Bonded By Bubbles

The inside of the store is based off my own local mom-and-pop fish store! I'm an aquarium enthusiasit, so I'm plenty familiar with how it looks inside. The fish store, office supply stores, and book stores are where I get into trouble with excessive spending lol. I am open to the idea of translations. Please contact me if you want to translate this work. However, I only want translations on sites I've already posted to, so this means they must be posted to AO3, SquidgeWorld Archive, or this site. You must fully attribute me and send me a link.

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Qrow stopped the car in the narrow parking lot of the small, mom-and-pop fish store. “Do you two really need me to come in? You know birds are my thing, not fish. That’s Clover’sthing.” “Oh, just come in and look with us, Qrow.” Clover grinned at him. Winter was quiet through all of this as the two men bickered. She knew that Clover wouldn’t steer her wrong; he’d had aquariums all his life. It wasn’t like she was looking at a very big tank either; she just wanted a little ten gallon with a betta. Clover had told her that bettas were good for first-time owners. After watching him have tanks for several years, she wanted to try her hand at it. She was still nervous about this ‘fish-in cycling’ thing that he promised her would be all right. Bettas were hardy and would be able to withstand it. She’d looked it up and she felt like fishless cycling would be a lot kinder, but he promised her that he’d help her. He’d come over each day and help her with the tank readings. As long as ammonia and nitrites were at zero, nitrates could be a little bit higher and they would beuntil the tank fully evened itself out. Finally, Qrow and Clover stopped bickering and both got out of the car. Those two did care about each other, but both of them could be quite stubborn and hardheaded. She could be herself, as well, but not as bad as those two. They constantly butted heads. She knew it was just part of how they were, but it did get a little frustrating at times. Clover came around the back of the car and opened the door for her, somehow quicker than Qrow who was in the driver’s seat. He held his hand out to her. “C’mon; let’s go inside and look.” He smiled at her and she managed a hesitant smile back. Despite how much they bickered, she couldn’t quite get over her reactions. Her abusive father had ensured she was always a little anxious around anger and anything like it. She took his hand and he helped her out of the car. “Eh, no love for me then, huh?” Qrow elbowed him, but she could tell from his tone that it was just a light ribbing. Clover grinned and elbowed him back with his free hand. “I mean you got two hands.” “Yeah but one was occupied getting the car door,” Clover replied. “Anyway, let’s head inside. Large chain pet stores usually have more variety to choose from, but I’d rather support a small, local business. Things will definitely be a bit more expensive here, though. But, again, they have a higher ceiling cost than the large pet store.” “And it’s all coming out of mywallet,” Qrow complained, but his tone was light. Another ribbing. Winter nodded. “I understand. I’m still nervous about the aquascaping part you mentioned to me…” She had never dealt with animals before, let alone plants. She had no idea what she should get. She tried looking up good beginner plants, but it was all so overwhelming. She knew that Clover wouldn’t steer her wrong, though… She was jumping into the deep end here, but he said real plants were farbetter for a fish than fake ones. Plus, a betta’s long fins could easily get caught on plastic plants and cut them, leading to infection. She didn’t want to hurt her new fishie friend… She didn’t know disease or anything like that. She wouldn’t know how to identify it. “C’mon you two.” Clover lightly elbowed Qrow again who grunted, though it was obviously just a dramatic reaction. They entered the store and, immediately, the temperature spiked inside. She hadn’t known it would be so warmin here. Several tanks stood on shelves to the right, there were a couple on the checkout desk to the left, and another one sat right near the center of the room. So far, all of them were small tanks, housing small fish that swam peacefully. “I know everything we need, so feel free to look around. The bettas are downstairs, to the left, and at the far end of the basement.” Clover smiled at them. “I’ll handle all the dry goods; you go pick out your fishie friend.” Winter nodded. “Okay.” She looked at Qrow and offered him her hand. “Let’s go.” Qrow nodded and they headed down into the basement which was somewhat warmer than even upstairs. “Wow… Talk