep next to the scholar on the cart no more than ten minutes after getting into the cart, her head resting against his shoulder.

The ride gave Alhaitham plenty of time to think about his unique relationship with Lumine and what he wanted to happen next between them. Even the cart driver seemed to key into the situation somewhat based on what he said to the Scribe.

“You two make a cute couple.” It had been a simple one-off remark, the driver not even looking over his shoulder at the pair as he steered his sumpter beast further along the road.

It made the scholar look down at the girl asleep against him, her face the definition of peaceful. “You think so?”

Romance was something that the scholar had never really had on the table before, much more interested in the pursuit of knowledge and his various other interests. It also hadn’t helped that he had no interest in social gatherings or making friends. The little mermaid tucked against his side was changing all sorts of things for Alhaitham, and he was a bit uneasy about it all, especially since he didn’t know how Lumine felt about him.

The rest of the ride was silent except for Lumine’s soft breathing and the sound of the sumpter beast snuffling as it pulled the cart. Once the cart pulled into Sumeru City and came to a stop, Alhaitham gently shook the blonde’s shoulder to wake her up.

“We’re here, Lumine.”

She stretched an arm above her head, sighing softly as she looked around to see where they were. “Mm…already?”

Realizing where she was and who she was leaning against, the blonde sheepishly sat up straight and moved to get off of the cart. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to use you as a pillow.”

Alhaitham stood up and hopped off of the cart, turning to help Lumine off of it as well. She slipped slightly as she stepped down, but he was there to catch her, pulling her close to his chest to make sure she didn’t injure herself. The cart driver smiled smugly at the sight.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry, miss. He didn’t seem to mind too much.” With a wink in their direction, the cart driver began moving again, going on his way. He glanced back once at them, giving Alhaitham a thumbs up, making the scholar’s natural frown deepen.

Before Lumine could ask him what the cart driver meant, Alhaitham suddenly picked her up into a bridal carry, making her yelp. No matter what she said to try and dissuade him from carrying her, the scholar refused to set her down until he walked into his home. He deposited her on the couch gently, making sure he was comfortable. 

He swept his gaze over the mermaid, and right before he began to confess his feelings about her leaving, Kaveh walked into the living room from his bedroom. That immediately made Alhaitham rethink his words, his mouth shut in a frown. The source of the silver-haired man’s annoyance didn’t seem to notice and instead focused on Lumine.

“Oh, you’re back. Would you like something to eat? You can tell me about your trip when it’s done.” He seemed to perk up when she smiled in response to his words.

Before Lumine could answer him, her body rebelled, making her yawn loudly and rub one of her eyes sleepily. It made Alhaitham chuckle, instantly drawing Kaveh’s attention at the noise. He didn’t say anything in front of the mermaid though, not wanting to make her uncomfortable.

“Would you like to take a nap?” That was from Alhaitham, his voice soft.

She just nodded, standing up to go to his room. He had stood up to help her almost immediately, but she waved him off. “It’s alright. Just a small walk, and my feet are already feeling better. I’ll just take a small nap. Could you wake me up in a little while?”

Once the men had agreed to wake her up soon, she closed the bedroom door behind her, leaving the pair alone in the room. When Alhaitham moved to go to his room after Lumine, Kaveh stepped into his path, blocking him with his body. The scholar’s frown deepened into a scowl, and he moved to step by Kaveh only to have him mimic the movement, blocking his path once again.

“What do you want? I don’t have time to entertain you,” Alhaitham snapped, annoyed.

Kaveh was quiet for a moment as he took stock of the scholar’s sudden bad mood. “You’re different around her.” He repeated what he had said the night before, trying to make a point.

“I still don’t know what you mean,” Alhaitham lied. He knew perfectly well what his roommate meant, but it wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have, especially not with Kaveh.

“You’re still going with that excuse, Haitham?” The blonde had no intention of dropping the subject this time, not when this was probably one of the only times in the near future that he and Alhaitham were going to be away from Lumine.

The Scribe narrowed his eyes, that emerald gaze so intense that Kaveh had to look away before he was burned. “Enlighten me then. What do you mean “different ” around her?” He fully expected Kaveh to say the same thing as last time.

“Alright, fine. I will .” That was all it took for Kaveh to get animated, which was usually where he got ahead of himself and lost the argument he was having with Alhaitham. This time though, his words were like an arrow that pierced the scholar through the heart.

“You have feelings for Lumine, but you don’t want to acknowledge them because you know she has to go home to her people.”

That made Alhaitham freeze, his eyes widening slightly. “That’s…ridiculous. I don’t have time for feelings like that.” He was giving himself an excuse more than he was giving one to Kaveh.

“Ridiculous or not, you’re going to have to come to terms with those feelings, but …” Kaveh paused, his eyes narrowing at the scholar. “…If you hurt her, I’ll never forgive you.”

Those words were spoken with such conviction that Alhaitham knew Kaveh was 100% serious. Never before had he heard the architect speak with such force behind his words, and it made him shiver unconsciously at the frosty tone he had. He couldn’t help but be combative at his roommate, however right he might have been.

“The same goes to you. I would never hurt her.”

Kaveh scoffed. “Do you even hear yourself? There’s no way I could hurt her because I don’t feel the same way about her that you do.”

“And what way do I feel then, if you’re such an expert on it?” Neither of them could drop the subject, working each other up.

“You’re. In. Love. With. Her.” Kaveh enunciated each word with a jab of his finger to the center of Alhaitham’s chest.

There was a loud thump that came from Alhaitham’s room, startling both men. After a moment there was a soft sigh and the rustling of fabric. Both men looked at one another and peeked into the room only to see Lumine curled up fast asleep in the scholar’s bed, her slender fingers twisted into the blanket as she held it close.

Alhaitham quietly stepped into the room and dug through the drawers of the dresser kept his clothing, pulling out a clean set to change into after he showered, which was where he fully intended on heading before Kaveh could block his path and question him more.

He needed a moment to think.

Lumine opened her eyes as soon as the men had exited the room. She had overheard the last part of that argument, and that was when she had accidentally knocked her hand against the headboard of the bed when she was trying to cover her head with the pillow to drown them out. She’d been able to save face by immediately pretending she was asleep, and one of the reasons her hands had been so tight in the blankets was to hide the way they trembled in reaction to what she had heard.

And she was then left with what she knew, which was that there was a large possibility (more of a guarantee) that the scholar’s feelings ran much deeper than his previous intellectual curiosity about her.

Alhaitham leaned against the shower wall as he let the water wash over him. He had turned the temperature up almost as far as it would go, the sting distracting him momentarily from the storm cloud that occupied his brain. Never before had he been so angry , so annoyed with himself. Never had Alhaitham, the feeble scholar, the Scribe of the Akademiya, the most logical-thinking and level-headed person he knew, felt like this before.

He sighed to himself and pressed his forehead against the wall of the shower, letting the water run down over his back. The coolness of the tile wall contrasted with the heat of the water, the contrast helping him clear his head.

“I’m just curious because she’s a species that has had almost no research done about them. My… interest is purely for knowledge.” Even he knew that that was a lie and wasn’t going to convince anyone.

Slowly his mind began to wander towards the little mermaid. He was then suddenly determined to analyze his complete knowledge and thought process about her, the analysis usually something that he found to be calming. Alhaitham started with her physiology.

From the waist down, Lumine had a long, scaled tail that was ivory in color. The scales reflected light and cast a myriad of colors onto their surroundings while her tail ended in a large, flowing fin that was golden in color. It rippled through the water much like a medaka fish’s tail. Where her tail connected to the human part of her torso, the scales were smaller, starting a couple of centimeters below her navel but were higher on her hips, tapering to a point on her lower abdomen.

So far so good…

Alhaitham’s mind began to wander almost as soon as he pictured the mermaid’s abdomen, caught up on how soft her skin looked and how it would feel under his hands if he…

The scholar dunked his head under the hot water of the shower, attempting to wash away those thoughts. But despite his best efforts, they still lingered in the back of his mind.

Keep it together, Haitham…

He went back to thinking of her physiology, continuing his study up her torso, his mind immediately betraying him by flashing the image of Lumine wearing the undergarments that she’d gotten while shopping. Alhaitham growled in annoyance but was unable to stop the flow of thoughts from coming, instead picturing how she had looked: her pale, creamy skin that was oh so soft and yet firm with toned muscle, how her breasts were the perfect size and how he wanted to- ….

This time, Alhaitham switched the water in the opposite direction, making the water freezing cold, almost even colder than the water he had been swimming with earlier in the day. The change in temperature made him gasp as he struggled to breathe due to his body temporarily going into shock. He had hoped that it would take care of the…problem developing between his legs, and luckily, he seemed to have succeeded for the moment. He switched the water back to a normal temperature, actually washing his body, trying to keep his mind occupied.

Once he was finally clean, he stepped out of the shower, the drops of water running down his chest in rivulets to form into a puddle on the floor. Alhaitham slicked back his hair out of his face and dried off, wrapping the towel around his hips before he opened the bathroom door and slipped into his bedroom, thinking that Lumine was still asleep.

She was not.

Instead, she was sitting quietly on the bed, and when he walked into his room in nothing but a towel, she couldn’t help but stare, her eyes dilated in the low light. It made the scholar’s chest swell at the look in her eyes, but before he could speak. She beat him to it.

“Haitham? We need to talk.”

Chapter Text

“Haitham, we need to talk.”

Those words. Those five little words were all it took to root him in place, his hand halfway finished running through his hair to brush the wet locks from his face,

“What about?” He feigned ignorance, hoping she hadn’t overheard him and Kaveh talking before.

The mermaid’s eyes held an expression he couldn’t read when she responded. “About us.”

Ah. She got straight to the point.

Alhaitham sighed and walked over to the bed, sitting down. He was still just in his pants after his shower, small rivulets of water running down his face and muscular torso from his wet hair. His hands were clenched in loose fists as he adjusted the way he sat to face Lumine a bit more.

“I’m guessing you overheard Kaveh and I then,” he said as he sighed once more. “He was always too loud.”

That made Lumine smile slightly, and the sight made his heart clench. Damn faulty organ.

“I did. I’m sorry for eavesdropping.”

There was an awkward silence that spread between them with neither knowing how to approach the topic at hand. Alhaitham attempted to start that conversation at least. “I don’t know why, but I find myself thinking of you. A lot.” His tone was analytical, forcing his emotions aside before they went out of control.

Lumine stopped him from continuing, sensing that it was a difficult topic for the stoic man. “I want to pay you back for helping me. If it’s within my power to grant it, I’ll do it.”

It seemed that she had misunderstood, possibly from how cold the scholar had said it. A part of Alhaitham’s heart wanted him to ask that she stay here, with him, but he knew it was selfish and unrealistic to ask that of her. Instead, he continued speaking logically though it hurt.

“I saved you for my own reasons, not for you to owe me. I’d never ask something of you that you didn’t want.” … Even if it breaks my heart to see you go.

He had turned more fully to her, reaching out to gently brush his fingertips against her arm in an uncommon display of affection from him. He noted with satisfaction that it raised goosebumps on the blonde’s arms, revealing that he did have a similar effect on her that she had on him.

“I still want to pay you back. It’s not in my nature to let someone who has helped me so much only to get nothing in return. I had been thinking…” She trailed off, studying the scholar, golden and emerald gazes clashing. “I have the perfect idea for how to repay you.”

He didn’t want to change the subject, but what she said had piqued his interest. Alhaitham cocked his head slightly to the side. “Oh? And what would that be?”

Lumine just gave him a secretive smile. “You’ll just have to wait and see.~”

Her words were enigmatic, and Alhaitham felt that familiar spark of longing for knowledge bloom in his chest. He pushed it to the back of his mind, instead focusing on the way his heart stuttered as Lumine smiled. The scholar knew logically what he was feeling, but he stubbornly pushed that feeling back too. Before either of them could continue speaking, there was a knock at the bedroom door.

“Are you hungry, Lumine? I’m about to make a late night snack for myself and was wondering if you wanted anything as well.” Kaveh’s muffled voice came from through the door.

There was an unmistakable scoff that came from Alhaitham at being left out, but he didn’t say anything otherwise. Lumine stood up and walked to the door, looking back at the scholar. “I’m going to help him. Is there anything I can get you?”

Her kindness made the warmth in his chest spread further, and Alhaitham was unable to stop the soft smile that graced his face. “No thank you. I think I’m just going to read here for a while before bed. Have fun with that idiot.”

Lumine left the scholar in his bedroom and stepped out into the living room, almost bumping into Kaveh who took a step back at the last moment to avoid the collision. The two blondes shared a smile before walking into the kitchen. Kaveh had laid out various ingredients for Lumine to try, most of them unfamiliar to her. She enjoyed trying each one while Kaveh decided on what to make, finally landing on curry shrimp using leftover curry he had in the refrigerator, something that would have a little taste of the sea so it wouldn’t be wholly unfamiliar to the mermaid. 

A comfortable silence settled over the pair as the architect began preparing the ingredients to add to his curry paste. Kaveh did eventually break it, his back turned to Lumine as he began to speak.

“So… how do you like it up here on land?” It was true that Kaveh was curious how she felt, though he was originally only asking to segue into what he really wanted to talk about: what she thought of Alhaitham. 

There was a fondness to Lumine's voice when she spoke. "Well, I certainly wish I could have come up onto the surface of my own free will and not forced to, but it is certainly an eye opening experience. I never knew there was so much I was missing out on…" She trailed off, thinking fondly of the adventure she had just had with Alhaitham.

"And your feelings on Alhaitham…?" It was almost as if Kaveh had predicted where her train of thought would go, and her eyes widened at being caught.

"W-what do you mean feelings ?" She hadn't meant for her voice to crack, but it had, saying more than she could have voiced with words alone.

Kaveh chuckled to himself. "I mean how you're getting along with him. I know you've probably noticed, but he's not exactly a social butterfly. He'd much rather read a book than ever converse with someone."

"Oh." Lumine took a moment to savor the smell of the curry being mixed in with the shrimp in the large pot that Kaveh stood in front of. "I actually think he's very easy to get along with," she said honestly. "He's smart and kinder than he realizes, though it does seem like he has trouble voicing his feelings."

Her assessment made him laugh. "Well, you've certainly read him like a book."

They shared a laugh, and Kaveh noticed the soft look in Lumine's eyes, and he sighed to himself. Both scholar and mermaid were definitely interested in each other romantically, and it seemed as if it would be up to him to make sure that they were honest with each other. "I couldn't help but overhear part of your conversation, and I'm sorry about that, but I'm curious. How are you going to pay him back?"

It was a lie. Kaveh had purposely put his ear to the door when he had heard them talking.

Before she could answer him, there was the sound of a loud sneeze and coughing coming from Alhaitham's room. Lumine immediately moved unsteadily to check on him, leaving Kaveh alone in the kitchen. What she saw made her call out to the architect, the alarm clear in her voice.

"Kaveh, something's wrong with Alhaitham!"

