Chapter Text
Waking up in the cave, Ajaw sat up and tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Kinich groaned, his back was killing him. He groggily cast a glance towards the light filtering in from the cave entrance. It was cloudy today, hopefully it wouldn't rain. His eyes fell on some scraps of a towel on the sand, visible in the distance. It reminded him of one of the issues at hand, Ajaw's destruction of their things.
After stretching and standing up with another groan, Kinich began walking out of the cave. Ajaw, seeing where his attention had turned, made an uncertain noise.
"I am sorry, Kinich. I will clean everything up." he called from behind him.
Kinich took a glance back at Ajaw. He looked genuinely remorseful.
"We'll both clean, I'll take care of the things that are furthest from the water."
Kinich, while still disappointed that things that had gotten torn up, had already cooled down in the time it had been since he'd first seen all of the "carnage" so to speak. To be honest, it could have been a lot worse. Ajaw had torn up several towels and popped a couple balls, but the biggest victims were the trunks of the palm trees. Everything that was actually important or expensive hadn't been touched, still neatly lined up in the cave.
Kinich walked around picking up all his scraps and putting them in a pile. Then he decided to gather all the splintery wood that littered the ground around the palms; he could use those for kindling.
He was done relatively quickly. He could see Ajaw crawling around attempting to do his part as well.
Kinich knew that he should let Ajaw do this by himself - to make sure that he experienced consequences for breaking things - even if they'd argued, that still wasn't a healthy outlet for anger. But he felt bad seeing how difficult it was for him. Ajaw couldn't easily walk around like Kinich could, so it felt unfair.
Kinich began helping the siren to pick up, and Ajaw looked offended at the gesture.
"I can do it, Kinich!"
"The fact that you would do it by yourself is enough, at least for me. It'll take a long time if you did it by yourself, and we still have things to do after this."
"What are we doing after this?"
"Well, for starters, we've got to take care of your hair."
Ajaw rubbed his hair with his hands. It was still matted. The time he and Kinich had been apart since their fights added up to about three weeks, and during that time, Ajaw didn't brush his hair at all. The sight of the comb made him too upset.
Kinich finished putting everything in a pile and walked over to pick up Ajaw. The siren couldn't look at him.
"We are going to have to cut it off..." he whispered, his voice wet.
"You love your hair, so I'm going to do everything I can to save it."
After carrying him to the cave, he gently set Ajaw down on a mat, and retrieved the comb from their stash of items.
He began to try to comb at it, focusing on small sections at a time. He could tell that this process was probably going to last hours, and that Ajaw's poor scalp was probably going to be tender for days after this.
As he picked at each little tangle, Ajaw sat there quietly. Until finally, he spoke, his voice small and anxious.
"I am sorry that I said those things to you. About your scars and your friends."
Kinich hummed in response, thinking.
"They definitely did hurt to hear..." Kinich began. "I'll be honest, at one point during our time apart, I wasn't sure if I could forgive you for mentioning my scars. But I've never been one to hold a grudge, at least over things like this."
Ajaw was silent for a moment.
"Do you only stay with me because I have no one else?"
Kinich stopped what he was doing and stuttered. Where had that come from?
"What? I- Why-?"
"If a human treated you the way I have... Wouldn't you have left? Wouldn't you have been less patient?"
Kinich thought for a moment.
"Honestly, I've wondered that myself at times. It's true that I'm more patient with you than I would be with anyone else... And maybe you being alone without me does factor into that a bit... but... I think just I have a huge soft spot for you. There's some part of me that's always wanted to take care of you. You're different in some kind of way that I can't explain."
"It's because I'm a mermaid." Ajaw joked.
"No, Ajaw," Kinich knocked on his head, as if to punish him for saying that. "It'd because you're you."
Ajaw hummed in response, playing with his hands in his lap. Some silence passed before he spoke up again.
"I... will try... to meet... a human friend." Ajaw offered, struggling to say it.
"Wait, really?" Kinich asked. He wasn't expecting that.
"I... suppose I could grant this 'Mualani' the privilege of a meeting with me."
Kinich shuffled around so he was facing Ajaw, comb temporarily discarded.
"I'm sure she will 'graciously' accept."
Kinich moved his hand to cup one of Ajaw's cheeks, gently stroking it with his thumb. Ajaw leaned into it, closing his eyes. He made a quiet squeaking sound; something from his native language again, Kinich assumed. After a few moments, his hand brushed against Ajaw's matted hair again, reminding him of the issue at hand.
"Okay..." Kinich sighed. "I feel like there's parts we might have to cut out. But I'm going to do something first." He said as he stood up.
"Are you going somewhere?" Ajaw asked.
"Stay right here, okay? This isn't a job for one little comb. I'm going to the markets and I'm going to try to find hair products."
Ajaw looked up at him with an uncertain frown.
"I'll try to be as fast as I can. We need proper tools if we're going to save your hair."
He could see that Ajaw still had a displeased look on his face.
"I'm coming back, Ajaw."
"O-Of course you are. You are my loyal servant." He crossed his arms, trying to hide his worry. "You will always come back."
Kinich rolled his eyes. 'Whatever helps him cope, I guess.'
