Chapter Text
"You sure you want him?" Alex's mom asks and the little boy nods enthusiastically.
"He looks so lonely, mom," Alex says, staring into the small fish tank at the seahorse, all alone curled up around a small coral. "He's just a little baby. He needs a family."
"A seahorse isn't exactly the most practical of pets." His mother insists. But she knows that once Al's made a decision it isn't exactly easy to get him to change his mind. "But if you want it, we'll get him." She smiles at him and ruffles up his hair before going to find someone about purchasing it for her son. It's hard to say no to him anyway.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" Al beams at his mom, fixing his hair as he waits by the tank. He even has a salt water tank all set up and ready in his room! "You're gonna have a good life, buddy," he says to the seahorse. "So good," he smiles at it.
The seahorse seems rather indifferent, as most do. He hangs out around the coral in the corner of the tank as Al keeps eagerly staring at him. He's gonna make sure this seahorse has a great life.
His mother comes back with a shopkeeper and the man asks Al if he's prepared to take care of an 'exotic pet', which of course the young boy assure him he is. The shopkeeper smiles, instantly won over by his charm and goes to get everything together to get the seahorse to a new home.
The little fish surprisingly doesn't offer much by way of trying to escape being caught up, and pretty soon he's in his little bag on his way to his new home.
"What are you gonna name him?" Al's mom asks, glancing at her son smiling at the fish in the backseat.
"I dunno yet. Maybe he'll tell me." Al says quietly, simply, as though the seahorse was going to talk to him. Kids.
"Just be careful with him." His mother advises.
"I'm always careful!" Al insists with a big smile at her, then back to the little seahorse. The response elicits a laugh from his mom as they make their way on back home.
Once they make it back, Al rushes over to the larger saltwater tank to let his new friend have room to look around and explore his new surroundings. He knows he has to let the water temperatures adjust and all, he did his research at the library. But waiting is so hard! He goes and watches cartoons for a little while before coming back eagerly and watching the curious timid seahorse. He opens the baggie up and lets the fish swim out on its own. "We're gonna be best friends, I just know it," he says quietly to the tank.
The seahorse seems to be relatively happy with the larger tank, swimming around a bit more than just staying in one corner. He's still a bit cautious, but it's more room, more actually real foliage compared to the plastic stuff that was in the store. The new setting helps the seahorse seem to relax, as much as a seahorse can.
Over the next few days, Al doesn't tire of watching the seahorse as he does his little seahorse thing. After a few weeks though, he sighs a bit. "Still need a name for you," he says quietly, nose pressed to the glass. "Gotta find out how to ask you."
The seahorse is definitely more accustomed to his new surroundings, deciding he likes this place much better than the place he was before. Even if there's a somewhat scary thing against the wall sometimes, it doesn't seem to be dangerous.
As Al keeps watching the seahorse swim around, he's struck with an idea. Surely his dad has something that can help right? It's been a while since he visited, but maybe there was something he left behind? Or some sort of like magic spell of sorts??
He wishes his dad had a phone number or something he could call, but his best shot is just going through his things that he's given him. He gets his little box out from under his bed and starts rummaging through it, looking for anything that could help.
There's little magical toys from when he was younger. Things that would talk and move on their own without the need of electronics. But none of that helps. After a while of digging around though, he comes across a ring and holds it up curiously. This could work. His father had given this to him when he kept asking what it was like to be a bird. To be a cat. To be anything, really. Maybe he can give it to the seahorse so he can have a conversation with him!
He climbs onto his bed and stands above the tank, peering down into the water. It's much harder seeing his seahorse from this angle, but he knows what he was grabbing onto before. He takes the ring in his hand and reaches into the water, plan in place.
The seahorse keeps away from the intrusion, self-preservation definitely more important than his curiosity right now. After a while though, his curiosity wins and he swims towards the shiny object and the hand, remaining cautious and ready to swim away at any sort of movement.
Al makes very sure to keep his hand still, he doesn't want to spook him away. That would stink. After a bit of swimming around his hand, the seahorse decides it looks like a nice place to rest, curling his tail around the ring!!