The scholar was flushed, sweat dripping from his face as he continued coughing. Lumine made her way to him, sitting down beside him on the bed. She leaned forward until she was close enough to press her forehead against his. He was burning up, and the mermaid gently cupped Alhaitham's cheeks to try and cool him off some.

Alhaitham frowned, but he didn't move away. "What are you doing?" It would have been a lie for him to say that her cool hand's didn't feel good against his hot skin, and he leaned into her touch.

"You're burning up." She said it matter-of-factly, not saying anything about how he wasn't moving away.

Kaveh poked his head into the room, and he narrowed his eyes at the sight before him. "What did you do to get yourself sick?" He didn't seem worried at all.

Alhaitham looked up from gazing at Lumine to looking at his roommate, his signature scowl returning to his face. "I went swimming in the waters around Port Ormos."

“You what? That water had to be freezing cold!” It was so unlike Alhaitham to do something so reckless, something so illogical that Kaveh was unable to stop from raising his voice.

Lumine looked back and forth between the two men, realization finally dawning on her. Her gaze settled on Alhaitham, her eyes sad. “Wait, you’re sick because you swam in the cold water? Why didn’t you tell me?! I would never have asked you to join me if I knew it’d make you sick!”

Instead of answering immediately, Alhaitham did something very unlike himself, proof of how scrambled his mind was from the fever. He leaned forward and put his head on Lumine’s shoulder, a lot of his weight settled on her but not enough to make her fall backwards.

“I wanted to swim with you. It was an opportunity I’d likely never have again. Only a fool would have declined.” His voice was soft, his eyelids drooping as the coolness of Lumine’s skin soothed the heat he felt raging through his body.

Kaveh sighed to himself. “Lumine, can you take care of this big baby for a bit? Once I finish cooking, I’ll go out and see if any of the pharmacies are open to get some medicine. Haitham, you will pay me back for it.” It wasn’t a question.

With that, the architect left Lumine and Alhaitham alone together, the scholar still resting his head in the crook of Lumine’s neck. She shifted on the bed slightly, putting her cool hands on the back of his neck, trying to soothe some of the heat of the fever. It was silent for a moment before he spoke, his voice low.

“I don’t want to lose you.” He said it softly, his voice weak.

It made Lumine gasp, her fingers tugging on the hair at the nape of his neck lightly when he spoke. “You’re not thinking straight, Haitham.”

“Nonsense,” he mumbled. “I always think straight.” There was another moment of silence before he leaned more of his weight on the blonde, pushing her backwards until she was lying on the bed with him on top of her. “You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met. So mysterious, so kind, so…” he trailed off, on the verge of falling asleep. “…so extraordinary.”

Lumine just quietly ran her fingers through his hair as Alhaitham’s breathing slowed into a steady rhythm, signaling his descent into slumber.

“I could say the same thing about you…” She said it softly, knowing that he couldn’t hear her since he was asleep. “I don’t want to lose you, either.”

Chapter Text

When Kaveh had gotten back from picking up cold medicine for Alhaitham, he found the scholar still lying on Lumine, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm as she stroked his hair lightly as she stared at the ceiling, trapped under the larger man's weight.

"Wow, I never knew that he was such a baby." That was how Kaveh announced his presence, standing in the doorway to Alhaitham's bedroom. "I'll get some water for him to drink with this. I made sure to get the most disgusting flavor they had."

He left the liquid medication on Alhaitham's nightstand as he went to get a glass of water. Lumine struggled to wake the scholar up, and it was proving to be a much harder task than she'd realized it would be, especially when he had wrapped his arms around her middle to keep himself stable on top of her.

"Haitham, you've got to wake up and take this medicine so you'll feel better." Lumine's tone was soft and full of amusement at the silver-haired man's actions.

"Mmph" was all he said as he cracked an eye open. It took him a minute to realize what he was doing, and when he did, his eyes widened slightly. The scholar sat up, gently unwrapping his arms from his former pillow. "My apologies. I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright."

He froze, studying her as if she had grown an extra head. Before he could say anything else, Kaveh returned with a glass of water. He handed it off to the scholar, standing by the bed with his arms crossed as Alhaitham downed the bitter-tasting medicine. Once he had taken it and chased it with some water, Alhaitham cleared his throat.

"Thank you." He turned and looked at Lumine who still sat beside him. "I just need a good night's rest. We can continue searching the seafloor for familiar areas as soon as I feel better."

The blonde was quiet for a moment as if she was weighing her answers. "Alright. You should get some more sleep. I can busy myself with learning more about cooking from Kaveh while you rest."

The blonde was quiet for a moment as if she was weighing her answers. “Alright. You should get more sleep. I can busy myself with learning more about cooking from Kaveh while you rest.”

She stood up and followed Kaveh out of Alhaitham’s room, turning to give one final glance at Alhaitham as he laid back down in bed.

True to his word, it only took a single night’s rest for Alhaitham to almost be fully recovered. It was in no small part thanks to the medicine, but it also helped that Lumine played the part of an excellent nurse. She had stayed by his side once the food was prepared and slept next to him, her cool body pressed to his to relieve some of the heat from his fever. The next morning, he opened his eyes to find Lumine curled up against him with her back turned, his arm draped over her waist.

All night he had dreamed of swimming with Lumine, the sun reflecting off of her ivory scales and golden hair making a halo around her as the light filtered through the water. It had been the most restful sleep the scholar had had in a long time, and he almost regretted waking up already.

The blonde yawned and rolled over to snuggle in close to Alhaitham's chest, slowly opening her eyes. Realizing how close she was and that he was awake and had seen her, she immediately sat up, a soft blush coloring her pale skin. "Sorry! You could have woken me up when you did. I didn't mean to fall asleep for so long."

Alhaitham just chuckled. "I don't mind. Thank you for playing nurse. It sped up my recovery greatly."

"You flatter me." Lumine stood and stretched an arm above her head, her pack popping loudly. The scholar watched quietly as she then turned to face him. "I have something I want to show you today. Can we go back to Port Ormos?"

That surprised him. "Don't you want to search the waters further out? I know you want to go back to your people."

“I do, but there’s something I want to do first.” Her answer was cryptic, and the slight smile on her face when she spoke made Alhaitham slightly apprehensive. It wasn’t a bad feeling per say, and his drowsiness faded away at the thought of learning more about Lumine and her kind.

Breakfast that morning had been light, and the trip back to Port Ormos was uneventful, the pair hitching another ride on a sumpter beast-pulled cart. Once they arrived, Lumine led the way into the water after they rented another boat. She wasted no time, slipping into the water after discarding her clothes as soon as they were out of sight. Alhaitham had stared at the water while Lumine changed, barely resisting the urge to watch her.

They went around the bend in the coast once more, and the blonde waited while Alhaitham tied the boat up again so it wouldn’t float away. After he had, the mermaid rested her upper body on the boat once more. “Okay, what I’m about to show you is something I’ve never shown to a human, alright? I don’t think any of the merfolk have.” Her eyes were shining, and the nervousness she had was plain in her voice.

The energy she gave off only increased Alhaitham’s apprehension, but he nodded anyway. “Okay. What do I need to do?”

“Take off your clothes and get into the water.”

He froze at her words, a confused expression crossing his face. Before he could question her words, she slipped back into the water and left him alone with his flustered thoughts. Once again, the scholar was speechless in her presence, something that rarely, if ever, happened to him. Still, Alhaitham did as she said, hissing as he slipped into the frigid water. It was even colder than the day before, and his teeth were chattering almost immediately.

Lumine resurfaced right beside him without a sound, startling him. “Okat, good. Now I want you to stay still.”

There was a moment of hesitation before she moved closer to him. Alhaitham didn’t have time to question what she was going to do before Lumine suddenly grabbed his arms and pulled him under the water, surprising him enough that he didn’t have time to take a breath before he was completely submerged. Bubbles leaked out of his nose and mouth as he was pulled further into the depths, opening his eyes only to have them immediately start burning due to the salt in the seawater. 

He was unable to close his eyes, enchanted by her beauty as her tail cut through the water with ease. A part of him knew that he might not survive this situation, and he wasn’t ready to die, but he couldn’t wrench his arms from her grasp. Once they neared the sea floor, Lumine did something else that he hadn’t expected: she bridged the gap between them and pressed her lips against Alhaitham’s making his eyes widen at the sensation of their softness against his.

Almost immediately, he felt his body changing. His legs began to knit themselves together, the skin stretching, hardening, and growing scales until he had a long tail that was dark green in color, almost like that of seaweed but with a slightly more blue hue. The fin at the end of his tail was much darker, almost bordering on pure black. It resembled the color scheme of the clothes he normally wore. He felt webbing grow between his fingers, and after a moment of struggling, he was unable to hold his breath any longer, his instincts still telling him that he couldn’t breathe.

Alhaitham inhaled deeply, gasping that first breath in, and he expected to begin to drown, but instead, his lungs easily filtered the water in and back out of him, each breath easier than the last.

What…?

He wasn’t sure what to think or even how to convey his thoughts underwater. Lumine laughed at his response, somehow able to be audible even in the depths. The grip on his arms softened as the transformation finished. She pulled him up through the water with ease, allowing him to partially surface, all of his movements awkward and not coordinated at all.

Once they breached the surface of the water, he pushed his wet hair out of his face, looking at Lumine in bewilderment. “What did you do to me?” His tone wasn’t angry, just curious.

“I temporarily gave you the ability of the merfolk,” she said simply, as if she hadn’t just made him grow an entirely new set of limbs.

He shot her an incredulous look, his normal demeanor returning since the initial shock was wearing off. A part of him couldn’t get the feeling of her lips on his out of his mind, and he shook his head trying to dispel the thought.

“You’ve been able to do this the entire time? Can all merfolk do this?” He had so many questions for her, unable to hide the calculating nature of his excitement.

She laughed again, her smile as warm as the sun. “No, no. Not all merfolk can use that magic. Yes, I could do it the whole time. I just… haven’t met anyone I’ve trusted enough to do it before.” She averted her gaze, a soft blush spreading across her cheeks.

“Never changed a human into a merfolk before?”

Lumine hesitated then, still refusing to look at him. “That and… I’ve never kissed anyone before.

Oh. Oh.

His own blush spread across his face, and he awkwardly tried to swim closer to her, his tail fin brushing hers. It made her jolt like she had been electrocuted. His words when he spoke were soft. “Well…it hasn’t been very high on my list of things to do either.” That was his own way of admitting his inexperience with romance.

Lumine swam in a circle around him, twisting through the water with ease. “Well, would you like to swim a little? This transformation will only last a little while, and I’ll need to rest before I can do it again.”

She was unable to keep her eyes from his tail, admiring its shape and color. He seemed to notice her gaze as he struggled to gain some semblance of control over his limbs in the water. “Does it look strange?”

That seemed to snap the blonde out of her trance, her eyes widening and snapping up to meet his. There was a slight rosy hue covering her cheeks. “N-not at all. Your colors are actually quite lovely.” She watched him struggle to swim for a few moments before she reached out to brush her fingertips against the fin coming from his arm.

“Here, let me show you how to move.”

He could move fairly decently after only practicing a few minutes, taking much less time to learn to swim than it had taken Lumine to walk. To say that she was not jealous of his talent would be a lie, but she shoved that feeling deep within as Alhaitham swam beside her. It had taken him a little longer to get used to conversing underwater, but he was a quick learner.

“Okay, where are we going now? All of this was unfamiliar to me.” He was looking around at the scenery underwater, his sharp emerald gaze absorbing every bit of information he could.

Lumine reached a hand out for him to take as she began swimming along the seabed. “I think this way leads further out into open waters.”

Sensing his hesitation, she gently squeezed his hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to lead you back close to where the boat is tied so you won’t have to swim back very far.”

Alhaitham was definitely not used to being read like an open book, and it made him frown, the thought of her seeing through his indifferent facade and discovering his growing attraction to her alarming to him.

Of course not .  It’s just a passing feeling anyway…

That wasn’t the first time he had tried to convince himself that his interest in the mermaid was purely intellectual, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

“Let’s travel along this small dip in the seabed. It won’t have as many strong currents, and we’ll be deep enough that no one will be able to see us from the surface.”

He didn’t respond, lost in thought as he watched a small school of fish dart around him, seemingly free of fear.

“Haitham?”

A light touch on his arm brought him back to the present. “Hm?”

“Did you hear me?” A shake of his head confirmed the blonde’s guess. “Didn’t think so. We’re going to travel along this path for a bit to see if there’s anyone around.”

That made him perk up. “Anyone around as in…”

“Other mermaids, yes.”

They swam along in silence for a while, Lumine making sure that Alhaitham could keep up with her. He noticed that she kept stealing glances when she thought he wasn’t looking, but it was fairly obvious what she was doing.

“Is something wrong with me?” He couldn’t hold back his question anymore, pausing beside a small pocket of kelp. “I noticed that you keep looking at me.”

The way her eyes widened signaled to him that she hadn’t known how obvious she had been. “O-oh, it’s just that…” She fidgeted with a piece of kelp, ripping it up into tiny pieces as she avoided looking him in the eyes. “I really like the colors of your tail.”

Alhaitham was surprised by the compliment, looking down at his tail. He hadn’t really thought much about the coloration. “Is it a rare color or something? Remember, you’re the first of your kind that I’ve seen, so I have no idea what color the tails normally come in.”

“Oh, they come in almost every color and combination imaginable.” Lumine continued swimming, visibly relieved that the conversation had changed topics.

“Is there any rhyme or reason to the combinations of fins and tail, or is it just a mixing pot of genetics?”

Alhaitham continued to gather information about the merfolk as they continued swimming. He learned several facts while they made good time traveling. One, that mermen tended to have longer fins and brighter colors in order to attract mates, much like some species of birds did. That definitely made sense and explained why his tail was longer than Lumine’s. Two, that the merfolk lived under a monarchy of sorts with a royal family. No matter how much he asked, his companion dodged every question about the royal family, leading the scholar to believe that the subject was taboo for some reason.

And finally, he learned that the merfolk could travel extensive distances underwater in just a few short hours, as evidenced by his and Lumine’s progress. It wasn’t long before they began to pass large expanses of coral, and the fish that were swimming around were more tropical species, native to deeper into the ocean.

When they rounded a bend in the path just past a large outcropping of submerged rock, Lumine suddenly gasped, her face lit up in a bright grin. Alhaitham followed her faze, and he stopped in his tracks when he saw what she had: a long adult mermaid up ahead, gathering something from the sea floor. A couple of smaller merfolk darted around her, laughing as they played with seashells. 

As soon as they approached them, one of the children turned and saw the pair, gasping and immediately swimming behind the adult. That got the attention of the other child and the adult, and they looked up at the approaching duo. The adult mermaid, a brunette-haired young woman with a pale blue tail and cream-colored fin, began to swim over to get a better look at them, pausing when she was a few feet away.

“Hello, I’ve not seen you around here before. Are yo-“ she cut herself off upon approaching more closely, her eyes widening as she caught sight of Lumine. She bowed her head and put a hand over her heart, her eyes wide. “Y-you’re ladyship, I heard that you were missing!”

