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Chapter Text

Akaza was someone simple, he had grown up in the lower middle class with his sick father, but eventually his father died and left an amount of money more than enough for a single 18 year old to live on.

Akaza had been born an omega, which made his life more complicated, as society was more inclined to favor betas and alphas, which only complicated his life, and if it weren't for his father's inheritance, he wouldn't have lasted long, mainly because Akaza went to college after school, and of course, he had to take out loans, but everything would be paid off quickly if Akaza was accepted to be an employee at Aquario Kimetsu

The aquarium existed for a good 123 years, and almost always had an equal salary between the three genders of society, and Akaza always liked mers, always seeing the mers books with images when he was younger and loving studying them at school, where he I always got top marks for always reading about sea creatures

So, as soon as he got out of marine life college he emailed to ask about an internship, sent in his information sheet and his college grades, and waited while he worked at both a cafe and a clothing store to pay his loans and support himself, his father's inheritance had long since ended when he entered college, but Akaza had foreseen that and got into different jobs and managed to get a 25% scholarship, as unfortunately the others had ended, but after one year at college, they gave him the opportunity again to audition for scholarships (none 100% as they had all been taken up in engineering, finance and medicine, it didn't help that he was an omega, and therefore was at the bottom of the list) and he got one for 50%, but it was still expensive and he would have 4 years of college, but he managed to make college and four jobs work

So, after four days of waiting with Akaza focusing on her jobs while receiving no response, this came

But not accepting an internship, but rather a job interview because your grades are almost all tops.

Of course Akaza screamed, and in celebration, he dyed his faded pink hair a bright pink to look perfect, grabbed his father's suit that was still two sizes too big and ran to the interview that was the next day.

***

A few hours after the interview, Akaza found himself with his boss, Kagaya Ubuyashiki, giving him a custom-made uniform (they had them for all sizes apparently)

"Akaza-kun, your work starts tomorrow at eight in the morning and goes until six in the afternoon, the rest I guarantee that your colleagues will be able to help you, I will call Kanae Kochou to give you a suitable tutorial" Kagaya said and handed him over a badge with your name and photo ''I hope you get along well with the staff and staff, wait here until Kanae-chan arrives''

Akaza nodded excitedly and Kagaya laughed and ruffled her pink hair. Akaza had learned that Kagaya liked to see employees as friends and quickly became intimate with someone, the man was kind and a beta with smells of some flowers that Akaza thinks are probably sunflowers and chamomile.

Kochou-san took less than three minutes to arrive, she had long long hair tied in a ponytail with an elastic band with several butterflies decorating it, she smelled like an alpha but seemed to be kind

''Hi, are you Soyama-san?'' She asks him

''Yes, but please call me Akaza'' he responds back and she smiles

''Well, I'm the head of the sector where you will work, we feed, play and take care of the injured mers, whether psychologically or physically'' she says and Akaza nods to show that she was listening ''I'll show you the aquariums we have and I'll give you a file with the mers, their names, photos and information so you don't get too lost tomorrow''

''And how many more or less mers are we going to take care of?'' Akaza asks before he can stop himself.

''Well, generally we take care mainly of the mer that likes us the most, so they are comfortable, but there are some mers that don't care much about who takes care of them, so several employees divide their time to take care of them'' She says and calls him with her hand to walk until someone calls, probably the mer tanks ''I'm going to warn you to stay away from certain mers, they don't like humans very much and can attack'' she tells him and hands him a card with several photos of mers with names underneath'' Muzan, Kokushibo, Daki, Gyutaro, Rui, Douma, Enmu, the hantengo brothers, Gyoko, Kaigako, some of them are aggressive and others don't hide that they want to kill you'' she says and Akaza observes the mers, memorizing their faces, and then she gives him two more photos of them''the couple Koyuki and Hakuji are expecting puppies, so don't interact with them so much''

''I understood! I won't bother any of them Kochou-san'' Akaza says excitedly, all the mers in the photos were beautiful in their own way

also, so, no matter how nice the other mers are, it's preferable to keep a safe distance'' she says and suddenly an alarm rings from her cell phone and his boss makes a angry face

