Crab

Chapter 8- Three mates

Luis/Lui

Me and Trist were going to the park.

Yes, it's a park.

On a Tuesday.

After school.

No one else was going there anyway! Besides, we have no studying to do. No tests, exams and pop quizzes that we were warned about.

"Tristian?"
"Mhm?"
"Where do we sit?"
"Anywhere-" I looked at the floor. We both shrugged and placed the mat there, and Trist flung the bag to me.

"Careful!"
"Sorry," He apologised.

I unzipped the bag, letting something crawl out.

"C'mon..." I whispered to Mat.

"Tristian! Help me out here!"
"What!" He complained, forcefully sliding himself over.

"Yes! I call him Tristian! Trist is...weird to me!" Matai looked at me weirdly. He always looks weird actually.

I put the bag in front of us, between him and I.

"So...we gonna put him on a leash and walk him around the leaves?"
"What?" I said.
"Just saying! Why'd you bring him?"
"He needs to see the world!"
"What world is there?"
"I meant- I meant a-"
"Just kidding," He ended his sentence with a laugh, and put Mat onto his palm.

"Hey there buddy! Lui, he's adorable!"
"Don't call me Lui! What's the difference?"
"The s, but still, he's adorable!"

He really isn't adorable, but he can still get a girlfriend if he wants to.
Sorry Mat...

Matai hopped off his palm and roamed the grass.

"You think he'll pull the grass out and eat it?"
"Just eat Tristian!"
"Call me Trist!" He pouted. "You always sound serious saying Tristian!"
"Fine! Trist!"
"Trist trust," He muttered, and took out the seafood plate we bought. We've been on a seafood diet for at least a few days, but in the morning we eat avocado toast, so I don't really think it's a diet.

Matai went back to us, and tripped over our plate.

"Let's see if he'll eat it.." Trist dramatically said, slowly eating his food now.
"Yeah..." Okay, I joined in with him, no big deal.

He ignored it, and went back in the bag.

"Weird..." Trist said, crawling over to the bag.

He looked up at me.
"He doesn't like grass, he's probably homesick,"
"Do crabs even feel that?"
"Welll YOU are lucky I didn't take that crap crab to the vet, or threw it in the ocean. It would've lived anyway!"
"But I was too nice and helped it live on the sand! I know I'm an idiot okay?-"
"You're not, I seriously need to shut up sometimes,"
I kept my mouth shut.

"Wanna take him back?"
"Sure,"

'

Okay, so the grass method did not work.

We had to make a home for this crab, or keep him at our house. I've heard of hermit crabs being taken home and did my online searching (whether it was fake or not) and found a lot of unrelated and weird answers to my so unrelated question about king crabs and not hermit crabs.

But this...is a king crab, not a normal brown one, it literally doesn't mind cannibalism, and I have to be respectful of peoples and animals opinions and decisions.

I gave it a home in a fish tank, with some water in it, and sand on the bottom. A little bit of the sand evaporated in the water, but we added some salt, which does some science thingy to it.

Trist wanted to add seaweed, so we brought home the seaweed we probably illegally plucked out. We then added a few shells, and ta-da!

A home for a king crab (this is uncertified please do not try at home without a Spanish Luis to help)!

Matai seemed to like it, swimming around every time in it, and we thought, we'd have to let him in the ocean some day, right? He'll die or live less in this water...but...it's the same thing anyway. A bit I guess.

"Trist?"
"Wait..." He was busy taking pictures of Mat in his tank.
"Since it's almost fall..." I said, holding the edge of the table.
"Hmm?"
"Can we uh- well- Can you help me fix up my apartment a bit? Move the furniture and buy new curtains, stuff, and clean the windows and all that stuff?"
"Sure, do we keep him here?"
"Let him out on the beach first, he's gotta say bye to his home he made, but he will visit it once a month or something,"
"Right, do that later, let's go now,"
"What? Let's chill for a moment!"
"No, now,"
"No!"
"Now." He demanded, and put his photography camera on the table, waved goodbye to Matai and grabbed my arm, taking us outside to his car.

'

"Right, let's move the couch the left,"
I helped him move the couch on the other side of the living room.

"Can you move the stool over here?"
"Sure,"
I went to go get it, and placed it near the couch.

"The table goes in front of it, that plant goes here. I'll move the TV over he-"

I couldn't help staring at him. He looked like some really smart constructor, I couldn't really put my finger on what he looked like.

Perhaps a smart dude, dunno.

Tortillas and bread, same thing.

"Lui?"
"Got it-"

'

"I...I need lemonade," He said in exhaustion.
"I want Cava..."
"The hell is that dude?"
"Champagne I guess,"
"You drink?"
"How happy do you think I am?"
"Sorry, just...someone like you-"
"How am I? When I'm myself?"
"Sort of sweet you know. You care about others and things way too much. You're also pretty weak, you can't carry a table!"
"Hey! Who can carry a table themselves anyway?!"
"I can!"
"Ah- Sorry, I forgot,"
"Two, you say sorry a bit more often than me,"
"Okay,"
"Three, you...are easily flustered,"

"What?"
He put a hand on my cheek.
"Now you are!"
"Hey!"
"Just joking!"
"Um..."

"You got any that corio Cava drink around?"
"Yeah, I'll get it,"
"Not too much!"
"I'm not dumb!" He shouted behind me.
"You will be when you kiss my feet and you're drunk!"
"Mate!" I shouted back at him.
"Sorry!"

I laughed off my embarrassment, and opened the pantry, the smell of alcohol running in my stuffy nose...