about humid.” He shook his head. “But by looking at the tanks, no wonder. I’m guessing these are probably mostly tropical fish if they keep it this warmin the store. I’d hate to see their power bill.” Winter cringed. “Yeah, same.” She hated looking at their power bill in the summer with air conditioning. Being from the north, she didn’t handle the much warmer summers down here very easily. But it was still better than being up north with her abusive father. This place was definitely almost too warm for her and she hoped Clover would have things settled before too long. She trusted him to get what they needed of the dry goods and to put it in the car. “Do you wanna look around a little bit or do you just wanna go look at the bettas?” “Honestly, looking a little bit would be fun.” She smiled up at Qrow. “Though this place is crammed. The walkways are so narrow.” “Yeah, they really are. I’m surprised by the amount of tanks they’ve crammed in here.” “Same.” Winter started off to the left and she could see a rack where fish separated into much smaller containers sat. Those had to be the bettas. She knew they couldn’t be kept together because they could easily kill each other. It was one reason she would rather have them than the community tank; one fish wasn’t as big of an investment and she could easily keep a smaller tank on her desk. But she looked to her left and right. Smaller tanks with community fish sat on the left while one, larger tank with massive fish sat on the right. She had seen Clover’s large saltwater tank and saw how big some of those fish could get, but this was next level. Some of them were beautiful, but she didn’t want to find out what tank size they required. It was heavily stocked with quite a few fish in there. She saw a black fish with what looked like armor plating at the bottom; it was massive.“Woah, I wonder what that is,” she mused. “Oh, that’s a common pleco,” someone said. A woman wearing a normal outfit approached. “Have you ever heard of ‘sucker fish’ before?” “Um, no. I’m…new to the aquarium hobby and my friend, the expert, is helping me set up my first tank.” Winter knew better than to call Clover one of her partners; not everybody accepted polycules so easily. It was best to just treat Clover as a friend while she and Qrow were the couple. “He’s upstairs sorting everything out like the soil, the lights, and the tank.” “Well, this is a common pleco. A lot of people get them, wanting them to eat algae, but they don’t realise that they get this big and even bigger.” “Wow.” The woman nodded. “Quite a few fish like that in the hobby including rainbow sharks. They’re really territorial, aggressive fish that can get quite large and will often kill other fish in the tank. Not a fish for beginners, that’s for sure.” She smiled. “What are you looking at getting?” “A betta and maybe some shrimp. But I just wanna look around first since this is the only time I’ve been here.” “All right then; I’ll be around. Have fun looking!” The woman waved, then went off to go do something else. Winter looked around with wonder, not having known there were this many fish in the aquarium trade before. Tetras of all sorts, cherry shrimp in a rainbow of colors, tiny goldfish, koi, white cloud mountain minnows… And that was all just in the freshwater section. She did see piranhas, though, and that gave her pause. Who would want thosein an aquarium? All different types, she supposed… They moved to the saltwater section and the prices on the fish jumped substantially. Some were $40 for a single fish.Insanity. She had a vague idea that saltwater was more expensive than freshwater, but seeing it like this… She didn’t even want to know what would go into the tank setup. If just the fish were this expensive, how much worse was it for the hard and dry goods? She could also see different types of corals and they were on the expensive side too… She was so glad Clover had talked her into a betta. “Too expensive for my blood.” Qrow shook his head. “Same.” Winter copied his movement. “I’m glad Clover warned me away from saltwater… He said everyone has to start somewhere, but freshwater was a lot better for a beginner to start off with.” She was more than willing to learn any skill it took, but there was a learning curve to these things. She needed to learn about basic tank maintenance first as well as water parameters. She still wasn’t sure she quite understood what all of it meant; she’d need Clover to explain it to her more concisely and simply than all of the online guides did. “It’s still going to be expensive to set up… But it’ll be nice to give Weiss something cute to look at.” He squeezed her hand. Winter nodded. “And it’ll give her some experience caring