The Magic of Threes
It’s nearly a whole 24 hours before the fishman wakes up. Sam and Bucky only left him to sleep in their own bed, because Bucky made it very clear he wasn’t going to sleep on the bathroom floor. They refilled the tub before they went with warm water. Then they stayed in the bathroom as they ate and chatted and Sam listened to the plotline of the book Bucky was going to read. Of course, until the water splashed and both of them nearly broke their necks looking up.
The man’s eyes were open and shining with something akin to a cornered animal ready to rip the throats out of whatever was cornering it. The muscles in his shoulders were contracting and honestly? He did look a lot bigger now than he did when he was laying limp.
He asks something in some weird language neither human in the room understands. It’s something between what Sam remembers to be Ancient Greek from college and… music? It’s a flowing musical language and Sam is almost sad whatever the man said was as short of a sentence as it was. Bucky looks back at Sam who shrugs.
“Uh… We come in peace?” Sam offers, Bucky scoffs earning him a slap on the shoulder that doesn’t cause him problems. “Seriously, we aren’t going to hurt you or anything.”
“So you want to sell me then? Experiment on me until I can’t tell up from down?” The man spits in perfect English. Bucky rears back a little out of shock, Sam feels himself blink in surprise a couple times.
“N… No?” Bucky half asks half says. “No! Shit, I wouldn’t even know who to give you to if we wanted to do that. We don’t want to do that, do we?” He corrects himself, looking back at Sam for confirmation at the question. Sam shakes his head.
“Genuinely the thought never crossed my mind.” he looks back at the creature in his tub. “I was more thinking “Oh shit there’s a guy in trouble we need to help him” kind of thing… I also wouldn’t know who to give you to.”
“Then what do you want?” The man snarls, Sam stops himself from counting the mans teeth. They really are sharp…
“To help you.” Bucky says, sounding exasperated but trying to hide it. “I’m… James, this is my partner Sam.” Sam gives a short wave. “We- you- are in Louisiana, in our bathtub because we didn’t know where else to put you that could keep you in water. Not that you need to be in water- we don’t know. We just guessed.” Sam’s watching the thing as Bucky explains. He keeps glaring but his shoulders relax ever so slightly.
“Why do you want to help me?” He asks this time, a little less malice in his voice.
“Uh… you were hurt? Is that not good enough?”
“No. Humans always have ulterior motives. They don’t help my kind out of… kindness.” He says, curling a bit further into himself and the back corner of the tub. Sam and Bucky exchange a look. Bucky sighs eventually and goes to stand up for whatever reason, the man’s eyes flash a vibrant purple and suddenly he’s nearly all the way in the back of the tub despite the length of his tail. There are long claws where his fingernails were, the fins on his forearms and behind his ears are ruffled out, and all of his sharp teeth are bared. He makes no noise.
Bucky stops completely in his half standing position, Sam nearly falls off the toilet.
“No harm.” Bucky whispers, holding his hands up slowly and straightening his back. He backs up slowly until he’s standing in the doorway, Sam readjusts himself on the toilet.
“Sorry, sorry!” Sam says, holding his hands up too. The man shoots his head over to him, eyes still glowing a little. Sam can see the claws shrinking back into his fingers and desperately doesn’t want to think about that anatomy and how painful it looks. His fins are calming down and relaxing back into their normal spots. “No one’s hurting you, remember?”
“My legs were falling asleep.” Bucky adds from the door. The man glares at both of them and brings his tail up to his chest like a person would with their knees when they’re afraid. He wraps his arms around said tail and slinks down but never hides his face.
“I don’t know what that means.” He says quietly, now weaving a bit of the musical tone into his English.
“They were starting to hurt from being in the same position for so long.” Bucky clarifies. The man nods and furrows his brow.
“What have you done with my possessions?” He asks Sam specifically. Sam clearly gives him a confused look. “My sword and belt.”
“Ah… they’re right there- well.” Sam gestures to the counter where his things are, Bucky reaches over and grabs them gently, setting them on the floor and sliding them towards the tub.
“You didn’t tell us your name.” Bucky says.
“No I didn’t. Names hold power.” The man says.
“Just something to call you then, I’m tired of calling you Fish Guy.” Sam sighs, rubbing at his face. The man hesitates.