''What's wrong?'' Akaza asks her and she sighs

''It's my day to feed Muzan, can you wait a little?'' she asks and Akaza lights up

''Can I come along? I won't get in the way!'' Akaza asks excitedly and he gives him a smile

''I don't see why not, after all, one day you would have to feed him too'' she said and their path changes ''We have to get his food, my sister will probably be there, she is the head of the food area. mer surgeries, but she also feeds him to me to make sure nothing happens. All the more aggressive mers are fed in pairs or trios so that nothing happens'' Kanae says and soon they are in a room marked 'food: saltwater' ''Muzan eats mainly saltwater fish'' she says and takes two buckets full of fish, to which Akaza takes one from her hands and she looks at him gratefully

''Oh, is this the newbie?'' a voice suddenly asks, and when he turns back he sees a woman with a ponytail and butterfly clips in her hair, her badge reveals the name 'Kochou Shinobu'

''Yes, I am Akaza. It seems like news travels fast around here Kochou-san'' He says and she laughs

''Well, our boss has been bragging about you in the whatsapp group for the last 15 minutes since you are one of the employees with the best grades around here, and call me Shinobu'' Shinobu says

''Ah yes, I will add you to the group after we feed Muzan'' Kanae says and takes another bucket full of fish and her sister takes it

''Yes, but let's get this work done before that demonic fish jumps out of the tank and starts hunting us for not arriving soon'' Shinonu says and Akaza almost howls with laughter along with Kanae

***

The walk to the tank took about six or seven minutes, but the aquarium was very large, enough to take up an entire city block, after all, Kimetsu was the largest aquarium in the world.

Muzan's tank was only partially lit, so he was probably a deep-water mer.

The mer was nowhere to be seen and Kanae sighed and Shinobu frowned, and then they both sighed deeply and then, suddenly Kanae shouted ''MUZAN, FOOD TIME'' and Shinobu shouted ''FOOD TIME DEMON FISH'' together.

Surprisingly it worked and the mer appeared, in a bad mood, Kanae caught a fish and threw it after staying behind the yellow stripe, probably at a safe distance and Shibobu started throwing three or four fish at the same time, one hit the mer's face and Kochou younger girl almost fell to the ground laughing so hard, until suddenly a growl came and Shinobu stuck out her tongue.

Akaza sighed, and threw a fish in front of the mer, who finally noticed him, but instead of growling, the mer sniffed the air and clicked happily at him.

The Kochou sisters froze when they heard the friendly sound of Muzan for the first time

"What the fuck?" Shinobu whispered to herself and Akaza agreed

"Shinobu, tongue" Kanae scolded her

"Can you judge me? It's the first time Muzan has made friendly clicks with someone outside his pack!" Shinobu retorted and Kanae sighed

"This could be a trick to kill the newbie, please don't come any closer" Kanae tells him and the mer lets out a growl at her

"Yes, it's best for you to stay away Akaza" Shinobu says and throws a fish in Muzan's face, who growls louder at them, but when he sees it, the mer softens his expression and clicks friendly towards him.

"Gods, I think I prefer it when he tries to kill us" Shibobu mutters to herself and takes some fish from Akaza's bucket to throw into the water roughly, and Akaza helps her, but doesn't aim at the fish's face, unlike her.

Soon the three buckets are empty and the mer doesn't even look at the fish, concentrating on Akaza

"Let's report this to Kagaya right now" Kanae says and her sister nods and Akaza follows them outside

But soon the three freeze when they hear a wail coming from Muzan.

"I swear that next time I'll come armed with poison" Shinobu says and Kanae pats her on the back of the head, making the younger girl say "that hurts!"

The three leave the tank room, hearing loud moans even after leaving that room, and Muzan went down to look at them through the aquarium's visitor glass, putting his hand on the glass towards Akaza.

Akaza put his hand on the other's hand through the glass and Shinobu grabbed him by the collar of his uniform, shouting for the "demon fish not to even try to gut Akaza or she would put poison in her favorite fish."