Alhaitham’s world slowed down until it stopped upon hearing those words from the mermaid. At first his brain refused to cooperate with him, but slowly, everything came into sharp focus. He turned to her, noticing that she refused to meet his gaze.

“I was. But thanks to this young mer, I am on my way back to the palace. You wouldn’t happen to know the way, would you? I’m unfamiliar with this area.”

The scholar noticed that she had referred to him as another merfolk, no doubt to make sure that the stranger wasn’t on guard. He also noticed that the young woman kept looking between the two of them, and he couldn’t stop himself from lightly brushing his fingertips along the fin that sprouted from one of Lumine’s arms. The woman’s gaze instantly narrowed in on it, and she gained a soft smile.

“Of course. I can lead you to one of the more used waterways that leads into the capital if you so wish.” Without another word, she took the hands of her children and began to lead them along the coral outcroppings.

The children kept peeking back to look at Lumine, whispering amongst themselves. Finally, as they rounded another bend, one of them darted back to swim beside her, looking up at her with wide eyes. “Are you really the princess?” Her voice was filled with awe.

“Yes, I am.” She reached out and ran a webbed hand through the little girl’s hair, gently booping her on the nose, making her giggle.

The other child turned his attention to Alhaitham instead. “I like your tail!” He swam closer, almost as if he was trying to touch the scholar’s tail.

Alhaitham was slightly unnerved by the acute attention from the children, and he glanced at Lumine, noticing her amused expression. His own indicated that they would have a lot to talk about when they were alone. Before long, their guide slowed down, looking back at Lumine.

“Alright, from here you just head northwest for a while and you’ll end up near the bubble.” She hesitated for a moment, catching the way Alhaitham looked at Lumine. “I wish you the best in your endeavors, your ladyship.”

She bowed her head and took her children back the way she came, shooting one more curious glance back at Alhaitham. Once she was gone, Lumine’s shoulders sagged slightly. “I’m sure you have a lot to say about all of this…”

“I do, but it can wait until we’re back where you belong, your ladyship .” He was unable to hide the smirk on his face and the teasing tone of his voice, and she pouted at him in response.

“Oh, don’t start that! That’s exactly why I didn’t say anything. I just wanted to be treated like a normal person for once.”

Lumine looked up to the surface of the water, her sharp eyes tracking the movement of the sun, calculating how long they had been swimming. Sighing, she looked back at Alhaitham. “We need to surface for a minute so I can reapply the enchantment. It won’t last as long since I haven’t rested yet, but it’ll have to do. I didn’t mean for us to go so far. Would you rather I take you back to the Port?”

There was no hesitation when he spoke. “I want to see your home.”

Lumine took his hand in hers and led him to the surface, both of them popping their head out of the water. All that surrounded them was the ocean with no land in sight, signaling that they had traveled a lot further than he had realized since so much of the seabed looked the same to him. His emerald gaze searched in every direction for any signs that he could use to identify where they were. As if sensing what he was doing, Lumine smiled.

“There are many islands near here. I assume they belong to another nation of humans.”

Ah. That did help him. “Probably Inazuma then. Your home is near there?”

“Something like that. Are you ready?”

As he turned to look at her, his eyes widened slightly. Lumine had moved much closer to him, and he could feel her breath, soft and warm, on his face. Alhaitham was unable to stop himself from leaning in first, pressing his lips to hers. It was a much deeper kiss, mainly because of the scholar, and it continued until Lumine had to pull back to take a breath, dazed, her face flushed a bright red. Before she could question him, he felt the spell over him strengthening, and he pulled her back underwater with him.

His eyes were bright in the low light, filled with emotion, chuckling in amusement at her flustered appearance, easily still able to see the blush on her face. He realized that he had wanted to do that for the longest time, and it had been everything that he had hoped it would be.

Clearing her throat, Lumine looked in the direction they would be headed. “According to that mermaid’s instructions, it shouldn’t be much farther to the bubble.

“Bubble?” Before he could finish asking her what that meant, she was swimming along ahead of him, occasionally looking back at her for him to follow.

Soon it was clear what she had meant. As they approached a small opening in the nearby rocks, he spotted a rippling in the water that appeared to be barely visible. As they approached the shimmering barrier, Lumine slowed to a stop, waiting for him to stop beside her.

“What I’m about to show you cannot be shown to anyone. You must take it to the grave and into the Abyss beyond.”

Once he caught up to her, she slipped into the bubble and vanished from view. “Lumine?!” His voice was raised in alarm, unsure of where she had just gone.

A hand reached out from the cavern mouth where the shimmering was and grabbed him, tugging him inside. His eyes had clamped shut automatically as he passed the barrier, a cold wave washing over him and making him shiver. There was an amused chuckle beside him that he recognized as coming from Lumine.

“Open your eyes.”

He did so after a moment, and she gasped, his eyes widened at what was in front of him. A large palace rose up from the depths, and they were floating at the edge of a large trench. Merfolk swam all around them in the trench, going about their business.

“Welcome to my home.”

Chapter Text

Alhaitham couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Just a moment before, he and Lumine were treading water in front of a small shimmering cavern in an outcropping of rock at the bottom of the ocean, and the next thing he knew, they were right at the precipice of a large trench that stretched out in front of them, a large underwater city nestled in between the walls of rock. He must have had quite the expression on his face judging by the laugh Lumine let out, an amused look in her eyes.

“Welcome to the Mer-Capital of the world.”

“…How?” That was all he managed to say, his voice carrying louder than he had intended, attracting the attention of a few nearby merfolk that looked in their direction.

Their reaction was immediate.

Some of the merfolk that had spotted them let out shocked gasps, bowing their heads almost in unison, each of their right hands folded over their hearts in what looked like some sort of symbolic gesture that Alhaitham didn’t know. A couple of the others swam off towards the large palace located near the bottom of the large trench, almost crashing into others that were farther away.

To Lumine’s credit, she took everything in stride, like she’d expected this sort of reaction. She just politely nodded in turn to each person that stopped and greeted them, her tone warm, steering the curious merfolk’s attention away from Alhaitham. By that point, he could read her micro-expressions just as well as he could a book, and he noticed that she was a bit stiff, her back immediately straight, the smile on her face not quite reaching her eyes. It was like she was forcing herself into a role that she hated, the one of the perfect member of royalty, the people’s princess.

In an attempt to calm her, Alhaitham reached out towards hers and took her hand, intertwining their webbed fingers as best he could. That also drew the attention of the nearby merfolk that were observing them, their whispers amongst themselves loud enough to be heard even from the pair’s distance to them. They didn’t seem to like how close this stranger was to their princess, but he didn’t care, especially because that simple touch made Lumine instantly relaxed. Alhaitham had never cared for the opinions of those above the waves, after all, and that wasn’t going to change for those below it either.

Lumine sighed softly, glancing at Alhaitham. It was clear that she was still uncomfortable, even though she should have felt excited that she was finally back home. “Well, we should probably head towards the palace now. I have no doubt that they have heard of my return by now.”

Alhaitham just silently nodded, following close beside her, his hand still in hers as they swam, their tails lightly brushing against one another occasionally. There were more whispers from the gathered merfolk, several pairs of eyes on them as they approached the palace, and he was unable to hold in his curiosity any longer.

“Why are they all looking at us like that and whispering?”

Lumine glanced around them with a resigned expression, sighing once more. “Merfolk are heavy gossipers. The princess showing up after mysteriously going missing, holding hands with a strange mer with such am…” She searched for the words she wanted to use. “…extravagant tail and fin colors lead to some very choice rumors that I have no doubt will be spreading across the kingdom very soon.”

Oh. Well, that would certainly explain their curiosity. 

He couldn’t help the way his chest warmed with the pride of capturing Lumine’s eye, the foreign nature of that feeling almost overwhelming. “They think we’re an item.” It wasn’t a question.

“Something like that.” Her voice was laced with amusement, but when he took a peek at her face, he could also see a soft blush coloring her cheeks.

Alhaitham directed his attention to the sights of the mer-kingdom around him, making a note in the mack of his mind to have Lumine explain everything to him when they were finally alone and away from prying eyes. The palace rose up from the depths in front of them, its walls grown from natural coral that had been intricately shaped to have reliefs of sea creatures and plants displayed from the bottom of the walls up to the tips of the large spires. There were several openings at every level that allowed the merfolk to come and go freely as they pleased, many of them eying the princess and her companion as they approached.

Just as she was about to lead Alhaitham in through one of the side entrances, there was a flurry of movement at one of the other entryways. A merfolk shot towards them at such a speed that he was almost a blur, like he was slicing the water as smooth and easily as a bird flying through the sky. He only stopped when he collided with Lumine, his limbs tangling with hers as he spun them around. It caused her hand to be wrenched out of Alhaitham’s, making him frown.

He felt the beginnings of burning jealousy clawing at his heart, but as soon as the pair stopped spinning, and he got another, closer look at the merman, those feelings evaporated.  Lumine’s mirror image looked back at her, their golden eyes locked onto each other, their tails still tangled together as they hovered in the water.

“Lu, you’re alright!” His voice was thick with emotion, and he buried his face in the crook of Lumine’s neck as he hugged her close.

The merman suddenly looked up, just noticing Alhaitham off to Lumine’s side, and he stiffened as he glanced in his direction. “Who is he?” He’d pulled himself away from his twin, tucking her behind him protectively as he eyed Alhaitham with suspicion.

Alhaitham just gave him a smug look, looking down his nose. He was unable to hide the jealousy that came seeping back into his body at his untrusting tone. “I’m the one who saved her.”

“Aether… we should take this elsewhere.” Lumine’s words, spoken softly as to not attract too much more attention, broke the tense spell on the two men, and they both focused on her.

“Aether'' seemed to agree with his twin though he still glared daggers at Alhaitham. “Right, let’s go to our meeting chambers.”

Without another word, he took Lumine’s hand and pulled her along before she could reach for Alhaitham’s hand once more. He had no choice but to follow closely behind them. Once they were in the palace, he lost track of how many twists and turns they had taken down identical-looking corridors until the twins finally paused in front of a set of large double doors.

“In here,” Lumine said to Alhaitham, glancing over her shoulder to make sure he’d followed them.

Aether made himself at home on one of the large chairs in the room, his tail arched to the side, his fins waving slowly in the water. Lumine settled down on a nearby loveseat, leaving enough room for Alhaitham beside her. He joined her instantly, his tail lightly brushing against hers. Unfortunately for him, Aether noticed that particular movement, and his eyes narrowed until they were almost slits.

“Tell me what happened.” His tone was frigid as he glared at the scholar.

Lumine started at the beginning of her tail, speaking of how she had been in the open waters near Sumeru when the Akademiya scholars found her and captured her, taking her back to the capital to be a glorified goldfish. The way she told her twin about the torture she had endured had Alhaitham’s fingernails digging into his palms as Lumine recounted the pain of being electrocuted and the suffocating feeling of being in that small tank of water. Aether seemed similarly uncomfortable, growing more and more angry the further Lumine got in her tale.

Finally she reached the part of her story where she had broken out of the tank and was brought back to Alhaitham and Kaveh’s apartment. Aether shot her an incredulous look then. “He brought you back to his house when you were a stranger, naked and wet, no less? Without questioning you?”

Alhaitham could tell that Aether’s opinion of humans was plummeting by the second. “My roommate never was the most observant of people.”

It seemed that the two men could at least agree with each other on their opinion off Kaveh, judging from the scoff Aether let out. He silently listened while Lumine finished the rest of her tale, only speaking when she had fallen silent. Turning to Alhaitham, the glare he fixed him with made it clear of just how untrusting he was of the scholar.

“So, I’m supposed to believe that this… human saved you, Lu, and he somehow won your trust enough to bring him to our home? To let him brush his tail against yours? ”

Alhaitham realized just then that, in mer-culture, intertwining tails with someone must have had some sort of ulterior meaning than just being friendly, but he found that he couldn’t care less about that. Instead, he wrapped an arm around Lumine’s waist and tugged her closer to tuck her in against his chest, his tail nudging hers as he wrapped his fin around the end of her tail, making her gasp. “Does this bother you?” He couldn’t help taunting Aether then.

That seemed to have been a bad idea, Alhaitham realized, when Aether began to get up from his seat, his tail thrashing angrily. He was just one more annoyance away from swimming over and throttling him to let go of his twin, but before he could, Lumine stopped them by putting her hand on Alhaitham’s chest and shooting a warning glance at Aether.

“None of this. I’m not a toy to be fought over.”

She did stay in Alhaitham’s grasp, sighing softly. “I need to get him back to his people, Ae. I didn’t realize we were so close to the kingdom. But I promise I’ll come right back, alright?”

Alhaitham’s grip tightened on Lumine’s waist when she said she’d be right back, the scholar realizing that his time with her might be coming to a close.

Aether had the opposite reaction. “What?! No, you just got back! You can’t seriously think that I’d let you go back with this… this human . Have one of the palace guards take him back! What if you get captured again?”

The twins argued with each other for a couple of minutes, and Alhaitham had a smug smile on his face while Lumine continued to advocate for herself returning him to Sumeru City herself. Finally, Aether gave in on one condition.

“We need to talk, Lu.” Aether glared right back at Alhaitham when he smiled, looking like he wanted to murder him, and he stressed his last word heavily. “ Alone .”

“Fine,” Alhaitham relented, lazily trailing his fingers across the soft skin of Lumine’s abdomen before he let her go, watching as goosebumps rose on her in their wake. “I’ll be right outside if you need me, Lumine.”

The room was eerily silent as Alhaitham left the meeting chambers, closing the door behind him. Once he was gone, Aether visibly deflated, sighing as he slouched down on the seat beside Lumine. “This is… a lot to take in, Lu.”

He took a moment to collect his thoughts, staring a hole in the door. “You really like this human? How do you know he’s not tricking you?”

“I just do. Can you please take the time to get to know him?” Lumine suddenly leaned forward towards her twin, changing the subject. “The surface world is amazing! There are so many types of food, and everything is so colorful! Oh, I would love to show you so much of the world I’ve discovered.”

They went back and forth for almost five full minutes before Aether finally gave in. “Fine, fine , but we’ll both take him back to his home, and if you can convince me…” He didn’t need to finish that sentence for Lumine to understand the meaning. …Then I will let you go. 

Once the twins had finally decided what they were going to do, Lumine swam to the door and opened it, letting Alhaitham back inside. He studied her quietly for a moment, his eyes scanning over her face for any sign of her emotions, unconsciously reaching out to brush his fingertips against the fin along her arm. “Well, what did you both decide?”

Aether swam up to them, scowling as he answered before Lumine could. “We’re both going to take you back. I want to see what you’ve shown my sister to convince her the surface is so great.”

The plan had been decided, then: They would leave right after dinner, graciously giving Alhaitham a chance to experience a meal with the merfolk, a rare gift that hadn’t been shared upon a human in recently recorded history.