“Zemo.” He says after a moment. “It is my name, but know that if you curse it you don’t just curse me, but my whole family. And my father will not be forgiving.” Sam’s eyes go wide while Bucky blinks hard.
“How do you curse a name?” Sam asks. The man- Zemo. His name is Zemo. Zemo looks over at him incredulously. “I really don’t know, but you’re right. I don’t want to know either.” Bucky chuckles.
“Are you hungry?” Bucky asks Zemo after a minute.
“No.” Zemo answers.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Then don’t. You don’t know my language, my kind, or what I eat. You don’t have to try.” Zemo scoffs.
“Well we want to.” Sam sighs, rubbing his face again. “We have spaghetti. It’s noodles in a meat sauce if that sounds interesting.”
“Noodles are like the long beige things, yes?” Zemo asks. Sam nods. “And how will I know it isn’t poisoned?”
“I’ll eat some.” Bucky says, shrugging as he walks out the door. “I like food.” He adds from down the hallway.
“I’m sorry we’re scaring you. I haven’t been in any hostage situations or anything but we really do have pure intentions. Once you’re healed and the storm has passed no one will stop you from leaving.” Sam says, rubbing at his arm. Zemo looks at him and tilts his head like a dog-ish alien creature.
“I wouldn’t advise keeping me from my people once they can reach me.” Zemo says, relaxing ever more.
“Oh.” Sam groans, flopping his head back. “Do not tell me that you’re royalty or some shit. I refuse to live out some sort of story trope.”
“Then I will keep that information to myself.” Zemo says, Sam barely stops himself from crying on the spot. “Though with that information you will understand that armies will come for me when they can.”
“Good thing we aren’t keeping you.” Sam says, he can feel the strain in his voice. Zemo will learn he means it at some point.
“What does your kind know about my people?” Zemo asks.
“Less than yours does about ours apparently.” Sam makes a confused face at himself. “Not a lot really. We have some stories but they’re 90 percent taken as fiction. Nobody believes mermaids are real, which is why we were so confused by you.” Zemo makes a noise. “We know the tails, we can assume some of you are venomous or something based on fish… A lot of people get super creative with the idea of mermaids but again, it’s taken as fiction and written into stories…”
“I see… I’d like to read some of these stories some day. They sound… intriguing.” Zemo says.
“And what do mermaids- that’s what you’re called right?” Zemo nods. “Good. What do mermaids know about humans?” Sam asks, Zemo scoffs.
“We know that humans used to capture us for money. To sell us to people to poke and prod and eat. We know to fear the shadows boats and ships cast on the ocean floor because harpoons are sure to follow. We know that your kind takes our fish and our sharks to kill for little good reason. We know nothing good comes from you.” Zemo says, making short eye contact with Sam before looking at the floor. “We know… we know if we are taken by humans we are never going to see our friends or family again.”
“Well, not us. Not Buck and I.”
“Buck?”
“James.” Sam says, waving his hand dismissively. “Fuck knows he’s been through enough torture and shit to treat someone better than that. Even if we were going to sell you or something- which we are not- we’d do it in the most humane way possible. But we are not going to do that. Ever. At all.”
“So you have said…” Zemo looks at the bathtub faucet. “I will say, I am strangely looking forward to this spaghetti.” Sam chuckles. “And I have been through… enough to know when something is dangerous. I simply do not get that energy from you.”
“I noticed you have quite a few scars.” Sam says, stretching his back. “Don’t worry about it, we do too.” Zemo nods, not really looking like he cares that much. Sam guesses if he had to exist without a shirt constantly he’d be less conscious about his scars too. “Putting you in the tub wasn’t an insult, was it?”
“It’s complicated. I do not take it as much of a slap in the face anymore.” Zemo says, Sam flops his head back again.
“I assure you we weren’t trying to insult his highness.” Zemo actually sounds amused when he scoffs, Sam has to blink a couple times to make sure he’s not dreaming.
Bucky comes back in with a bowl of spaghetti.
“Soups on.” He says, setting it gently on the side of the tub above where the belt and sword still lay. He sits back on the floor and stretches. “Courtesy of my exceptional microwave skills.”
“Microwave?” Zemo asks like he’s testing the word on his tongue. Sam notices that he’s relaxed significantly more, his tail has stretched out again but his arms are now wrapped around his middle.