The mer made a face and Akaza was dragged to Kagaya's office, where Kanae knocked on the door, but upon receiving no answers, Shibobu opened the doors brutally, interrupting Kagaya in the middle of the call.

"Muzan was clicking friendly towards the newbie, I think he wants to kill Akaza" is the first thing Shinobu says and Kagaya freezes too

"We'll talk later Gyoumei, Muzan wants to either kill the newcomer or drag him to live with him at the bottom of the aquarium" Kagaya says and ends the call quickly "explain this clearly"

Akaza sighs as he recounts the events to Kagaya, who looks at him as if he were a miracle.

It was strange, but well, who was he to judge, after all, according to everyone, Muzan was an "aggressive fish with murderous tendencies" and had been friendly with him

Akaka feels that this was not the end of that story

Chapter Text

After all the explanation of the strange events with Muzan, Kagaya wanted to put him in a damn metal armor and send him into the middle of Muzan's tank, but thank all the gods the Kochou sisters stopped him and they settled for sticking him in a life jacket with a metal rope attached to the vest

Then, in the blink of an eye, Akaza found himself entering the tank room of Muzan, the most aggressive mer in the aquarium, and it wasn't even his first day on the job, but Kagaya said she would count it as overtime.

"Kagaya-san, no offense, but are you sure it's a good idea to leave Akaza in the middle of the aquarium with that demon incarnate in fish skin?" Shinobu asked worriedly and with a tube of poison in her hands (why did Shinobu have poison? Akaza didn't know)

"Well, before leaving him in the aquarium, we're going to leave him hanging at a safe distance from Muzan" Kagaya says and Akaza freezes at what the aquarium owner said

"Hanging? What do you mean?" Akaza questioned, it couldn't be what he thought right?

"There's a place where we hang big fish, and we're going to hang it there!" Kagaya says and points to a hook hanging from a rope "it's going to be like a zipline, but you won't move"

Akaza wonders if his life was worth that generous salary and decides that yes, it was worth it.

Two minutes later, Akaza had climbed onto a platform and Kanae was tying him to the hook.

"Don't worry Akaza, at the first sign that something is wrong I will bring you back" Kanae reassures him and Akaza nods

The rope is pulled up and Akaza's feet no longer touch the ground, and then he moves to go above the tank, and it is at that moment that Muzan appears on the surface of the water, clicking excitedly when he sees him.

"You can lower Shinobu" Kagaya says and Akaza slowly goes down, but not within the mer's reach, which seems to irritate him and he jumps up and Akaza is pulled up too

A shame that the mer was faster and grabbed not Akaza, but the rope that separated him from falling into the tank, and without any effort, the mer broke the rope in two and they both began to fall

Akaza heard a button being pressed and the previously partially lit room had now been fully illuminated, an annoying noise came from the room's speakers and Akaza heard Shinobu shout "AKAZA GET OUT NOW" before hitting the water and starting to swim still under the water. water

The mer fell seconds later and Akaza was already swimming away, but his legs were grabbed and he was pulled back against the mer.

The mer purred and hugged him against his chest, and Akaza was already running out of air below that water, not used to so much time without oxygen, his vision with black dots dancing before suddenly finding himself with his head out of the water.

The omega coughed desperately and there were clawed fingers on his wet scalp, gently scratching him.

"Akaza-kun! Are you okay?" came a scream from Kagaya and Akaza coughed more as he tried to scream, then he coughed out as much water as he could before trying again

"Y-yes" Akaza shouted as soon as he stopped coughing and he was pulled closer to Muzan, below his knees was one arm of the mer and on his back another, supporting him against the chest of the purring sea creature.

The mer hadn't stopped purring and Akaza sighed.

At least he wasn't killed

***

Akaza had spent almost three hours in the cold tank, he probably caught a cold in that time and also mild hypothermia.

It had been a headache to get Muzan to release him, because even though he threw food in the mer, Muzan would just take the food and try to make Akaza eat it, and it was not a pleasant experience to the point that Akaza decided that he would never eat sushi again.

Nothing could make him release Akaza, and in Kanae's desperate attempt to save him, the older Kochou jumped into the water after him but received a swipe from Muzan's tail that sent her to the beginning of the tank again.