But before that, Alhaitham needed to have an important talk with Lumine. He took his chance when Aether swam past him to go talk to some of the chefs for that night’s dinner, one he wanted to celebrate Lumine’s return during. Alhaitham made a grab for Lumine’s arm when she was about to follow her twin, successfully stopping her as she shot a questioning look back at him.

“So, you really are royalty, then?” He was more curious than upset, realizing that this was the perfect opportunity to learn about the merfolk culture’s social structure, something that no living human could brag about.

Lumine hesitated, a flash of worry crossed her face before it was smoothed over into a shaky smile. “Yes, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you. I just…” I didn’t want to be treated any differently than anyone else. 

She continued her statement, unsure of where to look as she explained. “You and Kaveh are the first people to treat me as an equal other than Ae, and I really… like how it felt.” Realizing how foolish she sounded, Lumine looked away to stare intently at a piece of coral on the wall.

Her eyes widened as Alhaitham suddenly grabbed her chin, angling her face to look at him. “That’s because you are my equal.” His gaze was intense, his emotions burning into her.

“R-right.” Lumine was fumbling, her brain short-circuiting under his watchful eyes. “Well, let’s take a small tour of the palace while waiting for dinner to be ready, okay?” She successfully changed the subject to no longer have her as the focus, knowing that he would be interested in learning more about the merfolk.

He was full of questions, and time flew by until it was finally time for them to eat. A guard had fetched the pair, casting a curious glance at Alhaitham before he dutifully followed them to the dining room, like he was worried that Lumine was going to be attacked.

The actual dinner went about as well as it could have gone, with Alhaitham struggling to learn and adapt to actually eating while underwater, marveling at the ease with which the twins excelled at it. He ended up swallowing more water than food with the first few bites he took, but by the end of it, he’d adapted fairly well. A wide variety of food was served, most of it aquatic in nature, and Alhaitham liked nearly everything that he tried. Aether even answered one or two questions the scholar had asked about the merfolk cuisine, and Lumine smiled as the conversation flowed between the trio.

Aether was most intrigued by how Alhaitham had described a dish called “soup,” which he wasn’t fond of. That was the exact reason he’d been interested in it, after discovering that fact, acting a bit petty.

After dinner had been eaten, the twins prepared to depart back to the land of the humans, to Sumeru, with Alhaitham. Several members of the palace staff watched them as they left, whispering to one another about the mysterious merman who seemed to be glued to Lumine at the fin. The scholar was still asking questions about various things that caught his eye as they traveled, showing an interest in just about everything he saw. Both Lumine and Aether answered his questions with a great deal of patience, oftentimes finishing each other’s sentences.

By the time they had finally reached the warmer waters near Port Ormos, night had descended upon them, and during their travels, Aether had warmed up slightly to Alhaitham, no longer trying to burn a hole through him by glaring at him. The boat that Alhaitham and Lumine had left was still tied up around the coast, hidden in the tall grass, waiting for them, and it was only when the trio reached it that they realized they had a problem: there were no clothes for Aether to change into.

No doubt the Port Ormos authorities would not take kindly to him walking around public naked.

“I’ll have to go get some clothes before you can come on land,” Alhaitham explained to Aether when Lumine stopped him from transforming and climbing up into the boat. “It won’t take me very long.” He paused then, frowning when he realized that he didn’t know how to change back into a human to do that.

Aether seemed to realize that Alhaitham apparently couldn’t change back into a human by himself, and that deep scowl reappeared on his face.”Just hurry it up. I don’t want anyone spotting my sister and I before we have our disguises.”

Lumine swam towards Alhaitham, and it was then that he realized the reason why Aether was scowling. He couldn’t hide the smug smile he shot at him as the scholar cupped Lumine’s face in his hands when she reached him, still smiling when she kissed him. It didn’t last nearly as long as he wanted it to, reluctantly letting go when she pushed away from him, his tail separating into his normal human legs. And there he was then, human and naked . 

He didn’t pay his nudity any mind as he climbed up into the boat and slipped his clothes back on, glancing back down at the twins when he was done only to see Aether covering Lumine’s eyes.

Alhaitham just pretended like he didn’t see that, slowly untying the boat from the tree it had been hitched to. “I’ll be right back.”

The twins were left alone as he rowed the boat back towards the docks, disappearing around a bend in the coast. As soon as he was gone, Lumine just knew Aether had something to say by the way he loudly sighed. 

“He seems… smart, at least.” That was probably the biggest compliment Aether had ever given anyone who had shown a special interest in Lumine, but then he continued his sentence. “…but I still don’t like him.”

Several minutes had passed with no sign of Alhaitham returning, and just when Lumine began to worry, something caught her attention, and she and Aether turned to see Alhaitham returning, this time in a boat with a motor. He had a small set of robes that Aether slipped on as soon as he’d walked ashore, the quality of the clothes much lower than those that adorned Lumine, who he had shielded from Alhaitham’s view while she changed.

“So much fabric. Is it all really necessary?” Aether couldn’t help but ask as he felt the fabric of Lumine’s skirt and then those of his robes.

After they were all clothed, Alhaitham steered them towards the docks of Port Ormos, and as they approached, a member of the Matra watched them, stopping them as they stepped off of the boat. “Do you three have papers for that vessel?”

Both Aether and Lumine froze, eyes wide, while Alhaitham just frowned. “I purchased a day pass,” he said as he pulled the document out of his pocket and handed it to the guard, his sharp emerald gaze never leaving the man’s face. A perfect poker face.

But for a member of the Matra to be visiting Port Ormos at such a time… it didn’t bode well.

Their worst fears were realized when he looked up from the paper, his gaze locked onto the twins. “…And then can you tell me why you departed on the docks a minute before as a single person and then arrived with two others?.”

The words sent a chill down Lumine’s spine, realizing that they were going to have to come up with a convincing enough answer to mislead the guard, and a quick one at that.

Chapter Text

With the Matra guard staring the trio down, it was up to Alhaitham to come up with something that sounded convincing, especially since the twins just stared at the man in fearful silence when he’d started questioning them. Alhaitham was able to think quickly on his feet as he always did, able to change the situation in their favor. He leaned close to Lumine and suddenly tugged her close against his side, his arm wrapped around her waist. Turning his head, he pressed his lips to the side of her head in a chaste kiss.

“My fiancée and her brother just finished swimming around the bend over there, and I didn’t want to ruin their fun while I went and purchased an extra set of clothes.” He was purposely vague, letting the guard come up with his own conclusions.

The guard didn’t look totally convinced, eying the ill-fitting robe Aether wore, his gaze falling down to the young (mer)man’s feet. “And why exactly did you need to purchase more clothes? It certainly seems…”

Suspicious. He didn’t have to finish his sentence for the trio to know that’s what he’d been thinking.

“Why does a member of the Matra want to know what we’ve been up to? Why are you in Port Ormos so far away from the Akademiya in the first place?” Alhaitham successfully managed to redirect the guard’s attention while he thought of what to do next. He hoped that Aether would at least attempt to play along and knew that Lumine would certainly catch on and assist him.

He had full faith in her cooperation.

After a moment’s hesitation, the guard frowned. “Who are you to question what the Akademiya is doing?”

Either this guard hadn’t worked with the Akademiya for very long, or Alhaitham had truly done a magnificent job in making sure he was unseen, unheard, and unnoticed during his work as a Scribe. He pulled out his identification card from the Akademiya and showed it to the man. 

“Like it says, I’m the Akademiya’s Scribe, and as such, that makes your business my business as well.”

Judging from the Matra member’s expression, he was scrambling to come up with some way to salvage the situation and turn it towards his advantage. Finding no way to gain the upper hand, he signed and gave in. “Fine. If you must know, the Sages have most of our members out looking for that thing that escaped from the tanks at the new research center, though I highly doubt that it somehow grew legs and just walked away.”

Oh, if you only knew… Alhaitham kept that thought to himself, his face a blank mask.

Aether stiffened, outraged at how casually the guard had called Lumine a “thing,” but he knew better than to let his anger get the best of him and give them away. The guard suddenly frowned and leaned closer to Lumine, studying her face closely. In response, Alhaitham unconsciously pulled her closer against his side, his grip tightening on her hip.

“Do I know you from somewhere? You look… familiar,” the guard questioned, his brow furrowed as he tried to recognize where he’d seen her from.

It was Lumine’s turn to lie like her life depended on it - which it did. “Haitham showed me around the Akademiya a few days ago, so you probably saw me walking around Sumeru City. I wanted to see everything before I decided to put an application in myself.”

She could feel Alhaitham’s eyes on her, but she kept her gaze leveled with that of the Matra. “I also brought my brother today to see if my… fiancee would show him around as well. I think the work that’s being done regarding the merfolk is very… interesting.” Lumine stumbled over the unfamiliar term that Alhaitham had called her, fully intending on asking him what it meant as soon as they were alone and on their way to Sumeru City.

Her smooth answer seemed to finally make the guard believe them after her successful attempt to further distract him from learning why Alhaitham had had to buy Aether ill-fitting clothing. Either he didn’t care too much about thoroughly questioning everyone that walked by, or he didn’t think challenging the Scribe would be worth his time. He just waved them along, going back to walking along the docks, questioning other people passing by.

Once he’d disappeared from their direct line of sight, both Aether and Lumine let out sighs of relief in unison. Alhaitham reluctantly let go of Lumine’s hip, letting her move away from him before he started walking. They continued along their way, following Alhaitham along the roads through Port Ormos while keeping an eye out for opportunities to catch a ride back to Sumeru City.

While Lumine had gotten fairly comfortable walking on her land legs, Aether certainly had not. His walk was more similar to a man in a severely drunken state rather than a perfectly sober one, but he refused to voice any complaints or to go slower than his twin. He was bare-footed, and the feeling of the hard pavement roads under his feet made them ache after only a couple of minutes of walking.

By the time they’d reached the entrance into Port Ormos, where a majority of the traffic by land flowed into town, it was fairly late in the evening, twilight settling over the land, meaning that there likely wouldn’t be anyone traveling with a cart until the next morning so that their sumpter beasts could actually see the road in front of them.

Alhaitham had hoped that they would have been able to go a bit faster, but now they were going to have to stay in the port town overnight and catch a ride once the sun rose.

It wasn’t something that Alhaitham had planned on - or even wanted to do, but he couldn’t exactly ask two merfolk who could barely walk more than a few strides at a time to walk all the way back, especially not while it was night.

Instead he walked them back through town into the nearest decent inn.

When they’d finally reached their destination, the young man behind the receptionist’s counter kept glancing at the twins with a concerned expression - especially at Aether - who seemed barely able to keep up with Lumine and Alhaitham, weaving drunkenly through the common area quite a few strides behind them. Lumine seemed to be holding herself together only slightly better, limping with her teeth grit together as she forced her sore feet to continue on one step at a time.

“Can I… help you three?”

Alhaitham was the one who answered the innkeeper, first gesturing to himself and then at the twins. “I’d like two rooms please.”

When the innkeeper glanced in Aether’s direction once more, he looked concerned, but then Alhaitham spoke up once more. “Don’t pay him any mind. He’s just had a bit too much fun tonight, hence why we’re stopping here until the morning. As you can see, he’s clearly not git for travel at the moment.”

Aether’s head shot up from where he’d been watching his feet while he walked, his face red from exertion as well as anger. “I can travel just fine!” He snapped, loud enough to be considered shouting.

It hadn’t been his intention, but his outburst, purposely provoked by Alhaitham, only made his story more convincing. Lumine, realizing what Alhaitham was doing, played along perfectly. She stepped back to fall in line with Aether, linking her arm in his to try and help hold him up.

“Yes, yes, brother of mine. You’re completely sober, aren’t you?” Her words were soft, like that of a parent gently pacifying a child in the middle of a tantrum.

That outburst, along with Lumine’s supplementary comments, seemed to be just what was needed to convince the innkeeper. He looked back at the guest ledger in front of him. “You said two rooms?”

“Yes. Both with single beds please, one preferably large enough for two people.” To emphasize what he meant, when Lumine stepped back up beside him, Alhaitham wrapped his arm around her shoulder and tucked her in close, not breaking eye contact. 

“For my companion and I to have some alone time” had been the unspoken understanding that passed between the two men.

His actions and words had the intended effect he’d wanted on Lumine. She blushed, her eyes widening as her head jerked to look up at him. Yes, they had slept together for warmth, but she certainly hadn’t expected him to imply it right in front of her twin . 

Apparently Aether hadn’t either. 

He sputtered and looked like he was ready to strangle Alhaitham if he could reach his neck, his face flushed even brighter than a jueyun chili. “Now look here, yo-”

Alhaitham ignored him, cutting him off by dropping a pouch of mora onto the table, making the coins clink loudly. It was much more than he needed to pay for the two small rooms he’d asked for. “Like I was saying - two rooms, each with one bed, if possible.”

A few tense, silent seconds ticked by, and Lumine wasn’t sure if Aether was going to be able to restrain himself from physically lunging at Alhaitham who seemed intent on antagonizing him further, a smug smile on his face while he traced circles over her hip with his thumb. The innkeeper chuckled nervously before he spoke.

“My apologies, but we only have one room open tonight. It only has a single bed, but I can have a rollaway bed sent up so that all three of you will have a place to sleep, if that’s satisfactory to you?”

Alhaitham frowned, his brow furrowed. He didn’t give Aether time to object. “If that’s all you have, then there’s nothing we can do about it. I’ll take it.”

Once the key to their room was in their grasp, the trio made their way up the stairs toward their assigned room. It took a painfully long time for Aether to make it up there, and he was tempted to just stubbornly collapse in the lobby and sleep on one of the chairs there. He and Lumine carried on, though, and struggled up the many steps, both of them limping even more heavily once they finally reached their room.

“I don’t see how humans live like this,” Aether mumbled softly once he’d caught his breath. “No wonder you’re all filled with hate. You have to put so much effort into just moving around .”

That earned him an amused chuckle from Alhaitham, but that only served to make him even more grumpy. Alhaitham had reached their room’s door several seconds before the twins had and was waiting for them patiently. Once they were all there, he turned the key in the lock and pushed open the door, first to step inside the room.

This would be the first human bedroom that Aether would see and one of the first for Lumine as well, aside from Alhaitham’s house. It would be a lie to say that Alhaitham didn’t want to impress them after seeing how elegant and extravagantly decorated their underwater home was to him. Sadly, there wasn’t too much time to inspect the room, especially not in any great detail or to make sure that everything was just how he wanted it. He had two exhausted merfolk in tow, and they would no doubt want to rest as soon as possible.

Alhaitham took one quick look around to see if he could do anything to improve the environment before the twins saw the room.

The room was sparsely decorated. No knickknacks adorned the single nightstand or dresser in the room, and like the receptionist had said, there was only one bed, thankfully large enough to fit two people, and a single armchair, as well as a small bathroom located in the rear of the room that contained a small dink, a bathtub/shower combo, and a toilet. Otherwise, the room was empty.

He wasn’t too concerned with interior decor in general unless it was bought to purposely annoy Kaveh, and after he’d finished his quick inspection of the room, he stepped aside to let the twins in behind him.

