#tango jimmy scott grian etho and bdubs all have set designs in my brain

[vivianquill]

Jimmy hoisted himself onto the edge of the pool, keeping half an eye on the fiery mer laying where Jimmy had left him. Martyn was still laying an arms-reach away from the edge of the water, soaking wet and chest heaving.

Jimmy was just thankful that he was still breathing.

With what the other mer had been yelling about, Jimmy was all too aware just how close Martyn had come to being murdered right in front of him.

He felt guilty for not pushing harder to come back out here alone. If the other mer hadn't seen Scott or Martyn until after Jimmy had made friends with him, then this probably wouldn't have happened.

"Martyn. . . ?" Jimmy questioned, reaching out with a dripping hand to nudge his leg, "Are you-- are you gonna be okay?"

It took a moment, but Martyn pushed himself up to a sitting position, letting out another stream of coughs, "Yeah-- yeah. I'll be okay."

Jimmy glanced back down at the red mer at the bottom of the pool. He still hadn't moved, beyond his fins twitching every now and again. Jimmy knew that the sedatives Martyn had used were strong, but--

He just wished that none of this would have happened this way.

"You-- uhm. I don't think that you getting in the water was a very smart idea. . ."

"In hindsight? Yeah." Martyn took a deep breath, suppressing a cough, "That was probably the dumbest thing i could've done."

Scott walked out of the house a moment later with a small stack of towels, and their first aid kit. He set them down on one of the pool chairs nearby the door, before walking over to help Martyn to his feet and over.

Jimmy just watched from the edge of the pool as Scott sat Martyn down, draping a towel around his shoulders.

"Jimmy, did he manage to bite you too?" Scott called, turning to look over at him.

"No." Jimmy shook his head, "He didn't get me. He tried, though."

"Alright. Good." Scott gave a little nod of his head, before turning back to his own bites.

The mer had given Scott quite the thrashing, it looked like. Jimmy had still been able to taste the blood in the water, before he'd come up to check on Martyn.

But they looked like they were fine. And Jimmy didn't like the thought of what might happen if they left their guest alone again.

Jimmy hadn't been able to figure out everything that the mer had been chattering about, but from what he knew about his own kind, and how the mer had reacted to Martyn and Scott, and the bits and pieces Jimmy picked up-- well. Let's just say that it didn't seem pretty. He'd been chirruping a child's call, mostly. One that Jimmy himself had yelled himself hoarse with, when he'd been freshly stolen.

Jimmy might've been taken from his pod young, but it seemed like the opposite had happened to this mer. Maybe. He obviously had a different pod now, because of what he'd said about not telling the humans at the marine rescue about them. And it wasn't uncommon for mer to change pods without anything bad happening.

But--

It didn't feel right to leave him alone.

Not now, not after what had just happened. Not after Jimmy could see just how quickly things had spiraled out of control.

Jimmy could understand. The other mer had not only been hurt in that nasty storm, but he'd also been stolen by humans and from what Martyn said, he'd been stuck in a tiny little shallow pool barely big enough to stretch out in! And then, once he'd gotten attached to those humans, Jimmy's pod had come in and took them and the mer had thought they'd killed someone.

It was an overreaction, what the mer had done, but it was an understandable one. Jimmy would probably have done the same, if their positions were switched.

Jimmy slipped back into the water. Right now the best thing he could do was make sure the mer was okay too, because he didn't have anyone looking out for him and also Jimmy sort of wanted to make sure that the splint hadn't come loose. From what Jimmy had seen, the cuts in the other mer's fins hadn't impacted his ability to swim. at least, not in this size of a pool. Lizzie would be able to tell better, once she got here.

Jimmy spread his sails as he got close, drifting above the mer, "Hey, uhm. . ."

Gosh he didn't want to just manhandle the mer to check on the splint but he didn't know how to ask.

The mer flinched, curling into himself as he glanced up at Jimmy. It was almost fascinating, how quickly his mood could change-- where before he was all puffed up and posturing, now he was doing the exact opposite.

Then again, he was sorta drugged right now.

Jimmy suppressed a shudder of regret, settling himself on the tiles next to the mer, "I just wanted-- can I touch you? I need to check the splint."

To Jimmy's surprise, the mer shifted closer, holding out his injured hand to Jimmy. Which, after a quick check to make sure everything was still in place, Jimmy let go of. But when he went to scoot back, to give the mer a bit of space, it was answered by a soft whine.

It wasn't really words? The closest thing it meant was "don't go." So Jimmy moved back, surprised to have the mer press his tail gently against Jimmy's.

Oh, poor thing. He was probably so touch starved, Jimmy knew firsthand how important physical contact was to mer.

"Oh, c'mere. . ." Jimmy warbled, pulling the mer against him in a hug and draping his tail over the other mer's. It wasn't a surprise to him when the other mer reciprocated, tucking his head against Jimmy's chest and curling his tail around Jimmy's.

Surely this would help calm him down. Whenever Jimmy got too stressed, he always felt better after some cuddles.

It didn't take long for the mer to fall asleep on Jimmy, but that was probably more from the sedatives than Jimmy himself.

It wasn't until Jimmy was running his hand through the sleeping mer's hair that he realized he hadn't told Martyn or Scott that he was gonna spend some time down here with their guest. Oh well. If they really wanted to know, Scott would come down to talk to him.

Looking down at the mer, Jimmy also realized that they still didn't know his name. Maybe he'd be able to get it from the mer when he woke up.