Fishes

4

Emil awoke surrounded by soft things, his hair a dry cloud around him. Memories came floating back slowly.
"It will hurt a lot, darling. I think it's best that I put you to sleep."
A sob. "I love you, baby."
"I'll finally feel right again!"
He gasped, requiring no extra thought to do so. He clapped his hand to his face to feel soft skin and tiny, long-lashed eyes. He rubbed his legs together, and a shiver ran up his spine. Holding his hands out in front of him, he saw they were devoid of translucent webs.
His breath quickened. His neck, he found, was perfectly free of gills, his teeth flat, his skin a pale peach color.
"I'm a human," he muttered under his breath.
Something large and heavy fell on top of him. "Morning, sleeping beauty!"
The thing was rather a little boy who had jumped on Emil's lap. "Are you Ion?" he asked quietly.
"Yep! And this is my humble abode." He gestured around him. Lukas' living room was quaint, though small. A fire crackled in the hearth, and a staircase led to a second floor above.
"Your place, now, is it?" said a man sitting on the floor by the fire, "Who's paying the rent?" He took a sip from the mug he was holding.
"Not you," Ion retorted.
"Hey-"
"Oh, quit it," came Lukas' voice from behind him. Emil craned his neck to see him standing at a counter beside a large wood stove, chopping vegetables. "If you're awake and well, Emil, would you mind sitting up and freeing up some couch space? If you need to rest more, we're in the middle of setting you up a bedroom area upstairs. It's still full of old magic stuff, but there's enough room to sleep."
"I'm fine," he said, slowly sitting up and wrapping his blanket around his shoulders. Ion tumbled off his lap and onto the couch beside him.
"I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Andrei Popescu, Lukas' husband. Your brother-in-law, I suppose."
"A pleasure to meet you," Emil said through a yawn. He covered his mouth, eyes wide. "What in God's name-"
Lukas paused his cooking. "You really don't remember anything, do you? All mammals yawn, bro, you do it when you're tired."
He sighed. "Most people don't remember anything from when they were that little. It's about ten for us, I mean merpeople, and four for humans." Back at the university, Emil had spent his free hours researching humans and their mannerisms, trying to find something to connect with. He had never been comfortable as a merman, a fact which he credited to his body's unfitting form, despite the feeling's not being particularly linked to it. Occasionally, he'd feel flashes of dysphoric unease, as had been a constant for a couple years after his transformation. His new form, however, felt just as alien as his last, an unpleasant sensation he expected would soon wear off.
"Hey," Andrei said after a minute or two, "are you cold? Do you want some hot cider?"
He glanced at Lukas, now sprinkling herbs over plates of fish, from the corner of his eye. "What's that?"
"Why don't you let him try some, Lukas?" he called to his husband. "You'll like it, Emil; it's sweet."
"Can I have some?" asked Ion.
Lukas sighed. "Dinner's ready," he said, "I'll warm some up for you guys."
"Yes," the little boy cheered under his breath as Lukas carried the food to the table.
They slowly took their places. "You'll have to tell me all about being human," Emil said, staring down at his plate of fish.
Andrei snorted. "What is there really to tell? We're not much different from the mermaids. Um, gravity is pretty different for us. We like stuff like art, dancing, music-"
Emil interrupted him. "You choose to listen to music?"
"Yeah?"
He licked his lips. "For merpeople, music is just a tool. People sing to-" He realized it might be impolite to mention the common practice of luring sailors to their deaths. "They sing to appeal to humans."
"I learned how to play the violin back at school," Lukas said softly.
"He's teaching me," Ion said with a toothy grin.
Emil found this incredibly strange. "Why do you like listening to music? I can't think of an evolutionary reason."
"It brings happiness, of course," Andrei said, "just wait until you hear something. Humans love it."
"You haven't touched your food, Emil," Lukas said after a few seconds of silence.
Emil tentatively picked up his fork and took a bite of fish. He shuddered. "You didn't tell me it was warm," he said.
Ion stifled a laugh. "Almost all human food is heated," Lukas said, touching his shoulder gently. "You'll have to get used to it."
Resolute, he took a gulp of the hot cider. Scalding hot, it burned his tongue. "Dammit," he hissed as the hot liquid slid down his throat in an unpleasant manner.
"You're like a little kid," Lukas said, "I'll have to teach you everything."
Emil sighed, which seemed to be the thing to do. "And I'll have to learn."