--
Kinich was correct in his assumption that fixing this hair would take several hours. He took a trip to the markets and returned with a brush and several products that were supposed to help detangle. And, if all else failed, he got a pair of scissors.
He got to work.
Ajaw couldn't help but complain about the smell of the stuff. He'd never put anything in his hair before, and they got to talking about all the different things humans put in their hair. Shampoos, conditioners, leave-ins, oils. Ajaw had silky smooth hair despite living in salt water, so it was surprising to him that some human hair shouldn't even be washed for several days at a time.
The conversation then turned to Mualani eventually. It took several hours of detangling, so they had a lot of space to fill with conversation about this and that. Kinich told him in more detail what Mualani was like, and what to expect if they met. Trying to get Ajaw prepared for a potential meeting.
Kinich did end up having to cut some particularly stubborn knots out, but over all he was proud of his work. He managed to save most of Ajaw's hair. It was a couple inches shorter than it was before, and had thinned out in places, but he still had a full head of long hair.
Ajaw couldn't stop running his hands through his hair once they were finished, he had such a big smile on his face.
"I have something else for you, I got it during our time apart."
He gently placed the pearl headpiece he'd picked out on Ajaw's head, gently guiding it with his fingers so it laid across his hair correctly. He was thankful that it fit correctly over Ajaw's horns and fins.
He gave the hand mirror to the siren, to have a look at himself.
Ajaw looked at his reflection with a stunned look on his face. He reached up to gently touch the new accessory.
"You got this for me? Even though we argued?" He sounded genuinely confused.
"Well, I wanted to get it as a means to say I was sorry. People give make-up gifts sometimes."
"Is it like a bribe?" Ajaw smirked.
"I mean... I guess it wouldn't be wrong to call it that, but that's not the intention." Kinich laughed a bit.
"This looks expensive..." Ajaw trailed off.
"If anything, being around you has taught me to spend a little more freely." Kinich gently ran his fingers through Ajaw's hair.
A few moments passed.
"You've been through a lot, Ajaw. And while it doesn't excuse the kind of behavior like breaking things, it does make it hard for me to be mad at you for too long... Alongside other things."
"Other things being?"
"I just like you too much," Kinich shrugged.
Ajaw looked to the side, flustered. Kinich could still see his reflection in the hand mirror however. His face was dusted green.
"You look nice in this," Kinich started. "You look like one of those princesses I'd see in fairytale books."
"You are comparing me to royalty?" Ajaw got a smug look on his face. "It is about time."
"Sure, royalty." Kinich rolled his eyes, but his voice was fond. "You look beautiful."
"I- Of course I do. It is my job to beautiful." Ajaw laughed nervously.
Kinich supposed that it wasn't very often he gave Ajaw compliments, so the siren wasn't sure how to react.
The two were interrupted by the sound of Kinich's stomach growling. Ah, he hadn't eaten today.
"I'm getting fish, really big ones. I have to remind you of my prowess." Ajaw said. He was clearly eager to try to make up for his previous transgressions, but of course he wasn't going to admit that to Kinich.
"Okay, okay."
Ajaw carefully removed the headpiece and handed it to Kinich so he could put it away safely. Then, he eagerly jumped into the stream, riding it out of the cave.
--
Kinich was happy with how easily they fell back into their routine. Ajaw caught him fish, big ones as promised. He made a fire and they sat around it while he cooked his breakfast. Or, well... lunch, by this point.
The siren was spread out on a surviving towel, basking in the sun. He'd barely gotten any sun for the past few weeks, he needed it.
Once Kinich was done with his fish, he let out a contented sigh. Things felt normal again.
Ajaw crawled to him, then. He made it to Kinich's side, resting his head on his lap.
"I want to be warm," he explained. "You're going to keep me warm."
Kinich rested his hand on Ajaw's head, careful not to hurt his scalp. It had been through enough for today.
"You only like me for my body heat," Kinich joked.
"Yes, it is true."
They stayed like that for a while, Ajaw beginning to purr for him. It caused a sense of affection to bubble up in Kinich. If things had gone differently, he might not ever have gotten to hear that noise again.
They spent the rest of the day talking about a lot of things.
Ajaw recounted some stories from his past that weren't upsetting, like a time at one his previous beaches where he sneakily convinced a man that the dock was haunted so he wouldn't come back anymore.
He recounted fuzzy memories of other sirens he'd met, describing how they looked and what they were like. He spoke of stories he'd heard from what he called the 'glory days,' where bands of sirens would team up to sink entire ships.
Kinich listened, happy to hear about Ajaw's past. He wanted to know it all.
After a while, dark clouds began to roll in.
"I think I need to get home now... I do enjoy sleeping beside you, but my back doesn't, so I don't think I can do another night in the cave."
Ajaw frowned, looking downwards again. The ground sure was interesting lately.
"I'm going to come back tomorrow." Kinich assured him.
"You will come back. Because you are stuck with me now."
Kinich maneuvered them so he could give Ajaw a tight hug. The sudden gesture surprised the siren. Instead of pretending he didn't like it for once, he wrapped his arms around Kinich and reciprocated without complaint.
After a few moments, Kinich reluctantly released him and stood up, getting ready to leave.
"I may be able to go where you can't follow. But I will always come back."