Nothing really happens at first, and Al is worried that maybe he grabbed the wrong ring or something. But after a moment, he starts to see a change and he quickly pulls the seahorse out of the water so the tank won't break or he'll end up drowning or something. On Al's bed now, instead of a seahorse, is a kid about his age. Al grins at his success and throws a blanket over him to cover him up, and dry him off a bit. He needs to have his blankets washed anyway.
The boy frowns and starts shaking, no idea what's going on. He was just in the water, wasn't he? Is that his home? He looks at the tank, and it looks so tiny to him now. He makes a vague sound of confusion, kinda really scared right now. But the being in front of him looks an awful lot like the big scary thing he sees against the wall sometimes, only not as big now.
"Hi," Al says quietly as the kid wraps himself up tighter in the blanket instinctively. "You can understand me, right?" He really hopes so. He knows he could talk to the neighborhood cat when he used the ring once, so hopefully this boy will be able to understand English?
"I..." He manages to start, flinching away when Al extends a hand out to him. He doesn't seem hostile. He seems safe. Scary, but safe. "What.." He isn't exactly sure how to start. What happened? How is he speaking? And understanding what this other thing is saying to him?
"I'm Al," he says, taking his hand back. Seahorses don't know human things, he remembers. "I take care of you every day." He smiles at him. "Like, food and keeping your water clean and salty just the way you like it, and making sure you have plants and stuff to grab, and- and you're my pet, really, but I'd rather be friends."
"Friends?" He asks after a minute of trying to take in his new surroundings. This definitely isn't the water he's used to. But this is the thing that maintained his home. So it's gotta be safe. "Friends.." He says again, not totally sure what that word means. It sounds nice, but it doesn't sound like anything he had with other seahorses.
"I know seahorses aren't super social, but people are.. I'm a person. Right now, uh, you're a person too. A human," Al says, cautiously sitting next to him on his bed. "'Cause of magic."
The boy shuffles away just a little, ever cautious, but relaxes when Al doesn't seem to be threatening him. He's still safe. Good.
"Okay.." He manages after a minute of silence. "Why?" He asks. Why is he no longer a seahorse? Why did he want him to be like him because of magic?
"Well.." Al frowns a little. "You need a name. I didn't wanna name you something if you've already got a name," he says, lips turning upwards into a small smile again. "And you looked lonely. I'm kinda lonely, too."
"A name..." He gives it thought. He doesn't have a name. He's just a seahorse. He was never given one. Shaking his head at that, he decides to loosen his grip a bit on the blanket to look at himself. He definitely isn't a seahorse. So much bigger. Different. Lots of limbs. Like an octopus or something.
"You need clothes!" Al says suddenly. "And a towel! I'll go grab a towel!" He stands and bolts to the bathroom to get one, coming back with two instead, handing the boy the first one. "You gotta get dry or the clothes won't feel comfortable," he tells him, setting the second towel next to him before going and rummaging through his clothes for something that might fit him.
He nods and grabs the towels, figuring they're used for water if he's being given it. He manages to get the hang of it pretty quickly, getting most of the water off himself, but his hair is still a bit damp. Hair. That's different. There's a lot of different here.
"Here," Al comes over with some clean underwear, pajama pants, and a t-shirt. "Need help putting them on? Everything okay?" He asks. Human or not, he's still his caretaker right now. He's sure he's got lots of questions and stuff.
He looks Al over, realizing now that it isn't just his skin that's like that. It's the fabric he wears. Why is he wearing it? It doesn't make much sense to him, but apparently it's important that he does the same. He takes the clothes from Al, looking him over again before figuring how how to get them on.
"The shorts go on underneath," Al tells him. "Then the pants and then the shirt. Um, humans wear clothes. We don't like being all naked. And we get cold," he grins wide at him. "That's why we got blankets, too. I don't want you to be cold." He lets his friend get himself dressed, watching as he figures out how his human limbs work and all that stuff. The standing part takes him a minute to get, but he does get it. Feet are weird, man.
He does stumble a few times, but Al is there to catch him and steady him until he gets the hang of it a bit more.
"You're... An Al?" He asks, remembering what he had said earlier. "A human?" All of these words don't make sense to him. But at the same time they do.
"My name is Alexander, but people call me Al," he clarifies. "Human's like... The species. You're normally a seahorse, but right now you're a human. You don't have a name?" He'll have to help him find one he likes if he doesn't have one.