Muzan only released him because Akaza's coughing fits started and didn't stop, and unlike the mer who unfairly looked like a living heater, Akaza was freezing.

But of course, before releasing him, Muzan passed his pulse scent glands on Akaza's neck, the smell of alpha with mint and iron covered the glands on Akaza's neck, almost completely erasing his omega smell of cotton candy and peaches.

But there was a little problem

This was an action that fathers and mothers did with their puppies before leaving their side, a family claim

What the hell had Akaza done to make mer adopt him?

***

Akaza had caught a cold, and ended up in the infirmary with Shinobu on top of him like a doting mother.

For some reason, Akaza had been stuffed into a Toothless how-to-train-your-dragon onesie after a hot shower, and then stuffed into a bed in the infirmary with a thermal blanket and three comforters, with Kanae having gone out to buy him some chicken soup and Kagaya next to him on a chair, looking at him with kind and worried eyes

''Looks like you were somehow adopted'' and Akaza would have jumped for joy if he hadn't felt like he was almost frozen alive

''Thank you Kagaya-san'' Akaza thanked him and then a wave of coughing comes, and Shinobu approaches with a syrup on a spoon, and Akaza is forced to take that bitter medicine by the hands of Shinobu, who puts her hand on his forehead , sighing with relief

''You're lucky you only have mild hypothermia that's already disappearing, honestly you should be banned from going near the damn killer fish'' Shinobu says and adjusts the covers on him, removing any opportunity for any air to enter his body '' I'm going to turn on the heater'' she mutters and leaves, and soon Akaza hears the sound of a button pressed and the air becomes hotter in a short time, making the omega almost melt and a purr is contained with considerable effort.

Kagaya laughed as she practically sank into the covers.

***

After a few hours Akaza's hypothermia had gone and he was allowed to return home by Kagaya.

Shinobu disagreed and dragged him to her car with Kanae and Akaza had been forced into a sleepover with chicken soup and later hot chocolate with pudding and pies (Akaza almost left with diabetes).

At least it had been fun, and Akaza had met the Kochou's adopted sister, Kanao, which Akaza had thought was the cutest thing because when they arrived at the sisters' residence Kanao was waiting for them on the sofa, very asleep.

Kanao was a sweetheart and an omega like him, and Akaza quickly found herself being used as a pillow by the girl after the hot chocolate, Kanae had asked to take photos and Akaza happily agreed.

The next day it was almost a labor for Akaza to be allowed to go to his first official day of work, but Shinobu had agreed after making him consume three different syrups.

None of them tasted good, and Shinobu, that damn alpha had done that on purpose because of the face she made and Akaza and the three sisters were going to work, with Kanao working as an intern four times a week in the morning

***

Akaza had just arrived at the parking lot with the three sisters, to which Shinobu and Kanae had been arguing for the last three minutes over which anime was better, with Kanae defending Naruto, Shinobu defending Dragon Ball and Kanao and him silently agreeing that Jujutsu Kaisen was the best anime.

It had been a long time since Akaza had been surrounded by people like this, where he just laughed and had fun

''Well, Akaza needs to get your schedule, Kagaya-san made it for you and I'm sure you are now Muzan's main caregiver'' Kanae says and looks tired at the mere thought of Akaza near the sea.

Kanao had been informed of Akaza's situation with Muzan and seemed to empathize with him by the way she rubbed the omega flower scent onto her sleeve (which the younger omega had been clinging to since they got out of the car).

''Well, if no one hangs me up like a piece of meat again, I'll probably be fine'' Akaza joked and Kanao grabbed his sleeve tighter

''Let me know if you need his death to look like an accident'' Shinobu said and Akaza sighed tiredly

The four continued to walk to what looked like a meeting room, and as soon as Shinobu (rudely) opened the door Akaza saw probably more than ten people there who were looking at him as if he needed to be studied.

''Well, the newbie sure looks extravagant'' A man with silver hair and a strange bandana says and Kanae soon takes the lead

''Akaza, meet Aquario Kimetsu's main employees!'' Kanae says and Akaza waves awkwardly

It was going to be a long day

Chapter Text

Akaza had been guided to a chair in the staff room and Kanae went to get her schedule.

