Kevin didn’t want to leave the Eddward alone for too long, in his bathtub, with nothing but simple thread holding his wounds together. Not to mention all that dried blood seeping more and more into the tiles. But he needed a moment. Just a moment, to sit down, sip some coffee, and pull up some research on his phone, and maybe try to assure himself that he really wasn’t going insane. Kevin realized he should probably eat, too, but the memory of trying to do the stitching work himself was still threatening to push bile back up.
First, he wanted to make sure his hunch about the shark tail was correct, that he wasn’t mistaking it for a dolphin one.He found sharks had straight dorsal fins, and dolphins had curved ones. Eddward had a straight one, and Kevin thought it must be uncomfortable to rest on. With his previous sharp teeth as well, the shark theory made sense.
Then again, if Eddward was part cold blooded creature why would he have nipples. Dear god was that even important right now? Kevin felt his ears get hot in embarrassment at himself, who cared about whatever was on Eddward’s lean chest! Please don’t think that now, he thought, suppressing a frustrated groan. Eddward was half fish for crying out loud.
He tried pulling up more information about sharks, distract himself again. Apparently if they’re flipped upside down, they start to hallucinate and get stuck. The thought of that bitter siren floating on his back with dilated pupils and a dumb expression caused Kevin to snort too loudly. Someone looked up from their laptop at him with a raised eyebrow, and Kevin focused harder on his phone, hand clasped over his mouth while his face burned.
Now, didn’t sharks need to keep moving or else they’d die without water pumping through their gills? Not all species, a website explained. But Kevin was starting to decide, how much could he rely on proper information about sharks when there was a living myth in his home that had no scientific research done on it. Pulling up information on mermaids would only get him fairy tales or bizarre cryptozoology crap, and he didn’t want to be too off the mark. Out of curiosity he looked up a little bit, and aside from beautiful, busty women with flowing locks and pretty tails, the rest all pointed to tales of sirens luring sailors to their deaths. Fantastic.
This was crazy, but Kevin couldn’t bring himself to just dump Eddward back onto the beach in his current state. Couldn’t imagine how his parents would react if they were still around, and that made his stomach ache a little. Nonetheless, it wasn’t often something so fantastic was presented like this, albeit dangerous, and Kevin wouldn’t tell anyone else about him. He couldn’t bare the thought of Eddward being swept away into some lab somewhere, prodded and tested on, confined in a small tank, withering away under fluorescent lights. No one deserved that.
The best thing then was to be extra polite, bring really nice meat maybe, see what Eddward would tell him, while also keeping some distance. Just in case, say, Eddward got a little too hungry, and Kevin shivered at the thought, questioning his decision once more. But Eddward was in the tub, with a tail and not legs, how far could he get if Kevin was out of arm’s reach? Kevin pinched the bridge of his nose beneath his glasses, idly aware of the chatter around him and clinking of coffee cups. He couldn’t be too soft, needed to keep his guard up, or it could be something worse that a bruised wrist next time.
Back to the other matter at hand however, Kevin still needed better material for the wounds, and he knew just the person to contact for that. Someone trustworthy and who happened to have a mother that was a nurse.
//Hey! Weird question, but do you have surgical suture stuff? It’s for a project I’m working on//
//um, are you ok?//
Lord, of course this sounded weird.
// Yes, I’m fine! I’m just experimenting with something, it’s a suprise//
//Robotics and string huh? Ok.
But what kind of needle? Straight or round?
And what kind of thread, polypropylene, polyester, or stainless steel? I don’t think you’ll need anything absorbable//
Oh, shit.
Kevin put his palm over his forehead. He wasn’t sure about any of this stuff! And absorbable, there was such a thing? That would probably be better, but if he was using a robotics excuse, that wouldn’t make sense.
//Something curved, I guess, and any thread you have around the house,no big deal//
Kevin leaned back in his arm chair, thinking back to the stitch work on the tail. Eddward had done really well. Like a doctor. Where does an underwater being learn to stitch like that, and read for that matter. You can’t keep books in an ocean.
But before he could delve deeper into the endless spirals of new questions, his phone buzzed again with a message from Nazz.
//Lol this is weird but OK//
He sighed in relief. Good, that would be one problem taken care of. //Thanks I’ll pick it up from you later//
After downing the rest of his coffee, it was straight to the the butcher shop for some decent bribing steak,the price of which made him wince. Good thing his next paycheck was that Thursday. Crap, now he realized he’d have to juggle work and shark-man care,and Kevin frowned down at the meat wrapped in brown paper at the bottom of his bag. Worth it, he assured himself, just so he’d feel less annoyed.
To the supermarket next, just to get some extra, cheaper meat, and with what Kevin had leftover in his account, cup noodles for himself. A few jawbreakers too, some kind of treat for dealing with this. Adventurous as this was, the financial bit was already wearing on Kevin a little.
He began to walk home, thinking now of working on his motorcycle after talking more with Eddward, get back his transportation. Minor repairs, he had just been lacking the right parts for the past few weeks. Then again, if he had been on his bike at that time, he wouldn’t have felt his phone buzzing off again.
But also, if he was on his bike right now, he would be able to get home much faster, as he stopped walking to stare down in horror at the message on his screen.
//Hey dude I’m at your place where are you? totally reeks btw//
“Shit!!” Kevin shouted out loud, before he broke into a full run, his sneakers slamming the pavement and bags rustling as he went as fast as he legs would carry him. To hell with his straining lungs and the stitch forming in his side, he kept going without falter.
Get home, before she sees him, oh god will he hurt her, maybe she’ll just drop off the stuff and leave, ya she might be okay-crap, Nazz stay out of the bathroom please! Did Kevin even shut the bathroom door, shit, he probably didn’t! Idiot, he was screaming internally, fucking idiot!
“Nazz!” he yelled, as he shoved the front door open, dropping the bags on the floor. As his feet came to a stop the physical exertion of the run finally got up, and he was wheezing, almost toppling over. Until he heard a frightened voice, echoing off the walls of the bathroom.
“Kevin!”
Oh no. No, no, no. Kevin was immobilized from horror as well as his shaking legs, and there was a rush of sickening red visual overrunning his mind. It wasn’t his own safety he risked anymore.
Then a following squeal got him going once more, dashing into the bathroom. He slipped on the water that had been sloshed onto the floor, falling onto his knees with a painful bang.
And he looked up, glasses askew and mouth hanging open.
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