He shakes his head again. "I don't. Should I?" He still isn't exactly sure why Al wanted him to be a human like him. Lonely, he'd said. Being alone. He was alone before Al brought him in from that small tank. He still feels rather alone. Is this supposed to help?
"Well I gotta call you somethin'," Alex laughs a little and takes his wrist to tug him gently back to sit on the bed with him. "'Specially if we're gonna be friends. Unless- unless you don't wanna be friends. I read in the book at the library that you guys are solitary. But having one friend can't hurt, right?"
"Friends sounds nice." He says. Being close with the one who take care of him? He'd be fine with that. That's what friends are right? Close? To prevent loneliness?
Alex smiles. A friend. A new friend, maybe a best friend? "We gotta find a name for you then." He thinks a bit. "How about... Charlie? Or Nathan?" He honestly can't think of a ton of names of the top of his head.
He makes a face at hearing those names. He doesn't really like the sound of them. "Something short." He suggests. Al is a good name. Short and to the point.
"Uhhh..." Al scrunches his face as he thinks. "Whabbout.. Dan? Oo! Or Sam??" Sam is a cool name, honestly. "Like Samuel, but short!"
He thinks for a moment then nods. Sam seems like a good name. He could get behind that. "Yeah, I like that one." He says with a small smile.
"Sam." Al says with a finalizing nod. "I would ask how old you are but I doubt seahorses keep track of stuff like that," he laughs a bit. "Um. If you wanna go back to your seahorse self at any point in time, I think you just gotta take off the ring on your finger."
Sam looks at the ring curiously. "You said magic?" He asks. "How does it work?" He decides against taking it off since he isn't in water right now and doesn't plan on dying.
"Um, so most humans aren't like me," Al says, kicking his feet a little and looking away. "I'm kinda.. Kinda half human. My real dad's name is Eros, he's a god. So, when I was little he gave me this ring cause I was always asking what it was like to be different animals n stuff." He sighs just a little. "I think he just wanted me to stop asking, but," he shrugs.
"Half human?" Sam questions. That's definitely strange. He wishes he knew more about human culture. This is all so new to him, he isn't sure at all how to react to anything. He isn't sure what's normal and what isn't. But now he has a name. Sam has a name. It makes him feel a bit more important than just a small seahorse in a tank.
"Y-yeah. People don't really know magic is real or- or that my dad exists. Just me and my mom and her husband. I call him dad, but he's not my actual dad. And now you, I guess." Al laughs quietly. He's never confided in anyone up to this point. Mom always told him not to tell anyone, but Sam isn't a real human, so he can tell him, he reasons. "I'm a demigod."
"A what?" Somehow Sam thinks that isn't exactly a normal thing. Half of a god? He isn't sure how he should be reacting. Should he be, like, bowing down? Honored for friendship with him?
"Just like, a magical human? I think? I dunno," Al shrugs. "I can use magic a lil bit but I'm nothin' special." Eros barely even pays attention to him, ever. He has a ton of kids, after all. Being the god of love and everything.
"Magical human and a seahorse. Friends?" Sam finds himself laughing, relaxing a bit. Al doesn't seem bad. This human thing is still super surreal to him, but it isn't bad, he supposes. Definitely beats swimming around in the same area for days and days.
"Friends." Al smiles at him. "What do you think of being human? Do you hate it?" He laughs a little. He can't imagine someone hating being human, really. He thinks it's way cooler than swimming in a small tank.
"No real strong opinion." He admits. "It's different. Still have to get used to it." Sam stretches out his new limbs, looking at them. "I'm so big." He laughs a bit, glancing over to the tank he was in.
"Huge!" Al says. "At least compared to before. You're a cute seahorse though!" He brings an arm around his new friend. "When I saw you in the pet store all alone I just knew I had to bring you home," he says quietly.
Sam laughs a bit again, finding contact rather comforting rather than scary. Al doesn't seem to be scary whatsoever even if he is half human or whatever. "I'm just an average seahorse." He says. "Why me?"
"You seemed cool," Alex says. "Dunno. Just trusted my gut. I wanna show you some cool human stuff! You gotta have food!" He hops off the bed. "Wait here!" He runs out to get some snacks from downstairs.