Akaza then analyzed the employees

There was the one who had called him extravagant, who had a strange bandana, gray hair and the standard uniform of light blue pants and a blouse in the same tone, but the sleeves of the uniform were gone, revealing the muscles of the stranger with the hair. silver, the man wore fingerless gloves, had his nails painted yellow and red, and had a strange red tattoo on one of his eyes, as if ink had been splashed there.

The guy's badge revealed the name Tengen Uzui, head of the sponsorship area, Akaza found the name familiar, and a slight effort of memory reminded him that Uzui-san was the director of the commercials that were made for the aquarium to attract visitors, and that he also had a YouTube channel if Akaza wasn't mistaken, and the guy was also clearly an alpha

''Gods, you're going to end up scaring the newbies one day with your strange compliments'' A white-haired guy said, and well, the golden buttons on the man's uniform were gone and there was nothing underneath his uniform, revealing his chest. spotted and with scars on the man, as well as those on his face, as if he had been stabbed

The badge revealed the name Shinazugawa Sanemi, head of the security sector, and Akaza found it familiar, probably from a Tengen-san commercial, since all the faces were familiar to him in some way, and Shinazugawa was an alpha by the way he looked. the smell of overwhelming fun left him

''Tch, if that scares the newbie then he shouldn't be working with the largest aquarium of the most dangerous and intelligent sea creatures'' A man with black hair said, and Akaza's attention turns to the man's eyes, a yellow and another green one, there were also bandages on the guy's face and neck, and, with horror, Akaza saw that there was a white snake with red eyes wrapped around the man's shoulders, whose badge said Iguro Obanai, deputy director of the finance sector and was a omega

''Don't be mean to Akaza-kun! Even Muzan liked him, so he must be really cool.'' A woman with pink hair with green tips and equally green eyes shouted, and Akaza respectfully looked away from the woman when he noticed that the button-down uniform had been manually cut into a sweetheart neckline in the chest area, a slightly shorter normal uniform skirt and a long green stocking with pink edges on the thighs of the woman whose badge said Kanroji Mitsuri, deputy head of the tourism sector, she was an alpha

Oh, and there were lots of heart clips in her hair.

''Who knew that demonic bastard would ever like someone!'' A child screams, long hair with spikes and cyan eyes shouted rudely

''Nii-san, don't be bad, Muzan shows clear signs of abuse and mistreatment!'' A copy of the rude boy shouted, but his expression was gentler than his twin's.

The names said Tokitou Muichiro and Yoichiro, with Yuichiro having vice-chief of the finance sector and Muichiro vice-chief of the tourism sector, and both were omegas

''Poor newbie, I will pray for your soul so that you won't be painfully killed by Muzan'' A man who was easily taller than two meters said, there was a scar on his forehead and Akaza noticed that he was blind because his eyes had no irirs or pupil, the name Himejima Gyoumei, head of finance was on the name tag of the man who was a beta

''Do you think he could die?! Oh my God, I can't bear to lose another employee to Muzan!" A woman with black hair and blue eyes cried, on the badge it said Uzui Suma, head of the Decoration sector, the woman was an omega

''SHUT UP SUMA! STOP BEING A DRAMATIC BABY!'' A woman with blonde bangs and black hair in a ponytail says and hits the other on the back of the head, the name Uzui Makio, deputy head of the security sector and also an omega

''Please calm down'' A woman with black hair tied in a high bun says, the name Uzui Hinatsuru, head of the tourism sector (a beta!), says and tries to break up the fight

''Sir, why didn't I decide to go to medical school?'' a black-haired boy says to himself, the name Murata, an employee from the decorations department complains, and Akaza guesses that he was a beta

''SHUT UP!'' A boy with part of his black hair shaved and part long shouts, but is ignored amidst the chaos of the three women arguing, the name Shinazugawa Genya, employee of the security department on his badge , the boy was a surprisingly crazy omega

''HEY! GOD OF FESTIVALS, CALM YOUR WIVES!