for a living thing.” She had gotten custody of Weiss shortly after she’d turned 18 and moved away to get as far away from their abusive father as possible. She had no practical experience with life, but she’d managed to make her way despite it all standing in her way. She had met Qrow while working at a fast-food joint and had started dating him, then met Clover a few years after that. Things had been…rough after Clover said he was interested in Winter, and her conservative instincts told her not to do it. But things had all worked out in the end. They were relatively happy, even if Clover and Qrow constantly bickered. “She has my birds and is learning with them, but still; more experience isn’t bad.” Winter nodded. “It really isn’t.” She smiled. “Let’s go see the bettas now.” They’d been looking around for a good 20 minutes. The heat was definitely getting to her, but there wasn’t a lot she could do about it. They went over to the betta rack and she saw about fifteen fish in there. They were all sorts of colors: reds, greens, pinks, purples, blues… They were all gorgeous. Clover had told her to stay away from half moons unless they were plakats and rosetails. Those two tail types were prone to having the most trouble swimming and they could even start biting their own tails in order to make swimming easier. She didn’t want that… She found a pink one with a white rim around the outside. It said it was a plakat halfmoon. She pointed at it. “I think this is the one I want.” She smiled at Qrow. “He is awfully pretty, isn’t he?” He smiled at her. “Let me go track down that lady.” He slipped away and came back a moment later with her. “So this is the one you want?” Winter nodded. “Yes.” “Let me go get a bag to put him in! I’ll be back in a moment.” She disappeared again and came back a moment later. She had a bag and picked up the little container the fish was in, then dumped all the water into the bag. She tied it with a secure knot, then handed her the bag. “Enjoy your new little friend!” “Thank you.” Winter smiled at the woman. She looked down at her new little friend… Now she just needed a name for him. His color was like that of a pale pink rose. She’d have to look up a list of rose varieties once they got out of the store and into the car. They headed back to the top floor and saw that Clover was gone. A person stood behind the register and waved. “Are you the ones with the new tanks and all the aquascaping stuff?” Winter nodded. “Yeah; my friend, Clover, was taking care of all of the dry goods. He told me to pick out the fish.” She sat the fish on the counter carefully, in a container that would keep him upright. The person told them the total and she saw Qrow cringe, but he sighed and handed over his card. She knew it would be expensive but…ouch. He took his card back and put it in his wallet. The man behind the register took out a small punch card and punched it. “We do a punch-card program and, for every $100 you spend, you get $10. This is your first time here, so this card will get you $10 off this time.” He took another card and handed it over to her with a wink. “You’ll need this. Beware MTS.” “MTS?” She hadn’t run into that term before. It sounded like a disease. “Multiple Tank Syndrome. They’re like potato chips; you can’t just stop at one.” He chuckled. The door rank and Clover came in. “All right; everything’s set in the trunk. Did you find your new friend?” Winter nodded and held up the bag. “Oh, he’s cute! Do you have any ideas for names yet?” “Not off the top of my head, no.” The man behind the counter took out a bag filled with cute little shrimp. “By the way, he mentioned these were a gift for you.” There were maybe twenty little blue shrimp in the bag. They were absolutely adorable. Weiss would probably love them. “Some companions for you betta. Let’s hope he doesn’t go murder happy and kill all of them.” Clover chuckled. “But with the heavily planted tank, they’ll have plenty of space to hide. They’re blue velvet neocaridina davidi.” “Weiss will love them.” Winter smiled. “They’re adorable.Thank you, Clover.” “No trouble! Anyway, let’s get them out to the car and get home so that way we can get everything set up.” Winter nodded and followed him out to the car. This time, Qrow opened the door for her which, in this case, she was thankful for. Her hands were full from the two bags with her fish and shrimp in it. Clover slid in next to her and held them while she buckled up. “Thank you for all of the help, Clover.” She smiled at him sweetly. He grinned. “No worries, Winter. I’m happy to help you. But beware; you may want more tanks after this.” “Let’s hope not; one will be enough of a handful.” He chuckled. “Oh, you wait… Just you wait…”