Lumine was the first one to enter the room, already acclimated better than her brother to humans and their environments. She sat down on one side of the bed, sighing in relief as she finally got a break from being on her feet. The bed creaked in protest when she readjusted to get more comfortable, moving aside to give Aether room to sit down as well. Instead of doing so, however, he began to closely inspect everything in the room as if he was checking it all for hidden traps.

Alhaitham watched him with an arched eyebrow, amused by just how much more untrusting Aether was compared to his twin. “Satisfied?”

Aether just huffed in response to his question before he finally sat down beside Lumine. He was incredibly sore - and cranky - after walking around for the first time ever, barefoot across the stone-paved road of the port city. It hadn’t been kind to his bare feet, and Lumine’s weren’t in a much better situation even though she’d been wearing shoes, mostly thanks to the damage that still hadn’t healed from the first time she’d worn them.

A loud knock attracted everyone’s attention, and a soft voice could be heard calling through the door after a moment’s hesitation. “Hello? I’m here with the rollaway bed that was requested for this room. Do you need any help moving it in?”

Alhaitham opened the door, shaking his head. “No, we can get it ourselves,” he responded to the staff member waiting outside.

The young man peered into the room as if he was looking to confirm something. Sensing that, Alhaitham crossed his arms over his chest and took a protective posture in the doorway, blocking the man’s sight of Lumine - but not of Aether. “Is there anything else?”

Seeing Aether sitting peacefully on the bed watching him with an untrusting expression, the inn staff member timidly shook his head. “No, that’s all. I was just…”

“Snooping?” Alhaitham’s tone was frosty, his expression cold.

“Ah… I was told that there was someone here heavily under the influence and was just… making sure that there weren’t any problems.”

The twins both watched him nervously, and Aether instinctively leaned into Lumines’ side for comfort, like he was trying to get out of his line of sight. Alhaitham proved to be an effective guard against whatever the young man’s intentions had been, blocking access to the room until he finally left after bidding them a good stay and disappeared down the hall towards the stairs to the lobby.

Aether was the first to speak when he was sure they were completely alone again. “Are all humans so nosy and rude?”

While he was pulling the rollaway bed into the room, Alhaitham frowned but didn’t comment on what he’d said. Instead, he was too preoccupied with scrutinizing the bed. It was rather small, much too short for someone of his height, and the springs in the mattress could be felt even when he only pressed his hand down lightly on the bed, making it creak loudly. He suspected the floor would probably be more comfortable than the bed would, but he’s have to make do.

He doubted that Aether would let Lumine share a bed with him,though she’d already done so before, even if it was just to keep her warm.

Alhaitham pushed the bed to the only empty spot in the room, to one side of the single bed, and covered the small mattress with the sheets, blanket, and pillow that had been supplied alongside it. 

“I’ll sleep here.” He’d take the loss of Lumine beside him in exchange for improving Aether’s relationship with him.

That seemed to please him, but Lumine’s brows furrowed when she saw Alhaitham making the small bed for himself, and she looked almost… sad?

There’s no way that could be because she wants to sleep near me… could it? Alhaitham shook his head to dispel that thought, filled with uncharacteristic self-doubt that she could ever feel anything for a boring human like him.

She deserved someone extraordinary.

“Are you even going to be able to fit on that bed?” Lumine voiced what Alhaitham had just wondered, though he just shrugged dismissively.

Aether scoffed in response. “He can bend his legs. He’ll be fine.” He seemed determined to be as impossible as he could, and it was beginning to annoy Alhaitham.

The two men regarded each other silently, neither of them wanting to be the first to break the awkward atmosphere between them. Lumine fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, unsure of where to focus her gaze. She didn’t want them to fight with each other, not with how she cared for both of them, and she intended to put an end to this little grudge before one of them did something unforgivable.

“So…” She leaned back on her hands from where she sat on the bed, directing her gaze towards Alhaitham. “What are we having for dinner?”

The mention of food made Aether perk up immediately despite how much he tried to hide it, interested in trying human food for the first time. Alhaitham cocked his head, his expression thoughtful.

“Is there anything you want?” His voice, so frosty when speaking with Aether, was full of warmth when he spoke to Lumine.

She contemplated his question for a long moment, weighing her options before speaking. “I don’t think Ae and I have it in us to walk there, so it would have to be something that could either be delivered or that could be easily bought and brought back here.” She hesitated. “Could you go out and bring us something?”

That would also give her a few minutes to talk to Aether privately.

Luckily for her, Alhaitham, usually more on the lazy side, had a soft spot for her and would do almost anything she asked of him. “Of course. I’ll be right back. Don’t let anyone in here while I’m gone, alright?”

With one last look over his shoulder, he left the twins alone, and Aether spoke up almost as soon as the door had closed behind Alhaitham. “(((THAT))) is who you’ve been staying with, who you chose to show our home to ?” His voice was dripping with disdain, clearly unimpressed with his sister’s choice in companion.

Lumine turned to glare at him, her eyebrows angled in anger. “He and his housemate saved my life . Without them, I would still be stuck in a small tank being gawked at by hoards of scholars all day, not being fed, being poked at with needles.”

Aether just huffed and laid back on the bed to stare at the ceiling above them. “But he’s so… boring .” He seemed less mad and more exasperated at that point.

They were both silent then, not quite angry with each other, but neither one wanted to concede to the other. Aether gave in first with a sigh. “So… what’s your favorite part of the surface world so far?” He couldn’t keep the curiosity from coloring his voice.

“Alhaitham,” Lumine answered instantly, using the one response she knew would get on his nerves. She was only halfway joking since she did very much enjoy his company.

“Ugh,” Aether groaned, covering his eyes with his arm, exhausted. “What’s your real answer?”

Lumine hummed, swinging her feet where they dangled off the side of the tall bed. “I suppose… the food? There’s so much more variety than what we can usually get back home.” She turned and looked at her brother then, her eyes bright with excitement. “There’s even a pudding made out of flower petals! It’s so sweet!”

That made him move his arm to shoot her an incredulous look, like he couldn’t - wouldn’t - believe her. Before their conversation could continue, the door opened, and Alhaitham walked back in with a paper bag in his arms. The tantalizing smell of meat came with him, making both twins’ stomachs growl loudly in unison. Lumine jumped up with excitement, moving a bit too quickly in her haste, tripping over herself as she made her way to him.

“What did you get? It smells amazing!” She stopped right in front of him and rested her hands lightly on his arm, barely letting him close the door behind him.

Alhaitham just chuckled, smiling down at her. “I wanted to get something that would be done quickly and also had several different ingredients in it so your brother could get a good first introduction to human meals. They’re called pita pockets.”

Aether, looking between his sister and the human that had apparently captured her heart, began to feel resigned to the situation he found himself in. He could tell that Lumine really did care for Alhaitham, both in the way she spoke to him and also how she carried herself, like a planet revolving around its sun. There was nothing he could do to stop it, not unless he wanted her to be angry with him for all eternity.

If there was anything Lumine could do, it was to hold a grudge against someone who hurt the people she cared about.

Pushing that bitter feeling down before it consumed him, he sat up to get a better look at the bag of food in Alhaitham’s arms. “What is a pita pocket?”

Lumine looked similarly confused as well as curious as Alhaitham sat down on a corner of the bed, making sure to give Aether plenty of space as he opened the bag of food. The scent of cooked meat increased tenfold along with the smell of vegetable toppings in the pockets of flat bread. He gave a wrapped pita pocket to each of them, leaving the last one for himself.

Unwrapping his, Aether stared down at the food in wonder. In his hands were two halves of the flat bread that had been puffed up when it cooked, the bread warm and soft but also firm enough to cave into itself as he held it. The pockets had been stuffed with meat and vegetables, covered in spices and a creamy, yogurt-based sauce. He wasn’t sure what many of the ingredients were, but he didn’t particularly care, looking back up at Lumine to see what she did with hers.

She was staring at her food with a similar expression. Their food looked almost identical except that hers seemed to be missing one of the ingredients that his pita pocket had: some sort of juicy, bright red slices of fruit. 

Lumine seemed to notice him staring, and she answered his unspoken question. “I don’t like them, the…” She hesitated, looking to Alhaitham for help.

“Tomatoes,” he patiently explained. “They’re a type of fruit that have an acidic and also slightly sweet flavor. I noticed she didn’t seem particularly fond of them when my housemate used them in a dish he made, so I asked the food stall owner to take them off of hers.”

The fond tone in his voice was apparent, and Aether didn’t bother getting angry at him this time. Instead, he just nodded, picking one of the tomatoes out of his bread pocket to take a bite of it on its own. Unlike his twin, he found it to have a pleasing taste, smiling as he then lifted the whole pocket up to his mouth to take a small bite out of it. He mostly got a mouthful of bread, lettuce, and some of the sauce instead of the meat and other ingredients in the filling, but he didn’t seem to mind, approving of the satisfying taste.

Lumine didn’t even hesitate and took a large bite of hers, making a small drop of sauce to smear on the edge of her mouth which she immediately licked at, unaware of Alhaitham’s sharp gaze focused on the movement. Instead of acting on many of the impulses that were running through his mind, he just began meticulously removing some of the ingredients, an annoyed look appearing on his face.

“Why did you bother ordering everything on it if you’re just going to pick it off?” Aether had watched him as soon as he noticed, watching him with suspicion, eyeing his own food like some of the ingredients might have been poisoned.

Alhaitham’s expression soured further. “I didn’t. They got my order wrong.” He continued to pick out the ingredients he didn’t like until there wasn’t much left in the actual pita pocket besides the lettuce, meat, sauce, and the bread itself.

Without Lumine asking, Alhaitham handed some of the toppings he had picked out of his food to her, a soft expression on his face when his hand brushed against hers for just a moment too long. Aether rolled his eyes but didn’t comment on it. Instead, he stole some of the extra toppings from her before she could stop him, laughing at the betrayed expression on her face.

They all ate their meal together, the twins terrorizing each other while Alhaitham watched silently, a smile on his face. Aether seemed to be in a much better mood after he’d eaten, and after the food was finished, the moon had risen high in the sky. The temperature fell as night settled over the port town while its residents went to sleep.

Lumine suddenly remembered something she’d forgotten to ask in her excitement about food. “Haitham?” She only continued speaking when he’d looked up at her. “What was that term you used? Fian…cee? What does it mean?” She tripped over the unfamiliar word again, her eyebrows knit together as she concentrated on pronouncing it correctly.

Ah. That . “It’s a human term that means someone is promised to be betrothed to the other.”

His simple explanation made her face burn bright red, and she had to avert her golden gaze from his emerald one so that she wouldn’t get even more flustered. Aether huffed softly in exhaustion as he laid back on the bed on top of the blankets when he’d finished his food, too stuffed to move.

“Don’t get any ideas, human,” he warned, his threat rendered harmless by the wide yawn that came right after it.

Both merfolk knew that Alhaitham’s actions were the only reason they weren’t locked up in a cell somewhere, so Aether let it slide for once. Lumine had more energy than her twin, idly swinging her feet again. Alhaitham had pulled out one of his books and started reading, sitting on the same side of the bed as Lumine though, making sure that there was an “appropriate” distance between them in order to not provoke Aether more than necessary.

“Would you like to take a tour of the city at night?” Alhaitham didn’t actually want to go anywhere, even though it would be easier to take the twins around without attracting suspicion, but he did want to be on Aether’s good side, even if only so that he could spend more time with Lumine.

Aether sat up reluctantly, looking at Alhaitham for the first time since he’d brought dinner back with him. “I’d rather never walk again. The city can wait, and I want to sleep… The journey tomorrow won’t involve a lot of walking, will it?”

Lumine answered his question before Alhaitham could. “We’ll be sitting in a cart pulled by these large land beasts. I think they’re called…” She frowned, looking towards Alhaitham to help her.

“Sumpter beasts,” he said simply, without looking up from his book.

“Right. It’ll take a few hours, but then we’ll be in the city. And Aether, it’s huge !”

The prospect of walking through a “huge” city made Aether groan. “Greaaat, I can’t wait,” he said sarcastically.

“Oh, quit whining, you big baby!” Lumine whacked him in the center of his stomach with her open palm, the blow louder than it was painful, though he still let out a grunt in response.

Aether laid back down, very sleepy after finally eating. Lumine seemed to be getting sleepy as well, stretching and yawning loudly. Alhaitham, slightly more awake than they were, stood up to give them more room, leaning against the wall with his book open, content to quietly read for a while longer. He looked up when he heard Lumine sigh, an amused expression crossing his face when he’d noticed that Aether had fallen asleep on his side on top of the blankets .

Lumine had begun to try and pull the blankets out from under her comatose brother so she could get under but was having trouble, her human limbs not strong enough to maneuver him out of the way. Alhaitham, seeing this, walked over to stand beside her and help. With their combined efforts, they managed to rearrange the blankets so that they were pulled on top of Aether with enough room for Lumine to get under them as well.

“Thank you,” she said warmly as she wiped the sweat from her brow, the humidity of the port town making it feel like she was walking through soup and not air.

He just nodded, still standing beside her. “Don’t mention it.”

They were silent then, just enjoying each other’s company as they watched Aether sleep. Finally though, Lumine couldn’t hold back her exhaustion any longer, yawning loudly. The action made Alhaitham chuckle, and he lightly pushed her forward with his hand to her lower back, making her take a step forward to bump her knees against the side of the bed.

“Sleep. You and your brother have a long day ahead of you tomorrow.”

Lumine blushed when his fingers against her lower back, and she obeyed him but not before she turned back to him and reached up to grasp his shirt. After a moment’s hesitation, she pulled him down to her at the same time she rocked up on her feet, pressing her lips to his in a chaste kiss.

When she moved away, her face was bright red, though his wasn’t much better as he stared at her with wide eyes, stunned into silence.

She just cleared her throat, pulling back the blankets before she got into bed, her back turned to him, afraid to face him. Her voice was barely above a whisper when she next spoke. “Are you sure you’re going to fit on that rollaway bed?”

It took Alhaitham a moment to respond, and he just sighed. “Better there than sharing a bed with your brother and waking up to him strangling me. …Sleep well, Lumine.”

Neither of them wanted to talk about what had just happened, though they knew they would have to eventually.

Without another word, Alhaitham turned off the light. It only took Lumine a couple of minutes to fall asleep, though Alhaitham was awake much longer, his mind occupied with all that had happened that day.

Did Lumine truly harbor feelings for him - an ordinary human? He desperately wanted to think that she did.

When he was finally tired enough to fall asleep, the last thing he saw before closing his eyes was the sight of Lumine turning over to face him, a smile on her face as she slept peacefully.

Chapter Text

Aether was the first one to wake up the next morning in the inn room despite having been the most tired from the night before after having walked through Port Ormos on his human legs for the first time. The sun hadn’t risen yet, so the room was still mostly dark, and the only illumination came from the small night light plugged into the wall by one of the night stands. It was quiet in the room other than the soft sound of Lumine breathing as she still slept, rolling over and stealing the blankets yet again for the umpteenth time since they’d laid down to sleep.