''I knew I should have dedicated myself to being a model or a psychologist! Or even get a Sugar Mommy, maybe I wasn't listening to this every single day'' A boy with blonde hair with tips and orange eyes murmurs, the name Agatsuma Zenitsu, an employee in the decoration sector on his badge, was also an alpha

Akaza sighs and Shinobu grabs his shoulder, probably to stop him from running out of that room, Kanao was almost asleep leaning against him.

Until Kanae finally comes back to get them out of that hell

''Well, your first task is to feed Rui'' Kanae tells him as if apologizing

''Kagaya-san is crazy about putting Akaza in the same room as a demonized fish'' Shinobu complains and Kanao nods in agreement

''Well, Akaza's duo in this today is... oh'' Kanae suddenly loses her shine ''Well, you'll be with Sanemi today'' She says awkwardly

''Your boyfriend is another demon, I'll go in his place'' Shinobu complains and Kanae blushes

''He's not my boyfriend Shinobu!'' The older Kochou screams and Akaza sighs before touching Kanao on the shoulder

''Why does someone from the security sector feed the mers?'' Akaza asks and Kanao gets excited

''All employees have one day to feed Muzan, Kokushibo, Daki, Gyutaro, Rui, Douma, Enmu, the hantengo brothers, Gyoko and Kaigako, so no one has to see them much'' She explains and Akaza nods to show omega that you understand

Kanao happily turns his attention to his arguing sisters and Akaza sighs, defeated at putting up with this until the arrival of the merge food supply.

***

Within minutes Akaza found himself in Rui's tank room next to Shinazugawa-san, the alpha gave him an appraising look before sighing with his two buckets of sweet water berries to Rui, meanwhile, Akaza stared back at him.

He had barely entered with the two buckets before they were snatched from his hands.

''Kanae likes you, don't die'' the alpha says after a minute of silence and turns to go behind the security line and Akaza follows him

''I won't die that easily'' Akaza responds and Shinazugawa-san gives him an amused look and a half smile and lowers the buckets to the ground

And as soon as the buckets touched the ground, a mer with white as its main color emerges from the water.

Chapter Text

The mer that emerges was white with web patterns on its tail beneath the clear water, small circles connected to each other in red were where the human and fish parts met.

The first thing Akaza thinks is that he is cute, but he soon remembers the warnings and takes a fish from the buckets that Shinazugawa had taken from him and goes behind the yellow line, the mer's angry omega smell reaches his nostrils and Akaza sighs before throwing the fish.

Rui looks at him.

Akaza looks at Rui.

Shinazugawa watches everything.

Rui aurally sniffs the air, and in a matter of mere seconds the bitter and irritating smell of anger dissipates and leaves a scent of curiosity and... Pack Call

Akaza stares at the mer

The mer stares at Akaza

Shinazugawa sighs tiredly

Rui clicks friendly at him and grabs the edge of the tank and extends a hand to him and clicks again

The smell of pack call intensifies and before Rui clicks again there is a fish in the mer's face

"Akaza already has a demonic fish behind him, he doesn't need two" Shinazugawa says and throws another fish at Rui, who this time dodges it and hisses angrily at Shinazugawa-San

Akaza sighs and was about to say something when the door to Rui's tank room opens and there he is...

Kagaya. With that life jacket with a new iron chain

"With all due respect, I'm not hanging from the ceiling again Kagaya-san" Akaza says and Shinazugawa-San stops yelling at Rui to watch his crazy boss

"Do you want to make the demonic fish food rookie again?" Shinazugawa-San asks indignantly, the smell of alpha running out of patience weighs down the air and Kagaya-san smiles despite it

"Don't worry, I'll pay for it Akaza-kun" Kagaya says and Akaza finds himself wanting to know first how much he would earn instead of preserving his life, but hey! He has debts from the college to pay!

He's a poor bastard and was willing to go to great lengths for money, and Kagaya's amount was almost 5 digits of salary per month, so he obviously agreed to whatever the guy offered him, either he would get his salary at the end of that month or he would be dead, only benefits here!