“Human thing. It heats up food.” Bucky explains.
“Like fire?” Zemo asks, tilting his head again and eyeing the bowl.
“...More controlled fire.” Sam questions. Zemo nods and reaches for the bowl. He picks up the fork, thankfully knowing what that is, and pokes at the noodles.
“So… Are there more of you?” Bucky asks, Zemo looks up at him annoyed. “Sorry sorry, eat.”
“There are no more of me, I am the only me.” Zemo says, starting to pick up the noodles with the fork now.
“He means more mermaids.” Sam smiles, watching.
“Ah, yes, there are many. Less than humans, but more than sharks.” Zemo nods, holding a single noodle up with the fork and inspecting it. Smelling included. Bucky laughs and passes it off as a cough. Zemo licks the noodle, tilts his head, decides he likes it, and puts it slowly in his mouth and chews.
“Good?” Sam asks.
“Pleasant.” Zemo nods. He looks like he had to stop himself from smiling.
“And I didn’t even have to prove it wasn’t poisoned.” Bucky adds, looking very proud of himself.
“Who would really care if it was.” Zemo shrugs, Sam decides they’ll unpack that later.
“Tell us about your friends?” Sam asks, Zemo picks up more noodles this time and twirls the fork around. Sam refrains from telling him not to play with his food, Bucky just looks amused.
“There’s me… My butler Oeznik, my father should hardly be considered my friend… Mason is a friend of mine, and Nate… Luna…” Zemo lists names like the two humans know who these beings are. He shoves the noodles in his mouth again and moves his head side to side as he chews like he’s studying the taste. “Mason and Nate are the rarer mermaids- Mason is half tiger shark and Nate is half rainbow python… Luna is more like me in typical mermaid fashion but their tail is teal.” Sam looks at Bucky who looks entranced.
“Your… butler?” Bucky asks.
“A shark and a python??” Sam asks a little louder than he meant to. He shakes his head and looks at Bucky. “Our friend here is a mermaid prince. No, I'm not making it up.” Sam expects Buck to be shocked, but the other man just nods back and forth like this is not the most shocking thing.
“Yes. It is possible on rare occasions for mermaids to evolve from shark, snake, and other fish eggs. When the animal… dies, the mermaid can use an injection to turn the animal half human- like a mermaid- and revive it. It’s extremely rare however as it costs some expansive amount of money.” Zemo explains, continue to devour the noodles. Bucky and Sam exchange another look.
“So they’re… rich mermaids?” Bucky asks. Zemo shrugs.
“I do not ask about their finances. I am the royalty therefore I pay for everything when we are out together.” Zemo says.
“So he’s a sugar daddy.” Bucky says shortly, Sam slaps him but Zemo nods.
“I suppose. However I never ask for anything in return. I enjoy spoiling my friends.”
“Oh.” Sam stares at the wall. This is insane. This is beyond insane. If he wasn’t aware of a caffeine headache coming on he would think he was dreaming.
“How long is the storm supposed to rage?” Zemo asks. Sam can’t form words.
“At least four more days.” Bucky answers, looking to the window in the bathroom like he can see through the wood nailed to it. “I wish there was somewhere else you could lay, I can’t imagine the bath is comfortable.”
“We shall see.” Zemo replies, pushing the bowl away from him. He was hungry, he finished that fast.
Sam goes to say something but ends up watching Zemo curl into another ball and literally lay down in the tub. He didn’t even think the poor thing would be tired after everything. Bucky stands back up, slower this time even though Zemo doesn’t react.
“We’ll let you sleep. And trust, we won’t watch you this time.” Bucky says, reaching a hand out for Sam to take. He does, standing up off the toilet for the first time in some hours. God his ass hurts. Zemo makes a soft noise of affirmation.
Sam turns the light out as they leave, Bucky shuts the door.
“Jesus.” Sam says. Bucky agrees, not letting go of Sam’s hand and dragging him into the living room. They resume the position they had before this began, Sam laying on top of a Bucky sprawled out on the couch.
Bucky rubs his eye, then lightly sets his hand on the back of Sam’s head. Sam melts pretty easily. They close their eyes, and within at least five minutes Bucky is snoring softly and Sam is smiling at his comfort and falling asleep at the evenness of his partner’s breathing and the rain outside.
Man. Babysitting a mermaid prince is hard.