Snorting softly under his breath, Aether let her keep the blankets as he sat up and stretched before unsteadily rising to his feet as he practiced standing on his human legs again. He turned to look at where Alhaitham was asleep on the rolling bed nearby, his back turned to face them with his legs awkwardly pulled up against his chest so that he could fit on the much-too-small cot.

It would be so easy to just snuff out his life before Lumine woke up…

The only reason he managed to control himself and not act on that impulse was because he knew that Lumine would never forgive him. If his twin was anything, it was stubborn, and a literal eternity would be a long time for her to hold a grudge against him. Knowing Lumine, he didn’t doubt that she’d never trust him again, and that wasn’t something he was willing to risk.

He’ll be dead in a few decades anyway, and then Aether would get his sister back.

When the silence was shattered by the creaky groan of the rolling bed’s mattress, it alerted Aether that Alhaitham had woken up, and he crossed his arms as he watched the scholar begin to unfold his tall frame off of the tiny bed, his eyesight unhindered by the lack of light in the room. Alhaitham didn’t seem to notice that he was also awake at first, and that gave Aether the time to finally study the object of Lumine’s fascination. He wanted to learn just what made this human so special.

Alhaitham was certainly attractive, at least for a human, that is. Aether was aware of that at least, even if he didn’t approve of them. His expressions were always guarded and calculating, and it was impossible to know his true intentions or emotions under that mask. With what little he knew of humans, there was no way he could be trusted until they’d have a very long talk, one where Lumine wasn’t present.

Lumine mumbled softly in her sleep, like she’d sensed that her brother was thinking of her, and she buried her face further into the pillow she was drooling on, seemingly intent on sleeping through the sunrise that had begun to brighten the dark room. Alhaitham must have heard her because it coaxed a soft chuckle out of him. The sound of his laugh was warm, even bordering on affectionate. He’d finally finished extracting himself from the bed and had sat up before stretching, his back popping several times loudly as he groaned.

After a loud yawn escaped him, Alhaitham stood up and began to put his shoes on. “I’m going to go get coffee,” he stated more to himself than to Aether, though it did alert him that he had noticed him standing there. He left the inn room without another word or even a glance backwards, leaving Aether as the only awake one in the room.

Aether wasn’t quite sure what the “coffee” Alhaitham spoke of was, be he assumed that it was some kind of human nourishment or elixir that was important for daily life since he’d left so early to obtain some. Left to his own devices, he began examining everything in the room, starting with the small bathroom attached to their room. The vanity was the first place he turned his attention to, making faces in the mirror before he moved onto the toilet. Not knowing how to work it, he ignored it and then focused on the thing that took up most of the room and interested him the most: the tub and shower combo against the wall.

He prodded at the shower curtain warily, and after he deemed it harmless, Aether pulled it back, revealing the tub and the small assortment of travel-size shampoo, conditioner, and soaps that had been supplied by the inn. They were in plain bottles with their contents labeled in simple black print, and he opened one, the shampoo, squeezing it slightly. When the soapy liquid inside made several bubbles fly out of the bottle along with the shampoo itself, Aether was startled enough that he dropped it, mentally cursing at the loud thud it made when it hit the tub’s bottom.

He peeked back into the other room to make sure that Lumine hadn’t woken up. She was still fast asleep, allowing him to continue snooping around. Returning to the shower, Aether was drawn towards the knobs to either side of the faucet. Curious, he bent down and turned one on, inadvertently leaving his entire body under the shower head. Immediately, icy cold water rained down on his back, and he let out the most embarrassing shriek he’d ever done as well as a string of colorful curses as he flailed backwards to try and escape the stream of water. The back of his knees hit the wall of the bathtub, and he fell, landing heavily on his rear with a thud.

“Aether?!” That commotion had successfully shaken Lumine from her slumber, and her panicked voice made him scramble to get back up before she inevitably dashed into the bathroom to check on him. The sheets were still tangled around her legs, almost looking like she was waddling with a makeshift tail. They almost made her fall in the shower in her haste to reach him.

Embarrassed, he waved her off as he wrung the water out of his shirt that clung to his body, making it hard for him to move. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, Lu. I was just looking around and didn’t expect a… rainfall device or whatever this,” he gestured to the shower head, “is.”

"It’s a device that lets humans rinse off the dirt and sweat they’ve accumulated on their body at the end of the day. You can make the water be any temperature you want!” Lumine seemed proud to be able to educate her clueless brother with what she’d learned during her short time on the surface.

Before Lumine could teach Aether any more about the mysteries of the human race and their possessions, the door to their inn room opened, and Alhaitham stepped back inside, a drink tray with three cups on it in his hands. An amused expression crossed his face as he arched an eyebrow at the twins when they walked back into the bedroom, one of them dripping water onto the floor and the other tangled in the bed sheets.

“It looks like I’ve missed quite a lot in the time it took me to get coffee and come back,” he chuckled, one side of his mouse raised in a half smirk. “Care to explain what happened?”

“Nothing,” Aether answered immediately, his tone clipped and snappy. His gaze was focused on the tray Alhaitham still held. “What is that?”

Lumine visibly brightened when she caught sight of the drink tray, a warm smile spreading across her face as she noticed with glee that there were three drinks on the tray. She was surprised that he’d gotten something for all of them, sure that he didn’t get along very well with Aether. Alhaitham’s gaze followed her line of sight, and he set the tray down on the nightstand.

“Something to help us all wake up,” he explained without actually telling them what was in the opaque, lidded cups. He handed two of them to Lumine, keeping the remaining one for himself.

One of the drinks he’d handed her was cold and bright orange with swirls of white mixed within and topped with a fluffy, white cream, while the other was hot and a tan color with white foam on top. She was about to claim the first one for herself, but Aether managed to snatch it from her hands before she could. “I want this one! It looks better.”

They scuffled with each other for a moment, Lumine grabbing Aether’s braid while he pushed her with his hip, and they almost spilled the drinks on the clean, carpeted floor, but before they got too rambunctious and made a mess, Alhaitham suddenly grasped Lumine’s arm above the wrist and tugged her sharply towards himself. The action surprised her enough that she gasped and let go of Aether’s hair, letting him grab the other drink from her as well, now holding both of them.

“Hah! I win!” Aether gloated, wasting no time in taking the first sip of the orange-colored beverage, his eyes widening as the unfamiliar bite of citrus flavor filled his senses. The sharp acidity had been toned down with some sort of light cream, something else he’d never had the chance to taste before. “This is amazing! What is this?”

Lumine grumbled under her breath, annoyed at her twin until she heard the low chuckle next to her ear, a hot puff of breath against her neck as she suddenly realized just how close Alhaitham had her close to him. His hand had slipped over her arm and down her torso until he lightly held her thigh where he lightly tapped his fingers over her stomach that was still covered by the sheet twisted around her.

“It’s made from the juice of an orange, a fruit, and it’s mixed with cream and blended ice,” Alhaitham explained, his voice slightly gravelly. “If I had known that you two were going to fight over it, I’d just have gotten two of those. The other one is called a latte, made from coffee beans and steamed milk with caramel drizzled on top. I think you’ll like it, Lumine.”

All Lumine was able to do was nod silently, her face covered in a rosy blush from how close he was to her, able to feel the warmth radiating off of his body and how his chest vibrated slightly when he spoke. She took the drink from Aether and took a hesitant sip to distract herself, visibly brightening when the sweet taste filled her mouth. It was nothing like the bitter atrocity he had served her back at his home, though she could tell it had the same base ingredient, coffee .

Aether frowned, looking down at his drink and then at hers. “I want to try that one, too.”

His words broke Lumine would of her trance, and she rolled her eyes and swapped her drink for his, also taking a sip and nodding appreciatively at the sweet taste. Aether, thinking that her drink was going to be as sweet as his, took a large drink without hesitation and immediately choked on it, forcing himself to swallow the hot, fairly bitter liquid.

“What is this nasty concoction?” He gasped, coughing as he shoved the cup back into Lumine’s hands.

Alhaitham couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped him, and the sound made Aether glare at him, like he’d been personally betrayed by the scholar. Even Lumine seemed amused, unsuccessfully trying to hide the smile that had spread on her face.

Lumine took her drink back and took another sip through the straw after she’d used it to stir the caramel drizzle and milk foam together. ““If you think that’s bad, you should have tried it without the added sweetness!” She shot Alhaitham a playful glare over her shoulder. “He let me try the coffee without any sugar or milk added, and it was awful .”

Aether just sighed and carried the orange and cream drink with him when he went to dry his clothing from where they’d been soaked in the icy shower before. He sat the cup down on the bathroom sink and started rubbing one of the towels vigorously against the fabric of his shirt and pants to dry them as quickly as he could because he didn’t want to leave Lumine alone with Alhaitham for too long. What he saw when he came back in made him cock his head to the side slightly in confusion.

Alhaitham was reclined on the bed with his back leaning against the headboard with one arm resting on his bent knee while his other hand held the book he’d started reading. Lumine sat close to him, but not too close , after she’d untangled herself from the sheets, sipping her drink while she looked out of the nearby window and watched the sunrise. They both seemed to be peacefully and quietly enjoying each other’s company silently. It was quite… peaceful.

When Alhaitham noticed that Aether had reentered the room, he shut his book and sat up straight. “Are you ready to go now? We need to begin the journey back to Sumeru City soon if we want to get there before nightfall, which I highly recommend. The roads aren’t exactly dangerous, but the sumpter beasts can’t see in the darkness, so they’ll all have left the port before too long.”

The trio left the inn just a few minutes later, after the twins had finished their drinks. During their brisk walk through town, they stopped occasionally for short breaks so Aether could rest and also observe whatever caught his eye. Alhaitham made sure to keep their stops short so that the Matra wouldn’t get too suspicious of them as they patrolled the town, and luckily, they managed to avoid all of the guards fairly easily.

When they reached the entrance to Port Ormos, there were still a few carts parked nearby, their sumpter beasts already hooked up in their harnesses as their drivers prepared to leave. Aether froze as soon as he saw the large creatures, his eyes wide as he suddenly pulled on Lumines’ sleeve to get her attention. “Are those the… beasts that the human mentioned before? Are they friendly?” He whispered, like he was afraid he’d attract their attention.

“Don’t call him ‘the human!’ His name is Alhaitham!” Lumine snapped before she actually answered Aether’s question. “Yes, those are sumpter beasts. And… yes? I think they’re friendly.” She seemed proud to be able to identify the beasts, though she did look to Alhaitham for the answer to the second question, making him chuckle.

“Yes, as long as you’re gentle with them, though I don’t recommend just walking up to one unless their owner is around. They’re strong enough to trample a human to death,” he informed the twins, unable to hide the slight smile on his face when they stared at him with identical expressions of worry.

Alhaitham approached the carts and their drivers one by one and asked each of them where they were headed, and if their destination was Sumeru City, if he and his two companions could catch a ride there. Luck was on their side when they found one such driver who was glad to carry them to the capital in exchange for a handsome sum of Mora that Alhaitham was all too comfortable providing.

The back of the cart was filled with boxes and barrels of various goods that had been lashed down with thick ropes to prevent them from being jostled around while the cart moved along the uneven road. There was barely enough space for the three of them to sit down, and they ended up being squashed together along one side of the cart, with Alhaitham and Lumine sitting side by side and Aether across from them. Lumine’s back was leaned against the boards that made up the wall of the cart, growing increasingly uncomfortable as the ride began.

Alhaitham, noticing her discomfort, stretched his arm out and wrapped it around her shoulders casually, pulling her closer until she was tucked against his side in the same motion. It let her use his arm as a neck rest, and she gladly did so, sighing contentedly as she looked at the scenery they passed by. Aether had glared at him when he’d done that, but he wasn’t able to say anything since the cart driver was listening in. Instead, he copied his twin, staring at all of the different kinds of foliage and creatures such as butterflies and birds that scattered as the cart went by.

So,” the driver began, “are you all going back home from a little trip to the Port?” he seemed to be a bit of a busybody, looking back at them with a curious gleam in his eyes as he clicked his tongue for the sumpter beast to go just a bit faster along the worn road.

“Something like that,” Alhaitham responded, glancing at the two merfolk in the cart with him. It would be best to offer just a little bit of information to appear friendly and make the man less suspicious. “I’m just showing these two around a bit. They’re not from here.”

The driver nodded before he turned back to face the front. “That explains why they’re so taken with the view. Where are you both from, if not from Sumeru?” He addressed the twins.

Both twins hesitated, but Lumine was the one to finally speak and tried to be as vague as possible, hoping the cart driver would fill in the gaps in her answer without her having to be specific. “We’re from… a nation with a lot of water. Lots of water and fish but not really so much dense foliage.”

She was lucky that it worked. “Ahhhh, I see! You’re both from Fontaine! That definitely explains why you’re so taken with Sumeru’s scenery.”

Aether and Lumine visibly relaxed, glancing at each other. Lumine was fine with playing the part of a Traveler, silently signaling to her twin that he shouldn’t say anything that would compromise him. She had more experience in the human world, albeit limited, than he did. He nodded and turned to look at the scenery once more as the cart driver continued speaking.

“Well, I’ve heard that Sumeru City’s been on high alert lately, with lots of the Matra moving around, searchin’ for something. Y’all should be careful to not get caught with the wrong crowd. Word is that they’re stopping people on the streets to question them.” Without knowing it, the cart driver had given them key information that could be used to anticipate what the city’s atmosphere would be like and give them a chance to avoid detection.

“Is that so?” Alhaitham commented coolly, his tone radiating boredom. “We’ll be sure to stay out of their way, then.”

The next few minutes were filled with silence that was only broken by birdsong or the snuffling of the sumpter beast as it moved along the road, each of the people on the cart lost in their own thoughts. Without realizing it, Lumine had leaned to the side towards Alhaitham and had curled into the warmth of his body as she tried to absorb some of the heat radiating off of him. The sun hadn’t yet climbed too high into the sky, and the coolness of the night still lingered, something that both twins seemed uncomfortable with, their bodies unused to making their own body heat well enough to thrive on the surface world.

It didn’t take long for the chill of the morning was slowly replaced with the normal mugginess of the tropical climate, and Aether wasn’t sure which one was worse. He was beginning to think it was trying to breathe through the thick, humid, soup-like air. Lumine seemed to have adapted to it, sitting quietly as she watched Alhaitham as he read his book, using his thumb to turn the pages, his other arm still securely wedged behind her and under her neck. He occasionally brushed his fingers across her shoulder, barely hiding the smile on his face when she shivered as he did so.

By the time the sun had risen high in the sky, the heat of the day had set in, and the trio were all covered in a light sheen of sweat. Lumine was miserable as she constantly shifted where she sat, trying to find a position where she could get cool, but since she was trapped between Alhaitham and a rather large barrel, all of her efforts were in vain. Sighing, she just settled against him once more, her head against his shoulder as she wiped the sweat from her brow. Aether had almost melted onto the floorboards of the cart, like he was trying to escape the sun beating down on them.