"Give me the vest, please," Akaza says and tries to go to his boss, but Shinazugawa-San grabs him by the back of his uniform collar and lifts him off the ground with one damn hand, yes, one hand, not two, either Akaza was too skinny or Shinazugawa-San was too strong, probably both.

"No, don't even think about it, I promised Kanae that I would keep this newbie safe from demonic fish and from you, Kagaya-san, no offense, but don't kill the new friend of my future girlfriend and likely future wife." And with that, Akaza is placed behind the more experienced employee, and Shinazugawa-San and his boss are now discussing the benefits and harms of Akaza being hung by a metal chain tied to a life jacket above a fish almost twice his size that can eat human flesh.

Akaza sighs, runs his hand hard over his face and looks down, seeking wisdom for that standard of tiles and that yellow line in front of him-

. . . Wait, shouldn't he be in front of the line instead of behind the yellow line?

Then, on time, a pale hand with a transparent membrane connecting its fingers grabs his foot, and the only thought Akaza has is holy shit, here we go again

In the blink of an eye he is in the water, now with two arms holding him from the neck up above the water, and Akaza notices something, Muzan at least was warm, Rui is cold and the water in his tank is also colder, and Akaza vaguely remembers when he had been in the aquarium's infirmary and read information about the mers and Rui was a fish of colder waters, so it shouldn't be a surprise how cold that damn water was, but gods Akaza wanted to get under that thermal blanket again as soon as possible

''Fucking cold'' Akaza complains and suddenly a buoy hits his face, he grabs it and Rui squeaks in annoyance at the object ''Hi, do you want to drown me or die of hypothermia?'' Akaza he asks the mer who stares at him before rolling his eyes, but letting go long enough for Akaza to grab the buoy and finally get inside it, holding the buoy with his hands in front and staring at the mer.

Rui clicks at him.

Akaza tries to click back but it looked more like a chicken so he decides never to try that again not even under penalty of death, but at least Rui smiled and released a purr and a bit of a satisfied omega smell.

''Akaza, did you get mutilated by the spider fish?'' Shinazugawa shouts and Rui snorts and stares at the employee with a displeased face.

''He still hasn't done anything besides holding me back.'' Akaza replied and saw Kagaya-san giving Shinazugawa an 'I told you so' look, who rolled his eyes.

''I'll go get you, Kanae will kill me if you get hypothermia while I'm taking care of you.'' Shinazugawa says and starts throwing the shoes before Kagaya stopped him

''Rui will scratch you to death if you get in his tank'' is what Kagaya whispers to Shinazugawa, but Akaza can still hear and sighs

''Throw the rest of Rui's food so I can get out, I'm freezing'' Akaza stops the staring match that had almost started and Shinazugawa-san grabs the bucket and dumps it in the tank, not caring about staying behind the yellow line to Kagaya's annoyance

Akaza sighs, Rui didn't look like he would keep him in the tank by force, but he would probably be sad if Akaza just left

''Rui'' Akaza calls and releases his scent, the mer that before looked with disgust at the pair outside the water now looked at him with dilated pupils and affection, and when Akaza let go of the buoy the mer quickly grabbed him, and Akaza knew that Rui could kill him in seconds with those sharp teeth and claws, but at the moment what he saw was a needy omega cub, so Akaza hugged him and let out a purr to calm the mer, who purred back happily

After a few minutes of hugging, Akaza could finally get out of that cold aquarium and get into a thermal blanket as he had wished

* * *

As much as that encounter with Rui was unexpected, Akaza was able to go back to doing his chores after a few minutes in a warm blanket, even though Kanae just wanted to make him go home, Akaza managed to convince the alpha to let him have a damn day of work, on the condition that he would go feed and play with the safer mers

It seems that he would take care of a mer from warmer waters than Rui, and Akaza decides to analyze the file of the mer he would take care of

Kyojurou, a mer not aggressive with employees or humans, friendly, but without a favorite caretaker, and today he would have a monthly check-up

Oh, and his partner for this would be Shinobu, he hopes it will be calmer than the last time the girl was with him

Sighing, Akaza starts walking towards the freshwater fishing area