Sumeru City came into view not much longer after that, and Aether was absolutely speechless at how large the capital was. He stared with his mouth hanging open, eyes wide as he looked at the architecture and at the people that were going about their lives as the cart pulled in through the entrance to the city and slowed down at the cargo inspection point.

“Alright, this is as far as I can take you,” the driver drawled as he gently pulled on the reins to ease the cart to a stop in one of the inspection lots at the depot so his goods could be checked and he’d be allowed entry into the city proper. “Y’all enjoy your trip, alright?”

Alhaitham was the first one to move, the joints in his long legs cracking as he stretched before stepping off of the back of the cart. He busied himself by pulling out his pouch of Mora once more to offer some to the cart driver. He’d already paid him at the beginning of the trip, but it definitely wouldn’t hurt to make sure the driver left with a positive view of the travelers. He’d be much less likely to offer up information about them… hopefully, at least.

Lumine and Aether were much slower to stand, both of them wobbling as they tried to walk on their legs that had fallen asleep. Once they’d successfully exited the cart and had regained full control of their limbs, the trio made their way further into the city. Alhaitham led the way, walking slowly enough that Aether didn’t fall too far behind, letting him get a good look at his hometown. It also gave the scholar time to observe the change in atmosphere. People were bustling about like they always had, either walking to the Akademiya to begin their research for the day or to the Grand Bazaar to buy whatever they needed. The several food stalls along the way made Aether’s mouth water, but he didn’t comment on his sudden hunger, filled with unease at being surrounded by so many humans.

It didn’t take them too long to reach Alhaitham’s house, and the twins stood beside him as he fished his keys out of his pocket to unlock the door. Either Kaveh wasn’t home, or he hadn’t bothered to keep the door unlocked for them if he was. The latter appeared to be the case because all of the lights were off in the home as Alhaitham pushed open the door and ushered Lumine and Aether inside. Aether limped with his teeth grit tightly as he immediately sat down on one of the low couches without waiting for an invitation.

“Make yourself at home,” Alhaitham said after the fact, with sarcasm coloring his tone.

Lumine sat down as well, removing her shoes with a sigh of relief. Her heels and ankles were still raw, sore, and hurt from where she had been injured before, and they had begun to bleed again. She didn’t complain though, instead watching as Aether began inspecting the surroundings. He’d stood up and made his way to one of the many bookshelves in the living room.

“So this is where he lives…” Aether mumbled under his breath as he picked up a book and flipped through it. It was a pointless endeavor considering that he couldn’t read or write the human language. He continued inspecting the room, silently judging it based on its appearance on whether it was suitable for his sister.

Alhaitham had gone to a nearby linen closet and pulled out a couple of blankets and a pillow before he placed them on the low sofa where Lumine still sat. “That book’s a little too advanced for you,” he quietly teased, getting a smile from Lumine - what he’d been hoping to achieve.

It wasn’t meant as a compliment to Aether, and he wouldn’t have taken it as one even if he had.

“Okay, human. Show me what’s so special about you so I can judge if you’re good enough for my sister!” He jabbed a finger in Alhaitham’s direction, his eyes narrowed untrustingly at him.

Evidently Lumine didn’t like that, because she suddenly grabbed one of the small, decorative pillows on the low couch and promptly threw it - with amazing aim - at Aether and hit him in the face with it. Hard. “I’m not a possession to be traded from one party to the other! I can make my own decisions.”

…And she’d already chosen, anyway.

Aether sputtered as he got a mouthful of fabric and a healthy dose of Lumine’s scorn. He did seem to respect her outcry, instead turning his attention back to the bookshelves and the trinkets displayed on them between the rows of books. He picked each of them up and turned them over in his hands as if he was trying to learn the hidden secrets of human society. Before he could inspect more than a couple of objects, the front door opened, and Kaveh walked in with his arms full of bags of groceries. He hadn’t seemed to notice Aether at first because his back was turned as he pulled the door closed.

“’Saw that the door was unlocked. Are you back, Haitham?” When he turned around, he froze as he saw not one, but two familiar-looking blondes in the room along with Alhaitham who had nonchalantly opened a book and was casually flipping through it.

He managed to stutter out a greeting. “Uh… hello. I’m Kaveh, and I live here. And you are…?”

Lumine spoke up for Aether since he seemed to have frozen up. “Hello again, Kaveh. This is Aether, my twin. He came to see what I find so special about the surface world.”

“You’re the roommate who carried my sister to safety from the tank she escaped out of? I owe you a great debt.” Aether bowed his head in reverence.

Alhaitham couldn’t conceal the snorting sound made through his nose at Aether’s sudden change in attitude, especially since it was directed towards Kaveh of all people. Kaveh noticed the sound and turned to glare at him.

“What was that noise for?! Ugh, never mind. I don’t have time to deal with you right now.” Kaveh turned to the twins. “I’ll make dinner for everyone. Aether, is there anything you want, or should I just cook something I think you’d like? I know your sister is fond of crab, but it isn’t something I have on hand.”

Considering the fact that Aether didn’t even know what most of the ingredients in human food even were , his opinion wouldn’t have been very helpful, though he did chuckle when Kaveh mentioned that Lumine liked crab. “I’m sure I’ll be fine with whatever you make.”

While Kaveh was in the kitchen making dinner, Lumine and Aether spent their time speaking softly to each other on the couches, speaking low enough that Alhaitham couldn’t hear them. Not that he cared, of course. He’d sat down on the other couch and was busy reading, though he did occasionally and casually look up at Lumine, studying the happy expression she had on her face when talking to her twin.

He wanted her to look at him that way, to completely capture her attention.

She seemed to feel his eyes on her because she looked up at him and smiled softly. They really needed to talk.

It didn’t take long for Kaveh to finish preparing dinner, and he walked back into the living room carrying a tray filled with plates of shawarma wraps, two cups of juice, and two glasses of wine. Neither twin seemed to know what to do with any of it, so Kaveh began explaining. “I picked up some of the meat for this on the way home from a food stall, and the rest of the prep was fairly simple. It’s roasted meat with vegetables, covered in a sauce and wrapped in thin flatbread.”

Aether took one of the shawarma wraps, turning it over in his hands. “This reminds me of the…” He looked to Lumine for help.

“Pita pockets,” she answered helpfully.

“Yeah, the pita pockets we had yesterday. Do all human foods include meat and vegetables wrapped in bread? Not very much variety…”

Alhaitham didn’t bother answering and instead left the room and went into the kitchen. Lumine watched him go, the curiosity shown on her face through her earnest expression. She stood up as well and turned to Aether. “I’ll be back, alright?” After he’d nodded, she left her twin and Kaveh alone in the living room together  and followed Alhaitham into the kitchen.

Kaveh was quiet as he sat down and took a small bite of his food so he had an excuse to not talk. It seemed that Aether had other plans, however. “You seem to be the reasonable sort, human. What is your opinion of your housemate?”

Once Kaveh had swallowed his mouthful of shawarma, he sat up straighter on the couch across from Aether. “What do I think of Alhaitham? Oh, I think a lot of things about him. He’s stuck up, horrible with people, always leaves messes around for someone else to pick up, ignores everything unless it benefits him…” He continued rambling off reasons that he was frustrated with his roommate, doing absolutely nothing to increase Aether’s opinion of the man.

Still, Kaveh sighed and then said something that changed everything. “He may be impossible, but he really cares for your sister. I do know that much. He’s just too stubborn to admit it, but I plan on making him whether he likes it or not. She deserves his honesty.”

What Kaveh didn’t know was that Alhaitham had already sort of revealed his feelings, when he had the high fever before. He had at least admitted that he didn’t want to lose her, though it wasn’t a proper confession. That was what Kaveh wanted him to do, to let her know exactly how much she meant to him.

“Even you say that, huh. Do you think he would treat my sister well?” Aether was staring down at his shawarma wrap, his appetite suddenly gone at the thought of Lumine staying on the surface with Alhaitham, a distinct possibility he knew could happen.

Kaveh took another bite of his wrap, chewing slowly as he thought of how to respond. He swallowed the food, sighed, and looked up at Aether. “I do. He may be all of the things I listed before, but once Haitham latches onto something in that enigmatic mind of his, he doesn’t let it go. Your sister would not want for anything, except possibly a better conversational partner. He’s not too good at pleasantries.”

Before they could continue that conversation, Alhaitham returned from the kitchen with his own plate of shawarma wraps, though they looked a lot thinner than the ones on the tray Kaveh had brought into the living room. Lumine followed him like a puppy, carrying a small basket of fruit slices and mild cheeses. Aether seemed confused, and Lumine explained before he had a chance to question it.

“Alhaitham doesn’t like a lot of the toppings, so Kaveh didn’t make any for him since he wouldn’t have eaten it anyway. Apparently this happens a lot, so he just leaves the base ingredients in the kitchen so he can make his own the way he likes it.” She had a fond expression as she gazed at Alhaitham’s back, like she was perfectly content with his quirkiness.

“This happens at almost every meal,” Kaveh added with an exasperated sigh. “At least it’s less food waste to just let him make his own plate.”

Neither Lumine nor Alhaitham revealed what they had talked about - if anything - in the kitchen. Lumine sat down beside Aether, her smile widening when Alhaitham wordlessly sat down on her other side despite the fact that there had been much more room beside Kaveh on the other couch. He didn’t bother nagging him about it, though, instead sitting up straighter.

“I think you’re going to have to come up with a plan. The Matra have all been mobilized across the whole city looking for their ‘lost research project.’” He said that with air quotes, a look of disgust on his face at the inhumane ideology. “After this, how long are you two planning on staying on the surface? I love your company, but I think it may be getting too dangerous for you to remain here. You’ll be heading back to the sea permanently before long, right?”

Kaveh’s words made Alhaitham stiffen beside Lumine, his eyes focused on the shawarma wrap in his hands. After a long moment of silence, he finally spoke up. “I… have something I need to say.”

Chapter Text

For the first time in his life, Alhaitham was speechless, and it was his own fault. All three blondes: Lumine, Aether, and Kaveh, stared at him and waited for him to say whatever he needed to. But he faltered, his usually strong self-confidence waning as all attention was turned his way. This was a first for him. And Kaveh seemed to notice his hesitance and suddenly stood up, clearing his throat.

“Aether? Can you follow me to the kitchen? I want to show you some of the foods that Lumine liked. Maybe you’d like to try them too?” He stared at him intently, like he was trying to mentally will him to follow his suggestion.

He seemed confused, staring at Kaveh with a frown. “Why? I want to hear what he has to say.”

Kaveh just stared at him even harder, baffled by Aether’s inability to read the room, but luckily, Lumine caught on to what he was trying to do. “You should go with him. I think Haitham was just going to say something about the state of the city. You know, since the Matra are swarming around so much.”

It was a lie, one of the first she’d ever told her twin, but the grateful look Alhaitham subtly shot her made it all worth it.

Aether looked between everyone before he finally gave in. “Alright, but I’m just letting you know now that I’m going to try everything , so you’d better be prepared.”

After Kaveh successfully got Aether into the kitchen, Alhaitham seemed more interested in studying the shawarma in his hands like it contained the answers to life’s greatest secrets rather than continuing what he’d begun to say. The silence stretched between him and Lumine, but she patiently waited, not pushing him to say what was on his mind. He would when he was ready.

It didn’t take too long.

“Do you remember what I said when I was feverish?” His voice was soft, like he worried he’d spook her. It was so unlike how he normally acted, afraid that she’d reject him.

Lumine hesitated, her stomach churning in anticipation of where this conversation would lead. “I do, but I wasn’t sure if you remembered. You were pretty out of it.”

It was when he’d said that he didn’t want to lose her, that she was amazing and worth fighting for. She’d gone over those words in her mind several times, wondering what exactly he meant by them.

He chuckled, interrupting her thoughts before he sat up straighter and clasped his hands over hers, his gaze filled with a burning intensity. “I do remember, and I meant every word. I don’t want to lose you.”

The butterflies in Lumine’s stomach took a swan dive, and her eyes widened as a blush spread across her face. Before she could speak, he continued, his confidence returning when she didn’t immediately reject him.

His words came faster and faster, rushing to get them out before she could stop him. “I’ve never felt the way I do about you towards anyone else. Ever. My stomach twists every time you smile, and my heart aches like it’s been stabbed when I think about being away from you. It beats against my rib cage so quickly when you look at me, that the first time it happened, I worried it was a heart attack. I hate feeling like this, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

He drummed his fingers against the back of her hands that he still grasped, a nervous habit surfacing in front of her for the first time as he continued. “I know that you won’t stop living in the sea. I know that. I won’t ask you to, but I’m willing to do anything to be with you, so if there’s anything I can do…”

Before the poor scholar, usually so calm and collected, could spiral into an anxiety attack, Lumine pulled her hands from his and cupped his face, making him look her in the eyes since he’d been staring a hole in the floor.

“Shhh, calm down.” Her voice was soft, warm, and comforting. “You don’t have to say all of that. I know you feel that way, but…”

He filled in the words he assumed were coming. “But you can’t leave your brother.” He closed his eyes, accepting defeat. “I… understand.”

Lumine sighed and shook her head, not that he saw it. “That’s not what I was about to say, Alhaitham.”

How seriously she said his name made him frown, and he looked at her once more, the fear plainly reflected in his gaze, though there was the faintest light of hopefulness, too.

“What I was going to say was that I couldn’t unless the Akademiya stops hunting me and my kind. I don’t want to live my life hiding away like some criminal when I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.”

That seemed to be much better than he’d been expecting, and Alhaitham perked up considerably as he leaned into her touch. He leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers, his eyes closed again. “I’ll use my leverage as the Akademiya’s Scribe to convince them. Your kind will be safe, finally.”

The conviction in his words made Lumine tear up, and she had to hurriedly wipe her tears while Aether reentered the room, followed closely by Kaveh. Neither of them seemed to notice anything off at first. Alhaitham didn’t want to let go of Lumine yet, not when he’d just poured his heart out to her and not when she hadn’t said that she returned her feelings. She’d only said that she’d stay with him.

Maybe the merfolk express their feelings differently… Alhaitham desperately wished that there were books available on merfolk behavior and courtship. He was flying blind here, and he didn’t like being unprepared.

Lumine reluctantly freed herself from Alhaitham’s grip, her slender hands moving down his chest lightly before she moved away, not missing the unmistakable way his eyes flashed at her touch. Before he could pull her back to him, Aether had something to say.

“Hey, did you know that humans have-“ He cut himself off, eyes narrowing when he saw how closely Lumine had been sitting to Alhaitham.

It was clear to him that something had happened, though he wasn’t sure what. Lumine’s face had a rosy glow across her cheeks, and even Alhaitham seemed flustered as he ate the shawarma wrap he’d nearly forgotten. Kaveh sighed loudly.

“Well, I hope everything that needs to be said has been said?” When no one answered him, he rolled his eyes.

Aether joined in. “Yeah, sis. Did you finish talking after rudely sending me away?”

Ah, so he’d been fully aware of her intentions.

“Don’t be mad at her. I was the one who needed to speak.” Alhaitham’s tone was clipped, level, his embarrassment forgotten while he defended the one he cared for. He didn’t bother saying that he hadn’t been through talking. Instead, he lied. “Yes, that was all. What happens next is going to be rather difficult, though.”

Kaveh and Aether both looked confused. “What step? What are you planning, Haitham?” Kaveh asked, suspicious.

“I plan to convince the Akademiya to abandon the search for merfolk and to accept them as formal members of Sumerun society.”

They stared at him like he was crazy, and Kaveh was first to voice his opinion. “Do you really expect that they’ll do that?”

Alhaitham’s eyes flashed. “I don’t intend to give them any choice.”

A smile slowly spread across Lumine’s face, and she couldn’t help but feel a fresh wave of compassion and something more come over her as she looked at him. This man cared for her and so boldly pledged to help her people no matter what it would cost him.

“Thank you,” she whispered and took his hand to trace her fingers over the fabric of his gloves.

Aether didn’t want to like Alhaitham, he really didn’t. Not when he worried that the man was going to take his sister from him, but the fact that he was so willing to help all merfolk, not just Lumine, made it difficult not to like him.

He coughed and crossed his arms, staring a hole into the floor. “So, where are we sleeping tonight?” Aether was ready to go to bed. Surely the men had a guest room that could fit both him and Lumine.

Both Kaveh and Alhaitham paused, and Kaveh scratched his head. “Uhm… about that.”

“You can have the sofa while Lumine stays with me,” Alhaitham suddenly answered firmly as he slipped his arm around Lumine’s shoulders to pull her close in against his side. “It makes sense since we’ve already slept like that and she has trouble regulating her body temperature.”

He didn’t add the fact that he really wanted to be near her, no matter the scenario or circumstances. Predictably, Aether wasn’t about to let that happen, but as he started to object, Lumine stopped him. “It’s alright, Aether. He won’t do anything untowards to me. He hasn’t yet, and you’ll be fine with the extra blankets on the sofa, anyway.”

The truth was that Lumine ALSO wanted to be alone with Alhaitham, especially since they had basically just confessed to each other. There were a lot of feelings they needed to work though.

And luckily, Kaveh seemed to agree with this arrangement, though it was a mystery whether or not he knew the true reason. He went to the hallway closet and gathered up an armful of blankets and a fluffy pillow for Aether to use. “Here. These should be enough to keep you warm. And I wouldn’t worry about Alhaitham doing anything to your sister. He may be blunt, aggravating, and prideful, but he’s a gentleman at heart.”

After a few more minutes of Aether complaining, he finally settled down with one last huff while he flopped down on the sofa. That left Kaveh and Alhaitham to go to their separate rooms, with Lumine in tow behind the scholar.

Once he was in his room, Alhaitham folded back the blankets and sat down on the edge of his bed, but he made no move afterwards to get under them, while Lumine stood with her back leaned against the bedroom door. Neither of them moved or spoke for a long moment, until Alhaitham looked up at her, his expression unreasonable.

“Lumine… will you come sit with me?” His voice was soft, eyes searching her face for something. “Please?”

She’d learned that, at first, he was blunt, thoughtful, calculative, and cold, but she also knew that there was a warmth between that false exterior that could melt anyone’s hearts. Just as it had done to her. Lumine came to sit by him, leaving a few inches between them just in case she’d read his intentions wrong and didn’t want her to be in his personal space.

But oh did he want it.

Alhaitham turned his body to better face her, and he leaned forward to press his hand against her cheek, cupping her face. His thumb traced over her cheekbone softly. “Can I kiss you?” He suddenly asked.

His boldness surprised her, and a blush spread across her cheeks all the way up to the tips of her ears. No one had ever asked her that before and especially not so bluntly. Still, it WAS quite like Alhaitham to not beat around the bush, and she didn’t mind one bit.

“Y-yes, but you should know that I’ve never really kissed anyone before, so I don’t really know what to do,” she admitted, embarrassed.

He seemed surprised, his fingers brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “But you’re so beautiful, kind, and smart. Surely you’re a popular princess.”

His soft touch raised goosebumps on Lumine’s skin, and she couldn’t help but lean into it, reaching up to cover his hand in hers against her face, trapping his fingers there. “Popular with my people, yes. But with ruling a nation… you don’t really have time for making friends or anything… else.”

Was this romance? Could she even classify it as that when she didn’t know how their future would play out? Lumine desperately wanted to.

Alhaitham chose then to make his move when he closed the gap between them and pressed a caste kiss to her lips. He was firm and steady, like he knew exactly what he was doing - even if he was just as clueless towards romance as she was. Lumine gasped at the warmth that radiated off of his body as he pressed himself closer to her and smiled against her lips.

Her heart pounded against her ribs as he maneuvered them back onto the bed and peppered kisses across her jaw and down her neck, focusing his attention there when he felt her jolt suddenly when he reached a sensitive spot. He was careful to take in every hitched breath, every pull of her fingers in the fabric of his shirt to guide him and to learn exactly how to please her. It only took a couple of kisses to make Lumine melt.

“W-wait,” she breathed, grasping at the hair at the nape of his neck to make him look up at her.

Alhaitham hummed, a prideful smile on his face. “Yes? What is it, love?”

His affectionate nickname made a surge of heat shoot through her, and it took her several seconds to remember what she’d been about to say. “How are you so good at this? I wouldn’t think that you’d be… knowledgeable. No offense meant, of course.”

He snorted and slid his hands up her body, starting at her waist. His fingers slipped under her shirt and lifted it a couple of inches while he answered her. “I’m just good at observation. You’re correct that I don’t have much experience in this endeavor, but if you’ll allow me…”

Alhaitham smirked and trailed his hands up over her torso, lifting the shirt even higher. The heat given off by his hands made her shudder with pleasure, her toes curling when he kissed her again. She fully melted into his touch, her hands roaming over his back to pull him closer.

“If I do something you don’t like, please let me know. My aim is to please you, and if you want me to stop-“

Lumine cut him off. “Don’t. Don’t stop, please,” she whined as he settled in between her legs, moving even closer.

Alhaitham chuckled and did as she asked, lowering himself even further to press against her while she ran her hands through his silver hair. Almost reverently, she moved it back away from his eyes to see them clearly. The heat that smoldered in his gaze made her shiver in anticipation.

“As you wish.” He rose up, making her whine at the loss of his body heat, and shrugged off his coat and pulled off his tight black shirt, completely exposing his upper body.

Lumine’s gaze grew hungry, and she sighed in contentment when he pressed her down against the bed. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled her closer. While Lumine wasn’t entirely familiar with the human form, when she felt something hard press against her clothed folds, she knew exactly what it was.

“O-oh,” she sighed before reaching down to grasp at the bulge in Alhaitham’s pants, making him suck in a breath through his teeth, his head pressed against the crook of her neck. “Excited, are we?”

He’d inadvertently smacked his earphones against her cheekbone hard enough to leave a little red mark, and Alhaitham couldn’t pull them off fast enough, apologizing profusely. “I’m sorry. I, ah. Wasn’t expecting you to do that.”

All she could do was laugh, her shoulders shaking as she tried to contain it. He just stared at her while she wiped tears from her eyes. “If the price of seeing you flustered is a little bruise on my cheek, then I’ll gladly pay it,” she teased him.

What she hadn’t expected was for Alhaitham to go on the offensive.

Since Lumine hadn’t been wearing a bra, there was nothing to stop him from grasping at her ample bosom after he pulled her shirt off. Her skin was much cooler to the touch than his, and that only increased the stimulation he gave her as he learned how she liked to be touched.

“You’re perfect,” he whispered as he nipped at the flesh just below her ear, a spot that he’d remembered was sensitive a few minutes before.

While he learned what she liked, it only took a whimper here or an arch of her back there before he could coax out her whimpers and moans that made him painfully hard. He ground his clothed cock against her, cursing under his breath when she spread her legs further.

“ Fuck , Lumine. You drive me crazy, and all I want to do is to make you mine,” he groaned.

She pulled his face to hers and kissed him again. Unlike their first kiss, she was more insistent, more bold as she nipped at his bottom lip. Alhaitham let her control the kiss while he was busy elsewhere. He pushed his palms against her thighs and made her spread her legs even wider so that he could see the wet spot on her underwear.

Alhaitham clicked his tongue at her, a smirk on his face while he discarded his gloves and then pushed aside her underwear to swipe two fingers over her folds. Her breath hitched and her hips jumped, but he was able to hold them down easily to continue to please her.

“Are you ready, love?” He asked, kissing her again.

When he pressed against her clit, Lumine saw stars. She was so sensitive, so unused to any kind of stimulation in this form, that she came undone with the least amount of effort. But if she thought that that was the end of it, she was mistaken.

Alhaitham didn’t give her any chance to come down gently, ready to make her so overstimulated that she could only think of him. He wasn’t concerned about getting off himself, not when he was enjoying her sounds and the expression on her face.

They would end up spending most of the night learning each other’s bodies, bonding in ways that only intimate couples could, until Lumine fell asleep in Alhaitham’s arms. Her body was boneless, marks all along her neck, collarbone, and thighs, while he had scratches down his back and hickeys on his neck.

How Alhaitham had felt inside of her, with her cooler body temperature, was unlike anything he’d ever accomplished with his hands. She’d been so tight, so eager to pleasure him like he’d done with her, that he knew that that was it for him. It would always be her in his heart.

All in all, it was a very educational experience, one he would be eager to repeat as often as able.

Alhaitham woke up first the next morning. A sunbeam had decided to make itself his problem, and he huffed softly. He had his arm thrown over Lumine’s side, his hand pressed against her stomach while she laid in his arms. Her hair tickled his chin as she sighed softly. He couldn’t help but study how she looked while she slept.

Her chest rose and fell slowly, and she suddenly turned over to nuzzle in close against his chest, inadvertently giving him a very nice view of her breasts. Alhaitham was half-tempted to continue their activities from the night before, but he knew he should probably let her rest. At least for a little while.

The sound of something being knocked over in the living room with a loud clatter made him sigh softly and carefully extract himself from Lumine so he could get up, but she wasn’t having any of it. Lumine slowly opened her eyes, blinking away the bleariness as she looked up at him.

“…Alhaitham?” The breathless way she said his name has his self-control slipping, but he managed to not pin her down and kiss her until she was a complete mess. Again.

Instead, he leaned back down and pressed a kiss to her lips, gently cradling her cheek. She leaned into his touch. “Yes?” He asked.”

“Where are you going?” Lumine sat up, forgetting that she happened to be completely naked. Not that it really mattered considering that he was now intimately knowledgeable about her body. Still, it was a nice view.

He quickly pulled his clothes on. “I need to get started on that proposal for the Akademiya’s board of directors.”

“First thing in the morning? I was hoping to spend more time with you,” she whined.

How could he deny her that?

Lumine slowly got dressed, wobbling slightly on legs that still wanted to act boneless and sore. Once she was fully clothed, she followed Alhaitham out into the living room.

Aether had made himself comfortable on one of the low sofas, flipping through one of the books that had been littered around the room by Alhaitham at some point. He looked bored, but as soon as Lumine and Alhaitham stepped out of the bedroom together, he shut his book and looked up, his arms crossed across his chest.

Before he could say anything, Lumine spoke first. “I’m in love with Alhaitham,” she blurted out, stunning both her twin AND Alhaitham.

“ What?! ” Aether jumped up, knocking over several books in the process. “What brought that on?”

Lumine seemed to have no qualms at all about divulging the night before, but luckily for him, she didn’t go into detail. “We made love,” she said simply before continuing. “And he cares about me. I’ve never felt about someone how I feel about him, and I want to spend my life with him.”

Both men stared at her in shock, and that’s also when Kaveh just happened to come into the living room at Aether’s sudden shout. He stared between the three of them and sighed. “I’ll put on some coffee.”

Five minutes later, and all four of them sat together with their drinks, Lumine served as the literal wall between Aether and Alhaitham while Kaveh sat in an armchair nearby. He massaged his temples, not ready for such excitement so early - even if it was already midmorning.

“Ae, you’re just going to have to get over it,” Lumine huffed as she glared at her twin while Alhaitham played with a strand of her hair, content to let her talk.

Aether glared at him, tempted to smack his hand away. “Why should I?! He’s a HUMAN, Lu! We live in different worlds!”

“But we shouldn’t have to! There’s no reason why I should have to choose between family and love.” She blinked back tears, upset.

Aether sighed. “I need to talk to him alone. Can I do that at least?”

“Do you promise to not try and kill him?”

It took an uncomfortably long time before he agreed to leave Alhaitham unharmed. Lumine and Kaveh both stepped into the kitchen to begin breakfast preparations. Kaveh promised her how to make some sweets while they waited. Alhaitham intended to ignore whatever Aether had to say, opening a book, but before he could even read the first sentence, Aether finally said what was on his mind.

“What are your intentions regarding my sister?” His eyes were narrowed and his tone icy.

The Scribe calmly looked up from his book, his emerald gaze unreadable. “I don’t have any intentions.”

“Bullshit. I’ve seen the way you look at her. Your intentions are anything but pure.”

Alhaitham scoffed, but he didn’t answer him right away, instead letting the silence stretch between them as he intently studied his book. “And if I do?”

“Unacceptable. You’re not good enough for her, you simple HUMAN. How could you make her happy? She would be away from everything she’s ever known.” Aether’s grip on the sofa arm was so strong that his knuckles had turned white.

Alhaitham didn’t back down from the confrontation. “What are you suggesting? That you know what’s best for her and will go against her own wishes? Why not let Lumine choose? Unless… you’re afraid she would choose me?”

“As if she’d choose a STRANGER over her own twin!” Aether had raised his voice, drawing the attention of the two in the kitchen.

Alhaitham crossed his arms, looking down at his “rival.” “I’ve already made love to her, and I must say that she’s quite smitten with me, as I’m sure you can tell.”

That made Aether sputter, his face bright red when he realized what that meant. And unfortunately for them, Lumine and Kaveh returned when they heard the shouting. Lumine was drying her hands with the kitchen towel as she entered the living room again, her expression unamused as her eyes swept over the quarreling duo. “Really, you two? I’m not some piece of meat.”

That made Aether backpedal slightly, his eyes widening in alarm. “I didn’t mean it like that. He-“

She cut him off, shaking her head. “Nope. I know what I heard.” She looked towards Alhaitham then. “I expect this behavior from my brother since I know how overprotective he’s always been of me, but I never expected YOU to stoop so low, Haitham.”

Lumine glared at them. “I can choose my own way in life, and I choose BOTH of you. I don’t care what it takes. I’m going to get what I want.”

“Of course. And you’ll have my help every step of the way,” Alhaitham promised firmly.

Even Aether had to give in when he heard how adamant she was. “Mine, too. I guess,” he huffed.

“Good, now come on. It’s breakfast time.”